Chapter Forty Five - Escort Mission, Part Two

Cadence Lee (as Hewka) POV:

Rauvin pulled the asshole aside to talk, which was a good precaution to prevent me taking a bite out of him and soon both were hurrying towards the merchants, presumably to explain the issue. I was tempted to insist on an apology, but that would have to wait - I certainly wasn't going to forget - but the incoming monsters were the more pressing issue.

My first instinct was, as usual, to get into the air - even if I didn't want to fight them in the air just with Rei, I figured it would be different with support from the ground. Rei clamped down on that idea hard.

"Have you ever seen an eagle getting chased by starlings?" She asked me, which I actually hadn't. I had seen, in previous lives, smaller birds chase crows away though and I was able to see how being up in the air for this fight would be rough on Rei and myself. On the other hand, if I am not in the air I couldn't participate well in this fight. For all that I had just learned some new ways to use [Aerokinesis] I still couldn't really attack well at long range.

But where my air blasts would dissipate, Bronzebird feathers were apparently a lot like arrows and with gravity on their side the monster birds would be able to hit us from whatever range they wanted. This left me relegated to defending the merchants, and the Adventurers with ranged options while they tried to either kill or chase the flock away.

We had time before the flock made it to us, so we got into defensive positions under whatever cover we could find. I debated whether or not I should use my [Aerokinesis] to try and create a barrier of wind to try and deflect the Bronzebird's feathers away from the group. Probably not worth it, not with my Mana levels and magic power.

Honestly, with how my spine was shaped in this form, it was actually somewhat hard to look up. Wyvern's were designed to attack from above, not defend from below, and that was clear as I strained to tilt my head up to keep an eye on the sky. Actually, I'm not sure I could defend the people around me very well at all, unless they were willing to get under my wings.

...Of course, that would just have me turned into a pincushion, so I really would rather do almost anything else, if there was an option. But if there was another one, I couldn't think of it. I was frustratingly impotent in this kind of a fight.

When the Bronzebirds caught up they were met with ranged attacks from Rei, Ylma, and the few other Adventurers that were capable of ranged attacks and it soon became apparent that it was pretty difficult to hit flying monsters. Feathers, as sharp as knives, came down and cut into the ground and stuck themselves into the wagons. Fortunately, it seems the Bronzebirds weren't very accurate either, but with enough birds tossing enough feathers it wouldn't take many passes to hit one of us. But how many feathers could the birds actually spare?

It quickly became apparent that the answer was: "a hell of a lot." Plus, they were far harder to kill than I might have expected even when they could be hit - but I only have myself to blame for my own stupidity, I suppose; the damned things were called Bronzebirds. I really shouldn't have been surprised to see arrows shot by some of the other adventurers bounce off the monster's wings, but Ray's first shot had gone straight through one of the bird's heads and brought it down.

[Analyzing] my allies revealed what I felt was likely the main problem, aside from Ylma and Rei, no one seemed to have a dedicated magic or ranged Class. There were a couple of people with the [Scout] Class, but that wasn't the same thing at all. The birds gave us a few more passes and then flew off. They didn't seem to have done that much damage and no one was hurt, so I was pretty happy. Rei sensed my optimism through our bond as she returned and immediately crushed it.

"They'll be back," she said. "Bronzebirds aren't exactly the smartest or most dangerous monster, but they are persistent. They fly by, toss out some feathers and hope they injure something. Then they fly away and hope that their prey bleeds to death. When they return - if their prey is dead - they eat it, but if it isn't they repeat the whole process."

My very first though was: "That is actually fucking brilliant." Which of course led to my second thought, "Oh, by Podi, I am an idiot. I could have been doing that in addition to my traps!"

"They don't seem very threatening though," I said while pondering how Rei and I could apply their tactics in the future. "If they have useful parts, isn't this just free money for us? Are the feathers worth anything?"

