Chapter 36

It was flying through the vast sky in high spirits once again today.

The blue sky that stretched to the distant horizon had always been its domain.

Below, a lush, grassy plain spread out, and on it, wingless creatures scurried about in a busy manner.

How absurd and confined their way of life was. The sky was so vast.

There was nothing to obstruct its path, nothing to cling to its surroundings.

By flapping the wings on its back and riding the wind, it could soar gracefully, and the small creatures would tremble in fear, scurry about in panic, and hide under the meager shade of a few trees.

Occasionally, reckless creatures would gather and approach, but with a single cry, most would scatter in confusion, and for those who still didn’t understand their place, a gust of wind would suffice to make them pay the price for their foolishness.

In this vast sky, it was the king.

But even the king of the sky could not escape hunger.

There were few prey in the mountains where its nest was located.

No, it was not that there were few. The mountains provided abundant blessings.

These blessings allowed the trees to bear fruit, the small beasts to eat the fruit and multiply, the large beasts to hunt the small beasts and turn them into their own flesh and blood, and the large beasts to become the sustenance of even stronger beings.

And it was the strongest of these beings.

The small and large beasts alike should all offer themselves as its food.

However, there were other strong beings in the mountains besides itself.

There were more strong beings than prey. That was the world of the mountains.

The strong beings vied for the not-so-scarce prey.

Even it, the king of the sky, could not easily defeat the strong beings in the mountains.

Its proud claws and beak were ineffective against the "hard ones," and the breath of the "iron-spewing ones" could break its proud wings. The movements of the "swift ones" were sharper than the wind, and the gaze of the "unfathomable ones" was terrifyingly hot.

To fight these strong beings and win the prey in those mountains was not an easy task, even for the king of the sky.

But things were different now.

While chasing prey in the eastern sky, it noticed that the scene below was different from before.

There were prey in the grasslands too.

But in the past, their numbers and size were not attractive enough to warrant a trip from the mountains.

However, things had changed.

In the time it had been away, the number of prey had increased significantly.

The size was still a bit disappointing, but the numbers could make up for it.

Most importantly, there were no other strong beings in the grasslands.

There would be no battles over prey.

Many winged creatures lived in the mountains, but most could only fly at low altitudes.

Only its kind could fly from the mountains to the distant grasslands.

Moreover, the other members of its kind had not yet realized that the grasslands were teeming with prey.

The moment it understood that all the prey below belonged to it, it felt a tremor of joy.

Flying from the mountains was somewhat tiring, but considering the number of prey in the grasslands, it was worth the effort.

Which prey should it hunt today? It enjoyed the time spent choosing.

While gliding eastward on the wind, it shifted its gaze to the grasslands below.

Its eyes caught sight of groups of prey moving in clusters.

For some reason, there were more groups of prey today.

Most of the groups were two-legged beasts that occasionally wandered into the mountains.

Groups of about ten could be seen here and there.

The two-legged beasts were not particularly tasty, but their tendency to stay in groups was beneficial.

Moreover, these two-legged beasts often came towards their fallen companions rather than fleeing.

Unlike other prey that would run away after one or two were hunted, it could catch many at once.

Occasionally, some had hard shells, but they were no match for its proud talons and beak.

The only issue was that they were a bit difficult to eat.

These two-legged beasts were peculiar, and occasionally, some were incredibly strong, so caution was necessary.

However, if things got too dangerous, it could always take to the sky.

The wingless ones couldn’t fly, after all.

Sometimes the two-legged beasts would shoot needles at it, but as long as it flew high enough, there was no danger.

After surveying the surroundings, it set its sights on the largest group.

Although each individual was small, the sheer number would allow it to eat its fill.

Additionally, a few four-legged beasts were visible.

Blessed with prey that could satisfy its hunger, its instincts were filled with joy.

Unaware that it was drawing the attention of many two-legged beasts, it glided straight towards the largest group, flying over several smaller groups below.

2016/12/3 Correction: すべて自分のエサでしかない。→ すべて自分のエサとして身を捧げるべきだろう。

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2019/05/02 Correction: 覆い繁る → 生い茂る

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2019/07/30 Correction: 捕らえた → 捉えた

2019/07/30 Correction: 木々の影 → 木々の陰

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