The mongoose oriented itself, landing on all fours as it evaded multiple attacks, swerving around a couple of trees as it watched a bird reveal itself from within the egg.
Just its birth caused its eggshell to blast off like projectiles everywhere. The bird had a stature that surpassed a metre in height, unfurling its wings to boast a wingspan that reached four metres.
Its feathers looked like a bird's at first glance but shone with a metallic sheen. It wasn't actually made from metal but boasted structural properties similar to one, like carbon fibre.
Upon hatching, it didn't look like a hatchling bird, but rather an adult instead. It gazed around, noticing the withered husk of its mother and an eaten corpse of a father, letting out a mournful chirp.
Its gaze fell on the mongoose, identifying based on the blood on its mouth that it was the culprit, immediately targeting it.
The two creatures exchanged attacks viciously, with the mongoose soon falling under a disadvantage. Had it been at the start, then it would have clinched an upper hand in the fight with the bird.
But now, it didn't have enough energy, with exhaustion setting in. After all, it had been fighting for a good couple of hours against the bird and Krager, watching its enemies constantly heal themselves and fight at tip-top condition.
So, to repeatedly injure them, it had expended a lot of energy, now completely tired. As for the bird, it had just emerged from its egg, brimming with power.
During the initial exchanges, both parties were similar in power. But as time passed, the bird got more used to its abilities, soon suppressing the mongoose.
Upon seeing the tide of the battle tip in its disadvantage, the mongoose screeched once, worrying as its comrades hadn't returned yet. It knew that Krager couldn't be killed so easily, so they wouldn't be returning so soon.
Without any hesitation, it turned tail and ran.
…
Now, Compass Carburettor hid behind a tree, calmly watching the bird chasing after the mongoose. He took in a deep breath, relaxing his body completely until his killing intent vanished. His demeanour blended in with the surroundings, exactly like a snake's.
It was something he had learned on Earth during the twenty years he lived as a System Host. There were humans that imitated snakes and imitated their ways among secluded tribes.
During one Quest, he spent a year in one such tribe, completely learning their ways. Thanks to his System, he managed to absorb their ways faster. One of those was to be like a cobra and assimilate his breathing frequency to synchronise with nature.
In science, it was termed Resonant Frequency. And here, he achieved the same until his presence was no different to his surroundings. The act of picking up the required Resonant Frequency instinctively and attaining it was what the tribe practiced.
And that was also why the System gave him that Quest. It ended up proving useful a lot of times on Earth. Even in the Darble World, it allowed him to act as a Spirit in such a convincing manner that once he obtained Secret Society, he actually turned into a Spirit.
After tuning himself to his surroundings, Compass Carburettor extended his hand, facing Anthozoa towards the bird, immediately emptying the clip.
The bird barely sensed something was amiss when six bullets lodged themselves in its body, injuring it profusely. Even though its evolved body was tougher, it hadn't reached the point where it could shrug off powerful bullets like his.
It fell to the ground, twitching a couple of times before dying. Upon seeing the scene, the mongoose was startled for a moment before it wanted to escape.
"Arrgh!" Compass Carburettor shouted as he shot at the mongoose, screaming in frustration when he noticed that his gun was empty. He threw it away in anger and rushed towards the mongoose, carrying a branch that he had broken in advance.
Upon noticing that the fearsome weapon was useless, the mongoose looked at the running Compass Carburettor, gazing at his naked self before crouching on the ground once.
Its figure vanished, reappearing behind Compass Carburettor, holding a large block of flesh in its mouth. Clutching his neck, his eyes widened as Compass Carburettor was alarmed, slumping to the ground as his body twitched.
Just as the mongoose was about to use the chance to eat up the bird, it noticed its body temperature flaring up all of a sudden while its eyes became dizzy. For a moment, its surroundings blurred when it noticed its body being picked up by the tail all of a sudden.
And, staring at it was a massive monster, one that let out a humane grin. Two fingers gentle grabbed hold of its head, twisting its neck, killing it just like that. After killing the mongoose, Compass Carburettor returned to his human form, commanding in his mind, 'Come out.'
The cobra slithered out of its hiding spot and hissed, arriving before him. He had baited the mongoose to attack him, smearing poison on his neck when he threw his gun away in anger. And, the poison was of course the scorpion's.
It was only a diluted amount. But, that was enough. During the couple of seconds the mongoose's senses were awry, he used his Haggon Form to catch it. It was pretty easy after that.
Without any hesitation, he used a horn that he had broken from his Haggon Form to pry open the bodies of both the mongoose and the bird, taking out a pearl and an orb from each.
"So, this is what Rhizen used to gain that power." He thought, smiling, "I still don't know the specifics of this. So, let me first experiment with the orb from the mongoose."
Thinking as such, he swallowed it readily. Even if something happened, he didn't have to worry, since he was in his human form. Even death in this form was of no consequence.
His heart thumped in anticipation as Compass Carburettor gently swallowed the one-horned mongoose's orb, watching it arrive at his stomach before a wave of energy exploded from it, beginning to suck in his stamina.
"Feel free to eat up as much as you want." Compass Carburettor laughed, for, unlike others, he had Darlac, which was just the condensation of a body's stamina.
A dozen seconds later, something welled up from within him as he began to laugh uncontrollably, "Interesting, so this is the power system of this world."
