I have invested points in the elven skills. The MP and agility ones are a blessing. I desperately needed more MP.

"I'm brand new and need to grind levels, who is up for some mountain trekking?"

 A big show of hands. Two humans, one angel, one naga, one gorilla, one green... "Charmma, go back to watching the prisoner!"

 I gather Helen, Mittens, Marcy, and Shraaizar. Zahariel decided to fly there. Select the anchor of the last patrol site and teleport!

Marcy points out and asks, "To the mountains?"

"Yeah. I want to see what is there. But I'll carry you." I pick them up and use the dragon wings. I'm rather slow but it is still a dozen times faster than climbing. Mittens follows on his own and Zahariel is already in sight. The angel quickly catches up. It seems he invested some points in his flying skill. The three of us were flying and scouting the ground for either the chimera nest or any prey for more than three hours when we heard a loud bird call. It feels like a bird of prey.

Marcy pales and sounds the alarm, "Grendel, land us now! Everyone to the ground and take cover!"

The sound of flapping and big gusts of wind raise our tension. Something big is coming and it thinks the mountain airspace is theirs.

"There is a ledge over there! Dive!"

Again that raptor-like bird cry. Mittens shivers and dives first on the ledge. Zahariel overtakes me and lands too. Above us, a big shadow covers the sky. I also dive and drop the girls on the ledge.

"Grendel, behind you!" Helen gives the warning a little too late.

A huge beak clips my wings and yanks me from the ledge right after I dropped them. At least everyone is safe. I understand why Mittens was so scared. The natural enemy of a giant bug is... A giant bird. An eagle as tall as a building. It is gaining height fast with my wings trapped in its iron-hard beak. Behind it, I can see that there is another one. A mythical beast, the roc. What can I do? I could detach the wings, but I'd become a blood splatter on the mountains. I'll try the new offensive skill. First, level it up to 5. Aim at the eye.

"Acid Breath!" I timed the breath to the very moment the roc was pulling back its nictating membrane. The focused cone of acid spread enough to cover the whole eye and some of the skin around it.

The roc shakes its head and tumbles, losing its lift. I am flung away and miss the chance to grab onto some feather or plume.

Sharp rocks sculpted by the roaring winds down below will probably cause more harm than just shredding and smashing me. I could be pinned below some rock. Without Emperor's Might, I can't really do those herculean feats of strength anymore. Without any choice, I have to try and stabilize my fall like a skydiver would before opening the parachute. In my case, regenerating the wings.

the roc is falling above me. Its feathers create drag even without canceling its fall. I'm making a harpoon when I return home. If I do. My dragon wings regenerate and I also begin to break my falling speed. No good. My skill is too low.

The roc flaps its wings and regains the skies. It looks at me sideways and dives. I am falling too fast. I can't fly but I can glide and dodge to its blindside. As it missed by a few feet with the feeling of being by a paper thin margin, I manage to grab some feathers. One of them is plucked but the other one holds. Now to climb on its back. With a free hand, I draw the horn spear. Again I miss the sure-kill absurd 140x damage boost. I stick my feet between some feathers of its neck and pull up the one I am holding. The pink skin of its neck is exposed below the feathers. I stab but the loose footing makes me miss. The roc feels its neck being stung and tries to shake me. It causes the next strike to also miss and I almost fall off.

I store the spear and with both hands I grasp a bunch of feathers with the left hand and latch my feet claws to another set of feathers. With this stable footing, the spear sinks into the roc's fleshy neck.

"Gyaaaaa!" It cries in pain. The damage was negligible. This thing has more than two and half times as many HP as me. I pull with the left hand putting all my strength to push the spear further inside its neck. With the shaking and the pouring blood, there is a pressure to push the spear out.

If I am going to kill this bird, I need to ground it first. It makes a spin and I could see the other roc fighting the rest of the party on the ledge. Time to try gravity magic.

"Control (Increase) Weight!"

The gravity pulls on the roc almost doubles. The bird tries to flap its wings faster, but being as big as an airliner has their problems. It is already physically impossible to make such a big bird fly without magic. With the added weight, it begins to steadily lose altitude. Next step.

