When Liam returned to the cliff, he came fully prepared.
He had bought a full set of climbing equipment from a secondhand store.
Ropes, pitons, carabiners, everything he needed.
He had also brought two sets of ropes in case the Thunderbird attacked him while he was climbing.
Liam ran his hand along the rock face until he found a narrow crack.
He raised his hammer, drove a piton into it, and secured the rope.
This was the climbing method he had settled on.
It was old-fashioned, but reliable.
By connecting one piton to the next with rope, he was essentially building a ladder anchored directly to the cliff.
It was slow and exhausting, but it was safe.
If something attacked him while he was climbing, the ropes fixed to the rock would keep him from falling.
Liam gave the rope a hard tug.
Satisfied that it would hold, he turned to Watson.
“Stay down here and keep watch. If you notice any sign of the Thunderbird, make as much noise as you can.”
Watson lay on the ground and flicked his small round ears in acknowledgment.
Liam said nothing more and began climbing without looking back.
He was extremely cautious, driving in a piton every thirty centimeters.
Since his strength had been steadily increasing lately, his body weight had gone up as well, so for extra safety he drove a second piton beside each one.
Time passed slowly.
Liam estimated that the nest was a little over a hundred meters above the ground.
After an hour, he had climbed ten meters.
If everything went smoothly, he should be able to reach the nest before dark.
Two more hours passed, and Liam realized he had miscalculated.
It was already noon, and the sun was brutally hot.
Sweat poured from his forehead.
Dark streaks of moisture appeared on the rock face beneath him, only to evaporate almost immediately.
Every so often, a breeze swept past, but instead of bringing relief, it carried another suffocating wave of heat.
He still had plenty of stamina left, but his thirst was starting to affect his concentration.
He needed water.
Liam stopped forcing himself onward, grabbed the rope, and slid back down.
Driving in the pitons was painfully slow, but getting down was much faster.
The moment he reached the ground, Watson, who had clearly grown tired of waiting, trotted over with a water bag in his mouth.
Liam took it and drained the whole thing in one go.
A refreshing chill spread through his body, washing away the oppressive heat.
“Now that’s better. Let’s go again.”
He tossed the empty water bag aside and resumed the climb.
Another two hours passed.
As the sun began to sink, the temperature finally dropped a little, allowing Liam to pick up the pace.
Then he gradually noticed something strange.
The temperature was falling too quickly.
Only a short while ago, he had been drenched in sweat.
Now, whenever the wind blew, he could feel a faint chill.
Instead of making him nervous, the strange change reassured him.
There really was something unusual about this place.
Encouraged, Liam climbed even faster.
Then the sky suddenly darkened.
“BOOM!”
A deafening clap of thunder exploded right beside his ears.
Not good.
Liam reacted immediately.
He stopped climbing and slid back down the rope.
The instant he reached the ground, the sky cleared.
Watson was still lying nearby, staring at him in confusion, apparently wondering why he had come back down so quickly this time.
So the change in the weather was limited to a small area.
With that in mind, Liam gathered himself and started climbing again.
He refused to believe that a Thunderbird from a Class C Event could actually control the weather.
When he reached the same height again, he was prepared for it.
Even as one thunderclap after another boomed around him, hammering at his eardrums, Liam gritted his teeth and kept climbing.
Before long, he started getting used to the noise.
Even the Thunderbird seemed to notice.
The thunder gradually faded, and for the time being, nothing else interfered with his climb.
After a while, the endless repetition of the same movements made him lose track of time.
Finally, just before nightfall, Liam was close to reaching the nest.
Then he suddenly felt something watching him from behind.
He turned his head.
A massive bird-shaped shadow hovered there, perhaps four or five meters tall, yet no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t make out its features.
The silhouette appeared for only an instant before slipping into the cave that served as the nest.
[Thunderbird]
[Event Level: C]
[Exploration Progress: 70%]
As expected.
Nothing was going to stop him from finding the Thunderbird this time.
Liam used both hands and feet to haul himself into the cave.
It was pitch black inside.
He pulled a glow stick from his bag, snapped it, and tossed it deeper into the cave.
The glow stick sailed through the darkness, illuminating the interior.
Scattered feathers covered the ground.
A nest made from branches and dirt sat farther inside, along with several piles of the same bird droppings he had found before.
But there was no bird.
Liam stared in confusion.
Where was it?
Where had that enormous bird gone?
He called out cautiously.
“Hello? Any birds in here? Mr. Bird? Ms. Want to have a chat?”
Only his own echo answered him.
It really seemed as though he was alone.
“Huh. Something’s not right.”
Unwilling to give up, Liam searched the entire cave from top to bottom.
He found nothing.
Too bad.
Still, he wasn’t discouraged.
He could simply try again tomorrow.
The pitons were already in place, so getting back up here would be much easier.
Just as Liam turned around, his vision suddenly went black.
He instinctively stepped backward.
Only then did he finally see the enormous bird standing in front of him.
Black feathers.
A black beak.
Black talons.
It was a raven.
The giant raven lowered itself, tilted its head, and studied him with one eye.
Liam could sense that it didn’t seem hostile, so he decided to greet it.
“Hello…”
Before he could finish, the raven lunged straight at him.
In the blink of an eye, it vanished again.
[Thunderbird]
[Event Level: C]
[Exploration Progress: 100%]
[Reward: Light Body (After a period of preparation, you can reduce your body weight)]
Liam stared at the Reward in the Events Logbook and scratched his head.
That was it?
He was still a little confused.
The Reward had come so suddenly that he hardly knew what to make of it, and it didn’t seem like it would improve his combat ability by much.
Still, something was better than nothing.
He stepped to the edge of the cave entrance, ready to test his new ability.
Following the instructions that appeared in his mind, he began imagining his body becoming lighter.
After a while, he felt ready.
Holding the rope at the cave entrance with one hand, he jumped.
The sensation was bizarre.
He held onto the rope with only one hand and let himself slide rapidly downward, yet he never felt as though he were losing control.
When he was about ten meters above the ground, he simply let go and dropped the rest of the way.
“THUD!”
Liam landed firmly on his feet, startling Watson awake from where he had fallen asleep waiting nearby.
“Hey, this is pretty fun.”
For climbing, running, and jumping, this ability was incredibly useful.
Unfortunately, it was completely useless for Kent’s situation.
So how was he supposed to deal with that problem?
He couldn’t exactly shoot Kent.
Little Jack would be devastated.