As for the other two birdmen, Bird Two had turned into a black-and-white color pattern, kind of like a mottled bird. It looked very beautiful as well.
The most amazing part was her hair. It had actually turned into a mottled pattern too.
Some parts were white, while other parts were black.
Just like highlights, it was really interesting.
But the most astonishing one was Bird Three. After transforming her wings, even her temperament had changed.
She became entirely jet black. Naturally, her hair color changed as well, but her overall aura gave off the feeling of a dark queen. It was incredibly strange.
"Lord!"
Bird One spoke softly, slightly spreading her wings at the same time, "Do I… look good?"
"Pretty good. Want to go out and fly around for a bit?"
Looking at the birdmen, Ethan suddenly grew curious about what they looked like while flying.
Whether it's a bird or a chicken (a very proper chicken, don't overthink it), you'll know after taking it out for a spin.
"Yes, Lord."
Everyone headed outside.
At that moment, the other residents looked at Ethan eagerly, as if they had been abandoned.
That left Ethan a bit puzzled, 'Did I forget something?'
After thinking it over, he finally remembered that he hadn't given names to the rest of the residents.
"Numbers 46, 47, and 48, you three will be called Giant One, Giant Two, and Giant Three," Ethan casually pointed at two archers, "You two who changed into archers will join Hunter Five's team, named Hunter Six and Hunter Seven."
"As for the two who became axemen, join Wood Eight's team. You'll be Axe Six and Axe Seven."
"And the young lady who became support, join Healer Girl's team. You'll be ranked Healer Six."
"Alright, that's it!"
After saying that, Ethan couldn't wait to head out of the villa.
Right now, he was like a kid completely focused on playing with a new toy. He was pretty perfunctory about everything else. Watching the young ladies' flying performance was what really mattered.
After Ethan left, the group of newly awakened residents remained where they stood, each carefully memorizing the names the lord had given them.
Especially Axe Six and Axe Seven.
"Brother, don't you think the lord gave us names a bit too casually?", Axe Six looked at Axe Seven, somewhat helpless.
Axe Seven, however, looked at Axe Six with a wronged expression, "You've already got it pretty good, being called Axe Six. At least it sounds like a name. Look at mine, Axe Seven? What kind of weird name is that…"
"That's not true. I remember back in my hometown, a lot of shops used that name. It was pretty popular."
"Really? What were they called?"
"Husband and Wife Lung Slices." [T/N: Chinese wordplay joke]
"…"
———
[Outside the Villa]
At Ethan's instruction, the three bird ladies were already flapping their wings in the snow. Then, with a push of their bird claws against the ground, they easily took off into the air.
Since the sky was dark, Ethan made three torches and had them hold the torches with their claws while flying, so he could see where they were.
The three birdmen clearly weren't used to using their claws yet, so each of them tried several times, before finally managing to grab the torches with their feet.
Whoosh!
As the three bird ladies flapped their wings hard,
A gust of wind mixed with a large amount of snow rushed straight toward Ethan's face, hitting his eyes so hard they stung.
It was clear just how powerful their wings were.
As the birdmen flew in the sky, many residents curiously walked out from the warm dining hall to watch.
They had seen all kinds of people before, but they had never seen residents who could fly. Everyone immediately looked up at the sky in curiosity.
Wood Eight held Healer Girl's small hand, staring fixedly at the sky, "Wife, look! The birdmen are coming! They're coming!"
"Idiot, I see it. Keep your voice down!"
"How can people even fly?", Stone Six also sighed from the side.
"If only I could fly too," Wood Eight continued, "Then I could take my wife and fly high up."
"They have wings. What do you have, a bald head?"
Stone Six rolled his eyes and shot back.
Hearing that, Wood Eight immediately got unhappy. When his wife said it, it felt like affection. When others said it, it definitely didn't.
So Wood Eight immediately retorted, "At least I have a wife. What do you have?"
"I have manners, that you don't have?", Stone Six replied.
"…"
At the beginning, when the three birdmen were flying in the sky, they looked a bit clumsy.