"Flash Freeze!"

The bird is too big to freeze entirely. The best I can hope for is to make an ice casting around the joint of its wings. It is strong enough to break the ice on the first try, but each time it loses the timing on the flapping motion, losing more and more lift. I keep spamming flash freeze and the roc cries in desperation.

"Kylee!" Its cry makes the other roc ignore the party and come to this one's aid. Its belly has burn marks and some bleeding from the attacks it received from the ground team. Time to make it fall and get my next 'ride'.

"Static field!"

The next spell is an area of effect paralysis trap. The feathers fan and crackle as the electrical field makes some voltaic arcs jump between feathers. But it is only on the surface. The roc is almost unaffected by the static, just more annoyed.

The other roc is coming and it has spotted me on its partner's neck. The big dragon wings were a dead giveaway against the white backdrop, I guess.

With a free hand, I begin chanting the pyroclasm spell. The other roc is pissed and dives at me. Right before I could finish the chant, its beaks are closing on me. this will hurt but here it goes.

"Lava Bomb!"

Close range. And this time around I have enough MP to cast it in full.

SHOOOOM!

The pressurized volcanic tephra ball blows inside the bird's throat. With its beak open and a few feet from me. My ride and I take heavy damage as the heat of the explosion pushes the two birds apart. The second roc vomits hot magma and boiling blood on its already burnt and scratched companion's back. Both birds stumble onto each other and lose lift. The first one falls faster than the other thanks to the gravity magic and goes to the bottom, but none of them has any chance to break their fall or get off.

Me? I was blown away by the explosion. I lost grip on the horn spear and am also going to splatter myself against some jagged rocks. Or not?

"Control (decrease) gravity!"

I cast the gravity spell on me, cutting my own weight by a factor of 9. I have to also trigger {Vitality Booster} because I took 25% burn damage and the wings won't regrow unless the burn damage is healed. It has been some time since I had to use it.

I glide like a paper kite and the rocs are still going down. I check my MP and there is still enough for one half-cast "Lava Bomb!"

I drop into MP Exhaustion and the gravity spells will run their basic duration only. The second lava bomb detonates on the base of the neck of the second roc. the updraft throws me upwards and into a spin. The rocs crash into the sharp rocks below, but they are still alive. Hooray for size HP bonus.

I recover my balance and stop spinning with the regenerated wings. Here comes Zahariel carrying Helen and Mittens carrying Marcy and Shraaizar. The rocs groan and chirp below but it seems their wings broke on the fall.

"Grendel! We will finish them off!" the seraph offers.

"Don't use that meteor on the birds. I want those feathers. Marcy, come with me."

We transfer the red-head archer mid-air, and after clearing the exhaustion status I dive with her to where the rocs are.

On the corner of my eye, I see my Horn Spear a couple hundred feet down. I was worried it would be lost in these mountains. The bird turns the head and brings me to the field of view of its last good eye.

"Homing Multishot!"

Only to lose it to a deadly barrage of arrows from Guildmaster Marcy.

The head flops down and stops moving.

Helen (4-Wizard) has gained 10 levels. Marcy (5-Guild Master) has gained 8 levels. Zahariel (4-wizard) has gained 3+9 levels. Grendel (3- Monster Tamer) has gained 28+12 levels. +250 SP Shraaizar has gained 8 levels.

Good. Now, what should I do with these two oversized chickens? I'll try shoving one in the item box. 64,000 lb. Two-thirds of the item box.

"I'll now set an anchor here and teleport with the birds. I'm taking the non-flyers first. Come."

With four jumps I was able to ferry everyone and the dead birds back to Willow Hill.

"It will take the rest of the day to dismantle these birds. Marcy, what is the proof of subjugation of rocs?"

"It is the beak." I could make a small boat with one of these beaks.

"It is fine to keep it in the item box, right?"

"Yes."

"I'll call some dismantler monkeys to help process these rocs. We should have enough meat to go through a couple winters now."

