Humanity: Evolve

The shriek had a strange quality. It sounded like a fusion between a donkey's bray and an eagle's cry, sending chills down one's spine.

Alan, who was sitting next to Zhang Long leapt up, drawing his blade artefact in one swift movement.

Zhang Long got up and patted the snoring Winter, The latter complained with a w.h.i.n.e and a shake of his mane.

In the distance, he saw a large bird like creature, standing at two metres tall. It had a large downwards hooked beak, a few razor sharp teeth jutting out from beneath.

It had no wings, clearly being incapable of flight, yet it travelled at a very fast speed. It's large muscular legs kicking up large swathes of dust behind it.

Alan reacted quickly to the incoming threat, quickly barking several commands.

'Rookies, take the injured and get behind us!'

'Ryan, Thompson, Grace, summon your spirit beasts!'

'Roger!'

Their soul stones glowed, before releasing blue glowing silhouettes from within. They quickly enlarged and became vicious looking insects, armed to the teeth with stingers and mandibles.

Winter reacted to the incoming threat too, giving out a light howl. Zhang Long noticed the spirit beast's fur standing on end, signifying it's worry.

The twenty or so smaller members of Winter's pack crowded around, snarling at the large bird in front.

Zhang Long was incapable of fighting without a weapon, especially against a creature of that size. Not that he wanted to anyway, but his spiritual energy had fully recharged and he was ready to heal on demand.

Then he noticed Alan pull a white circular disk from his back pocket. Alan injected spiritual energy into it's core, causing it to glow for a moment.

He pointed it at the large bird in front, peering through the transparent centre like a spyglass. It projected a table of information in a green colour.

[Phorusrhacid]

(Terror Bird)

Grade: 2/1

S.e.x: Male

Diet: Carnivorous

Talent Class: Physical - Grade 1/3

Method of Attack: Kicking, Pecking, Harassment

Evolution: 63%

---

Zhang Long glanced at the projection, feeling surprised.

'What a useful tool.'

He held back his curiosity, making a mental note to ask later.

Alan looked at him with a serious expression.

'It's grade 2, this is going to be dangerous.' He said sternly. 'It's only weakness is it's inability to handle large numbers of opponents. Perhaps it's low agility in tight spaces too.'

Zhang Long nodded, understanding what Alan wanted. He quickly sent a flash of intent through his spiritual link, urging Winter.

The wolf howled, not any less menacingly than the terror bird's screech.

At the alpha's command, the pack of wolves began to spread out, warily eyeing the large bird.

The latter shrieked again and darted forward, attempting to pick off one of the larger wolves.

The wolf snarled and leapt forward, claws raised.

Zhang Long felt a sudden burst of spiritual energy around the terror bird. The latter's raised claw glowed green in midair, before lashing out like a whip.

It was too quick. Before anyone could react, the wolf had been completely dismembered by the terror bird's single kick. It let out a caw of triumph, before bending down and gouging out a chunk of the wolf's flesh.

The action elicited angry snarls from the other wolves, Winter included.

Zhang Long shuddered, cold sweat drenching his back.

'Even my talent wouldn't save me from a one shot kill like that.'

He urged Winter to be cautious.

Alan turned to him. 'The terror bird has a strong kick, we need to completely cut off it's escape and cut down on it's space. If we cut off it's room, it'll be unable to gain momentum and it's kicks will be weaker.'

Zhang Long nodded, sending another flash of intent into Winter's mind.

'What was that green flash? I felt spiritual energy from it's kick.' He asked.

'That's probably the bird's talent. It may be a strength enhancing one, or maybe a speed enhancing talent. I don't know, just make sure to get your wolves to stay away from it's legs.' Alan replied.

The terror bird let out a cry, charging toward another wolf. This time, the wolf didn't engage head on, opting to roll away to the side.

A pair of wolves closed in from behind, raking their claws through the bird's rear and drawing blood.

Caw!

It let out another enraged shriek, kicking out behind it and severely wounding one of the wolves.

The encirclement of wolves closed in, positioning so that the terror bird was dead in the centre.

Zhang Long saw a flash of black and yellow as a gigantic wasp shot down from the air.

The terror bird attempted to avoid it, but didn't have enough room to escape.

Alan's wasp struck the terror bird's body with it's paralytic stinger before taking to the air and avoiding the bird's peck of retaliation.

Winter let out a growl, causing the wolves to close in again. They took turns to slash out at the bird, either leaving a bloody wound or being shredded by the bird's large talons.

Of the twenty wolves, three had already died, leaving seventeen. On the other hand, the terror bird was relatively unharmed, only a couple of claw marks on it's back and a circular wound caused by Alan's wasp before.

Suddenly, the terror bird let out a screech and darted to the weakest side of the encirclement.

Three wolves moved to stop it but were stomped into the ground with a flash of green spiritual energy.

'Shit! Hurry and stop it!' Alan yelled, sending out his wasp with a mental thought.

At the same time, Ryan's dragonfly shot forward, it's paper thin wings making a reverberating humming noise.

It's stinger protruded out with a sound akin to the unsheathing of a blade.

The insects had very quickly caught up with the terror bird, with the wolves behind and insects in front, the bird had been surrounded again.

'The terror bird will come back to attack later on if we don't finish it off now.' Alan said, holding up the strange disk device for Zhang Long to see.

He saw a line saying "methods of attack" along with "harassment".

His attention was pulled back to the battle by the terror bird's screech.

