Frilian: The Adventure of the Hero

Chapter 161 [Bird-Catching Magic] and [Gaze-Binding Magic]

The sun gradually set in the west.

Xia En and his group moved quickly along the mountain path.

No one spoke; the only sounds were the occasional mountain breeze and the rustling of footsteps on fallen leaves.

Awoo—

A wolf howl came from behind.

The group quickened their pace.

Ten minutes ago.

Viabel's [Magic Detection] sensed the presence of a monster.

Frillie felt it too.

But she sensed it wasn't a monster, it was a group of—

Two bird calls echoed from the sky.

"It's [Poison Feather Owl]."

Frilian looked at the figure in the sky and made a judgment.

Shaen looked up and saw two enormous bird-shaped monsters circling above them, providing guidance to the monsters relentlessly pursuing them.

He recalled the demonic wolf and bird-like monster he had encountered on the outskirts of Gostan City. At that time, Frilian had mentioned that these cunning bird-like monsters would command animals or low-level monsters as their followers, working together to hunt.

Extremely difficult to deal with.

Viabel was somewhat surprised. "The Poison Feathered Owl usually lives in the Northern Plateau. I already found it strange that I had encountered one before, but there are still some here. It's too abnormal."

Xia En's expression was solemn.

It seems that the monsters are indeed expanding from north to south, and the situation in the north is truly not optimistic.

There were probably dozens of monsters chasing after them.

Being surrounded by dozens of monsters and bird-like magical beasts in such a complex mountain forest is not a good thing.

The poison on the feathers of the [Poisonous Feather Owl] can cause the target to fall into a [weak] state.

Viabeiru has already learned this lesson.

A head-on confrontation is likely to result in losses.

Xia En and his group decisively withdrew.

While avoiding combat, they tried to find terrain that was advantageous to the team.

Two swirling black shadows swooped down from the clouds, their enormous wingspans reaching four or five meters, creating a gale that sent the surrounding trees swaying wildly.

Frilian raised a defensive spell to protect everyone.

"These two bird-like monsters are trying to exploit our fear to disrupt our formation."

Xia En patted the leaves that had fallen on his head.

"Stay close together, don't get separated."

The six of them ran wildly along the mountain path towards the lower terrain, with the howls of monsters echoing behind them, relentlessly pursuing them.

"Wait! What's that?!"

'

Shutark suddenly shouted.

Following his gaze, everyone saw a scene of utter devastation in the mountain valley not far ahead.

It was a completely destroyed carriage.

The carriage was broken in two, with planks and debris scattered all over the ground. The horses that pulled the carriage lay to one side, leaving only a skeleton.

Most striking are the tarpaulins covering the wreckage of the train carriages.

Although it is badly damaged, the emblem on it is still clearly visible.

That's the symbol of the Continental Magic Association.

"It's a transport team—"

Xia En's heart sank, and he rushed to the carriage.

The carriage was empty; there were no goods, no corpses—nothing at all.

There were scorch marks from magical burning on the surrounding ground, as well as several obvious sword and knife slash marks, but the scattered bloodstains had dried and turned black.

Obviously.

The attack here occurred a few days ago.

There was a horse's corpse, but no human corpse was found, so it can be basically determined that it was done by demons or monsters.

Xia En searched among the wooden fragments, but there was nothing, nothing at all, no trace of the ancient book. The more he searched, the more something seemed wrong. "How could there not even be a single page left? Not even a crumb? This doesn't make sense."

Frillie also found it strange.

Just then.

The screech in the sky drew closer once more.

Two bird-shaped monsters hovered above the group's heads. Because the area where they were located was relatively low-lying and the terrain was unfavorable to them, they were in no hurry to attack. Instead, they drew strange circles in the air, chirping as they waited.

All around, the howls and running sounds of monsters could be heard continuously.

"They are surrounding us," Viabelu reminded everyone.

Xia En glanced at the surrounding terrain.

They are currently in a shallow, hollowed-out mountain valley, densely wooded, which is good for evading aerial pursuit but not for team battles.

There's a cave over there.

Zain pointed to the mountain wall on the right.

Following the direction he pointed, everyone saw an inconspicuous hole in the mountain wall, hidden by dense vines. If Zain hadn't been so sharp-eyed, he wouldn't have noticed it at all.

"Go in first!"

Xia En made a decisive decision.

The six people rushed towards the cave.

