Chapter 121
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: Perfect, You've Walked Right Into It
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"Perfect, you've walked right into it."
"Kaaak!"
"Kkook!"
Me and the guy both jumped in surprise at the same time.
No, to think it was being treated like this.
I couldn't quite wrap my head around it, but good was good, so I decided to just roll with it.
Either way, its petrification had no effect on me.
A cockatrice that couldn't petrify?
Just a slightly oversized fighting cock.
Of course, petrification wasn't completely meaningless.
It just couldn't fully petrify my body, but it did have some effect, that much was true.
In fact, hadn't it managed to somewhat restrain my lower body?
If the thing hadn't let its guard down thinking its trick had worked, and hadn't panicked when the petrification wore off, I might've been in real trouble.
Having your lower half locked up during a close-quarters brawl made you a perfect punching bag for that stretch.
"Wh-what? I can't make heads or tails of this..."
The hoopoe, on the verge of tears, spoke in a bewildered voice.
I couldn't understand it either, so how could a bystander?
"...I see. So that's how it is."
Moona nodded gravely in a solemn voice.
Did the sage know something?
Sages really were on another level.
But Moona's voice wasn't cheerful.
Not that it ever was particularly bright, but right now it sounded even more subdued.
Was he worried I'd almost died?
The protagonist awakening to the cheers of beautiful companions when in peril.
It was a cliché in its own right.
Though the companions being a hoopoe and a kiwi bird was a bit off.
"Kkokkiooooo!"
The cockatrice, snapping out of it, roared with Command Roar once more, squeezing out every last bit of strength.
It was slightly different from the one I'd heard before.
The hoopoe had explained that it roared once at dawn to maintain its power amplification continuously.
The effect faded gradually as the sun set.
But the cockatrice's roar right now wasn't like that.
Its duration was extremely short.
That was why it kept roaring with Command Roar.
To think even the performance of Command Roar was different from what we knew—it was a tricky foe indeed.
And the more it roared, the stronger it got, suggesting the effects stacked.
Of course, with such short individual durations, it couldn't maintain the stacks, but we'd have to plan for its power spiking suddenly.
Otherwise, we might get caught off-guard like before.
The cockatrice, pulling back momentarily to assess the situation, charged at me this time with its beak leading the way.
"Saaak!"
Its tail, which had been still until now, finally sprang into action.
I'd thought there might be some restriction, but there wasn't.
It had hidden that tail from the start.
To land a critical hit like before.
Who calls it a bird-brain or chicken-head?
Anyone seeing it lay a trap like that wouldn't dare.
I'd wondered why it had the "Seeker of Wisdom" trait, and sure enough, it was a cunning bastard.
Now that its trick was exposed, it meant it would clash head-on with full power, no more hiding.
The snake head spewed visible venomous miasma.
Thanks to the Queen's Powder the hoopoe had given me, I had some poison resistance smeared over my body, but it wasn't perfect.
The cockatrice probably knew about the powder and focused on petrification over poison.
Neither petrification nor poison dealt major damage.
But they weren't harmless, so it was planning to overwhelm me with volume.
"Kkokkiooooo!"
Command Roar rang out again.
A toxic mist formed in an instant.
"Kkak!"
Even I didn't want to breathe that in.
Its poison was so potent you could see the miasma with the naked eye.
And that's exactly why I could counter it.
Shwaaaaak!
I spread my wings.
With a wingspan well over four meters fully extended, they were massive.
Enough to blow away visible poison mist like this, no problem.
Paaaang!
I flapped, whipping up wind.
The poison sprayed into the air couldn't reach me and instead blew in the opposite direction.
Shzzzzzak!
Fluttering my wings while firing Twilight Feathers added minor cuts all over its body.
"Krruk... Kieeek!"
It screamed in agony.
Neither poison nor petrification worked.
Melee was evenly matched, but even wasn't enough to beat me.
I could keep whittling its HP with Twilight Feathers.
Victory was clearly tilting my way.
"Krruk... Kkokkioooooo!"
It squeezed out power and activated Command Roar again.
What trick would it pull next?
Tensing at its amplified strength, I readied myself to counter.
But it didn't charge me.
The cockatrice surged toward somewhere else—not me.
And soon, I realized exactly what it was aiming for.
"Kkokkiooooo!"
Where Moona and Clara were hiding.
Figuring it couldn't beat me, it was attacking them to buy escape time?
