Chapter 314: Down the River

Two massive birds, a full head taller than Ron, glared fiercely at the uninvited guests who had come up the mountain. The summit held nothing but a massive nest, and in their eyes, this motley crew of two-legged creatures was either after their home or after them.

A smaller, younger giant eagle, only slightly larger than Delaford, hid beneath its parents' broad wings, peeking its head out curiously to observe these creatures who were completely different from the stone monsters they had seen before.

"We're not after your home!" Delaford glanced at Ron, then hurriedly gestured and used his ability to speak with animals to communicate with the giant eagle family. "We're here to hunt a group of Gargoyles! Have you seen those monsters?"

"'Have we seen them?!'" the female eagle shrieked, furiously spreading her wings. She now looked nearly three times her previous size. "Those monsters stole our home! They even tried to harm our family!"

"If the village down below hadn't clashed with them just now, we never would have been able to reclaim our home!"

"We spent hundreds of days and nights building this nest!" the male eagle cried, burying his head against his larger mate's chest. "Look what a mess they've made of it! Where are my little decorations? What about the food we stored for our chick? Those bandits stole everything!"

Delaford translated the giant eagles' words verbatim for the group. Though he had somehow become a Ranger, the relationship between a Goblin Hunter and most wild animals—aside from rats and wolves—was fundamentally that of hunter and prey. If he were left to negotiate on his own, a fight would inevitably break out within two sentences.

After following Ron and the others for this long, Delaford at least possessed that much self-awareness.

"You noticed the conflict in the village? Good," Ron said with a nod. "We were the ones who defeated those bandits. Now we hope to completely eradicate this menace, which is why we tracked them here. Can you tell me where they went?"

"You defeated those stone monsters?" the young giant eagle chirped curiously, but it was quickly pushed behind its parents.

"You look very weak," the male eagle said doubtfully. "You have neither sharp beaks and claws, nor powerful wings!"

"Especially this goblin who can communicate with us. He doesn't even look like he'd be enough for one of our chick's meals!"

"He doesn't even look like he'd be—Hey! Watch your mouth!" Delaford finally lost his temper halfway through translating. "In my eyes, you're nothing but oversized pigeons! We could easily turn you into a massive feast!"

"While he may be exaggerating a bit, I believe I can offer proof," Ron said, holding out his hand. The light of Arcane Magic danced along his fingers, conjuring a series of lifelike monster Phantoms. These images, based on creatures from his past adventures, had no offensive power but were certainly enough to stun the three giant birds.

"A feathered bear! (An Owl Bear!) A great wolf! (A Warg Mount!) And a dragon! (Aiksuuri!)" The giant eagles let out a series of astonished cries. The female stepped forward, staring intently at the illusions, unable to tell if they were real. "You're a Mage? In that case, you might actually be able to defeat those stone monsters."

"Are they also products of Magic? Did you create them? Like that metal lump on your shoulder?"

"Unfortunately, none of them are my creations," Ron said, shaking his head. "When we defeated the Gargoyles, they even abducted one of my companions. Now, can you tell me where they went?"

"We couldn't care less where they went, as long as they never come back!" the female eagle huffed. "But if you can wipe them out completely, that would probably be for the best."

"Alright, how about this. We don't know where those stone things flew off to, but we know where they came from. Come over here. If you stand on the edge of our nest, it might help you get a clearer view."

"Don't fall off!" the youngling warned. "If you fall and can't fly, you'll plummet to your death!"

"That's what happened to a bunch of my older brothers and sisters!"

"That's not actually true," the male eagle said, awkwardly nudging his chick further away with a wing. "He's our first. We only told him that to motivate him to learn to fly quickly."

"Then we kicked him out and told him he slipped," the female eagle whispered. "My chick is truly amazing, though. He succeeded on his very first try. To be honest, we weren't even sure we could have caught him in time if he'd actually started to fall..."

"Let's save the family chatter for later," Ron said. He was now standing at the very peak of the mountain, fighting a wave of vertigo as he looked down. "Ma'am, could you please point us in the right direction?"

From this height, all the landmarks on the ground looked minuscule. If the giant eagle could only give them a general direction, Ron feared it would take them ten to fifteen days to find the correct path.

But he may have underestimated the abilities of wild animals.

"Go down from here. See that all-gray forest? A lot of Mud Monsters live there. Find the biggest one among them, then turn in the direction the great fireball in the sky rises each day. Keep walking straight until you reach a river."

The female eagle's sharp eyes pierced through the forests and swamps several kilometers away. "You can either cross the river or follow the bank downstream. Over there, you two-legged creatures built a circular wall. Inside, there are many boxes where you store reserved food. That's where we first spotted those stone monsters."

"Sometimes, when I don't feel like—I mean, when I can't catch any prey, I'll grab a meal from over there," the male eagle added. "It's strange, though. You creatures are like squirrels, hoarding so much meat, yet you just let it rot until there's nothing left but bones?"

"Are your memories really that bad? Even after building a wall and putting a piece of stone or wood on top of each food box, you still forget the location and fail to dig them up in time?"

The male eagle's words left Ron and the others completely baffled. Forget Ron; even the widely knowledgeable Yelena and Quest couldn't think of any culture with a tradition of storing food in the manner the giant eagles described.

"Are they talking about a cellar?" Yelena frowned. "But I've never seen a cellar that required a surrounding wall, or where the food was packed in boxes..."

"And marked with stone and wood?" Aive said, grabbing her hair. "Why not just write a note? Or just use some paint—"

Ron saw the look Aive shot him as she suddenly fell silent, and he knew what was coming.

"Thank you for the directions," Ron said, offering a polite thanks to the giant eagle family via Delaford's translation. "However, allow me to inform you, that place isn't for storing food."

"In the traditions of our people, we generally call a place like that... a cemetery."