But as they became more familiar with controlling their bodies, their movements gradually became smoother. The white bird even flew higher and higher, farther and farther.
Meanwhile, the black bird and the mottled bird seemed more cautious, circling above the manor the whole time.
However, at that moment—
"AHHHHH!"
From high up in the sky, a sudden scream rang out.
Hearing it, Ethan's pupils shrank, and he said with concern, "It's Bird One."
Whoosh!
"White Eagle, quick! Go up and save her!"
Ethan immediately called for White Eagle. Upon hearing the command, White Eagle spread its wings, and instantly its wings turned into flames. In less than a second, it had already shot up into the sky.
White Eagle showed everyone what it meant to go from zero to one hundred in just one second.
As the White Eagle, radiating light like the sun, soared into the sky, only then did everyone finally see what was happening in the sky.
So this so-called polar night wasn't really polar night at all.
It was just thick dark clouds covering the entire land, blocking out all sunlight.
The moment White Eagle flew into the sky, the firelight around its body was quickly obscured by the dark clouds. But because its glow was so intense, it even reddened the surrounding clouds, faintly shining through.
Ethan looked at the cloud layer, which was less than thirty meters above the ground and suddenly felt a heavy sense of pressure.
Very soon.
White Eagle was completely swallowed by the clouds and disappeared.
"Shriek!"
But just as White Eagle vanished into the cloud layer,
Ethan heard a sharp cry from White Eagle. It was the kind of sound it only made when it encountered danger or wanted to drive off an enemy.
'What is going on?'
"Eagle Eye!"
It had been a long time since he last used Eagle Eye.
But at this moment, Ethan activated the shared vision skill without hesitation. He needed to see what exactly was happening in the sky.
The moment their visions connected, through White Eagle's eyes, Ethan saw a sky filled with dark clouds. Bird One was falling headfirst, dropping rapidly downward, and on her originally white wings, large patches of black had appeared, as if ink had been splashed all over them.
"What's going on?"
Ethan's pupils shrank as he immediately ordered White Eagle, "Quick! Go catch Bird One. Don't let her get hurt."
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Chapter 305: Infection
"Chirp!"
White Eagle responded.
It immediately flew toward Bird One, but before it could get close, deep within the dark clouds, an arrow suddenly appeared, shooting straight toward White Eagle.
"White Eagle, dodge!"
With Ethan's warning, White Eagle quickly tilted its body, narrowly avoiding the arrow.
Right after that, it had already reached Bird One. White Eagle quickly grabbed both of her wings with its claws, and without daring to delay any longer, it immediately dove downward, heading back toward the manor.
Through White Eagle's eyes, Ethan saw a bizarre scene within the dark clouds.
Although he couldn't see very clearly, he seemed to make out countless eyes appearing behind the thick layers of clouds, as if many monsters were hidden within them.
If it weren't for White Eagle's body being made entirely of flames, illuminating the clouds, Ethan probably wouldn't have been able to see anything at all.
But now… with the firelight from White Eagle, countless reflective points appeared in the clouds. Ethan was certain those were eyes.
And not only that, from within the clouds, shriveled hands would occasionally stretch out, hands with no flesh, covered in blackened, dried skin, trying to grab White Eagle.
Fortunately, White Eagle had Ethan helping it keep watch, so whenever obstacles or danger appeared in the clouds, Ethan would immediately warn it, allowing it to narrowly avoid them every time.
Finally… White Eagle dodged three ghostly claws, two arrows, and one unknown attack.
At last, it broke through the cloud layer and rushed toward the manor below.
Only when Ethan saw White Eagle return with his own eyes did he finally let out a long breath of relief. But before he could even finish exhaling, he saw something burst out of the clouds behind it, chasing after White Eagle.
Although White Eagle's firelight lit up the clouds behind it, Ethan still couldn't clearly see what had broken through the cloud layer. He could only make out that it was wrapped in something like a layer of cloud, or mist.