It took two days to process the birds. We discarded the entrails and most of the unusable meat in the slime pit and dashed boiled syrup on some bones. They will be used for construction later. Bird ribcage longhouse. I stored all the feathers and a lot of fresh roc breast and thigh meat in storage. We now have an use to those tons of branches and roots from the trees that were just piled up to be used as firewood in the winter. Smoking the roc meat will take days.

But the biggest prize was the two wind-aligned A-rank pemadras. If it can make a sixty thousand pound bird fly it will also make my dream of an airship one step closer,

It also attracted every starving wolf, bear and other lower ranked monsters in miles. It was a good grind for our members. Defending the smoking pits was set up as a quest for monster adventurers to accept and earn extra rations. All those extra bows I bought were being put to good use. Some more agile monkeys were becoming quite the sharpshooters. Helen and Shraaizar were using wind and weather magic to hide the smoke from Mirfield.

I kept harvesting horns and nails during these days I think I have hundreds of horns and thousands of nails. I've also raised villager and apprentice magician job to the cap.

There were plenty of food and feasts every day.

"Is it my impression or are the devil monkeys putting weight in the dead of winter? It is too absurd!" Marcy complains to no one in particular right in front of me.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

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I've made a magical bracelet that can cast Flash Freeze on Cloude if he gets more than 100ft away from Uppa or if Uppa is knocked unconscious or dead. It also casts Flash Freeze if someone tries to tamper or remove it. Repeated times. As it happened earlier and several times during his escape attempts.

"How are you doing, prisoner Cloude? Enjoying our village? The roc meat is to your liking? But please don't try to escape again or I'll begin to delete your skills."

"Why are you training an army? Are you conquering Mirfield now? The whole Heorot Kingdom?"

"None of them? How about it? We are a monster settlement that has no ambitions of conquest so far. We just want to live our lives in peace without fear of being eaten by a stronger monster or hunted by adventurers.

"The world will end by your hands. I don't believe you are not plotting conquest."

"Your world HAS ended. Thousands of years ago. Those that are alive now are fighting over scraps. Ask the angel over there. He lived through the cataclysm."

"I won't believe the words of a monster or an hybrid." There is no use in talking to him.

"You are free to believe what you want. We won't torture you or brainwash you. Enjoy your vacation."  We depart to do other things. The goblins picked up jeweler and metalsmith skills as well. They can make jewelry that would be a hit with heavy metal fans back on Earth.

After leaving the prison-house I met Helen. "Grendel, we should go to town tomorrow for the mid-winter feast! Let's take a lot of smoked meat and give to the children!"

"Sure, Helen. You really love the mid-winter feast, right?"

"Yes!" Her eyes are shining with enthusiasm.

Then it is decided. I gather the usual party of four and announce. "Tomorrow is the mid-winter day. Beowulf's hero party is returning to Mirfield to participate in the festival. With a few thousand pounds of smoked roc meat to distribute as souvenirs to the children."

The day goes by as we wrap the bundles of smoked roc meat on broad leaves. It is a freaking lot. We teleport to the south stream anchor, and it is completely frozen now.

"We would be freezing right now if it weren't for Helen's warming spell."

I try to cheer her up, "C'mon Marcy, it is not that bad."

"Says the seraph that resists all elements, the troll that is immune to cold and the winter child that is resistant to cold from birth."

Marcy is the only one in the whole party that has serious human-like issues with cold. But she is spot-on. I take the trusted wagon and the bundles of smoked meat out of item box and neatly stack them inside the wagon. We were saving the beaks but decided to turn one of them in at the guild for kicks. It is decorating the top of the wagon canopy now. The lines between cargo wagon and parade float were blurred. Again.

We reached the south gate of Mirfield and went inside ignoring the perplexed gazes of the gate guards. I guided the wagon to the front of Alvus' clinic. That apprentice girl was outside, sweeping the porch. Alice, I think.

"Hello there! We have returned!"

"Oh, it is the Hero! Welcome back, it is wonderful to see all of you safe and sound." She peeks inside and yells, "Master, the Hero is here!"

