Chapter 460: Chapter 326 - Eagle Sauce, Why Is It You Again?_2
Xu Xin wasn’t panicked; he had already pulled a crossbow from his backpack and installed an explosive bolt.
He did not rush to shoot but pondered slightly.
Why did these behemoths suddenly appear and attack him?
Could it be because of that egg?
Could that egg be the egg of a bald eagle?
An egg of a bald eagle with giant beast lineage?
Hiss...
Xu Xin’s eyes gradually widened.
"Crack!" Another attack, and the cave’s exit was expanded once more. Then, the large bald eagle folded its wings and stood at the entrance of the cave, blocking the exit.
These big ones, though with a wingspan of over four meters, looked smaller when standing on the ground with claws after folding their wings. Even if the cave’s exit wasn’t expanded by their attacks, it could still squeeze in.
But squeezing in and flying outside presented entirely different combat strengths. Unable to fly and using claws for walking, a grounded bald eagle wouldn’t be a problem for Xu Xin.
Therefore, the mutated bald eagle, though blocking the exit, didn’t dare to enter and instead emitted a series of bird calls at Xu Xin.
Xu Xin had already aimed the crossbow in his hand at this bald eagle.
This intermediate mutated bald eagle had to be killed.
If this big one attacked him during his climb, he couldn’t possibly withstand it.
The bald eagle seemed not to understand what the crossbow in Xu Xin’s hand was, continuing to emit bird calls, even attempting to spread its wings threatfully. But the cave was too narrow, so it could only repeatedly bat the icy cave walls with the edges of its wings.
Outside the cave, two lower-level mutated bald eagles were still circling.
Xu Xin backed up a few more steps, squinted his eyes, and immediately pulled the trigger.
"Boom!"
A violent explosion was accompanied by a rather miserable bird call.
The explosive bolt directly blasted onto the intermediate mutated bald eagle, and thick smoke instantly filled the entire cave entrance!
Xu Xin, at the moment of pulling the trigger, also retracted the crossbow, pulled out a long spear, aimed straight at the thick smoke resulting from the explosion, and thrust with vigor!
But he stabbed into nothingness.
Although the bald eagle was large, it was still too light.
It was directly blown away by the shock wave from the explosion, leaving behind a trail of blood and many feathers in the cave.
The explosion that directly hit its body inflicted massive damage, and the blasted bald eagle directly fell in a parabolic manner towards the ground hundreds of meters below!
Xu Xin’s spear then pierced through the dense fog, accurately stabbing another bald eagle that was somewhat panicked by the explosion!
Directly pierced through!
Vitality flowed through the shaft of the spear into his body, immediately warming up Xu Xi, who had been feeling a chill throughout his body.
[Killed a mutated bald eagle, received points: 50 points.]
The bald eagle he had pierced died instantly.
The remaining one, after letting out a terrified screech, immediately began diving downward, flying rapidly around the towering stone pillar, disappearing from sight in an instant.
Xu Xin was somewhat helpless; he knew that it was very difficult to capture and keep a low-level mutated sea eagle.
This sea eagle could fly, after all!
It seemed that the idea of contracting it directly was a failure.
The big one that was blasted and fell in a parabolic arc to hundreds of meters below the ground was nowhere to be seen, but since there was no notification of its death in his ear, it evidently wasn’t dead yet.
However, Xu Xin had clearly observed just now that one of its wings should have been blown off.
To lighten their weight, the bones of birds have evolved to be hollow long ago. Even intermediate-level mutated birds have much more fragile bones compared to terrestrial creatures; that explosive bolt hit it dead-on, and its bones all over probably didn’t fare well.
Even if intermediate mutated creatures have great luck and strong self-recovery ability, Xu Xin didn’t think this big one could recover in a day and then come back to trouble him.
Fortunately, it had foolishly stood blocking the path. Had it been in the air, his explosive bolts would have been impossible to hit.
Outside the cave, no bald eagles were circling anymore.
Xu Xin looked outside but didn’t plan to leave just yet.
Because he had already heard the sound from the summit of the towering stone pillar.
The avalanche was coming!
Using explosive bolts on a snowy mountain, causing such a loud noise, it would be strange if there were no avalanche!
Fortunately, his current position would not be affected by the avalanche; the cave on the cliff would not be impacted by it. Just as well, it would clear away the accumulated snow on the mountain, allowing him to climb more easily afterwards.
Sure enough, within a dozen seconds, the accumulated snow began to roll down.
It wasn’t a large-scale avalanche as imagined, since a vertical stone pillar peak didn’t have much space to store snow anyway.
Good thing, or else it would have been a big problem. After all, climbing this peak wasn’t just him; Ji Chaoyang was here too...
Though he wasn’t sure if what he had done here could impact Ji Chaoyang.
Xu Xi stood inside the cave, watching the continuously falling pile of snow at the cave entrance, pondering what had transpired.
Did those few bald eagles attack him simply out of hostility, aiming to prey on him, or was it due to the egg in his bracelet?
An egg of a bald eagle? Or an egg of a bald eagle with a giant beast lineage?
Xu Xin took the egg out of his bracelet and examined it carefully.
The eggshell was still covered in cracks; the little life breathing inside the egg was faint, likely asleep.
Speaking of which, since the egg was already in such a state, would it be okay for him to help crack it open?
...Forget it, better to wait for it to hatch on its own. Even if he got it out now, it wouldn’t be of any use; he couldn’t attend to a little guy at this moment.
Xu Xin had always harbored the idea of contracting a flying mutated creature. Among his considerations, the bald eagle he encountered once during a hunting event seemed like an excellent choice.
A mutated bald eagle might be able to carry him while flying.
Of course, directly riding on the back of a giant eagle like in mythological tales was certainly impossible.
Even the intermediate mutated bald eagle just now, with a body length of over two meters and a wingspan of over four meters, would probably be crushed down if he tried standing on its back.
Despite its size, it might not even weigh over thirty kilograms.
Keep in mind that on Earth, a bald eagle with a wingspan of two meters could weigh five to six kilograms at most, ridiculously light. That’s even the heavier female among birds of prey; a male bald eagle reaching four kilograms is already good.
Though eagles are birds of prey, most of them weigh much less than the fat rabbits they catch. Stepping on their back and expecting them to fly would be asking for their lives.
But while riding isn’t feasible, grabbing is possible!
Eagles can usually carry prey twice their own weight!
Although their endurance isn’t great, typically lifting to high altitude then releasing to let the prey fall to its death before feeding.
But...for mutated creatures, there might be hope, right?
Being grabbed by an eagle and flown through the air...
The thought itself is thrilling!
If the little creature in the egg really is a bald eagle, then it holds his hopes!
Of course, he could also capture a mutated sea eagle and contract it directly, but the difficulty was utterly immense, and Xu Xin felt that even the previous few mutated bald eagles might not be able to carry him.
He wasn’t just carrying his own weight; he had armor and a backpack, definitely not light.
It would need the giant beast lineage; if it could be as big as a giant python, then maybe he could try riding it.
At that moment, the little life within the egg seemed to feel the cold, and its breathing became erratic. Xu Xin quickly put the egg back.
Let’s not think about it for now; completing the task is imperative.
By this time, the avalanche outside the cave had already ceased, only occasionally sending down some snowflakes.
Peering out, Xu Xin saw the thick snow piled hundreds of meters below, and there were no more birds of prey circling outside.
It was time to set off.