The warm morning sunlight made its way to Jerouch's eyes as he opened them with struggle.
After squinting his eyes for what seemed forever, he eventually woke up from his long unconscious state
His eyes nevertheless felt heavy, and he further squinted them, waiting for his vision to adjust to the new, bright environment.
The chirping of birds and insects along with short, rapid movements of rodents flooded his ears, and he breathed in the sizzling scents of flora.
' Come to think of it, flora…? ' He jumped from where he lay in an awkward position and looked left and right in confusion.
The memories of his last battle rushed into his mind and he got even more perplexed.
He knew he should be in the rumbles at best, but here he was enjoying the calming atmosphere of beautiful flowers and shrubs.
As he looked around, he noticed that he was close to the mouth of a cave that had mosses growing on it.
He wanted to shift his body to another side to adjust his angle, but then…
He felt an obstruction as though something was right beside him.
Using all the energy he could muster, he turned his neck to the right to see what was lying close to him.
As soon as Jerouch saw what was right beside him, his heart almost jumped out of his body, and his mind momentarily blanked as though he had just received a lightning bolt.
He felt blood rush to every muscle part, and instinctively, he sprang backwards in full force.
He didn't even know that he still had enough strength to stand up properly, let alone hop despite just waking up, but right now, there was only one thought in his mind…
' I need to get the shit out of this place. '
He took many steps backwards trying to be quick but not too quick to call attention, but that was when he stepped on a twig, and before he knew it, his butt hit the ground with a loud thud.
'' Oh fuck, my bad luck showing up at the wrong time. '' he thought, squinting his eyes as soon as the creature turned his head in his direction.
'' A head resembling that of an eagle, with large wings and long talons. '' Jerouch gulped.
This is one of the popular mythological creatures in many folklores on earth, and they were known for being up to no good.
He started taking soft long strides backwards, while still facing the creature, afraid that he would be torn apart, at any moment.
'' If the talk about their powerful strength and speed is true… damn why am I cursed with bad luck. '' He wiped the sweat on his forehead as he peeped to see what the creature was up to.
On proper look, the creature had a white eagle head with slit-like reptilian eyes.
It had a large tawny body that extended up to two meters, and two long wings of matching colour with the body protruded from its back, each reaching four meters in length.
The talons were so curved and sharp that Jerouch felt chills by mere looking at them.
Roc!
' How in hell did I get transferred to the lair of a fucking roc from a rank F dungeon? '
' Also, what was that figure? ' Jerouch remembered that as he was about to lose consciousness, he saw a figure appearing in the distance.
His vision was fuzzy then, so he didn't know who the figure was, but he was sure someone did appear in the distance.
'' But wait… '' Jerouch pushed those thoughts behind his back. For now, he needed to survive the present situation.
Calming himself albeit, he decided to take a proper inspection after noticing a few things.
' The situation is not totally hopeless, ' he murmured.
On one side of the creature, there was a deep gash where the roc was bleeding.
Because of the angle earlier, Jerouch hadn't seen it, since it was in the opposite direction. Moreover, fear had clouded his thinking.
' It seemed to have sustained an injury not long ago,' Jerouch mumbled as he scrutinized the creature.
' For real? What I'm still doing here… I've got to escape when I still can. '
Using the roc's dying condition as an opportunity, he decided to leave this dire place, but that was when an unpleasant notification rang in his head.
[Initializing a random quest- nurse the roc back to life.]
[Reward- a 40% chance to have a powerful familiar.]
Jerouch read the notifications thrice with a dumbfounded expression.
' Excuse me? Nurse what back to life? ' Jerouch wanted to laugh out his craziness.
Was the system sane at all? It wanted him to nurse something that could slap him to death with ease.
However, a part of him was getting excited nonetheless.
' Mmm. ' Jerouch entered a deep thought, pondering over the whole situation.
He could escape right now and his life would be safe.
He could also nurse the roc back to life and have a chance of getting a powerful familiar, but what if he failed and the roc turned hostile?
And there was another wild thought going through his head, what if he killed the roc and gained a hefty exp point?
As if sensing his ill thoughts, the roc made a low screech.
As the sound hit him, Jerouch felt as though his heart was pierced by many needles all at once.
He gasped for breaths, and his face turned purple due to a lack of oxygen.
The roc was sending a stern warning.
Even though he was dying, even though he could not leave where he lay, even though he was at his weakest, Jerouch shouldn't think of messing up with him, his weak wings alone were more than enough to squash this puny human to meat paste.
'' This creature is extremely hostile and perceptive. '' Jerouch reminded himself while scratching his face as he tried hard to even swallow.
Just his killing intent and aura had almost suffocated him to death.
'' I guess I have to take that option then. '' He muttered with resolve.