The scent of corpses drew the attention of Winged Wyverns overhead. However, with Luo Yun and Ya Ji present, they did not dare swoop down and enjoy this lunch immediately. They could only remain quietly in the nearby treetops, casting sidelong glances this way again and again.
Compared to the cautious Winged Wyverns, the corpse-eating Abomination Birds had far fewer reservations. Flock after flock circled directly through the sky.
They were small, had poor-quality meat, and preferred carrion, which kept them off the menu of most large Wyvern Species such as Rathalos. That was why they dared linger openly overhead.
Ya Ji continued leisurely savoring the finest cuts of Herbivore Dragon meat. Having already eaten her fill, Luo Yun idly observed his surroundings. Based on past experience, no fool would dare provoke two Rathalos.
With a flick of his tongue, he swept the green bug honey held by a Great Honeycomb Bug that had been passing by leisurely into his mouth. Watching the Great Honeycomb Bug rage helplessly before slinking away, Luo Yun slowly lowered himself and buried his body in the tall grass, basking in the sunlight.
The grass was dense, and the battle that had just taken place in the distance had not affected this area. The tall weeds concealed Luo Yun's body. Unless one came close or looked down from the air, their view would be blocked by weeds and ferns from even a short distance away, leaving only a patch of protruding red back visible.
"Caw!"
A panicked cry suddenly rang out, and Luo Yun instinctively looked warily toward its source.
A large yellow bird burst from the distant forest, feathers atop its head and along the outer sides of its forearms brightly colored. It had a huge beak and clutched a grayish-white dragon egg in its hands, its tongue hanging from its open mouth as it panted heavily.
Its sly-looking eyes were full of fear. It fled in such a panic, as though something terrifying were chasing it from behind. Because of the distance and angle, coupled with the tall weeds of the season, it failed to notice Luo Yun and Ya Ji immediately.
Kulu-Ya-Ku, known among hunters as the Flirty Bird.
It was famous for its flirtatious appearance, low combat power, and ecological habit of stealing dragon eggs.
As a die-hard dragon egg enthusiast, it even dared risk being beaten to death to steal the Fire Dragon Couple's eggs from the upper reaches of the Ancient Tree, all to taste a different delicacy.
As a notorious thief of the New World, its courage was as timid as its appearance suggested, yet its actions were exceptionally bold.
Every day, it was either stealing eggs or on its way to steal eggs.
Judging by Kulu-Ya-Ku's appearance, it had clearly been caught stealing an egg and was now being hunted down. Well, this sort of situation was simply part of Kulu-Ya-Ku's daily life.
Luo Yun was just curious who it had stolen from this time.
Soon enough, Luo Yun had his answer.
Two Diablos came roaring out of the woods, chasing Kulu-Ya-Ku with bitter hatred. They too had failed to notice the two Rathalos nearby, their eyes fixed solely on that damned Kulu-Ya-Ku.
Kulu-Ya-Ku was not slow, but because it had to protect the egg, it was still dragged down by it and could not widen the distance in a short time.
As a renowned ground chicken, Kulu-Ya-Ku could only evade through nimble footwork and powerful leaps. Though its situation looked dangerous, it would not truly come to harm anytime soon.
Still, the scene was rather comical.
A dignified large creature was actually being chased all over the place by smaller creatures, and it did not even dare fight back.
In the entire New World, only Kulu-Ya-Ku could pull something like that off.
Luo Yun watched the scene before him with glee, completely forgetting that, in this very forest, a certain Sky Revenant that had not been born long had once let out a foolish roar and ended up getting chased a long way like a ground chicken.
It had to be said that Kulu-Ya-Ku was quite entertaining. Even Ya Ji stopped eating and, like Luo Yun, lay on the ground beneath the cover of the weeds, quietly watching the performance with delighted eyes.
With a smack, after a beautiful high leap, Kulu-Ya-Ku chose a poor landing spot. It stumbled and instinctively loosened its foreclaws.
The Diablos egg fell to the ground just like that with a crisp crack, its contents splattering everywhere.
Kulu-Ya-Ku stared blankly at its empty hands, then at the completely shattered egg, disbelief written all over its face.
Finally, its gaze fell upon the Diablos couple, whose eyes were red and seemed ready to spit fire.
"Caw!"
A hoarse cry, three parts anger and seven parts resentment, erupted from Kulu-Ya-Ku's beak. The Flirty Bird spread its vividly feathered claws and roared furiously at the Diablos couple.
That left the Diablos couple completely baffled.
No, you smashed our egg. Why did you look even angrier than us?
Fortunately, the Diablos couple were not exactly quick-witted. They were merely startled by Kulu-Ya-Ku's sudden abnormal behavior. The next second, rage once again consumed their minds, and they charged at Kulu-Ya-Ku with the hard shells atop their heads.
This time, perhaps without the egg weighing it down, the Flirty Bird stopped running.
After making a small leap to dodge a Diablos's charge, it pecked at the ground with its enormous beak and swiftly located a suitably sized stone.
Its forelimbs rapidly dug into the earth, and within a few strokes, it unearthed a hard stone roughly the size of a dragon egg.
All of this happened in barely five seconds.
By then, the Diablos couple had turned around and charged back to Kulu-Ya-Ku's side.
Legend said that once Kulu-Ya-Ku picked up a stone, it even dared face an Elder Dragon.
Though reality differed somewhat from legend, it truly did dare confront a Horned Dragon. Of course, the usual result was that it got taught a lesson, after which its eyes became incomparably clear.
Clutching the stone, Kulu-Ya-Ku made a huge leap and viciously smashed it down at the armored head of a Diablos with a fierce glint in its eyes.
The stone struck the keratinous armor with a dull thud. Kulu-Ya-Ku was jolted by the tremendous recoil, and the stone flew straight from its hands. It squawked as it hopped back several steps, narrowly avoiding the other Diablos's headbutt charge.
With the stone flying away, Kulu-Ya-Ku returned to its original state. Even though the Diablos struck by the stone collapsed unconscious onto the ground, the rage it had felt over the broken egg vanished along with the stone leaving its hands.
The momentum it had painstakingly built quickly dispersed, and it began frantically trying to dig up another stone.
"Hm!"
The tips of grass swaying before his nose tickled it twice, and Luo Yun could not hold back a sneeze.
Kulu-Ya-Ku looked over and immediately spotted the two massive Rathalos lying in the grass.
"Caw!!"
Kulu-Ya-Ku was so frightened that it leaped up, flailing its limbs. What fighting spirit? What give me back my egg? All those distracting thoughts vanished in an instant!
It spun around and sprinted into the forest, its long tail whipping so fast from its hurried running that it seemed about to fly off.
I wasn't satisfied with today's second chapter, so I deleted part of it and am revising it. It may be posted a little later; please forgive me.
Before you continue