Nico glanced behind before he went over a mound. Not only did Atomic gave Nico a drink of his health potion, but he also let him drink some of his Energy potion too. Atomic was still looking in his direction. Nico waved. Atomic didn’t. With a shrug, Nico pushed past the grass and walked over.

So I’m becoming a healer now. Considering he’d spent most of his life learning how to bust brains, he never would have guessed it.

Nico flinched, but he kept walking, keeping his eyes forward. Something above. Two more creatures followed him on each side. Humanoids. He let his hand hang by his side. A frag shell popped out of his palm into his fingers.

They must have stayed away because of Atomic. Lower stars monster avoided higher Ranked creatures. Stars generally equated to Ranks. If the enemy had more total Ranks than the monsters, then the monsters ran. It made hunting them significantly more time consuming.

One of them made a throwing motion. Nico covered his head and crouched, letting a knife fly over his head, and then jumped to the side as the creature above him leapt down from the trees.

Tengu Of The Twisted Bogs (★)

Energy: 2/2

Trait: ?

1st Skill: ?

A brown furred humanoid with an unreasonably long, red nose and lanky limbs sank into the ground with a bone dagger in hand, then went up a foot as the frag shell exploded under it. Its legs separated at its knees, making the yellow explosion mix with the red.

Nico grasped the back of its head and smashed its face into the dirt. A pool of blood ran under it. It flailed its arms needlessly, shrieking a muffled cry as two other Tengu’s charged at Nico, one from the front and one from the back.

Nico got one of its daggers before they reached him. He went prone against it and tossed a Kinetic Shell above him. He struck it from the bottom with his hand.

A strong burst of air squished him against the ground and tossed the Tengus a good distance away. As they tumbled backwards, Nico sank the dagger into the Tengu’s skull.

The Locust released a small burst of yellow fog. It went into the Tengu, then floated out as a small face with a long nose. A dagger appeared in front of it. It pierced it and faded into the air with crossed out skull eyes.

It was more comical than grim. I guess death is a joke to some people. Dreadful, but still better than having it be an entire economical system. He pressed his hand against its skull and Siphoned it.

Energy Of A Tengu (★)

Trait: Animalia

Has increased intelligence and is able to communicate with its fellow specie.

Memories:

Howl (Common I) (Roll 5+)

Consumes 1 Energy to create a loud frequency.

Animalia was the Trait of humans, and he was familiar with Howl. It allowed the wielder to create a loud sound, allowing squads and even cities to communicate with each other. It was also one of the skills suspected to have caused the 4th Fall.

Nico Siphoned it, returning his Energy to full, and charged down the Tengu in front. The one behind Nico struggled to catch up.

Nico didn’t know much about dagger play, and whether it was different than sword play, which he also did not know. He twisted his body sideways as he ran and led with the Locust’s shoulder, giving the Tengu little to stab at.

It tried anyway, but its dull bone blade barely left a scratch on the Locust. He rammed it and the dagger aside. It flew back a few feet, its weight even lower than Nico’s.

It dug its feet into the ground, sliding for another foot before he reached it again. It jabbed its shriveled fingers at his eyes. He ducked slightly, letting its dark colored nails break against his forehead. He caught its hand with the Locust before it pulled it back, wrapping his solid fingers around the Tengu’s soft ones. He felt bone crush as he squeezed his left and swung his right, aiming to slice its neck off.

His dagger found nothing but fur and air. The Tengu bent backwards in time and kicked him in the groan, something that would have killed any other soft human. He released his grasp on it and turned around to face another Tengu. It was up in the air, shrieking all the meanwhile.

Not subtle. Or it could be calling for help.

…It was definitely calling for help.

He kicked out, sinking his foot into its stomach. Its legs and arms folded over his leg. He could have sworn he felt the bulge of its spine on the bottom of his foot. It fell, gasping for breath. Nico plunged his dagger into its skull. The dead icon appeared again, this time showing a piercing animation going through the head.

Nico felt the other Tengu behind him. He stepped forward and kicked back again, getting it in the stomach, while its dagger and sharp nails sunk into his calves, mangling it as the Tengu fell back. The same trick doesn’t work twice. They learn.

The damage to his leg wasn’t fatal, but it was disabling. Nico spent a Heal on it. After checking his senses for any other threat, he turned his full and undivided attention back to the sole standing Tengu.

It stalked him, panting even more than he did. It glanced at its fallen companions then back to Nico, the black pupil in its brown eyes enlarging.

Yeah you better be scared. Trying to eat him was one thing, but hurting him was a step above. He inched closer. The moment it would try to run away he would leap in.

…that gave him an idea. I wonder how it’ll react. He grunted loudly and glanced back, keeping his Life sense on the Tengu while checking. When he stepped back, the Tengu hesitated then followed him. Nico took another large step to the right, turning half-way through.

