Kliikli walks behind the sign and knife, uncomfortably shifting side-to-side. Even if her mage's form isn't visible, he had named her! All the men back home couldn't even compare to a proper Oldnat-speaking gentleman like a mage. The craftsmanship of such a minor tool is already on-par with their crafters' bests!

"I'm so happy you gave me an Oldnat name before I found a mate," she coos, walking around to the front and side of him to hug herself again. "Echowings are compatible with lots of species, s-so we can have lots of kids no matter what you really are!"

The knife twiddles side-to-side before touching a single word.

What?

The batgirl sighs and rolls out of my way, letting me once again walk unimpeded. This isn't the first time, either; she looks like she's having a fun time whilst her whole village is getting attacked. Admittedly, she doesn't have much reason to worry with my help... but that doesn't stop me from feeling uneasy. Bringing her back is a huge risk, particularly because Bomber and I may have to fight her if she doesn't let me explain things.

That's, of course, why I have all these boards. Carving the right message is taking me a lot of time and thinking, but I'm sure that there has to be the right way in Oldnat to explain it all simply. Nata is advanced and has a lot of bad intent toward Creepers, but the echowings don't have many options when it comes to help. Bomber should be much safer since, while foreign, he's not a species that can consume living creatures; the amount of threat he presents should be admittedly much smaller.

We're close. Stop.

The batgirl reads the nata while passing me, stopping and quickly approaching again. I kept us justifiably far enough away that Bomber should have heard us; he won't move if possible to avoid detection as long as possible.

For now, I carve out my first... difficult message for the echowing woman.

Trust. No harm. Okay?

"No... harm. Okay- ah!"

Kliikli raises one of her wing-morphed hands, resting a finger along her chin and tilting her head. "I-I... trust. What... problem?"

The knife stays still, the boards clattering in a momentary shake. Whether or not it is her lover shaking in excitement or unease, she can't exactly say. But he doesn't leave her waiting for an answer too long, fortunately; she looks around momentarily while allowing him to carve. This time, the nata are still kept simple, too!

"I'm so glad you're a nice guy," she mumbles in her tongue. "I'll have to learn more Oldnat if I'm going to be a good wife, huh? This says... huh? A... Cre-"

"-eeper?"

She knows the nata, but her actions... she doesn't seem to understand it? That's not exactly reassuring given it could just mean she doesn't know what a Creeper is in-name but knows it by appearance.

Summons. Creeper. Ranbli. Friendly.

Four words that, in order, convey a simple enough message. She understands and seems to glaze past the last two words before smiling and nodding, yet I can't help worrying. If I'm going to help these echowings with their bonebacks, though, I don't particularly have a choice. The only way I can defy that goddess is relying on my luck to not fucking die.

... At this point, there's no use dragging my feet. It's time to take a chance.

I'll return later; give to Creeper.

I tap the final message and toggle the option to return to my body... and this time, given how close I am, I return much smoother than the previous times. Rather than flinging through the air, I slip free of my panels and drop the knife and drift through the air into my nearby body. Bomber and I are a lot closer than I thought, too; the echowing girl fiddles with the knife and signs, pouting to herself, completely unaware of us about thirty feet away.

Bomber... let's go. Don't attack or look hostile unless she show bad intent, understand?

The burrowed ranbli slowly crawls out, giving a nod before moving to hide behind me. But the instant he touches me, the rattling of my branches causes the batgirl to jump and turn. Without a proper way to communicate, it must definitely look weird to see some foreign bush in the middle of her home... so I have to try the best option I have.

I raise my staff over the top of me horizontally, slowly walking forward.

Faeh takes a step back and doesn't look the slightest bit less confused. This is definitely not good. I need to think fast or-

"Cree...per?"

Her voice is hard to hear but that's definitely her talking! I knew this body could hear! I nod and point at the boards. Faeh looks between the knife and them, then back to me, then back to the tools before she finally nods. She lowers down and retrieves them, slowly walking closer before setting them down.

Ten feet away.

That's fair.

