Chapter 46: First battle at Parva

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: First battle at Parva

The instant Eric crossed the shimmering dimensional crack, a gale of biting alpine wind slammed into him like a physical barrier.

He emerged onto a narrow shale ledge jutting precariously along the sheer waist of a colossal, cloud-piercing peak. In every direction, jagged, snow-dusted ridges sliced through swirling layers of gray mist like the teeth of a sleeping titan. To his right, the cliff face dropped away into a vertical abyss falling hundreds of meters down into a shadowed gorge choked with razor-sharp boulders and drifting fog.

The Parva Mountains were vast, breathtaking, and utterly unforgiving. A single misstep on this loose scree would send a cultivator plunging to their death, regardless of their rank.

With a focused pulse of his spiritual sea, Eric opened his beast gate.

*SHING.*

In a swirl of cold, smoky Shadow mana, Coal manifested directly into the thin mountain air, his obsidian plumage rustling against the howling updraft.

"Take to the high currents and scout the perimeter, Coal," Eric commanded, his eyes tracking the jagged ridgeline above. "The checkpoint officers warned of aggressive aerial predators in these valleys. Maintain sensory vigilance."

*Caw!*

Coal let out a sharp, resonant cry and kicked off the limestone outcrop.

Activating his Skystride, the crow didn’t merely flap his wings against the crosswinds. he stepped upon the atmospheric pressure itself, ascending in a near-vertical trajectory with terrifying grace. Banking hard against a thermal plume, he began sweeping wide, vigilant spirals above the jagged crags.

Barely two minutes into the reconnaissance patrol, Coal’s spiritual signal flared with sharp, urgent hostility across their soul link.

Eric snapped his head upward.

Far across the expanse of the pale gray overcast, a solitary dark silhouette was piercing through the cloud bank, descending toward their narrow shale path with blinding speed.

"What is that thing...?" Eric muttered, narrowing his eyes as he rested his right hand on the hilt of his new weapon.

*SHLICK.*

The Wavecaller slid smoothly from its scabbard with a faint, resonant hum. The ivory, pale-blue straight blade reflected the muted alpine light, its serpent-bone structure vibrating with an eager aquatic hum as Eric channeled a thin current of liquid mana into the grip.

Eric sank his weight into a low, centered stance, grinding the soles of his reinforced leather boots into the loose slate to secure his footing.

"Combat positions, Coal. Target is closing fast."

Within heartbeats, the descending horror resolved into grotesque clarity, sending a cold shiver of repulsion down Eric’s spine.

It was an airborne monstrosity roughly the size of an iron-rimmed carriage wheel, a bulbous, fleshy sphere of pale, veiny skin dominated by a single, colossal golden eyeball. Writhing and snapping beneath the ocular sphere were half a dozen muscular, rubbery tendrils that whipped rhythmically through the freezing air, propelling the creature forward like an atmospheric squid.

Focusing his intent, Eric triggered his innate talent.

*Appraisal.*

│ Race: Eyestalker

│ Rank: E

│ Stage: Soldier

│ Level: 2

*A Level 2 Eyestalker,* Eric analyzed, immediately retrieving the species profile from the Association’s bestiary archives on his smartband.

*A classic glass-cannon aerial skirmisher. Its exterior flesh mantle has virtually zero kinetic or structural defense, clean steel will sever it without resistance. But its offensive projection is lethal: concentrated, high-temperature thermal rays.*

He also recalled the practical extraction notes logged by expedition guilds: the Eyestalker’s rubbery hide and stringy meat were foul, toxic, and utterly worthless on the market. However, its pressurized ocular fluid and deep vitreous blood were premium alchemical commodities, traded heavily to brew high-grade sensory perception drops and thermal-resistant salves.

"Coal, watch that pupil and stay evasive!" Eric commanded through the soul link. "Do not give it a static target!"

The Eyestalker locked onto Eric’s solitary figure standing exposed along the narrow ledge. Detecting human vitality, its massive golden iris dilated with erratic ferocity. Thick, crimson veins bulged across the white sclera as concentrated thermal mana gathered into a blinding scarlet pinprick at the center of its pupil.

*ZZZZZT!*

A scorching, needle-thin beam of superheated crimson energy lanced through the mist with a deafening sizzle, driving straight toward Eric’s sternum.

*Shadow Steps!*

Eric didn’t dare test the heat threshold of his explorer leathers against a Soldier-rank thermal projector. Pumping a dense pulse of liquid mana down through his ankles, his body dissolved into a phantom blur, gliding three paces laterally along the cliff contour.

*BOOM!*

The thermal ray slammed violently into the solid granite wall inches behind where Eric had stood a fraction of a second prior. The stone flash-vaporized on impact, detonating into a shower of white-hot slag and spraying molten rock shards across the path.

Before the aberration could sweep the sizzling beam to track Eric’s recovery, a piercing war cry tore through the upper wind.

*SKRRRAAAK!*

Having orbited cleanly into the monster’s blind upper quadrant, Coal folded his wings and plummeted like an obsidian guillotine.

*Skystride!*

With explosive aerial vectoring, Coal redirected his trajectory mid-drop, snapping beneath the Eyestalker’s thrashing tendrils before the floating eyeball could even rotate its optical axis.

*Shadow Talons!*

Dense, smoky blades of dark Shadow mana extended from Coal’s ivory talons, humming with the terrifying physical density of a Soldier-rank beast.

*SQUELCH!*

Coal carved cleanly through the cluster of thrashing lower appendages like a red-hot cleaver shearing through tallow.

Thick, pungent violet fluid erupted into the freezing mountain air as three heavy tendrils were severed in a single, high-speed strafe. The Eyestalker emitted a piercing, shriek of agony, pitching violently to the side as it lost its atmospheric propulsion.

Coal granted it zero quarter.

Pivoting instantly off an invisible pocket of compressed air with Skystride, the crow flipped upright and drove his iron-hard ivory beak straight into the monster’s unarmored rear mantle.

*CRUNCH!*

The strike punched clean through the fibrous muscle bed anchoring the optic nerve. Coal wrenched backward with a brutal snap of his neck, tearing open a massive, ragged cavity and severing the main mana conduits powering the eye.

Deprived of both directional control and internal mana flow, the blinding crimson glow in the beast’s pupil sputtered out in a shower of dull sparks.

The grotesque mass went totally limp, tumbling out of the sky like a punctured leather sack and slamming onto the shale ledge right at Eric’s boots with a wet, nauseating slap.

The giant golden eye gave one final, sluggish spasm before glazing over into complete death.

Eric lowered the Wavecaller, a sharp, satisfied grin spreading across his face as Coal swooped down to land proudly upon his leather pauldron, clicking his beak in victory ℴ

"Fast, surgical, and ruthless," Eric said, reaching up to gently stroke Coal’s dark neck feathers. "Now let’s harvest that vitreous fluid before it coagulates in this freezing wind, our first Soldier-grade expedition starts right now."