Golden feathers.
A long neck and a sausage mouth, and those huge eyes that always carried a hint of terror.
This?
Isn't this the screaming chicken outside the cave?
The only difference was that the screaming chicken in front of him was sturdier, several times larger than an ordinary chicken.
"You actually recognize a screaming chicken?" Hearing Chen Yu's exclamation, the demon girl blinked in surprise. "You're not from outside, how do you know the creatures of the cave?"
"If I say there are screaming chickens outside as well, would you believe me?"
Chen Yu spread his hands.
Although the screaming chickens he knew weren't living creatures like those in the cave, their appearance was identical.
"Huh?"
The demon girl's eyes were full of confusion.
Just as Chen Yu and the others were surprised, the screaming chicken in the distance, which was currently disciplining its subordinates, also heard their voices.
Instantly, the leading screaming chicken glared over.
"Who's there?"
"Don't hide, I can see you. Come out quickly!"
Discovered.
Not bad, this chicken's hearing was quite sharp, able to hear from this distance. If it were other monsters, Chen Yu might have been more cautious.
A flock of chickens, what was there to fear?
Without overthinking it,
Chen Yu was too lazy to continue hiding and stood up from the tall grass. One should know that although screaming chickens were a bit larger than domestic poultry, they weren't too much larger.
Less than half a meter tall, they looked up at Chen Yu, who was over 1.8 meters tall, as if he were a giant.
"Human, human."
Seeing Chen Yu emerge from the wilderness, the screaming chickens were clearly fearful. Several of them showed signs of terror in their eyes.
It was as if they had encountered their natural predator, a bloodline suppression.
As they were in panic, Sona, Barbara, the Meteoric Iron Guards, and the Skeleton Warriors also rose one after another.
"So many humans, and undead."
The screaming chickens began to gather towards the leader. The leader, who had been so imposing while scolding his subordinates not long ago, now had his eyes filled with panic.
But—
He was still the leader after all.
He took a deep breath, glanced sideways at his subordinates, and said,
"What are you panicking about? What's there to fear from a few humans." With a cold snort, the leading screaming chicken strode forward two steps, raising its wings and pointing at Chen Yu with arrogance in its eyes. "Bold human, how dare you enter our territory? Retreat from our territory now, and I can pretend none of this happened. Otherwise..."
Can you imagine?!
A chicken less than half a meter tall, raising its wings and issuing a threat to an adult human in a menacing tone, the scene was as comical as it could get.
Chen Yu, who was being threatened, showed no fear in his eyes.
Instead, he found it amusing and watched the few chickens in the distance with great interest.
"Otherwise what?"
"You'll be dead." The screaming chicken glared and shouted, "I advise you to leave this place. If you dare to take another step forward."
*Thump.*
Chen Yu took a step forward without hesitation.
"Stop!"
A piercing shriek came from afar. The screaming chicken's wings were spread wide, trying to make its body appear as large as possible.
"You can't go any further, or you will really die!"
*Thump, thump, thump.*
Facing the screaming chicken's warning, Chen Yu took several more steps forward right in front of them.
"Boss, this human doesn't seem to be afraid of us," a nearby screaming chicken whispered, and Chen Yu continued forward without pause.
The distance between the two sides instantly shrunk from a hundred meters to fifty meters.
Thirty meters.
Twenty meters.
"Halt!!!"
The screaming chicken flapped its wings and shouted loudly, but Chen Yu completely ignored their warning. As the distance between them grew closer, the leading screaming chicken glared and yelled.
"Run!"
Several screaming chickens spread their wings and, as if enduring something, lowered their heads and scurried away.
"Still want to run? Fire!"
*Whoosh!*
Scorching flames condensed in his palm.
Feeling the surge of firelight behind him, the screaming chickens running ahead showed even greater terror in their eyes.
"He's a human mage, a fire mage!!!"
After exclaiming, the screaming chickens seemed to put all their might into their legs, running faster and faster, flapping their wings and even taking to the air from time to time.
Threat?!
At this moment, they had no thought of threatening Chen Yu. Their only thought was to leave this place as quickly as possible and return to their nest.
They charged forward with their heads down, not wanting to—
"So hot!"
An exclamation came.
The charging screaming chickens instinctively looked up and saw a wall of fire erupting about twenty meters ahead of them. They stomped their feet hard on the ground, leaving long streaks on the earth, and only stopped just before charging into the wall of fire.
Even so, the fastest running chicken, their leader,
Its feathers had brushed against the flames.
Flames burned on its body, and it desperately flapped its wings. The screaming chickens beside it helped to extinguish the flames.
The fire was extinguished.
But the feathers remained bare.
The leader screaming chicken's wing feathers were all scorched, and its once golden plumage was gone.
"My meticulously cared-for feathers!!" Seeing the burnt feathers on its wings, the leader screaming chicken shrieked incessantly. It glanced at its wings, its eyes seeming to show despair, and in an instant, resentment and anger surged in its eyes. "Damn human, damn human mage, I want to, I want to, I want to..."
"What do you want?"
A faint whisper came from behind. The screaming chicken, full of anger, froze as if its whole body had stiffened. It looked down at the dark shadow beneath its feet and then slowly looked up.
It happened to see Chen Yu, smiling, with flames still burning in his palm.
"Hello, talking screaming chicken."
"You, you, hello." The screaming chicken with burnt wings forced a dry smile, and seeing the fear in its eyes, Chen Yu's smile widened. "What were you saying just now? Continue, what do you want to do?"
"I, I, I, I..."
If Chen Yu was not mistaken, the screaming chicken standing before him seemed to be sweating on its head.
Its long neck visibly twitched.
Its awkward face suddenly lifted, and its face was filled with flattery.
"I, I want to praise you. This fire came at a good time."
"Oh?"
"Thanks to your fire, I have the opportunity to grow even more beautiful feathers. I've long felt that my feather color wasn't quite right, and I couldn't bring myself to pluck them. Now, with fire from the heavens, it's cleaned up these messy feathers for me. I am truly grateful to you."
The screaming chicken bowed and scraped, its eyes filled with sycophancy.
"Are you sure?"
"I am sure. I can swear by the great Phoenix God that what I just said is not a lie." The screaming chicken vowed, determination shining in its eyes. "This fire burned beautifully, it burned so much that I can't stop. I... I will love this fire to death, woo woo woo~"