"Why did my husband pick... a bush and... a ranbli? Didn't natural ranbli go extinct long ago? H-How did he summon one?"

The bush waddles forward whilst she retreats. Although she isn't terribly afraid, she doesn't understand why the bush seems to be the one in charge; out of all the races, it's odd that a ranbli appears to be the subordinate summon to a walking bush. The name Creeper was derivative of the Creeper Thorns farther northeast, yet she hadn't once even seen a single strand of it. Old legends additionally warned them of the plants, yet this one was anything but harmful. If anything, Kliikli has to admit that it's somewhat cute.

At last, the bush retrieves the knife and sets the sheathed tool into its body. The vines around its core snare and twist around it, locking it into place before it does the same with the signs. Only after it has it for a time does it finally wave its staff at her.

"I-I guess this is normal," she mumbles louder, awkwardly hugging herself for a few seconds before the huntress lets go and turns. "W-Well... follow me, my mate's creature. I sure hope the two of you will be enough to actually... um... help."

We've really done it, Bomber. This is it.

The village looks so much bigger now that I'm passing through it in my actual body. Bomber doesn't seem pleased but that's fine; a little discomfort around confused glances right now will indebt the entire collection of echowings to us. Faeh seems the most disappointed so far with having to escort us, but I know that will change once we assist them with these bonebacks.

A warning screech tears through the village moments before an echowing sails past us, smashing and crumpling against the side of one of the stone houses.

... Now we just need to not die.

The ranbli's judging look isn't going to phase me now. With his club and skills, we should at least be able to match the physical threat of one echowing. And as far as magic goes, even without my dungeon for defensive value I should be on par with ten echowings in combat.

I think.

Faeh slows to a halt and the elder from before paces out from one of the nearby house. The girl bows her head and speaks in her tongue, drawing the human-like bat-man's gaze to me. Unlike her and the others who exhibited some manner of confusion or uncertainty in my ability, his own guise pales.

He knows.

"... You are Mage Kaden's summons?"

I nod. As best as a bush can. Bomber takes a look at me before repeating the gesture, inspiring the man's cheeks to regain color but distorting his calm guise with a frown.

"A Creeper," he mumbles, looking me up and down. "A ranbli is one thing, but to imagine a mage using one of your kind..."

Faeh questions him in their tongue but he gestures dismissively to her. Confirming his knowledge of me means that there may yet be some credibility as far as nata detailing a dislike of Creepers... but it also makes me question why he isn't outright hostile. The reputation of my Manifested Form should be roughly the same as my identity as a dungeon master, yet all he offers is small complaints that could be tucked under a simple objection of momentary misjudging. This sort of stuff is too complicated for me to dwell on and detail, so I won't; he accepted my aid and now despite his complaints is still entrusting Bomber and I.

I have the ability to finally impress someone who isn't Ropert. That alone is all the more reason to deal with these bonebacks. Even if I can't keep any materials from them, the trust of the echowings and the experience may make this my most profitable adventure from Kave yet.

A roar sounds through, booming between the stone walls, moments before an echowing tumbles past us. The elder quickly steps over to stop their tumble whilst Faeh takes flight, leaving Bomber and I to turn and face the familiar yet deeper roar.

Although only one of the bonebacks is breaching the village — the other seemingly absent or potentially being directed elsewhere by the echowings — it definitely warrants concern compared to the ones we faced. It's easily six or seven feet tall, nearly fourteen feet from snout to nose, and its thick boneplates cover not just its back but even multiple parts of its belly. The spherical shape of the younger bonebacks is gone for a true bear-like build that you'd see on larger bears I'd only seen in old photos in my prior life.

Bomber doesn't seem phased from how he's standing up on his legs and clutching his club, but the additional armor on this boneback and its proper shape is flatly a large increase in power. The bone encasing most of its head means killing it like the other bonebacks isn't going to be possible... and bears in my prior life were notoriously difficult to slay without a means to hit vitals that the rest of its body armor protects.

The elder looks at us, then points at the beast. "Go! That's your foe!"