"They are worth a bit. Not much, but a bit," Rei answered, "but the real question is whether or not we will have the energy to collect them after a week of being harassed every couple of hours."

Chaurl was right, Bronzebirds sounded like an absolute menace. "But they have to roost somewhere, right?" I asked, trying to think of a way that we could counter them, "because otherwise it almost seems like we should turn back."

Rauvin was walking over from where he had been talking with the other parties and the merchants with a somewhat annoyed look on his face. He had overheard what I had said and broke the bad news to all of us.

"The merchants want to push through," Rauvin explained. Apparently, they had time sensitive commitments that they had made, "and honestly Bronzebirds aren't really dangerous so long as we pay attention. They rely on bleeding to kill their prey and they don't actually have the strength to kill us directly."

Unless they get a lucky hit, I thought to myself. I was well aware that people, even in worlds with classes and levels, could die after tripping over their own feet walking across a clear, flat, floor. Getting bombarded by monsters seeking to eat us probably had a higher risk attached to it than going to the kitchen at home. Rei, of course, could sense my snark and cynicism and just sighed, patting my wing.

"You are probably the safest of all of us, Hewka," she mused. "With your regeneration, their hit and run tactics won't work on you at all. You can relax a little bit, some things just have to be endured."

What, was this like magpie swooping season in Australia? We just had to live with birds dive-bombing us, but we didn't even have the ice cream to go with it? It was odd how I remembered some things so easily, but that was a thought for another time. For now, it seemed like the merchant's consensus was to push through.

*Four Days Later, At Night (five days of total travel)*

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID THEY WERE STUPID!" The asshole who had insulted Rei, (his name was Grav, but I thought of him as 'asshole' regardless) roared. I imagine he was shouting to try and recover his dignity, but I certainly heard him yelp when the feather stabbed him in the ass.

"She said they weren't the smartest, now stay still" Chaurl growled as he none too gently yanked the feather out of the asshole's ass. "It hardly takes a genius to do night attacks, although I can understand how from your perspective it might feel that way."

Grav was lucky that Chaurl was professional enough to heal him, even now that this was our fourth night of disturbed sleep. He was also lucky I was busy eating one of the Bronzebirds that had come a bit too close and got roasted by Ylma, because everyone's tempers had become a bit frayed - to say the least.

The monsters had to rest too, but they did so in the afternoon and would harass the caravan morning and night, interrupting our sleep and putting everyone on edge. My team had been rotating who I had riding on me during the day, just so that some of them could catch a little extra sleep. The other teams did the same thing with the merchant's wagons, but it wasn't nearly enough and it wasn't just the people getting tired. The pack animals and myself (I obviously am a person, but I am one of the creatures shouldering the burden) were also exhausted.

"Fuck off, witch fucker," Grav spat back at Chaurl, which only earned Grav a snort and a shake of the head in response. Chaurl's skills allowed him to put off sleeping, or feel fully rested, when he needed to, which was useful at times like this. I knew for a fact it helped him control himself, just like I knew for a fact that both he and Tamlin were itching to beat Grav within an inch of his life.

"You know," I used my aerokinesis to talk while I took another large bite of Bronzebird. "I can't think of many things more stupid than insulting the person healing you using an insult that likewise attacks one of his friends - a friend that, rather than curse at you, can literally curse you."

I made sure to look at him as he went to reply, interrupting his response with a bloody crunch as I bit through the monster's bones. "The only thing I can think of that might be just as foolish would be using slurs to talk about the friend of an intelligent Draconoid monster. Here I was under the impression that humans tried not to get themselves killed, but I suppose there was a reason you were sleeping out in the open despite knowing we would be attacked again."

Grav's teammates dragged the man, who was sputtering in rage, away and I felt the warmth of Rei's amusement at my own smugness through the bond. I dismissed the man from my thoughts almost immediately, even as Rauvin gave a half-hearted lecture on cooperation that I likewise zoned out for, far more interested in a discovery I had made about Bronzebirds.

