3 [Silent Maws]

Even with my observation skill I had a hard time seeing them at first. It was easier to follow the trails they were leaving in the thick atmosphere above. They were so fast and very tiny. Attracted to the smell of meat I imagine. The putrid smell reached new heights from the abandoned remains.

[Your attention has rewards. Beginners Observation has increased in ability.]

The individuals were becoming distinct. I struggled to follow one, but I could make them out. Smaller than a Cliff Hugger, they looked like earless bats. For how much they disturbed the air, they were silent. Was that a skill?

[Your intuition has rewards. Beginners Observation has increased in ability.]

That was going to be useful. If I could somehow reach them, my title might let me take it for my own. Already the faint edge of hunger was easing back into the far corners of my mind. Hunger for something alive.

Diving bats started to break formation. Then as one the entire flock descended onto the ledge like buzzards. Up close they were ugly. Faceless they had nothing but loose skin around a wide circular maw lined with row after row of teeth. Their wings were strung bows of flesh, no signs of vestigial fingers. And as they started tearing into the corpse remains a blanket of quiet came with them.

My observation skill didn't alert me when they swarmed onto one of the Cliff Huggers. They started pulling its skin off while it was still alive.

The shock took a moment to settle in. First I had to deal with the confusion. The Cliff Hugger had walked over to examine one of the buzzards. As soon as it got close each one turned their maws to it, and froze. They had no organs that I could see, were they tasting the air for heat? They created an uneasy standstill. I had almost turned away in disinterest, planning to climb down and use my reach to grab one when they all moved as one.

In complete silence the Cliff Hugger tried to pull them off, its maw spread open completely. It danced in a fit of pain, every one it tugged off took a hot strip of flesh with it. Twisting and turning, it paid no attention to the narrow ledge.

Off it went, in what should have been a long tumble into Abyss. The buzzards had other plans. Like a bizarre crucifixion, they latched onto the hugger and began to beat their wings in earnest. More piled on to its surface, and every buzzard was going in a different direction. In a soundless slip, I saw the joints fail as its arms dislocated. Red seams bursting into stretched sinew as they tore it apart. Buzzards diving for remains that fell into the fog below.

What kind of nightmare were these?

[Demon Examination: Other]

[Tier: Lowest Lesser Form]

[Caste: Parasite]

[Morphology: Lesser Silent Winged Maw]

[Stats: Unknown]

[Skills: Unknown]

So I knew their species but that was no help to me. One thing I was sure of, exposed as I was on the cliff I would not survive a swarm if they came after me. I definitely couldn't out run them. The other Cliff Huggers seemed to come to the same conclusion. They began grouping together going for strength in numbers. Better the devil you know, I suppose.

It was strange for creatures I was eating to become my best chance for survival.

They hadn't noticed me yet, so I made my way across the cliff face to the biggest Cliff Hugger. It had finally stopped gorging. Its maw still dripped remains while its black shark eyes watched the nearby Silent Maws. If they came for him, I wanted the killing blow. If they came for me I wanted the best chance of him killing them.

The small cliff hugger with the knife seemed to have the same idea. It crawled down the face of the ledge after watching me traverse the wall, headed in the same direction. Good. It was the Cliff Hugger I suspected had a unique skill.

The mad hugger stayed right where it was, resting on its long arms, feet dangling below it. It looked like some twisted painter's rendition of the worst of man. The buzzards seem to be avoiding it as much as the other Cliff Huggers. Did it have an aura skill?

The Silent Maw were starting to take notice of our migration. The ones on the ground dropped the bones they were cleaning to follow us with their leach mouths. In the air, they started to form the flock into a tight ball. I guessed there were about fifty of them, and ten surviving cliff huggers. Our internal struggles had left us weak even as a group.

[Your intuition has rewards. Beginners Observation has increased in ability.]

Exposed backs were the most vulnerable. Our primary form of attack, our teeth, made a long gouge of defended front. Physiology didn't give us maneuverability in the neck. I thought back to my first scar, and how much that natural immobility had already cost me. Not only were we going to need to rely on each other. We would have to turn our backs to each other. A few moments ago that would have been inviting death early.

As I neared the big Cliff Hugger, we started circling. Neither one of us wanted to take our eyes off the other, and we had no way to communicate. Built to consume, not discuss. Was there something I could draw that could communicate the danger we were both in?

As the dagger Cliff Hugger climbed back onto the ledge, they took the choice from us. The Silent Maws must have sensed trouble, as they all took to the air and began to dive at us. I screamed a challenge into the air, muted by their aura. I hated these things that wouldn't even let me express rage.

As they dove at us, I did my best to try and catch them. What happened instead was I knocked a few out of the air. As dangerous as I knew they were, they seemed very brittle. One of the fallen had torn its wing right in two, fat and blood leaking out of it.

Behind me, the big guy was going wild, leaping up to catch them flying into his teeth. The dagger user was faring even better, having dropped five to the earth. It looked like it was aiming for the wings which split around the sharp bone. Why didn't I make myself a tool? It would make climbing the cliff difficult but it seemed so useful now!

The first of the bites was more of an itch than pain, but once one made an opening, more followed suit.

[Your endurance has rewards. Beginners Tough Carapace has increased in ability.]

Were they having trouble piercing my flesh? It seemed my entire body, not only the cruel scar, had become tougher. What a wonderful skill. It must have come because of how damaged I was before the level up. The Cliff Hugger had ripped me apart after all.

[Your insight has rewards. Beginners Observation has increased in ability.]

Not the time to get distracted! The Big guy was being overwhelmed. The majority of the flock was going after him, his size giving him more exposed area. Their focus might be the only thing keeping the dagger user and I alive, I could not afford to have him fall. Leaping, I aimed a killing bite for his back. For once I wasn't digging into the warm flesh of another Cliff Hugger. I enjoyed the sweet copper notes of the Silent Maw that had embedded themselves into its body.

[Fatal Damage done to Lesser Silent Winged Maw]

[You have gained a new level. Received 4 unspent ability points]

[Fatal Damage done to Lesser Silent Winged Maw]

[You have gained a new level. Received 5 unspent ability points]

The rush of leveling was fantastic! Forcing myself off, I was trying to peel the Silent Maws off my own flesh.

The big guy whipped around, hot breath foul and heavy, his eyes near my own. Was I about to die right here? I couldn't even regret my choices. From the moment of my rebirth destiny wanted to eat me. Blood dripped over serrated teeth, disturbed only by the gallows of its lungs.

It didn't go for the kill. Instead it grabbed three of the maw I couldn't reach and crushed them. With what I thought was a nod, it turned back to the flock to pull more from the sky.

[Title Unlocked: Bonded by Bloods Kinship]

Things were definitely beginning to change. Renewed by leveling and survival, I bellowed into the air. I did not care that the maws would deafen my shrieks. We could survive this. We would survive this.

That was my thought, when the sky bellowed a piercing warning above me and the Silent Maws began to dive away in fear.

Next chapter