Rudrean and Aelira finished slotting the runes and went out.

Ryzen, Rivera, and Lyra were all flying across the forest while being followed by a flock of Blood Talon Parrots, numbering over 200.

Each one was as big as a Mini Cooper with a wingspan of 12 meters.

Their wings were shifting between ethereal and physical states with crimson hues.

The trio flew around the obstacles of the giant trees and their branches, dodging attacks from the parrots while occasionally managing to knock down a few of them.

But due to the overwhelming pressure of these two hundred or so parrots, which had high agility due to their unique phasing wings, it was hard to hit them with projectiles while moving.

Lyra was killing more with her artifacts as cold melee weapons flew into the flock and shredded them chaotically.

So far, she had killed fourteen, while Rivera and Ryzen were below ten in count.

Swoosh!

"Another volley is coming!" Ryzen shouted. "Get in front."

Lyra and Rivera flew ahead of Ryzen, while Ryzen burst out a huge wall of ice crackling with darker blue electricity behind him, creating a wall of defense that he controlled while moving.

The tons of claw-shaped projectiles struck the thick ice wall, some getting destroyed by lightning whips before they could hit the wall and reduce its durability. It had no chance of breaking easily due to its thickness and the constant restoration of the wall by Ryzen.

"Shit, I am about to empty my mana pool already." Ryzen wryly smiled. "I wasted more mana due to my inefficiency with this new talent."

One of the parrots within the flock was bigger than the rest. It was being inconspicuous while issuing commands.

Rudrean and Aelira were observing, so they discovered it.

Suddenly, that leader parrot made a big move as a powerful crimson beam struck the Tundral Thunder wall, blasting a hole in it and flinging Ryzen over a hundred meters away like a bullet.

"Let’s go," Rudrean said.

He vanished from his spot and appeared between the incoming flock and Lyra and Rivera.

Rudrean calmly made a circular motion with his hand, executing one of his original moves as crimson plasma rings made from an intricate combination of Phoenix Flame and Heavenfall Wind began forming and shooting toward the flock, getting bigger as they traveled.

Every single Blood Talon Parrot that touched the ring’s edges or went through its hole died instantly. Those that touched the ring were lit up in flames due to extreme external heat channeling into whatever touched it, while those that went through the hole had their organs superheated by hot air infusion, dying from internal burns.

Over fifty of them died before the rest scattered in terror.

Lyra and Rivera stopped and turned around as they heard the death cries of the parrots.

But more Blood Talon Parrots were coming from another direction.

Aelira arrived before them, releasing wild and long plasma slashes at the new flock and decimating it brutally.

"You both finished?" Ryzen came back from the branch where he had crashed and floated next to Rudrean.

"Yep." Rudrean smiled as he looked at a new tab that had been created due to his second slot rune. "First, let me provide some defense to everyone."

[Spirit Spark: 382]

This was his second slot rune’s power.

[Slot 2: Spirit Nexus (B)]

—> Whenever you draw blood from your foes or kill them, you will gain 1 to 5 Spirit Sparks. Up to 1000 can be stored, and they can be used to summon Spirit Beasts for 1 hour to 24 hours based on mana infusion at the time of summoning.

-30 Spirit Sparks = Zephyr Vine Eagle (Tracker, Skirmisher)

-40 Spirit Sparks = Shadow Frost Tiger (Hunter)

-50 Spirit Sparks = Stone Shield Turtle (Protector)

"Nice. Spirit Sparks are pretty easy to get." Rudrean nodded and waved his hand.

In the next second, five Stone Shield Turtles appeared.

Cute gray fellows with big eyes and beautifully patterned blue shells. He infused enough mana to make them last for one hour.

They floated and blinked. Then each one flew differently and attached to the backs of Rudrean, Aelira, Lyra, Rivera, and Ryzen.

"Woah, what is this?" Ryzen was surprised.