When the Tengu dashed forward, Nico swung around, tossing his dagger. Its hilt bounced off its head. It wasn’t what Nico was going for, but the Tengu landed off balance with its arms by its side, giving Nico the opportunity to punch its face with the Locust. It connected with a crunch. The Tengu fell back with a light whimper, giving Nico more than enough time to straddle it. He punched it until it stopped moving. An icon of a cracked skull floated towards the sky.

Nico took a second to catch his breath before he got to his feet. He picked up one of the daggers. He left the Locust free so it would have space to create shells. Though the exchange barely lasted half a minute, Nico still did his best to leave before—

More shrieks rung around him, some to his sides, most up. The complex maze of trees intertwining created a natural jungle. For agile light creatures that can catch the branches and swing, or even run down the narrow branches themselves, it was like an additional floor to the world. He could see the Tengus doing that.

Unless he was planning to hunt their entire tribe, he needed to get out of there.

Actually…why not? The Nightmare was coming towards him. Now that Nico left the crater, he can just sit tight in this area. The Tengus were going to keep attacking him, but they were far too weak to pose a problem.

Something like a Blast or Infection decimated Nico’s body, but daggers? Their little cuts were literately one of the easiest wounds to heal.

As for the monsters themselves, their advantages came from their stealth, numbers, and relatively high intelligence, not their physical capabilities. They were 1-stars. He could hunt them if he could negate those advantages. That couldn’t be said for other monster types.

The fact they didn’t have any useful skills didn’t matter. Nico doubted he’ll find a better load-out anytime soon. His Rare roll was no joke.

Plus they’re such good practice to get in shape.

Though depending on how many he was going to kill, he might attract the head of the tribe. If it’s a Boss then Nico can avoid it or run away, but that depended on its skills. If it had more mobility than Nico’s Kinetic Shells, then he’ll probably die, but that was pretty unlikely. Kinetic Burst was one of the best mobility skills out there.

All the conditions were in his favor. Nico quickly dragged the corpses of the Tengus together, which was surprisingly easy considering they were a bit taller than him. He made a Frag shell and went prone within a pack of thick grass. He was far enough to bolt if too many show up, and was close enough to toss the shells if there was an opportunity.

Assuming they hunt in threes, this should be doable. Considering the pattern Nico has observed, however, where at least one thing must go wrong, it meant they don’t hunt in threes. If they were intelligent enough to coordinate ambushes, make daggers, and throw them, then maybe they had a more organized hunting plan. Send out a scouting group to find easy prey, while other heavier squads take down something like Riders.

It wasn’t unheard of. The Deep’s monsters might constantly be changing, but there were patterns.

Most monsters didn’t need to eat to stay alive, nor did they actively hunt. But some did, and those were the dangerous ones. Even monsters specialized and assigned roles among themselves, if they were intelligent enough. There weren’t many Riders, and so far no Fairies either. The Tengus might be powerful enough to have control over the areas where the jungle overhead was heavy. That should make them cocky.

Nico spotted his targets. They circled around the corpses from above, hiding their slim limbs with the branches. Against the silver, their brown fur was easy to spot.

One, two, three…perfe—and of course not. Another squad of three landed shortly after. Their arms dangled by their side as they moved towards their fallen. They nudged the corpses with the back of their hands, sniffed them, then nudged them again. All of them then shrieked in a pitch so high that it made Nico’s eyes watery.

One Howl for assistance, three howls for a dead squad, then? That might have been their code.

He felt the shell in his hands, its smoothness bringing an odd comfort. He stayed where he was, hoping they would leave quickly. There was no reason to take such drastic risks this early.

They didn’t. Instead, they pushed and hooted each other. Before a full-on fight occurred between the two squads, an agreement was reached—one squad dragged one corpse away, the other kept the two other corpses where Nico had left them.

Nico didn’t understand what was happening until one of the larger of the Tengu’s started chumping at one of the corpses, uncontested, while a deadly brawl ensued between the last two. They fought each other, slicing and punching, until one got the upper hand. The other Tengu dropped its weapon and fell to the ground, whimpering. The victor went to feast on his spoils while the third watched in jealousy.

Cannibalism? That’s…that’s not right. Nico couldn’t think of a case where a monster ate one of its own specie. Beyond how disturbing it was, this could have drastic implications. The ecosystem is changing. He wasn’t sure how or why, but he was sure it wasn’t for the better.

Nico got to his knees. He’ll learn more about them as he hunts them. Before he charged, a knife struck the head of the feasting Tengu. It spurted blood, falling and spasming on the ground.

