Chapter 464: Chapter 328: Circling Vultures, Long-Awaited Treasure Chest!_2
It’s basically impossible to succeed. In the air, these big guys in front of him are the true overlords, while he is nothing but a weak and pitiful passerby.
It seems he can only wait until these vultures are tired of flying and return home before he has a chance to climb upward again.
The vultures behind him continued to circle the giant stone pillar peak in laps.
... No choice, what else can be done? Just wait.
But how long must he wait...
These big guys may look large and seem to tire after flying for a while, but vultures, unlike small birds, don’t rely on flapping their wings to fly.
They use the wind, gliding effortlessly in the air for over five hours without moving their wings!
... He truly hopes he doesn’t have to wait for hours.
Xu Xin even slowed his breathing, fearing that the rise and fall of his chest might attract these vultures.
Do not underestimate these raptors. A group of a dozen vultures on Earth can cleanly strip a sheep bare in under a minute; they are formidable predators.
Xu Xin feared that if discovered, they would attack him in unison!
Of course, he was wearing purple-tier steel armor, so being eaten up was unlikely, but Xu Xin didn’t believe the armor would protect his life against these birds of prey high up in the air!
At most, it might prolong his life just a little longer.
The armor did not cover his face, and having the vultures peck at his face was all too normal; he couldn’t protect his face from the vultures below.
Quietly, Xu Xin hung on the rock wall, tensely observing the movements of the vultures.
Time passed for so long in this way that he lost track of how long it had been.
He didn’t dare turn his head to check his watch.
All he knew was the blue-level fruit enhancement buffs on his body had long vanished, and the sun was high overhead.
It was already noon...
His arms were extremely sore, and his twisted neck felt awful.
Fortunately, there was arm power enhancement helping him, and nearby updrafts saved him some effort, allowing him to persist till now.
He couldn’t find a chance to move even a little, as the multitude of vultures above made every moment feel dangerous, with several gliding past his back at any time.
Such a state had persisted for at least three hours.
Xu Xin was about to explode with frustration.
My God, aren’t these vultures bored?
Although vultures can indeed glide for hours, they weren’t hunting or migrating but circling around the giant stone pillar...
What on earth were they doing...
Just go and rest already!
Hanging on a cliff for hours, unmovable, with constant mental tension towering high would drive anyone to madness.
Damn, if he were on the ground, he wouldn’t be afraid of this common flock of vultures!
Well, he’d still fear them since these vultures were as formidable as mutated creatures and akin to that brown bear he encountered before, inherently powerful despite not mutating, being one of the strongest bird species.
But at least if he were on the ground, he wouldn’t be as pathetic as he was now...
Suddenly, a strong updraft blew from the bottom of the giant stone pillar, revitalizing Xu Xin’s spirits.
Finally, there was a change in the environment!
Under the influence of this violent updraft, the vultures circling around Xu Xin stopped gliding and made movements.
One vulture rose with the wind, adjusting its body in the particularly strong updraft, which lifted it skyward!
Then the rest followed, riding the wind upwards, and in Xu Xin’s peripheral vision, one after another, they flew over the protruding cliff and into the giant stone pillar.
Thank heavens, the vultures were finally flying away!
If he had to hang on there for a few more hours, he feared he would snap and fight the featherless creatures!
Seconds later, all the vultures circling around the giant stone pillar flew into it.
Using his enhanced hearing, Xu Xin was surprised to find they all fell silent after entering the giant pillar; they seemed to vanish without a sound, as if disappearing into thin air.
Having waited three hours, what are a few more minutes? Xu Xin remained still, calmly listening.
All he could hear now was the wind.
Indeed, there wasn’t a single sound left!
The vultures had seemingly disappeared!
Now, there shouldn’t be any danger, right?
Xu Xin twisted his stiff neck, held onto the rock wall with his left hand, moved his extremely sore right hand, then switched to relieve his left hand, gradually restoring some vitality to his arms.
Remaining motionless while gripping the rock wall for three hours was really hard to endure.
He immediately started climbing upward as quickly as possible.
Who knows when those vultures would come out again, better climb fast!
When he was twenty meters away from the protruding cliff, he extended his left hand and used his retractable grapple hook.
The hook shot swiftly, embedding itself into the protruding cliff, and the claws spread out, securing tightly.
Xu Xin retracted the rope, released his hold on the rock wall with his right hand, and the hook pulled him upward.
Getting closer to the cliff, he reached out and grabbed the edge, using both arms to haul himself up.
Phew, standing on solid ground felt so good.
He began to survey the surroundings.
As he expected, halfway up the approximately eight-hundred-meter high stone pillar, there was a space where he could stand!
This area was about four meters high, recessed into the giant peak about ten meters, as if someone had carved a groove midway around it, dividing the entire peak at this point into two parts.
The giant stone pillar’s diameter was about two hundred meters, and this indention wouldn’t affect the stability of the entire peak.
The vultures that had just flown in were nowhere to be seen. If not for a few green-glowing vulture feathers on the ground, Xu Xin might have thought the vultures tormenting him for hours were his imagination.
Standing at eight hundred meters, Xu Xin looked towards the ground and the forest below.
In this white desert, the green crown of his treehouse was nearly covered with snow, showing just a tiny bit of green, hardly noticeable.
The mist had mostly dispersed, and with the help of the blue-level goggles, he could clearly see several other stone pillar peaks in the distance.
He had already climbed at least halfway; once he reached the summit, he would find the answers.
Disregarding the view below, Xu Xin started to walk around this recessed area of the giant peak, observing the details of the surroundings.
Just how had the vultures disappeared?
Teleportation? Were they whisked away by a violet-black vortex?
But the violet-black vortex was noisy both when appearing and disappearing, yet he hadn’t heard that peculiar portal sound.
Xu Xin couldn’t understand, so he continued his walk around the giant peak.
"Hmm?"
In his line of sight, right against the inner rock wall, a hint of dark bronze metallic luster caught Xu Xin’s eye.
He quickly walked forward a few steps, and the full view of the metallic object appeared.
A treasure chest?
A copper treasure chest?
How long had it been since he’d last seen a treasure chest?
Has it finally come again!