November 3, 2022
Day 14 / Dungeon Day 0
----------------------------------------
Before Rahul could complain, Matt was already explaining himself.
"I sensed a mental attack, and you started behaving oddly right after. You kept fending off the birds, but your eyes were glued to the tree trunk."
Looking at the smooth wooden chips in his hand, Matt finished.
"Until I can find a way to extend my immunity to you, this is all I have."
As he parried attacks from the four circling birds, Rahul found enough time to narrow his eyes at Matt as he replied.
"That's fine, but next time, aim away from my nose."
As much as I hate having my thoughts messed with, this had to be said. The way things were going, my nose would have become the first casualty of this fight.
That accuracy though, it's uncanny. Maybe he should have picked a range class.
As his thoughts shifted to his friend, so did his eyes. Matt had recovered his health by now and was carefully attacking the flying birds, going for opportunistic sword thrusts as Rahul kept occupied most of their attention.
Reminds me of how the two of us circled and fought that isolated crocodile.
But as time went on, Rahul noticed the fruitlessness of his friend's attacks.
I guess the two situations have much more in common. Just like the crocodile, these birds have natural defenses too. Their talons are too sturdy for Matt to even scratch at his level, and the thick coat of feathers protects most of the bird's body.
But just like the gap between the reptilian scales, the birds have a weakness too.
Their bare necks.
Rahul's chain of thoughts started moving toward a conclusion.
I can wait for him to slowly chip away at their health, but there has to be a better way. I need a way to create an opening and get him a clean strike at their necks.
But how? With four birds harassing me, my options are limited. I can use my built-up intent, but all my intent attacks are finishers, and killing the birds myself will defeat the whole purpose of this elaborate exercise.
Rahul did a double take.
My intent attacks are all finishers, sure, but do they have to be? Something like the kinetic cleave would be hard to shape into a blunt non-lethal attack, but that skill is not all I have in my arsenal. I have frequently used my accumulated intent to both speed me up and empower my attacks.
Finding this line of thought promising, Rahul tried to recall just how those ad-hoc attacks worked.
The start is simple. I always begin by kinetically empowering my body to move faster and get within striking distance. Then I redirect that energy into my weapon to deal maximum damage, but I can't recall exactly how I do that.
After a point, it's mostly instinctual.
Given how much thought he had put into it, Rahul's attack on Shahid had been one of the instances where he had consciously controlled intent, and that meant his awareness of what went on within his body was significantly more than at any other time.
As usual, I had used an initial burst of intent to kick off the ground and quickly close the distance. Then, I concentrated the kinetic intent coursing through my body toward my arm, which I swiftly moved to stab Shahid's neck. At the last instant before contact, I streamed all the remaining intent through my palm into the blade.
Rahul marveled at the complexity of the attack. Then he smiled. He had found a way.
And it looks like we have a winner.
He thought, picking a target for his experiment.
Then he started executing the same motions he had employed against Shahid, only with reduced intensity.
I have to repeat it three times after all, and these birds are nowhere as scary as he was.
There was also one key difference.
With the first burst of energy, Rahul closed the distance between himself and the strongest talon guardian. But as he appeared in front of the startled bird, he didn't attack, instead taking a second to gain his balance.
Then he raised his foot in preparation for a simple sidekick, and with a second burst of energy, hit the bird's torso with an empowered kick, sending the bird flying.
Okay, now without the pause in between.
Rahul thought, stumbling back from the impact but quickly steadying himself.
Then he repeated the same attack against the second guardian, this time without a pause to balance himself, and two things changed.
First, the guardian didn't see the kick coming.
Second, Rahul fell on his ass.
No time to waste.
He thought as he got up and quickly dispatched the third bird, finally getting the hang of the series of motions.
The coast is clear.
Rahul grinned as he looked at the last, beakless bird. Finding itself alone with Rahul, it seemed to hesitate.
That fear and that hint of intelligence made what Rahul had to do next much harder, but he was long past the time for questioning the moral implications of wholesale animal slaughter.
Using his remaining kinetic energy, he appeared behind the bird, and tightened his arms around it in a hug, locking it in a deadly embrace.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Guess who.
Rahul almost said but stopped himself.
That's a bit too dark. I can't get carried away. I can't forget why I'm doing this. To get strong enough so I can survive. And not just me, but everyone I love.
Steadying his thoughts and his grip, Rahul shouted to a confused Matt.
"Sever its neck. One clean strike."
The terrified bird could only screech helplessly as Matt's large sword came in an arc toward its exposed neck. Its fellow guardians were circling back, but they had been kicked too far.
Just before the blade connected, Rahul let go of the bird and ran, using the kinetic energy to get far enough to avoid the splash of blood that followed the beheading.
One dungeon run coated in blood and adorned in tatters is enough for me.
He thought, watching Matt wipe the blood off his face, and went over the notification.
You have killed a Level 24 Talon Guardian. 430 experience earned.
430 is a bit more than I expected. Is it because the system counted breaking the beak as noteworthy damage, or did it credit me for holding down the bird?
Doesn't matter, the 1970 XP that Matt would have received is still a lot.
Rahul thought, then spoke.
"We'll do one more, then lure the remaining two to our friends."
It didn't take long to get the next bird, and the notification cleared Rahul's confusion regarding the XP.
