Chapter 847: Iron-Headed Rabbits and Curious Nocturnal Raptors

Not long after stepping into the night, the wild environment in the darkness became very lively.

There was a rustling sound in the bushes. Tianxuecao, whom Jier was leading, suddenly turned its head to look over, its ears twitching, and its hooves stomped impatiently on the spot. Its long horse face nudged Jier's shoulder, reminding its master that there was movement over there.

"Don't be nervous! It's probably just a rabbit or something."

Jier patted Tianxuecao, but his horse was still somewhat nervous.

"Alright, alright, let me see what this is."

To soothe the horse, Jier swung the torch in his right hand and moved it toward the rustling bushes.

Amidst the rustling, the bushes swayed; the thing inside wanted to hide, so Jier kicked it, snapping the bush directly.

Crack! Under the overturned bush, a hole the size of a fist was revealed.

"Look, a rabbit or Caoshu hole; the little thing is shyly hiding!"

Jier shone his torch; the hidden hole under the bushes was pitch black, and something inside seemed to be squeaking nervously.

Tianxuecao widened its eyes, staring at the bottom with eyes wide open, then suddenly let out a cry.

Before Jier could react, a black shadow darted out from the hole in front of him, and then, with a thud, something slammed into his chest.

This force was not small, and it came so suddenly that Jier, caught off guard, was struck by the thing and sat down on his backside.

"What the hell—"

Jier let out a strange cry, but after the thing landed, it kicked its legs and lunged at Jier again.

Seeing that this time the thing was heading straight for Jier's head and face, and he had no time to react, a long horse face wrapped in metal Armor swung past Jier's eyes at that very moment.

Bang!

Tianxuecao swung its horse head and knocked the strange thing attacking Jier away.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo."

Only then did Jier come to his senses and look at the thing knocked away by the warhorse, only to discover that it was a gray-furred rabbit with a hard, black-gray bump growing on its forehead!

"What the hell! A rabbit is riding on my head!"

Jier grunted in dissatisfaction and hurriedly climbed to his feet; the previous collision hadn't injured him, it just made his chest ache a bit.

As it turned out, the startled strange rabbit, whether it had gone mad or was defending its territory, kicked its legs, lowered its head, and lunged over again like a small flying hammer.

Thud!

This thing hit the front of Jier's lower leg, making a loud clanging sound.

This sound was one that could only be produced by metal colliding with metal.

"Mmm..."

Jier let out a muffled groan; his lower leg, protected by iron Armor, still hurt. He released the Jiansheng he had been holding with his left hand, leaned over, and grabbed, catching the rabbit that was crazily attacking him.

This thing was quite heavy; despite its small size, it weighed as much as two fat rabbits he had seen before. Held by the neck by Jier, the rabbit kept twisting its body, its sturdy legs kicking wildly.

Jier ignored the creature's struggling and stared into the rabbit's eyes, discovering that the little thing had a fierce and irritable gaze; it looked like it would dare to fight anyone fiercely.

But that wasn't important; Jier looked curiously at the piece of body tissue protruding from the center of the thing's forehead.

On the rabbit's forehead grew a walnut-sized, gray-black bumpy patch that looked as if it had grown out of the rabbit's body. Tapping it, it could clearly emit a metallic sound.

"Good fellow, should this count as a kind of weak Monster?"

Jier looked at the strange rabbit left and right with a look of novelty, but he soon shifted his interest from the metal bump on the rabbit's forehead to the rabbit itself.

"Since it's a Monster, it must be a kind of Monster, so, should I eat this rabbit? After all, as a Knight in training, food that increases Life Energy is very much needed."

Muttering, Jier snapped the strange rabbit's neck, then tucked the heavy but small-sized rabbit into his belt, and then proceeded to check the rabbit hole under the bushes.

There was still movement inside, but no matter what method Jier tried, he couldn't catch any other rabbits.

