Chapter 10: Life Always Finds Its Own Way
Dragon eggs signify new life, the continuation of a species and one’s own existence. Every dragon egg is carefully concealed by its parents.
There are also creatures that hoard nutrients, guarding their eggs in the nest until the birth of new life before resuming their external activities.
The dragon egg was treasured by its parents, but how it ended up here remains unknown. Now, however, its parents have clearly come looking for it.
A flame light tore through the verdant curtain from the sky, and a monster clad in purple shell broke through the flames, charging into the group of thief dragons.
Its beak, adorned with menacing keratinous ridges, struck out. With every strike, thief dragons soared high into the air, splattering blood alongside them.
Its spindle-shaped tail bristling with spines swung about, flinging the confused thief dragons behind it. Even before they landed, the terrifying poison had already destroyed the vitality of the thief dragons.
Instantly, a vacuum zone formed around the monster, free of thief dragons, while the skeleton of the scratcher bird was crushed into the soil beneath its feet.
Jie Jie was one of those flung away by this beast’s beak, but the thief dragon’s body vanished the moment it landed in the bushes, leaving behind only a hair spider with a broken leg, watching the deaths of the thief dragons with eight eyes.
He recognized who had arrived – the Black Wolf Bird, an avial monster at the apex of the bird dragon species. While thief dragons could surround and hunt an injured scratcher bird in numbers, facing the Black Wolf Bird meant utter massacre.
“So it really can spit fire, incredible.”
Jie Jie had encountered few large monsters so far; among them, only the Terror Tyrant could use elemental powers to cause damage, but even when it was repelled by the Great Thief Dragon, it never used its abilities.
Now, witnessing the Black Wolf Bird spitting fireballs firsthand gave him quite a shock and sparked his admiration.
Cool? Very cool!
The Black Wolf Bird’s slaughter continued. It seemed to have no desire to hunt, merely wanting to kill every thief dragon it could see.
Another fireball erupted from its mouth, blasting the fleeing thief dragons into the air.
The dragon egg, suspected to be the culprit, flew out of the mouth of a disabled thief dragon and rolled straight to the front of the hair spider. Ten eyes stared intently at the egg – eight belonging to Jie Jie and two to the Black Wolf Bird.
The Black Wolf Bird halted its pursuit of the thief dragons. It stared at the egg, the ferocity in its eyes gradually extinguishing as if identifying something. Its spread wings slowly gathered in.
Finally, it stepped closer to the dragon egg.
But another dragon got there first. A scratcher bird suddenly emerged from the bushes, dashing straight toward the egg. Extending its claws, it snatched the egg and fled deep into the dense forest.
This sudden scratcher bird was none other than Jie Jie, having unlocked a new form. The injuries sustained while in thief dragon form during the earlier encounter with the Black Wolf Bird still remained, though compared to the fractures of the thief dragon and the broken leg of the hair spider, the twice-attenuated injury inherited in scratcher bird form was merely a broken little finger. It hurt while running, but it didn’t significantly affect his movement.
The sight of the Black Wolf Bird spitting fireballs and instantly killing numerous thief dragons awakened Jie Jie’s admiration. Moreover, the Black Wolf Bird’s behavior toward the egg made Jie Jie suspect that the egg belonged to it.
Especially since this dragon egg had resisted both the pecking of the scratcher bird and the stomach pouch of the thief dragon, in Jie Jie’s eyes, it certainly wasn’t just any ordinary monster’s egg.
However, in the ecology Jie Jie understood, unlike the egg-hiding or egg-guarding types, the Black Wolf Bird should belong to the parasitic egg-laying type, laying its eggs in the nests of giant birds.
Giant birds are bird dragons that resemble the Black Wolf Bird somewhat in appearance, but occupy a weaker ecological niche and are frequently bullied by the Black Wolf Bird. Not only do they have to raise the Black Wolf Bird’s eggs, but they are also regularly robbed and attacked. However, on the New Continent, no giant birds have appeared.
Some players familiar with the ecology of monster hunters have specifically discussed this: without giant birds, how would the Black Wolf Bird nurture its offspring – by raising them itself or finding a new surrogate parent? And who would be the new surrogate parent?
Unfortunately, the game developers haven’t provided a clear answer, emphasizing instead that “life always finds its own way.”
If the Black Wolf Bird laid eggs without finding a surrogate parent, it would indeed need to carry the egg around looking for one, and losing the egg would fit the stereotype of being inept at nurturing young.
A wave of intense heat stung Jie Jie’s skin, interrupting his thoughts. He barely managed to jump sideways, breaking a branch and rolling away, fortunately avoiding hitting his head on a tree and keeping his grip on the egg.
As the round-pupiled scratcher bird tried to stand up again, the heat wave from the exploding fireball rushed towards him, curling the crest feathers on his head and arms slightly.
Run, keep running.
Jie Jie urged himself to get up and continue burrowing deeper into the dense forest, moving away from open areas.
Who would have thought that not long ago he was chasing scratcher birds, and now he was being chased as one.
A sharp, ear-piercing roar erupted from behind, rustling the leaves. Jie Jie tilted his head slightly; scratcher bird eyes are located on the sides of their heads, providing a wide field of vision, allowing him to see the Black Wolf Bird taking flight.
But before he could rejoice at escaping the pursuit, a fireball falling from the sky directly shattered the green canopy. Some sparks fell onto the dry leaves on the ground, igniting them.
But Jie Jie’s escape did not stop. The fire on the ground did not have a chance to surround him; he only felt his scalp burning hot, and the crest feathers on his head seemed to catch fire – he was probably bald now?
There was no time to mourn the loss of his once-sprightly large crest feathers. Sheets of heat waves were chasing after him, with the Black Wolf Bird bombing the dense forest from above.
“Roar!”
A fireball that broke through the green canopy did not dissipate but landed directly on Jie Jie. His back’s skin was instantly scalded open, the nerves transmitting pain before being melted by the high temperature, followed by a continuous burning sensation.
Fortunately, after this, the Black Wolf Bird quieted down. The physical disadvantage of bird dragons does not allow them to continuously unleash fireballs. Being able to spit fire does not mean immunity to fire; its throat would be burned by uninterrupted high temperatures, and its mouth would become ulcerated from overheating.
This gave Jie Jie enough time to catch his breath. Transforming from a scratcher bird into a thief dragon, he swallowed the dragon egg into his stomach pouch and limped deeper into the dense forest, squeezing into the gap between wooden walls and large mold colonies.
The noise of the scratcher bird traversing the dense forest disappeared, leaving the Black Wolf Bird lost its target and could only hover in the air.
Jie Jie hid in the gap for who knows how long, listening to the piercing dragon roars fade away before finally feeling satisfied and vomiting out the dragon egg from his stomach pouch.
The sense of accomplishment from leading thief dragons to hunt scratcher birds paled in comparison to the strong sense of achievement from protecting the dragon egg from the Black Wolf Bird.
