Call him a rooster or a turkey, in short, he was a chicken capable of doing almost anything it wanted in this place.
When in the mood, it would occasionally lay a few eggs without any responsibility. When tired, it would jump into the lava river for a hot spring bath. When thirsty, it would lower its sharp beak to drink the lava. When hungry, it would pluck a few elemental beings from the lava river.
It wasn't that it had no natural predators, but at the very least, it lived a life of utter joy and freedom in this forbidden zone of life.
However, a little creature actually posed as if deciding how to cook it.
How could its pride tolerate this? Although it was picky about food, at that moment, it had already decided to eat Law.
First, flames emerged from its crown, then its eyes ignited, and finally, its feathers burst into raging flames, transforming from red to white, resembling phantom fire.
At the same time, the Aura surrounding its body surged, displaying immense power.
Before Law's attack arrived, the chicken, burning with phantom fire, actively charged forward.
They flashed past each other like lightning, and the compressed air current carved a fiery path on the rocky ground, spreading like waves to both sides.
"Cluck?"
The chicken's body suddenly halted, its fierce momentum abruptly stagnating. Then, its head flew into the air.
Deep within its flaming eyes, confusion emerged, completely unaware of what had happened. Its vision shook violently, and then it saw its own body slowly collapsing to the ground. At the neck, there was a cut so smooth it was terrifying.
When it glanced over, a shower of blood sprayed from the cut.
A sense of bewilderment had just surfaced in its mind before it plunged into endless darkness.
The battle ended in an instant. With just one slash, Law severed the chicken's head as they passed each other.
Admittedly, the chicken's Aura was surging, but it didn't even know how to use basic Gyo, unable to mobilize a large amount of Aura for concentrated attacks or defense at a single point. That's why Law could slash through the chicken's Aura Defense and behead it.
As soon as the battle ended, Kuro emerged, transforming into a solid form to retrieve the fire-chicken head that had died with its eyes wide open. Perhaps to vent his anger, he cursed while kicking the head around like a ball.
Watching Kuro's childish behavior, Law shook his head and walked over to the chicken's corpse.
At this moment, the white flames burning on the chicken's body had already extinguished. Whether due to death or not, its vibrant feathers had turned charred black, and the same went for its crown.
Seeing the chicken's miserable state, Law's heart skipped a beat. He activated his ability and instantly plucked the chicken's feathers. Relieved to see the chicken's meat intact, he let out a sigh of relief.
He had been worried that the chicken might self-immolate after death. Fortunately, the chicken's meat was unharmed, or else all his efforts would have been in vain.
"What a pity about these feathers."
Law casually threw the charred feathers on the ground. Upon touching the tiny lava streams, they instantly burst into flames and quickly burned to ashes.
Then, Law sucked the plucked chicken into his hand through his ability. The White Smoke Font immediately provided simple information.
The chicken was named Burning Feather. The origin of this name likely lay in its feathers self-immolating after death.
To obtain intact feathers, one would have to pluck them one by one before it died.
Law had missed the opportunity but didn't dwell on it, focusing instead on the key point.
"In its stomach?"
Following the information from the White Smoke Text, Law cut open the chicken's abdominal cavity and discovered five irregular stones the size of chess pieces embedded in the still-warm flesh.
The stones were light red, irregular in shape, somewhat round and somewhat square.
Their surfaces bore a glowing, twisted [M]-shaped stripe that brightened and dimmed like a breathing light.
"So these are the Chasefire Stones."
Looking at the five stones, Law murmured to himself.
Burning Feather would consume Chasefire Stones, but it took hundreds of years to completely digest them. During the digestion process, it would extract the vast fire energy within the Chasefire Stones in a gradual, sustained manner for its own use.
The method of Chasefire Stones' production was unknown, as was where to find them. However, Burning Feather likely had the ability to locate Chasefire Stones, which was why there were five embedded in its stomach.
Before cutting open the abdominal cavity, Law wasn't entirely sure if this chicken had Chasefire Stones inside. According to the information from the White Smoke Text, the possibility was high, but he hadn't expected there to be as many as five.
After silently observing the Chasefire Stones for a moment, Law tentatively reached out and touched one.
It felt hard, neither cold nor hot, but he knew how terrifying the fire energy contained within this small stone was.
Burning Feather, which could drink lava as if it were water, took hundreds of years to fully digest a Chasefire Stone.
How long could such a small stone sustain self-ignition?
He had heard Slubin mention a legend passed down among the Slu Tribe: somewhere in the Dark Continent, there was a bottomless, massive circular hole with countless fire-dragon-like flames winding and entangling on the cave walls, burning eternally for thousands of years without extinguishing.
Those self-igniting flames that required no fuel seemed to be generated by the fire energy of the Chasefire Stone.
Law placed Burning Feather on the ground, picked up one Chasefire Stone, and played with it in his palm.
A thought crossed his mind, and his thumb suddenly flicked upward, shaving off several tiny particles that floated forward like dust, faintly glowing like sparks.
In that instant, Law inexplicably sensed danger.
Subconsciously, he performed two actions: first, he swiftly retreated backward, and then he activated his ability to protect his surroundings.
Just as he performed those actions, the few particles of Chasefire Stone's dust he had shaved off suddenly erupted with a terrifying energy, instantly transforming into a raging pillar of fire that reached the cave ceiling, rampaging wildly.
Protected by his ability and Grass Jelly, Law, even though close, wasn't burned by the high temperatures emitted by the pillar of fire. However, Burning Feather's corpse was swallowed by the pillar.
The pillar of fire appeared suddenly and was terrifyingly powerful, but it only lasted about ten seconds or so.
Law watched the slowly disappearing pillar of fire, then looked down at the Chasefire Stone in his hand, feeling waves of astonishment within.
'I had only shaved off a few dust-sized particles, yet they had erupted into such a powerful pillar of fire.'
Suppressing the rising astonishment in his heart, he shifted his gaze to the chicken. Perhaps due to the remaining four Chasefire Stone, the chicken's white meat remained completely unharmed.
Law stood there lost in thought. Then, he once again shaved off a few particles of Chasefire Stone's dust, followed by another pillar of fire that lasted about ten seconds.
"Such flammable and dangerous items." Law remarked with emotion.
The Chasefire Stone contained fire energy. To activate it, one had to shave off a few particles of dust, as Law had done.
'No wonder the chicken could only extract it gradually.'
As for how it converted the Chasefire Stone, that was unclear.
"For now, I'll store them away. They could be quite useful as weapons."
Thinking of the earlier pillar of fire, Law dug out the other four Chasefire Stone from the chicken's body. Then, he turned his attention to the nine fire-patterned eggs the chicken had laid.
Just as he stored the eggs away, he suddenly heard a rumbling sound, and the ground began to shake.
"Law, run!"
From afar, Kuro's panicked voice called out.