Seed of Titan-Chapter 153: How Fares the Sky King

A tsunami-like gust crashed, dropping all the scurrying horses and squishing them against the ground.

On the other hand, the nursing mare was less affected as Drai’s towering figure nearby had dispersed the oppressive gust, resulting in her knees buckling as she tried her best to avoid crushing her own child to death.

Meanwhile, Drai was unfazed. After all, the tremendous gust wasn’t even an actual attack—it was merely the result of the Sky King’s sudden halt mid-dive due to the abrupt appearance of a giant figure below.

After his recent level-ups, Drai was now standing around 16.2 meters tall (53ft), making him larger than the Sky King if its wings were tucked in, which was why the colossal bird turned cautious upon seeing him.

The two were now staring at each other, one standing below while the other flapping midair, sending powerful gusts in short intervals.

’I haven’t tried it out, but I’m sure Aspiring Grabber works in this form,’ Drai thought as he kept his eyes glued on the massive red shadow above. ’If this were the valley, I could hurl some boulders at him, but there’s no such projectile in this meadow. Even the few trees here are too short and thin for me to use them like I did back in the jungle.’

As Drai was contemplating his courses of action, the Sky King seemed to have made up its mind.

Instead of diving down like it initially planned to, it steered its course and started flying in a wide circle above the area. Due to this, the sun appeared again, blinding Drai’s eyes and forcing him to squint hard. Fortunately, the bird was massive, so it was still easy to keep track of it.

Just then, Drai noticed a seemingly different flap from the Sky King which interrupted its previously smooth flight. Instinctively, he raised his arms in defense.

Seconds later, his arms were hit by a heavy, blunt force, but it wasn’t strong enough to make him buckle and had only jolted him ever so slightly.

’What was that? A wind attack?’ Drai questioned while peeking through his blocking arms, feeling rather underwhelmed by the impact.

At the same time, the Sky King had also noticed its failed attack, so it decided to send a salvo this time. Immediately, its giant wings blurred as they flapped rapidly, unleashing a translucent white barrage of compacted air.

Having a rough estimate of the force behind each strike, Drai wasn’t fazed at all by the salvo and opened up his arms instead.

A series of deafening booms echoed throughout the grassland as Drai’s flurry of fists met the Sky King’s strikes in rapid succession, blasting them apart into countless, tiny wind shards.

Scattered all around him, the horses were now lying still on the ground. Although the previously heavy pressure had been lifted from them, they were now frozen with fear due to the terrifying clash, including the mare and foal pair.

Soon, the barrage was over, and Drai stood there unharmed. Acquiring Aspiring Grabber had allowed him to overcome the speed of the Sky King’s wind strikes. In addition, without him realizing it, his dynamic vision had also improved dramatically after hours of scanning newly emerging teats, allowing him to consistently track the attacks.

"Birdie!" he suddenly shouted toward the Sky King with his booming voice. "I didn’t realize you’re a pushover. Is that why you rarely come out of your nest?"

As if understanding him, the oversized hawk let out a loud, low screech, rattling the hearts of those hearing it aside from Drai. Following this, its wings blurred once more, this time unleashing dozens of crescent, translucent-white blades.

"Oh shit!" Drai remarked as he quickly defended against the attack, delivering another flurry of grab-punches.

A loud sharp bang resounded across the area each time he dispersed a wind blade. Shortly after, he once again succeeded in thwarting the Sky King’s attack.

After blowing on his knuckles that were laden with faint white marks, Drai looked above and smirked.

"That one hurt a bit, birdie, but it’s still lacking," he loudly said. "How about you and me peace out and you become my flying mount instead? I promise I’ll feed you a lot of stew every day, birdie."

This time, the Sky King didn’t reply but continued flying in a circle, silently deliberating its next move. Although its ranged attacks had failed, it still had an ace in its sleeves. But the Sky King was unsure if it was worth unleashing its strongest ranged attack just for getting the upper hand in this rather meaningless confrontation. After all, the attack would take quite a toll on it, so much so that devouring a few horses wouldn’t be enough to replenish the spent energy.

Another option was to strike directly at the towering figure since the Sky King’s giant talons and beak were actually much sturdier and sharper than its wind strikes. However, the Sky King had the same condition that other birds shared—its bones were hollow and relatively brittle. Therefore, it had a congenital apprehension toward delivering direct strikes, which was currently being amplified by the fact that its target was equally massive as itself.

