Chapter 59-Game Descent: I Am the Sole Player
Chapter 59
Countless black feathers shredded the air, slicing toward her like steel blades — a deluge that swallowed Bai Shan's entire field of vision.
Just before they could touch her, the razor-sharp feathers suddenly deflected, each one grazing past her body. The short strands of her hair lifted faintly in the slipstream. Not a scratch.
Bai Shan advanced against the torrent of black feathers, a boulder planted in the middle of a raging river. Under [Constant Moment]'s protection, the flood of feathers was forced to part into two streams around her.
Nothing to think about now. Just press forward!
The mutated eagle's amber eyes were fixed on her. Seemingly realizing its attacks couldn't inflict damage, it stopped firing feathers. Just as Bai Shan was about to close the distance, it beat its wings and vanished from the rooftop.
Bai Shan leaped to where it had been standing. She looked up — it had teleported high into the sky, wings spread wide, eclipsing most of the moon.
Was it trying to flee?
The mutated white-tailed eagle possessed extreme flight speed and teleportation. If it intended to escape, Bai Shan would have a hard time catching it.
In the blink of an eye, the majestic raptor vanished again from the sky. Bai Shan was still puzzling over it when an enormous impact slammed into her from the right. Her body was hurled to the far end of the rooftop, flying over a dozen meters before crashing hard against the parapet wall with a muffled thud.
With [Constant Moment] active, even that heavy collision left her completely unscathed — but the psychological phantom pain was very real.
Bai Shan steadied herself, only to find the eagle had vanished again. The rooftop before her was empty.
Almost immediately, a second strike came from the front-left. Having experienced it once already, Bai Shan caught the movement and sprang from the spot.
She had barely left the ground when the mutated eagle dove to exactly where she had been standing — right beneath her, so close it could have tilted its head up and snatched her in its beak.
Yet the colossal creature didn't even glance up. It vanished again.
Behind her, several large mutated birds that had been lurking in the shadows charged simultaneously, trying to pin her down with agile bodies and sharp talons.
Without turning her head, dozens of firearms fanned out behind Bai Shan. Dense machine-gun fire erupted in the high altitude like a ferocious downpour. Once again, bloodied feathers drifted down around her, accompanied by shrieks.
Although Bai Shan had cleared a wave of mutated birds not long ago, reinforcements kept arriving from all directions, following the leader bird into battle.
They showed no intention of retreating or fleeing. Neither would she.
Feathers drifting from the rooftop floated past the young woman below. Cheng Yue hovered between two high-rises at about the twentieth floor.
This space had become her domain. Every ferocious mutated bird that entered instantly lost control of its body, only to be met head-on by Cheng Yue's swinging sledgehammer — sent crashing earthward like downed aircraft, one after another.
Cheng Yue strolled through midair, swinging the long-handled hammer with practiced ease, occasionally glancing up to check on Bai Shan.
Fire flickered sporadically inside the building. Lin Huijun darted between floors, dealing with the endless stream of attacking mutated birds.
On the rooftop, a pair of pitch-black eyes scanned the surroundings. Amid the tremendous noise, Bai Shan's mind remained sharp and methodical.
Some raptors employed hunting tactics that seemed almost juvenile — harassing their prey with repeated feint attacks, forcing it to dodge again and again. After dozens of repetitions, once the prey was exhausted, they would go in for the kill.
This mutated eagle was using exactly that tactic on her.
As if on cue, Bai Shan's vision darkened. A shadow swept over from above. She knew another "taunt" was coming.
This time Bai Shan didn't dodge. The firearms behind her all swiveled skyward, unleashing a fierce barrage — but they quickly fell silent. The mutated eagle had vanished again, leaving only a few drops of blood at Bai Shan's feet, likely from its severed foot.
Every use of an ability cost something. Bai Shan didn't know how many more times the eagle could teleport, but she had less than three minutes of "invincibility" remaining.
She had to go on the offensive. She couldn't let the enemy dictate the tempo!
The eagle's self-amputation to save itself had certainly affected its speed and balance, and the wound still bled — leaving a lingering scent of blood.
She sniffed carefully. The coppery tang seemed to hang right around her.
Bai Shan narrowed her eyes. Her gaze sharpened abruptly, dropping to the rooftop beneath her feet.
["Eagle Eye, Wolf Instinct"] — one minute of X-ray vision per day.
Her vision pierced the solid floor. There, lurking in the level directly below — silent and invisible — was the great raptor, right beneath her!
Bai Shan leaped upward a beat ahead. Below, a thunderous boom — the entire rooftop caved in. The raptor's massive beak tore through the ceiling effortlessly and burst upward. Its sharp gaze locked on the sky above, the white moon reflected in its feral amber eyes.
It didn't see Bai Shan.
Having lost track of its prey, it failed to react as quickly as before — failed to teleport away immediately.
It was that split-second of hesitation that Bai Shan exploited.
Under the cover of night, Bai Shan stepped out of the [Assassination Room], drifting like a wisp of fog, closing in silently on the eagle's massive frame.
The moment the eagle's amber pupils looked downward and finally caught Bai Shan's shadow, she was already driving the burning arrow into its chest with both hands!
A piercing screech ripped through the sky, shattering windows in the building below. Every mutated bird in the vicinity whipped its head around, staring in unison at a single point.
[Inextinguishable Sun Flame] ignited the eagle's feathers. Fire erupted from its chest and spread rapidly.
Once touched by [Inextinguishable Sun Flame], there was only one outcome — to be consumed entirely by the blaze.
The mutated eagle let out a soaring cry. Its body thrashed violently, flapping wings that had already caught fire, dragging a bleeding stump of a foot — and yet, trembling, it took to the air.
Had [Constant Moment] run out? Bai Shan didn't know. She released her grip, instinctively pulling back, putting distance between herself and this cornered, doomed leader.
The mutated eagle beat its wings and flew upward, hauling its enormous frame toward the higher sky. The flames had already reached its white tail feathers. It didn't turn. It didn't look back. It flew straight up.
Trailing its burning tail plume, it streaked across Nanzhou City's sky like a meteor. Behind it, a flock of mutated birds beat their wings and followed — just as grand and sweeping as when they had arrived.
At the same time, people across Nanzhou City noticed the birds' sudden shift. They stopped hunting. They simply flew away.
Some looked up at the sky, their gazes following the retreating silhouettes, witnessing the extraordinary scene.
At the horizon, a ball of bright, burning red blazed. Trailing the fiery plume, the strange and wondrous birds vanished into the embrace of the moon.
Until the last feather was swallowed by flame and the light disappeared, the flock lost its leader — yet they continued to fly onward, into the endless night.
[Congratulations, player — you have slain the Level 50 player "Leader Eagle"!]
[Obtained S-tier item "Lord's Crown"!]
[Bzzt—]
Hearing that familiar crackle of static, Bai Shan felt a sudden surge of dread. She remembered that [Tyrant]'s first global broadcast had been triggered because she became the first player to kill a Level 20 creature.
Her expression shifted. The mutated eagle was Level 50 — likely the current version's maximum. If it triggered a broadcast, her identity could be exposed!
The static flashed past her ears. The official announcement immediately rang out across the entire world.
[Congratulations to player Harper Brown for slaying the Level 50 player "Serpent King"!]
*
Author's Note:
I'm back from traveling! Updates will be regular from now on!
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