"One sheep, two sheep, three sheep…"

"For the love of the system, please stop. I'm already dozing off," Hera asked.

"Sorry, I just didn't expect this waiting to be so boring."

"Me neither. I can't even focus on mana training."

"Nervous?" Blue asked.

"A little. I mean, we are going to fight some weird monster that no one else ever fought."

"I get that. I'm nervous too. If this doesn't work, we are going to be stuck here forever."

"Hey, don't talk like that. This is gonna work, and if things go well, we can start training here. I mean, fighting its children is the best way to figure out what it can do, right?" Hera said.

"Yeah, I guess," Blue walked around the entrance. They were right in front of the cave leading back to the city to avoid getting tired and have an option to make a quick getaway. It was rare for sheep to wander in this direction, meaning it was the best place for them to wait safely.

"Anyway. What's going on with you and Silah?" Blue asked after walking in circles for some time.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. You two seem very chummy these past few weeks and didn't you have a picnic by the lake?"

"We are friends. It's easier to talk to her than with the other people from the city. She's more open-minded and actually question things instead of just accepting everything."

"Are you sure? I mean, you noticed how she looks at you, right?"

"I mean, I noticed a few looks, but isn't that just how the dwarves look at us?" Hera asked.

"Well… maybe, maybe not. Her look seems different. It doesn't seem to be just out of admiration."

"Maybe I should ask her about it."

"Just try to be careful. I don't want to lose a friend."

"I will. It's just…" before Hera could finish her sentence, there was a sharp cry coming from the top of the mountain.

"Finally, this was driving me nuts," Blue activated her buffs and kept on walking to build up static electricity.

"Get ready to run if things go bad, ok?"

"Ok, but the plan is to fight them, right? We are not just hitting and running."

Hera smiled at Blue, "Of course. I wanna see what they can do and what they drop. I'm dying for some fried chicken."

"Ohhh, fried chicken. I want that, but are they birds?"

"Honestly, I don't know."

Hera looked back up. Now there was a small dark cloud coming down from the mountain. The cloud was made of dozens of winged creatures, almost like a cauldron of bats.

"Blue, let's enter the tunnel. We can let the griffons pass by and then chase after them."

Blue nodded, and they hid inside the cave. The noise of the flapping wings started to grow louder. The monster's shadow became large enough to cover the sunlight illuminating the cave, but it wasn't a solid shadow. Hera could see the movement of wings and other body parts. Their cries sounded like higher pitch versions of the one that made them come down. Less than a minute after the sunlight was hidden by the monsters, the light returned, and the noise lessened. It was enough to let them know that the creatures were already far away from the entrance.

"Ok, are you ready?" Hera asked.

"Yeah, let me just grab the basket," Blue picked the stone basket that the dwarves used to store their loot.

"Are you sure that thing is not going to get in the way?"

"If it does, I'll just toss it to the side."

Hera nodded, and they left the tunnel. The area was much different now. Although the green plains and the mountains were the same. The sky was now cloudy, as if a storm was brewing. The cries of both the griffons and the sheep could be heard in the distance, and some areas already had claw marks on the ground. One different thing was the presence of several brown feathers spread around the field. Blue tried to pick one up, but when she did, the feather dissolved in her hand.

It didn't take long for them to find a lonely griffon. Unlike what Naka had told them, the creature had brown feathers with some black mixed among them. Its claws were yellow, like that of a chicken, and so was its beak. The beast was the size of a Doberman. Seeing the monster, Hera activated her [Observe] right away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rejected Sky Ruler Spawn – Level 5 (Wind affinity)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wow, what an ass," Hera mumbled.

"What's wrong?"

"Use your observe. Apparently, the Sky Ruler rejected those."

"Maybe that's why they don't match Naka's description."

"Maybe," Hera looked around, there was no other monster nearby, "Let's keep the plan. One fight without it being affected by anything. We go focus raw damage."

Blue nodded, "Should I taunt it, or we try a sneaky approach?"

"Taunt it. It's just level 5. Let's see what it can do, but don't be careless. If things go south, we run."

Blue moved towards the griffon and called out to him using her taunt skill. She was careful not to yell but speak at a normal volume. The last thing they needed was to be swarmed by the creatures. The monster turned around and almost seemed to snarl at the controller. Blue made a come and get me motion with her hand, and the griffon replied with a tackle. It opened its wing, jumping towards her with its claws out. The attack was surprisingly quick. Even with Blue's electric buff, she couldn't evade it entirely, but the attack was also very weak. The talons didn't pierce the armor on her arm, and the creature didn't seem to have enough strength to pull her from the ground.

"Let go," Blue said, throwing a punch at the monster's face. The creature tumbled to the side. Some blood was already dripping from its face.

"How hard was that punch?" Hera gasped.

"Like.. 70, maybe 80%? I really didn't expect that much damage."

The griffon screeched and jumped towards Blue again. Hera saw that coming and threw her chakram to intercept the creature. The blade went under it, and with a burst of mana, jumped towards the monster's stomach, taking advantage of the speed of its target movement to not just sink in it but rip through the griffon's underside. Before the beast was able to reach Blue, it was already dead.

