Chapter 198: Falcon Missiles
Riyala jolted out of her shock when Jason called out to her and she quickly moved toward him! Jason told Riyala to give him her hand, and Riyala let out a small sound in shock as Jason pulled her up with no effort at all, and she was placed on the dragon’s nape just behind him! Jason ordered the beasts to take off, and Riyala had to quickly wrap her hand around Jason when she almost fell off the dragon!
There was a huge blush on Riyala’s cheeks, and she tried her best not to make it obvious that she was very embarrassed to be in this position.
’Things are different on Earth. I can’t blame him. He doesn’t know!’
These thoughts were going through Riyala’s head continuously as she held onto Jason! Jason hadn’t put any thought into making Riyala ride with him, but for Riyala, there was a lot more meaning in them riding together! In Radagan, a Dragon or Wyvern companion was seen as an extension of a Rider’s body. A Rider was expected to form a mental and physical link with their partner, so the Rider could feel what they felt, and their pain would affect the Rider too. So, because of how intimate the relationship between the beast and the Dragonborn were, male and female Dragonborn were not allowed to ride together unless they were either married or betrothed to be married. This was done as a way to respect the bond between the beast and the riders, and it was also a way to strengthen the marriage by making your partner’s familiar accept you as one of its own. So Jason taking her on a dragon like this immediately made Riyala’s heart start racing as unwanted thoughts filtered through her mind!
Riyala was already used to riding dragons and wyverns, so she wasn’t afraid of how high up they were, but she couldn’t help but feel like she would fall just from how fucking embarrassed she was!
Jason, meanwhile, was completely unaware of what was going on in Riyala’s mind. Instead, his gaze was fixed on the figures that were approaching from ahead. There were five of them, and he could see them as red outlines through his [Predator’s Gaze]. Jason sent the image to Raya and Ragnar so that they would know the direction of the monsters as well, before he started to give orders.
’Raya will go in first and draw their attention. I want to know how strong they are, so try to focus your attack on only one of them. Ragnar, you’ll hang back for a few seconds until I see what I want. Once Raya kills one, you can incinerate the rest of them.’
Ragnar let out a huff of smoke once Jason was done with his order, and Raya screeched excitedly as she broke off from their formation and began to fly ahead of them! Ragnar let out another huff, and Jason was able to recognize it as a warning towards Raya! Ragnar was telling her not to mess up the plan or lose to anyone, and Jason grinned when he heard Raya scream back that she would never lose to any of these small fry! In fact, she was going to kill all of them and show Ragnar that she didn’t need him!
Jason shook his head at their antics. If not for the fact that they were completely different species, Jason would have sworn that these two were siblings. They were always fighting over the most useless things!
’Focus on the plan, Raya. Don’t go overboard.’
Jason gave a simple order to Raya, and she screeched back in confirmation before taking off again to intercept the beasts! Jason switched his sight from the Predator’s Gaze to the [Eye of the King] so that he could see through the eyes of his subordinate, and as Raya got closer, he was able to get a better view of the falcons that were coming towards them! The falcons were just as intimidating as you would expect a monster from an Orange Gate to be. They had white feathers that glistened under the bright sunlight, and their eyes were a piercing red that seemed to glare at everything around them with intensity!
Jason narrowed his eyes as he tried to get a better look at them, and he hummed in curiosity when he saw that the falcons’ feathers weren’t feathers at all! Each of them was sharpened and pointy, and they looked more like bladed weapons than feathers. Was that why the system called them Iron Blade Falcons? That was a little on the nose, wasn’t it? Jason smiled slightly at his own joke, but he felt his smile disappear as the falcons began growing larger and larger as they approached! The falcons had each been the same size as the Pawn Rank I moonlight wolf subordinate when Jason first saw them, and he already thought that they were large for magical beasts, but as they got closer, Jason realized that he had seriously underestimated their actual size! The falcons were huge! Each one of them was half Raya’s size, and when they spread their wings out, their size quadrupled and made them seem larger than the adamantine Ant Queen!
"Are these really just subordinates? If they’re this large, then how big will the Boss be!?"
Jason couldn’t stop his thoughts from wandering curiously, but he shook his head and decided to focus on the moment. It didn’t matter how large they were! As long as they were only subordinates in an Orange Gate, Jason was sure that they would never be stronger than Raya! Not only was Raya the Boss of an Orange Gate, but she had also been seriously buffed by the increased defenses that came with being a Rook Class Subordinate!
Raya let out another screech as she finally came into view of the large falcons! The falcons were stunned to see her there, and they looked from one to another to try and form a plan in their minds! In the end, they decided that Raya was just another enemy that they had to kill, and they began to move into formation! All five falcons let out loud cries once they saw her, and Jason watched in surprise as they flapped their wings hard and took off into the sky above Raya! Raya screeched and followed after them immediately, and Jason just watched to see what the falcons would do!
Raya was one of Jason’s strongest monsters, but that didn’t mean she was the fastest in the air, and Jason could immediately tell that the falcons were all faster than Raya! The falcons moved far ahead of her and reached high into the clouds before they all turned around and narrowed their bodies into a more aerodynamic shape! Jason’s eyes widened slightly as he was able to immediately tell what the falcons were about to do! They were going to perform a sky dive! The falcons were all fitted with multiple bladed feathers that were many times harder than steel, and when they narrowed their bodies, they were able to put their feathers forward in a way that made sure the blades were all pointed towards Raya!
WOOSH!
The falcons fell from the sky like missiles, and Jason watched as they slammed into Raya from different angles! Raya let out a loud screech in anger from the attack, and she snapped her mandibles towards one of them, but they were moving so fast that she wasn’t able to get anyone before they passed her quickly! The falcons spread their wings and immediately stopped their descent before they let out another cry as they began ascending for a second attack!