Appearance of the Heavenly Demon - Chapter 96

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 96
A fierce gust swept through.
Yeon-woo barely managed to grip the Axe and hold on, and only when he saw his own hands trembling did he realize he was shaking.
—Hand it over. Now.
“…?”
The small bird that had been with him flew over, unaffected by the gale, and licked the Medicinal Herb right from his palm.
The other herbs had disappeared somewhere—swept away entirely and nowhere to be seen.
Crash-crash-crash-crash-crash—
The gale continued for a long time.
As if testing Yeon-woo, it tore away everything around him with its ferocious winds.
Eventually the wind began to subside.
Throughout it all, the small bird had remained silently beside Yeon-woo.
Shhhhh—
The wind died completely, and profound silence settled in.
Yeon-woo, who had been lying flat on the ground with the Axe gripped in both hands, suddenly lifted his head.
He blinked.
Where the small bird had been standing a moment before, there now stood an enormous bird.
Its shape resembled the smaller one, but it was far redder, far more sharp-edged, and the tips of its feathers rippled as though genuinely aflame.
So vast that even pressing his head to the ground, Yeon-woo could not take in its full size.
Yeon-woo tilted his head.
“Why did you grow so large?”
—I didn’t grow.
The answer came from near the large bird’s feet.
Looking down, there was the small bird that had been quarreling with him over the Medicinal Herb just moments before.
—That’s our mother.
“Ah.”
So it hadn’t grown at all.
Yeon-woo looked up at the enormous bird again.
Its size appeared to be at least ten times that of the great eagle he’d encountered before.
With legs as massive as its frame, if one were to roast them….
—Mother!
“…!”
The small bird stepped in front of Yeon-woo.
Yeon-woo’s pupils trembled finely.
‘I was… almost killed.’
He felt it distinctly.
The sharp aura that had descended before his throat, then withdrawn.
Had the small bird not blocked his path, he would be dead.
[Out of the way.]
Yeon-woo covered his ears and grimaced.
The sound was so loud his ears felt as though they might split.
Or rather, even though the sound was ringing inside his head, the pain was so intense he had to block his ears.
The small bird cried out.
—Wait, please! This one…!
[Foolish creature. I told you not to contact humans so recklessly.]
—I wasn’t trying to make contact! Please, just hear me out before you grow angry!
[I can kill the human first, then hear you out later.]
The two birds seemed to be conversing about something, but Yeon-woo couldn’t understand them.
Rather, each time the large bird spoke, it thundered through his head like a hammer, as if his skull might shatter.
He couldn’t spare a thought for the contents of their exchange.
Thud—!
“Gasp—”
To make matters worse, the great bird’s aura bore down upon Yeon-woo.
Under the colossal weight—like being crushed beneath the bird’s talons—Yeon-woo found he could not breathe.
“Gasp— wheeze—”
Yeon-woo clutched at his chest and gasped for breath.
The small bird’s gaze fixed upon Yeon-woo, who was suffering under the mother bird’s aura, turned urgent.
—This one saved my life! When I was dying from poison!
In that instant, the crushing aura vanished at once.
“Gah! Cough! Cough-cough!”
Yeon-woo breathed hard, gasping for air.
She sensed the great bird hesitate for a moment.
The small bird seized the gap and thrust something forward.
“Look at this. I’m dying, so this one shared a Medicinal Herb with me. I only met this one because I went to the boundary searching for Medicinal Herbs.”
What the small bird offered was the remaining stem of a Medicinal Herb.
Since the herb’s potency lay in the flower, it seemed only the blossom had been eaten, leaving the stalk behind.
The great bird gazed down at it in silence.
Then her eyes fixed on the small human still catching her breath.
“Whatever the reason, you have set foot in this Nest unbidden. I cannot let you live.”
The great bird’s voice grew quiet.
The content remained firm, yet with just those words, Yeon-woo felt as though she might survive.
“Mother…!”
“Half a Double-Hour. I shall spare you for the span of half a Double-Hour—a debt for what you have done for this one.”
The small bird tried to protest.
Whoosh—!
Massive wings beat the air.
As they fluttered, a gale rose up like the one when the bird had descended.
Yeon-woo watched with her chest clenched as the great bird took to the sky.
The bird shot upward in an instant, climbing higher and higher into the heavens.
“Half a Double-Hour.”
As if the sky itself were resonating, the great bird’s voice swept down on the gale, echoing across the expanse.
With that, the great bird vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
“Ah….”
The small bird sighed, gazing after where her mother had gone.
The bird’s small head bowed toward the ground.
