Chapter 568: Falling Stones

The rocks were getting larger and making travel even harder for the party. The only one that appeared to be having a simple time of it was Midnight who was using the time to attempt some flying practice. 

Walker had been keeping an eye on her as she climbed the taller rocks then jumped from one to the next while trying to flap her wings or hold them out to glide. She still fell fairly quickly but it was not the same with her wings folded. She had made a lot of progress ins strengthening them to this point. 

Not wanting to be left out Onyx had let himself grow slightly and was reaching the top of rocks then trying to coil up and spring forward. This was the same motion he would use if he were to ever bite someone but in this instance, it worked well as a movement technique. 

Walker found that since there were so many forms of earth around him that the earth elemental mana had grown much denser. This meant that he had been able to easily keep watch of everything around him and also grasp some additional understanding of the earth as a whole. 

He could feel the ever slow moving rocks pushing upwards to the surface to create a mountain while there were others that pulled apart causing small streams to form and one day ravines. It was all part of the way nature flowed but was a great learning opportunity. 

"Everyone down." Gil had spotted something in the distance and ordered everyone to crouch behind a larger rock that was jutting out of the ground. He pointed in to the sky some distance away toward some large birds circling the sky. In total there were three. 

The three birds had curved bone white beaks, Bald heads, and wide black feathered wings. The long talons they had looked powerful enough to crush stone. " There are three of them and every once in a while one will swoop down and grab at something on the ground." Gil was watching this happen as he spoke. 

"They must have found a target to go after. Should we go and see what they are after?" Remey was the first to ask this question. She had seen Gil freeze up and point at the distance. 

Walker turned and looked at Midnight, "Can you scout up ahead and hide in the shadows of the rocks to see if that is a human under attack? If it is we will head forward to rescue." Walker knew that Midnight could hide the same as Onyx when it came to this, but she had more experience when coming to this. He also knew that Gil might end up giving himself away and become a target as well. 

She snorted and snuck off toward where the three bone beak vultures were circling. "Leader, should we intervene if it is not a human?" Su was wondering if they should protect another animal or monster from these three monsters of it they should let nature continue its course. 

"Depends on what it is. If it is a normal animal we can put it to a vote. If it is another monster we can leave them to fight. It won't be worth the danger of fighting a monster on the ground and in the air."  Walker didn't wish to see them take any unnecessary injuries on their way to the dwarven city.

"They are bigger than I thought they would be. And their feathers might be perfect for arrows." Gil was contemplating hunting the three vultures for this reason. He wanted to keep his arrow materials high in case he did battle the yellow acidic slimes soon. The more arrows he had the better. 

"We shouldn't hunt them just for your arrows. It won't be worth the risk to us." Su shot down this idea instantly. If it happened that the party could rescue someone then Su had no problem with Gil taking the feathers. But attacking them just for that reason when they were not in need was foolish. 

"I think we should avoid them. I don't want to deal with monsters I can't do much about. I have never tried making explosive potions or any poisonous ones like Trish. Those would be my only attacks against them If I even had them." Remey also chimed in stating that she wouldn't want to fight them if possible. At the end of the day, it was only Gil and Walker who would be able to damage them,. Midnight and Onyx could try but they would have a very tough time of it. 

It was clever that the party would be better off avoiding them, Walker was about to speak on this fact when Midnight returned. Onyx spoke up on her behalf to report the scouting, "Sister says that they are attacking a horned rabbit." 

"What is one doing out here?" Gil was curious why one left the fields and would be in all these rocks. 

"Sister says that every time the vultures drop a rock it lands near the horned rabbit and not on it." Onyx relayed this making everyone think the same thing. 

"The vultures are guiding it. I would assume the nest is that way and this is easier for them." Su was the one to state their theory out loud. "It would seem the bone beak vultures are smarter than we believed." This was a worrisome development.

"Then we are not fighting them. We will proceed slowly and stay out of sight until they are away. Just stay behind rocks and avoid standing up fully." Walker gave the orders and led the way as the party p[ushed on. Their movements crouched and much slower since they dared not draw any attention from the predators of the sky. 

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