Daniel followed the escaping flying beast for at least two hundred kilometers, until finally, an immensely large tree started to appear in the horizon. This tree was mind bogglingly big,it reached at least ten kilometers in height, and its crown spanned for at least a dozen kilometers. Its trunk was white with black spots, and the bark appeared to be extremely smooth, definitely too much to be climbed.
The tree was of such a large size, that the extreme winds that tempered it relentlessly, and at a speed that would easily turn a small-sized city into dust, could not even make its trunk budge, and the agitated motion of its thick branches could hardly be seen.
The flash of multicolored lights, which Daniel was following by projecting himself in the air thanks to constant waves of immortal essence ejected from his back, had turned back into the extremely large flying beast, which after reaching the immense tree, had perched itself on one of the large branches, right next to two more flying beasts of close to its same level.
Seemingly originated by the tree itself, these powerful winds were enough to form rips in Daniel's clothes, leaving him with no choice but to slightly deviate the gales that were directed at him, and force them to move around his body.. Unfortunately that was more than enough to alert the flying beasts, which were naturally very sensitive to the changes in the winds around them. Deviating a single wisp of wind, was not unlike dropping a stone in the lake where the red carp lived, and expect it not to feel it.
"A human followed you.. Idiot!" said one of the flying beasts with a shrill voice.
The body of this flying beast was completely different from the multicolored hawk-like beast, and instead, it appeared much more similar to a cinder grey-colored condor. The third and last flying beast perched next the them, was a milky white crow, which unexpectedly, said with a singsong sounding voice "We have to kill him fast.."
The multicolored hawk-like beast turned to look behind him, and floating in mid air, he saw Daniel, covered in dark essence while holding a different greatsword in his right arm. It hadn't noticed him at all, despite the fact that it was the flying beast whose sight was the most advanced, causing him to feel a great deal of shame.
"That human again.." muttered the hawk-like beast before opening his wings and waving them once, propelling itself in the air. He then flew in front of Daniel, which was now focusing on finding a balance for his bubble of air, and trying not to be torn to pieces by the oppressive winds.
"I don't have much time, why don't you all attack me at the same time?" Said Daniel with confidence while slowly waving his huge weapon left and right.
A series of shrill laughs started to resound in the air.. The three flying beasts had found Daniel's words more hilarious than threatening or challenging. The white crow turned to look at the hawk-like beast, and said "Don't kill him immediately.. Let's play with him for a bit. It's been awhile since we've had the pleasure to play with a harmless human." It could be felt by its voice, that the white was a vicious creature that enjoyed killing.
A big smile appeared on Daniel's face, as he turned to look at the big crow perched right behind the hawk-like beast, and said "You'll be my opponent." His tone was both extremely threatening, filled with confidence, and playful. So much so, that a strange shiver had ran down the white crow's feathery back.
The hawk-like beast did not waste any more time and dashed towards Daniel, but right before it could reach him, Daniel had teleported right next to the tree and to the side of the white crow. His greatsword came down faster than the speed of sound, and in a moment, a river of bright red blood started to spurt out of the hole where the left wing of the white crow once was.
*CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK* *CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK*
Daniel's sudden attack had come to such a shock, that the white crow had given up to its educated human speech, and had instead opted for its primal animalistic call. Its croaks resounded for tens of kilometers, causing the smaller birds in the far away trees to fly up in the air, and scatter in terror.
A second attack was about to finish the job, but a quick peck from the grey vulture hit precisely the spot where Daniel's hand was holding the sword. An attack which, in order to avoid, Daniel had had to let go of his greatsword, and look as the powerful winds took it at hundreds of meters in the distance in a matter of instants.
The hawk-like beast was about to join the fray, but it suddenly turned to look in the distance. There, it saw a relatively small wave of water which floated in the air while carrying a massive red carp, and three more humans. Of course, the hawk-like beast could recognized them all.
"You.." muttered the hawk-like flying beast in a low voice "FOOL! You're seeking death!" It then shouted before ignoring Daniel, and dashing towards the red carp.
In theory, the red carp's idea of appearing with just enough water to allow him to float in the air, would be akin to suicide. But that was only if Roley and Jerigh weren't there.
The moment the hawk-like beast got close to the red carp, five mid-level water sphere appeared all around Roley's body. He then quickly threw them in the distance, and removed the limitation from each of them, causing heavy amounts of water essence to be emanated from them.
The humidity in the air started to condense all around these sphere, and immense clouds started to cover the entire area.
Due to the powerful winds, this large mass of microscopic droplets of water were pressed together into bigger drops, and forced to follow the motion of the wind.
