The bird, as if it could hear his mind's curse, hopped to another conveniently placed pinecone. It lifted its leg.

"Stop," Van warned, his hackles raised.

The red bird cawed mockingly.

A third pinecone hurtled downwards. Van rolled away in the nick of time. A crater formed behind him.

Before the dust settled, he picked up a rock and with all his strength, hurled it at the c.o.c.ky bird above.

With great accuracy, the stone hit the bird's taloned claw. Although it did not harm the bird, it still became enraged.

The Red Pinion bird drew its wings close to its body and shot downwards.

Gritting his teeth, Van held his ground. At the last moment, he threw his body sideways.

It's razor sharp beak hurtled past him.

The red bird was caught off guard. It had underestimated this puny human! It screeched to a halt.

This moment of confusion was enough for Van.

Grabbing a fistful of tail feathers, he dragged the bird towards him.

The bird screeched and raked a sharp talon across his arm, splitting flesh and spraying blood.

Van was secretly shocked when could even a bird slice through flesh with just its talons? A feeling of fear flashed through him. Not good, he needed to kill the bird immediately, before it could do the same!

Van ignored the pain and slashed with the dagger. The blow glanced off the bird, whose feathers were unusually hard. His successive blows were the same, unable to make an injury on the bird.

In the chaotic trade of blows, somehow Van was able to land a blow on the tender flesh of the bird's neck. This time, blood flowed from the wound. The boy was elated, he had found a weak spot!

Doggedly, he kept hacking at the Red Pinion bird's neck, who had weakened due to loss of blood. One more time, his dagger sliced across the bird's neck.

It weakened and then dropped to the ground.

Demon bird, Van cursed it. He examined the deep gash in his arm.

Luckily, Iron Gra.s.s was precisely praised for its ability to staunch wounds and promote blood regeneration. Removing some from his basket, he chewed on one clump. One half he swallowed and the other half he smeared on his wound. Then, he bound his flesh together tightly with some cloth.

He started to remove the valuable parts of the bird, which were the vibrant red feathers and kept the carca.s.s for a roast dinner that night. The feathers could sell for a few coppers in the next town over, where its scarlet red color was prized for making women's accessories. However, they were a lot harder and sharper than any feathers he'd gotten his hands on before.

He found a dully gleaming round stone within the Red Pinion Bird's stomach.

A low thrum of energy was felt when he held it in his palm. Curious, but clueless of what this fingernail-sized pebble was, he put it up into the air and rotated it around in the sunlight.

What could it be? I've never seen something like this!

Suddenly, a twig snapped.

A low, threatening growl rumbled from behind him.

Van whipped around, only to see the red, glaring eyes of an enormous black bull. It was at least twice the height of Van, and its eyes were fixed on the stone in his hand greedily. It had been attracted to the area due to the scent of blood and had found a treasure. Unfortunately, there was a human in the way. But, it thought arrogantly, that was simple to solve.

Rrrrumph...rrrrummph!

The bull pawed the dirt and tossed its head threateningly. The pointed tips of his horns gleamed in the sunlight.

It charged.

Van's face paled.

First a demon bird, and now a demon bull? It seemed the rumours about crazy beasts on this mountain were true. Van smiled grimly, hatred flas.h.i.+ng through his dark-brown eyes. Whoever's targeting me, you really got me good this time!

Calming his heart, he turned and ran into the trees. Using his experience in traveling through mountain terrain, he hoped the dense trees would slow down the ma.s.sive black bull.

Rumbling hoofbeats followed!

The boy leaped into the gaps between trees, curving and weaving through the trunks. He looked over his shoulder and saw a terrifying sight.

The bull charged through the trees, heedless of its path. It directly destroyed everything in front of it with its sheer charging force.

Van only grew more determined. In this life and death situation, he was deadly calm. He drew on his hunter's mindset – prey was prey, hunter was hunter, but at any moment, that could reverse!

The bull, even though it had to bulldoze through dozens of trees, was just as fast as he. Either they competed on stamina, or Van had to do something. But what?

He considered the buzzing stone in his hand. In the end, he did not let go of it. If the bull wanted it, it must be something good.

The pair continued upwards, one flitting between obstacles and the other domineeringly destroying everything before it. As they traveled upwards, the trees grew denser and denser, and thicker and thicker. This slowed down the rampaging bull. Van calculated that over time, the bull would slow down and the gap between them would increase, but Van would also get tired!

What to do!

Van gritted his teeth. He had no solution. After giving chase for almost an hour now, Van was sure that even if he gave up on the stone, the bull would still kill him out of vengeance.

At an impa.s.se, Van continued to weave through the trees, knowing that his stamina was fast running out. He had to think of something, quick!

Unfortunately, the vegetation ahead started to clear. The huffing breaths of the ma.s.sive bull behind Van were getting louder and louder. Perspiration beaded on his neck, but doggedly, he continued forwards.

Van was first to emerge into the strange, fog-filled s.p.a.ce. The bull was only a few dozen metres behind him at this point. He dashed forward, but a strange instinct made him glance down.

Hu!

Van skidded to a halt, teetering over the edge of a gigantic hole. If he had not looked down at the ground at this precise moment, he would have fallen straight in because the fog was so pervasive and thick!

The hole's depth could not be seen, and its width was tens of metres wide.

Van smiled. The prey was going to turn the tables! He turned around and shouted, as loud as he could.

"Catch me if you can, stupid lump of meat!"

The bull heard the taunting shouts of the puny human in front of it and shook its head side to side in anger. It renewed its speed, crus.h.i.+ng the landscape in front of it. Soon, it thundered into the clearing full of fog.

The strange, dense air didn't even cause it to pause. All it could see through its rage and greed was the thin human boy and the stone in his hand!

Pah!

The human boy lightly threw the stone. The bull made to dash past the human boy, uncaring, it would deal with the brat later!

Van was slightly regretful, but in the end, his life was still more valuable than the stone!

Three things happened in quick succession:

The bull charged past Van in pursuit of the stone.

The bull, watching the stone, saw it start to plummet down below ground level, and realized he had been duped.

The bull, unwilling and vengeful, made a final play!

Van felt something tighten around his ankles.

Our poor hero Van, standing by the hole, feeling victorious few moments too early - was pulled in by the bull's tail!

The pair, one remorseful human, one gleeful bull, plummeted downwards into the hole.