Alvus comes out the front door, "Hello Beowulf! Fancy seeing you here. You are insane to spend the entire winter camped out hunting. I see you got quite the haul! What is that beak?"

"It is a hundred feet roc we hunted in the Dragonclaws. There is plenty of smoked meat, come and help yourself."

Alvus comes to the cart and Zahariel hands him a ninety-pound bundle of smoked meat.

"Are you participating in the midwinter festival?"

"Sure. We plan to return with an empty wagon, so we will be imposing on the townsfolk to help us eat all this bird meat."

Alice's eyes were as watered as her mouth. "Can we eat all that?"

"That's the idea. The feast will be in the main square, right? We are going to excuse us. We need to visit mother Mercy now."

"We will meet later then. Have you kids reserved an inn?"

"No. We are planning to get a room after we visit Mercy."

"Please come to stay with me at the clinic."

"We don't want to disturb the patients. Don't worry, this beak will net quite the gold at the guild. It is fine to splurge a bit."

We left Alvus and his apprentice behind and drove to Mercy's place. The smell of warm smoked meat was enticing the villagers and there was quite the troop of drooling children trailing the wagon.

I wanted to open a bundle and distribute some meat but Helen advised against. "Leave it for tonight. This is the tradition. They are readying themselves for the festival, if they eat too much now it will ruin the feast."

At the to enter Mercy's street the people were already outside. The person herself was also out.

"Mother!" Shouted Marcy.

"My, my, what a ruckus these kids are doing. And you, Beowulf. You've let these girls turn you to a horse already!"

Considering the crature in question could indeed turn into a horse, it is not that bad. "Nah, I don't mind. Horses don't last a minute where we were leveling up. We were about to stop for a visit, but now I'd like you to hop aboard, mother. Come with us."

Mercy steps on the wagon and sits on the coachman seat next to Marcy. "Next stop the guild. Let's get rid of this beak and net us some gold."

"Oh, my what a lively bunch! Heya!" And now she is turning me into a horse. Like mother...

And the second Beowulf parade cruised through town until the central square. There is a big wooden stage with fancy chairs set in front of the Mayor's office.

I ask Helen about it. She is quite the winter festival expert. "Is it normal to have that stage set like that?"

"Back when the Baron was alive, yes. But it is strange."

We leave Helen and Mercy taking care of the wagon because she was the most adamant in not distributing meat before the feast even with the dozens of pleading eyes.

I take the beak on my back and carry it overhead to the Guild. Marcy and Zahariel came with me.

The same receptionist that took the chimera remains comes to meet us, "Whoa, Marcy what the heck is this!!"

And Marcy calls her bluff, "C'mon. I know you already appraised it!"

The warehouse receptionist said out loud so everyone could hear, "It was an adult A-rank Skywing Roc! The wingspan of this thing should be more than two hundred feet! How the hell did you manage to bring down such a beast?"

"Trade secrets. Now, please evaluate it. We are just selling it for coin."

"No way! Hand over your cards. The guild master will eat me alive if I report an A-rank subjugation without tallying points. I bet the help of this brave wing-kin boy here was crucial, right? He is the hero's apprentice after all!"

What the fuck? We brought the chimera, she didn't bat an eyelid. Now we kill rocs without a request and she wants us to meet the guildmaster? There is something stinking here. DEFCON 3.

"Oh, did you hear? The king has appointed a new viscount for Mirfield. A son of this town has risen to nobility! We are no longer a baronate! He will make his inaugural announcement tonight at the feast."

The sound of feet marching and dozens of presences going down two streets away were impossible to not notice.

"Did he come from the road to Strawford? It doesn't seem so, because these marching sounds are coming from the west."

"No, it is said that he banished Grendel the troll from the west road. The path to Whiteridge is clear now."

"Oh, this new Viscount did it?" asked Marcy with a disbelieving tone.

"Yes! The new viscount is the successor to the position of Shining Blade!"

I trade gazes with Marcy and Zahariel. This stinks too much. "All right, let's stop the small talk. Please process the beak and we will be on our way. Here are our cards."

