Chapter 615 - 612: Birds and Pioneers

Chapter 615: Chapter 612: Birds and Pioneers

In the Tree Cave Clan, there had always been a group of very stubborn ear flies.

They firmly believed that the Feeding Birds of Prey, which were seen as a calamity, were not invincible.

"Ear flies die, insects die, beasts die, great trees die, and flowers die. Why shouldn’t the Feeding Birds of Prey die too? They must also die. We just haven’t found a way to kill them for good yet."

The Feeding Birds of Prey killed every living thing. Even the most powerful beasts in the forest could not defeat them. These bloodthirsty demons would swarm and tear the beasts into pieces of flesh and blood.

Even if a beast was lucky enough to kill a few, the dead Feeding Birds of Prey would simply become nourishment for the others. They felt no guilt whatsoever in devouring the corpses of their comrades.

Even if the ear flies found a way to kill the Feeding Birds of Prey, they couldn’t possibly stop a flock of tens of thousands.

The ear flies of the Tree Cave Clan initially planned to use powerful sonic energy to kill the flock of Feeding Birds of Prey. However, producing sound also required a corresponding amount of energy from the ear flies, and the energy needed to kill a Feeding Bird of Prey was far beyond what an ear fly could handle. So, they had to find another way.

While they were perplexed, one ear fly raised a question:

"Do the Feeding Birds of Prey have a language?"

If they had a language, the ear flies could exploit it.

They asked the old ear flies who had survived massacres by the Feeding Birds of Prey, but the old-timers didn’t know either. When most ear flies encountered a flock, they were too scared to do anything but flee, leaving no opportunity to study the sounds the birds made.

Over generations of migration, the ear flies had lost the courage to fight back against the Feeding Birds of Prey. They never even thought to understand the birds’ habits or weaknesses...

There was no other choice. After a period of agonizing, this group of ear flies made a bold decision—

They were going to find the Feeding Birds of Prey.

It was always the Feeding Birds of Prey chasing the ear flies, never the other way around.

This decision wasn’t made recklessly. Through their investigation, they discovered that the hearing of an ear fly was keen enough to clearly make out the sounds of the Feeding Birds of Prey from outside their hunting range.

Therefore, as long as they managed their distance carefully, they could study the Feeding Birds of Prey from afar.

With their minds made up, this group of Pioneer Ear Flies embarked on their quest.

They followed the migration route forward and soon found traces of a flock of Feeding Birds of Prey.

After a flock of Feeding Birds of Prey arrived in an area, they would hunt there for a period of time while raising their young. Only after the food supply in the area was exhausted would they move on to the next.

And so, this group of Pioneer Ear Flies hid just outside the Feeding Birds of Prey’s hunting range and began to monitor their sounds.

Soon, they discovered the patterns in the birds’ vocalizations.

Although the bird calls were full of madness and chaos, there was a sliver of logic within them.

Using their powerful hearing, the Pioneer Ear Flies began trying to imitate these bird calls.

"Kill!"

"Eat!"

"Fight me!"

"That’s mine!"

"To the death!"

"..."

By studying the sounds the Feeding Birds of Prey made when performing different actions, they categorized the different meanings represented by the different bird calls.

The calls made by these Feeding Birds of Prey were very simple, and the meanings they conveyed were equally straightforward, basically boiling down to various forms of "kill," "fight," and "squabble."

This was about what the ear flies had expected. The language of the Feeding Birds of Prey, like their habits, was filled with madness and belligerence.

Even when dealing with their own young, the Feeding Birds of Prey showed no mercy.

A Feeding Bird of Prey would only toss some scraps into the nest for the hatchlings to fight over. Sometimes, they would even leave their prey’s fighting capabilities intact, letting it battle the young in the nest.

"Kill!"

The Feeding Birds of Prey would watch from the side of the nest, constantly egging them on, observing as prey and young tore each other to bloody shreds.

Most of the hatchlings would tear the prey to pieces during the fight and then devour it. But sometimes, a prey animal, driven by a powerful survival instinct in its final moments, would kill the young in the nest.

But even if all the young were killed, the adult Feeding Birds of Prey wouldn’t help. They would just continue to instigate from the side, nonchalantly watching the nest fill with blood.

Only after the prey had killed the hatchlings would the adult Feeding Bird of Prey take action, beginning to torture the prey to death before swallowing it whole.

As for the dead young...

They would just have another brood. Those that could be killed by prey were weaklings. The Feeding Bird of Prey wouldn’t even give them a second glance or utter a cry of grief. With a sharp screech, it would rejoin the hunt.

Such cruelty struck fear into the hearts of the ear flies.

They had assumed that even the cruelest creatures would show some gentleness toward their young, but these Feeding Birds of Prey were utterly and completely merciless.

The Feeding Birds of Prey treated their own kind the same way. Cannibalism was commonplace.

There was no sense of hierarchy in the flock, nor were there any leaders. They flew wherever there was more food, and when there was none and they felt hungry, they began to attack their own kind.

"Battle!"

With a single cry, a Feeding Bird of Prey would mercilessly attack a flockmate.

Countless Feeding Birds of Prey died from sneak attacks by their own kind. To the victor went the spoils. The dead birds would quickly be devoured by the others nearby.

The squabbling would then trigger another battle, eventually escalating into a massive, bloody free-for-all, with none showing any mercy.

The final victor would devour all the flesh and blood and leave without a backward glance, leaving only a field of mangled remains.

The Pioneer Ear Flies monitored the flock, shocked by these scenes time and again. More than once, they felt terrified and wanted to give up, but they persevered.

When the Feeding Birds of Prey adjusted their hunting range, the ear flies would adjust their position accordingly, always hiding in the most strategic locations.

After a long period of collecting and corroborating sounds, this group of ear flies finally codified a linguistic system for the Feeding Birds of Prey.

But as luck would have it, the hunting range of this flock was about to expand into the territory of the Tree Cave Clan.

So, the Pioneer Ear Flies hurriedly returned to the clan to report their findings to the chieftain.

"We have completely mastered the language of the Feeding Birds of Prey. These creatures are not very intelligent, their language system is very simple, and they are extremely volatile, easily provoked by the calls of their own kind..."

"So? What do you plan to do?" the chieftain of the Tree Cave Clan pressed.

"We are going to incite them to fight among themselves. Once they start killing each other, it will attract more Feeding Birds of Prey, who will join the battle without hesitation, until the entire flock is consumed."

The Pioneer Ear Flies explained their plan to the chieftain.

They could imitate the calls of the Feeding Birds of Prey to make the flock turn on itself.

As long as they hid in the tree caves beforehand, they could simultaneously emit the instigating bird calls when the Feeding Birds of Prey arrived. The birds would immediately start attacking their flockmates. When a victor emerged, they could then lure these victors together to start another free-for-all...

This way, the number of Feeding Birds of Prey would continuously decrease. When only a few were left, they could be lured into a narrow space and eliminated with echoing sound waves.

Although the sound waves produced by the ear flies were not powerful enough to wipe out an entire flock, they were more than sufficient to eliminate a few individuals. However, this would require many ear flies to produce sound simultaneously to create resonance...

After hearing the Pioneer Ear Flies’ plan, the chieftain fell silent. It thought for a long time before questioning them:

"Are you asking me to place the entire Tree Cave Clan in danger?"