Interstellar Survival: Invasion

The divine bird must have sensed my approach; with a loud shriek, it flew even faster into the sky. The wind continued hissing loudly beside my ears as I grabbed onto the rope tightly to avoid being thrown off by the wind. Inwardly, I was feeling doubtful. I had personally witnessed the divine bird's prowess. For some reason, it wasn't attacking me. It was probably aware of my purpose.

I was brought farther and farther away from Gero City. That was probably the very first time the divine bird had left the city under its protection in hundreds of years. The other mechanical birds must have discovered its departure as well, but the divine bird was at a height too high for the ordinary mechanical birds to reach.

Shortly after, the divine bird reached an altitude high enough that outer space was closer to us than the planet's surface. This was a height the ordinary mechanical birds couldn't reach, and it was also far enough that my shortwave communication channel had lost connection with Zhang Bao'er and the others. At that point, the divine bird stopped rising. Instead, it flapped its wings and remained at the same altitude while gazing at me with its sharp eyes.

'This is my chance,' I told myself.

At that thought, I continued my climb, trying my best to reach the divine bird. The divine bird continued gazing at me silently. A few minutes later, I finally reached its claw. I reached out and touched its claw with my finger without any hesitation. The moment my finger made contact, I felt the fingerprint going to work.

The divine bird abruptly opened its eyes wide, releasing a yellow beam from its eyes. The beam pierced through the darkness and struck a cloud, and on the cloud, a scene started playing. In the scene, a massive bird's nest could be seen. Within the nest, a small mechanical bird could be seen jumping around, looking extremely adorable.

"What is this? Don't tell me this mechanical bird was not manufactured and had rather grown up from a small chick?" I muttered in astonishment.

In the scene, the bird grew rapidly. Before long, it grew big enough to spread its wings and leave its nest. I had not expected a metallic body to grow up like an organic life form. This was truly shocking to see. After a while, the bird reached half the divine bird's current size. It was flying above a towering mountain, seemingly looking for its prey.

I could only see a tall and steep mountain peak. I couldn't understand what the divine bird was trying to show me. After circling the mountain peak, the divine bird suddenly dove down. The perspective in the scene followed the divine bird, showing a mechanical bird of moderate size leisurely strolling on the ground. The divine bird dove down like a bolt of lightning before quickly grabbing and breaking the neck of the mechanical beast.

Having caught its prey, the divine bird looked extremely excited. After shrieking in joy, it prepared to fly away with its prey. Alas, the mechanical beast was too heavy to be lifted into the air. The divine bird kept trying, but it failed to lift the mechanical beast. After a while, it gave up and lowered its head to eat its prey then and there.

That greatly exceeded my expectations. I had not expected that a mechanical bird would need to also eat. I had also not expected that it would feed on a different mechanical animal. I saw the divine bird tear the body of the mechanical beast and swallow the torn chunks down its throat.

The divine bird ate hastily, as though it was worried that something would come out to snatch its food. I was rather astonished. What would a beast so powerful be afraid of? And surprisingly, a massive black silhouette abruptly appeared behind the divine bird and attacked.

The divine bird was busy eating, so it was caught by complete surprise. It was thrown onto the ground, allowing me to see that the attacker was no smaller than the divine bird. It opened its mechanical mouth wide and bit down on the divine bird's body.

The attacker was yet another mechanical beast that was actually larger than the divine bird. If my guess was right, the bigger beast was probably the parent of the dead mechanical beast.

Angered by the death of its child, the mechanical beast attacked madly, biting the divine bird's wing before swinging it around. The divine bird tried pecking the beast with its beak, but the beast was able to deftly stay behind the divine bird, rendering the bird helpless.

Then, the mechanical beast applied more force with its bite and tore the divine bird's right wing off. After losing one wing, the divine bird could no longer maintain its balance. It collapsed onto the ground.

The mechanical beast was eager for revenge. Although the divine bird was already on the ground, it continued attacking mercilessly, tearing a big hole in the divine bird's belly. Even as a spectator, I could feel how painful the attack had been.