You have killed a Level 23 Talon Guardian. 180 experience earned.
It was the beak amputation, after all. The 180 is probably due to my earlier kick.
As long as I keep the damage to a minimum, my friends would get the lion's share of the experience.
Rahul thought, pleased, as the duo started heading back to the nest, having a much easier time now that there were only two apprehensive birds at their tail.
----------------------------------------
Rahul was still quite far from the starting nest when he spotted the large flock of birds circling that area.
With neither of the two humans attacking them, the bird's apprehension gave way to complacency, and they attacked eagerly and without fear of retaliation.
Which is why the next time they flew close, Rahul easily beheaded them both, burning all his leftover intent.
You have killed a Level 23 Talon Guardian. 2300 experience earned.
You have killed a Level 20 Talon Guardian. 1980 experience earned.
Matt looked uncomprehendingly at Rahul, who explained.
"Our friends are under attack, surrounded by at least two dozen birds. We need to hurry back up. These two would have slowed us down."
No use watering plants in a flooded garden.
Rahul thought silently, as the two started climbing as fast as they could. Matt started to fall behind.
I can't afford to wait, there's no way they handle so many of these guardians themselves.
With that thought, he shouted to Matt.
"I'm going ahead."
Without waiting for a reply, Rahul gulped down a stamina potion and kept up the demanding pace.
It took him less than a minute to get within range of the swarm of birds, and with a jump, he landed atop a solid and large branch. That drew the attention of some nearby birds, who stopped circling the alcove where Rahul's friends were hidden and moved toward him.
A quick glance toward the alcove told Rahul that the entrance was securely sealed by the still body of a large guardian.
Immutability.
Rahul realized with relief.
Then he heard the faint battle music that accompanied the buildup of momentum and took an immediate step back.
That's bad. Very bad. They are using intent attacks, and Matt is still at least half a minute away.
Deciding not to risk it, Rahul slowly and deliberately started climbing back down the tree.
My friends seem to be safe for now. I, on the other hand, am not. I'm dead if I get caught in a trance when I'm alone.
Rahul kept climbing down mechanically, centering his awareness around one unwavering thought.
I need to go to Matt.
I need to go to Matt.
I need to go to Matt.
Chanting that mantra helped Rahul disregard all other foreign influences, and 20 seconds later, he spotted his friend and joined him atop the closest branch.
Matt immediately punched his shoulder.
Hard.
Rahul fumed.
"What the fuck was that for? I had fought off the trance."
The shooting pain in his back made itself known at the same time as Matt spoke, his sword blocking an incoming talon.
"You think so? Explain these circling birds and your torn-up back."
Rahul winced as he turned around and saw three birds with bloody talons. Another swooped in to attack and this time Rahul parried the talon strike. He replied to Matt.
"How the hell does this make any sense? Those cuts sting much harder than your punch, why didn't I break free of the trance the moment I got attacked."
Matt shrugged.
"I don't know any more about this stuff than you. I might even know less, since I have faced the effects only once, on the castle roof. Gratitude protects me all by himself."
Rahul nodded.
"We can think about this later. Fighting off the intent attacks has brought my intent accumulation back up to 2, but with our friends in danger, I can't afford to spend them on holding down the birds for you. I'm killing two myself, the old-fashioned way. I will ground the third one for you."
Matt nodded sincerely, and Rahul started by inspecting the three birds.
Unnamed - Talon Guardian (Level ??)
Unnamed - Talon Guardian (Level ??)
Unnamed - Talon Guardian (Level 20)
I'll leave the level 20 one to Matt.
Rahul thought, taking a small sip of the healing potion to get his health up to 90% and reducing the numerous cuts on his back to shallow scratches.
Then, parrying a strike from one of the stronger birds, Rahul empowered his legs and jumped toward the level 20 one that was flying vertically above him. The moment he got close, he swung both his blades in a wide arc along the bird's wings.
The wings aren't anywhere as hard as talons, so I should try to be sparing with the intent use.
Rahul thought, as he mildly empowered his blades just as they made with the wings, cutting cleanly through the feathers, the flesh, and the bones.
With both its wings torn, the bird could no longer fly and fell straight down toward the waiting Matt.
No more intent use. I need to accumulate at least 3 intent points to take on that large flock.
Rahul thought as he landed back on the branch, looking between his two targets.
This would go a lot faster if they could wait their turns, but I guess this would be good practice for what's to come.
Rahul thought, opting to duck instead of parry as one of the guardians swooped in to attack him. The bird tried to alter its trajectory but failed, and its sharp talons passed harmlessly, several inches above his head.
As he looked at the vulnerable underbelly of the bird above him, Rahul found himself wishing he was anywhere as good with long weapons as he was with short blades.
The infantry sentinels had used their spears and pikes really well against the birds back in the castle. Maybe I should practice with them, try being more versatile and all that.
The next few fly-bys proved just as unrewarding, and no matter what Rahul tried, all he could manage were flesh wounds.
At this rate, Matt would be done sooner than me.
He thought as he looked at the big man who had managed to pin down the bird, and was now slowly but steadily butchering it.
The bird is protecting its neck and other vulnerable spots, but he's still making more progress than me.
Then Rahul smiled.
I guess it's time to switch things up again.