They tasted like pork. Like very lean, salted, pork.

You didn't even have to add salt to them for the taste, although I was told that the meat wouldn't be preserved unless you used actual salt or a skill. Which actually meant that the bird's meat was not very popular, because preserved meat was the norm and preserved Bronzebird meat often tasted more like salt than meat. Bronzebird jerky was, essentially, salt leather.

None of that was an issue here, because no one had any interest in preserving them. Every time one was brought down, it would go straight to a cookpot or to me - not that some of the cooked ones didn't go to me as well. I had come to find that I liked both cooked and uncooked food, they each had their own tastes and raw meat was delicious to me in this form.

"She isn't even listening, is she?" I heard Rauvin say with a sigh. The fact that I had heard him lament me not listening, and pretty much nothing else he said, added to my amusement. Better I be amused than exhausted and frustrated though, right?

*The Next Day (six days of total travel)*

The one benefit of the Bronzebirds was that we did not encounter any other large monsters on the road. Bronzebirds preyed upon larger animals and monsters, and so had driven them out of the nearby area. Rei had even explained to me that Bronzebirds were not even considered very threatening to Sapients because they only very rarely attacked people who were alone or in small groups and would never attack people who were in very large groups.

However, going back to the topic of their intelligence, what made Bronzebirds a nuisance was that they would happily attack wagons. Obviously, the cattle pulling the wagons were a target too, but Bronzebirds were particularly well known for attacking merchant routes because they seemed to think wagons were prey.

I was too tired to consider the topic of monster ecology, and after this mission was complete I rather hoped that my only encounter with Bronzebirds in the future would be hunting them down. I wanted almost nothing to do with them ever again.

A feeling of invigoration washed through me and I jumped a bit. I hadn't even noticed Chaurl putting his hand on my back until he had used his power, I had even forgotten he was riding on my back this morning.

"Thanks for the help, Hewka," he said, patting my back. "This mission would be rough without you carrying us and giving us some time to rest. We need to make sure to do something nice for you when we get done."

I didn't really feel like talking, but gave a grateful chuff in acknowledgement. I hadn't known my team for very long, but it was things like this that made me really happy to be with them. To an extent, I would have taken anyone after being alone for so long, but Seeking the Horizon were genuinely good people. I still wasn't convinced Tamlin was on Rei's level, but he made Rei happy and he was a nice enough guy overall. And Karlin was a tad anti-social and generally serious, but that didn't mean he couldn't be fun. Ylma and Chaurl were a blast - sometimes literally - to be around, and Rauvin was a steadying presence that kept it all together.

I am not sure how I fit in, but I seemed to be doing so regardless of my worries. I was glad my instincts weren't pushing me away from everyone, and that they had accepted that I was a person.

"You're welcome Chaurl," I said in response to his thanks. "Although I hope you don't mind me saying that I might prefer getting a couple days worth of sleep to anything else."

"I thought you were going to ask to bite that Grav fellow," Chaurl said with a chuckle.

"Don't tempt me." No, seriously, please don't tempt me, better to change the topic. "By the way, how much further do we have to go?"

"At our current speed? Another week at least, although we should be out of the bird's range in another few days I would think. Right Rei?" He asks Rei who is walking beside us and she confirms his estimate with a tired nod.

"They usually aren't seen very close to a settlement. If we weren't on the very edge of civilization we probably wouldn't have encountered them so soon out of Evergold.

*Three Days Later (nine days of total travel)*

Everyone was on edge.

It had been eight hours since the last attack, and everyone was hoping and praying that it was the last one. At the same time, no one wanted to get their hopes up too much - it wasn't like there hadn't been long stretches of time between attacks before. None had been quite this long, however.

By midday, however, that tension had given way to relief and everyone agreed to stop right there and rest. I didn't even bother to try and find a place to settle down and just flopped over sending Tamlin, who was riding me with Rei, for a tumble even as Rei gracefully dismounted. Not my problem, I was going to sleep.