Magic Hare

An unknown period of time passed before the eagle opened its weary eyes. It instinctively flew off the rocky floor and onto a tree branch. Without realizing it, the eagle flew much faster than it thought it was capable of flying. Its body grew stronger and its wings got slightly bigger than before.

But the most striking change was the red tint it had on its wings. This wasn't a normal color, it was actually red liquid that was from the watery body. It covered the feathers all over the eagle's body. The eagle knew this liquid was from the body, somehow. It had developed a mental connection with this liquid.

The eagle could actually slightly control this liquid. It examined its own body for some time, atop that tree branch. Soon after, it went searching for more of those watery bodies. It almost died last time but the taste of the liquid inside of the bodies gave the eagle an unshakable desire for more of it.

The eagle didn't take long to find another one, unlike before, this time it was able to sense the watery bodies around it. After swallowing the last one, it established a sort of connection with those bodies.

The body the eagle found was as big as the last one that almost killed it but it was of a blue color instead of red. This time the eagle was ready for the danger. It flew straight at the watery body from above in a diagonal line, leaving behind a red streak in its path.

It gathered its momentum and pierced the watery body with its beak.

*Splat*

The eagle easily pierced through the body's membrane from both sides and flew back out of the other side covered in blue slime.

[Pierce lv1] Skill Gained

[Slime Organ] Strengthened

The blue slime covering the eagle got absorbed into its body, mixing with the red and turning the color of the eagle's feathers more violet.

The violet color of its feathers continued to grow brighter as it swallowed more of the slime. The eagle's appetite grew than before and its stomach could digest food quicker. In mere minutes, all of the slime had been swallowed.

Satisfied, the eagle continued its journey deeper into the cave.

****

Around a day or so later, the eagle encountered a familiar prey. A hare, a red hare, was chewing on some of the bioluminescent plants and grass in the surroundings. In this depth of the cave, the plant life grew dense enough to be similar to an underground forest.

The watery bodies, or slimes, became more scarce in these parts. Fortunately, the eagle encountered its favorite prey around these parts. Although the slimes tasted good, they could never compare to the feeling of the meat in the eagle's mouth.

The eagle lunged at the hare with great zest, unable to contain its desire for meat. Its current speed was unmatched from before, yet as it was just about to pierce the hare, the hare jumped out of the way. The eagle barely had time to react to the nearing ground and flapped its wings strongly to fly up higher instead of hitting the ground.

Its momentum was stronger than it expected, however. Just as it was about to slam into the ground, the violet tint in its wings congealed at its feet, turning them violet and more bouncy. The eagle's feet hit the ground, allowing it to bounce higher into the air without damaging its own body.

[Slime manipulation lv1] skill gained

Regaining its composure, the eagle surveyed its surroundings for the red hare again. Surprisingly, it was at the spot where the eagle bounced from, looking right back at it with great hatred in its eyes and growls coming from its mouth. The hare was baring its fangs at the eagle. Unlike normal hares, this hare had many jagged fangs instead of teeth. It was a horrific looking hare.

The hare's fur all stood on end, its teeth clattered as it growled, distorting its face and turning its fur even redder. Soon, heat started to emanate from the hare, distorting the air around it.

It jumped at the eagle from below while barring its disgusting sharp fangs, intending to pierce the eagle's body. Its strong jump accelerated it towards the eagle... towards its own prey.

The eagle's reflexes kicked in and it parried the incoming monster hare by twisting its body in the air. The air howled and feathers flew, the hare barely grazed the eagle's wing before its body started to be pulled again by gravity.

Before its body could descend very far, a pair of sharp talons wound around its neck and spine. The eagle intended to break the hare's neck with its grip. However, the heat radiating from the hare was too much for the eagle, making it loosen its grip by a bit before its talons and feet turned a violet color again and the eagle pressed on the hare's body even more strongly than before.

Violet colored smoke rose up from the eagle's feet as it came into contact with the hare's body.

The hare struggled frantically to free itself from the eagle's grip but in vain. The eagle's emotionless eyes flashed as the sound of breaking bones resounded from the hare's body. The hare's flailing body instantly went limp.

[Vise grip] leveled up to lv4

The eagle landed with its prey on the rocky floor. The heat emanating from the body slowly dissipated. Wrapping its own beak in violet slime, it started to peck at the hare's body. Its meat was still raw despite the heat emanating from it. It melted in the eagle's mouth as it chewed. A rich fragrance and energy entered the eagle's stomach.

The eagle had found its new addiction.

****

For the next few days, the eagle flew deeper into the cave while eating delicious hare meat. The red hares were not the only variety to appear. The same as the slimes, there were many colors of hares but they all ranged from the red and blue colors.

The blue hares that the eagle encountered were slippery and elusive, unlike their red cousins. Their meat was refreshing and nourishing. The eagle enjoyed both delicacies just as much.

The sound of water could be heard in the distance. The forest in this depth continued to get even thicker.

The monster hares here were getting increasingly bigger and stronger. Fortunately, so was the eagle.

The eagle was currently roaming the roof of the cave, looking for a new delicacy to feed on.

Once it found one, the air swooshed as it pierced the air in its direction. A blue hare was calmly nibbling on the grass, unaware of the danger coming from above.

*Swoosh*

A wall of water suddenly appeared in front of the eagle, blocking its view of the hare and forcing it to halt in the air. The water calmly returned to its surroundings, showing the blue hare that was currently calmly looking in the eagle's direction.

Its previous nonchalance was nowhere to be found as its eyes focused on the eagle.

The sound of water moving alerted the eagle of dangers in its surroundings. It ascended just in time to avoid a gush of water that would have swept it down to the ground into the figurative hands of the hare.

The eagle was also focused on the hare as well. Having eaten its fill of the hare's kind, its understanding of the species deepened a little. It knew instinctively that the water's movement was because of the hare below it.

Tentacles of water swayed around the hare, protecting it against the eagle's attacks and at the same time attacking it relentlessly. There were three tentacles in total surrounding the hare in a triangular formation.

A tentacle shot out towards the eagle. Dodging, the eagle pierced the air and flew directly at the hare, only to be intercepted with another tentacle of water. Surprisingly, the eagle increased its speed and launched itself into the water column.

*Splash*

An eagle's cry sounded out as the water column exploded. The eagle's body turned a deep purple as it emerged from the water column and increased its speed toward the hare.

Sensing danger, the hare jumped out of the way nimbly, but it was too late. The eagle's body maneuvered in mid-air, using slime-manipulation to forcefully change its trajectory towards the hare by concentrating the slimy fluids within its body to its right side, therefore making it spin downwards toward the hare.

Its vicious talons came down at the hare, crushing its head on the ground using its speed and body weight. The tentacles of water that were rushing at the eagle stopped and splashed down towards the ground, turning into normal water once again.

Ignoring the surrounding water and environment, the eagle took the corpse of the hare and flew to the nearest tree to enjoy its delicious meal.

[vise grip] leveled up to lv5

[pierce] leveled up to lv2

[slime manipulation] leveled up to lv2

[water manipulation lv1] skill gained

[hare legs] unlocked

[Detecting hind legs…]

[No hind legs found…]

[Beginning the merging process]

A wave of tiredness overwhelmed the eagle, driving it into a deep sleep once more.

****

Skills:

- Vise Grip lv5

- Pierce lv2

- Slime Manipulation lv2

- Water Manipulation lv1

Extra Parts:

- Slime Organ

- Hare Legs