"You despicable humans—today, even if I have to destroy this egg, I'll burn you to ashes."
The transcendent fire crow king's eyes burned with hatred. The demon dragon gecko's earlier theft of one egg had already driven it to the brink of madness, and now this powerful human had pushed it over the edge into full-blown frenzy.
It rose to its feet, took to the sky, and charged straight out, abandoning the golden egg.
Seeing this, Shelley immediately pulled out her flying carpet, sat on it, and flew after it. At the same time, she ordered the shadow leopards to transport the densely packed fire crow eggs—and that golden egg—back to Thorne as quickly as possible.
Though the shadow leopards weren't the brightest, they could understand simple commands. Each grabbed a few eggs in their mouths and bolted out.
As soon as Shelley flew out of the nest, she saw the fire crow king barreling toward her at breakneck speed.
While Shelley could fly thanks to the carpet, her aerial combat skills paled in comparison to a transcendent-tier fire crow's.
But as a transcendent ninth-level, she didn't need to bother with dodging in the air.
Facing the fire crow king's assault, she simply summoned a light shield that held it firmly at bay. No matter how frantically the king attacked, it couldn't shatter it quickly.
Shelley figured the flock chasing the demon dragon gecko would soon give up and return, so she opted for a quick resolution. Handling one fire crow king was straightforward, but facing thousands of mortal-tier crows would be far trickier. If she got surrounded here, even she might end up roasted.
"Earth Barrier."
A earthy yellow glow rose up, encasing Shelley securely. The fire crow king halted its blind onslaught, opening its massive beak wide without spitting flames—clearly charging up some big move.
A red cloud quickly formed in the crow's mouth. With a flap of its wings, the cloud drifted toward Shelley.
"Light Evasion."
Shelley's body turned into a beam of light, vanishing from her spot in an instant and reappearing at the crow's flank. While not as terrifyingly instantaneous as the demon dragon gecko's teleport, it was fast enough to catch the crow completely off guard.
"Wind Curse: Extreme Wind Blade Slaughter."
Blades of wind formed a tornado that enveloped the fire crow, eliciting a pitiful cry. A shower of blood-mixed feathers followed, and just like that, the transcendent-tier fire crow king was slain.
The shadow leopards were swift in short bursts. Not long after Shelley killed the king, they'd already delivered the first batch of eggs to the red-flame wind-chaser horses and returned to escort her. Shelley directed them to sweep the fire crow nest one more time before they all departed together.
To avoid running into the crows returning from chasing the demon dragon gecko, Shelley deliberately took a detour.
When they arrived back at the lake, they waited a bit longer before the demon dragon gecko slunk back, looking worse for wear.
This time, though, no fire crows trailed behind—evidently, the gecko had gotten craftier and shaken off its pursuers somehow.
Spotting Thorne's lake, it dove right in, splashing around happily.
The lake's spirit-rich waters quickly healed its flame-inflicted wounds.
"My lord, we've brought back a total of three thousand fire crow eggs, all of the highest quality. Plus, another golden egg identical to the previous one."
Shelley presented the golden egg, but in just this short time, its life fluctuations had weakened considerably—likely due to the lack of sustained spiritual input.
Shelley explained the egg's special circumstances to Thorne, who sensed it and found the life force inside extremely faint, teetering on the edge of death.
Though Thorne's lake brimmed with spiritual energy, this egg's fragile state meant it couldn't handle an infusion anymore.
In contrast, the egg the demon dragon gecko had brought back rested peacefully at the lake bottom, absorbing vast amounts of energy. Its life fluctuations grew stronger by the day, as if on the verge of hatching.
"Master, since this egg is practically dead anyway, why not place it in the Underworld's River of Oblivion? Infusing it with dark energy might yield some unexpected results."
The ghost thorn tree's voice chimed in, sparking an idea in Thorne.
The River of Oblivion could nurture undead creatures like skeleton warriors, and only dark-affinity beings could survive in it. This egg, hovering between life and death, might produce something peculiar if submerged there.
"At worst, I still have one healthy golden egg to hatch a flying beast from."
With that thought, Thorne stored the golden egg in his system space before tossing it into the River of Oblivion.
The two worlds were sealed by powerful rules, but Thorne's lake wasn't a product of this world, so it bypassed those restrictions.
He placed the egg at the river bottom, where its life fluctuations vanished almost immediately.
"It didn't just die outright, did it?"
But this was within Thorne's expectations—any non-dark creature entering the River of Oblivion would have its life stripped away.
Yet, Thorne could clearly sense the golden egg hadn't lost all vitality; it was as if it were gestating some new form of life.
Black veins began appearing on its once purely golden surface.
"Ah, well—leave it be for now and see what it turns into later."
Back in the surface world, Thorne submerged all three thousand stolen fire crow eggs into the lake and rapidly infused them with spiritual energy.
In little over an hour, signs of hatching emerged.
Thorne then retrieved them to the shore. Before the crows inside could break free, he activated his skills simultaneously.
"Activate Skill: Awakening."
"Activate Skill: Blessing."
Amid the red and white lights, cracking sounds echoed continuously.
One by one, spirited little fire crows emerged from their shells.
Enhanced by Thorne's awakening and blessing, these chicks held greater potential than their parents, with denser bloodlines.
After a brief adjustment to their wings, some crows took to the sky—slow and wobbly, but that was the innate gift of birds.
"Finally, an aerial beast army. Once they're fully grown, the sight of three thousand fire crows taking flight on command will be spectacular."
"These three thousand crows should have a name, right?"
Shelley asked.
"Yeah, they should. 'In three thousand worlds, slay every crow; over a hundred thousand miles, the sun is blotted out.' Let's call them the Crow Slayer Army."