Blair knew full well that it was easier to survive an encounter with a Dire Eagle if they were inside a building. The moment they got into the building, their movements would be hindered and there couldn’t be that many of them on one floor thanks to their massive wingspan. Even if they did fit, they’d leave themselves exposed, making them far less formidable than their ground counterparts.

“Alright, let’s tag team one of them and fuck off. I have a good spot to hide,” said Dexter and gave her a hurried wink. He spun around a few times, analyzing the situation but found none of the Dire Eagles on their floor.

“Hide?” asked Blair, brows furrowed.

“Yeah,” said Dexter with a hushed tone after turning his head to her, his expression almost exasperated.

“There are people who can’t fight out there. They might be dying,” said Blair and grabbed his forearm, halting his escape attempt. She knew full well that he stopped because she grabbed her and she hadn’t stopped him with her strength alone —there was no resistance.

“In case you didn’t notice, neither can I. As a matter of fact, can you?” he asked and tore his hand out of her grasp with negligible effort.

“I can,” countered Blair, just to make herself feel better.

“Come on, you’re as scrawny as they come. Whatever success you think you’re having, it’s just pure luck. We aren’t built to fight… things like that,” said Dexter and turned to leave, but stopped.

He exhaled through his teeth and pointed a finger at a nearby window to summon a Wind Blade. It severed the wing of an incoming Dire Eagle before it entered the building —the bird plummeted to the ground.

“You’re fighting them,” she said, indifferent to comments about her body. She didn’t even register it. Her mother had done that since she was 10. It was old news now.

“That? That’s also luck. If I hadn’t turned to look at the window just now, it’d have gotten in. Then it might’ve cut off my head,” said Dexter and he narrowed his eyes. A card came flying through the window and placed itself on his hand, signifying the kill.

“They’re birds. Couldn’t be harder to kill than wolves,” she said.

“See, you have this ridiculous idea that you can take them. That’s only thanks to the cover we have and the fact that we’re isolating them. Right now, we don’t have even the slightest plan and we’re supposed to fight what? Like fifty of them?” he snarled.

“More than sixty,” she corrected.

That’s when several of them dropped from the higher floors, followed up by sickening splatters that reminded Blair of Anna, and in turn, the one that murdered him. There was a chance that the killer had been killed by one of the Monster Waves, but there was a larger chance that they were still alive.

“You’re overestimating them,” was all Blair said.

“Oh, sorry. I’m just, you know, a little traumatized. I saw those things drop people to death, for God’s sake!” he said, his voice seething with sarcasm.

Another one of them managed to get in, but it was promptly assaulted by who-knows-how-many Blue Skills. The Dire Eagle fell, that was for sure. However, there were other repercussions to using spells like that indoors. One of the Wind Blades missed and landed on a poor sod, severing her entire left arm.

The severed part didn’t slowly slide off like in a graphic movie but was blown away by the Wind Blade.

Dexter covered his mouth with a hand, his eyes locked on the corpse. His breathing got faster and within moments, it could qualify as hyperventilating.

Some screamed, some were frozen in place, and one of them ran over to the recently deceased girl and knelt next to her. It was recognizable as the one that shot the Wind Blade that had injured her in the first place.

Then came a flash of blinding red light, originating from the girl’s body. It covered her entire body first, but its size decreased by the second until it homed in on the stump. The bleeding promptly stopped and her previously pale body suddenly regained its color.

The work of Vigor of the Ancients, specifically the Awakened version.

It had to be.

Dexter’s breathing got audibly slower as he started to hold each breath for several seconds at a time all the while even more Dire Eagles either plummeted from the higher floors or attempted to jump into the building, only to withdraw after they spotted a Blue Skill that was being charged. After the spell shot away, they peeked in once again, only to be met with the same fate as before.

Blair could swear they dropped one or two of them.

There was a slight urge to peek through the window and stare down to see what they left behind. They disappeared after being killed, but the Dire Eagle’s blood from the first day soiled her sweater and she knew full well that the blood would remain.

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“I have to kill them,” mouthed Blair after she realized this was a perfect opportunity to level up her Eagle Vision. She’d be getting her Eagle Vision to Level 5 if she killed one of them, and that would mean the Stamina expenditure would finally look fine.

By now, she could assume that the Monsters weren’t exactly suicidal, as they seemed to wait out any Blue Skill that was being charged. There was a slight trouble, though: their Mana wasn’t limitless, but on the other hand, the Dire Eagles had a time limit as well.

Just eight more minutes.

That was a lot of time, maybe too much.

“Well, just get an assist already and that’s the end of it. Hit one of ‘em,” Dexter said from the side.

“No,” she said curtly, and added a sentence to elaborate it, “I need to kill as many of them as possible.”

“Oh, come on,” grumbled Dexter, raised a hand as if to stop her, but he turned on his heel and sprinted away to who-knows-where.

“They give you Eagle Vision!” shouted Blair as he left.

