"A sand eagle…" Elyara muttered, her eyes narrowing as a bow of radiant gold appeared in her right hand.
Luo Bingqing's eyes also glimmered faintly, a blue light flashing across them, and the temperature in the surroundings dropped several degrees.
Azrael smiled faintly when he sensed the sand eagle was level 27 monster. A perfect target for all three of them.
The Fallen Star in his hand tremble slightly, and its black blade began to glow faintly with a green light.
"We need to bring it down from the sky," Azrael said, his sharp gaze fixed on the monster as it circled high above them, refusing to descend.
At the same time, all three of them felt tiny sand particles gathering in the sky around the eagle, a clear sign that it was preparing an attack.
"Leave it to me," Elyara said confidently, raising her bow as she aimed straight at the circling monster.
A golden radiance surged, flaring along the bowstring, and an arrow of condensed light, sharp and radiant formed in her grip.
Elyara had the power of the Light Element, and her proficiency with it was exceptional. Azrael hadn't personally witnessed her sparring matches during the first day of class, but Felix had told him she was quite strong.
The instant Elyara's bow locked onto the sand eagle, the monster seemed to sense the incoming danger.
The eagle shrieked violently, and the grains of sand gathering around its body began to spin furiously. In mere moments, they formed a massive vortex of sand that encircled its body like a protective shield.
Elyara's expression remained unchanged by the display and she released the arrow.
The golden arrow shot out like lightning, piercing through the air and striking the sand vortex in an instant.
The arrow burrowed a few inches into the vortex, but the grinding force of the whirling sand shredded it apart before it could fully pierce through to the monster.
But the moment the arrow was destroyed, something unusual occurred.
The temperature at the spot of the arrow's impact spiked dramatically and in an instant, the spinning sand in that area melted and crystallized, hardening into pure glass.
The sand eagle was caught off guard by the sudden change, but before it could even react—
The sound of air being split apart reached its ears and another arrow was already upon it.
The second golden arrow shattered the crystallized sand barrier with explosive force and pierced directly into one of the monster's wings.
The sand eagle shrieked in agony as light-brown blood sprayed out from the wound. The point of impact ignited with scorching energy, and the monster felt as though its wing was ablaze.
Losing balance, the eagle plummeted downward, shrieking wildly. Though in terrible pain, it managed to steady itself when it was just twenty meters above the cliff's surface.
But just as it attempted to rise again, the temperature around it dropped drastically and tiny ice flecks began drifting down, blanketing its body.
The cold seeped into its flesh and wherever the flecks landed, frost spread, freezing those parts instantly.
Still in descent, the eagle floundered helplessly as frost spread across its wings and the balance it had just regained crumbled again.
With a deafening crash, the sand eagle slammed into the cliff less than twenty meters from them, sending a dust cloud billowing into the sky.
Before the dust even settled—
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
The sharp sound of air being torn apart echoed continuously as Elyara unleashed a barrage of golden arrows into the dust cloud.
The eagle's agonized cries echoed across the surroundings as multiple arrows struck home, piercing deep into its body.
But suddenly, Azrael and the others felt a suffocating sense of crisis and their expressions changed instantly.
"Don't resist!" Azrael shouted urgently and through his Infinite Comprehension Trait, he had already noticed something.
Wings of wind erupted from his back in a burst of green light. He grabbed Elyara and Luo Bingqing by the wrists, and with a powerful flap—
He vanished from their position.
The moment they disappeared, the ground where they had been standing just a heartbeat earlier suddenly collapsed inward, forming a massive pit filled with violently spinning sand, whirling like a colossal grinder.
Had they fallen inside, not even their bones would have survived.
Azrael reappeared with Luo Bingqing and Elyara about a hundred meters away and as they looked back at the horrific grinding pit, cold sweat trickled down their spines.
A piercing cry echoed, followed by a violent gale that blew away the dust cloud.
The sand eagle emerged into view again, its body riddled with wounds. Dozens of arrows had torn into its flesh, each wound charred black with scorching light as blood flowed freely down its battered body.
Looking at Elyara and the others, the monster's eyes glowed blood-red with fury as it spread its wings, clearly intent on escaping.
"Where do you think you're going without giving us a proper greeting?" Azrael sneered coldly when he saw the monster wanted to fly up.
With a single flap of his wind-forged wings, his figure blurred and in the blink of an eye, he appeared above the eagle.
A chilling aura burst out from him, enveloping the eagle's body. The source of thɪs content is novelꞁire.net
The sound of flesh ripping apart rang out as the Fallen Star severed one of the eagle's wings completely, unleashing a fountain of blood.
The eagle's shriek this time was sharp enough to pierce the soul. Its body convulsed with pain and madness filled its eyes, twisted by rage and despair.
Swish! Swish! Swish! - - - -
But before it could retaliate, dozens of ice spears materialized around it, piercing its body from every direction.
From the front, a golden rain of arrows poured down like judgment, ten or more striking its flesh in an instant.
In just seconds, the monster's aura collapsed violently, its vitality plummeting toward the bottom.
Just as it struggled to muster one last act of defiance—
A black greatsword descended from above, its edge glowing with green brilliance and with a single cleave, its blade severed the eagle's head clean from its body.
The head of the monster hit the ground, rolling lifelessly and its body twitched once before falling still.
(You have killed Level 27 Sand Eagle. Strength +3, Agility +4, Cosmic Energy +2)
(You have leveled up and reached Level 15)
Two notifications flashed before Azrael's eyes, and as he glanced toward Luo Bingqing and Elyara, he saw them staring blankly, their eyes fixed on the notifications that had suddenly appeared before them as well.