It seemed these rabbit Monsters weren't very stupid; the rabbit-catching techniques he had learned from the Kendall Hunters in the past were no longer useful. As for other trapping methods, because they would delay time, Jier did not use them.

"One is enough, let's taste it first."

Jier soon took action; he stopped rushing on his way and found an open space by a small river where the grass and trees were withered. He kicked a few large Shitou to form a circle, then Jier went to the edge of the nearby Shulin, used his head to fell a small tree, gathered some firewood, and came to the riverbank.

The main trunks of the small tree were stacked against each other, then the leaves and thin branches of the small tree were placed in the center, and finally, some dry yellow grass was pulled from nearby to act as tinder, wrapped together, and placed in the middle.

The Torch was finally extended to ignite it, and soon the whole pile of fire was burning.

The strange rabbit was extravagantly skinned by Jier with his Heartfire Dagger, then the rabbit's feet and neck were severed, and the Viscera inside the belly were discarded, thrown directly into the fire along with the rabbit's feet.

As for the rabbit head with the metal lump, Jier tried to remove it separately, but he failed even after getting his Gauntlet covered in blood. This thing had grown together with the strange rabbit's skull, and unlike ordinary rabbits elsewhere, the skull of the strange rabbit Jier had at hand was hard and sturdy, not at all like the rabbits elsewhere whose skulls were thin and weak and could be easily broken.

While he was roasting the rabbit meat, he looked at the strange little river nearby, feeling that such a strange rabbit must be inseparable from this little river.

After a while, Jier simply seasoned and roasted this strange rabbit with salt.

Because the rabbits didn't have much fat, the final roasted rabbit was black and dry, with no appeal at all.

Jier looked somewhat hesitant, but in the end, he carefully sniffed the food he had roasted, realized it wasn't inedible, and took a small bite.

It was hard, and the rabbit meat was very firm, but fortunately, Jier's teeth were not for show; he tore at it and ate half a rabbit leg in a few bites.

Chewing the salty and bloody rabbit meat repeatedly in his mouth, Jier spent a great deal of effort to chew the rabbit meat and swallow it.

"It's not inedible, after all."

It just didn't taste very good.

Jier would not admit that his cooking level was too poor.

After finishing one rabbit leg, Jier held the bone with a small amount of muscle in his hand, weighed it, and felt something was wrong.

To be sure, he took off one Gauntlet and felt the weight of the rabbit's bones with his bare hand.

"Sure enough, something is wrong. This thing is so heavy? It's practically like a metal bar." Thinking of this, Jier looked at the rabbit meat in his hand with a look of horror: "Oh no! Could this rabbit meat also contain a lot of metal substances? Will I get metal poisoning from eating this?"

Once he thought about poisoning, Jier hurriedly threw the rabbit meat in his hand away, ignoring everything else, and stuck his fingers into his throat, wanting to vomit out the rabbit meat he had just eaten. But unfortunately, his digestive ability was very strong; no matter how he tried to induce vomiting, the meat that had entered his stomach had disappeared.

Most likely, it had been digested.

Looking dejected, Jier got back on the road and repeatedly warned himself not to eat strange things of unknown origin in the future.

And by the fire that had been extinguished after Jier set off, the roasted rabbit meat thrown on the ground attracted the competition of many ordinary beasts in the vicinity that night.

But Jier simply did not know these things.

Walking until midnight, Jier changed to a new torch; at this moment, he was repeatedly shooing away the night owls flying back and forth over his head. These nocturnal birds, which flew without a sound and had hoarse, terrifying calls, seemed very curious about him, a human, being active in the middle of the night.

After all, even if people had traveled the road to Huitou Forest in the past, most of them would not travel through the night. And these nocturnal raptors, which only started their work and activities after dark, were likely seeing a creature like a human for the first time.

There were quite a few of these fellows, and they were no longer catching food to fill their bellies; instead, they sat one by one on the treetops around Jier, turning their necks and staring at Jier with wide eyes.

If it weren't for Jier's boldness and lack of fear toward ordinary wild beasts and monsters, he would have long since wet his pants from the situation surrounding him.

