Saquin hovered in the air silently.
His arms were akimbo and his hair flowed silently with the wind as the gentle drizzle of rain pelted his form.
Feeling the mixture of water and wind constantly hitting him, a smile formed in his lips.
Freedom.
Saquin reveled in the feeling.
At the same time, he could feel multiple hostile gaze land on him.
Some from above, most from below.
But none moved in.
This stalemate was maintained for a few minutes before one of the beings gazing from above got impatient.
Voom!
Saquin heard the whistle of the wind as a silhouette, covered in lightning sparks, cut through the air.
It shot straight at him.
In no time, the silhouette had closed in.
The silhouette, which was a sort of Grolly Bird, missed. It's attack had been a blade of lightning that extended our of its beak, but it had missed by a hair's breath.
In one swift motion, Saquin had retracted his wings.
Him, as a target, got smaller.
This was not the end of his move though, after he retracted the wings, he titled sideways and a black sword materialized in his right hand.
The silhouette may have had it's main attack fail, but it's secondary attack necessarily may not.
It's secondary attack was it's wings. The wings edge gleamed as lightning coated them.
Voom! Slash!
The wings missed again.
Saquin's sword, however, did not.
Grr! Rawr!!!
The special Grolly Bird lost a wing. It did not find that funny at all. It's screech-like roar resounded in the sky.
It's other wing flapped hard. A gust of wind pushed out from the Underbeast, stabilizing it's descent.
Rawr!!!
It roared out again as lightning sparked crazily around it. A great deal of the lightning coalsed into a new wing.
The beast finally managed to stop it's descent with it's new lightning wing.
Rawr!!
A third roar came from the Underbeast. It starred at Saquin in both fear and anger.
Saquin stared at the Underbeast with a smirk on his face.
"You are pretty strong, I wonder what rank you are."
He said as his form fell from the sky.
The Underbeast's gaze narrowed at Saquin's falling from. Then, instead of fighting, it stared downwards towards the forest...
Creeeee!!!
And screeched.
On cue with the screech, multiple forms shot out of the forest below.
Hundreds of Grolly Birds shot out of the forest. All with one target in mind.
Saquin.
"Hmm, this would be tricky." Saquin mulled as he fell. "Ah... I guess I would just have to kill them all."
The black sword in Saquin's hand dissolved while his wings spread out.
A Grolly Bird happened to reach him at that point. It also happened to meet it's untimely demish shortly after.
[You have successfully killed a Mid-Class Grade One Underbeast -- Grolly Bird(No Bloodline)]
[Underessence extracted.]
[Core obtained.]
"Oh, a new core." Saquin said as he swung his wing to the side, throwing away the Grolly Bird impaled with it.
[ Grolly Crossbow -- Mid-Class Grade One (0/100).
Description: Shoot down every foe present in the sky and ground with this.
(100/100 Bolts) ]
"Cool." Saquin quickly read through the information about the Core. At the same time, he ducked under the claw of a Grolly Bird, his fist drive into it's guts, sending it off.
Saquin flapped his wings, he shot sideways into the midst of three Grolly Birds.
Slash!
Twisting in the air, his wings dissected the three into six.
[You have successfully killed a Low-Class Grade One Underbeast(3) -- Grolly Bird(No Bloodline)]
[Underessence extracted(3)]
He was enjoying the use of the skill [Aerodynamics] which worked well with his new found fighting skills.
His wings powered by his innate strength went up a notch in power, enabling him further.
Leaving the midst of the now dead trio, Saquin willed out the [Grolly Crossbow].
Immediately, white feathers sprouted out of his right hand. They twirled around each other to form a gauntlet, in the middle of it was a silver crossbolt.
"Okay, that looks cool." A pleased smile appeared on his face.
The [Grolly Crossbow] was really a cool looking weapon. The feathers did not just look pure and beautiful, but also mystical. Even it's bolt had the same feeling, being made of steel with feathers drawn through it.
Bang!
Saquin effortlessly caught the punch of a Grolly Bird with his left hand.
"You guys are punching now?" He said as he drew the Underbeast in. He placed the crossbow Core at the beast head and fired it.
Bang!
The bolt blew through the Underbeast head easily.
[You have successfully killed a Low-Class Grade One Underbeast -- Grolly Bird(No Bloodline)]
[Underessence extracted.]
He threw the corpse away. Pivoted on the spot. And let out five bolts in succession.
One for the head. One for the heart. One for the private. Two for the wings.
His head shifted ever so slightly. The flaming claw missed. Saquin's shot did not.
The flaming Grolly Bird got punctured in all five places. The bolts were not strong enough to go completely through, but it was more than enough.
Saquin's punch drove the crossbolt located at the head area completely in.
[You have successfully killed a Mid-Class Grade One Underbeast -- Grolly Bird(Firebird Bloodline -- Unique)]
[Underessence extracted.]
[Core obtained.]
Saquin provocative gaze shifted to the lightning Grolly Bird a distance away.
His focus soon shifted to his new Core.
[ Flaming Feather Sword -- Mid-Class Grade One(0/100)
Description: A flaming sword that is as light as a feather. ]
Saquin willed the sword out after switching the [Grolly Crossbow] to his left hand.
A white sword appeared in his right hand. And just as the description stated, it was really as light as a feather. It also had multiple feather patterns drawn on it.
As soon as Saquin tightened his grip around it, white flames ignited in the sword.
Saquin frowned.
He did not know why, but he does not like the fact it had flames.
A cold stream poured out of his body into the sword. Immediately, the sword's flames were extinguished.
[Warning: Ice of the [Supreme] level has invaded your Core and is forcefully changing it's properties.]
[Note: User can recall the Core to stop this or at worse, destroy it.]
Saquin ignored the notifications.
The Flaming Sword soon clouded over. Then.
[ Flaming Feather Sword has been permanently corrupted into Frost Feather Sword. ]
Saquin's frown finally dissolved.
But at the same time, for the first time ever, Saquin felt a bit tired, physically.
He shook off his weariness and took a look at his surroundings.
He could already tell with his [Spatial Awareness], but he also decided to physically see it.
By this time, all the Grolly Birds had already flew out of the forest.
They filled the sky, all looking at one being with hostility.
The winged human with the cold stare.
Saquin...