It didn’t take long for the first giant seagull to take notice. It was returning to the nest after a fruitless hunting trip. It was hungry and cranky. As soon as its beady black eyes fell upon a wayward mosquito above the trees, it flapped its wings quickly and went into a silent dive. As it rapidly drew near, it opened its sharp yellow beak to take a big bite out of its first meal of the day.

The mosquito sensed the incoming danger and fled. The seagull squawked angrily and gave chase. The mosquito skimmed the top of the dense foliage before heading for a tall tree with no leaves and only a few branches. It was a strange sight in a vast sea of green, a tree so barren it was as if it had encountered a sudden winter. Such winters didn’t exist in this land so the seagull didn’t understand. Nor did it care. It only wanted its meal that was about to fly away.

Kacha!

The giant seagull crashed into the upper portion of the bare tree, splintering a portion of the thick trunk with its heavy body. It ignored whatever pain it must have felt as its beak closed triumphantly around the torso of the mosquito, snapping the hapless insect in half. Two more snaps later and the mosquito disappeared into the bird’s stomach.

“Keew! Keeeew!” It cried out in satisfaction.

After licking its beak, the giant seagull tilted its head. It heard a faint noise from below, the sound of more food. It looked around quickly, judging its surroundings. It was in a strange clearing but still a clearing. There were no green trees nearby, only a few barren tree trunks that served as excellent perches.

The rapid buzz of insect wings caught its attention once more. A juicy green mantis flew out in an apparent escape attempt. Drool flew out of the seagull's open mouth as it took off like an arrow, chasing after its second meal.

The mantis was not fast. However, it didn’t have to fly far. It only had to dive headfirst into the cave where the scorpion dragon resided, a distance which it covered in a single breath.

The green mantis disappeared into the hole in the ground. This made the giant seagull furious. It landed and rammed its head into the cave, its beak snapping loudly and furiously in the blind darkness.

A split second later, the ground around the cave exploded.

“Kachi, kachi, kachi, kachi…”

The sound was like pieces of metal scratching against each other, over and over. A long black body appeared amidst flying debris. Each segment was square and shiny, with a pair of sharp insectoid legs that grasped at the air. It was huge. The giant seagull was already very big, its body about two meters from beak to tail, with two pairs of wings that could spread to three times that in width. Yet, this subterranean creature dwarfed it in size.

“Hsssss! Hsss!”

Its head was an ugly shade of purple and black, with two long antennae and a pair of hooked yellow fangs. Its eyes glowed with a strange purple light, exuding a venomous aura. Its body was akin to a centipede, with countless long legs on each segment of its armored body. This long body eventually gave way to an even longer tail that sported a dagger-like protrusion at the tip.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The two beasts stared at each other for a moment that seemed to last forever. On one side was a giant seagull that had yet to fill its hungry stomach. It was the overlord of the sky. As long as there were no trees, nothing could question its dominance over this land. On the other side was the scorpion dragon. With absolute innate talent and a triple attribute affinity, it was not afraid of anything. It was the hidden overlord of the underworld.

“Keeee!” The giant seagull let out a defiant screech.

“Hssss!” The scorpion dragon’s mouth foamed as it hissed angrily.

Then, both beasts struck.

The giant seagull stabbed its sharp beak at the head of the scorpion dragon. The scorpion dragon pulled back and whipped its long tail at the seagull.

Pang!

The beak glanced harmlessly off the scorpion dragon’s shell as if hitting solid metal. Meanwhile, the bladed tail made contact, leaving a bloody slash across one wing, almost severing it completely.

“Keeew!” The giant seagull shrieked in pain.

Now realizing something was wrong, it tried to escape. It flapped around furiously, its three remaining wings kicking up a small dust storm. However, the scorpion dragon was too fast. Its fangs sank deep into the feathery breast of the giant seagull.

Red blood spurted out, covering the bug’s ugly head. This only made it even more ferocious as it started to gnaw on the still-struggling seagull. Its body made fearful clacking sounds as it wrapped around the bird. Like a giant python, it entombed the seagull to certain death.

The seagull struggled to no avail. It cried out miserably but it could not fly away. Its sharp talons could not penetrate the insect’s hard shell. Its beak was useless.

These seagulls were strong but not particularly talented. They didn’t even have any abilities besides their physical strength and tough bodies. Against a creature like the scorpion dragon, it was a completely one-sided battle.

The scorpion dragon ate with gusto, having been in slumbering soul cultivation for too long. It dug directly into the bird’s soft guts, searching for the anima crystal. The sounds it made were disgusting. However, in its gluttony, it had made an unwitting mistake. It was too engrossed in its meal and it didn’t notice to realize what was happening above it.

“Keew!”

“Keeew!”

“Keeeew!”

Deafening cries filled the sky. Several nearby flocks had heard its brethren in trouble. Their nests were close by so nothing could escape their attention. Within a few breaths, more than ten had arrived and were hovering over the clearing. Seeing one of them in the clutches of a strange insect, they didn’t hesitate and attacked.

A much larger seagull smashed into the scorpion dragon’s tail, using its heavy body and rapid descent to multiply the force behind this power strike.

Ka!

A piece of its carapace actually shattered!

The scorpion dragon hissed in pain and anger. It whirled around to meet its new enemy, its fangs clicking, its mouth drooling with blood and poison. But before it could do anything, another heavy blow struck its head. A third seagull pummeled its midsection. Then, another came, and another.

These overgrown birds were like boulders dropping out of the sky. What they lacked in special abilities, they made up for in raw power and vicious teamwork. Seeing they had damaged the strange insect’s shell, more seagulls aimed at the same spots, pecking, clawing, and smashing with their wings.

The tide had turned. The scorpion dragon flailed around desperately, feeling its life threatened for the first time. It slashed with its tail and spat poison with its mouth. Many seagulls fell, writing in agony from the effects of the deadly poison or bleeding out from gaping wounds. But more flew down to avenge them.

The scorpion dragon could fight five seagulls, ten seagulls, or even fifteen. But there were simply too many. The sky was filled with white feathers and flapping wings. They blocked out the sun like a dark cloud.

The scorpion dragon looked up angrily at its foes. It let out a defiant hiss which earned it a cacophony of angry squawks. The scorpion dragon hissed again. But this time, it spewed out a thick black cloud that quickly covered the battlefield.