You must know that Jier was carrying a torch at this time, and the eyes of those birds curiously looking at him were all reflecting the firelight from the torch. Therefore, looking from Jier's direction, the surroundings were pitch black, yet in every direction, there were many glowing spots suspended in the air staring at him.

Those curious nocturnal birds were not only staring at Jier, but they were also opening their mouths to call to each other in low voices, communicating.

But to Jier, a human, it just sounded like a patch of hoarse, unpleasant, and terrifying strange noises all around.

"Phew, if it weren't for knowing these are birds that can't harm me, if it were someone else, they would have likely been scared into a faint."

Jier let out a breath, looked back at the equally nervous Tianxuecao, and patted the horse, which was terrified at this moment, to soothe it.

"Gaga, little human, no need to fear! It is a rare stroke of luck that you have encountered so many of my kin who should be under my protection in the dark! Ga! Come, I know you still have some of my wooden carving statues on hand, hurry! Place one on the spot; I want these helpless little darlings to return under my pitch-black wings and become my kin and believers!"

At this moment, the voice of the Great Bird Deity rang out in Jier's mind.

Jier could tell the other party was trying their best to maintain an arrogant and calm tone, but he could also easily sense the urgency and desperation of this deity.

He smiled, ignored the words of this noisy deity, continued to use the torch to shoo away the raptors curiously approaching him, and pulled Tianxuecao along the river toward the upper reaches.

It seemed that because there were so many nocturnal raptors around, other animals had all hidden away in fear, not daring to make a single movement or sound. So, for a long while as Jier walked, the meadows and Shulin along the river only had the sounds made by these birds.

The howling of wolves and the strange cries of monkeys were all gone, and even the loud, annoying 'conversations' of insects had been silenced.

With so many curious nocturnal raptors gathered around, no other animal dared to move, fearing they would be caught by a suddenly appearing sharp claw, have their heads cracked open, and lose their lives.

You must know that when these birds flew in the wild forest, they did not make a single sound.

Let alone mice or rabbits, even the wild wolves in the forest and the packs of wild monkeys did not dare to provoke these fellows; otherwise, at night, they could be pounced on by raptors at any time, having their scalps torn open or their eyeballs ripped out.

The largest of these nocturnal raptors could have a wingspan of several meters; slightly weaker old wolves and old monkeys would be suddenly snatched away by these fellows, carried into the sky, and dropped to their deaths.

"Rude human! Gagaga! Do not act as if you didn't hear me! Help me, place one of my wooden carvings nearby, and I am confident I can make them join me."

Jier snorted: "But why should I do that?"

"Ga! Don't forget! The place you are currently searching for, isn't that the information I provided to you? You immoral fellow! Ga! You have simply fallen into a pool of profit and turned into a profit-driven beast!"

The Great Bird Deity cursed without restraint. Jier let out a 'huo' sound, reached out to touch his body, and said mockingly: "I don't know when I turned from a human into a beast in your mouth, but I know I don't have a bird head, nor do I have a pair of pitch-black wings. And you dragged others into a gloomy and terrifying consciousness secret realm without asking if I agreed."

"Rude human, my face is so majestic! My wings are so useful and powerful. No need to argue anymore; you and I have known each other for quite some time, I didn't expect you wouldn't even agree to such a small request of mine? Ga! Ga—"

Jier ignored the mad talk of the Great Bird Deity entirely. He lowered his head to avoid a nocturnal raptor gliding over his head, then turned to look at the back of Tianxuecao. There, on the weapon rack, a dozen or so small nocturnal raptors were sitting, and since Tianxuecao could not see its own back, it did not know that these fellows it feared were already all over its back.

Fortunately, although these fellows were sitting on the weapon rack, they didn't move at all. Not only did they grip the object under their feet tightly with both claws to keep their bodies steady, but they were also curiously examining Tianxuecao, who was wearing horse armor, and Jier, who was wearing full-body metal armor.

