Thalion was having the ti of his life as he pursued a manta ray through the open sky. The creature moved with srizing grace, its sleek body slicing through the air like a blade, barely twitching its fins as it glided effortlessly on the currents. At first, Thalion had planned to kill the beast, but now he was utterly captivated. He wasn’t hunting anymore—he was learning.
The manta perford one daring maneuver after another, trying desperately to lose him, but Thalion was relentless. With each twist and turn, he ca closer, his movents growing smoother, more fluid, as if he were absorbing the art of flight itself. He was no longer chasing the creature to conquer it but to master the skies as it did.
Despite its agility, the wind manta seed to have little in the way of offense. It lashed out occasionally with a weak mana blade, a sluggish and feeble attack that barely tickled Thalion’s defenses. Instead of dodging, he flew straight through the blades, using them to temper his body.
After five exhilarating minutes of pursuit, Thalion decided to let the creature go. He had strayed too far from his original objective—catching Kargul’s new pet. With a wistful sigh, he turned away from the retreating manta and soared back toward the flock of flying sky turtles.
Thalion loved flying. It was liberating in a way nothing else was—a marriage of power and elegance that made him feel invincible. As he sped through the air, he noticed a notification. Both his umbral predator form and his human form had reached level 40. He had hoped the milestone would reward him with a new mythic skill, but nothing ca. Perhaps higher-rarity classes were stingier with skills, or maybe he just needed to work harder. Either way, it didn’t matter.
He soon arrived at the crystal the swarm of turtles had been circling. His eyes glowed briefly as he identified the leader:
Skyglide Turtle – Level 43
The turtles had already switched their target crystal eight tis since he started tracking them, killing the guardian of each with ruthless efficiency. He would need to be cautious. So of the turtles could spew a strange, viscous acid—not lethal on contact, but disorienting. Birds that were hit would stagger mid-flight, their movents drunken and clumsy, before the turtles caught up and tore them apart.
Thalion positioned himself 100 ters above the flock, hovering for a mont as he prepared to strike. Then he dove. His body beca a green blur, feathers shimring in the sunlight as he activated a series of skills: Feather glide, eye of the storm, skybolt barrage, and finally, a charged lightning bolt that crackled ominously.
The turtles reacted instantly, surging upward to et him. But Thalion was ready. He swerved to the side at the last mont, unleashing the charged lightning bolt directly into three of his attackers. The force of the impact sent them tumbling through the sky, two of them clearly unconscious. It was strange—though the turtles were massive, they seed to possess so innate skill that kept them aloft, even when unconscious.
The remaining turtles pressed the attack, but Thalion unleashed chaos in their ranks. The storm he had conjured churned the air into a frenzy, throwing turtles off balance, while smaller lightning bolts rained down from the heavens. These strikes weren’t as powerful as his charged bolts, but they added up quickly, incapacitating any turtle hit multiple tis.
Then he spotted it. One of the larger turtles—its shell gleaming like polished erald—suddenly veered away, panic flashing in its wide, glassy eyes. It was younger than the others, faster too, and clearly terrified. Thalion grinned. This was the perfect catch for Kargul.
Abandoning the swarm, he pursued the fleeing turtle. The sight that followed was almost comical: a panicked, flailing turtle desperately flapping its fins, pursued by a sleek, predatory green eagle, which in turn was being chased by a vengeful swarm of turtles.
Thalion had to speed up as the swarm closed in, but lightning bolts continued to strike down turtle after turtle. Their furious roars echoed through the sky as they fell one by one. Eventually, the number of pursuers dwindled until only three remained, their determination unwavering. Thalion dispatched them with precise strikes, leaving him free to focus on the three-ter-long skyglide turtle.
Deactivating his skills, he chased the terrified creature through the sky, firing a few more lightning bolts until it finally faltered. Its body wobbled, its flight uneven, before it flipped onto its back, helpless in the open air.
Hovering above his prize, Thalion shifted into his human form. His blood armor glead like a second skin as he approached, carrying heavy chains Kargul had prepared. He quickly secured the turtle, wrapping the chains tightly around its massive body until he was certain it couldn’t escape. But the added weight caused the turtle to sink slowly.
Thinking fast, Thalion spotted a nearby wind crystal—an enormous gem over a ter wide—and attached the chains to it. The crystal, humming with latent power, held firm, suspending the turtle in midair. The flock of birds that had been guarding the crystal fled the mont they sensed Thalion’s unsuppressed aura.
With the turtle secure, Thalion reverted to eagle form and began gathering the spoils of battle. He plucked twelve dead turtles from the sky, storing them in his spatial ring, and dragged six wind crystals to attach to the captive turtle for added lift.
Yet, as the sun began to dip lower in the sky, Thalion realized he still hadn’t figured out how to transport the turtle back to Kael’s base. After a mont’s thought, he settled on a simple—if exhausting—solution: wake the turtle up and chase it back.
Thalion hovered near the unconscious beast. He fired a lightning bolt at its shell, careful to avoid causing serious harm. The turtle woke with a startled yelp, flailing wildly as it spotted him. Panic set in again, and it began to flee, dragging the attached wind crystals behind it like an awkward, glittering cot.
Grinning to himself, Thalion followed, keeping close enough to guide the turtle but far enough to ensure it didn’t try anything reckless. The journey back to the base had begun—and it was going to be just as chaotic as the hunt.
User Comments
0 comments from readers