The bird had once again attempted to break out with the aid of it's talent, but the wolves and insects had taken the opportunity to heavily wound it.

Blood and feathers flew everywhere as one of the wolves had it's jaws embedded deeply into the bird's back.

The terror bird let out an enraged roar and rotated it's head. It smashed it's shovel beak down, separating the wolf's head from it's body.

Although the wolf had died, it's tenacity was no joke. It's jaws were still clasped down on the bird's rear, refusing to let go.

This time, the terror bird was in dire straights, a large amount of blood lost.

It turned to face the humans with a gaze full of ire, before it charged forward recklessly, a flash of green emitted from it's body.

Several wolves were trampled and one of the insects had it's carapace smashed by the bird's vicious beak.

One of the senior officers, Thompson, let out a cry of pain as he clutched his c.h.e.s.t.

Although the spiritual link between spirit beast and master was useful for communication, the pain the spirit beast felt would be transmitted to the master and vice-versa.

Thompson's knees buckled and he spat out blood.

Zhang Long quickly ran over, healing the man with his talent. The latter nodded in gratitude, calling over his injured spirit beast.

Thompson recalled it into his soul stone, before falling backwards and down onto the floor.

There were several exclamations from the rookies.

The terror bird had made it's way out of the encirclement, causing mass casualties.

However, instead of escaping, the spirit beast was headed straight for the humans.

It let out a green flash again, but this time, it's speed increased. The bird leapt forwards, it's figure blurring and merging with the dust it had kicked up.

Alan and the others sent their spirit beasts to block it, as did Zhang Long.

'It's got two talents?' He muttered.

'It's strength is it's kick. If I can get Winter to land a single hit, the bird will be finished.' Zhang Long calculated, his mind flashing automatically back to the time when Winter had demolished the back of the truck.

'Go!' He shouted, urging Winter to attack.

The wolf snarled, saliva flying everywhere. It circled around to the terror bird's side before pouncing forward, claws glinting in the red sun.

Alan's wasp also went forwards, pointing it's stinger downwards.

The terror bird shrieked as it was caught off guard, Winter pushed it to the ground, jaws snapping at it's neck in an attempt to kill it. There was a sickening crunch as the wolf's claws pulverised the bird's side.

The bird was relentless in it's struggle, kicking out ruthlessly several times into Winter's soft belly. Blood flowed freely as both sides had been mortally wounded.

The wolf fell backwards with a distressed howl.

The bird was about to get up again, but Alan and Ryan's spirit beasts attacked it at the same time, their oversized stingers penetrating deep into it's body.

After a few more seconds of vigorous struggle, the bird died, bleeding out into the ground.

'Winter!' Zhang Long yelled as he felt an impact to his stomach.

His front felt as if it were on fire, he could only imagine how much worse Winter's wound was.

Zhang Long ran forward, activating his spirit vision.

A hand stopped him.

'Wait, don't use your talent. If you absorb him into your soul stone, he'll heal safely.' Alan said.

'Reach out to his consciousness and pull it into your soul stone, like you'd do when you activate your talent but in the reverse.'

Zhang Long followed the senior officer's instructions, tugging gently at the spirit beast's wounded mind.

The wolf, which had been lying on the ground in a puddle of blood suddenly flashed blue. It's body shrank into a small glowing orb and was s.u.c.k.e.d into Zhang Long's soul stone.

He sighed in relief, wiping away the cold sweat which drenched his forehead.

Alan walked over to the corpse, activating his blade artefact and cutting down into the terror bird's head.

He searched around for a moment, before pulling out a green sphere . It glinted in the light as he held it up.

Alan then handed it to Zhang Long but the latter wore an expression of confusion.

'You can use it to promote your spirit beast's grade. Your beast landed the killing blow, thus the spoils go to you.'

Zhang Long uncharacteristically hesitated, before deciding to pocket the grade 2 beast core.

The battle was won, but not without heavy losses. The number of surviving wolves had been cut down to ten, whilst Thompson and Zhang Long's spirit beasts had been heavily injured.

Luckily, they made off with the body of a grade 2 spirit beast, and it's core.

Zhang Long sighed, feeling exhausted even though he didn't do much. Just watching the battle had tensed his nerves.

As the senior officers went about collecting bodies, Alan came over to Zhang Long.

He scratched his head in a slightly embarrassed manner, before asking, 'You don't mind if we take the rest of these wolves and distribute them to the rookies, do you?'

Zhang Long would normally have declined straight away, however the man's generosity in giving him a medium sized spirit stone and grade 2 beast core changed his mind.

He was always the kind to repay friendship with friendship, kindness with kindness.

Zhang Long nodded. 'Go for it.'

Alan patted his shoulder.

'Wait, I have a question.' He asked, halting Alan in his tracks.

'What's that device you used when we encountered the terror bird?'

Alan fished the circular disk out from his back pocket, spinning it familiarly between his fingers.

'It's a scanner. Every pioneer captain is given one free of charge.' He replied, his tone a lot more relaxed than when he spoke in the battle.

'How long do you think It'll take me to become a captain?' Zhang Long asked, his d.e.s.i.r.e for the scanner unconcealed.

Alan let out a rare grin, chuckling slightly.

'Depends on the individual. For me, it took a couple of years. For you, it might be as soon as you arrive.'

Then he walked away to help with cleaning up, not giving Zhang Long a chance to ask what he meant.

'Alright boys and girls. The pick up team from head quarters will be here any moment now, hurry up!'