I am an Eldritch Entity

Eryndor's mission this time was to kill a gray winged woodpecker.

Due to some mutation and evolution over the years, the species reached sexual maturity early, had a short gestation period, and reproduced frequently.

For this reason, it was necessary to introduce their predator into the ecosystem to curb their population, and also enlist the help of disciples frequently.

Killing these birds was almost a periodic mission by now.

There also wasn't really a specific region of habitat for these birds.

They made no nests, and simply laid eggs high up in the trees inside dense leaves, preferably at a spot from where it wouldn't fall down to the ground.

When the infants broke through the shell, they gobbled up the nutrient dense shell.

With a high enough awareness and an already developed body, the infants were ready to fly within a day or two after digesting the shells and gaining energy.

The mission was considered completed if you could kill a single adult gray winged woodpecker or a thirty infant gray winged woodpeckers or squashed forty eggs.

The problem was, these guys knew how to fight.

Their flight wasn't like those of conventional birds. They could accelerate, decelerate, and even change directions with a single flap of the wing.

One might think, how is that different?

Well, their flapping of the wing was only done to 'generate energy', and not anything else.

Even if they flapped such that the bird must move forward according to common sense, you would find them flying backward or upwards.

You predicted that it would decelerate based on how it bent and flapped its wings? Well, the next moment it would be in front of your face due to massive acceleration.

In short, they were a confusing foe to go up against. Their beaks were also strong enough to break a lot of weapons.

If the defense of the iron armored anaconda was so strong that majority of the weapons at level two wouldn't be able to heavily injure a mid stage Stable realm or even an early stage Stable realm beast of that species in a short time, then the offense of the gray winged woodpecker was high enough to break majority of the weapons even while being at mid stage Stable realm beast.

Eryndor used the crappy surveillance art to find traces of these birds, but there was none.

Of course, he was only at the outer layer of the forest, so it was obvious he wouldn't notice them.

Well, I also can't use this surveillance art to zoom in on things. So I wouldn't be able to find the eggs or infants either.

Well, not like I can perfectly control my Spatial Sight in my base form but I could at least zoom in and zoom out a tiny bit.

It was a bummer, but he had to get used to this. He couldn't keep complaining about the surveillance art if he was going to use this for at least three months continuously.

Once he was sufficiently deep inside, he switched to his Spatial Sight as usual.

Within a minute or two, he was quickly able to find an egg.

Well, there's no guarantee of finding an adult gray winged woodpecker, might as well kill the eggs and the infants any chance I get.

Eryndor took a look at the tree, and immediately began climbing it.

After crushing the egg, Eryndor collected a sample of egg shell which was still sticky and stored it in a container which he had carried with him.

It was given to every disciple who accepted the mission to store the samples from eggs and body parts from the infants for proof.

While he was descending from the tree though, Eryndor sensed a few people entering his range.

They weren't really zooming in on his location, so it was apparent that they didn't really know of his location.

It wasn't the first time this situation occurred, Eryndor had come across disciples several times while doing the two previous missions.

There were even some who entered his range when he was practicing his cultivation arts.

Thankfully, they took a turn and left the range shortly after, without knowing that a student was practicing cultivation arts there.

Well, it could also be that they took the same mission and were searching for the same thing as me.

Thankfully, the container provided by the counter was small and could be hidden on his body without any noticeable bulge.

Eryndor took a turn, and used Cloudstride movement art to move in another direction.

He could have used Shadowstep since he had a higher familiarity with it, but that was exactly the reason he didn't. Since the situation wasn't urgent, he would rather keep practicing the new movement art.

In a few seconds, Eryndor lost sight of those few disciples through his Spatial Sight.

A couple minutes later, Eryndor sensed a beast in his range of senses.

It wasn't any of the recent beasts he had taken missions about, but rather a type of beast on which the mission was never issued.

Not because it was strong, but because it was endangered.

Eryndor wisely changed his route, lest he be faced with false allegations.

A few minutes later, Eryndor once again found an egg safely hidden within a dense cluster of leaves.

It was thanks to the clear vision and a bit of zoom control in his Spatial Sight that he was able to find these eggs.

There should be some treasure or array formation to find these eggs or even the beast itself.

Eryndor didn't buy any of those though, more confident in his Spatial Sight.

A few minutes later, another sample was added in his container.

Just like the last time, the same few disciples entered his range while he was descending from the tree.

Eryndor narrowed his eyes at that.

Alright, you won't get a third chance guys.

He immediately used his Cognitive Scrying on those disciples, and scanned through their recent memories.

A few seconds later, he opened his eyes and began running in the opposite direction, using Cloudstride at its full potential.

It wasn't that he had seen something horrifying but he was simply putting some distance between them.

He then went through what he had found in these memories.

It seems that for popular missions like these where the risk is low and reward is high, apart from the disciples who accept the mission, there are also some who watch which disciples chose these types of missions.

I may have unknowingly entered their eyes since I am registered as stage one of the Qi Condensation realm.

I was probably weak according to them, so they targeted me huh. There's also the fact that I don't have friends so no one would come rescue me.

They plan to steal whatever I've collected?

As Eryndor sorted his thoughts, he felt regretful that he still forgot to learn a cultivation art to mask his level, or even his presence.

Cultivation arts which helped hide one's presence were great to be used when one wanted to sneak attack.

There were some which even helped hide one's presence from the surveillance arts of others.

Surveillance arts weren't really made to go against these, they were more biased towards being used as a scouting tool.

They were just used to get a sense of your surroundings.

There was another type of cultivation arts which was used to sense if someone was hiding nearby.

They were called sensing arts, or even probing arts.

They were also called probing arts because these cultivation arts could also be used to probe the cultivation level of the target without them revealing it themselves while using some cultivation art.

Lastly, sensing arts could also be used to sense surveillance arts.

No one liked being peaked at, so to prevent such a situation, learning sensing arts was a good thing as it allowed one to realize if they were in someone's range of surveillance arts.

They could then take further action.

In public places like the training hall, it was an unofficial rule that one must not use surveillance arts.

If you encountered an ill-tempered disciples who sensed your spying then you would have established an ill-fated relationship for nothing.

It could even evolve into a full blown fight, as it had really happened many times in the past.

Eryndor was running, still devising a way to deal with the disciples who had entered his range for twice now.

He had already run so far away that they were out of his Spatial Sight, but he knew that the moment he stopped to fight an infant or an adult gray winged woodpecker, or even to crush an egg, they would find him again.

From their memories, he already knew that they had a treasure which allowed them to locate a recently killed gray winged woodpecker no matter which form it was in.

Since he had lost them, Eryndor knew that these guys were panicking and only hoping that the next beast killed pointed them toward that weak Clarence fellow.

I also know that these guys are at the stage one of the Qi Condensation realm as well.

They were weak themselves, therefore they banded together and attacked another of their kind.

Once he was sure that he had pulled apart a sufficient distance from them, he began thinking about how to deal with them.

There was no rule in the Training Camp which forbade disciples from fighting against each other in the open.

Maybe I'll get some extra loot as well.