Skyward Grasscutter crackled ominously where it was lying on the ground, and the three juvenile Rocs were already making to finish Keldryn off. “He’s hurt! Cover him!” Nocturnus commanded.
Mikayla gritted her teeth. “Damnit, fine. You are naughty birds and you freaking asked for this!” She sidestepped, putting the Black Knight between Keldryn and the Rocs, then advanced, using her sword defensively.
“Hold the tip higher. Cover your chest more,” Nocturnus instructed. As she corrected her posture, Mikayla weighed the pros and cons of having a more experienced swordsman in her ear doing what seemed uncomfortably like backseat fighting. The fact that he was getting on her already-frayed nerves was less important than how he was helping keep her alive and fighting. She just had to remember that.
The Rocs took off into the air once more, and Mikayla tracked their movements. They were fighting synchronously, though, staying far enough apart that she could only keep her eyes on one of them at a time, and the other two were smart enough to capitalise on her blind spots. The first two strikes were blunted by the spikes on her shoulders, but the third crashed into her back and almost knocked her off-balance - a failure that was almost fatal, as only a frantic block with her sword saved her from taking a set of claws directly to the face.
Would that have killed her? It wasn’t as though her real body was behind the Black Knight’s visor at this size. And in this System-run world, would her literal health bar reflect fatal injuries? She had no way to know and she didn’t want to find out.
A shriek alerted her to the fact that she’d lost track of one of the birds, and she wheeled to see that the third Roc was attacking Keldryn again. He’d gotten back up, though with visible scorching on Skyward Grasscutter’s chest, and was using his right arm to defend himself while his left arm hung limp.
Mikayla, worried that his arm was hurt, went to help, only for another Roc to fly at her face and force her to focus on it. She could only watch as the stormbird, sensing weakness, banked to the left and went for the green giant’s neck.
Skyward Grasscutter’sleft arm snapped up, and a blue shape emerged from it with a defiant “Baaaa!”
Bluebell erupted from Keldryn’s left arm, forming in midair and suddenly the size of a car. The glowing blue goat bleated furiously as it smashed its skull into the threatening Roc’s throat, intercepting the strike and knocking it from the sky.
“Companion Cores can go giant too? Of course they can, I should have guessed,” Mikayla groused, deciding she had no choice. She needed to trust Bluebell to protect her master and focus on the two Rocs still harassing her.
Meanwhile, Keldryn was relieved that Bluebell had bought him the time he needed to recover. He couldn’t keep her out for long, he didn’t have the Mana to project both Bluebell and Skyward Grasscutter at this size for more than a couple of minutes. He didn’t waste any time cursing his own weakness, no matter how much he wanted to, he was more disciplined than that.
Instead, he skipped the seconds of vulnerability it would take to straighten up and momentarily dismissed his Goliath, letting it evaporate into sparkles of blue as he fell from where its chest had been to the ground. Landing on his feet, green armour immediately reformed around him and propelled him into the air. Not even stoping to regain his balance, he pitched forwards and let the force of his growth propel him.
Watching this from the corner of her eye, Mikayla could only marvel at Keldryn’s technique. His skills put hers to shame.
All the more so because he then unleashed a new Technique that she hadn’t seen before. A spray of razor-sharp leaves buffeted the Roc, forcing it to slow down and try to avoid the assault. With perfect timing, Bluebell launched herself into the air and drove her armoured head into the Roc’s chest. It shrieked in pain and backwinged to gain altitude.
Keldryn grimaced. Using Gust of Cutting Leaves was taking bites out of his already-strained Mana reserves. The Roc had turned this into a waiting game. “Help Mikayla. I’ll watch this thing,” he commanded, and Bluebell baaed in affirmation.
Meanwhile, Mikayla spared a second to marvel at the teamwork between the ranger and his pet goat. Damnit, now she couldn’t help but want a Companion Core of her own.
There wasn’t time for considering that right now. Mikayla wracked her brains; she needed a strategy, something that would turn the tables. She’d observed how the two Rocs were working together; one would occupy her attention while the other hovered outside her range and prepared to attack from her blind spot. It was a good strategy, but it hadn’t occurred to them that they were getting predictable. Perhaps they simply weren’t used to hunting prey that was smart enough for pattern recognition.
A plan popped into her mind. “Nocturnus, brace yourself. This is gonna be unpleasant,”
“So long as our craven foes suffer more than we do, no sacrifice is too great to be made in the name of glorious slaughter!” Mikayla tuned out his ranting, adjusting her footing. The pools of red light that were the Black Knight’s eyes flicked to the edge of the visor for a moment as she confirmed that one of the Rocs was still holding its position and charging up a burst of electricity.
She launched a reckless strike across her body, one that would force the Roc currently harassing her to dodge out of the way, even though it would leave her exposed as soon as it recovered. But that was inevitable anyway, because the second part of her gambit was to swivel on her massive heel, scraping the ground away under her giant boot, and swing her blade upwards.
The Roc had judged the distance well for the spot it had chosen to hover in, it was outside the range of her sword. Which was why, as she twisted, Mikayla barked, “Mana Assistance! Sword and armour to size ten!”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
A wrenching feeling of vertigo pressed at her temples as the ground fell away, but she poured all her focus into keeping the sword in track as it flew upwards, growing mid-swing. The bird couldn’t avoid it in time.
The sword severed its entire wing, sending a sheet of feathers into the wind as the Roc spiralled towards the ground, futilely waving the bloody stump of its wing. Mikayla was torn between relief and frustration at the sight of the grisly wound; she still didn’t really want to kill the adolescent monsters, but in the heat of the moment she’d gone for a fatal wound and missed. It had happened too quickly for her to be sure whether the bird had tried to dodge or if her aim had just been bad.
