Duan Rong stood in the shadows at the cave entrance, peering out for a moment.
He saw that the monster bird made quick work of swallowing the corpses of the Fire Toad and Fire Weasel whole, as if eating them alive.
The monster bird used the eyes on its head and wings to stare intently at the dark cave on the cliff wall; it knew that inside the cave, two more edible creatures were hiding.
Moreover, those two small creatures had a rather pleasant taste. Thinking this, the monster bird let a drop of blood-streaked saliva fall from its beak.
Hiding in the shadows, Duan Rong observed the greedy look in the monster bird's eyes and realized that this creature would not leave easily. If the cave was not somewhat narrow for it, and still reeked of Fire Weasel, it might have rushed in already...
Duan Rong kept his eyes on the monster bird, which settled beside the Black Fire Pool, folding its wings and lying down, clearly intending a long vigil.