A troublesome and dangerous bastard, for sure.
But it was fine.
As if I wouldn't have anticipated that.
"Kkak!"
At my signal, Swungswung, hidden on my body, tossed another green gem.
Night Summoning LV1
[Jade stone offered as tribute.]
[Designating your domain.]
[Your current domain: Cockatrice Nest.]
I used Night Summoning once more.
I had one summon available.
The afterglow descends.
Swaaaaa.
The sky was dyed in the color of afterglow.
Twilight Feather LV1 temporarily transcends its limits.
Twilight Feather LV10 activated.
My feathers were dyed in afterglow, and a dim blue light emanated from every one.
Twilight Feather LV1
Dyes some feathers in afterglow.
Feathers dyed in afterglow can emit that light, and foes hit by it enter a shadowed state for a set duration.
Twilight Feather's effects amplify in special circumstances.
⟨ Twilight Feather ⟩
Those hit by the afterglow light entered a shadowed state.
Moona, Clara, and even the cockatrice—all shadowed.
Could a shadow be poisoned or petrified?
No way.
Activating shadow while already afflicted was pointless, but while maintaining shadow, those abilities wouldn't work.
In other words, my attack had shielded Moona and the hoopoe from the cockatrice.
"Ugh... What is this? My body's weird!"
"Mm, you'll get used to it."
Their bodies had turned to shadow—they had to be panicking.
And the cockatrice was no different.
"Kk, krruk? Kirrruk?"
You could see it struggling to control its shadowed body.
"Kaaaaak!"
I charged at it in one go.
The cockatrice was shadowed too, nullifying most attacks.
But my glowing beak was the exception.
Beak of Evil's Demise
The divine beak that eradicates the world's evils.
Extremely tough and sharp, allows consumption of the illogical.
Grants resistance to natural environments and eliminates recoil from beak attacks.
Enables direct strikes on impure entities and magical rituals.
⟨ Beak of Evil's Demise ⟩
The ultimate trait forged from nine glowing feathers.
This beak could strike the cockatrice right now.
Confusion from its body changing.
A sliver of confidence from knowing physical attacks wouldn't land.
Combined, it couldn't react to my strike.
Shweeeeeeak.
Krraaaaaack!
The pinpoint attack slammed into its body.
"Kieeeeeek!"
It shrieked in pain.
Kwaaaaang!
Overwhelming physical force sent it flying back instantly.
And not just that—it even dispelled the shadow state.
Not only piercing the shadow but also canceling it outright.
I didn't let my guard down, even as I marveled at my own beak.
I kept tension high to finish it off.
"Krrr... Kieeeeeek!"
And then it happened.
I'd thought it took a fatal blow, but somehow its aura grew even more ferocious.
It didn't take long to figure out why.
"Kkokkioooooo!"
Dark energy eroded its body.
Rrgrgrgrrrumble.
Beside the chicken head, a new neck sprouted in an instant.
"Saaaaaaak!"
One body.
But now it had both a chicken head and a snake head.
"...Rampage, huh. It's forcibly drawing on evolution's power."
Moona's solemn voice rang out.
The ferocity was incomparable to before.
My attack had surely halted its evolution.
Yet it had succeeded in tapping that power anyway.
Anyone could see it wasn't normal evolution.
Its body was visibly dissolving like shadow, then regenerating.
Just as Moona said, it was rampaging.
"This is too dangerous! It'll self-destruct if we just stall a bit—let's run for now!"
The hoopoe shouted, sensing ill omens.
Its aura was on another level, no doubt.
"Krrr... Krrrrgh..."
Pain from the rampage kept it from charging immediately, but the moment it stabilized, it'd unleash hell.
You could see its power visibly glowing.
Especially the feathers shimmering all over its body...
"Kkak?"
Yeah, its feathers were definitely glowing.
And I was a crow that could steal shining feathers from foes.
"Cr-crow? Is it okay like that? Its eyes are spinning!"
"Just a minor drawback of Gluttony. Hm, no need to worry too much."
"...It's drooling now too?"
Gluttony kicked in.
Logically, pulling back made sense, but I couldn't retreat here.
If it self-destructed, those feathers would probably vanish too.
And those sparkles were already in my sights.
"Slurp..."
I licked my chops.
I hadn't stolen any tasty-looking feathers lately anyway.
Perfect, you've walked right into it.