Two other Tengu’s leaped down in a quick ambush from the trees. It was a two versus two, but the third Tengu that had thrown the knife was on its way.

Their behavior made Nico smile. Getting more intelligent made them closer to humans, and thus more treacherous. The cannibalism was only slightly more literal.

Nico got within range before they finished killing each other. One of the Tengu’s noticed him when he got closer, and for their astuteness they got stabbed in the eye by the one they had been fighting. By the time that one noticed Nico too, a shell was flying towards it. Nico ran right in, another Frag shell being made.

All the Tengu’s were caught within the explosion, getting terrible wounds, though one of the Tengu’s was clever enough to jump behind its ally. It stabbed it and tossed it away.

3 left, two injured. This is going to be the easiest fight of my life.

One of them even ran away. Nico thought he would be fighting a two versus one, but instead he got into a one versus one while the coward was chased down by the healthiest of the two. Vengeful. They were still disgusting creatures that ate and betrayed their own, but at least they looked down on cowards as much as Nico did.

It did get them all killed, though. Nico got a fatal hit on the first Tengu he met, slicing open its neck while it missed his own. It fell to the ground, fruitlessly holding its wound.

Then, the very Tengu that was chasing down the deserter was now swinging up in the branches, away from Nico, Howling in the meanwhile.

Nico ran after it, dropping one Kinetic shell under him and jumping. Please work. It didn’t just work, it worked flawlessly. The shell sent him flying forward at an angle like an arrow. He tackled the Tengu out of the air mid-Howl. He grasped its head as they fell and pushed it down. As Nico recently experienced, the ground wasn’t soft when you landed on it with your face.

The Tengu’s skull didn’t splash but it certainly squished. Its soft body cushioned him from the fall.

He Siphoned it, making a Kinetic Shell and ran back towards the ones he’d left, panting but otherwise feeling better than he’d ever felt in a long, long time.

He stopped a grin from stretching on his face. Not yet. He Siphoned two them and got back into his hiding bush. Nothing went wrong yet. He searched for it—what did he forget? What did he overlook?

More Howls resounded, this time two at the same time if he heard right. It created a different pitch.

Another series of shriek followed it, then a few dozen more, until they cascaded into one another loud enough to send a few vultures flying into the skies. His ears couldn’t distinguish one from the other. How many were that? Two dozen? Four maybe?

149 Howls

If each squad has 3 Tengus, then the total is 447 Tengus.

…wow. Nico wasn’t sure which was more impressive, turning your enemies’ corpses into weapons, or being able to do math.

After calming down, and hearing even more shrieking resounding in the trees, Nico slowly climbed out, mouthing a few words of apology. He kept close to the trees and grass, moving only after he checked the branches above him.

Nico imagined it—hundreds of Tengu’s coming at him from every direction. Sure they were 1-stars, but their number was ludicrous. Where would he even run? Even Houses avoided monsters with the Animalia trait. It wasn’t a ‘hunt’ like it was for Riders or Fairies. It was closer to a war. He couldn’t wage it by himself.

Unfortunate. These types of creatures were perfect prey. They were agile but they had such little defenses against his shells. If their strongest advantage in combat was dodging, then the shells invalidated that, leaving them with nothing.

And considering he has his Siphoning skill, he can quite literately hunt them for days on end with an without even getting tired. It didn’t even require anything fancy, they stab him in the shoulder or something and he gets to stab them in the brain, or he can just blow them to bits. He can just keep running, picking off one squad after the other, and if the 1-star is anything to go off of, then if there was a second star, then it was likely just as bad. Maybe the Boss will be doable too if he could figure out a trick to hunt it.

Maybe I can wage war against them. Maybe this was the safer option.

Nico came to another halt. He glanced at a few fallen trees. There was a perfect hiding spot under their broken branches and grass. Or maybe I’m just making excuses, so that I can remember what it’s like to live before I lose the Locust.

He got under the trees and was welcomed with a plethora of insects. Their buzzing, their hideous appearance, the fact they were eating him, creating one maddening itch after another, it made him want to scream—but he didn’t, since he would just end up swallowing them.

The Howling continued. Nico soon heard and felt a squad, then a second, then a third, moving above him, their shrill voice damaging his ears more than anything they’d done. Still doable. He’ll pick them off one by one, using the Kinetic Shells to escape whenever he needed, and never staying in one spot long enough to be surrounded.

I think I know a good way to use something like a Howl shell too. He just needed to Siphon every time he used 2 Energy to prevent the Locust from gaining Heat. The 2 Energy it provided should be seen as a just-in-case.

Okay, okay. I got this. He had a plan and everything.

Nico heard a vicious, deep roar that silenced every Howl. For a few moment he only heard the wind rustling branches and the insects buzzing.

…I still got this.