Its body was three times larger than the largest goose she had ever seen, and its wingspan reached almost 3 meters.
Its body is covered with gray-white feathers, and each of its two claws has four toes.
The head was the strangest part to her - at first glance it looked as if it had no head.
The place where the slender neck and beak meet is as smooth as a tube, with no visible protrusions or eyes.
And that beak—
What to say.
It was moon-white in color and longer than any bird she had ever seen, at a full meter.
The beast opened its wings and its mouth at the same time, and she saw two rows of fine, knife-like teeth on the upper and lower beaks.
Finally, there was one thing she didn't quite understand.
When the beak is closed, there is a hole at the front tip.
She was sure it was a hole.
Black.
It is extremely obvious against the contrast of its moon-white beak and gray-white body.
"Gah——!"
The strange bird flapped its wings and rushed over. Its tube-like neck swung and flicked, and its sharp beak stabbed at the woman.
Xia Yibing dodged it with a small jump to the side, leaned over, supported the ground with her left hand, and jumped upside down in the air. She let go of the short dagger with her right hand and reached down -
Grab the strange bird's neck tightly.
Then he dropped his body downwards, pressing his knees against its back and pinning it to the ground.
“Ga-ga!”
The strange bird shook its neck desperately trying to struggle.
Xia Yibing would not give it a chance to recover from its injury. She took the short sword in her left hand and slashed it across the neck of the strange bird. She bounced back and let it frantically frantically stay in place.
The scene was terrifying. As the bird struggled, blood and a strange white liquid continued to spurt out of its neck. Seeing this, Xia Yibing stepped back a little to make sure she would not get stuck by any liquid.
It took several minutes before the thing calmed down.
Xia Yibing brought a stone and hit it a few times.
After making sure it was really dead, he grabbed the two pieces of the body and hurried into the woods.
Chapter 26: Fright
"Is this the Mist Falcon?"
Standing by the fence, Hitzfeld frowned as he watched a group of bare-chested villagers passing by carrying a huge strange bird.
The body structure of this bird is really strange.
"Doesn't it have eyes?" She turned to ask Ashley, who replied affirmatively: "Yes, the Mist Falcon has no eyes."
“How to hunt without eyes?” A big question mark appeared on the gray-haired girl’s forehead. With such a large body size, it goes without saying that the appetite is huge. Without eyes, they cannot track prey. How can this race survive?
"I don't know either~" Ashley glared back very naturally and seriously, not feeling any shame at all.
Your ancestors in the Wom village have lived here for more than a hundred years, and have been fighting against this strange bird for so many years. Have you never thought about why it has no eyes?
Hitzfeld was very unhappy with this attitude.
That feeling was like a kindergarten teacher facing an ignorant child... She wanted to guide the child, to help the child, but the child refused to change and didn't even understand why she was angry.
"If you mean 'eyes' alone, then I can tell you that they are superfluous organs."
A voice came from the side.
Hitzfeld turned around and saw a female villager walking towards him.
The people in Worm Village had the same brown skin and light blonde hair as Ashley, and both men and women were very strong, with some women even stronger than men. Therefore, the way she could tell the difference between men and women was to see whether they were wearing clothes on their upper body.
The person's upper body was clothed, and if you looked closely, you could see that she had no Adam's apple. So even though her arms were thicker than Hitzfeld's thighs, Hitzfeld still assumed that she was of the same sex.
"I'm Mogali." The female villager came up to the girl and looked down at her with her 180-centimeter-tall figure. "Captain of the Sky Hunters."
"I'm……"
"You don't have to tell me your name, outsider." Mogali interrupted Hitzfeld, "I will not change my attitude towards you until you truly decide to join the village."
"Then why bother saving us?" Hitzfeld narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Of course it's because the village chief feels that you are needed." Mogali sneered, "But I only agree with half of it... That man is very good, but you——"
She glanced back and forth at the girl's "thin" body with contempt.
“Having a child is difficult.”
A stupid barbarian.
Hitzfeld's rage value has increased.
"You just said that eyes are redundant organs for fog falcons." She decided to skip this topic. "Can I understand that... this is because they live in thick fog all year round, and their vision doesn't play a big role in the fog, so their vision has degenerated over the years?"
