(Nephelont's PoV)
I used my wind to drag Cornifer away, disregarding the strength with which I did so. My wind violently dragged him across the room as a set of bars closed off the entrance before he made it out. I had to stop him mid-air before I hurt his face by throwing him at the bars.
I let go of Cornifer, allowing him to dodge any attacks coming his way alone. I needed all my focus on the big guy in front of us.
The armored guy in front of us roared, producing a staggering sound that forced the child to their knees, nearly doing the same to me.
(Flashback)
During practice, while I was learning how to control my form, a topic came up. It was about letting the wind eviscerate the insides of my opponent if I could guide them to.
"Nephelont, if a creature has lungs, you could cut them from the inside by manipulating the air inside their lungs" Uncle Henryk said while drawing a diagram of a living creature's body on the dirt, pointing at the lungs.
"And if it has no lungs?" I said. I remember him saying something about bugs not having lungs before.
"Good catch. You simply carve into them with sharpened blades of wind or deprive them of it by dragging all air away from their body" Uncle Henryk said.
(Flashback End)
I tried to drag all the air away from them, to suffocate them, but that was much harder than I thought. I remembered another of uncle's lessons, air pressure. That makes it harder to create a vacuum, as he called it.
'No, wait' I realized as the armored foe jumped up to slam their weight on us. I flew away as the child ran in the opposite direction. 'The metal armor means that there are possible gabs where I can injure them with minor cuts, gradually piling the cuts until they die from blood loss and shock'
As things are right now, the child and I are flanking the armored foe front and back. While their back was turned to me, I threw objects at their head, shifting their focus to me. Once that happened, I fled and let the child take the turn to attack as I flew out of range.
As I went back to attack our foe on the ground, I started revolving my wind into a loop that was gaining speed as time went on. I maintained some objects within the speeding current.
The armored foe slammed their mace to the ground with such force that a visible shockwave rose from the ground. The child jumped over it, landing where the armored foe wanted them to. I threw a heavier object at the mace, redirecting its course into the empty space around the child.
The armored foe turned to me, jumped high, and prepared to put the weight of their jump into a strike. I slipped under them as the ground was cracked where the mace struck.
'I don't know how durable my body is, and I'm not interested in having such knowledge'
I looked back at where Cornifer should be, having heard a crack coming from the direction. It seems that, as he circled the room to escape the shockwave, Cornifer discovered a weakened section of the wall. The last strike from the armored foe disturbed the rubble enough to break it open. Cornifer escaped through that opening.
I looked back, witnessing the child flinging an object at the foe's side, forcing them take a step back. I took that opportunity to fly at our foe's head, stabbing my shoddy weapon into the eye sockets. I felt less resistance than I initially thought, though that didn't matter. The armored foe shrieked in pain.
'Why does it sound desperate?'
I disregarded the thought in favor of flying away and out of range yet again.
The armored foe took a look at me, clearly getting frustrated by my ability to remain out of their range, and started throwing a tantrum. They struck the ground with all they got until they were clearly exhausted.
Seeing a moment of weakness, I released the projectile that's been accumulating momentum all this time, aiming for our foe's head. As the projectile was released, I heard a mix between a metallic striking sound and a wet one. The projectile didn't stop there, no. It continued to go through the floor, opening a gaping hole where the armored foe once stood.
The child followed me down through the hole as I flew down as quickly as I could. I wanted to capitalize on my opponent being slightly disoriented right now.
I flew down, stabbing with my weapon as fast as I could. The weapon pierced the foe's head, which was similar to what a maggot would be, soft, white, and very easily pierced by a sharp object.
Our foe screamed and thrashed around as the child came down with their weapon drawn and ready. The child's weapon pierced our foe's neck, cutting it as the child allowed their weight to drag them down.
I used this opportunity to attempt to decapitate our foe, which proved a bad idea. Our foe grabbed me and threw me away.
Now, with my weapon stuck in and the enemy too enraged and dangerous to approach, I decisively controlled as many of the broken weapons scattered around the area and lacerated our foe's only exposed part, their head.
In short moments of hopeless struggle, our foe fell, exploding into a spill of orange goo that I had to shield myself from.
As the goo was flying through the air, I saw what was clearly not part of the armor or a weapon fly across the room. I halted its momentum and brought it closer after using the wind to clean it as much as possible. The object was a crest of some sort.
"That was certainly an adventure, I must say!" Cornifer said with cheer that he shouldn't have for someone who almost died a moment ago. He dusted his shell and corrected his glasses.
"Be more careful, sir. You may also need to return home for now, if only for a little" I suggested to him. "Your wife's waiting for your safe return, isn't she?"