"Yes, please wait a moment. Could you please put the beak in the warehouse?" I carry the beak into the warehouse loading door and place it on a trolley. I have a terrible feeling. I want to get out of this town this very moment.

Marcy grabs my arm and whispers, "Calm down, Beowulf. We are going back soon."

The receptionist disappears into the guild main building and takes longer than the usual to come back, "Hero Beowulf, the guildmaster wants to see you."

"Impossible. I, we are leaving right now. Our cards please."

She shows empty hands. "I'm afraid they are with the guild master. He wants to talk to you."

"Marcy, this stinks. The timing is too convenient."

"Wait. Let's go away and get our cards on the way back. Do you have the gold?"

"I'm afraid It is with the guild master too."And she bows to usher us into the building.

Fuck! Every time I set foot on a guild branch some shit happens. I should do a tour and wipe this creepy organization out. I can replace them with the bootleg guild. We go to the guild main building and barge into the guildmaster room. A middle-aged slim guy with a goatee and glasses stares at us.

"I know I sent to call you, but I was not ready."

Marcy of all people kicks diplomacy out the window, "I am sorry to barge in, but we are in a hurry. Can we have our cards back."

"Wait, relax, sit down and sip some tea."

I go straight to the point, "What business do you have with us?"

"I want to get to know you and talk. I have been guild master of this branch since a few days after the orc horde incident, but never got to meet the hero that saved the town!"

This fucker is lying. He is obviously stalling us.

"Let me shake hands with you, guild master." I approach him and extend my hand.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Hero Beowulf." That fake business smile won't work today.

"Can I make a question?"

"Are you deliberately stalling us here this day of all days?" Intimidating presence.

"What? I don't know what you are talking about." Lies. He tries to retrieve his hand from my grip. No can do.

"Psychic Assault!"

"Gaaaaaaaaa!" The guildmaster faints. Seriously, this skill is more useful to knock people out than to remove curses.

"Marcy, change his job to villager."

"Are you crazy?"

"Yes. My guts tell me it is time to go crazy. We have no time to lose."

"Guildmaster authority! Forced job change to Villager!" A guild card is a liability. If you have an active guild card, any guild master can mess with you like shit. They usually don't do it in the open because people would go nuts.

"Possession."

The former guild master made villager fails to resist. I enter his body and take over. His eyesight is terrible and these glasses are shit.

The guild field flickers, and I feel a buzzing in his breast pocket. Our cards. I've destroyed the guild-issued cards we had and replaced them with my own brand of cards. Only bootleg guild masters can mess with these cardholders.

"Please follow me, my adventurers," I say with the guildmaster voice and leave the guild.

A receptionist comes. "Guild Master, the job crystal is acting up! What happened?"

"Don't worry, I have everything under control. Make way, I am in a hurry."

We go to the job crystal room. There are several curious adventurers blocking the way.

The receptionist shouts, "Make way for the guild master!" They all step aside.

I take my host into the room. "There was a magic fluctuation right now, and the job crystal deactivated. I'll activate it now, I need privacy."

Alone in the room, I store the official crystal in my bag and replace it with an illusion.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" I scream with the guildmaster's voice, deactivate possession and block the door with his body.

"Guild Master! Guild Master!"

Five or ten minutes and I recover enough MP and stamina. I shapeshift into a rat and trigger shadow stealth.

The door opens and a terrified receptionist goes to see the wellbeing of the guildmaster. I sneak out and climb up beneath Marcy's backpack. "Eeeek!"

"What is wrong, Marcy?" Zahariel asks.

"Something went up my trousers."

The receptionist is still making a fuss inside the room. Zahariel notices the lack of me and tugs her coat,  "Marcy, maybe we should leave now."

Somehow they sneak out. I can only see the ground, but the minimap is not blocked by a single piece of clothing no matter how thick it is.

After turning a corner, Marcy says, "Get out, Beowulf."

I skitter out and transform once I confirm it is safe.

"Let's hurry back to the square. Helen and mother-in-law are there," I tell my party members.

