Risen World

Chapter 567: Owl versus Bison

"Tank, can you since that bird flying around above us?" Joshua asked the turtle sitting next to him that currently had its eyes closed as if it was sensing the surrounding area.

'Barely, its aura is rather faint and it keeps moving around so it's hard to keep track of it in comparison to everything else around the area.' The turtle responded.

"I believe the owl is what the bison in this area are afraid of. I think it's planning on attacking the group of bison soon. I'm not sure what it's waiting on though." Joshua said just as the owl started to fly a little bit lower still staying high enough that it wouldn't be within the vision of the bison below. "It's getting closer to them."

'If it is a bird of prey then it's likely to try to take its target out in one swift strike. I have seen similar things from a giant eagle that tore off the head of a bull in the past.' Tank replied while turning to look up towards the sky. 'The bull was strong, but in one brief moment its life came to an end and its giant body nearly as big as mine at the time was carried off only a few seconds later when the eagle came back around to pick up its prey. I was still young at the time but I still remember being thankful for having this shell for protection.'

"Well with that in mind these bison have nothing but their fur and hide to protect them and I doubt that will be enough. I don't know what types of abilities these bison have, but they wouldn't be so on edge if they had an advantage against what they're worried about in the first place." Joshua said with a sigh. "Even so I don't think anything in this prairie would be powerful enough to one shot these huge creatures, otherwise they'd probably be strong enough to be a threat to the parasaurs as well."

It was when Joshua had finished explaining this that he noticed that the owl was starting to head further down as it closed in on the group of bison. It was diving at high speeds yet it still wasn't making a single sound. Even with such a great ambush tactic Joshua could see that the lead bison was still on edge and had even stood up causing some of the other bison that were more laid back to act wearier. The lead bison turned to look towards the sky and seemed to be zeroing in on the spot where the owl was coming from. The fact that it could do this without the owl making a single sign of its approach meant that the bison must have some ability that allowed them to see when danger was approaching.

The leas bison moved towards where the children of the group were being a protector of the children and females of the herd. It was clear that the other male bison were supposed to work together to fend off the approaching predator. This situation gave Joshua a good idea of what the hierarchy of the bison herd was. There was a reason the lead bison had so many scars and was able to live to proudly show them off. It was likely in the same situation in the past like all of the other young bison that were now at the risk of clashing with the powerful creature. It had survived its encounters and was now proud and strong enough to have its own herd. It was a leader for this reason and the other male bison were now going to have to try to do something similar if they wanted to lead a herd of their own in the future.

The owl seemed to be angling itself towards one of the young male bison that was on the fringe of the group. It was extremely intelligent and knew that it couldn't just strike the middle of the group even if the bison were leaving a slight opening there. If it went in with that tactic then it would have to clash with the strongest of the bison and would end up getting surrounded. The owl was looking for a meal and not trying to take on the entire herd so falling for the obvious bait wasn't something it was willing to do. Even it could get killed if it wasn't careful and got one of its wings broken in a tussle with the giant lead bison.

After the bison had all gotten in position Joshua was finally able to see the owl just at the edge of his sight. It was still in its small form as it shot beneath the bush trees and passed over Joshua and Tank. It was clear that the owl didn't care for their group and was going for the bigger prize. Just as the owl was getting ready to reach the group of bison it suddenly grew in size to the point where its body was around the same size as one of the younger adult male bison while its wings stretched out more than twice as long as its own body. Its feathers were a dark greyish tone with random specks of brown here and there while its face was white. With the darkness of night it was difficult to see the giant bird's body with how fast it was moving and it was clear that it could easily ambush other creatures if needed.

Even when the owl flapped its wings to gain a sudden burst of speed they hardly made any noise yet it was able to completely change its direction suddenly shooting for one of the bison far off to the side. Its large claws were raised prepared to strike out and its wings were pulled in so it could gain even more speed as it descended directly towards its target. The group of bison weren't just going to stand around and wait to be attacked. Joshua watched as all of them rose their front legs in the air and slammed them down into the ground creating a massive rock wall in the path of the owl. At first Joshua thought this tactic was fairly smart and would force the owl to back off or at least fly over it and make another come around, but that didn't seem to be the case.

Instead of backing off the owl only picked up speed as it looked as If it was going to try to smash through the wall of rock, but instead its body started turning translucent and started looking similar to what Joshua remembered the spirit beast looking like. Once the owl was about to crash into the wall of rock its body instead phased right through it without a care. The bison didn't seem surprised by this and instead were prepared. They had their horns pointed out and surrounded in aura. Joshua knew from experience that aura could still damage enemies when they were in a none physical state so the owl was forced to avoid the horns and was only able to land a slight blow with its claws on the back of one of the bison. Since it was forced to fly up higher due to the horns of the bison it wasn't able to land much more than a glancing blow as it flew away.

It was in that moment that Joshua got a pretty good idea of how a clash between the two sides would work out. The rock walls that the bison created weren't for actually stopping the owl, but instead to blind it. By taking away the owl's heightened vision the bison were able to position themselves to where their horns were in the right place to prevent the owl from being able to strike at them. If the owl was allowed to claw at their heads or neck then the bison would be taken down swiftly, but as long as that strike was avoided the bison were too big for hits anywhere else on their bodies to be an actual threat.

The bison also knew how to cover their horns in aura so that they could actually damage the owl while it was in its incorporeal form. Although the bison didn't seem as experienced as the other group they had clearly survived an attack by an owl before. It also explained where all the scars along the bison came from. With their massive reserves of vitality there was no way that the bison couldn't survive such attacks and that seemed to be their main approach to the fight. Their goal wasn't to kill the owl, but instead outlast it. If they were able to get a lucky shot in with their horns at some point then they would probably go for the kill, but they had no advantage in the fight outside of numbers.

Like this the clash between the two sides carried on for a while. Joshua and Tank both watched with interest through their aura sight so that the darkness of night wouldn't get in the way. Doing this also allowed them to keep an eye on their own group to make sure they weren't attacked and taken by surprise. The owl kept swooping in for attacks but the bison kept using the same stalling tactic to try to tire out the owl. It was clear that the bison were prepared to stay up all night to keeping fending the owl off and this was going to end up going nowhere. Eventually night would end and the owl would have to leave with its ambush tactics being greatly hampered by daylight.

It was while Joshua was thinking along these lines that Joshua noticed several feathers of the owl get spread out around the area. The feathers started to disperse into what looked like smoke that clouded up the entire area. If Joshua wasn't using his aura sight then he wouldn't have been able to see the bison or owls at all. The bison seemed weary with the new situation but the lead bison let out a guttural sound that seemed to calm them all down. Joshua noticed that although the bison couldn't see the incoming owl while being in the smoke the lead bison somehow was always able to pick out where the owl was coming from. He didn't know how that was possible but it was the only reason that they were able to hang on up to this point.

It was then Joshua felt another presence on the edge of his aura sense and he knew the situation was about to get a whole lot worse for the bison..