Being carried off by two hawks who managed to grab me while I was distracted was not what I wanted to happen, but nothing is going the way I wanted anyway.

I tried to get the saint's attention by screaming for their help, but I realized that screaming into a mess of explosions and screeching was pointless.

I instead tried to reach the hawks carrying me, but I couldn't with the way they were holding me. My shoulders and elbows were in a painful stranglehold with little room for movement.

Being restrained was uncomfortably familiar to me, and it was like I was held in place a lot even before I woke up. Luckily, a couple of thoughts on how to get out of their grip came to mind.

I thought over what way I should use when a desperation that wasn't mine called out to my mind. It was my angel who wanted to chase after me but couldn't. Probably because the swarm was blocked them.

It was not a nice experience to feel such a heavy desperation, but at the same time, it was comforting that someone was so desperate to help me. I can't reach them with my hands, but I have a large dagger that's incredibly sharp, so I should just turn my wrist.

I twisted my wrist to stab one of them, but my attempt was interrupted when they took a sharp turn around a corner. Jostling me heavily and making me sick and to make matters worse, a massive migraine hit me, and then what felt like a piece of my soul was cut off from me.

I twitched violently and screamed as the feelings of my angel faded, and so did the migraine.

The migraine was gone, but the feeling of desperation didn't return. The understanding I had for my angel's feelings and what they were doing was gone.

I would be devastated at the loss of my newly and what could be the only companion I could trust with my life but an instinctual feeling told me it was that it wasn't a permanent cut-off to her and we could reconnect when we touched. I hope this is the worst day I ever experience...

But frustration still filled my heart at how many things were going against me. I couldn't even take a single step outside without being assaulted and abducted by giant hawks.

My eyes moved up to the hawks, and a thought occurred to me. Couldn't I just bite them?

It would be very easy for me to tilt my head to tear a large out of its leg. I was about to commit to biting them when a large gust of wind hit my face, making me realize how high I was being taken into the air.

When did they take me this high? I was flown over a building, and the result was wind battering my face relentlessly, making me squint as I observed my surroundings.

I was at least 30 meters in the air, and my stomach sank now that landing on the ground wasn't an option anymore.

I tried to think of anything to get out of this and came up with a simple idea. Could I land on the roof?

I glanced down and realized the building we were flying over had a door on the roof, which got me thinking about how I could get out of this situation. If I can get on the roof, I can work my way down through the staircase.

Now I just need to force them to go down a bit to land... Let's get one to panic first. Now that I knew what my plan was, I turned to the hawks who were squabbling about who would get credit for the offering or whatever that meant.

I didn't really care about what they were talking about ether, so I sank my teeth into the hawk who was holding my arm with the dagger. This should mess it up it's flying. They feel pain after all.

My assumption was immediately proven correct as panic overtook the hawk, and it's flapping staggered to a struggling mess, dragging all of us down to the roof.

They screeched that I was ungrateful before letting go. I did not, in fact, let go of them and clamped down harder, much to its horror.

With one of my hands now free, I sheathed the dagger and grabbed the other hawks leg so I wouldn't be a splat on the roof if it let go. And I was right since they tried to drop me moments later. Can't let you two go when I need your wings, can I?

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Huh, I thought this was going to hurt. was prepared to tolerate the agonizing pain of holding my body weight with my teeth, but to my surprise, they didn't even sting. The more prominent things inducing problems currently was the thick blood entering my mouth.

It was something I didn't want to experience right now, but I couldn't not taste the stuff in my mouth. My complaints ended when the taste of rice doused with soy sauce filled my senses and caused a wave of relief from the indulgence of an instinct I almost forgot I was ignoring. Why was I so against this?

The Saints' blood tastes far better. What about their flesh? If I only cut some flesh off, they would heal.

...! I shuddered as I clocked what I suggested doing, I wanted to hit myself for it, but I couldn't with the situation I was in.

My feet hit the roof soon after, and I let go of hawk so I could use my dagger. It flew off the instant I let go, but my concern was finishing off the one I was still biting.

