When the third iron feather fell onto the bridge, Lin Yuan did not try to catch it with his fist.
He stepped onto a raised wooden plank, shortening the distance between himself and the bridge cable on his left. He shifted his body half a step to the side, and the feather blade grazed the hem of his clothes, embedding itself in the stone wall behind him.
Immediately afterwards, the sound of wind breaking came from above.
The second Iron-Feathered Vulture folded its wings and swooped down, its two sharp talons aimed straight for his shoulder. Lin Yuan dodged to the side and grabbed its ankle with his other hand.
The fingertips were still half a foot away.
Space folding is completed instantly.
The Iron-Feathered Vulture seemed to have run right into his palm. Lin Yuan gripped its sharp claws, used the momentum of its dive to turn and fling it against the rock wall at the bridgehead.
Black feathers scattered and fell.
Another Iron-Feathered Vulture seized the opportunity to swoop across the bridge, its claws hooking onto a rope. The thick rope was suddenly taut, and the entire bridge tilted to the right.
The bridge keeper, his face pale, hid behind the stone house door. "That beam can't break!"
Lin Yuan released the unconscious magical beast and reached out to grab the bridge cable. Black and silver magic spread along the cable, temporarily fixing the distance that had been stretched.
The Iron-Feathered Vulture flapped its wings, but it couldn't move the rope even an inch further.
Mira fell from above and kicked it into the rock wall.
"The third one," she said.
Why are you counting these?
"Calculate the payment."
She took to the air again, facing the flock of vultures that surrounded her from both sides.
Lin Yuan was still standing at the bridgehead.
It's not that he can't use folding to send himself into the air. As long as he locks onto an Iron-Feathered Vulture, he can close the distance and appear directly next to it.
But there was no place to land in the air.
After one attack, he would plummet to the bottom of the valley. Finding a target again, locating it, and changing direction—each step required time. Facing one enemy was enough; facing a flock of vultures attacking from different heights would only turn him into a bouncing target.
A shadow swept across from above.
Five Iron-Feathered Vulture simultaneously spread their wings, their stiff feathers gleaming coldly in the sunlight. Instead of continuing their descent, they circled the suspension bridge, using the wind to rise higher and higher.
The next volley of feathers is about to fall.
Lin Yuan looked at Mira, who was weaving among the vultures.
Her flight wasn't solely reliant on wing flapping. With each turn, her wings would stir up the surrounding air currents, propelling her body in a new direction; when surrounded, she would spread both wings simultaneously, forcing the approaching monsters to change course.
Besides flying, wings can also be used for attacking and blocking positions.
Lin Yuan released the bridge cable and spread his arms to his sides.
The black and silver magic flowed down his shoulder to his arm, not gathering at his fist, but instead leaving two thin creases behind his elbow.
The first Iron-Feathered Vulture shot down its feather blade.
Lin Yuan swung his right arm.
The crease swept out like half an unfolded wing. The three incoming feather blades deflected simultaneously, two of them collided, and the last one grazed the bridge surface and flew into the canyon.
The black and silver arc of light did not disappear; it continued to sweep towards the Iron-Feathered Vulture in mid-air.
The monster immediately increased its altitude.
It avoided it.
But Lin Yuan swung his left arm.
The second arc of light rose from the opposite direction. The two black and silver creases did not slash directly at the target, but instead converged inwards simultaneously on the left and right sides of the Iron-Feathered Vulture.
The space on both sides suddenly shortens.
Before the Iron-Feathered Vulture could fold its wings, the tips of its left and right wings collided. Losing its balance, its body tumbled and fell toward the bridge, where Lin Yuan punched it into the rocky ground.
"The fourth one," Mira's voice came from above.
When Lin Yuan looked up, she was grabbing the wing of another Iron-Feathered Vulture and throwing it toward him.
"There's one more!"
The monster spread its wings again halfway through its flight and glided to the left with the help of the wind. Lin Yuan did not follow its body's trajectory, but instead looked at the space it was about to pass through.
He swung his arms down, crossed them.
Two streaks of black and silver light flashed past, one above the other, blocking the flight path in advance. The Iron-Feathered Vulture crashed into the intersection, and the surrounding space suddenly closed like two doors.
Bang!
It crashed straight down in front of the bridge, its head buried in the sand.
This time, there wasn't a single additional crack in the bridge surface.
Lin Yuan did not stop. More Iron-Feathered Vulture had already taken off from the cliff top, and the creases behind his arms became increasingly clear, like two narrow wings cut out by the night.
He tried to increase the range of his swing.
The arc of light on the right repelled three Iron-Feathered Vulture, but the crease on the left was shattered head-on by a row of feather blades. The shattered spatial magic dispersed, less than a foot away from the bridge cable.
Lin Yuan immediately stopped.
The larger the range, the harder it is to keep the edges stable. This move can block paths and knock down targets, unlike a roar which requires condensing magic into the body and then unleashing it all at once, making it difficult to control its intensity.
Mira landed on the bridge cable, her toes touching the swaying thick rope.
What was that move called?
I haven't decided yet.
"It looks like wings."
Lin Yuan glanced at the demon wings behind her, then looked at the gradually fading black and silver creases on the outside of his arm.
" The Space God's Folding Wings."
"You can't fly."
Wings aren't just for flying.
A cry, much deeper than before, suddenly came from above the canyon.
The circling Iron-Feathered Vulture scattered at the same time. A larger black shadow rose from the top of the cliff, its outstretched wings almost obscuring half of the suspension bridge.
Mira straightened up from the bridge cables.
"How many are you counting?"
Lin Yuan spread his arms out again.
"We'll settle things after we take it."