The Sonorous Gale wasn’t worried. He still had his good looks and charm, and if some random human wasn’t interested, well, that was her loss. Maybe she wasn’t into guys? That was it. He’d ask Adva about it later to see if she’d picked up on anything, but that was totally it. In the end it didn’t mean anything anyway. She was just a human and therefore not the kind of person Kahvin Talongleam could do anything long term with anyway, not if the family’s true name was going to survive.
Bertrar, the cheeky new trainee he’d taken on in a gambit to avoid more difficult hunting assignments, interrupted his sulking. “Hey, boss? I don’t think I can keep gliding.”
Damn it, that’s what I get for taking a hatchling. The Martialist looked pathetic in the air now. He’d just reached level 2 strength and was failing to support his weight in the air with the damage the hawk had done to his wings. “If you try and get to the ground limit from up here that hawk will do more than just take your feathers off by the time you reach it.” He made sure Adva was still watching for the monster’s reappearance before he took stock of the area. That it was night didn’t mean too much to his enhanced vision, though he had lost sight of where that human had gone. I guess I did tell her to hide. Maybe afterward when he’d knocked the hawk out of the sky he’d get another shot.
Motivation secured, Kahvin decided on their strategy. “Alright, Adva and I will stay in the air. Bertrar and Clacki, you two are heading down to that nice big cloud there that I’ll make stable for you. When this thing tries to dive through it it’ll get a nasty surprise. Let’s fly.”
Bertrar’s wings wobbled as he struggled to keep on course. “I’ve never seen something that fast. How are we supposed to hit it?”
“The only thing it’s got is movement, it has an ability that breaks the Spoke’s speed limit. They’re ambush predators,” Adva replied, keeping confidence in her voice. Despite not being the Hero on the team, she tended to handle Bertrar’s uncertainties better. “This is a classic encounter with one of these things. It’ll hover near the two limits and dive down when it sees prey. It might not have bothered if we were at a more central altitude, so I guess we have Kahvin to blame for this.”
“That’s another way of saying without me, we wouldn’t have anything to bring back to the guild,” he shot back, feeling that now the team was being a little too liberal with how they addressed him. This kind of disrespect would have been heavily admonished in the court, and if any of these hunters were staying with him long term he couldn’t let their manners slip. “Look, guys, don’t worry. I’ve fought these things before and they always die to the same old trick. You just need to-”
“Incoming!” Adva shouted the warning at the same time she covered Bertrar. Flying in front of him didn’t fully protect the Martialist due to the nature of the attack, but every bit helped. Grow Wings as a power didn’t provide the extra stability and toughness that would allow Bertrar to truly fly until level 3, and it was only Threst’s Spoke that allowed him to do so well here.
His and Clacki’s wings could also be critically injured by just one of these airbursts. Adva was level 2 herself, but she’d lucked out with a couple of auxiliary powers that enhanced her wings. Being an air-focused Totem Warrior had its perks.
Reacting swiftly, Kahvin entered a sharp dive. He brushed by the cloud he’d mentioned earlier, pulling out of it as the tip of one of his wings infused mana to solidify the water inside. The effect instilled was just strong enough that a normal person could stand on it. Anyone stupid enough to come out here in metal armor would sink through. Something caught in the middle could climb out, but he was still fond of the power for a lot of reasons.
Adva and Bertrar landed on the cloud, the Totem Warrior’s enhanced wings unable to hold up to repeated assaults like his despite her enhancements. Unfortunately, Clacki was shrilly screaming as he plummeted with absolutely no control of his fall. Three airbursts had been enough to force him to switch back to his arms. He could summon his wings again but they’d be just as damaged, and no amount of rage from the Berserker would help now.
There was also the fact that the hawk wasn’t doing the normal slingshot maneuver it used to double the number of attacks per dive. It kept falling, the area of clouds being cleared by its passage slowly expanding. It’s diving back to the ground limit. It can survive going that fast that long? Kahvin put that out of his immediate worries, they’d have at least another minute before the hawk would make another pass if it was diving to the bottom. Even if the monster was bypassing the normal restriction on fall speed, it still had fifty kilometers or so to go before it would return to the sky limit.
He spent most of that time reaching Clacki and attaching a rope to a point on the back of his armor. The knot was basic, considering it had been done with his wings, but functional, allowing Kahvin to tow his fallen team member back to the cloud. “Thanks.”
“Eh, first one each hunt’s free.” Kahvin turned his head as he flew up to ask, “Hey, you think I would have landed that chick if I had more time, right?”
Clacki had been part of the team long enough to get Kahvin, but he still looked a bit taken aback. “You’re thinking about that now?”
“Think about monsters all the time and all you’ll get is monsters,” Kahvin replied sagely as he landed. Of his team, he was the only one with his wings out. Bertrar had his bow, but the rest were somewhat crippled as Adva fought primarily with her combat form, and Clacki with wingblades. That was fine though, because none of them needed to hit the monster. All in all, a ripair hawk was one of the simplest level 3 monsters to hunt in the region. They were fortunate to have encountered this over any other possible kind that level since it should be east advancement and coin. “Ok team, good work so far. I’ll get in the air just in case. It’ll be coming fast so have a healing potion ready, but don’t take it out until after it passes.”
