The massive eye slowly moved across the nest.
The bird’s head slowly rose, the three Lacerians were hidden behind its neck, but Lian was still standing beside the rope, near the edge of the nest.
Abyss Veil was hiding his presence, but not enough to be completely invisible to such a creature.
The golden eye passed over the nest, over the prey, over the healthy eggs, and finally...
Over the egg that was half out of the nest, the Giant Sky Bird’s body suddenly tensed, all its feathers stood on end, and its golden pupil narrowed.
Then... it screamed.
A sound so horrifying that the entire nest shook, blood flowed from the ears of Nemi, Ravian, and Sera.
The surrounding clouds became turbulent, but the bird had not yet flown, and all its attention... was on the egg.
It moved its beak toward it, Lian understood at that moment, if it saved the egg... everything would be over.
He pulled out his knife, without a moment’s hesitation... he cut the rope.
The egg remained on the edge for a moment, and then... it fell.
"Wooooooommmm" The Giant Sky Bird’s second scream... was even more terrifying than the first.
The monster, without thinking, opened its wings, the resulting wind like an explosion swept through the entire nest, Lian was lifted off the ground and his body was thrown outward.
The harness rope suddenly pulled and for a moment half of his body was hanging outside the nest.
Below him... only clouds, and then the bird leaped from the nest, the rope violently slammed him against the monster’s back, and all the air in his lungs was forced out.
Now... all four were attached to the Giant Sky Bird’s body, and the monster, with insane speed... was diving after the falling egg.
It folded its wings and dove almost vertically.
The wind hit their faces like thousands of blades, breathing had become impossible, the ropes were digging into their flesh.
The massive feathers around them were dancing like whips in the air, and the sound of the wind... had swallowed the entire world.
Nemi had opened her mouth, but she couldn’t even scream.
Ravian was clinging to the feathers with all his might, his hands were bruised from the pressure of Root Grip.
"...The rope!" Sera suddenly said in terror.
One of the harness strands was tearing. Lian tried to move toward it, but the dive’s pressure wouldn’t allow him to move even a few centimeters.
A moment later... they all entered the clouds. The world turned white, cold... moisture, thick fog, nothing could be seen.
Only the sound of unknown creatures’ wings could be heard from around, fleeing in terror from the Giant Sky Bird’s path.
And then... Lian saw it. Something that made all the hair on his body stand on end, and his being trembled so much that his cells and instincts didn’t even dare to give him a warning....
"My god... is it itself?"
A shadow, much larger than the Giant Sky Bird, only for a moment, in the heart of the fog, a massive eye... slowly opened.
It wasn’t looking at them, but at the Giant Sky Bird. That was it, and nothing else happened.
But the Giant Sky Bird suddenly changed its course, as if it understood that the direction it was heading was forbidden.
Its body twisted violently in the air, Sera’s rope was stretched with a dry sound, and the strands were breaking one by one.
It was unclear how much longer it could hold...
The clouds parted, hundreds of meters below, the egg was still falling.
The Giant Sky Bird increased its speed, the next moment it opened its wings with all its power.
The deceleration impact was like hitting a wall, all four bodies were thrown forward.
"No, help! Help me! I don’t want to die! Sob sob" One of the hooks came loose, and Nemi let out a short scream, her body separated from its place.
Now only a thin strand was holding her, below her body... endless space.
If she fell, it would only be death.
Sera reached out her hand, but the distance was too great, she couldn’t help her sister.
"Hold on tight! Please, hold on tight!"
"I can’t... it’s hard! All my body hurts! My flesh is going to tear... noooooo!" Suddenly her fingers began to open one by one.
Not much time remained before she fell.
"Noooo, Nemi!" Ravian shouted in horror upon seeing his sister’s situation.
Lian without thinking freed his own rope and crawled among the feathers with one hand, and at the very last moment...
He grabbed Nemi’s wrist. The thin strand was almost torn, and at the same time... the Giant Sky Bird opened both its claws.
And caught the egg just before it hit the lower branches.
But... at that same moment... it felt something... a weight... a movement... that shouldn’t be on its back.
Its massive head slowly turned, one golden eye... only a few meters away from Lian.
Lian was clinging to the bird’s feathers with one hand, and with the other... he was holding Nemi.
The rope was slowly tearing under their weight, the golden eye... remained fixed on him.
For a moment... time stopped, and then the vertical pupil slowly narrowed... The Giant Sky Bird had realized something was on its body!
At that same moment, it folded one of its wings and spun its entire massive body in the air.
"Everyone... hold on tight!" Lian only had time to shout.
And the world... turned upside down.
Lian only had time to sink his fingers with all his strength into the thick feathers of the Giant Sky Bird. His instincts were warning him strongly that if he didn’t hold on tight, he would definitely die!
The monster had caught its egg and had noticed them, and now they had entered the most difficult part of their plan. From here on, they just had to hold on tight, or they might get killed!
The next moment, the sky and the forest swapped places, and the bird’s massive body rolled in the air.
Once...
Twice...
Three times...
The wind hit Lian’s face with such intensity that it felt like his skin would be ripped off his bones.
Even with his current level and stats, the speed of this bird was so terrifyingly high that it could put him in such a situation.
This showed that a Fallen level 50 was in a completely different league in terms of power, a league he was still far from...
All the ropes were stretched tight.
The black feathers around him, like massive walls, were rushing at him from new directions every moment.
With one hand, he was still holding Nemi’s wrist, and with the other hand, his fingers were buried deep into the feathers up to the last knuckle.
If even one of those two hands let go... everything would be over.
A few meters ahead, Ravian was almost locked onto the bird’s body, a faint green light was flowing on his hands, feet, and tail.
Root Grip was active at its maximum capacity.
But the skin on his palms had cracked, and blood was seeping from between his fingers, and his legs were trembling from the pressure.
A little further back, Sera was holding on with one hand and trying to tie the torn strand of Nemi’s harness back to the main rope with the other.
But every time the bird rolled, the rope would escape from her fingers again.
"Just... a few more seconds..." Her voice was lost in the roar of the wind