Ch. 75 Hired Mercenaries

"Why would we reveal ourselves and let go of our advantage?" The voice rang out through the woods as Gabriel dodged another arrow. Gala had backed off and hidden herself in a nearby bush, so far they had yet to fire in her direction, so Gabriel assumed they lost sight of her. He kept trying to locate where the arrows were coming from, but by the time he thought he knew where it came from and moved in that direction, no one would be there.

"Some warriors you are. More like wannabe assassins, can't even fight in the light like a real man! Bunch of weaklings!" (With enough provocation, eventually one of them will come out.... I hope..) While Gabriel was mid though, another arrow came flying at him and this time it met it's target. He dropped to the ground screaming in pain as an arrow hit him in the middle of his thigh. Gabriel grabbed the shaft of the arrow and pushed it the rest of the way through his leg, causing him to scream out even louder. After he pushed it as far as it would go, he reached around the back and pulled it out the rest of the way, leaving a small hole through his leg.

Gabriel used his new healing skills to quickly seal up the hole and continued to use them until the pain stopped completely. His anger continued to grow, welling up from deep down within him. Before long, he started to lose his rationality. He walked out from behind the tree he had used to hide and started running. 'Gala, stay there until you hear fighting, keep an eye out. They're going to fight dirty.'

A slight pain had started in his chest and was slowly spreading across his body as he ran. Gabriel's eyes began to seem like they had lost their spark of intellect, it was almost as if he was reverting back to an unintelligent species. (What is happening? Why do I feel like this?) The pain continued to grow stronger and before long Gabriel noticed a pattern to it. It seemed to feel like he was meditating, but instead of the rush of Magic coursing through him, he felt like it was something else. As Gabriel kept running, the arrows kept flying, but unlike before he wasn't even trying to dodge them. He had been struck in his right shoulder twice and another arrow just lodged itself into his left forearm. Without even a howl of pain Gabriel kept running, but something strange happened as he ran, the arrows would fall out of the back of his body after a few moments.

As another arrow went into his left arm, it seemed to almost pass through directly. (Make it stop! Why is this happening right now!?) It now felt as if his blood was boiling, but he couldn't figure out what was causing it. (Finally!) As Gabriel emerged from some underbrush, he spotted 2 archers about 10m away from him. He pivoted on his left foot and condensed his Shadow Sword. The Magic around him began to stir as he prepared a Shadow Cannon, but as it formed it seemed to be darker than before. Aiming to release the Shadow Cannon, Gabriel fired it at the archer that was slightly further out. *Boom* His arm was whipped backwards, causing him to lose balance and go sliding across the ground. The second archer took the opportunity to knock another arrow and aimed for Gabriel's head.

Before the arrow could be released Acorn dropped from the tree using his Crystal Tail Attack on the archer, narrowly missing his head and totally destroying his left shoulder, causing him to miss his shot before dropping the bow. Without wasting a second Acorn flipped himself around and used his Crystal Cannon to shoot a large shard directly into the left eye of the archer. The eye exploded into little bits of jelly and the archer stopped moving.

"Are you okay big brother!?"

"..fine...thanks...did you find their leader?"

"No, but there is 3 more of them up ahead though. No horse was around and I couldn't find any hoof tracks unfortunately." Gabriel stood up and was still feeling like his blood was boiling, he looked at his arm only to see his hand was covered in cuts and bleeding profusely. He started using his Healing skill repeatedly and before long the bleeding had been stopped. After he had finished, he fell to the ground, his blood had begun to feel as if it was trying to break free from his veins. (System, what the hell is going on?)

'Host, True Shadow bloodline is reacting to another bloodline. Unknown bloodline is causing True Shadow to Mutate. Mutation is currently unknown. Progress of Mutation is unknown.'

(Great, so one of these bastards have a special bloodline. They may even be a humanoid creature as well, I'll need to be careful.....)The pain was getting more intense causing Gabriel to completely fall to the ground, he couldn't even hold himself anymore. His pores began leaking black blood that looked like it had shadows rising from it like smoke. *AAAAHHHHHH* Gabriel's voice broke from his loud scream before his entire body became covered in his own blood. His eyes had both started bleeding and he was coughing it up non stop.

His body began to be compressed by the blood and the sound of bones breaking rang out through the Forest. His face crumpled up and started to elongate forming a beak. His arms snapped backwards and broke at the elbows before forming a long V shape. His body compressed into the shape of a bird and his legs seemed to almost disappear before forming into talons. His form was somewhere between a human body and a Ravens now, but it didn't stop. The transformation continued until feathers formed all over his body, finally the eyes formed and Gabriel let out a loud screech.

*RAAAAAWWWWWKKKKK*

(Ahhhhhhh!!! What the fuck happened!?)

'Host, Mutation has finished. New Ability acquired. Mutation source identified, Marten bloodline detected.'