In the end, to Drai’s bafflement, the Sky King veered its course and flew away.

Drai watched with his mouth agape as the massive figure quickly turned into a tiny dot above the horizon before disappearing completely.

"What the hell... I thought I’d have to spend a lot of essence to recover my cooldown or heal up, turns out the dude’s really a pushover—I worried for nothing."

After shaking his head and chuckling, Drai quickly deactivated his skill and shrank before walking toward the mare and foal duo.

Arriving there, he rubbed the foal that was still quivering in fear and said some reassuring words.

"Don’t worry, horsie, the big birdie is gone. Here, eat some stew to calm yourself down."

With Drai’s reassuring and the sight of a few bowls of warm stew, the foal’s quiver began to subside as it lowered its head.

It didn’t take long for the foal to forget the earlier terror and immerse itself in slurping up the stew.

"Heh, there you go," Drai remarked cheerfully. He then turned to the mare that was staring at him with its large beady eyes. "I’m sorry, ma’am, but I need to milk you a bit."

Following this, he brought out Madeleine’s jerrycan and approached the mare’s underbelly, grabbing the only teat there.

It’s unclear whether the mare was still frozen in fear, in shock, or was just being generous, but it didn’t struggle at all and let Drai squeeze its teat, filling the jerrycan.

"Don’t worry, ma’am, I’m just taking a few gallons here. Pretty sure this meager amount won’t be enough to dry out your hidden mammaries," Drai said, somewhat fearing that the mare would scurry away before he could completely fill the jerrycan.

The mare replied with a deep neigh but remained lying down, her watery brown eyes drifting between Drai and her voracious foal.

Meanwhile, several horses were starting to get up groggily. The biggest ones seemed to recover faster, and with their large muzzles, they began to nudge and rub against the other horses that hadn’t gotten up yet.

Minutes passed, and the jerrycan was eventually filled up with milk, almost to the brim. Drai carefully secured its lid and put it away before letting out a sigh of relief.

"It’s been almost two weeks, huh?" he mused. "I’ve gained a lot during this time, so it’s not like it’s been wasteful, but now I’m unsure when I’ll finally get to contact Mom and Dad. I hope Madeleine doesn’t give me another task, or at least gives a way easier task the next time around."

Drai gazed far away in the direction where the Sky King had flown away earlier.

"Hmm... Would I have easily dealt with the birdie if not for Aspiring Grabber? Probably not, but I don’t think his attacks could really hurt me. Besides, I can always heal up if I get too wounded. Man, I’m still getting amazed by how powerful this essence ability is. Now the only thing that really worries me is getting one-shotted by an extremely lethal blow and not having time to heal before dying, though a relentless assault can also be fatal if I can’t get away and replenish my essence."

Drai suddenly froze as he retracted his gaze, realizing the whole herd was now surrounding him. The mare had also risen, her eyes now locking onto him.

Scratching his head awkwardly, he said to the mare, "Uhm... I could pay for the milk if you want, ma’am. Do you accept stew for payment? I assure you, it’s quite a delicacy. Just look at your child, even he loves it."

The mare suddenly lowered her head toward him, which prompted Drai to negotiate.

"Uhm... How about some jerky?" he hurriedly uttered while raising his arm in defense. "There’s also cake if you want, but I need to bring the milk back first for that."

However, the mare ignored him, brushing her head close as she went to rub her snout against the foal, which immediately stopped eating. The two exchanged a couple of neighs before the mare eventually lifted her head.

Looking at Drai once more, she let out a gentle neigh and slowly turned around, and as if on command, the entire herd began to move away with her.

A silly smile appeared on Drai’s face as he realized he had worried for nothing again. Turning to the foal, he said, "Well, goodbye horsie. I won’t be coming every day anymore, but I might visit you from time to time and bring some stew."

However, the foal simply stood there, gazing at its departing mother with a faint whine. Drai tried patting the foal, urging it to follow its kin, but still, it remained steadfast.

Not long after, the rearmost horses had left their surroundings. The pair stood there for a while, one of them downcast while the other perplexed.

Eventually, the foal turned around and nudged Drai before sitting down to finish the rest of the stew.

Drai waited there until the foal was done, preparing to walk the foal back to its herd. However, the foal seemingly didn’t want to return, as it merely stood there, looking at Drai with its head tilted.

At this moment, Drai finally realized what was happening.

"Horsie... You want to follow me?"