Shutark took the lead, swinging his battle axe to cleave the vines blocking the cave entrance.

The crowd filed in.

The last one to enter, Shane, turned around and released the [Goddess's Barrier].

Not long after.

A pack of wolves arrived at the spot where everyone had just been standing.

They bared their teeth, growling as they sniffed around the wreckage of the carriage, while the Poison Feathered Owls circled and cried out in the air, urging them on.

Both are trying to find the people who are hiding.

"What do we do now? Those guys don't seem to be planning to leave," Shutark said with some concern.

Viabel walked to the boundary.

He peered out through the barrier for a moment, his expression turning serious.

"Judging from the size and calls of these two Poison Feathered Owls, they should be in their breeding season. At this stage, magical beasts have an extremely strong sense of territory and will hunt down any creature that invades their territory to death, showing absolutely no tolerance."

"Breeding season?"

Xia En asked in confusion, "But it's autumn now. Shouldn't birds breed in the spring?"

7

Viabeiru remained silent.

He didn't know the answer to that question either.

Frillie looked at the two agitated figures, stroked her chin, and nodded. "That explains it—those ancient books might be in the lair of the Poison Feather Owl."

Xia En: "?"

Everyone looked at her.

"Monsters have a habit of using magical materials to build their nests, just like the [Red Mirror Dragon] we saw before."

Xia En immediately remembered the dragon's nest.

It was filled with unknown magical ores, weapons, armor, and even magic books. That was the first time my backpack was completely full.

I never expected that bird-like monsters would have this habit.

"The ancient magic remaining on those ancient books is extremely attractive to magical beasts. I guess it was the decoration of their nest by those ancient books that made these two [Poison Feather Owls] feel at ease and enter their breeding season ahead of schedule."

Xia En nodded.

That speculation makes a lot of sense.

Hey.

and many more.

"Does that mean we need to find the nest of these two large birds to find the [ancient text]?"

"Obviously."

Xia En's brow furrowed.

How do we find the nest?

Those two irritable Poison Feather Owls outside clearly wouldn't obediently lead the way.

Frillie seemed to have read his mind.

"I can extract their magic as a catalyst to create a magic compass, just like when I tracked down the master of the Blood Puppet in [Frich]."

Everyone's eyes lit up.

Viabelu, however, poured cold water on the idea.

"The question is how do you get close to them?"

"The wolves are guarding the cave entrance; we'll be attacked as soon as we go out. And even if we can temporarily repel them, we simply can't catch up with the [Poison Feather Owl] at its speed. Even if we do catch up, we'll easily be hit by its feathers in mid-air—"

Shane's brain was working at lightning speed.

A direct assault is definitely not an option; there are wolves on the ground and poison owls in the air, making it easy to be attacked from both sides.

But hiding in the cave isn't a solution. [Poison Feather Owl] won't wait for me to point out its location; it will leave sooner or later, and then it will be difficult to track it down.

unless----

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

"Frilian, how far is the [Bird-Catching Magic] again?"

50 centimeters.

50 centimeters —

Xia En stroked his chin.

Although the risk factor is relatively high, it's worth a try.

"Viabel has [Gaze Binding Magic], and Frilian and Philon both have [Bird-Catching Magic]. The four of us can fly into the sky with a [Barrier], which will perfectly conceal us. As long as we are not detected by the Poison Feather Owls, we can catch them off guard."

Frillie thought for a moment and then agreed.

"That's something we can give it a try."

Philon blinked. "This—isn't that a bit too risky? Getting within 50 centimeters of those two birds—"

Zain also felt it wasn't a good idea, "At such close range, there's a risk of injury."

"Aren't you all still here? If we get hurt, we'll rely on you, Zain."

"You really dare to do anything just because you have monks around."

Xia En smiled.

The group exchanged glances, and no one raised any further objections.

Five minutes later, Zain and Shutark remained in the cave.

Frilian, Philon, and Viabel cast flight magic, while Shane activated all acceleration abilities, and the four of them rushed out of the cave together.

All the dire wolves instantly found their target.

He chased after the four people and ran away.

The four of them quickly circled around in the mountains and forests, luring the demon wolf away from the cave they had just left.

"gather!"

When the time was right, Xia En gave a reminder.

Frilian immediately appeared above Shane, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him into the air. Philon and Viabel moved closer to Shane, flanking him tightly.