Yeon-woo rose from where she had fallen, drew her Axe, and brushed the dirt from her body.
Yeon-woo scratched her head.
“Bird.”
But the bird could not lift her head.
Yeon-woo leaned her face down in front of the bird’s eyes.
“Crying?”
“I’m sorry, truly sorry. It seems I could not convince Mother.”
The bird speaking thus appeared all the more crestfallen.
All the spirited confidence from moments before had vanished entirely.
“I should have sent you away the moment I saw you. You should never have met me. Mother has never spared a single human I’ve encountered.”
I knew it would come to this from the start.
I knew that when Mother returned, she would try to kill this human.
“It’s been so long since I’ve had fun like that….”
This human desperately chasing after me was so amusing.
I never imagined the human was following because she wanted to eat me.
At first, my intention was to hide, but somewhere along the way, I found this human chasing after me so entertaining that, without realizing it—
“I wasn’t trying to lead you all the way here. I thought if I said you had saved my life, Mother would at least spare you.”
The mother bird had understood.
That despite her receiving help, her life had not truly been saved.
That even without the human’s aid, her child would never have perished.
And so it was half a Double-Hour.
The price of the small kindness the human had offered.
“Mother does not take back her word. So she will certainly come to kill you when the half Double-Hour ends.”
“Is that so?”
Hmm.
Yeon-woo rubbed her chin.
“That’s quite the problem.”
That great bird from just now was truly, overwhelmingly strong.
Her very presence was so overwhelming that even if they fought, there was no chance whatsoever that I could win.
“Then should I escape now, quickly? She’s gone.”
“This Nest is Mother’s domain. She would never be unaware of you trying to leave.”
It was impossible.
After half a Double-Hour, I would be facing certain death.
“During this half Double-Hour… tell me what you want to do. If it’s something I can help with while we’re here, I’ll do anything.”
The small bird seemed to be carrying a weight of guilt.
If he was dying because he’d met this small bird, the pursuit had been Yeon-woo’s own doing.
So he bore the bird no ill will.
“Then let’s gather up the Medicinal Herbs that flew away first.”
—What…?
This was clearly the bird’s responsibility.
“You made me drop them, and now they’re scattered everywhere. So go pick them up.”
The bird’s beak fell open with a soft pop.
“Why? Didn’t you say you’d help with anything?”
—Seriously? With only half a Double-Hour left, you’re going to gather scattered Medicinal Herbs? What’s wrong with your head…!
“Or would you rather I ate you instead? That’s the only thing I really want to do right now.”
The small bird startled with a sharp intake of breath.
It instinctively stepped back two paces.
—This… this human….
Seriously…!
With such an innocent face, how could he speak such cruel words without hesitation…!
—Humans are… terrifying….
“Why not? It’s not like you can’t do it here.”
The human approached with a sinister grin.
A low chuckle, and already saliva pooled at the corners of his mouth.
The bird let out a shrill cry and bolted away.
—I’ll gather them! I’ll gather them up!
After sending the bird off, Yeon-woo retrieved his fallen outer robe.
By the time he’d collected all the scattered Medicinal Herbs on his way back, the bird that had gone in the opposite direction had already returned.
Seeing the Medicinal Herbs it had brought back arranged so neatly, Yeon-woo nodded with satisfaction.
“One, two, three….”
He counted to confirm all the scattered Medicinal Herbs were accounted for, then sorted them by type.
His small hands moved busily as he arranged them, while the bird paced anxiously around him.
—Do you even understand how serious this situation is?
“Twelve of the white-class herbs….”
—A Quarter Hour has already passed just gathering Medicinal Herbs! At this rate you’ll die, I’m telling you! If you die, what good are those herbs anyway!
“All right, I’ve found everything.”
Yeon-woo wrapped the sorted Medicinal Herbs back in his robe and fastened the bundle to his back.
Then he brushed off his clothes and rose to his feet.
—Are you even listening to me?
“I’m hungry.”
Yeon-woo turned his gaze slowly toward the bird.
The bird flinched and retreated backward.
—Why… why are you looking at me like that? You don’t mean to….
Actually going to eat me….
Come to think of it, there wasn’t much he couldn’t eat.
After all, this human had been chasing him down trying to catch him in the first place, and now he was on the verge of death because of it.
And on top of everything, he was starving.
—If I’m going to die anyway… it might as well be worth something….
“Little bird.”
The bird startled.
Its wings trembled as it prepared to take flight at any moment.
“Little bird—”
The human approached with heavy, deliberate steps.
In his hand, an Axe hung from a chain, glinting dully.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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