It didn’t take her more than ten seconds to make her way to the nearest window. From close-up, they were truly majestic creatures. While they couldn’t quite be described as bald eagles, they were similar. The head didn’t look quite right and the beak was a little different, but they were similar enough that anyone who didn’t pay attention to biology class wouldn’t notice the difference.

“Assist,” she mumbled underneath her breath and narrowed her eyes.

Did he mean that she had to help others?

Was that the reasonable thing to do?

It was, most likely.

Her gut told her that it was enough.

She’d even manage to get a Card from the bird if anyone she assisted managed to kill the Dire Eagle! It was a win-win situation for both sides. Someone would get a helping hand and she’d get a Card, not to mention that it was always better to gang up on a predator —that’s how their ancestors hunted.

Her eyes scanned around the room and there she found a familiar figure. Not one that she fancied much, but one she knew nonetheless: Clara, the cheater. She wasn’t fighting, per se, but Blair could see a Dire Eagle getting dangerously close to one of the windows.

More importantly, she could notice that not many people were shooting out projectiles at the Dire Eagles anymore. It made them bolder and they got closer to the windows with each passing second. In the end, Blair was forced to act and shot a Fire Ball at the Eagle that was about to fly through a window near Clara.

The ball of flame lit up the vicinity and for a moment, Blair could feel the singeing heat of the spell as it formed. It propelled itself at the window and repelled it, buying them a few valuable seconds of rest. It didn’t come without its costs, though. A man that stood between Blair and the window was grazed by the fire and screamed out in pain moments later.

His shirt was charred and his skin was now a sickening red.

That ought to hurt.

“Fuck!” he shouted and turned to Blair with a scrunched nose, gritting his teeth.

“It was about to get in,” she said monotonously and her eyes wandered once again, looking around the room. The disorientation kept her from doing anything for a few seconds but they hadn’t been murdered by the dozen as she’d expected.

Maybe the Guards weren’t so necessary.

Where were they in the first place?

“Shit, I’m a Guard,” mumbled Blair and clicked her tongue. There was clearly no time to use Inspect on others. She could only do it around thirty times anyways, and she was sure there were more than thirty of them on this floor alone.

She knew it was a bad choice.

It was a trick!

If he was going to force them to get into Duels anyway, why did he even have to recruit her into the Guards?

That’s when she remembered that it wasn’t only her that wanted the Raid. With how much he tried to persuade her, it was evident that he wanted to start a Raid at some point. It would be advantageous for them too. Getting a Green Skill could be useful in defeating the Monsters and to increase their chances, he obviously wanted the ones that could fight to get a hold of more Skills, namely from the weaker ones.

If the Tutorial was anything to go by, provided that it wasn’t slowed down to a glacial pace, it’d be a perfect opportunity to learn how to fight. It wouldn’t be like fancy self-defense classes—it’d be actual experience, just less risky. With no risk at all, in fact.

Seven more minutes.

Blair could swear this timer was counting down twice as slow as it should. More than a minute ought to have passed. It was absurd!

She summoned her temporarily stored spear and felt the surge of strength. Her entire body became lighter, and more importantly, the spear was manageable. She held it upright for now. She couldn’t afford to accidentally stab someone to death as crowded as they were.

Shrieks of terror could be heard from the lower floors.

Definitely the Dire Wolves.

The people that were previously descending the stairway were now instead climbing back up, climbing over each other like a horde of zombies. The ones that stumbled and fell were trampled beneath the masses and were left behind.

There were no kids or elderly thanks to the System’s shenanigans, which made this situation slightly more bearable.

What semblance of tactics remained was gone as people poured into the floor and up the stairs alike.

She had to kill at least one!

It was a gold mine and she was missing another level in Eagle Vision to reach Level 5. If she ended up not getting any more levels in it, it’d be disappointing. More importantly, it’d help her minor OCD get over the fact that annoying fractions were used for the System math.

As the stairs crowded, she stalked closer to the windows. She had her spear. There was a reason that phalanxes were useful. It was nearly impossible to get through, and if these things could stab themselves to death by falling on the spears, flying straight into one would spell demise.

Blair stretched out her spear in wait for one of the eagles and just as it flew into the building, she held her spear against it. It pierced itself into the spear but just before it did, Blair felt an uncomfortable push as it collided with the tip of the spear. Its strength was impressive, to the point that it traveled to the very base of the spear, sliding down to her hands.

Just before it collided with Blair, the eagle’s body scattered into light, only leaving behind the blood that painted her spear. Complimenting the slipperiness of the steel spear itself, it made it nearly impossible to wield, forcing Blair to kneel on one knee and wipe the blood off.

Blair grabbed the card that it left behind and the text appeared.

Congratulations! You’ve used a [Red Card]. Choose one of the following Skills you are able to attain from a [Dire Eagle].

“Eagle Vision,” she said, not even bothering to look through the options —she knew them by heart.

That’s when Blair spotted something.

The eagles were… retreating.

“What the hell?” she mumbled.

Congratulations!

You’ve killed [Raid Boss: Great Eagle] in the [Monster Wave]. There will be [2 x Raid Bosses] in the next [Monster Wave].