Thanks to the turkey boss's anger, Levi had a large pile of fresh wood to work with. The lack of proper tools was irritating, to say the least, but even without a power stone the manablades retained their edge long after a mundane steel blade would have dulled beyond the point of uselessness.

Levi cleared out enough space in the center of the pile for Gremlin Two to join him, then a path to the outside. He poked his head out tentatively, ready to retreat in an instant if the boss still lurked nearby.

The dire turkey had dismissed them entirely and returned to its post strutting back and forth in front of the exit door. A safe distance away, well out of reach and unlikely to notice them unless they attacked it again.

They could take their time this time, prepare the battlefield to their advantage. So that's what they did.

With Levi's guidance, Gremlin Two carved dozens of branches into sharp stakes, while Levi himself made larger branches into thick bladed spears to the best of his ability.

By the time they’d finished, both had recovered fully from their initial clash with the dire turkey boss, their health and mana full, though their stamina fluctuated with the strenuous work they'd undertaken.

Of course, the boss would be back up to 100% as well, but Levi wasn't as concerned about that. The challenge would be almost impossible either way. He needed to stack the odds so far in his favor that it wouldn't matter.

Levi found several rifts between the trees and the boss, and used them to anchor groups of the stakes and spears pointing up and outward. He set even more around the half-decimated pile of fallen trees, turning the place into a veritable fortress. More he laid out within the pile, where he could grab them quickly if necessary.

He stashed one of the better spears at each fallback point, carrying another with him. He’d considered affixing his shortsword or the dagger to a longer shaft, but had nothing that would bind it strongly enough not to snap at a critical time. The closest would be cutting strips of his jacket to use as ties, but he didn’t trust the fabric to hold up to combat and the last thing he wanted was to lose one of his manablades to an unlucky strike.

At last, the preparations were complete. They had ten different clusters of stabby sticks set up as traps, none of which would be enough to stop the boss, but each should at least injure it. They had spears which should at least enable them to deal mild stabby damage without having to be dangerously close in. And they had turned the remains of the tree pile into a safe place to retreat if their plans failed.

It was the best he could do with what he had on hand.

Now the true test: would it be enough?

Gremlin Two waited in the forest, lurking with his spear and several stabby sticks up a tree and ready to jump out once Levi lured the giant dire turkey close enough. The gremlin couldn't possibly outrun the boss, so running it around into the traps would be Levi's job.

He crouched and sneaked his way through the grasses as carefully and quietly as possible. He hoped to be able to get a surprise attack in, but if that failed at least he would be able to hear the turkey coming.

The giant gobbler strutted about in front of the exit door like it owned the place, comb waving proudly with the steady bob of its head on its long powerful neck.

Levi stayed crouched, watching. The turkey turned in his direction, but not because it had spotted him. It continued its pacing, turning away without pause when it reached the end of its line. That's when Levi pounced.

His spear wasn't the best, carved imperfectly from green wood, but he stabbed it into the turkey's back with all the strength he could muster, then stomped on the haft to drive it into the ground and anchor it. The turkey spun, wrenching the spear from his grip, but it had accomplished its purpose. A deep gash across its back leaked blood.

Level 1+

(Dire Turkey)

Health 99%

The more bleeds he could inflict, the better. Injure an enemy enough to outpace their regen, and then all he had to do was evade while it slowly died. It would take a lot to outpace a boss's regen, but he had a lot of spiky branches.

Levi turned and ran, pushing stamina into his body as he sprinted away. The turkey could outrun him if both ran at their normal speed, but with stamina Levi could push himself faster in brief bursts. He reached the first fallback point, the collected stakes and spears concealed by the tall grass, their points facing back toward the angry dire turkey.

He ducked to grab his spear, then crouched into the opening he'd run through and stabbed it into the rift, filling in the cluster.

The turkey burst out of the grass a moment later, running full speed. It impaled itself on the stakes before it had even seen them, letting out a furious unearthly sound.

Levi didn’t wait to see the outcome. He jumped up and sprinted for the second installation. When he glanced back, the boss had torn itself free, half the stakes pulled from their anchoring, the rest scattering about.