"That she is, fellow adventurer! I'll be home in a jiffy! Just after remapping the area for the new changes!" Cornifer said with unconcealed excitement. He got down to redrawing his map of the place, accounting for the hole I made. His skills shone brightly, seeing as he was done in little to no time at all.
"All done!" He said, turning to me. "Thank you for saving my life. Once I'm back home, I'll tell Iselda to give you a discount to repay you, ..." He said with grounded calmness, now that the excitement of the previous situation passed.
"Nephelont" I told him my name and turned around to leave. I wouldn't want to drag him into another risky situation myself.
"See you around, Nephelont!" He shouted since I was already far by the time he said that.
We parted ways with Cornifer.
For the rest of our time walking around and slaughtering our way through the crossroads, I fiddled with the crest. It had no symbolism on it at all, it seems, aside from looking like some form of a clogged lock.
We reached what looked like a sign with the head of a bearded bug drawn on it. We entered the room, presenting us with a bench.
Nearby it we found a platform with a hole that was oh-so-conveniently geo-shaped.
The child started depositing geo into the hole unprompted. When they ran out, they turned their expressionless, hollow eyes to me.
'I still feel neither hunger nor thirst. Forget about that, I feel no exhaustion yet. If we don't need geo for sustenance, might as well spend it on other things' I thought as I relented to the child's wishes.
We kept adding geo to it until it did something.
That something was the mechanism getting sucked underground and a bell replacing it.
We looked at each other before the child impulsively struck it.
Nothing appeared to happen at first. After some time, the ground started shaking as dirt was displaced from every surface and was falling everywhere.
'This place might have been cleaner for a time' I looked at some corners, noting how there were piles of dust waiting to be swept away.
The shaking got closer as I prepared to fight whatever was getting closer if it proved hostile.
From the dark depths of the tunnel, the gate of which was open, came the towering form of a beetle.
'Big as it is, this is a stag beetle for sure' I marveled at the impossibility. Was I too small as to inhabit a world with the proportions of non-monster bugs and insects? Or was everything impossibly huge?
As soon as the stag beetle caught sight of us, they skidded to a practiced stop in front of the platform we stood on.
"Greetings, little ones! It's been an age since I last heard the ringing of a station bell. It echoed down the Stagways and called me to you" The bearded stag said. They spook with greater enthusiasm than I thought someone would have in their job. Not that I expected them to talk at all.
They continued without much pause. "I've grown stiff and tired after all this time and I've forgotten much, but the sound of the bell will always call me back. These Stagways stretch the depths of Hallownest. If you want to travel them, hail me from the platform. I will take you where you need to go" There was eagerness in their voice. It sounded like they loved their work.
"Thank you for the offer, sir" I stepped closer. "Is there a fee?" I asked.
That seemed to strike them unexpectedly. They looked away and hummed in thought for a little while.
"Not anymore" A tinge of sadness surfaced in their voice. "There is nobody to receive that payment if I collected it with the kingdom in such a state of ruin" They breathed in and out and regained some energy to their voice. "Now I do this because I love taking people around the kingdom, to show them its marvels"
They lowered their head as if sorrowful.
"I duly apologize, though, because most stations have either been closed or, in some cases, broke down" They said. I saw the child stare at the stag intently, as if they were noting down everything the stag said. In fact, they were doing just that on the back of a piece of parchment.
'Where were they hiding that?' I kept looking away with my face, yet the child seemed to have felt my gaze through my empty eyesockets. Giving me a silent, empty stare, I raised a part of my cloak to cover my face from them.
"We shall take to other stations and open them then" I said.
"That'd be wonderful, little one!" The happiness in the stag's voice staggered me. It was sudden. They were rejoicing.
'Their claim to have done the job without employers around out of a liking for the job itself may have some merit to it' I thought.
"Farewell then. We will meet again..." I said and hung the question in the air.
"Simply call me the last stag. My name holds no meaning after every other stag died" Some grief could be heard, though hidden.
We, me and the child, started to walk out and continue exploring. As we exited the stag station, I heard the muffled sounds of something, desperate cries for help.
I urged the child to follow me to their source. We reached a cracked wall, something put together too hastily to hide something behind.
We broke it and discovered two flying bugs with abdomens filled with orange goo with a grub behind them, imprisoned in a jar. It sprang with joy upon seeing us while the goo-filled bugs spat at us.
Remembering both the unpleasant feeling of the goo and the words of the shaman, I directed the goo away from me for safety while the child disposed of them in the meanwhile, using me as bait.
When we released the grub, it jumped a few times, clearly happy and thankful, then burrowed into the ground.
'The first grub to go back home' I stared at the dirt that filled in the hole the grub dug through masonry. 'It's impressive how the masonry did not hold form when the grub dug into it'