n this moment, the abilities that I use will decide the who win the battle. With the Jade Eagle's guard down, this could be my chance to finish this in one go. My body is several times stronger than that of a normal Ogre, so this blow was not enough to kill me, though the damage was severe. In this fraction of a second, I thought of the reward that could be gained by slaying this bird and decided to go at it with every last bit of strength that I had in earnest.
In less than a tenth of a tenth of a second, I activated many abilities that I hadn't used thus far in the previous battles because I had wanted to enjoy the fight on equal grounds.
My right metal arm was dripping with blood, but secretly, I was using it to store and produce more blood with an ability that I had shared with it using [Synthesis] called [Fluid Restoration]. Using the blood I had been producing, I instantly recovered all of the blood lost during the entire fight. Coupling this ability with [High-Speed Playback] and [High Speed Healing], my entire body was recovered in an instant. Using my Metal Arm, I cut off its other leg, fully removing a great level of its danger to myself.
Following up, I used [Exoskeleton Equip], which turned my flesh into something resembling a beetle. To further strengthen my shell, I added [Black Ogre's Constitution] in addition to [Stout Dragon Scale Mail] to greatly increase my defense. In response, the shell turned black, and scale-like plates developed over the exoskeleton. With this, my body was nearly impossible to penetrate with anything the Jade Eagle was capable of.
In the split second it took to form my armor, I spun a thick version of my Golden Thread around the eagle's wings and used my ability that controls gravity to greatly increase the gravity around the eagle. It put up a great amount of resistance and managed to cut some of my threads, but after I enhanced my golden thread with resistances to physical damage, there was nothing more it could do.
The Jade Eagle plummeted towards the ground. Even at the speed it fell, the crater it left was pretty small. A normal creature would have been splattered on the ground after the impact it received, but it appears it sacrificed two of its wings to lessen the impact. Even with that, it is still pretty amazing it wasn't dead.
After I collected my halberd, I finally ended the Jade Eagle's suffering. I collected a jewel from the center of its head and several vials-full of liquid coming out of its body. After collecting the jewel and the liquid, I began carefully removing all of its parts, slowly stripping the skin as to not damage even the slightest follicle. When I got to the heart, I noticed a jade-colored stone with a cobblestone-like texture.
I used my [Item Appraisal] on it and discovered that the item was called [Lord's Spirit Stone of a Falaise Eagle].
I instantly thought to share this discovery with the others and showed my latest find to everyone, who in an instant, realized that it was the same type of stone on those who Ranked-up into a "Lord" class.
When i looked into it further, it seems that this class of item is indeed from the [Spirit Stone] category where it is [Legendary] level of rarity.
These objects are apparently present within boss-level monsters. Even among powerful monsters, these items are incredibly rare. The more powerful the monster, the larger the stone they carry within them.
Having said that, coupled with the fact that facing a boss that possesses a spirit stone is no easy task in and of itself, many famous monsters throughout this world's history have been said to carry these types of spirit stones called [Lord Stones]. In the past, it has taken entire armies to challenge monsters that had grown powerful enough to obtain a Lord Stone. Sometimes, it has been said that these armies that gathered to fight the monsters were annihilated.
Therefore, something as rare as a Lord Stone could sell for enough money to buy a small country. However, the only people with enough money to purchase such a thing are monarchs of large nations or famous merchants that hold monopolies over the trade of several nations. These stones are used in the fabrication of unmatched magical items of with amazing war potential.
With this discovery, I had decided that I was still going to eat it until some of the others thought that it would be best to hold onto it and sell it later. The money gained could be of great benefit. With everyone else adamant on this end, I placed the Lord Stone and several other materials from the Jade Eagle in to my item box.
While I was still picking off the jade-green feathers to finish skinning the Jade Eagle, my exoskeleton wore off. After eating several feathers, I got the weird desire to activate my exoskeleton again. This time, my shell was more bird-like in appearance. This must be the influence of the bird's feathers. I tried flying as a test and this change made flying far easier than it had been before with even my speed being drastically increased.
With the battle over, I decided that I simply had to partake in eating the Jade Eagle now. I couldn't wait and began and eating it raw. Right after biting in, I cried out involuntarily.
"Delicious!!"
Ability unlocked [Feather Arrow]
Ability unlocked [Predator of the Sky]
Ability unlocked [Divine Protection of the Storm God]
Ability unlocked [Complete Wind Resistance]
Ability unlocked [Adamantine Claws]
Ability unlocked [Sonic Flight]
With these abilities unlocked, I was more than satisfied. Many of these abilities looked very useful. After that, I set out to cook the rest of the meat and share a portion with everyone.
Looking over to the skeletons in the area, I decided that I'd at least give them a proper burial and cremated what was left of their bodies since I wouldn't get any abilities from them anyway. Though as payment, I decided to keep all of the equipment they had left behind. There were several items that seemed to contain potions or chemicals of some kind. On top of that, there was a large amount of gold and equipment, to which I appreciated receiving, even if the collection of the equipment was a bit crude.
{Namu Amida Butsu}
After a short, silent prayer over the pyre, we proceeded on our travels.
Although we were making progress, I started to have mixed feelings, an almost sense of apprehension. For now, I'll just keep my guard up and some of my abilities on high alert. I never know where an attack might come from. All I can say is that I feel a crushing gaze beating upon me.