Chapter 562 Falcon and the Anomaly

"Huff—"

Its dense, pitch-black mane swaying slightly, a white-hoofed wild bull—the most common sight on the plains—snorted.

Hot breath sprayed from its nostrils as it chewed cud, working over half-digested fodder it had swallowed not long ago and regurgitated from its stomach.

A pair of round, vacant eyes, typical of wild animals, stared blankly at the wilderness ahead.

As a fully mature behemoth over three meters long and weighing more than a ton, few predators on these plains dared to target it, save for the rare and powerful monsters.

Between the two sharp horns on its head, the hard hooves capable of crushing skulls beneath its bulk, and the rock-solid muscles under its thick hide, even the fierce tigers in the nearby forests or the savage brown bears would practically never risk hunting an animal like this by force, barring extreme circumstances.

Not to mention they were herd animals. For a small group like this, consisting of over a dozen adult white-hoofed bulls, even weaker monsters would have to think twice before attacking.

Going by the normal lifespan of a white-hoofed bull, this healthy male in its prime could expect at least another ten years of peace, until old age took it through a sudden illness, or its weakened body became a vulnerability for the herd, turning it into a meal for a powerful predator.

Right now, however, the situation seemed to have changed.

"Moo!"

Accompanied by the vigilant cries of its kin on the periphery, a sudden commotion erupted within the herd.

Many bulls that had been standing in place, leisurely chewing their food, suddenly scattered and galloped away.

This adult bull didn't see what had happened, but driven by the survival instinct carved deep into the bloodline of herbivores, it fled alongside the main group.

Although the threat was most likely just a few coyotes driven mad by hunger, or a leopard accidentally passing by, the bull didn't take it lightly.

Sometimes, for a wild animal, having low intelligence wasn't a bad thing; at least it wouldn't ignore potential dangers out of complacency from past experiences.

This white-hoofed bull's actions were entirely correct. Unfortunately, its luck didn't seem too good.

It had only taken a few galloping strides forward when it accidentally tripped over some loose rocks. As its center of gravity wobbled, it was forcefully shoved by a fleeing companion beside it, and its massive, mountain-like body crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

When it staggered back to its feet, the herd had vanished, leaving it stranded alone at the very rear.

"Moo!"

Letting out a low, muffled cry, the adult bull didn't panic.

Just as it had done during previous dangerous encounters, it turned around, lowered its head, and aimed its sharp horns toward the direction from which the enemy might appear.

Then, as long as it relied on the advantage of its sheer size and strength, it would be able to—

The chaotic, instinctive thoughts in its mind abruptly ceased.

Its field of vision, previously lowered with its head, suddenly spun and soared upward. Scarlet liquid seemed to spray through the air.

Amidst an endless wave of weakness and dizziness, mixed with a bizarre wolf howl and a fleeting streak of pitch-black energy, it caught sight of a headless bull's corpse standing stiffly in place.

It didn't even have time to ponder why a bull corpse was standing there, or why it felt as if it were suddenly flying.

The next second, darkness engulfed its vision and mind like a tidal wave.

"Thud!"

Losing the control of its brain, the headless corpse of the over-one-ton bull slowly collapsed.

Blood spurted like a fountain from the smooth, even stump of its neck.

Not far away, the bull's head tumbled down from the sky, its two horns stabbing upside down into the dirt.

Wolf's Maw clenched tightly onto the sword hilt. The bone cord hanging at his chest, acting as a chain to prevent the blade from being separated from his body, scraped against the hard gray carapace on his chest, letting out crisp clinking sounds.

Xia Nan shook his head slightly, out of habit flicking away the residual blood on the blade.

Wolf's Maw leaned against his shoulder, and the longsword in his mouth was swallowed by the sheath-like fleshy slit on the side of his body, putting the blade away cleanly.

In truth, it didn't require much maintenance. The sheath organ of the Cord-Spine Blade Wolf secreted a special mucus capable of effectively cleaning stains and residue off the blade's surface. The keratinous layer near the opening of the fleshy slit also provided immense friction for sharpening. Every draw and sheathing of the blade was equivalent to a complete maintenance routine for his weapon.

Looking at the bull's corpse on the ground ahead, a thoughtful look flashed through Xia Nan's dark gray wolf eyes, which were hidden within the crevices of his helmet-like carapace.

Of course, he wasn't savoring the bull's death. He wasn't like those filthy, ugly, lowly goblins; his little quirks hadn't developed to that extent.

What Xia Nan was carefully reflecting on right now was the combat process of his recent hunt.

