The bird was very real, and very serious. Yuel was sprinting down the grassy field at full speed, and the cursed owl was chasing right behind him.
As Yuel kept running, his foot suddenly got caught in his oversized cloak, and he began tumbling down the vast slope of the meadow.
The owl guardian dove down at full force at that exact moment, but Yuel's sudden fall caused it to miss its attack. The bird nearly crashed into the ground, flapping its wings frantically to regain balance before soaring upward once more.
Then, a massive flash of light lit up the sky—Luo had formed a colossal sphere of pure white fire in his mouth and launched it. The ball shot through the air like lightning and struck the owl guardian. Though Yuel could hear the bird's burning screams, he still hadn't seen what it actually looked like. He was relying solely on the sounds—sounds that gave him no clue what kind of horror was coming next.
Once he sensed that he was about to stop tumbling, Yuel braced himself, forced his body to a halt, and stood up. The owl was diving straight toward him.
With a sharp motion, Yuel threw himself to the right and rolled once before springing back to his feet. The owl landed, and for the first time, they stood face-to-face.
Standing before him was an enemy so powerful that even if he were to sever his own limbs and permanently cripple himself in a desperate gambit, he likely still couldn't win.
A fourth-stage Titan.
The worst possible outcome...
Still, he had to find a way to survive. He had to find the Titan's weakness. He could even try to convince himself that his eyes were wrong—that it was just a third-stage Dhune. But that would be self-deception. This thing was enormous, and its elemental affinity was plain as day. Even its aura was unmistakably different from a Dhune. Just looking at it filled Yuel with dread.
It was an owl. Yuel had encountered owl-like Dhune before, so he had some idea of their base abilities—night vision and silent movement. But this one had something more—its elemental affinity.
Just one glance was enough to tell: its power was Nature.
Its eyes were deep green. Vines coiled around its entire body, and every wound it suffered seemed to be replaced with wood or living greenery. One of its wings was now fully composed of branches and vines. Its beak looked shattered, replaced with a jagged piece of wood.
Looking at it, fire might seem like the obvious counter—but it wasn't that simple. Yuel understood that elemental affinity wasn't the whole story. The owl may have been using Nature now, but its previous powers had probably been healing or plant growth. After all, it had grown the trap tree, and was now using nature to rapidly regenerate itself.
That explained how it could resist fire.
Even though Luo's flames had burned its skin, the damage was healing at a blinding rate. Yuel also noticed the grass around them beginning to grow unnaturally fast. The owl was trying to trap him—surround him in overgrown vines and squeeze the life out of him.
But Yuel wasn't stupid. He wouldn't fight the owl. From the looks of it, Luo's fire hadn't beaten the beast, but it had likely stunned it—thanks to the fire being soul-based. While the guardian was still recovering, they had a chance to escape.
"Luo, carry me! Now! We need to get out of here!"
Luo sprinted to his side in about three seconds. The wolf understood how critical the situation was—they had to leave immediately.
Instead of waiting for Yuel to climb on, Luo bit into the back of his cloak and bolted away. Once they broke through the meadow and entered the forest, they finally caught their breath.
"Luo, don't ever do that again... or, actually—you're a smart kid. Do what you feel is best. Thanks. You saved my life."
Luo didn't even look at him. Launching that massive fireball had clearly drained him. He needed a heavy meal to recover because the flames had injured even him. His mouth and neck were covered in burns that were just now starting to heal.
"I'm sorry, Luo. I should've seen this coming. From now on, we're vegans. We'll only eat meat."
Luo shot him a skeptical look.
"What? That's not what vegan means? What do you know about veganism anyway?"
Yuel chuckled, and once he felt they'd rested enough—
"We might still be tracked. It's better not to head home just yet. Even if we don't sense it, that owl could still be following us—owls are quiet. We can try to shake it off during daylight tomorrow. Then we'll return ho—"
KRUEEEEHK!
"N-no way! Luo, run!"
