Debuff Master

“Pfft! Predatory birds do go after rodents after all! Kekeke!” Siegfried could not contain his laughter after realizing the reason the Blade Falcons were focusing only on Hamchi.

That was indeed what was happening right now. The Blade Falcons had recognized Hamchi as their prey, and this was proven by how they were drooling from their beaks.

Hamchi had emphasized that he was the Great Spirit of the Forest and not a rodent, but it seemed the Blade Falcons begged to differ. He was nothing but a large hamster, squirrel, or perhaps even a rat in their eyes.

“Hahaha!” Siegfried was on the ground laughing.

Unfortunately, he was the only one laughing, as Hamchi was not laughing with him.

“Kyaaaak! Owner punk! Are you seriously laughing right now?! Hamchi’s dying! These eagles are going to devour me!” Hamchi shrieked in anger, which was actually a call for help.

“A-Alright! I’ll be right there!” Siegfried shouted in response and ran.

‘Predatory birds prey on rodents. Predatory birds prey on rodents. Predatory birds prey on rodents. Predatory birds prey on rodents. Predatory birds prey on rodents.’

Meanwhile, the fact that Hamchi was a rodent played in a loop in Siegfried’s head.

***

Mission: Save Hamchi was proving to be quite difficult...

Whenever Siegfried swung his +13 Horse Fly, the Blade Falcons would react with "chirp?" as if they found him to be annoying. Then, they would raise a wing in preparation to swat him away like a fly.

Clang!

Sparks would fly upon every collision.

“Hey! That's cheating!” Siegfried shouted in frustration after seeing how tough their feathers were.

The wings were the weakness of most birds. In fact, the wings were the weakness of the apex predator among monsters—dragons. Everyone knew that one had to focus on attacking the wings of a dragon if one wanted to beat one.

This was not hearsay knowledge for Siegfried, as he had hunted a dragon twice, and this knowledge was also written in the monster hunting guidebook, You Can Hunt Monsters Too: Advance Edition, written by the Adventurers’ Guild.

However, it was different for the Blade Falcons.

Chwaaak!

In addition to using their wings as shields, the Blade Falcons swung their wings just like how a swordsman would swing their swords. Their wings weren't a weakness but a powerful weapon that allowed them to defend and attack.

‘Damn it!’ Siegfried gnashed his teeth at the falcons. He would have loved to use Irradiate and kill all of them.

“Kyuu! Kyuuuuu! Get away from me! Hamchi is not a rodent!”

Unfortunately, using Irradiate was out of the question right now, as Hamchi was too close to the falcons. He would definitely get caught up by Irradiate and end up seriously injured or die from it. Both Splitting Heaven and Earth or Absolute Zero were no exception, as both of these skills were AoE skills.

Then that means...

“Here goes nothing!” Siegfried gripped his +13 Horse Fly tightly and jumped.

“Kireuk?!”

The Blade Falcon attacking was perplexed when the human suddenly decided to jump toward it, but it only took a second for it to shrug it off and swing its wing once more.

Siegfried did not block the incoming attack.

Whoosh!

He chose to evade it this time and latch onto the Blade Falcon’s back.

“Kireuk? Kireuk?”

Kwachik!

Siegfried grabbed the wings of the Blade Falcon while it was still dumbfounded.

Whoosh!

Then, he activated his thrusters and flew high up into the sky with the Blade Falcon before using the secret technique of the Grappling Master, Leonid—Cyclone Slam.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

They spun in the air like a tornado before suddenly dropping straight to the ground like a stone that had been thrown into the ocean.

Exactly 0.1 second later...

Kabooooom!

The Blade Falcon had its head planted into the rocky surface of Mount Kunlun—no, it was not only its head that was planted into the ground. Cyclone Smash would rotate its target so fast that it would rotate like a bullet, and it resulted in...

Puuuuk!

The Blade Falcon had become a drill, drilling itself headfirst into the rocky ground of Mount Kunlun with only its talons showing above ground.

Cyclone Smash truly deserved to be the secret technique of one of the Five Star Heavens of the continent.

‘Wow! That skill is strong!’ Siegfried marveled at the power of Cyclone Smash, but he wasted no time and jumped onto the next Blade Falcon.

“Kieeek!”

The Blade Falcons instantly turned their heads toward Siegfried. The impact just now was so powerful that these predatory birds that weren't interested in him a while ago finally identified him as a threat.

“Kieeek!”

“Kireuk!”

They rushed at Siegfried and attempted to peck him with their razor-sharp beaks.

‘That’s probably extremely tough and sharp,’ Siegfried knew their beaks would be sharper and tougher than their wings, so he tried his best to avoid getting pecked by it.

Seuruk! Seuruk!

The Blade Falcons’ shadows rose up from the ground and blocked their attacks. Meanwhile, Siegfried took full advantage of Shadow Swamp’s slow debuff to put himself in favorable positions before attacking.

He noticed that the feathers on the Blade Falcons’ underbelly seemed softer than the feathers on their wings. It was highly likely their underbelly was their weakness, and he planned to test this theory out.

He was positioned himself right between the legs of a Blade Falcon, and he swung his +13 Horse Fly like a berserker.

Puk! Puk! Puk! Pukeok!

The +13 Horse Fly mercilessly struck the Blade Falcon’s body.

“Kieeek!” The Blade Falcon cried out in agony upon taking a hit on its soft spot.

Armed with the knowledge of their weakness, Siegfried proceeded to rinse and repeat the process against the other Blade Falcons.