The Hawk-like beast was about to laugh at the stupidity of Roley's action, but after he felt these small droplets of water being controlled by the red carp, it immediately snapped out of its state of mind, and attacked the red carp with as much power as it could.
Der had already dashed past the hawk-like beast, and had gone to support Daniel, which was now sparring with an already healed white crow, and the grey condor.
The grey condor was not as good at flying as the hawk and crows were, but be it melee or ranged, its attacks were without a doubt the most dangerous. It was capable of pecking an enemy dozens of time in a second thanks to the muscular neck that supported its head, and possessed the largest wingspan of the three flying beasts, which allowed it to create the most powerful winds amongst its peers.
On the other hand, the main power of the hawk-like beast were its lightning fast attacks, as well as its otherworldly vision and reflexes needed to act on such a high level of speed.
Last but not least, was the white crow, whose main method of attacking were its supersonic screeching screams, which could easily break the eardrums of a weaker being if heard at a close distance, as well as damaging their internal organs, and leaving them squirming in pain.
Daniel had already decided to let the red carp fight against the hawk-like beast, as it had a personal score to settle with it. At the same time, he would fight against the remaining beasts. Fortunately, the flying beasts were only three, and he, the red carp and Der, were of even powers with them.
He was now avoiding the powerful thrusts of the condor's head, while the white crow inched closer to send precisely directed screeching screams his way. He could feel his powerful organs start to churn, but thanks to his control over sound essence, and the fact that he could make use of the powerful gusts of wind to partially deflect the sounds, he was able to resist.
The wing of the milky white crow had grown back only seconds after it had been cut, and that was one of the powers of that particular beast. Its body was, oddly enough, made out of naturally formed healing essence, hence the white color and the ability to heal in extremely short amounts of time.
Hundreds of pecks forced Daniel to jump left and right, until finally, the condor made a mistake. Due to the fact that it wasn't managing to hit Daniel no matter how many pecks it sent at him, it had decided to change strategy, and try to guess where he would be at a certain moment before attacking. Unfortunately, Daniel's reaction was fast.. Too fast in fact.
He quickly stopped the motion of his dodging before finding himself in the area in which the condor was sending an attack, and as the long neck of the flying beast stretched past him, he slashed downwards with his sword.
*CLINK* *BZZZZZZZT*
The sword was not able to pierce through the thick wing which the condor had almost instantly used to shield its neck from Daniel's attack, but the moment the sword and its wing touched, a powerful wave of electricity ran through its body, paralyzing it completely.
Unable to keep itself perched at the large branches anymore, the grey condor dived from the large tree in a state of immobility.
Daniel was about to follow it and finish it, but before he could, powerful gales of wind hit his back, tearing his clothes to pieces, and leaving a few shallow cuts on his back.
After noticing Der dashing straight towards the falling condor, Daniel turned to look at the white crow, then, he said "You can't do anything to me, bird."
*CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*
Another sonic attack was sent by the white crow. This time, the power of the attack was so high, that Jerigh and Roley, who were still at the fifth stage of cultivation, were forced to cover their ears in pain. Their organs were contracting, causing the food in their stomach to almost travel the way back out of their body.
Unfortunately for the crow, this attack had close to no effect to Daniel, which simply squinted his eyes as two droplets of blood ran down his ears.
Only angered by the attack, Daniel made two knives appear in his hands. These knives were short, and their blades were serrated. Anyone that saw these two knives would feel a shiver down their backs from the simple idea of being cut from them.
Daniel teleported from the position he was standing right next to the white crow, and slashed with the knife he was holding in his left hand right on the craw's leg, cutting it right off. He then teleported once again, appearing right under its stomach and leaving one more bloody gash on it. The third time he teleported, he was on the beast's back, which he stabbed multiple times at an incredibly fast speed. Each of these stabs were incredibly painful, as the serrated blades of the knives ripped the crow's flesh whenever the knives were pulled back out.
Unable to do anything to protect itself, the crow entered in a state of quick regeneration.. Trying to resist long enough for one of its companions to rescue it. Its hope were high, and they stayed that way even when Daniel's knife was elongated through his use of metal essence, and pierced its brain.. Killing it instantly.
A call filled with pain was heard coming from a few kilometers below where Daniel and the rest had been fighting. It was caused by the condor which Der had managed to reach before it could manage to regain its full mobility. Before dying, it had managed to peck at Der's leg, leaving a large hole on it. Unfortunately, that was something that Der had allowed it to do, so that it could grab its neck with his powerful arms, and after squeezing tightly, snapped it.
Just a few kilometers away, the massive hawk-like beast, along with Jerigh and Roley, were enveloped by an impressive looking hurricane which had formed due to the powerful winds and storms.