I yanked the dagger out of its sheath and tried to cut the hawks head off, but the blade got stuck halfway through its neck. It gushed purple ichor as it started choking on its own blood. "Oh, sorry."

I felt bad for putting it through suffocation, I went through it as well today, so I was aware of how awful it was, so I finished it off with another push of the dagger.

[Congratulations on defeating 7 Hive hawks! You have been given 14 shop points for your accomplishment.]

"What, that's it? No advice or anything? I guess I am a saint now, so it's not as impressive to the system or maybe important?" I sighed as I steadied myself on solid ground, grateful that I wasn't being jostled around 10s of meters in the air anymore. Oh, right. Where's the other one?

I glanced over the edge to see where the other one went. I could see it flying at high speeds away from me and rounded the corner to where I think the flock was. I had a feeling it was telling its flock that I got away and would be coming back shortly, so I quickly dug its marble out and shivered when I put it in my mouth.

The taste of perfectly seasoned chicken dipped in soy sauce greeted me, actually tasting something from the marble completely blindsided me for a moment. I savored the taste, and it lingered as I swallowed it. Oh, if their going to actually taste like food now, that's something to look forward to!

I took a deep breath right before the hawk melted and shot towards me. It was an incredible experience when I knew it was going to do that, with the taste of soy chicken and rice, and the feeling of fulfillment I got from it was unmatched to me. The last of it went in, and I licked my lips hungrily. If it didn't feel so morally wrong, I'd feed on... nevermind.

I could hear the hawks screeching, and they were getting closer, fast. I booked it over to the door and opened it. *Cla-chunk* Or not since it was locked.

I sighed and got ready to start kicking the door like last time, only for it to swing open after one kick. "What a terrible door. Good for me, though!"

I stepped past the door and into a spacious concrete staircase with a 5F painted on the wall. The lights were off or broken, making it dark, and with no windows in the staircase, it just got darker further down.

I brushed my fingers along the walls and recoiled slightly at how slimy it was. looking closer at the walls, I noticed they were also tinted a slight green. What is this, Moss?

I scratched some of the stuff off of the wall with my flat nails and brought it into the light to get a better look. Now, in better lighting, it seemed more like tiny roots than moss.

I could hear that several hawks were approaching the roof, so I closed the door to hopefully throw them off. Well, as well as it could with it just being broken and all.

I started trudging down the flight of stairs in a bit of a rush, hoping they wouldn't follow.

On the 4th floor, it felt smaller, and the shade of green was more apparent with a few spots of clumped up roots that were now the size of my fingers. What is going on here?

I stopped for a minute at a map of the floor put next to floor entrance to see if their was anything helpful on it, and there were a few things I felt would be.

Like letting me tell that this was an office building of some kind with an elevator in the middle and two staircases, one on each side. One on each side of the building and the elevator in the middle.

My decent slowed as I saw pustules growing out of the now arm sized roots and sludge dripping from the pustules on the walls and floor. The scent of fractals lingered think in the air now.

The scent brought back my hunger for blood and flesh just as much made me wary at what was emitting the strong smell. I swallowed my saliva and carefully placed my feet to avoid stepping on the sludge as I kept going down.

I held the dagger at the ready for anything that might pounce at me. The sludge and roots around me only increased the more I went down.

When I got to the 3rd floor, the passage down to the 2nd floor was completely blocked by torso sized roots with the disturbing addition that it grew and shrank like it was breathing, releasing a green mist with exhale. The mist was incredibly pungent, and my stomach ached at the thought, eating something that smelled so strongly. "Oh, what the hell is this?"

"Maybe the other side is clear." I looked at the entrance to the floor and the map with reluctance. A soft purple glow emanated from the door. It felt like I would be entering a lion's den if I went in there.

It was clear to me that if the hawks were gone, it would be better to go back to the roof to see if I could climb down the side of the building.

I turned to go upstairs, and a hawk hopped into view. Distracted by the roots on the wall.