The second Trash Bird also fled into the Wild Forest, and Shang charged after it.
This time, Shang was prepared for the Trash Bird's tactics, and the hunt went much smoother.
With his first strike, he had managed to severely injure the Trash Bird's right leg after losing his hearing.
After that, the Trash Bird unleashed its ultimate ability and tried to shout Shang's ears off.
This time, Shang had been more prepared for the Trash Bird, and he had managed to evade three attacks without using his left arm. At the fourth one, he had to use his affinity since the Trash Bird had basically thrown caution to the wind in an effort to kill him.
But after that, the Trash Bird's voice had vanished, and without the interference of the voice, Shang had managed to kill it after around a minute of back and forth.
Shang put the Trash Bird into a beast sack and returned to the defensive line.
After arriving, he talked with a couple of hunters on standby. Many hunters already knew Shang, and they enjoyed talking with the quiet young man.
He seemed like a good listener.
Two hours later, Shang was sure that the teams were using him as their garbage can.
Why?
Because there was yet another Trash Bird.
They essentially let Shang fight the beasts nobody wanted to fight.
Shang didn't like doing it, but it was a living.
350 gold might not be much for a General Stage beast, but it was still a lot of money for someone at the Soldier Stage.
The third hunt went even easier for Shang. By now, he had learned to deal with the dizziness and noise quite well.
Of course, Shang couldn't avoid his hearing being destroyed.
'The first corpse wasn't complete, but I can probably sell the beak for 300 gold or so,' Shang thought as he shoved the third Trash Bird into his beast sack. 'That should give me around 1,000 gold in total for only two and a half hours of hunting. The Day of Chaos sure is profitable.'
Shang waited for another two hours, and the next beast arrived.
Yet another Trash Bird.
But this time, another team chased it into the forest.
The other teams beside Shang felt bad for him. Being stuck with having to only hunt Trash Birds was something they didn't wish on their worst enemy.
Because of that, Shang didn't need to fight any Trash Birds anymore.
As Shang waited for his next opponent, he suddenly felt a peculiar feeling.
Shang looked towards the northwest.
It was like there was something strange in that direction.
He didn't know what he was feeling right now.
It felt like a mixture of anxiety and curiosity.
It was like there was something there that felt alien but also familiar to him.
But just a couple of seconds later, the feeling completely vanished.
It was like it had just been an illusion.
For a while, Shang only looked at the northwest with uncertainty.
'Did something happen in the Ice Wyvern Zone?' Shang thought.
'How would I even be able to feel that? I can believe that a High Mage can feel things kilometers away, but I'm definitely not on that level.'
'Probably just my imagination.'
However, before looking away again, Shang saw something float across the horizon.
Shang squinted his eyes as he tried to see what it was.
It definitely was very far away since even his improved vision couldn't identify it.
What was that?
"Hey, Chuck, what's that?" Shang said as he pointed at the horizon.
Chuck had been beside Shang just now since he was also waiting for his team's next target.
Chuck was at the Early General Stage, two levels higher than Shang. His eyesight should be much more powerful than Shang's.
"Huh?" Chuck uttered as he looked over.
Then, Chuck also squinted his eyes as he tried to discern what that was.
And then, Chuck's eyes widened in horror.
After that, Chuck took a deep breath.
And ran with all of his power towards the Farm Line.
Chuck reached impressive speeds as he charged towards the Farm Line.
His team looked at him with shock.
Why was he leaving?
The leader of the team looked to where Chuck had just looked, and his eyes also opened wide in shock.
"We can't let any more beasts through! We can't risk anything at this moment!" the leader ordered his team.
"Why? What's going on?" another hunter asked.
"The Ice Wyvern left its habitat," the leader said.
The team of hunters took a deep breath in shock.
The Icy Wyvern!
It very, very rarely left its habitat!
It normally stayed in the deepest abyss below the Ice Wyvern Zone.
Below the Ice Wyvern Zone was a humongous underground lake. It might even be a sea or an ocean.
Several tunnels led from the deep underground lake to the surface, which was how the Ice Wyvern Zone got its Ice Mana.
The lake in the middle of Duke Whirlwind's garden was one of these tunnels.
The lake Shang had fought the Ice Spear Bear on wasn't actually a lake but a tunnel to the Ice Wyvern's lair.
Shang also looked with shock at the northwest.
That had been the Ice Wyvern?
Shang hadn't been able to see it properly, but just knowing that this was one of the Zone beasts still put a lot of respect into Shang.
Shang had only seen a white streamer in the distance.
It might as well have been an icy wisp.
It could have been a long, white cloud.
Yet, that streamer had turned out to be the Ice Wyvern!
The Ice Wyvern only very rarely left its underground lake.
At most, it left its lake every couple of years.
"We have to inform the teachers of the Magic Academy!" one of the hunters said with urgency to his leader.
"Chuck already went," the leader answered.
Shang waited together with everyone else for Chuck's return, and about a minute later, he came back.
"What did they say?" the leader asked Chuck.
Chuck only rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "The teachers were just in as much of a panic as me, but after they called for one of the Vice-Deans, everything changed."
"Stop stalling and just say it!" the leader said with annoyance.
"Well, the Vice-Dean only smirked and said that this is a good sign."
"It means that everything's going according to plan," Chuck said awkwardly.
Silence.
"Everything's going according to plan?" the leader asked.
Chuck nodded. "That's what he said. Of course, I asked him what that meant."
"His answer?"
"That means that we get more opportunities to make a fortune," Chuck said.
For a while, nobody answered Chuck.
At that moment, Shang saw something move at the edge of his vision.
It came from the north-north-west, north of where he had seen the Ice Wyvern.
Shang saw a tiny cloud of dark red and icy white appear.
The others noticed that Shang was looking somewhere, and they also looked in that direction.
For a while, their group only looked in that direction in confusion.
"What's that?" Shang asked.
"It looks like a cloud of Ice and Fire Mana touched," the leader of the team said. "When they meet, they whirl around each other and neutralize each other."
"Does Mana form clouds?" Shang asked.
"Not really. It's more of a stream," the leader answered.
"So, what is that?" Shang asked.
The leader looked with worry at the distant cloud.
"I think I know what that is," he said.
"Yeah, I think I know too," Chuck said with uncertainty.
Shang looked at the two of them.
"Which is?" Shang asked.
Without looking away, Chuck answered.
"I think the Ice Wyvern and the Volcano Wyrm are fighting."
