In the vast blue afternoon sky, a huge snow-white fox was peacefully floating in the air, the giant furball putting the soft and fluffy clouds to shame.
Atop this furball, there was a man, only barely visible, as he was sunk into the white fluffy bed. He seemed to be in a state of deep heavenly sleep that could make anyone jealous.
However, all of a sudden, this wholesome calm scene was disturbed.
KRAA! KRAA! KRAA! KRAA!
A dozen ravens appeared out of nowhere, seemingly descended from the heavens above, and started attacking chaotically.
"Again?" Liam's eyes flashed with a murderous glint as he swung his sword around, slashing at the pitch-black birds.
And this time, they were not merely Level 20 birds.
They were around Level 30 and clearly had the potential to do sizeable damage and perhaps even magic.
As if answering his own thoughts, Liam also noticed tiny wisps of black smoke around these ravens.
"Not good." He quickly commanded Luna to head down to safety before anything more unexpected happened.
The fox growled as she flung aside a couple of ravens that were pecking at her from the side relentlessly and then plunged to the ground headfirst.
Even when compared to these Level 30 beasts, her movements were more agile and swift and she was easily able to maneuver, giving the bunch of squawking ravens the slip.
She dove down like a bullet, and just before she landed on the ground, Liam quickly jumped off of her.
He did not want to give the ravens any chance to recover. So before he even balanced himself, he started blasting the birds with fire bullets.
The ravens who were right on their tail were utterly caught off guard. It was not as if they could change their direction without losing their speed.
And when they did this, they became even easier targets to Liam.
He did not hold back and sent out sharp arrows made of ice that accurately pierced the birds right beneath their skull in their weak vital point and killed them instantly.
THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.
The entire fight had only lasted for a minute, and the dozen ravens dropped down to the ground, one after the other, dead and lifeless.
"Where did these even come from?" Liam let out a small breath, looking at the dead birds.
And like clockwork, familiar small bluish-white soul beads started popping out of the dead ravens.
Liam suddenly had an idea. He quickly settled on the stony ground they had landed on and focused on the soul beads.
Not one at a time like he did before.
Instead, this time he tried to focus on multiple beads.
"One… two… three…" Liam gritted his teeth and counted, and soon, just like before, he started feeling the huge weight and pressure on his body.
"So three is my limit?"
He did not mind it as this was already a huge improvement from before.
Also, even if it was only three, all he had done so far was sense them. He still had to smother them in mana and chisel them into living soul undeads. That was a long way to go.
Liam let out and sucked in strained breaths of air as he continued holding these three soul beads in place.
He manipulated mana into tiny hammers and started refining and forging them.
Though he had already done each of these steps hundreds of times now, handling more than one soul-bead was a lot different.
The difficulty was exponentially increased, and his mental strength was also getting drained a lot faster.
However, despite zig-zagging on the edge, Liam somehow mustered enough strength to bring it back home.
A few minutes later, all three shiny beads were forged to perfection.
They thrummed alive in his palm and then expanded to become the ominous vicious ravens he had fought before.
KRAAA! KRAAA! KRAAA!
Liam looked at the birds tiredly as if he had personally birthed them which wasn't too far off the mark.
He was making steady and small improvements in his forging, which was satisfactory.
With only limited knowledge and no proper guidance, he was content as long as his skill did not stagnate and reach a roadblock.
Liam retrieved a canteen from his inventory space and drank some water.
He then tossed in a few recovery berries and gave one last look at the ravens before dismissing these as well.
"Hmmm… This is the second time I am being attacked by ravens…" Liam ruffled his hair and stood up to look around. "I don't think I am in the territory of black ravens…"
"Just what is going on?"
He walked over and patted Luna as he once again climbed onto the huge white fox, and the duo continued their journey.
Talon was lagging behind them quite a bit but because of the fight, by the time they were up in the air, the wind ripper had caught up to them and the group once again resumed their journey.
They were almost close to the location, so Liam did not bother resting this time. He also had an unsettling itch at the back of his mind thinking about the ravens.
A few more minutes passed by in silence when the landscape under them suddenly changed.
The lush green forests that were full of life earlier now disappeared, to be replaced by dry and dreary withered trees and thorny brambles.
Death and disease plagued the surroundings. Everything in the near vicinity was the same. It looked as if someone had sucked every single ounce of life from this territory.
Even a strong stench of death and decay floated in the air, swimming around in all the nooks and corners.
Liam took a big whiff of this nauseating pungent air and grinned in amusement. "We are here, Luna."
Kyuuuu…
The white fox nodded in response, squirming and squiggling her nose in discomfort.
And in front of them, laid a majestic palatial building, sprawled across the huge expanse of deadlands.