"It will protect us very well, so just focus on killing monsters." Rudrean grinned. "Their main power is the transfer of damage to their shells. So even if it feels like an attack is going to kill us or cut our limbs, nothing will happen. Instead, the damage will be transferred to the shell."

"Wow." Lyra blinked. "I think I will also make magic items with damage transfer. It’s pretty good."

"A big one is coming!" Rivera shouted.

Swoosh!

A giant shadow flashed over the trio before appearing on a tree branch and landing.

[Wild Boss Monster Encounter Initiated]

[Defeat it and acquire a B-rank Super Rune]

The huge boss-level Blood Talon Parrot clearly oozed power beyond the peak of Foundation, stretching ten times larger than the regular ones.

[King Blood Talon Parrot]

[Rank: Special | Boss]

Constitution: 3-star

Agility: 4-star

Strength: 3.5-star

Magic: 4-star

Its stats were already in the realm of the upper level of the Core Genesis stage.

Putting it simply, even if Rivera and Ryzen attacked it for 24 hours straight, they still would not be able to make a scratch on it because their stats at the peak of Foundation and their current undeveloped Arcane Paths barely gave them 1-star in their four stats.

But that was not the case for Rudrean and Aelira.

A flock of thirty Blood Talon Parrots additionally arrived and joined the boss.

"Let me attract the aggro. I’ll deal with the boss." Aelira cracked her knuckles as she closed in toward the flock of around thirty Blood Talon Parrots.

All of them saw her coming and instantly acted. Some swiped their talons, while others opened their mouths, releasing beams and slashes.

The boss’s eyes glinted, and it released a super-fast feather rain that would surely kill her if she got hit.

Aelira grinned, her eyes glinting.

Her second slot rune began working.

[Slot 2: Zilen Vina (B)]

—> Every attack aimed at you produces 1 to 5 Vina. Up to 1000 can be stored. A number of Vina can be imbued into any spell or arcane martial art to grant them an omni-defense reduction effect and speed-reduction effect. Attacks imbued with 100 Vina apply 2000 omni-defense reduction and 2000 speed reduction for 5 seconds.

She produced a large amount of Vina at once and swiftly used Flare Chain Acceleration to create burst twists in her movement, dodging the entire salvo of attacks.

Then she raised her hand as 31 Windfury Plasma Spears, the upgraded version of Absolute Plasma Spear after it was combined with Heavenfall Wind, turning it into a 3-star spell from a 2-star spell, formed instantly.

The spears shot toward the 31 targets.

The spear that went for the boss was imbued with 100 Vina.

The other spears instantly killed the smaller parrots, while the boss also failed to dodge the super-fast spear.

Its defense was drastically reduced. A 3-star constitution meant it had 3000 omni-defense, but 2000 of it was reduced. Its body’s defenses were now weaker than peak Foundation-stage lifeforms.

Rudrean, Ryzen, Rivera, and Lyra did not waste this chance and unleashed their attacks on the boss.

However, the boss parrot was not going down that easily. It created a whirling crimson barrier around itself, blocking all attacks.

After all, its magic was at 4-star, which was higher than Rudrean and Aelira, who had 3.2-star in Magic even with the 100% overall stat boost from Rudrean’s Arcane Path talent, Ardor Ad Vinculum.

Unfortunately for the boss parrot, its movement speed was drastically reduced by Aelira, and she followed up immediately to restrict it completely.

She used another modified spell that was combined from a control spell of fire and a control spell of wind.

Infernal Python Lock, a 3-star control spell.

The entire boss parrot was tightly constricted by the python, locking its wings and movement around the branch it stood upon.

Now it was a sitting duck.

Everyone bombarded it with attacks continuously, and it ran out of mana within three seconds of bombardment.

With the barrier gone and no mana left to sustain it, its weakened omni-defense failed, and it was annihilated in the last second of the five-second Zilen Vina debuff.

[Boss Slain. +50 Path Exp to each member of the team. 1 x B-rank Super Rune to each party member.]