The divine bird appeared badly injured. Careless feeding had brought it into such a dangerous situation. Although it was still trying to fight back with its claws, its injuries had weakened it considerably. Thus, the mechanical beast was able to easily bite the divine bird more.

'What a vicious fight. How did the divine bird survive something like this?' I wondered inwardly.

The beast's attacks grew fiercer and fiercer while the divine bird's struggle grew weaker and weaker. Slowly, it stopped moving, allowing the beast to freely attack. The light in its eyes was gradually dimming.

Suddenly, a long spear shot out of the ground and stabbed into the beast's body. Then, a sharp arrow shot into the beast's eye. That was a fatal attack. In its pain, the beast released the divine bird and turned around to look at its attacker. A tall and sturdy Wargod could be seen walking out of the bush, holding a massive axe. The warrior was clad in a gorgeous outfit, and for some reason, it looked familiar.

"King Nichnawa! This is the first king of Kenante!" I recalled the statue I saw before.

King Nichnawa swung his axe, attacking the mechanical beast. The mechanical beast might be injured, but it was still able to fight ferociously with its fury. After a slight adjustment of its posture, it pounced on King Nichnawa.

King Nichnawa had clearly come prepared. He calmly raised his axe with both hands and swung the axe after seeing the trajectory of the beast's attack. In the blink of an eye, the axe struck the middle of the beast's head.

That was an attacking method that completely gave up on defense, an action that required great courage. It was also exceptionally effective. The mechanical beast instantly lost its balance and was sent flying to the side. After several rolls on the ground, the mechanical beast slowly stood up. A deep wound could be seen on its head. The axe attack was evidently very effective.

While the beast was rolling on the ground, the spear and arrow in its body had been pushed deeper into it. Such injuries were too heavy for the beast, so it could only shoot King Nichnawa and the divine bird a hateful glance before escaping into the forest.

The entire battle had shaken me to my core. That was not a combat prowess that mere mortals should possess. After the mechanical beast left, King Nichnawa ran over to check on the divine bird.

The divine bird only had one wing left. Countless wounds were left on its belly by the mechanical beast, and some black liquid was flowing out of its wounds. Its eyes were dim, looking like it was on the verge of death.

King Nichnawa approached the divine bird's head and started studying it. Shortly after, he took out a large bottle and poured some green liquid onto the divine bird's wounds. The moment the green liquid came in contact with the wounds, they solidified and immediately stopped bleeding.

"Looks like the green liquid is capable of stopping the divine bird's bleeding," I guessed.

King Nichnawa continued inspecting the divine bird's injuries. The bleeding had stopped, but parts of its body had been torn apart, and it was dying. It did not seem capable of naturally healing from such injuries.

Seeing the state of the divine bird, King Nichnawa started working on an object in his hands. Before long, dozens of small mechanical birds appeared in front of the divine bird. With an order from King Nichnawa, the mechanical birds leaped forward. Some used their beaks, and some used their claws. Together, they lifted the divine bird.

They carried the divine bird into the sky while a mechanical beast rushed over and stopped beside King Nichnawa. Mounted on the beast, King Nichnawa followed the small mechanical beasts carrying the divine bird.

At that point, the scene changed. The divine bird was lying on flat ground. It seemed to have arrived at Gero City. At that time, Gero City was still a small village. Farther in the distance, two familiar chimneys could be seen. However, the two chimneys were not as tall as the one I had crawled out of earlier.

King Nichnawa was standing in the square, supervising the restoration of the divine bird. A new wing could be seen on the divine bird. A Wargod dressed like a priest was leading a group of Wargods as they filled the wing with some sort of energy source.

The divine bird looked like it was gleaming because it was filled with energy. At the same time, a different group of Wargods was patiently repairing the many bite wounds on the divine bird's body.

Time passed and before long, a fully restored divine bird appeared in the scene. All the wounds on its body had healed. It was still unconscious, but apart from that, it looked brand new. In fact, it actually looked stronger than before.

It was finally time to awaken the divine bird. King Nichnawa personally stepped forth and placed his left forefinger on the divine bird's forehead. Then, he cut a wound on his palm and sprinkled his blood on the divine bird's head. At that moment, the divine bird opened its eyes.