The target was merely a common wild bull. He hadn't used any combat abilities like [Gravity Etching], nor had he even applied his newly leveled Iv4 [Heavy Tide].

He had simply utilized [Fang Hunt] and [Spinning Slash] to execute a simple yet highly efficient sequence.

The entire execution remained silky smooth. Furthermore, in his wolf form, the combination of these two combat techniques showed faint signs of becoming a fixed combo.

But—

As Xia Nan underwent evolution after evolution, he also became more accustomed to his wolf body.

He increasingly felt as though something was missing.

Between or after the dashing "Fang Hunt" and the sweeping arc attack of [Spinning Slash], there was a lack of a certain connective flow, or perhaps a finisher.

It wasn't complete enough.

'Perhaps... I need another combat technique to fully solidify this combo?'

Xia Nan guessed, drawing upon his relatively sharp intuition and his meager experience with combat techniques from having crossed over into this world less than two years ago.

Right now, inside the Secret Realm, there definitely wouldn't be a chance for that.

Once the Lunar Tide Banquet concluded, he could consider initiating a plan for it depending on the situation.

As he pondered, the faint sound of flapping wings came from behind. Looking over, he saw that Sarissa, possessing the body of a sparrow, had landed. Further away, Sasha, in the form of a bloated black bear, was struggling somewhat to squeeze through the tall grass.

Several days had already passed since Xia Nan's battle with the Windforged Squad.

His gains couldn't be considered plentiful, but they weren't nonexistent either.

Relying on Sarissa's informational advantage, Xia Nan had found a few more adventurers nearby. After confirming they weren't allies, he cleanly and decisively sent them out of the Secret Realm.

However, perhaps because the number of remaining adventurers on the map grew increasingly sparse as time passed, Xia Nan's efficiency in locating other ritual participants gradually slowed down.

Fortunately, the boundaries of the Secret Realm were still shrinking, and the rate of contraction was growing faster and faster.

It seemed that in a short while, they would enter the "final circle" that would determine the ultimate victor.

According to Xia Nan's initial plan, he had originally intended to hug the edge of the Secret Realm, gradually moving inward as the map shrank so he wouldn't have to worry about threats from behind.

But with Sarissa's addition, his slightly conservative plan shifted, becoming much more proactive and aggressive.

Their current terrain had also transitioned from the dense forest at the very beginning, to mountainous hills, and finally to the plains they were in now.

"How is it? How far away is the nearest adventurer from here?" Xia Nan asked the sparrow, Sarissa.

[Northwest. Not close.]

The slender bird claws scratched on the ground, conveying the message concisely.

"Roar—" Having just dragged his heavy, bloated body over, Sasha panted heavily and scribbled a few times on the ground with his clumsy bear paw. [Let's eat first, then.]

As for the food, it was naturally the wild bull Xia Nan had just slain.

His two teammates had yielded all the life energy to him. Having completed multiple evolutions, he was naturally willing to use his enhanced body to provide them with some assistance.

Even for Sarissa, who was possessing a sparrow, Xia Nan would often find fallen, rotten logs in the forest, peel back the bark, and help her forage for some small arthropod "delicacies."

It was strange, though. In the real world, she obviously wasn't the type to be keen on such unspeakable food, yet after arriving in the Secret Realm, she actually ate them with great relish.

According to her, she was extremely repulsed at first, but later, when she was so hungry she couldn't stand it, she tried a few bugs and found the taste unexpectedly acceptable, gradually growing accustomed to it.

After following Xia Nan for so many days and being fed with his help, Sarissa's petite sparrow body had expanded a few sizes, making her look quite chubby.

He just hoped that after leaving the Secret Realm and returning to reality, she wouldn't develop any weird habits.

Sweeping his wolf eyes over the bull's corpse ahead, Xia Nan pondered whether to use this brief rest to start a fire and enjoy some cooked food for a change.

Suddenly, he sensed something.

The giant wolf beast, encased in metal-plate carapace, abruptly raised its head.

He saw an intense, fluorescent blue light flashing in the sky to the northwest.

Like a rapidly coalescing and swiftly falling meteor, it trailed a long tail as it plummeted from the firmament at a speed visible to the naked eye.

'Another airdrop?' A trace of suspicion rose in Xia Nan's mind as he unconsciously compared it to the previous fluorescent blue light cluster that had provided him with a massive amount of combat technique proficiency and life energy.

He noticed that although the colors of the light emitted by both were roughly the same, the falling speed of this current cluster was clearly much faster.

Consequently, its spherical shape had been stretched into a goose-egg-like oval due to its high-speed movement.

