Chapter 267: The Raven's Nest

"Exactly!", the mayor said excitedly.

Rex smiles wryly upon realizing what the look back of the man before means, it seems that the man is signaling to the mayor to ask him to help.

He then laid back to his chair before he asks, "What can I help you with?"

The high-grade Lightning Stones that Lountain City has are too precious to just be used to pay for their transport, doing something in return is preferable for Rex.

Besides paying for the transport, Rex can also get Exp if it's a mutated animal problem.

"Have you heard about Acidic Bronze Armadilloes?", the mayor asks.

Hearing this, Rex frowns as he never heard of these armadilloes.

Looking at Rex's confused expression, the mayor then explains, "Acidic Bronze Armadilloes is a peak fourth rank mutated animal, some even reaches the fifth rank. They are docile to humans as their diet doesn't consist of humans, but they have a trait that is very interesting"

"They consider digging elemental stones sport, and they really like doing it", the mayor added.

After hearing the mayor's explanation, Rex still didn't know which direction this will go.

But then, the mayor said, "That man that was just here is Max, he bred the Armadilloes. He's a very important figure because by using his Armadilloes the city becomes 2 times more efficient in digging elemental stones"

"The part where you need my help is?", Rex asks impatiently.

All he wanted was to quickly move to Wedron City and finish the Carabidis Quest, he also doesn't know about when the banquet will be held and other things that he must do.

So although he's not in a rush, the sooner he gets back the better.

Feeling Rex's becoming impatient, the mayor skipped his explanation and said, "That man just reported that his Armadilloes are missing, and this morning he saw a giant bird just swoop one of his fat Armadilloes"

"Out of 45 Armadilloes that he owned, 8 have been killed by this bird. It's a huge loss for us, so I'm asking you to get rid of this bird", the mayor finally said.

Hearing this, Rex frowns, "That's it?"

"Yes, we don't exactly have Awakenedpower currently. With the Supernatural attacking, many of our finest Awakened scouts the area watching if any Supernatural is going to attack", the mayor replied with a sigh.

After knowing the situation, Rex finally nodded his head.

<Sudden Quest!>

<Save the Acidic Bronze Armadilloes!>

The mayor of Slila City is asking for the user's help to get rid of whatever beast that has been eating the Armadilloes, fulfill the mayor's request to get immediate access to the formation to head to Wedron City!

Quest Reward: 10,000,000 Exp, 10 Skill Upgrade, 5x Bronze Shell

Reading this, Rex then stands up before he asks, "What does the bird look like?"

"From what the man said, the bird has reddish skin with thin brown furs covering its body. It's huge, and he also said that the bird should be a mutated raven", the mayor replied.

The mayor then added, "It's quite powerful I'm afraid"

Hearin this, Rex nodded his head as he estimates that the bird should be peak rank five.

If the raven has sixth rank power, Rex probably manages to take it on but if the raven turns out to be a peak sixth rank then they will instantly leave.

'I doubt the mayor will be that calm if it's a very powerful raven', Rex thought.

After getting his answers, the mayor gives him the location before Rex left the room.

But before Rex walks out of the door, he turns to his back as the mayor looks at him questioningly, "Do you have any sword?"

~

"Rex is back", Adhara said after seeing Rex walking up to them.

Kyran and Adhara look at Rex weirdly when they saw a sword sheathed on Rex's waist.

"What's with the sword?", Adhara asks in confusion.

Normally Rex prefers to use his battle gloves, so it's weird to see him with a sword.

Rex approach Adhara and the others before he replied, "The mayor asks us to get rid of a mutated raven in exchange for a free ride using the formation"

"Raven? Can't we just pay the mayor?", Kyran asks back.

But Rex shakes his head with a sigh, "The resources required per person is 400 high-grade elemental stones, we don't have anywhere near that number"

"That's too expensive...", Adhara mumbles wryly.

With that being said, the three of them gets on Delta before Delta leaped away.

The three of them went outside of the city while riding Delta, they left through a different entrance from when they enter the city.

Even with the sky still covered with blackness, Delta's movement didn't get hindered as they arrive at their destination after 20 minutes.

Delta is very reliable, and Rex was glad to meet her that night.

They arrive in front of a huge cave with many people working in front of it, the people are mainly miners except for a couple that doesn't wear mining uniforms.

Woods covered the surrounding, the trees around this place are all giants and they make Rex and the others look tiny in comparison.

Aside from the working people, Rex saw the Acidic Bronze Armadilloes in the surrounding.

Rex scans the place before his eyes landed on a man,

He recognized the man to be the man that was talking with the mayor before him.

The man was frowning for a moment before he saw a big white wolf arrive at this place, his eyes lit up upon seeing the three people riding it.

"Hai! The mayor must've sent you here", the man asks after running towards them.

Rex and the others get down from Delta's back before Rex steps forward, "You must be Max, the one who owns these Armadilloes", he said while looking at the surrounding Armadilloes.

The Armadilloes have brown skin, but their shell is a glistening bronze in color.

Upon seeing them closer, Rex was quite surprised because these Armadilloes that he thought would be medium-sized at best turns out to be almost as big as Delta.

They are fat and round like a ball, and their movements are quite slow.

"Yes, Nice to meet the rising star Rex Silverstar!", Max replied excitedly.

Looking at Max that seems to be Rex's fan, Kyran and Adhara chuckle before Rex clears his throat, "So, Can you show me where you last saw the bird?"

"Ah yes, about that", Max said before he glance at his back.

Wreaau!

Wreeaau!

A high-pitched whimper can be heard from the side,

Rex follows Max's eyes direction before he saw an Armadillo lying to its side, its hard glossy bronze shell has a nasty wound that tears through the shell as blood leaked out of it.

It was evident that the bird just attacked them, and Rex is too late.