"Her HP is fine, Beowulf. There is no abnormal status."

"This timing is too convenient. Why would troops be entering the town if the viscount was already here? And only after we were already inside the guild? There were at least a hundred soldiers."

"The guild master's behavior was strange too. But if it is a trap, how would they know our timing?"

"Marcy, Helen really loves the winter festival, right?"

"Yes. It was her favorite day of the year. Because every other child envied her ability to withstand the cold." The dark side of Helen. Schadenfreude.

"And if someone who really knew Helen and knew she was around, this person would assume Helen would do anything to participate in the festival, right?"

"Yes. It would be possible. But who knows Helen this well?" Marcy is puzzled.

"Zahariel, do you remember what the warehouse receptionist said about the Viscount's origins?"

The seraph thinks for a while and answers, "She said he is someone born in this town!"

"She also said he is the new 'Shining Blade'. I left that sword in the hands of Hrothgar."

Marcy still has a puzzled look. "What does all of this has to do with this behavior, Beowulf?"

"One, born in this town. Two, trained by the king to become the 'Shining Blade'. Three, deep knowledge of Helen. Four, he was last sighted in Castle Heorot as a knight."

Marcy freezes. Her jaw drops. "Julius!"

"Yes. And we left Helen behind in a vulnerable position. Not only that!"

Marcy dashes ahead the moment she realized, "Mother!"

We run to the main square, literally jumping over the people in the streets. There, I see a lot of soldiers securing our wagon and confiscating the smoked meat.

People is booing. The dejected looks in the children's eyes break my heart. No sight of either Helen or Mercy.

We reach the center of the square and Marcy gasps. There are two soldiers dragging an unconscious Mercy away.

"Mother!" She screams.

A booming voice is heard from the stage set in front of the mayor's office. "Let us all give a warm welcome to the Hero Beowulf, the savior of Mirfield!"

"Julius!" Hisses Marcy. Zahariel holds her shoulder from behind to stop her from doing something harsh. She was already reaching for her bow.

"And there he is. Hooray for Beowulf!"

"Why confiscate our meat, Viscount Julius?" I ask him.

"We are just helping to distribute it. There are a lot of hungry soldiers after all. If any meat is left, we will gladly give it to the children, right, my lovely bride?"

From behind him comes Helen. She is dressed in a fancy noblewoman party dress. She nods and steps by his side with her head hung low.

"Helen! Why are you at the side of this asshole!" Screams Marcy. Helen turns her face to a side. She is blushing and trembling.

I whisper to them, "Zahariel, get ready to take Marcy out of here and back to base. Hold the ground there until I send word to you through Shraaizar."

"Understood, Beowulf. But there are a lot of archers hiding in the rooftops."

Fuck. He is right. These guys have high stealth skills to evade my presence detection, but the level 10 of Zahariel's skill picked them.

"Get ready. I'll make you two invisible." I cast invisibility on both of them, feel a gust of wind as he takes off and see their dots dashing east.

"Where did those two go! Find out now!" The Viscount yells.

"Shall we dance now, Viscount?" I need to get Mercy and Helen.

Helen steps forward and shouts, "Beowulf, do not do anything harsh. This is not the time to fight. I beseech you to submit yourself to the Viscount's wise rule."

What the fuck! Helen, what is in your mind?

Julius steps forward and pushes Helen back, "For the crime of treason, I now declare Beowulf under arrest and strip him from the title of hero. Guards, seize him and throw him in the stockades."

I tense my body to fight but my eyes cross Helen's. She shakes her head and drops her shoulders. Then she raises a finger across her lips in a 'silence' gesture.

I need to trust Helen. There is no way she would betray me.

Around us I can see the angry faces of the people. They are not angry at me though. The few gazes I met are of pity and sympathy. But they wouldn't dare go against this shitty thing called Nobility.

I raise my hands and let the guards take me away. I tried to contact Shraaizar, but it is out of range. I should've told Marcy to bring her closer to town. With Mittens. Tamer cellphone FTW. Too late now.