"Degradation...?" Mogali was stunned for a moment, chewing on the word, "Degradation... Change... You are right! This should be the reason."
"So what do they usually eat?"
"A lot. Fish in the water, other seabirds, they will eat people if they get the chance."
"I noticed there's a hole in the front of its beak? What's that for?"
"You ask so many questions." Mogali said impatiently, "How should I know what those are for... they just look like that!"
"Ashley!" She turned to look at the woman next to her.
"Captain...Captain!" Ashley's body tensed up and she looked much more nervous than usual.
"Have you passed the Feather Suit training?"
"Not yet...not yet!"
"So you still want to be a hunter?" Mogali laughed sarcastically, "You are nothing like your mother! If I were you, I would have jumped down out of shame!"
"Ashley's...mother, what's her name?" Hitzfeld interrupted again.
"None of your business-"
Mogali wanted to give her a vicious look and even considered teaching her a lesson without hurting the girl too much.
But when she turned her head, a hot sea breeze blew, slightly blowing away Hitzfeld's left bangs.
"..."
Mogali saw the golden eye.
Her reaction at that moment was extremely abnormal. If Hitzfeld were to evaluate it, it would be like: a fugitive who had committed murder earlier hid in a shabby country home for many years. He restrained his temper, was kind to others and dared not argue with anyone. He lived in fear and trepidation for twenty years, and suddenly one day he saw the offspring of the victim's family on the street who vowed to avenge him.
Her distorted expression, trembling body, and rapidly retreating steps...all fit the portrait perfectly.
"...Captain Mogali?"
Hitzfeld raised his eyebrows slightly.
Noticing that the other person was afraid of her, she took a step forward.
"No... No no! Don't come over here!!!"
Mogali retreated even further, raising her hands to block in front of her, avoiding her gaze, and not daring to look her in the face. Finally, she simply turned around and fled under her - and Ashley's - astonished gaze.
"…Is there a legend in this village that 'people with golden or two-colored eyes will bring disaster'?"
Hitzfeld asked dully.
"……No."
Ashley responded dumbly.
"Absolutely not."
Hitzfeld suddenly felt a little irritated.
Yes……
From the time he was rescued by the Wom Village until now, everything seems to be normal.
But always...
There is always something hidden.
Very subtle.
Something that made her feel weird.
It would jump out and cause trouble from time to time.
I still…want to trust my feelings.
Standing at the edge of the jungle, watching a group of villagers in the distance dealing with the body of the Mist Falcon, and some short children cheering and screaming, Hitzfeld thought to himself.
It was obviously a harmonious scene, but because of Mogali's weird reaction, she always felt that something was particularly awkward.
Although Ashley was also scared when she saw my left eye, it was definitely not that kind of reaction.
Mogali's reaction was like an animal encountering a natural enemy.
She is afraid.
If I showed my left eye to the other villagers, how would they react?
Will it be the same as Ashley?
Or is it the same as Mogali?
At this moment, Hitzfeld noticed that in the crowd in front, a hunter who was talking to someone else - he had not yet taken off his feather armor - bent his hands behind his back and gently hammered the middle of his back a few times.
Startled slightly.
She felt that this scene seemed a little familiar.
By chance, a naked child jumped by.
It was nothing at first - but he suddenly stopped in the middle, bent his hands behind his back, and repeated the hunter's back-beating action.
"...!?"
Hitzfeld's eyes widened slightly.
"Ashley."
"what?"
"What's your mother's name?"
"I...I don't know..."
"But everyone else calls her Kay. She gave me my name too! Ashley - Ashley Kay~"
"Hey?"
Halfway through her speech, Ashley saw Hitzfeld turn around and walk back.
"Shits...what is it, where are you going?"
Hitzfeld didn't even notice what she was shouting.
She remembered the blessing slate placed in the stone house.
These primitive people...the villagers of Wom Village have no concept of celebrating birthdays.
And they don't know how to write Sarat.
Then the only possibility is that it was left by Ashley's mother.
This was nothing.
But if we refer to Worm Village...there are no records left by outsiders anywhere on the entire Brays Island...given such a background, the existence of this board is very abrupt.
Hitzfeld had every reason to suspect that there was something wrong with this thing.
It's not just a question of why it was "allowed" to survive.