"What happened?", Adhara asks as she saw the Armadillo whimpers in pain.

Max sighs lightly before he replied, "That damned raven attacked us again, it snatched one Armadillo with its claws and also brutally wounded that one"

"Where did that bird go? We might still catch up to it", Rex asks hurriedly.

With the attack just happened, Rex and the others might catch up to the raven.

Kyran also added, "I can sense a few Awakened here? How did the raven snatch one Armadillo easily with these Awakened guarding?"

Hearing this, Max shakes his head dejectedly, "That bird is already long gone. Although the attack is just about ten minutes ago, the raven must be far because it's quite fast and cunning"

"Before that raven attacked, it announced its arrival and flew vertically through the crowd of Armadilloes that we already gathered so we can guard them easily and this split the Armadilloes. After doing that, that raven roared making the Armadilloes panic as they scattered to the surrounding", Max explained.

He then continues, "The Awakened tries to attack the raven, but its body is very hard and the raven easily snatched one isolated Armadillo and brutally injured another in the process before it went inside the cave"

Rex frowns while he hears Max's story, "It went inside the cave?", he asks in confusion.

"Yes, the cave is pretty huge and deep so I don't know where its nest lies", Max replied before suddenly a man approaches them from the side.

"Sir! One of our men find the raven", the man reported.

Hearing this, Rex's eyes lit up before he said, "Guide us to the raven"

Looking at Rex and the others, the man frown in confusion before Max added, "They're here to take out the raven, give them your full support"

"Yes Sir! Please follow me", the man said before Rex and the others followed him.

Upon entering the cave, Rex can feel the air become damp as the ground is watery, and also droplets of water drip from the cave's ceiling making a clicking sound.

Max didn't come with them because he's only a third rank Awakened.

A dozen Awakened come with them inside the cave, and they all have at least fourth rank power with a mid-fifth rank as the strongest.

All of them brings a gun with them as they will be fighting flying mutated animals,

With all of them being Awakened, they must be able to imbue their elemental mana to their bullets and effectively increase the impact of the bullet.

'With its nest inside a cave, I doubt that the raven can fly freely. But just in case', Rex thought.

Rex takes two guns and gave them to Adhara and Kyran.

Although they never trained with a gun before, it should be like imbuing elemental mana to a weapon so the only problem is their aim.

The gun they used varies,

Rex takes a small sniper rifle while Kyran and Adhara hold a pistol each.

"Have you used a gun before?", Rex asks while glancing at Adhara and Kyran.

Hearing this, Adhara and Kyran look at Rex with a confused expression before both of them shake their heads in a union.

Rex sigh seeing this,

He takes their pistols before he loaded them to make the pistols ready to fire.

After doing that, Rex then holds the pistols with his arms straight to his front as he explains, "Try to keep your form like this, aim for the target and just pull the trigger"

Adhara and Kyran take their pistols back before they try to copy Rex's form.

"The raven is unlikely to fly freely, but there's a chance its nest is high. If the nest is high I will try to bait it to the ground, so get used to the pistols", Rex added.

Right after they enter the cave, a faint sound of flowing water can be heard from afar,

Rex and the others can see small sparkling elemental stones in the cave's wall, and they make this place full of mana especially water and some wind elemental stones.

After walking deeper into the cave, Rex and the others met the source of the flowing water.

Turns out there is a narrow river flowing with freshwater,

"Over here", the man leading whispers as they take the right way after meeting two holes that separated their path.

The man started walking slowly after eight minutes of walking.

Rex looks at Kyran before Kyran nodded his head, "I can feel its presence, this raven is a powerful one and it seems to be as strong as you", he whispers to Rex.

Hearing this, Adhara widened her eyes as she was quite surprised.

Because of their journey, she met Vashag that is on par with Rex and can almost beat Rex.

Now when they wanted to go to Wedron City, they need to fight this raven that Kyran told might be as strong as Rex.

This journey seems to be full of powerful beasts.

It's like they came out of nowhere, and this further makes Adhara feel weak again.

Not long after they tip-toed, the man leading signaled for them to stop as they saw an open place in front of them that is still had many elemental stones that haven't been mined yet.

Rex steps forward silently as the man nodded his head.

After getting the signal from the man, Rex poked out his head to see the surroundings but find nothing even after he scans the place.

But Rex saw a high wall on his left that almost touched the cave's ceiling.

As he raises his gaze, he can see that there is a gap between the high wall and the cave's ceiling that might fit the raven to make its nest.

"The raven must be up there", Rex mumbles.

He then signals for Delta to come closer before he gets on her, "I'm going to bait the raven first, fire at will after I got the raven's attention"

Adhara, Kyran, and the Awakened nodded their heads.

After everyone understands what the plan is, Rex gives his gun to Adhara, "Let's go!", he said as Delta jumped towards the cave walls.

Her physical strength is powerful enough to crawl on the wall.

With Delta's claws that are imbued with white force, she easily gripped the cave's wall as they slowly make their way up to the gap.

"Don't be too loud, we need to see what the raven is doing first", Rex whispers.

But right after he said this, 

Roar!!

Delta wails in pain as she felt some stinging pain on her right paw, she slipped because of this but soon stabs the wall with her claws again stopping them from falling.

"What happened?", Rex asks while hanging onto Delta's back.

He then looks at Delta's paw before he saw Delta's paw is sizzling, there is a red liquid on the walls that seem to corrode Delta's paw.

Crack!

Feeling the painful sizzle, Delta growl slightly as her paw turns black because of the red liquid.

Realizing the loud sound they're making, Rex glance into the gap.

ROAR!!!

A loud reverberating roar came from the gap as a winged creature appeared from the gap, its roar makes the cave trembles as the creature spread its wings menacingly.

"Great...", Rex mumbles wryly.