With a whoosh, Xia En opened the [Goddess's Barrier].

The transparent barrier transformed into a smooth eggshell, protecting the four people inside.

The target in the wolf's eyes disappeared.

The barrier perfectly concealed their presence.

From the outside, the sky was empty except for two Poison Feathered Owls circling overhead, occasionally letting out impatient screechs.

The four people quickly approached the target.

"I'm the older one, you're the younger one."

Viabelu lowered his voice and assigned targets to Philon.

Philon responded with a hum and instantly gripped his wand tightly.

The little girl seemed to be transported back to when she first learned the "Bird-Catching Magic" and practiced it for the first time, her heart pounding.

The distance is getting closer and closer.

One hundred meters.

Fifty meters.

Twenty meters.

Xia En could already feel the air currents created by the flapping wings of the two [Poison Feather Owls].

The three mages struggled to steady themselves.

ten meters.

The purplish-brown stripes on the feathers of the [Poison Feather Owl] are clearly visible, and Shane can even sense the presence of the poison.

five meters.

Xia En's eyes did not blink.

three meters.

too close.

Even Frilian began to sway slightly in the wind.

-

Viabel raised his staff, his icy blue eyes locked onto his target.

Two meters.

It's now!

"Let's do it!"

A glint flashed in Viabel's eyes, and the [Gaze Binding Magic] was activated instantly!

Two golden magic rings appeared out of thin air, precisely encircling the [Poison Feather Owl]'s neck and the base of its wings.

The monster's body stiffened instantly, its wings stopped flapping, and it plummeted straight down from the sky.

Viabel broke free of the barrier and plunged down, following its falling target.

His gaze must not leave his target!

Almost simultaneously, Frilian, along with Shane and Philon, charged at another [Poison Feather Owl].

Thud—

The barrier collided with the monster's body.

At the same time, the staff in Philon's hand lit up.

[Bird-Catching Magic] is in action!

A pale gold, magically woven snare shot out from the staff and precisely encircled the Poison Feather Owl.

"It's a success!"

Philon was pleasantly surprised.

Both monsters plummeted straight down.

The three of them also chased after their target, swooping down at top speed.

on the ground.

Zain and Shutark only saw four people appear before the two large birds turned into black dots and plummeted rapidly. Immediately afterward, the four people also fell.

The two were shocked.

Was it a success, or an injury?

The two dared not delay and quickly ran in the direction from which the fall had occurred.

Thump thump—

Two consecutive crashes occurred, striking a group of trees and kicking up a cloud of dust.

The two bird-shaped monsters were restrained and fell directly from that height, dying instantly without any suspense.

Frillie landed on the ground and, without saying a word, began to draw magic power.

She needs to extract enough magic power to make a compass before the monster's corpse dissipates.

Pale blue magic threads emerged from the Poison Feather Owl's body, combining and intertwining in the elven girl's hands to form an intricately patterned compass.

A gray target point appears on the compass.

"Are you alright?"

"Were you hit by a feather?"

Zain and Shutark ran over.

Zain immediately pulled out the Holy Scripture and prepared to treat everyone.

Xia En quickly waved his hand.

"Don't worry, it's okay."

19

On the compass, the gray dot flickers, pointing north.

Frillie estimated, "It's about fifteen kilometers from here."

No one was delayed.

Immediately head in the direction indicated by the compass.

Without the [Poison Feather Owl]'s command, the demon wolves that had gathered scattered, and the mountains and forests returned to peace.

The sun gradually sank below the horizon.

The light dimmed.

Occasionally, the call of an owl could be heard in the mountains and forests, sounding both desolate and somewhat eerie.

Following the compass, the group arrived at their destination.

In the distance, the group saw a hillside made of pebbles.

There is a huge nest on the hillside.

On the walls of the nest woven from tree branches, there were specks of light, which were some unknown minerals and some magical artifacts containing magic.

Xia En was somewhat excited.

Frillie was even more excited than he was.

Whoosh—

A sound suddenly came from the nest.

The group of people who had been trying to get closer all stopped in their tracks.

Under the soft moonlight, a figure stood up in the center of the nest.

The figure held a thick book in its hand and casually turned a page.

Seemingly sensing Xia En and the others' gazes, the figure slowly turned around, tilted its head, and glanced at everyone.

"You are—Shane?"

Xia En opened his mouth, somewhat incredulous.

"Yuber?"