“Kahvin, are you sure this is going to work? What if it’s going too fast?”
“Adva, don’t worry. This is the third time I’ve done this and they never see it coming.” He jumped up and took to the air, turning in motion while reverting one of his arms briefly to give a thumbs up. Kahvin wasn’t worried about the hawk. They were a glass ballista and a dodge tank combined, using extreme speed to weaken an enemy before devouring them. In a straight up fight, Bertrar could take it because their endurance was that weak, maybe in the level 1 range. You could also take them out by reflecting their strategy back at them with area of effect attacks, using illusions to misdirect them or mental powers to slow them down, really anything that got the hawk to stay in one spot for more than a few seconds. Kahvin preferred his method though because of how funny it was.
Kahvin patrolled the sky, passing the time before the hawk’s return by trying to spot where that girl had gone. He should be able to hear the beetle’s wings if he concentrated. She shouldn’t be too far away.
“Above!” Adva’s alarm brought him back into focus. He swiveled to face the cloud the rest of his team was on, to all appearances sitting ducks for the hawk to try and strike directly. Little did it know he’d left a little surprise in the cloud, and it wouldn’t be as easy to pass through as it would like. The last couple of times the hawks had gotten stuck, letting the others he’d been grouped with brutalize them. This looping fall trick was new and may let the hawk pierce through, but it would be hurt enough that the rest of the fight would be an afterthought.
Heh. Stupid bird.
“Kahvin!” He didn’t know why Adva was shouting at first, she should know what the plan was, until he realized the hawk wasn’t heading for the cloud. It was- he brought his shield out just in time. It stuck to the air in front of the widest part of his wing, where his hand normally would be. The enchantment on it protected him somewhat from the torrent of displaced air that cut out of the explosion that hit next to him. It wasn’t just the movement of the monster driving its attack, the hawk put some of its magic into the air when it wanted to exacerbate the effect. The monster wasn’t high enough level to create an actual mana burst with its abilities, but it sure felt like it to Kahvin as he was hit near the center of the effect.
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It’s hunting me? That’s not right. Kahvin knew how these monsters normally worked, targeting groups of weaker prey over singular strong ones. This wasn’t right. It should have gone for the rest of his team and crashed into the cloud like the stupid bird it was. Instead, it was building up more ludicrous speed, the roar of its fall now audible.
His wings felt weak. Not only that, but he’d fallen a decent distance after the shock of the attack had stunned him. There was blood in his throat and a pain in his chest accompanying a new difficulty breathing. It had passed just next to him, so close it might have hit him physically too. Kahvin’s first thought was to run before he remembered his advice to Bertrar. This hawk was fast enough that even if he flew laterally to avoid it the first time, it would adjust for its second or slingshot back upwards to catch him.
I’m in danger. The thought shocked him just as much as the last attack had. He was hurt, separated from his team, and specifically targeted by the enemy. Kahvin began to panic, almost dropping his shield before remembering to keep it tethered. He hadn’t drawn his sword yet. He was alone against an equal foe, and unlike a duel there were no healers on standby or punishments waiting for those who took it too far. This thing would kill him and then eat him with a beak large enough to tear off his head in one bite. That was exactly what it was going to do, and while he was alive to experience it.
At no point in his life had it been this bad. He was Kahvin Talongleam, a trueborn prodigy of the court, given this team because he’d been judged ready. It was not supposed to end here. It couldn’t end here, but Kahvin couldn’t think about his powers at this moment. He was completely shaken. In hindsight, some part of him grimly mused, he should have fixed his level disparity before reaching level 3. Who knew wisdom could be this important?
Flapping like a nestling just tossed out by their parents, Kahvin tried to reach a cloud before it came back. If he baited it into one, could he survive a second hit with the hawk going that fast? He was almost to the cloud when he felt something touch his shoulder. Screaming, Kahvin twisted away, but there wasn’t any pain.
Actually, he felt himself stabilize, both fear and flight smoothing out. He twisted his head and just caught a glimpse of a beetle before it vanished into another cloud. Her? What did she do? It was some kind of calming effect, but it wasn’t trying to knock him out like a sleep ability. No, he just felt in the zone. Already he was kicking himself for not heightening Aerobatics and Evasiveness, which he did now. His wings caught more air with every flap, and if the hawk came straight at him again he had a better chance at dodging.
Slightly concerningly, Kahvin wasn’t that interested in whoever was on that beetle anymore. That did give him some pause, but this shouldn’t be permanent. Right? Kahvin shook his head and decided not to worry about it. That hawk was coming back for him and he had to get ready. There was another way to take them out commonly used by Knights or other durable front-line classes. Kahvin had the tools to do it, he’d just never considered it because of how stupid you had to be to try it. But plan A wasn’t an option right now, and all Kahvin could think of was that suicidal strategy.