As she wrested the sword back down, Mikayla felt beak and claws digging into her back, as expected. It was the price the other monster had exacted on her for landing a crippling blow to its sibling. She twisted her arms behind her back, using her sword like a backscratcher while trying to hold the Roc in place with her left. Unfortunately, the clumsy motion was unsuccessful and it flapped back into the air, screeching furiously in response to its sibling’s painful lamentations.
There was a burning in her veins as she turned the Black Knight around, its massive feet carving furrows into the ground. She swung again, but at this increased size the bird was too small and agile for her to hit. It was like trying to swat a fly, if the fly was giant, had talons and could shoot lightning from its eyes.
So, really, it wasn’t like trying to swat a fly at all.
It was sort of ironic, the bird was too large for her to stand a chance against at normal size, but now the dynamic was reversed and she was too big. “Mana Assistance, armour and sword back to size five,” Mikayla commanded, bracing herself and hunkering down into a defensive stance. Her feet slid across the ground, and she raised her sword to catch the adolescent Roc’s claws on her blade.
It had sensed her moment of vulnerability and attacked, but, like Mikayla, it was beginning to adapt. Her unskilled blocks were just as predictable as the birds’ tag-teaming had been, and at the last moment it juked to the side, danced into her guard and drove its beak into her visor.
It hurt. Why did that hurt so much?! Mikayla let out a scream, clawing at her own face, but the Roc had already disengaged and regained altitude. “Go on! Go away, I don’t want to have to kill you! Just leave!” she commanded, waving furiously.
[YOU HAVE EARNED XP POINTS FOR KILLING A GIANT ROC!]
“What?” She cast a look down at the bird she’d already injured, only to find that its ribcage had been caved in and it was lying limp. Bluebell was prancing on top of it, her hooves stained with blood and looking as proud of herself as a crystalline blue goat could look.
The surviving Roc shrieked in fury, beating its wings furiously. Electricity ran along its feathers, drawing lines in the air, and Mikayla instinctively shielded her eyes as the lightning grew in intensity, condensing into billowing clouds of pure electricity - and then the bird brought its wings down, a furious and violent motion that slammed the power it had condensed into the ground.
There was a detonation, an expanding blast wave of pure electricity that spread in every direction. Mikayla tried to dodge, but the lightning grew into a tidal wave that was about to engulf her entire general direction. There was no avoiding it.
A blue and orange shape interspersed herself between the Black Knight and the oncoming storm. The energy making up her body cracked and fizzled, but with a defiant bleat Bluebell parted the lightning around her body and forced it to pass to either side of Mikayla.
Mikayla blinked furiously. The lightning had dazzled her, burning its light into her retinas, but she thought she’d seen orange horns taking the lightning for her. Had she imagined that?
Her vision cleared and focused on the blue goat crumpled on the ground before her, suddenly looking very small despite its massive size. A horrified gasp escaped her throat. “Bluebell!”
Keldryn’s explanation of a Companion Core’s function rang in her ears. She’s supposed to protect me.
Was she imagining the look of satisfaction that was covering Bluebell’s muzzle? Before Mikayla could decide whether she trusted her own eyes, the goat collapsed into blue dust that flew back towards Skyward Grasscutter.
Mikayla saw red.
And that was entirely literal. There was an eruption of red light around her Core Controller, her veins feeling like they’d been set on fire by her fury and forcing her Mana outwards. The crimson rims that drew the outlines of her armour and sword rippled and flexed, as though the Black Knight was struggling to contain her anger. The pools of light that represented her eyes narrowed into angry red lines. “Okay, you shitty bird, you wanna die so much? Fine!”
“Yes! Now you’re getting it! Slaughter them!” Nocturnus goaded her, and Mikayla acquiesced, charging forwards.
She didn’t even notice the tiny pop up at the corner of her vision. [MANA ASSISTANCE DISABLED]
The Black Knight felt more like part of her body than it ever had before, the sword like an extension of her own arms. She swung, and the bird dodged, but the sword grew mid-swing seemingly of its own accord and clipped its feathers.
The Roc squawked and backwinged, trying to regain some distance. The Black Knight swelled, scaling up while leaning forwards and using the added forwards momentum of growth to kick off, shrinking back down mid-stride only to scale right back up as it leapt.
Squawking in desperation, the bird’s eyes released a wave of lightning. Intuitively, the Black Knight’s wrist bent at an angle that would be impossible for flesh and blood, and Mikayla caught the blast on the flat of her blade.
Her other hand flashed upwards and grabbed the Roc’s tailfeathers between her fingers.
She twisted in mid-air, and the bird was dragged downwards with a scream of distress that was immediately cut short when the edge of the burning-red sword was buried in its throat.
The Black Knight landed in a crouch, pinning the Roc between its blade and the ground and using that leverage to fully decapitate it.
[YOU HAVE EARNED XP POINTS FOR KILLING A GIANT ROC!]
[LEVEL UP! CONGRATULATIONS, YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 11!]
Mikayla panted, her anger ebbing, and she realised belatedly just how different that had been. “What was that . . ?”
“Is it dead?” Keldryn shouted, breathing heavily.
“Yeah. It is,” Mikayla solemnly confirmed, shame filling her heart as she regarded the crumpled corpse. She couldn’t help but regret her anger. There should have been a better way.
A glance in Keldryn’s direction confirmed he had dispatched the third and final of the hatchlings. “Good! We need to go! Now!” Keldryn commanded.
“Before the mother Roc comes back?”
“Exactly! No harvesting the corpses, we don’t have time. You go first, I’ll follow and erase your trail,”
“Should we size up? Move faster?”
“We need stealth more than speed. If I don’t clear our tracks, it’ll follow them and find us. Get going, I’ll be right behind you!”