Chapter 101: The Bungee Cord Was Forgotten!

This was the last arrow he could fire, and Su intended to use it to end the life of the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle. If that failed, there would be nothing more he could do.

Once again he held his breath and took aim. As the air in his lungs dwindled, his gaze sharpened ever more, and his sight seemed to stretch; he could make out with perfect clarity the bleeding wound nearly a hundred paces away.

His fingertips loosened. The bowstring snapped, and the Dark-Glow Arrow shot out like a streak of black light.

Whoosh—bang!

The wooden shaft burst apart in the air, splintering away in all directions, leaving only the Dark-Glow Arrowhead to press forward.

Wang Chen felt that this explosion was louder than any before. If that Dark-Glow Arrowhead drove into the bloody wound, the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle would surely be doomed.

And yet—

At that very moment, a shadow swept up from behind the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle and plunged down in an instant, interposing itself before its chest.

The Dark-Glow Arrowhead was no larger than a bullet, yet it carried immense force. It smashed the shadow aside and sent it flying hard from the eagle’s wing.

Seeing this, Su let go of the Wind-Tracking Bow in defeat, allowing it to fall to the ground. He himself collapsed to the earth as well.

He no longer had the strength to fire another arrow.

Wang Chen, meanwhile, had no idea what had blocked the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle. The shadow had moved too swiftly and was far too small to see clearly.

Though he was still puzzled, he had not forgotten his purpose.

Seeing Su utterly spent, he knew there was no hope of relying on him. He would have to finish the job himself.

If they did not kill the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle, they would not be able to descend the mountain in peace.

So he raised the Forest Gale in his hand.

“Power of Swiftness!”

A light and graceful radiance flashed over Wang Chen, and he immediately felt his body grow lighter as he rushed toward the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle.

He planned to seize the chance to aim for the bloody wound and, with a few strikes of Wave-Dragon Strike, drive the Dark-Glow Arrowhead into the eagle’s heart.

However, before Wang Chen had even run a few steps, the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle suddenly let out an incomparably mournful cry.

It used its wing feathers to gently prod at something between its wings.

When Wang Chen drew closer, he finally saw that what it was nudging was a ferocious beast shaped like a bird.

This beast was much smaller than the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle, so small it could probably perch easily on a human shoulder.

Although their plumage differed somewhat—the little beast’s feathers were pale gold rather than the brilliant gold of the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle—Wang Chen could still tell from their other features that this beast was also a Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle.

“So this giant eagle was a mother?” Wang Chen was stunned.

That was likely one reason the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle had been hiding behind the clouds.

Perhaps it had concealed its young there, hoping they would fail to find it and leave of their own accord.

After Wang Chen discovered it, the eagle came out to face the two of them alone, leaving its young hidden beyond the clouds.

Only now, no one knew when, the chick had come down from the clouds and hidden behind the adult. Being so small and so swift, it was truly hard to spot.

For a moment Wang Chen hesitated, unsure how to deal with this Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle burdened with a child.

But the beast gave him no choice. After the adult eagle kept nudging the chick, only to find it weak and unresponsive, the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle let out a furious roar, and its savage aura surged violently upward.

Wang Chen shuddered. A flash of purple light flickered in his eyes.

The Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle’s level was surging before him, rising from level thirty all the way to level thirty-seven before stopping.

In an instant, the eagle seemed to return to full strength. It violently tugged its twin wings, and dozens of iron stakes were ripped from the ground.

“What, even beasts do on-the-spot breakthroughs now?”

Wang Chen turned and ran. How was he supposed to fight a platinum-ranked beast? With his head?

Much less a beast of such a powerful bloodline as the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle.

While running, he shouted at Su, “Hurry and hide behind the stone mound!”

Su, meanwhile, pointed at the thing behind Wang Chen with a look of terror. “Brother Wang Chen, look out!”

Wang Chen’s heart sank. He threw himself forward at once, preparing to evade the danger behind him.

But the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle was far faster. The instant Wang Chen leapt, it seized his shoulder and hurled him upward.

“Brother Wang Chen!” Su cried helplessly, panic-stricken.

And Wang Chen, feeling the tearing agony of flesh and bone ripping apart in both shoulders, still kept his mind racing.

A few seconds later he shouted, “Su! Climb onto the Stone Hand and dig Dago out! Quickly!”

Not caring whether Su obeyed, he went on, “Don’t worry about me! There’s a respawn point in this secret realm! Worry about yourself!”

“Dago can move through the earth. Force him to take you away! That’s your only chance to survive! Go, now!”

Wang Chen was carried into the air by the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle, and he did not know whether Su had heard his final words clearly.

“So this is the Vajra Descent Strike? What have I done to deserve being served a move like that?” Wang Chen thought with a bitter smile.

At that very moment, Su’s urgent shout came from below:

“Big Wind! Dead bird! Your child is in my hands! It isn’t dead yet! If you want it alive, get down here!”

He shouted at the top of his lungs.

Wang Chen smiled bitterly in his heart. If the chick were still alive, how could the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle have fallen into utter despair and come to attack him directly? It would have protected its child long ago.

Su’s desperate lie, thrown out in blind panic, was far too clumsy.

But then a crisp cry rang up from beneath Wang Chen. It sounded exactly like the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle’s call, only far less deep and powerful than that of the adult.

“Could the chick really not be dead?” Wang Chen wondered in confusion. Impossible. Even if it had survived, it must have been gravely wounded. How could it still cry out so bright and clear?

Yet the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle, as a mother, showed none of Wang Chen’s doubts. He could clearly feel its joy.

The proof came as its claws, gripping him, suddenly trembled.

The surrounding wind shifted direction, and the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle plunged downward at once, diving toward the ground.

Wang Chen could now feel what a pilot must experience during a forced landing. Some unknown number of Gs bore down on him, making it hard even to breathe. The wind battered his cheeks until they were as wrinkled as a shar-pei’s.

“If you’re in such a hurry to see your child, do you have to drop straight down?” Wang Chen cursed the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle in his heart ten thousand times over. “If I die from this acceleration, Su will twist your child’s neck off!”

But the Dragon-Eating Vajra Eagle seemed to have no concept of exchanging hostages.

Just as it was about to break through the clouds and carry Wang Chen back to the summit, it loosened its claws and, as though casting off a burden, flung him away.

Wang Chen could see the summit only a dozen meters before him, yet he was falling away just like that.

Above him, the eagle that had shed its burden let out a cry and lunged toward Su.

“What kind of hostage execution is this before negotiations have even begun?” Wang Chen thought as a flood of curses raced through his mind.

The wind sliced past his ears. The world before his eyes blurred with speed until only the sheer cliff remained in vague outline.

“Ladies and gentlemen, here’s a joke: I went bungee jumping and forgot to tie the rope.”

Wang Chen thought bitterly to himself.