The sun was getting low, and the yard where the food collection was going on was already somewhat dark, so as Lucas clung to the side of the wagon, he failed to notice the giant shadow which had fallen over him immediately.
It didn't help that he was also facing the wrong direction and busy worrying about not falling on his head for the second time today.
Still, when the cacophony of panicked screams rang out, Lucas instinctually turned his head up and was met with a giant pair of eyes staring down at him.
Thick brown feathers, a short, stubby beak, eyes the size of melons, talons large enough to seize an adult human… it was a gargantuan creature at least 10 metres tall and with a wingspan over twice that size.
Lucas had never seen anything remotely comparable to this beast before, yet now it had landed right above him and was staring down at him with what seemed to be a curious glint.
In his daze, Lucas unconsciously lost strength in his arm and let go of the wagon, causing him to fall on his butt, yet even when he hit the hard ground, he didn't feel anything at all.
Right now, all his thoughts were consumed with fright as he continued to meet the gaze of this giant beast.
Once his brain kicked in again, Lucas' first thought was to run, but despite commanding his legs to move, he remained frozen in place. The only reason he hadn't screamed in terror or passed out from fear was because, somehow, he could tell that this giant bird didn't have any malice towards him.
How he could tell this, Lucas didn't quite know, but ever since breaking through to the Second Step Sea Establishment Realm, his senses and instincts had become far sharper, so it might have had something to do with that.
The aura this giant bird was giving off certainly wasn't kind or friendly, but as far as Lucas could tell, it also wasn't aggressive. If anything, this creature was looking at him with a mix of curiosity and indifference, like how he would look at an oddly coloured pheasant or duck.
Still, now that he was in close proximity to it, Lucas was able to roughly gauge how strong this creature was, not that this information made him less fearful of it.
Whatever this Beast is, it's much stronger than Senior Farah! It has to be Peak Fifth Order, no, Low Sixth Order!
The moment Lucas realized this, he also understood that trying to put up any kind of resistance was pointless. If this giant bird wanted him dead, he would die; no one in Redwood Town would be able to save him.
When this thought crossed the boy's mind, Lucas suddenly understood something.
To him, pheasants and ducks were weak creatures he could catch and eat at will, but to this enormous brown bird, he was the same. The role of hunter and prey was totally reversed, and it was only because this giant beast was uninterested in Lucas as a snack that it decided to just observe him.
Thinking like this, Lucas somehow managed to get his limbs moving again, though all he could do was slowly crawl backwards while dragging his ass across the dirt, trying to put some distance between him and his new acquaintance.
For the giant bird's part, it just tilted its head slightly as it watched Lucas withdraw before it folded its wings and turned its attention to the cart he had been standing on previously.
Lucas watched dumbly as the giant brown bird tore open one of the thick sacks of grain and began greedily gorging itself, repeatedly swallowing down what would normally be enough to feed 10 people for an entire day in a single mouthful.
In a flash, the beast had emptied the entire cart, consuming about a dozen large sacks of grain before it took another glance at the small four limbed creature on the ground nearby.
Lucas was petrified once more when he met eyes with the bird again, and all sound and sensation faded into the background as he wondered if it wanted to have him as a side-dish after finishing the main course.
Lucas knew that if this beast wanted to eat him, all it would take is a single peck and he would be gone, and there was absolutely no hope for him to escape.
Just as Lucas was about to make peace with death, however, something truly shocking happened.
*Chirp*
While everyone else in the yard only heard this as a normal bird cry, it sounded very different to Lucas.
So different, in fact, that his jaw dropped and he let out a dumbfounded, "Huh?"
Seeing the stupid look on the young human's face, the giant bird let out another chirp, and this time Lucas was certain he hadn't misheard.
It can talk?! Lucas screamed to himself.
Immediately, though, Lucas shook his head, No, wait, my ears only heard a chirp! It was my Soul Sense that perceived something different!
Just now, in his head, Lucas was certain he heard this enormous creature ask him for more food. The message wasn't verbal, per-say, but rather a communication of intent; something like transmitting a sense of hunger directly to him.
This, however, only left Lucas even more confused, wondering just what was going on. As far as he knew, there was no way for humans and Wild Beasts to communicate intelligently with one another, that was only possible if…
At that moment, Lucas suddenly understood.
Why did this giant beast not have any hostility towards him and instead regarded him with curiosity?
It must have noticed that something was different about him compared to the other humans! And, if there was one thing that was unique about Lucas compared to everyone else at the Town Lord's Manor, it was that he had opened his Soul Sea!
This creature, right from the start, knew that it could communicate with him, and the reason it knew that was because it wasn't just some Wild Beast that relied on its instincts, it was an entirely different type of beast, one that was capable of complex logic and reasoning!
A Spirit Beast!
Sitting in the dirt, staring up at the giant bird, Lucas wasn't sure whether his luck was extremely good, or extremely bad.
Compared to humans, Wild Beasts in the same relative Realm were generally stronger due to a variety of physical factors; however, this difference in strength could somewhat be made up for with tools and techniques, all products of superior human intelligence.
Spirit Beasts, however, didn't suffer from this disadvantage as once they reached the Mature Stage of their life cycle, their intelligence was generally no worse than that of a human.
Some particularly powerful lineages could reach a level of sapience on par with humans even before they were fully grown, but such Spirit Beasts were incredibly rare and hard to encounter.
The raw strength of a beast with the cunning of a human; it was a deadly combination that made Spirit Beasts many times more dangerous than Wild Beasts in the same realm.
While 2 Low-Rank Spirit Initiates could generally take down a lone Low-Rank Fifth Order Wild Beast, trying to defeat a Low Fifth Order Spirit Beast with less than 3 Low-Rank Spirit Initiates was almost impossible unless someone was willing to die in the process!
To make matters worse, of all the different types of beasts out there, flying beasts were the most difficult for humans to deal with for a very simple reason.
Humans can't fly!
Lucas had heard stories about powerful Cultivators being capable of independent flight, but he didn't know how high one's Realm had to be to achieve this, or whether it was even true or not.
Despite all this, upon learning he was dealing with a Spirit Beast, Lucas still felt his situation might not be so bad. At the very least, since this giant bird was trying to communicate with him, it meant there was a chance he would survive this mess.
Thinking so, Lucas decided he had nothing to lose and called out, "You want food?"
In response, the giant bird just tilted its head slightly, which would have looked cute had it not been so terrifying.
Seeing this reaction, Lucas immediately realized what he had done wrong and asked the question again, but this time also using his Soul Sense to project his meaning while speaking aloud.
Receiving Lucas' message, the giant bird infused its own thoughts into its Soul Sense and replied, "Hungry. Thirsty. Hurts."
The communication between the boy and the beast wasn't exactly smooth, more akin to two people speaking different languages and trying to use hand gestures to explain what they meant, but it was enough to get the point across.
Nevertheless, Lucas was absolutely thrilled and felt like celebrating. However, he soon realized that there was something extra in the giant bird's last message.
It's hurt? Lucas was confused at first when he 'heard' this in his head, but quickly sweeping his gaze over the beast, he soon noticed what looked like scorch marks on its wings, as well as dried blood on its chest.
Up until now, Lucas had been too focused on not getting eaten that he had completely neglected to examine the bird's condition, but now that he was looking more closely, he realized that it wasn't in the best of shape.
Its injured! Lucas thought to himself before a crazy idea came to him, one that might just buy the people of Redwood Town a little more time to save themselves!