While Gabriel was bringing up the system to check his new skill, a small animal jumped from a nearby tree branch. Gabriel quickly flapped his wings and jumped backwards causing the creature to miss his attack. Landing on the ground, Gabriel got a good look at the creature and noticed it was wearing a small helmet with armor and it's claws had covers on them making them razor sharp. The creature stood up on its hind legs looking Gabriel in the eye before crouching down in preparation to attack. (So this is a Marten? I wonder if I caused them to mutate back to this form or if they are the companion of those soldiers.)

*Squee Squee* The Marten began making noises similar to Acorn before it leapt into the air at Gabriel again. Using his wings, Gabriel parried the attack, only losing a few feathers in the process. He quickly took flight and gathered some Shadow Blades, shooting them at the Marten in different intervals as he circled the creature. Acorn had been watching the whole fight from afar and took the opportunity to also fire off a few Crystal Shards at the enemy. The Marten performed a strange almost dance as it dodged the Shadow Blades and Crystal Shards.

*Squee Squee squeesqueesquee*

"Hahahaha, a measly Raven and Squirrel dare challenge me? I bet you're upset over the Raven eggs I ate for breakfast today aren't you? Don't worry, I killed the parents too."

"HOW DARE YOU!!!" Gabriel's rationality began to disappear again as he continued to fire Shadow Blades non-stop. After a few shots had managed to get through, Gabriel tucked his wings with the intention to tear that creature limb from limb. As he performed a 180 into a nose dive, he dove straight at the Marten. During his descent, he tried to cast Cloud Vision multiple times, but it wouldn't work for some reason, so he gathered a Shadow Cannon directly in front of his beak.

The Marten jumped into the air as it saw Gabriel getting closer, intending to knock him out of the air before he could get his talons in him. As the 2 were about to clash, a Crystal Shard hit the Marten's leg distracting it for a split second, which Gabriel used to his advantage releasing the Shadow Cannon. The Marten was thrown to the ground, as the sound of a bone being broken was heard Gabriel's talons reached its head before crushing it's skull. While the creature began thrashing about on the ground, Gabriel used his Shadow Blades to chop off it's legs and arms, eating them piece by piece while still standing on it's head. He had made sure to leave it's eyes intact and brought each piece before them to show the creature he was eating him. After Gabriel ate the last of the limbs, the creature wasn't even struggling anymore. Checking it's eyes, Gabriel could tell it had already passed out and soon would die from blood loss.

*RRRAAAAWWWWKKKKKK*

Pulling the eyes out and consuming them Gabriel let out a loud screech. (System, can I change back to my Humanoid Form?)

'Host, please check your new ability for more information.'

'Host: Gabriel

Species: Human/True Shadow Raven

Realm: Bander - Normal

Stats: Available Points: 50

Agility: 36

Endurance: 25

Strength: 20

Intelligence: 30

Magic: 40

Abilities:

Leaf on the Wind, Collector of Information, Language Mimic, Extreme Comprehension, Shadow Hide, Shadow Throw, Shadow Travel, Shadow Sword, Shadow Feather, Shadow Clothing, Body Transformation

Skills:

Wind Manipulation - Alterix - 37%

Water Manipulation - Mastered - 24%

Earth Manipulation - Alterix - 2%

Light Manipulation - Alterix - 68%

Shadow Blade - Alterix - 60%

Shadow Claw - Mastered - Mutate?

Cloud Vision - Mastered - Mutate?

Shadow Cannon - Mastered - Mutate?

Repair Body - Adept

Backpack - Adept

Illusory Space - Beginner

Telekinesis - Beginner'

'Body Transformation - Raven/Human

Mutation was caused by a primal need to destroy your natural enemy. Can be awoken by any humanoid creature. Allows user to transform between their natural form and their mutated form at will using their affinity as the catalyst.

Prerequisites: Must be met before mutation

-Attacked by Natural Enemy

-At least Bander Realm with humanoid body

-Scent of kin on Enemy

-Magic Manipulation Alterix of any type

Completed:

Attacked by Marten

Perfect Human body, Bander - Normal

Blood of Raven on Marten detected

Light Manipulation - Shadow affinity used'

(So many prerequisites? That's the first I've even seen any on any skills. Even the books I've read never mentioned anything like this, sure there were transformation skills, but not a Natural Mutation Ability. This will make things so much easier...) Getting used to have his old legs and talons back, Gabriel looked over at Acorn.

"Are you okay?"

"...h-how did you do that!? I thought the Humanoid Bodies were permanent!!"

'...actually, I got very lucky and mutated again... that creature had killed a family of Ravens recently and still had the smell of their blood on him, my bloodline reacted and facilitated a Mutation giving me the ability to change between my Humanoid form and Raven form..."

"If I would've known that I would've tried to get a human form too..." Acorn was happy for Gabriel, but sad as well because he missed out on a major opportunity. His Evolution was so intense he couldn't focus at all, so he didn't even get the chance to try for a Humanoid Body, but he still wished he would've tried for it now. "Do you think I'll be able to get a Mutation like you to change forms?"

'I don't know little one... Maybe with your Mist Form you could try to practice human body shapes and learn it that way? I don't know Acorn, I'm not all knowing, just really lucky.'