Amidst all of the advantage of contracting a Soaring Steel Eagle, there is one fatal flaw that might make a beast tamer unable to acquire it, and that is the fact that human blood, more often than not, is something that acts as a catalyst to make said type of bird monster far more aggressive than they already do, even going as far as abandoning their own lives just to devour the origin of the blood.
Despite the clear weakness of this Soaring Snake Eagle, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse, and this case, even if the bird monster is just a skeleton, it is still way bigger than the upbeat young man, making it way too easy for it to take the life of this fresh prey in front of it.
Now looking at the Soaring Steel Eagle's sharp bloodied eyes, the upbeat young man couldn't help but flinch and take a step back, but immediately regaining reason as he knows that this creature, despite being severely wounded is something that he can't hope to face in his current state, making the only choice for him being forcing the contract with the bird monster, something he can only achieve if the blood of the Soaring Steel Eagle lands on the binding seal.
Setting his mind to achieve his goal or even just to survive, the upbeat young man actively finds an opening both for the chance of contracting this monster and his chance for escape, both chances being minimal as the reach of the Soaring Steel Eagle makes it way harder for him to approach him, as well as create distance between the two of them.
As they continue dancing around with the eagle relentlessly sending in attacks, claws, beaks and feathers alike and the upbeat young man barely dodging each of said assault, it becomes more and more apparent that the upbeat young man is quite skilled with his footwork, sparing little effort to dodge the Soaring Steel Eagle's attack every time.
Dodging around and moving like a leaf flowing with the wind as it falls, the upbeat young man starts gaining more and more confidence that he can either approach close distance with the Soaring Steel Eagle or in the worst case scenario, even escape it, the second fatal mistake that he committed as he fails to take into account the cunning of such species of monster, the eagle looking at him with a peculiar light in its eyes as it purposely reveals an opening, something that the upbeat young man immediately jumps on.
Shrieking as if it achieves victory against this fly-like opponent, the Soaring Steel Eagle flaps its wings and rises a bit to the sky, making the upbeat young man's target miss by quite a lot, his body falling into the Soaring Steel Eagle's claws, the power from its grips crushing his inside.
"Damn it… Am I going to die here?" feeling his organs being crushed, the upbeat young man couldn't help but start filling his mind with dreading thoughts while still thinking of ways to try and escape the cunning bird's clutches, something that he fails to do as air starts to vacate his lungs.
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The Soaring Steel Eagle has a peculiar habit of keeping its prey alive before it starts feasting on it, this particular fact apparent from how the hawk it's carrying with its beak is still somehow struggling, making it quite annoyed as it repeatedly hit the human in his claws already, a creature that its kind find quite delectable, having taste more than satisfying enough to sacrifice themselves for it.
Directing its attention to the young human male it captured previously, the still bleeding Soaring Steel Eagle couldn't help but feel disappointed as the human seemingly already draws his last breath, his unmoving body already cold, probably from the wind or from other things, making the eagle frown in disdain as even though it is a human, it wouldn't eat something no longer alive, as to them, it is similar to human eating rotten food.
So despite aching for the loss of such delicacy, the Soaring Steel Eagle opens its claw and let the young human go, his body falling down all the way though the vast river underneath them, its impact to the water producing a simple plop as his body falls towards the river feet first.
After watching its supposed dinner falling deeper into the flowing river, the Soaring Steel Eagle continues dashing to a certain direction, trying to forget what a wasted encounter it had today.
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After falling from the Soaring Steel Eagle's grasp, the upbeat young man couldn't help but feel quite lucky as he prolongs his life even if it's just for a bit more, a bonus since the greatest prize he has right now is the comfort of not being eaten by such brutal bird species, probably only being consumed some strong sea creatures should he fail to survive in the river, something he thought is so much better than the Soaring Steel Eagle.
Using a technique he brought from someone in order to safely move on the water without swimming, he eventually find himself quite far away from where the Soaring Steel Eagle drops him, prompting him to urge himself to reach the riverbank.
"Cough!!! Cough!!! Aghhh… it fucking hurts… good thing that shit really works." Being washed on the riverbank, the upbeat young man complains as he feels his entire body hurting, the internal bleedings clearly something that he needs to deal with immediately, but his limbs being injured and his left leg even broken prevents him from doing so, forcing him to limp towards the nearby clearings to try and find somewhere safe pass on peacefully.
As he reaches the clearings, the upbeat young man starts lying himself on the ground, placing whatever is left on the spatial pouch he has in order to cover his rapidly cooling self, smiling in mockery as he never expected that his death will be due to the fact that he recklessly tries to establish a contract with a ruthless bird monster with strength way out of his league.
'A leap to the dragon's gate huh… fuck, what a misfortune' wryly smiling to himself as he thinks of just how foolish his previous actions are, the upbeat young man starts laughing to himself, thinking that given the chance, he will still risk it all for the opportunity to establish a contract with such sought after flying monster, only this time, he will be more careful with his approach.
"Hmm? An earthqua─" feeling the ground underneath himself trembling with such intensity, the upbeat young man forces himself to sit, looking around and seeing nothing that might cause such trembling around him, no signs of moving life and only trees around, making him wonder why an earthquake is happening now.
Before he can fully realize what is happening though, a crater forms underneath him, swallowing him whole and making him fall into the deep, dark underground, running through the names of all gods, goddesses and deities he knows and cursing all of them simultaneously, mockingly asking them why they won't just let him die in piece, his falling body about to die in pieces.
Water seemingly loves him really well though, as falling into the underground, the soft and gentle water once again cushions him from his fall, prompting him to think of something that is completely irrelevant to how he will deal with this situation.
"I take one of my words back, I'm sorry god or goddess of water, if ever you are real, for doubting you and your good intentions" joking to himself to alleviate his pain, both mentally and physically as the happenings just got more and more absurd, the upbeat young man said before laughing once again, his loud laughter abruptly being stopped as he feels something in his lungs being teared.
"Damn… if there's a god or goddess of pain, I give the words I take from the god or goddess of water to you" holding his chest as if it can help with alleviating the pain, the upbeat young man curses once again before forcing himself to stand up, only now realizing that the surroundings is something of a dome, the perfectly hemispherical structure being lit by luminescent stones stuck within its walls, and on the very center of the water, a pedestal is standing upright, a stalactite and a stalagmite nearly touching each other, seemingly holding at their very tip the brightest light source in this place, a floating speck of light with its color constantly going around the visual spectrum, from red to yellow to blue and all the colors in between, then disappearing and returning to red once again.
Despite the constantly changing color of the light source though, it always shines a gentle, bluish light all across the dome, making the upbeat young man wonder about it even more.
Carefully approaching the light source, the upbeat young man couldn't help but enter a trance as he comes into a close distance with it as he feels inexplicable attraction to it, prompting him to reach his fingers to try and touch it, his current course of action becoming the very moment that will change the course of his entire life, for better or worse, no one knows, however, it is definitely going to be way grander than it currently is.
[Detected the existence of a life form that is compatible to the rule of the draconic realm, now establishing connection with the life form…]
[Connection established, Dragon Herding System now active]