Chapter 115: [Day 73] – “Birds of Prey” (1/2)

∼ Day 73 ∼

Letting the billowing winds coursing through the land-splitting canyons and colossal mountain peaks ruffle my hair, I took in the marveling sight laid out before me. It had been five days since we took off from the tribe, and we had managed to get quite aways from our previously docile and unimpressive rocky hills. Plunging directly into the wastelands, delving deep into its depths, we all were impressed by simply how much more the surroundings become awe-inspiring the deeper we went.

But, although Lily hadn't ever traveled so far into the wastelands, she could confirm that we were still simply at the outskirts since the wastelands were actually an incredible expanse that hugged the borders of thousands of other countries and territories.

”So why exactly was is this place called the wastelands? It definitely doesn't seem devoid of life and barren, in fact, the quite the opposite of that.” - Me

I was asking the lithe Lily who was approaching from behind to stand beside my side as I gazed down into the massive canyon that laid by my feet. But the reason for my question was because ever since I had been abducted and managed to travel through this tiny bit of the wastelands, I had realized that these supposed wastelands were actually brimming with life, not barren and dead as the name would otherwise suggest.

Only in the rocky hills, the outskirts that hugged the Mordrian and Cealmor borders was the vegetation sparse. But even that place was infested with all types of life, no small amount being the insect beasts and greenskins that inhabited it. And now, where we've traveled so far that the scenery had taken a complete turn, my thoughts have only been proven further that the wastelands weren't actually barren wastes.

The sky swallowing mountains and huge rifts in the earth that was canyons were all filled with vibrant vegetation and lush life. Not even mentioning the numerous beasts and monsters native here, the surroundings being filled to the brim with life. As if the heavens heard my ruminations and wanted to prove them at that moment, a cry that rang through the sky sounded out, eliciting an exhasperated sigh from me.

Circulating my mana, I prepared my magic. If anything, the troubles we faced in traversing the wastelands wasn't really the terrain, but instead the inhospitable beasts and monsters that would constantly throw themselves at us. Soaring out of caverns, nests on cliff faces, and various other dens, there was a swarm of huge overgrown eagle-like creatures which were coming out in droves, flying towards us with no small amount of malice in their beady eyes.

-Appraisal!-

[Appraisal - Acryan Eagle]

Name: ”???”

Race: Acryan Eagle

Sex: Female

Rank: F

Level: 12/35

Health: 191/191

Stamina: 85/85

Mana: 0/0

[Attributes]

STR - 15

VIT - 23

AGI - 32

DEX - 25

INT - 4

CHR - 4

WILL - 6

MAG - 0

[Trait, Titles, and Skills].

Skills - 5

Traits - 2

Titles - 0

[Resistances]

Phy. Resistance - 6

Mag. Resistance - 2

Men. Resistance - 4

While these birds were in no way a danger to me or most of my followers in a head-on fight, they were actually the cause of no small amount of trouble on my side of things. Their attributes and fighting capabilities were nothing to speak home of, however, they held two massive advantages that had already managed to reap fifty of my greenskins.

Numbers and flight.

These Acryan Eagles were extremely territorial, so without even a shred of concern for their own lives, they would dive head-first to meet any trespassers. Initially, I had lost quite a few hobs by a sudden ambush attack after we had first entered this region of the wastelands, unbeknownst to us that it was actually the territory of these kamikaze birds.

In droves of hundreds at a time, they would mindlessly attack us. And while two or three hobs could definitely take care of one of these eagles in a head-on fight, my greenskins actually stood almost no chance of averting their assault. That was mostly due to the fact that these damnable creatures were swift and agile aerial creatures that would swarm the greenskin army, doing sweeping and diving attacks from above.