Level 1+

(Dire Turkey)

Health 88%

The dire turkey's eyes fixed on Levi as it gobbled madly, staggered for just a moment to regain its balance with three stakes still sticking out of its chest feathers, then ran at him with a vengeance.

Levi's lead wouldn't last more than a few seconds with the boss this angry.

He was glad they'd gone overboard on traps. The second was just ahead. He ran around it, snatching the spear from where it rested, then ran another few yards before turning and setting the spear.

The turkey ran straight into the second cluster of spikes, but this time it launched into the air immediately, claws reaching up to yank the stakes free. Blood flowed down its chest, glinting wetly on the glossy black of its feathers.

Level 1+

(Dire Turkey)

Health 75%

It landed well past the trap, hissing like a raptor, and stalked toward Levi with murder in its gaze.

"Sure you don't want to run at me blindly again?" Levi called out, his pulse racing with excitement.

They'd already made more progress this time than the first try, and he had eight more traps set up. He got to his feet and stabbed out at the turkey with the point of his spear, more to irritate it than expecting to succeed. The turkey slashed the spear with a wing before it could connect, the force jerking it from Levi's grip and sending it spinning away.

He turned and ran, careful to keep just ahead of the turkey, barely out of its reach. It followed slowly now, steadily, clearly wary of being lured into another trap. Levi had to gradually tease it into moving just a little faster as it tried to catch him, closer and closer to an uncontrolled rush.

Level 1+

(Dire Turkey)

Health 74%

He smiled. So his many attacks had finally added up. That made it even easier to run it around in circles, keeping to a sustainable rate, satisfied knowing it would be losing health steadily the whole time.

Then he tripped in an unexpected rift, hidden by the grasses.

The turkey charged, losing patience with the slow game, and Levi scrambled to his feet and raced flat out toward his nearest trap. When he was just short of it, he spun and ducked down, heart racing as he hid and waited.

The turkey, having apparently decided that 'ducking human equals stabby spikes', launched itself into the air to fly past overhead. It swooped low as it saw Levi hadn't actually set a trap here, then spotted him and slowed to turn. With an angry gobble, it dropped to the ground a bit past the spike cluster, ran in a tight turn and took off again coming straight at Levi.

He jumped up and ran, swinging by the trap to snatch the waiting spear just in time. The boss swooped down at him, claws extended.

Levi thrust the spear up at it to fend it off.

The turkey grabbed hold of the spear shaft, trying to pull it from his hands as before, but this time Levi didn’t let go. He clung on, using the spear like a rudder to ground the turkey and redirect its low flight.

He led it through a half turn as it flapped harder and pecked at his arm, trying to break his grip, then released it the moment the turkey's momentum was aimed toward the cluster of stakes.

With an angry squawk it flapped awkwardly through the air, its balance thrown off, its attention focused on Levi and the spear rather than the cluster of stakes aimed at its breast. It dropped the spear to land and reorient itself.

Right on the sharpened sticks. Hah!

Level 1+

(Dire Turkey)

Health 68%

Before it fully landed it pumped its wings again, lifting itself away from the trap before it could be more than superficially stabbed, but Levi could see the damage was still adding up.

Levi hoped it would lose its temper again and start running at him full out, but it had clearly learned its lesson. It stayed in the air, swooping at him with brief dives before lofting back upward again, never landing.

Levi nodded. He’d expected it would learn not to trust the ground and prepared for the eventuality. Even if it had done so sooner than anticipated, he could make it work.

The regular dire turkeys could fly in brief high-speed attacks, but from what he’d seen from the boss it was made to run down its prey rather than swoop in from the sky. It moved more slowly in the air, its bulk relatively ponderous against the tug of gravity, and the requirement of flapping frenziedly kept it to a sluggish pace compared to its smaller counterparts. However, unlike its smaller counterparts, it seemed perfectly capable of remaining in the air indefinitely.

Plan C, then. Levi changed course and ran for the stand of trees where his fortress pile lay waiting. The boss flew after him, wings flapping madly to keep up, gobbling in rage.

“Two! Incoming! Get ready…”