The only thing visible was a skeletal hand extending out of the cloud, gripping a faintly visible black longbow, with a sharp black arrow nocked on it.
The arrowhead was aimed straight at White Eagle.
"An arrow!"
Ethan instantly broke out in a cold sweat.
There really was something inside those clouds, and it was vicious. Just entering the clouds was enough for them to try to kill you. Even leaving didn't mean you'd be spared.
Ethan quickly took out an enchanted dragon bow from his tail ring. His plan was simple.
If someone wanted to shoot White Eagle, then he'd shoot back.
Even if he couldn't hit the opponent, knocking down the incoming arrow was still an option.
Whoosh!
Very quickly, the presence within the clouds fired an arrow.
Seeing this, Ethan immediately released the taut bowstring. A tycoon arrow shot straight toward the black arrow.
The reason he chose the tycoon arrow was so that when it struck the black arrow, it could split into multiple arrows and also attack whatever was hiding behind the clouds.
But the moment Ethan's tycoon arrow collided with the black arrow, not only did it fail to knock it away, Ethan watched as his arrow was instantly contaminated, like white fur touching ink.
In an instant, it turned completely black.
Not only that, the tycoon arrow didn't split into new arrows. It even seemed to lose all its momentum, falling straight down from the sky.
"H-How is this possible?"
Although the tycoon arrow wasn't the strongest in raw power, it was definitely the most effective in terms of special effects.
Whether it was used against mud monsters or untouchable puppet dolls before, it had performed brilliantly. So how could this happen now?
Ethan watched as the arrow fell from the sky. By the time he tried to ready another arrow, it was already too late.
Because that black arrow was now less than ten meters away from White Eagle.
For a fast-moving arrow, that distance was less than the blink of an eye.
Would White Eagle be okay?
"Ah!"
"What is that thing in the sky?"
"White Eagle, dodge!"
All the residents on the ground couldn't help but cry out when they saw this scene.
But everyone knew, it would be very hard to turn things around now.
"Insolence!"
However, at that moment, the Genie Sylas had somehow appeared not far from Ethan.
Its hollow eyes stared straight at the dark cloud in midair. Then, with a wave of its mist-like hand, a dazzling bolt of lightning shot toward the strange cloud.
As the cloud was struck by lightning, the entire cloud lit up for a moment, and the thing inside was finally revealed, if only partially.
It was… a skeleton. But its frame was clearly much larger than a human skeleton.
However, the lightning flashed by in an instant, so Ethan couldn't see it clearly. He could only make out the rough outline, knowing that something like a skeleton was hidden behind the clouds.
Clack! Clack!
Clack! Clack! Clack!
After being struck, the thing inside the cloud made strange clacking sounds.
Then the cloud quickly retreated back into the cloud layer, no longer daring to show itself.
Flap! Flap! Flap!
White Eagle finally returned safely to the ground.
Just before reaching the ground, White Eagle flipped its body midair, adjusting back to a head-up, claws-down position, and gently set Bird One down onto the ground.
Only then… did Ethan finally get a clear look at Bird One's condition.
Her originally snow-white feathers had been contaminated by something black.
And that black substance seemed to be spreading continuously. At first, it was only on the tips of her wings, but it had already spread to the base of the wings, and was even creeping upward. The fastest-spreading parts had already reached close to her neck.
"W-What is this?"
Looking at the ink-like blackness spreading across Bird One's body, Ethan suddenly felt a bad premonition. He quickly called over the support-type healer unit, Healer Girl.
"Healer Girl, come quickly and take a look at Bird One! What exactly is happening to her?"
"Blah! Blah! Blah!"
After chanting a long, long spell, a white orb of light finally appeared in Healer Girl's hands.
Then Healer Girl pressed the light orb onto Bird One's forehead.
Immediately, everyone saw the orb sink directly into Bird One's forehead.
It felt like watching a 3D movie, as if a glowing sphere slowly merged into a human body.
But when this healing light entered Bird One's forehead, the inky black infection on her body not only didn't fade, it actually spread even faster, creeping up toward her neck and face.
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[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.