“Kieeek!”

“Kieek!”

“Screee!”

The Blade Falcons cried out in agony and writhed in pain after having their body struck.

“Kyu! Hamchi will help you!”

Hamchi did not waste this golden opportunity to get back at his predators. He got up and threw kick after kick at the Blade Falcons alongside Siegfried.

The momentum of the battle instantly shifted in their favor...

Puk! Puk! Pukeok!

Flap! Flap! Flap! Flap!

The Blade Falcons flew up to the sky one by one after realizing that they were no match on the ground.

“Kyu! We won, owner punk!” Hamchi cheered.

“It’s not over yet!” Siegfried retorted. He had no plans to finish the fight here.

What was he supposed to do if someone attacked him? He had to get back at them no matter what happened!

“Hey! Get on my back!”

“Kyu?”

“I said get on my back!”

“A-Alright! Kyu!”

Hamchi reduced his size and hopped onto Siegfried’s back.

“What are you planning to do, owner punk?! Kyuu!”

“What else?” Siegfried looked back and replied. Then, he smirked and said, “It’s time for an aerial dogfight.”

He activated his Attachable Thruster Set and flew up after the Blade Falcons.

***

Shwoooong!

Siegfried chased after the fleeing Blade Falcons.

“Argh!”

Flying was not easy. The wind was so strong and sharp that it was hard to focus, making his flight quite unstable.

There was still quite a fair distance between him and the Blade Falcons, and this was due to the difference in their flight ability caused by the climate of Mount Kunlun–or was it?

Siegfried was a very shrewd person. He intentionally did not chase too close and put some distance between them. Instead, he made sure to position himself above them, so they would be flying at a lower altitude compared to him.

This was an excellent strategy. A falcon was a fearsome predator that could dive in the blink of an eye to snag its prey off the ground, but its agility in the air was quite lacking for a bird.

“Scree!”

“Screeee!”

“Kieeeek!”

The Blade Falcons cried out and sought an opening, but they did not attack Siegfried.

‘Oh? Will you look at that,’ Siegfried smirked after seeing the Blade Falcons keeping an eye on him.

“Hey, Hamchi.”

“Kyu?”

“Shoot them down.”

“Kyuu?”

“I said shoot them down!” Siegfried shouted. Then, he stuck out his hips and used Energy Buster.

Ziiiiing!

The Great Champion’s Belt shot out a laser at the Blade Falcons.

This was an excellent strategy as well. The Blade Falcons were incapable of attacking from range, as they were what one would call melee flying units.

Meanwhile, Siegfried was capable of attacking from range even though his air agility was lagging behind the Blade Falcons.

Melee versus range.

This was a matchup where it was as clear as night and day which side had the advantage. Yes, the Blade Falcons could easily level the playing field if they closed the gap, but Siegfried had already prepared countermeasures for that by flying at a higher altitude than them.

To sum it up, this battle was as good as over, and Siegfried would soon be the victor.

“Kieeeek!”

A Blade Falcon was shot down by the Energy Buster.

However, Siegfried did not stop there.

Whoosh!

He threw his +13 Horse Fly while shooting out Energy Buster to place greater pressure on the Blade Falcons.

“Haaaap... KYUUUU!” Hamchi also helped by shooting his Kyu~ Laser Beam! at the Blade Falcons.

Hamchi’s Kyu~ Laser Beam combined with Siegfried’s Energy Buster and Flying Sword completely overwhelmed the Blade Falcons in the air.

“Kieeeek!”

Another Blade Falcon was shot down, and there was only one remaining.

“Hmm? Is it running away?” Siegfried grumbled. He was unable to kill the last Blade Falcon, as it flew as fast as it could and as far away as possible from them.

“Tsk...”

Siegfried did not give chase–no, he could not give chase. There was no way he could catch up to the Blade Falcon fleeing for its life.

“Kyu! We won, owner punk!” Hamchi cheered.

“Yeah, we did,” Siegfried replied with a smile.

Whoosh...

The duo descended back to the ground.

***

The first thing Siegfried did as soon as he landed was to look for the remains of the Blade Falcons he had shot down.

‘Sniff! Sniff! I can smell it! I can smell it alright!’ Siegfried could smell the scent of money coming from the remains of the falcons.

The Blade Falcons not only possessed a ridiculous level but they were also extremely rare creatures native to Mount Kunlun. The by-products of such rare creatures were bound to be quite valuable. They found the remains of a Blade Falcon and immediately got to work. Siegfried took out his tools for dismembering monsters from his Inventory.

“What are you doing, owner punk?! Kyuuu!” Hamchi shrieked in horror.

“I have a good feeling this is going to fetch us a good amount of gold,” Siegfried replied before using the tool to pluck the Blade Falcon’s feathers.

The feathers seemed to be made from unknown metal and it was extremely tough on top of being extremely sharp. Siegfried had a feeling that these feathers would be useful in crafting items, and his feeling was spot on.

[Alert: You have obtained Blade Falcon Feather!]

A message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Blade Falcon Feather]

[The feather of the Blade Falcon, which is a predatory bird nesting high up in Mount Kunlun.]

[It is made from a special biological metal, making it extremely lightweight and durable.]

[Type: Material]

[Rating: Unique]

[Effect: This may be used to craft artifacts.]

The game system confirmed that the Blade Falcon Feather was indeed a crafting material, just as Siegfried suspected.

“I knew it!” Siegfried raised his fist triumphantly. Then, he got to work and extracted every single valuable thing from the falcon’s remains.

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