A two-time fool would really be a fool.
Killian dodged the bird attack as he materialised at the entrance. These creatures could tell when Wardens infiltrated their team.
"No wonder first missions are usually the hardest for newbies." He sighed softly, clenching his hand on the Void-Bat. "Come."
The bird disobeyed, and kept a distance. He watched it regurgitate something from its throat.
His face paled. "Shit!!" He jumped down the elevated foundation and hid behind a boulder.
Screeeeeech!!
The boulder cracked behind him. He jumped down, rolling in the sand.
He forced himself up and sprinted to the next rock. But the blast slammed his back, growing him a few steps to another boulder. He used his arms to brace himself, and rolled to the ground before another came.
His legs trembled slightly as he got up again, and rushed to a huge rock,
"Screechers! These birds are damn screechers! Aren't those A-Rank beasts?!"
He hugged the rock, breathing heavily and turning to the bird that didn't follow him. If it didn't chase him, it could because it couldn't handle a short range attack.
"Its sound waves are a major disadvantage." But the usual A-Rank beasts' sound waves wouldn't just leave him trembling but his body mangled.
"They are C-Rank copies of the main thing. Just three feet tall." Still he knew the difficulty level increased evidently.
Not only were the beasts flyers but they had the ability to crush the eardrums.
Their natural attack, Screech, inspired the Fusion Element, Sound that ranked third amongst Fusion Elements.
He needed more than Shadow Writhe.
"Well, let's see what I can do with those. Status." He took out the daggers from his inventory.
"Since those pompous birds stay so high up, they only attack when attacked. I'd take advantage of it."
He changed position, holding a dagger tightly in his grasp.
Everyone is most vulnerable when falling.
Gravity never sides with anyone. With the exception of that one Warden, of course.
He breathed faintly as he moved, his grip tightening around the dagger. The tendrils crawled up his arms as he moved, soaking into the dagger.
It pulsed rhythmically like life instilled into it. The weapon got heavier and Killian knew it was ready.
He bent his knees and pushed off the ground. The bird wasn't very high but he needed no misses.
"Eat it!" He flung it.
The dagger cut through air sharply, aiming for the bird who couldn't see him from his blind spot.
Or so he thought. He frowned when the bird tilted its neck. The dagger curved down and fell into a lake.
Killing folded his arms and the bird looked back at him with a similar bored expression.
"I had only three of those. What will you do now that you missed it?"
Its throat regurgitated again, as if that was the bird's answer. Killian sighed, and jumped down the terrain.
He avoided the next wave by invading the forest. The trees were suitable protection.
After that wave the bird dove down.
Killian clicked his tongue, his eyes narrowing as he waited in an attack stance with his bat. Unless it came at him, he was at a stalemate.
But why does it suddenly attack?
It doesn't seriously think I have no other weapon left after I missed, does it?
Screech!
"Shit!"
A heavy force slammed into his back and sent him forward. Another one? His body crashed into the sand as the air left his lungs.
Before he could fully absorb the pain, he twisted his body and swung the Void-Bat upward.
Bam!
It hit the one diving in front. But the impact bounced from its mask made of hardened remains, and into the bat. The Void-Bat absorbed it in.
The bird barely flinched, its wings beating once to gain distance, and then it slapped Killian away.
Killian's body crashed on the rock that once shielded him, and his limbs ached with sharp stings.
"Don't move immediately."
He didn't listen, he forced himself up again, keeping check of the birds who ganged up. Yet they didn't attack immediately, also watching him.
The second bird was slightly thinner but that meant it would be faster, and cause less sound disruptions when it attacked.
"You're finally feeling like a C-tier realm. Trying to kill me and all…" He choked, and held his mouth.
Blood? That's too soon.
"You are but human, Killian."
He drank it down, and wiped his lips.
"I still have another C-tier realm, and a B-tier. I might be entering the second hour too. There's no time to waste time." He gripped his bat.
He remembered how it absorbed the impact of the attack. It wasn't effective to attack but it didn't cause him disadvantage. "Alright then. Frisbee."
"Your precious efficient weapon?"
"It's still being preciously efficient."
Killian trudged forward, breathing harder now. "Status." He took out the two daggers left.
The first bird made a dismissive sound when the daggers appeared in his hands.
Killian smirked. "You underestimate them, don't you? But I won't be losing them again."
The shadows tendrils crawled to his hands again, enveloping the daggers. "Fetch!" He spun once, and threw the Void-Bat towards the First one. It dodged, and charged at him immediately.
It thinks of my Void-Bat as the only good weapon.
It might've done no damage to him. But it hurt.
Killian's arm retracted as did the Void-Bat connected by the tendrils from his hand. The Void-Bat slammed back on its head, disorienting it.
The second ran forward, with raised wings.
Killian pushed his leg forward, driving a dagger into the bird's chest and in the same movement, jumped back. The tendrils connected to the dagger.
With a thought, he pushed the dagger deeper into the bird's body. It screeched in pain.
Yet quickly followed the second in a similar flying pattern, crashing at the ground he stood for, and tracing his path as he ran after narrowly dodging.
This is bad. I can't outrun birds.
He halted under a large tree that offered some coverage, raising both arms, and moving the Void-Bat's tendrils to the second dagger.
He flung it at the second bird, who dodged it clearly. But the dagger returned, as it was connected to a tendril, and Sant into its neck.
"Got you both!" He pulled down, straining his injured arm to bring them down. One was stabbed on the chest and the other on the necks yet they shot up in the air, nearly lifting him.
He planted his feet, and wrapped the tendrils around his arms. He pulled down, forcing himself to his knees to lower them.
If another one comes at this moment…
I'm doomed!
Screech!!
The Goddess hates me!
A shadow of a large bird sent shivers down his spine, and his arms weakened. It was almost human sized.
The second bird pulled away from the dagger, just as the bigger bird descended, sending dust in the air and obstructing his vision.
"Run."