As Max locked his focus on the vulture closest to him, its creature-type and health appeared above it.

Terrorgawk 2

58/58 HP

58 HP was a lot less than the hornback, though there were 3 of these creatures, so if the other 2 had similar HP, the total would actually amount to more than the hornback.

Max quickly moved his focus to the left and locked on one of the others.

Terrorgawk 1

52/52 HP

Slightly less. Nice.

He shifted his line of sight to the third and final creature.

Terrorgawk 3

61/61 HP

“So you’re the biggest bastard,” Max grumbled under his breath. “Got it.”

Now that he had had a chance to survey the situation, Max realised the knife wasn’t going to be the best weapon against his airborne foes. As they squawked aggressively in an attempt to intimidate him, Max opened his inventory, placed the dagger in an empty slot, and pulled out the bow.

An icon of an arrow appeared in the bottom left of his vision, next to the number 7. For a moment, he wondered if each arrow would materialise out of nothing if he were to make the motion of stringing one, but then he realised there was a strap running diagonally over his torso; a quiver had been automatically equipped along with the bow when he had pulled it out of his inventory.

Max reached his right hand behind his shoulder and felt for the arrows. There they were - 7 feathery tips. He pulled one out and strung it in the bow, the wood of the weapon creaking as the string became taut.

“Who wants to go first, then?” Max taunted, panning the bow from bird to bird.

Aiming at them was clearly the line in the sand they were waiting for, as the ones on either side spread their wings and launched themselves directly towards him, and the middle one swooped downwards, straight for the meat.

Max didn’t hesitate. He swung his aim to face Terrorgawk 1, the one with the lowest amount of HP, and loosed his arrow. Max had had plenty of archery practise as a kid, given that he and his brother had taken lessons at the archery centre located just outside their village, and it seemed he hadn’t lost the skill, despite not having made use of it for all his adult life; the projectile hit the bird straight in the chest, halting its momentum and sending its trajectory haywire.

-15 HP

Terrorgawk 1

37/52 HP

Max thought it best to chip away at the weakest first, so as to reduce the number of enemies as quickly as possible. Less enemies meant less risk of taking damage, and less chaos.

There was no time to catch the other mid-flight. It was almost upon him.

Max ducked, causing the airborne beast’s sharp talons to skim over the top of his head, then he spun around as quickly as he could, pulling another arrow from his quiver mid-turn, and fired it at the back of the bird that had just narrowly missed him.

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The arrow was a little off-the-mark due to Max rushing, but it turned out to work in his favour; it pierced the bird’s extended left wing and skewered it to the floor of the clearing.

-15 HP

Terrorgawk 3

46/61 HP

As it flapped wildly, trying to shake itself free, Max quickly turned to see where the others were. The weakest was trying to find its balance after the initial blow to its chest, and the one that had gone straight for the meat was trying to tear it from the skewer above the fire.

Change of plan, Max thought.

Trying to take the birds out in order of least HP to most HP had been a great bog-standard plan of action, but Max knew it was important to adapt mid-battle.

He spun back around to face the bird he had skewered to the ground, and he opened his inventory, swapping his bow for the knife.

Without wasting another moment, he launched himself at the tethered bird as the blade materialised in his right hand, and he drove it down into the beast’s back.

There was a deafening squawk as the blade pierced the flesh beneath the feathers.

-25 HP

Terrorgawk 3

21/61 HP

Just one more strike would finish the thing off.

Going crazy from the attack, the bird thrashed and yanked its wing free, but Max was too quick for it. He swung the blade around and slammed it into the beast’s chest.

-25 HP

Max just about saw the satisfying minus figure in the bird’s HP bar.

Terrorgawk 3

-4/61 HP

And then the animal burst into blue embers.

Terrorgawk 3 defeated!

+1 Battle Orb

+1 Beast Orb

He didn’t have time to celebrate. He turned his attention back to the remaining birds, the already injured one swooping in on him once again for another chance at blood.

Max swiped the knife upwards, but this time his strike missed. He tried again in quick succession, but only managed to nip its scrawny foot with the tip of the blade, not enough for any damage to be dealt.

The creature was now flapping wildly, clawing at Max’s face and thrusting its head in sharp movements, trying to peck him with its razor-sharp beak.

Max managed to catch a hold of the base of the bird’s long neck.

The screeching it was letting out was hurting his ears.

“Shut the fuck up,” Max said, and drove the blade horizontally through the center of the neck. The steel cut through it cleanly, exposing its inner sinew and connective tubes as the severed head fell to the floor, still squirming.

CRITICAL HIT!

-35 HP

This burst of text was quickly followed with:

Fatal Wound!

-25 HP every 1 seconds

Max watched as the creature’s stats went from:

Terrorgawk 1

37/52 HP

to:

Terrorgawk 1

2/52 HP

And then a second later:

Terrorgawk 1

-23/52 HP

The decapitated bird in his grip then burst into blue particles, as did its severed head on the ground.

Terrorgawk 1 Defeated!

+1 Battle Orb

+1 Beast Orb

Max liked this. The idea of a fatal wound within this system made sense. How would a creature have continued on fighting without its head?

The last remaining terrorgawk was still tugging at the slab of meat, and had made a right mess of his campfire. He was surprised the creature hadn’t caught fire, given how close it was to the flames.

I wonder…

Max tilted the tip of the arrow down and to his left, so that it was pointing directly at the fire.

There was only one way to find out if what he thought might happen would happen.

Max loosed the arrow and it smashed into the charred logs, spraying a burst of glowing embers in all directions, some of which scattered onto the bird’s feathers.

Max couldn’t help but grin internally as what he’d hoped would happen did indeed begin to happen before his eyes.

The red-hot embers lit a few of the feathers, and within seconds the bird was ablaze, squealing and flapping around with no water to save it.

As the creature became a manic fireball, multiple lines of text popped up next to it in quick succession:

-5 HP

-5 HP

-5 HP

-5 HP

Max might have felt sorry for the helpless thing if it hadn’t been trying to steal his supper.

Eventually the flames died out, leaving the scorched bird without any feathers, and barely any life.

Terrorgawk 2

HP: 3/58

As Max approached it, its beady eyes focused on his ankle and it took a weak snap at him with its charred beak, missing him by quite some way.

It was best to put it out of its misery.

Max raised his foot and stamped on the bird’s head, crushing it beneath his shoe.

-4 HP

Terrorgawk 2

HP: -1/58

Terrorgawk 2 defeated!

+1 Battle Orb

+1 Beast Orb

As the defeated creature’s blackened carcass burst into blue dots, a bunch of loot popped into existence and landed on the ground.

Max had been so distracted by the action that he hadn’t noticed the loot that had also popped out of the other birds when he had defeated them.

He felt a rush of excitement. He had done the hard work, and it was now time to reap the rewards.