His wolf eyes instinctively narrowed. The exceptional vision granted by his powerful body after the Fourth Evolution allowed him to faintly make out some indistinct, blurred silhouettes deep within the light cluster.

"This is—"

Xia Nan didn't hide his movements, causing his two teammates nearby to also spot the fluorescent blue light cluster falling in the distant northwest.

Having not yet evolved and being mere ordinary beasts, they lacked such strong observational skills. At first, they were pleasantly surprised, thinking it was a naturally generated life energy supply in the Secret Realm like before. It wasn't until Xia Nan pointed out what he had discovered that they both fell into thought.

[Could it be a trap set by "Algae Scale" Dodd?]

Sasha's round black bear body sprawled on the ground as he wrote.

[Can't be certain.] the sparrow wrote in response from the side.

Regarding Dodd's purpose for hosting such a large-scale ritual, the three of them had already exchanged thoughts and discussed it along the way, combining the information they had each gathered before coming to Stodd Island.

The first thing that could be confirmed was that with "Algae Scale" making such a massive scene—first expending vast resources to host the Lunar Tide Banquet, and then dragging a full hundred veteran adventurers into the Secret Realm at the risk of making enemies—given his personality, it certainly wasn't just for fun. It had to be for some extremely important and crucial purpose.

Now, integrating the mechanism of slaughter and evolution within the Secret Realm ritual, the group guessed that his reason for holding the ritual was highly likely for an advancement in his professional path, and his scheme was not small.

Under these circumstances, to ensure the ritual proceeded smoothly, he ought to possess certain conveniences unknown to ordinary participants like Xia Nan and Sasha.

It could be a higher starting race, or perhaps an advantage in evolution speed.

As for "Algae Scale" Dodd's current progress, Xia Nan's side was completely in the dark, lacking even a shred of intel.

In order to secure the final victory, they could not afford to miss any potential opportunity for advancement.

"Regardless, let's head over and take a look first."

Currently situated on a plain with relatively sparse vegetation, the speed and explosive advantage of Xia Nan's [Fang Hunt] could be brought into full play, and his size was nothing short of massive.

If they truly encountered any danger, he would be able to carry both of his teammates out together.

Whether from the perspective of stopping "Algae Scale" Dodd's ritual, or for the massive amount of combat technique proficiency they might reap like from the previous airdrop, Xia Nan couldn't just let it slip by.

After a brief discussion, the group finally settled on a preliminary course of action.

They would temporarily abandon their meal and rush toward the light cluster's landing spot.

And just as Xia Nan had judged, this cluster of fluorescent blue energy—which differed significantly in appearance from the previous airdrop—fell much faster, no longer taking on that slow, leisurely pace from before.

—

By the time the trio rushed to its landing zone—a small hill on the plains—the fluorescent blue light cluster was nearly touching the ground.

The high-frequency hum of energy echoing in the air had long since scattered the surrounding wild animals.

The surrounding tall grass was pressed flat against the ground by the fierce winds surging from above, undulating like waves.

Faintly revealing several figures of various shapes.

Clearly, they were adventurers on the plains drawn over by the commotion here.

Before they had time to observe carefully, they heard a sharp, high-pitched screech from above.

A sleek dark silhouette flashed past the corner of their eyes.

A falcon, its eagle-like eyes flashing with the distinct gleam of an intelligent creature, had already taken advantage of its ability to fly, diving straight toward the light cluster.

Perhaps he had glimpsed adventurers in other areas fighting over and absorbing them, knowing that it contained a massive amount of life energy and could only be touched once it fully landed.

His timing was practically perfect.

He first circled in the distant sky to prepare, then predicted its landing time based on the falling speed of the life energy, accelerating in advance.

The moment the fluorescent blue light cluster landed and its restriction was lifted, he would make contact with it at exactly the right time.

It could only be said that those pulled into the Ritual Secret Realm were indeed veteran adventurers with considerable experience and exceptional abilities, pushing their surrounding environment and their own capabilities to the absolute limit.

But unfortunately, he wasn't "Algae Scale" Dodd after all, and didn't know all the mechanisms within the Secret Realm. Nor was he like Xia Nan, who had undergone multiple evolutions and had practical experience absorbing an airdrop, allowing him to sharply detect the difference between the current light cluster and the previous one.

"Hum—Boom!"

Falcon did not absorb the life energy as imagined.

In the instant Falcon made contact with the fluorescent blue light cluster—the eagle screech came to an abrupt halt.

Replaced instead by his instantly charred feathers and flesh, as well as a rapidly churning and shifting silhouette—a blurry humanoid outline sketched in the air as the light mist transformed into tangible orange-red flames.