Chapter 11 - The sky's the limit!

It has been some time since Spencer had come in contact with those winged creatures, a week to be exact. He was growing fond of his new wings. Ever since he had them, he was no longer walking aimlessly, he was now flying around aimlessly!

Even coming across another nest of the creatures not far from the one he found before. He has been hunting them as of late so that he could further strengthen his flight capabilities. As a result, his wings grew wider, gaining a wingspan of 8 meters and the scales on his wings grew even thicker.

Spencer could be seen on the top of a cliff, once holding a large nest of a group of the birdlike beasts, now it's a barren reminder of the exterminated herd.

He had killed and assimilated all of them to make himself stronger. He was sitting on the edge, scoping out for more of them.

Soon, spotting one in the distance, due to his advanced vision, Spencer watched as it was heading towards another cliff.

"Now-now, where are you headed, I wonder?"

He dove off the cliff, spreading his wings in pursuit of the clueless creature.

Getting closer, Spencer made a shocking realization of what he was chasing. This creature was different from the other, much different in both size and appearance. It was roughly five times the size of the others he had seen so far.

This creature had a more intimidating appearance than the ones he had killed before; this one held a much wider wingspan and its beak was much thicker containing a sharp row of razor-like teeth, while the ones he was hunting did not.

"Never seen you before… What are you?" Spencer wondered.

Curious about his discovery, Spencer slowed into a glide and began observing the creature from above, it is completely oblivious to his gaze.

Watching as the beast glided through the sky fluently; seeing how it tracked down and killed its prey was mesmerizing to Spencer. He continued to view its attack patterns and way of approach when hunting his hunting style.

After about 20 minutes, Spencer had gathered all he could from analyzing the creature's hunting patterns. He began to crave the beast's more dominant traits for hunting above the clouds, as just copying its patterns wasn't enough to satiate his newfound hunger for power.

Losing himself to his greed, he folded his wings and commenced to dive towards the creature's back cutting through the air like a bullet.

Drawing near, Spencer's upper and lower jaw extended into a point hardening to form a beak; one of the main traits of those winged creatures he had been absorbing for the past couple of days. Unlike the originals, his beak had jagged grooves in them to increase its penetrative power when impaling the prey.

Spencer gained speed as his beak aided in his acceleration towards the creature. Reaching its back he grew excited from what he could get from this majestic beast.

*FWOOSH!*

That was until something entirely unexpected happened. The creature had flapped its wings forward, maneuvering out of Spencer's path, causing him to woosh past it.

He was shocked by the creature's quick reaction and sudden movement. Despite its size, it could maneuver itself so freely without any loss in its speed.

Swiftly extending his wings to halt his rapid descent, Spencer turned around only to see the creature flying at him at great speed. This caught him off guard, as he was still confused as to how it had managed to dodge him despite him being in its blind spot.

The creature had flown into Spencer at full speed. In his confusion, he couldn't react and was impaled through his chest.

This would have been fatal if it was any other creature, but to Spencer, this attack only managed to pierce his skin by an inch. Even though this was still rather deep, this attack would have completely impaled anything else.

Spencer quickly morphed his right arm into his demi-human form, grabbing the creature's beak while still plummeting from its charge. He pulled himself off from its beak and changed his hand back into wings.

Flying to the left of the creature to observe it, the beast had spread its wings to slow its descent. Stopping, the creature looked at Spencer and rushed at him with its beak ready for a second effort to penetrate his body.

His previous injury from its first attack was already healed, but that didn't mean getting impaled at high speeds didn't hurt.

"Oh shit!"

Seeing the pursuit of the creature, he began to fly in the opposite direction, trying to outmatch it in speed. This proved to be a huge mistake as the creature was gaining on Spencer rather quickly, despite him going at his absolute maximum speed.

Growing desperate, he began to fly upwards above the clouds and into the higher atmosphere to cause the creature to give up its chase.

This also did not work, as the creature continued to chase after. As it was slowly advancing on him and that it would soon catch him, Spencer decided to switch tactics and fight back. Running was proving to be a futile endeavor anyways.

He flew higher into the atmosphere, gaining height, he came up with an idea.

Spencer undid his wings and transformed completely into his demi-human form, growing to be 6 meters in height. Activating his dermal armor and curling into a ball, he began to rotate, rocketing downwards like a meteor towards the creature.

Not being able to respond in time, the beast collided with Spencer, both of them were sent spiraling towards the forest floor.

*BOOM!*

A few moments later, a huge explosion rang throughout the jungle landscape, as the two huge bodies hit the ground forming a crater and a massive dust cloud.

*GROAN*

Spencer was seen on the body of the giant creature as it laid dead while he was only disoriented from the collision.

"You should have given up sooner…" he said as he looked at the beast's dead body.

Walking near it, he examined its carcass, observing the creature's traits that were dominant over the other creatures that plagued the skies. The more he examined it, the more excited he became from what he would receive.

Not being able to hold himself back anymore, Spencer began to absorb the creature, fusing all of its delectable traits into+ himself.

In the instant that he did, his arms transformed into his wings, slowly changing into something else, something more commonly depicted in fantasy.

His middle and index fingers began to fuse, extending outwards followed by the same membrane that the rest of his wing was made off. His wingspan increased as well; from his previous 8-meters was now dwarfed over by his now 12-meters. The backside of his wings began to form scales, adding an extra layer of protection.

Growing excited by his changes, Spencer extended his wings and launched himself into the air. Reaching a suitable height, he placed some strength into his wings.

*BOOM!*

A small shockwave was released, blowing back the trees around him, causing Spencer to vanish into the distance within an instant.