"… That was… Underwhelming," Blue said.

"Yeah… I mean, did it even hurt?"

"The claw didn't pierce the armor, but the grip was tight, really tight. If it hit an exposed area, it could've been bad."

"And it couldn't pull you up? I saw it trying," Hera asked.

"No. Well, maybe if I let it. I was trying to pull it back, not that it would make much difference."

"It can help. Since you changed your center of gravity, it might have been harder to pull you up. Still, we should be careful. If two of those things try to lift us, I don't see what we can do to stop."

"Yeah, but what did it drop?" Blue looked over towards where the griffon body was before dissolving. On the floor, there was a light pink piece of paper with something inside it.

"Is that… butcher's paper?" Hera walked over and opened the package. Inside it, there was what looked like a 2kg piece of chicken, "Hey, Blue. Chicken is back on the menu."

"Yes! I've been dying for some wings."

"This looks like chicken breast. Or something like it, at least. Maybe we can get wings as a different cut."

"Well, it still counts," Blue looked up to one of the griffons that were flying, "Do you think they would drop the legs? I always wanted to eat a giant drumstick."

"Like one of those things in old cartoons? Me too," Hera chuckled.

Blue picked the package and put it in the stone basket, "Let's go. There are still a lot of those things around."

"Yeah, if we find another one alone, let me start the fight."

They walked around for a few minutes and found a group of Rejected Spawns attacking the sheep. They flew around, shaving off the sheep's wool and using gusts of wind to push it away in order to expose the body. After that, three of the griffons would sink their claws into the sheep and fly up before dropping their prey into the ground. At times, it took more than a single trip to kill the sheep, but the impact was enough to make it impossible to run away. When one of the wooly creatures died, the griffon swarmed around the meat until it dropped, ripping the grey paper while the meat flailed around in the air.

"Why are they eating here? Aren't they supposed to be monsters from the dungeon?"

"Yeah, but the kobolds ate, and every dungeon is something that actually happened. Maybe this is just part of the story."

"What's the story here?"

"I don't know. Maybe, the circle of life?" Hera suggested.

"Great story," Blue rolled her eyes, "So, let's look at some other place. There are too many here."

Hera agreed. Jumping into the mayhem between the griffon and the sheep was an awful idea. They circled around the plain, looking for either a griffon alone or a smaller group. All they had to do was to follow the area with less noise, and after passing by another group fighting against a mountain ram, they found a pair of griffons eating a meal. Without speaking anything, Hera crouched and activated her [Hide]. Moving closer to the monsters, she pulled her handaxe. At the same time, she prepared a poison needle. The griffons were still busy eating their haul. Hera threw the spell at the one on the left while jumping to the one on the right. They were a little smaller than deer, and that made her feel more confident with the idea.

With a strike aimed at the monster's neck, she brought down her handaxe, but a strong gust of wind messed up her balance. The attack wasn't enough to decapitate the creature, but the slash opened a large gash on the griffon's neck, exposing the bone. The one to the side was already staring at her with an angry expression. The wind intensified and tossed her from the back of the wounded monster.

"Hera!" Blue rushed over.

Hera tumbled to the ground, evading the incoming claws, and quickly got back on her feet. The griffon she had slashed was bleeding profusely, but it still tried to attack her. Its partner jumped over the two to stop Hera from running away and let out a massive screech. Before it was done, Blue reached the wounded griffon and, with a heavy punch, broke the creature's neck. Hera turned around, using her grease fire aimed at the remaining monster. Who stabbed her arm with its beak. The impact was enough to pierce through her armor, making her arm bleed. Luckily, it wasn't a deep wound, and the spell still activated, dowsing the monster in fire and grease. The griffon let out a frantic screech as it tried to fly away from the flames, but the flaming liquid was embedded into its feathers.

Its screech became more and more desperate until the creature finally stopped moving its wings and started falling. Before reaching the ground, it dissolved into a bundle of feathers that gently fell, spreading into a large area. The other corpse turned into a long package wrapped in pink butcher's paper. Hera grabbed a couple of feathers falling from the sky while Blue checked the cut of meat they got.

"Hera!"

"What?" Hera rushed over after getting three brown feathers.

"Please tell me you know how to make chicken wings."

"I might have a recipe on my tablet. Why?"

"Look at this," Blue showed the drop. It was a pair of wings, each being 750 grams and almost the size of Blue's forearms.

"Oh, man. We are going to need to figure it out. I wonder if we can make some buffalo wings."

"Don't you even start it. I'm getting hungry already."

They put the meat in the basket around the same time as the sound of wings flapping started to grow stronger. It seemed like the screech was a call for help, and now the rest of the griffons was heading towards them.

"Hit and run tactics?" Blue asked.

"Yep. Head to the tunnel while we are at it. Maybe we can bring some more chicken," Hera replied, already preparing some poison needles for the incoming horde.