It seemed that in their understanding, Tianxuecao and Jier were a very new thing they had never seen before.

Curiosity.

Especially since Jier did not show any aggression, which made these nocturnal raptors, who had no natural predators in the wild, even more brazen.

Jier looked at the birds of all sizes on the horse's back and shook his head helplessly. After shrugging, he said in a low voice to the Great Bird Deity: "You said yourself that your situation over there wasn't good before, hmph, the Hunting God Church, they bullied you quite badly, right?"

"No! Ga! No! Ga—"

The Great Bird Deity was stubborn and refused to admit it, even though the deity had already let it slip in previous conversations with Jier, this ancient deity still refused to admit it with their mouth.

"It doesn't matter if you don't admit it, I understand it myself anyway. If these birds belong to you, wouldn't that be harming them? And giving those hunters of the church new things to hunt?"

The deity did not speak and fell silent.

"So, if you ask me, you had better not provoke those fellows. Your strength and scale are simply no match for them, what are you going to fight with? Just these raptors that are active at night?"

The Great Bird Deity retorted stubbornly: "This time, as long as they join, under my command, choosing a pitch-black, moonless night, I will definitely be able to teach those pursuers a painful lesson! Believe me! Ga! I will make them look good! You see, how terrifying and scary the sounds of these robust night owls around us are, and they don't make a single sound when flapping their wings; they are natural nocturnal assassins! Ga! Noble wings will surely give the hunters a severe punishment!"

Jier smiled bitterly: "If these birds knew you said their sounds were unpleasant and scary, and that it was a merit, they would definitely be sad."

"Ga! That is precisely their powerful weapon! The cowardly will have their remaining courage driven away by these hoarse calls! And once courage is lost, a victory will surely come, and it will belong to me!"

Shrugging his shoulders, Jier said helplessly: "That is the problem, ancient deity. You only treat these simple birds as weapons for your revenge, rather than a group of protectors that can prosper under your shelter. Let alone me, even the earthworms and ground insects crawling in the dirt know this is not a good path."

"You know I have fought with the hunters of the Hunting God Church; they are not opponents that can be easily defeated. Even if these birds have the advantage at night, it is not enough, these alone are far from enough. Not enough for you to win a victory of revenge. If you ask me, you had better solve the problem of survival first. Solve the survival problem first, and ensure you can exist for a long time in this era that is new to you. Then develop and grow, and find ways to expand your power. As a deity, this shouldn't be difficult, right?"

"Finally, when you have a significant amount of power in your hands, I think that is when you can talk about revenge. After all, talking about revenge all day long is really a bit beneath you."

After Jier finished speaking, he waited for the Great Bird Deity's reply, but there was no reply for a long time.

The deity was silent.

It was unknown whether the deity had listened or was too ashamed to speak to him again.

But it made no difference; at least tonight, this ancient fellow did not open their mouth again to urge him to do anything. And those nocturnal raptors that were curiously observing him, whether they had observed enough or for some other reason, finally flew away one after another to fill their bellies.

Their departure was also very interesting; one could not hear the sound of wings flapping at all.

Jier could only see the pairs of reflective large eyes that had been watching him on the treetops gradually disappear without a sound.

Those were the ones far away. As for the ones close by, such as the nocturnal raptors sitting on Tianxuecao's back, because the distance was close enough for the torchlight to reach them, Jier could notice these birds silently flapping their wings to leap up, spreading their wings without a sound, and gliding into the pitch-black night.

Extremely cool.

Jier was very envious; his own iron armor would constantly make clanking sounds of metal friction when he walked.

Even though it was specifically designed to reduce the noise of the armor when it was designed and manufactured in the workshop in Kendall City, Jier was, after all, designing full-body metal armor for the first time, so lack of experience was certain.

Now, after a period of use and accumulating quite a bit of experience, if Jier were to redesign the armor, Jier felt the new armor would definitely be much stronger than the current one.

It was not just because of experience; more importantly, he now had quite a bit of money in his pocket.