Chapter 98 - Longneck Sky Serpent
Tave crouched behind the thick foliage, his eyes fixed on the darkening sky above the ridge where night was beginning to fall.
He wasn’t exactly surprised to find monsters like these in a Rift of this kind. But as he raised his telescope and focused on them, the details began to settle into something far more troubling.
Most of the creatures were flying types, reptilian in form, with massive wingspans, each easily several times the size of a grown human.
They weren’t wyverns, though they bore some resemblance. These were clearly Tier 5 monsters, and that meant they were going to be a nightmare to deal with. Their mobility was extreme, their attacks wildly varied, and there were many different kinds among them.
Tave watched in grim silence as a swarm of them swept through the skies, their shapes cutting through the dusk like shadows with wings. These creatures were known to become more active at nightfall.
And what made them especially dangerous... was their sensitivity to sound. Any disturbance, whether from the ground or the air, could draw them in. And if they found the source interesting enough, they wouldn’t hesitate to attack in a coordinated, deadly swarm.
He felt Panpan approach from behind, silent as always. Her footsteps nearly undetectable. She sat quietly beside him, trying to assess what Tave had discovered.
Even without a telescope, she could see far into the distance, her gaze aligned with his.
"There’s a lot of them, Tave," she whispered.
"Yes. And we’ll have to deal with them before we can even think about hunting anything below. Their high mobility will make it near impossible to move safely if they decide to attack us in a group."
Worse still, these were Tier 5 monsters. And yes, that meant their difficulty level was no joke. Even a normal-grade Tier 5 creature would typically require at least half of their team to take it down quickly.