The flock of seagulls reacted quickly, flapping their wings in unison to create a wind gust that swept through the clearing. The poisonous black cloud was cleared out in an instant but the scorpion dragon had already fled into its underground lair. One last flick of its long tail and it was gone.

“It ran? Just like that?” Carlos muttered.

“What a smart creature. It suffered only a few wounds and it already fled.” Heather said.

“That black cloud looks similar to the move used by the poison worm,” Shuhua added.

Zachary and the others were hiding in the jungle, far enough so that they would be in danger from the battle but still close enough that they could see. Their plan had gone surprisingly smoothly. The scorpion dragon was as strong as Jean-Pierre described. It could easily handle twenty of those ferocious seagulls.

“Shhh” Jean-Pierre shushed them, “It’s not over yet. Look.”

As he said that, the seagulls flew down and perched on the giant trees that had been denuded. One particularly large seagull landed next to the cave entrance and started digging with its sharp claws. Although it was not a creature of the earth, it made up for it in raw strength.

Dirt flew everywhere as it made surprisingly quick progress. The cave entrance quickly widened under its efforts. Seeing this, another seagull landed beside the first and also started digging.

As this was happening, some seagulls picked up the bodies of their fallen and carried them away.

“Damn the saints, I thought we could get some of those corpses. Those stingy rats.” Carlos said.

“They aren’t dumb. They understand the importance of anima crystals.” Heather said, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t take advantage of the situation. Zach, send Doro to keep collecting quintessences.”

“Already on it!”

Doro set off once more, sliding through the earth like a fish in water.

Meanwhile, the seagulls were making steady progress. They had created a wide crater of dirt and loose rocks around the cave entrance. Three seagulls were clawing the ground together. Loud squawks and deafening screeches filled the air as the other seagulls cheered them on.

The scorpion dragon remained hidden. Nobody was sure what it was doing. It could easily escape its predicament underground. But that meant giving up its quintessence spring. Seeing how determined the seagulls were, it was only a matter of time before they discovered these precious stones.

“Do you think it will come back out?” Zachary asked.

Jean-Pierre nodded seriously, “It will. It won’t give up so easily.”

A little while later, his words were proven true once more.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The ground around beneath the three digging seagulls trembled. Reddish-brown earth surged up around all three of them. Two of them were too slow. They were caught by the pincers of heavy dirt and partially buried. The one remaining seagull could only watch as its brethren were swallowed by the ground. Angry squawks filled the air. The flock had lost another two of their own but their foe had yet to appear.

Zachary’s eyes widened, “Expert control!”

That was exactly like it sounded, an expert level of control over Eternum and soul power, allowing an Ensouled to use abilities over long distances and across multiple targets simultaneously. Compared to the adept rank where one could usually only affect a single target and at close range, it was a vast difference in power. For the scorpion dragon to exert expert control over the earth element to attack in such a creative fashion...

“Did it break through?” Heather asked urgently.

“Not yet!” Zachary replied, “But it’s almost there!”

All expert rank Ensouled had an expert level of control. But expert control wasn't limited to the expert rank. If this scorpion dragon could already do this at the adept rank, its talent could not be taken lightly.

The flock of seagulls also sensed the danger and did not approach the cave entrance. However, they didn't leave. They squawked loudly and flapped their wings in indignation. This place was their territory and this foe had to die.

The scorpion dragon seemed to have similar thoughts. It suddenly burst out from beneath with a shower of dirt. It hissed angrily as it glared at the horde of white feathers invading its home.

“Keew!”

“Keeew!”

Two seagulls leaped off their perches and dived toward the scorpion dragon.

Strangely, the scorpion dragon made no effort to dodge. Instead, its eyes flashed with power. Soul power surged. Eternum carrying the color of reddish-brown earth surged out of its body.

Just as the two seagulls were about to smash into its head, two walls of dirt rose to meet them.

Pa! Pa!

The heavy bodies collided with the walls, partially collapsing them. The seagulls’ sharp beaks even managed to punch through the barrier but they had lost almost all of their striking power by the end.

Taking advantage, the scorpion dragon struck like lightning, sinking its fangs into the heads of both seagulls, sending them to their deaths with deadly poison.

“Keeew!”

“Keeew!”

“Keeew!”

More seagulls dived down seeking vengeance. This time, there were three of them.

The scorpion dragon hissed. This time, instead of walls of earth, a wave of darkness surged.

The seagulls crashed into the scorpion dragon unopposed. But instead of its carapace being smashed into pieces, its body turned into a puff of smoke and dissipated into nothingness.

“Hssss!”

The scorpion dragon reappeared behind one of the seagulls in another puff of black smoke. It seemed almost impossible, that such a large creature could move so fast. It then bit the giant bird in the back of the neck.

The other two seagulls charged at the scorpion dragon but it once again disappeared. It flashed into existence behind another seagull, giving it the same treatment as the first. The third seagull finally lost its nerve and flew away to safety.

All of this happened in an instant.

“It knows smoke shift?" Zachary asked.

"These blood church maggot farmers. I'll kill them..." Jean-Pierre muttered, appearing more offended than anything else,

Before Zachary could ask what the blood church had to do with maggot farmers, the seagulls attacked again, this time with four. Their prior losses did not dissuade them, it only made them even more determined. They approached from four different directions. Even if the scorpion dragon could block their attack or escape and get behind one of them, one of them should be able to land a solid hit.

The scorpion dragon again responded differently to the changing battle. Instead of walls of earth or slithering away using darkness, it opened its jagged maw wide and shot out a heavy barrage of poison in all four directions.

The giant birds dodged swiftly. With a flap of their wings, they easily avoided the trajectory of the purple-colored spitballs. However, to the shock of everyone watching, these slugs of purple poison seemingly changed direction in midair and hit the four seagulls anyway.