I'm thankful that he's intelligent enough to talk but... where did all his respect go from before? Did he forget that the mage from before is the one who "sent" us? Fuck it. Not important right now.

The distance between us and the bear is a little over two houses: thirty to forty feet, maybe? Its stance is aggressive and it can likely run fast enough to close the gap with us in moments... so I should counter that.

Bomber, I'll support you for a moment while we learn its limits. These stone buildings are too big for it to break... and make a perfect combat area for us. Try to stay above it! Rampart!

The crystals shimmer to life, moments before the earth ruptures upward ahead of me. Its 10 foot height completely barriers between us and the boneback, granting Bomber a perfect ramp to approach. He darts ahead and nears its top, leaping to the side moments before the rampart splits.

It charged!?

The bestial skull rams through the earth and its sluggish form stagger through, yet all of its momentum to charge at us vanishes trying to push through shaped earth. With my mana sustaining it, the rampart isn't simple to get through, either. The outline of my gemskewer spots around the beast's head, my staff glowing brighter.

Gemskewer!

Three gem skewers should do; mana crystallizes and bursts from the destroyed earth around the beast, crashing against its boned head. The first strikes it to make it turn while another rises on the opposite side and pierces it in the eye. The beast roars and my third lunges up at its maw, yet the beast bites down and crushes the magical attack in its crystal-breaking teeth. Given how it rolls its head free from my second skewer, the beast didn't suffer losing its eyesight; most likely all I managed to do was pierce near the eye and stop on its skull, ultimately failing to do any lethal damage.

The elder finally pulls the wounded echowing up, helping him away while Faeh screeches and taunts the beast from above. Echowings are all around us but most of them seem to be standing in awe or keeping their distance since they can see my spells change the environment.

But Bomber can tell that this opportunity is perfect; while Faeh gets the beast to stand and swipe at me, the ranbli leaps from one of the nearby buildings with club in hand. The beast spots him but not before the weapon smashes against its wounded eye.

Unlike the smaller ones, he has no chance to deal fatal damage with a single strike. The wounded eye, however, is sensitive from my prior attack. Bomber's strike sends him falling nimbly to the ground to bounce away, moments before the disgruntled beast swipes and then follows after him. Faeh immediately approached and kicks the beast's head, the two-pronged pair's attacks distracting it from me.

It makes me wish I brought all of my summons along; if Ropert and Ivy joined us, we wouldn't even need the echowings to take on one of these large beasts.

Or, at least, I thought that'd be the case. Because right now, the boneback is doing something that its young ones hadn't done in all the times I fought it.

All the bone armor is turning black, red veins blazing across the material moments before the wounded beast's body engulfs in flame. The heat from it washes over the village and causes Faeh to panic and flee. Bomber springs away, nervously standing up with his club and looking to me for answers.

With the wounded in the hands of others, the elder returns afloat to scowl at the sight of it.

"Damn," his voice rumbles. "A Creeper can't fight an Ego Boneback! This one is already exhibiting mastery over the Charcoal element!"

Charcoal... Nature and Fire.

Great. Another natural enemy... and this time I have an audience relying on us. I don't have the luxury of holding back, even if it means I might be resource-stretched when the other appears. Especially if the other one is able to do this exact same shit!

Bomber, nevermind the original plan. Prioritize keeping it on its toes and distracting it. Time for the Dungeon Master to take the carry role.

The reference is lost on him but that's fine. My body's vines twist and snap tighter around the staff, my SP bar's numerical values reducing and the visual turning a faded grey. The boneback's good eye takes a look at me as the vines shape fingers and a hand, clutching the staff and tilting it toward it.

Magos' Form.

The spells in front of me aren't enough. I need something bigger... something that uses my Earth Element. Something that can work like the bomb without requiring advanced magic. A simpler theory: something to beat a large bear-like beast that isn't afraid of charging through walls of dirt.

[Notification] Spell crafting completed.

Granting spell Pitfall.

Notifications always give away the best part.

Pitfall.