The rotted white trees snapped like twigs as the massive owl descended from the sky.
Its talons led the way, pouring all its speed into a devastating dive.
Yuel did everything he could to dodge—and somehow, survived. He slipped right between the owl's two legs and ended up behind it.
Luo dashed off at full speed, likely intending to return later—he probably didn't want to risk injury in close combat.
Yuel had to survive until then. He reached into his cloak and pulled out his strongest weapon—a dagger forged from the corpse of a third-stage Dhune—and turned to face the half-charred, half-wooden owl, staring back at him with lifeless eyes.
He couldn't let the Titan make the first move—its first move might be his last.
Yuel couldn't believe he was charging at a fourth-stage Titan—but it was the only rational choice. No other path existed. He aimed for the creature's burned left side—Luo had just scorched it moments ago.
As he lunged forward, the owl raised a talon and slashed at him. Yuel dodged with all his might, tumbled under its legs again, and came up behind it—wait, he could use this.
Just as the owl began to turn around, Yuel did something unexpected. He leapt with full strength onto its rotating head and slashed its eye with his dagger. Then he climbed onto its back. The enormous owl's charred side was free of vines—meaning it couldn't retaliate there...
At least until the vines started to swarm.
He had one more dagger, but it was only second-stage. It couldn't hurt a fourth-stage Titan—but maybe it could handle the vines.
That had been the plan—until he forgot the owl's third innate ability.
The giant bird suddenly rotated its head 180 degrees and bit the second dagger clean in half. Yuel instantly realized trying to recover his main weapon was pointless and leapt off the owl's body.
Now he had no weapons. All he could do was run.
But he needed something—anything—to fight with...
He had to think while running. All the surrounding plants were growing—transforming into thorny vines trying to grab him. The ground was earthy, not forested, so he was lucky—trees couldn't be warped into weapons here.
He ran with everything he had. Who knew how long his stamina would hold?
But instead of thinking about fatigue, he had to focus on solutions. Maybe if he drew another monster to the area, he could make the owl fight it. That might give him a chance.
"Hey, ugly bird! Can you hear me!?"
"You chasing me 'cause no girl bird ever liked you? I'm not a bird, go find your own kind!"
The owl couldn't speak human language—but it was a Titan, smart enough to understand. Even if not, the shouting alone might attract another Dhune or Titan.
He was nearing the end of the trail. It was time to use his final card. He ran in circles around the owl.
The bird was mocking him—it didn't even move. It just manipulated the trees, sending out vine-like tendrils to chase its unarmed prey.
But the owl was wrong. Yuel wasn't unarmed.
As he passed through the owl's blind spot, he heard a sound in his ear:
KCRIC!
A cracking sound.
What could he do, though? He had nothing left...
Well—he had nothing until just now.
While running, he'd been catching his breath—preparing. With all his gathered strength, he jumped and climbed up the owl again. In two seconds, he was atop its head. He had to be fast—the vines were catching up.
Then he took the cracked glass canteen he'd made from a fallen crystal and drove it into the owl's eye. Then again—into the other eye, then the beak, then the skull! He stabbed and tore with all his might.
Each strike made the vines hesitate—almost like the owl was overwhelmed by pain and lost control.
It let out shrill screams, spinning in circles and twisting its head 180 degrees over and over. But when it finally remembered the vines—
It was too late.
Luo's flames incinerated them all just in time.
He had returned—probably after killing and eating a lower-tier Dhune to recover his energy.
They had taken down a fourth-stage Titan—without even sacrificing a limb!
The biggest reason was that cursed owl had underestimated him. That, and Yuel's small size—which let him slip easily beneath its legs. Plus, Luo's flames were its perfect elemental counter. If they'd faced an elite fourth-stage Titan like Luo was for the first stage... they'd be dead.
He'd gotten lucky—ridiculously lucky. He didn't plan on seeing another Titan anytime soon.
Maybe, finally... he could return home and rest.
Just then, footsteps echoed behind him.