Bullet Dive

Just then, several piercing cries suddenly startled Yu Ziyu out of his thoughts.

Looking up, he saw that the essence at the cut in his branch, already divided into eight tiny droplets, had fallen into the eight Peregrine Falcons' mouths.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp..."

Amid those sharp, grating cries, the eight Peregrine Falcons shuddered slightly.

Immediately afterward, their bodies grew rapidly.

They had been fist-sized, but now they had grown to the size of pigeons.

Most striking of all were their beaks, which had taken on the curve of an eagle's beak. They looked highly aggressive, their sharp edges faintly gleaming with a cold light.

Their talons, meanwhile, had lengthened considerably.

"Riiip..."

With a light drag of their talons, the entire nest fell apart.

At that moment, however, no one paid any attention to the nest.

That was because the eight Peregrine Falcons had spread their wings.

"Whoosh..."

A slight beat of their long, pointed wings actually stirred up a gust of wind.

Then, amid Yu Ziyu's fleeting astonishment, all eight Peregrine Falcons vanished from his sight.

"Holy crap, that fast?"

Watching the eight Peregrine Falcons shoot into the distance like bullets, already reduced to black dots, Yu Ziyu could not help looking stunned.

Fast.

They were simply too fast.

An ordinary Peregrine Falcon's level flight speed was only around sixty to a hundred kilometers per hour.

Only when diving at a forty-five-degree angle did its speed reach 386 kilometers per hour.

Yet now, these Mutant Peregrine Falcons had already reached a hundred to two hundred kilometers per hour in level flight alone.

What kind of joke was this?

If that really was the case,

then their dives...

As though something had occurred to him, Yu Ziyu's heart suddenly jolted.

And just then,

"Kree, kree..."

Like an eagle's cry, the sound was intensely penetrating, like metal ringing against metal, enough to pierce a person's eardrums.

And at the very instant those cries rang out.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

Eight streaks of light came hurtling from the horizon in succession.

Fast.

Unbelievably fast.

Even someone as strong as Yu Ziyu, with his current ability to track motion, caught nothing more than fleeting black shadows.

Then,

"Bang, bang, bang..."

A boulder not far from Yu Ziyu suddenly shook.

Immediately afterward, under Yu Ziyu's astonished gaze, eight fist-sized holes appeared in that boulder.

Through the holes, Yu Ziyu could even see the night sky behind it.

They had pierced it.

They had pierced clean through a three-meter boulder.

That kind of penetrating power was probably enough to punch through a steel plate over ten centimeters thick.

"Kree, kree..."

With several more cries, the Peregrine Falcons suddenly flew unsteadily out from behind the boulder.

From time to time, they shook their heads, shaking the dust off their bodies.

It seemed that they had not had an easy time of it either.

"These little fellows."

Giving them an affectionate look, Yu Ziyu extended eight branches.

At the sight of the branches, the Peregrine Falcons suddenly let out delighted cries.

Then, with practiced familiarity, they landed midway along the branches and enjoyed their gentle caresses.

At that moment, Yu Ziyu also noticed the panel above the Peregrine Falcons' heads.

[Species: Mutant Peregrine Falcon.

Lifespan: 0.2/20 years.

Rank: third tier of the entry level.

Innate talent: Bullet Dive-Speed surpassing all else grants them unparalleled penetrating power, enough to tear through any defense. (Note: The side effects are terrifying. With a single misstep, before they can tear through their enemy, their bodies may crumble to dust because they cannot withstand the burst of speed.)

Special abilities: None.]

Very fearsome, especially their innate talent, though it did seem rather like a last resort that traded their own lives for their enemies'.

After that brief assessment, Yu Ziyu looked at the Peregrine Falcons, his gaze sharpening slightly.

Leaving everything else aside, that suddenly appearing innate talent alone made these Peregrine Falcons exceptionally valuable.

Perhaps it was because of the life essence, or perhaps it was an inherent gift of the Peregrine Falcon species.

Whatever the case, these Peregrine Falcons' standing in Yu Ziyu's heart rose sharply, even catching up with the Mutant Red Fox beside him.

In this age, where extraordinary things were everywhere and the world was advancing toward the supernatural,

these Peregrine Falcons, along with that Mutant Red Fox, could all become his capable helpers.

At that thought, Yu Ziyu once again set his branches in motion.

Within a few breaths.

Through the efforts of dozens of Yu Ziyu's branches, a nest as large as a washbasin had been woven beneath the cover of the uppermost leaves in his crown.

This was the nest Yu Ziyu had woven for the eight Peregrine Falcons.

Birds were attached to their nests.

With this nest here, Yu Ziyu believed that their relationship with him would grow closer.

As for the Red Fox...

At that thought, Yu Ziyu's roots, like enormous black snakes, began churning once more.

"Rumble, rumble..."

As the ground shook, a dark opening appeared beside a root not far from Yu Ziyu.

"Go on."

Nudging the Red Fox's head with a branch, Yu Ziyu smiled faintly.

Foxes lived in dens.

The den he had fashioned with his roots was quite good.

At the very least, plenty of branching roots already coiled inside, enough to provide warmth.

Moreover, Yu Ziyu vaguely sensed that the unknown substance in the air seemed slightly more concentrated around his roots.

It should be because the roots are primarily absorbing those unknown substances.

And these wild beasts should also be absorbing the unknown substances in the air, continually evolving as a result.

If that really was the case, the den he had fashioned was like a paradise grotto and would greatly benefit the Red Fox.

There was no reason not to like it.

Sure enough,

before long, seemingly having discovered the den's benefits, the Red Fox curled up inside and would not come out.

Thank you to reader Dragon Battles in the Wild for the tip. Crimson kept his word-here is an update.

The book went live at ten last night, and there have already been ten updates by now.

I believe everyone has seen Crimson's sincerity.

(*^▽^*) Please keep supporting me.

Update tickets, tips, flowers, and the like-please come into my bowl.

You call for extra updates; Crimson will just keep writing.

(Event period: June 12 to June 14)