The first step was replacing the shield on his back. He could use Wing Grasp to two-hand his sword but didn’t do it normally since he’d have to put both wings in front of him, limiting his ability to fly. It also felt like he was trying to hold the damn thing with spoons. He’d try it here, but only when the time came.
Next, he put his back to the ground limit and coasted. His body wasn’t as efficient in the air like this, but he had to see the hawk coming. His best guess put it at 30 seconds until it showed up again. He’d dropped about two hundred meters during the tumble, giving him roughly five seconds at best when the hawk appeared again.
I’m thinking so clearly, Kahvin realized. His intelligence wasn’t as bad as his wisdom and with everything muted, it felt like he could use it better. Why don’t people always use this kind of power before hunts? He had to ask that girl what this was later.
Suddenly, a giant break in the clouds appeared above. Kahvin had been worried about missing the hawk’s appearance, but this was unmistakable. Just like last time, it was heading straight toward him. Kahvin breathed in, activating Rush Strike and charging it to increase its effectiveness. He needed both the movement and the extra damage the ability provided since the hawk wasn’t dumb enough to come right at him. A direct impact would kill them both at these speeds.
Three seconds after it appeared, Kahvin unleashed his ability and launched forward with some of his mana trailing behind him to provide an extra boost. Like the hawk, his ability was making him move through the air faster than you’d normally be able to. The turbulence from the dive rippled the air far before the hawk’s actual approach, but he’d surprised it by rushing up and the hawk didn’t respond quickly enough with its own explosive ability. A second before it would have released its mana to sunder the air, Kahvin brought up his sword with both wings.
It was ripped out of his hands faster than he could perceive. What followed was pain all over his body, concentrated in his arms. He was falling again, naturally. It seemed like his wings had completely broken, with the excess strain passed onto his real arms. He was locked out of Grow Wings for the next hour while the feature reset. A healing potion wouldn’t help unless it could also handle the cooldown, and those kinds were extremely expensive. Kahvin tumbled head over talon, unable to control his fall.
He still felt oddly calm. The hawk would kill him outright with its next pass if it was alive, and the exchange had gone by faster than he could blink. If he had been holding his sword, rather than tethering it to him with a power, that impact might have torn all the leathery skin off his hands. It had to be injured at least, right?
Something flew down next to him. It wasn’t the hawk, he knew that because he was still breathing after he registered it. “Kahvin, what was that?” Adva’s incredulous voice asked. He was still rotating too fast to pick her out of the blurring dark and silver of the sky.
“Did I get it?”
“Boss, you cut its wing off!” Bertrar said, closer. Kahvin felt an arm reach for him and his tumbling slowed slightly. “What was that!?”
“I don’t know.” Another few nudges and he could almost make out the three around him. “We’re still falling.”
“Gonna have to hit the ground limit and glide home. Don’t worry boss, we’ll help you out.” Adva latched onto his back with her feet like she was a hawk herself capturing prey. That brought him fully out of his spin. Everyone winced as they saw how bloody his arms were, one obviously broken. “You ok?”
“Yeah. It hurts, but that chick did something. It’s like my head’s more in the game than it’s ever been.”
“Nice change of pace. You should make a habit of this.”
Kahvin was still himself despite whatever power was affecting him, and he shook his head. “Gods no. I can barely think about getting with anyone like this.” He was about to draw the obvious conclusion when Clacki asked a question.
“That wasn’t the mid level you mentioned, was it? I could try and find a piece if we need it for the bounty.” It was probably not a serious offer since Clacki and Bertrar were supporting each other’s injured wings by locking one to the other. If they had their normal arms it would have looked like they were holding each other’s shoulders.
Kahvin shook his head again as Adva tried to line him up, intending to get him above the pair before linking up with them herself so Kahvin could ride on all three as some cobbled together platform. “Nah, that was just a level 3. Shouldn’t have given us that much trouble though. Weird. Anyway, that one is rumored to be a level 5 veteran stone eagle. Only good news about it is if we ran into it we could run away. Which, we would need to. Nasty fucker.”
…
One hour later, Kahvin was resting with his back on a cloud. He really liked this ability, especially now that it meant they didn’t have to go back to Aurus to get him healed. His team had the potions, of course, but Kahvin wasn’t wasteful enough to use it when there was no present danger. As luck would have it, they’d run into another team on their way back. The five had asked questions about the woman on the beetle, another coincidence. He got the feeling there was something they weren’t telling him, but the Cleric had fixed him enough to fly and the red-feathered one was hot, so he didn’t see the harm.
While Kahvin would have tried to put his freshly renewed libido to the test, the five were busy and his team did need to get back to Aurus. It didn’t matter, since he was sure the story of this hunt would buy them some time off and give him a better shot at striking lucky elsewhere. The return of his full emotions mostly brought contentment with a little bit of disbelief at what he’d pulled off, but that was ok. The legend of the Sonorous Gale continued to grow. It was all turning up Kahvin, just like it always did. He'd even avoided getting close to that level 5 monster. Good luck to whoever had to fight that thing.