Chapter 82

Arachnid Needle Birds

Brewer’s Reputation: 86,000

Dream Cutter Stone Shard Quest: 1/15,000 shards.

A handful of monster birds had landed in our Sheltering Bubble. They were gray like painted metal. Their feathers were as stiff as scales. Were it not for their feathers, I wouldn’t have suspected that they were birds.

I’d never seen anything like them before. Their stomach and torso was something like a large quiver. Their limbs spilled out of both ends and were as small and round as spears. Only when one of the spear-limbs opened to reveal teeth did I see that it was the head. Each limb had one claw and every two were webbed.

Their speed was also monstrous. They moved so fast that they seemed to flicker from one position to another. They moved like that through Abigail’s flowers. Their needle-slender heads knocked around the flowers as they sniffed. Their sniffing became frenzied when they explored the giant batavia littler flower pods. We had an open vantage down the path from the cabin’s front door.

Abigail and I watched from the threshold. We kept out whispers slow and soft.

“They’re after the pollen of the batavia littlers,” she said.

“How do you know?”

“Corylus warned me that the blooms attract monster birds.”

“They haven’t bloomed yet,” I said.

“I know.”

“What are they called?”

“I don’t know.”

A bottle of beer popped into Abigail’s hand, straight from her inventory.

“What’s that?” I said.

“Bomb,” she said.

“Bomb?”

“Explosive Touch attribute.”

“So long as they don’t attack us, there’s no need to fight them off.”

“It’s best to be prepared,” she said.

“I know they’re monsters, but there’s no sense in killing,” I said.

“No sense in dying without a fight either.”

The monsters attacked the batavia flower pods. Their heads and limbs shredded the plants in mere moments. They once more moved so fast that I could only pick up snapshots of their movements. It was like watching lightning move. Their limbs even jutted out in angles like lightning. But they ate slowly. Their mouths opened and their tongues darted out like that of a hummingbird’s. When one of them had just scooped up a mouthful of flower matter, it’s head was suddenly snapped up and looking straight at Abigail and I. Abigail passed me a bottle of beer.

“Slow Time,” she said.

“They are fast,” I said.

“How are you on mana?”

“I’m good.”

“Get ready.”

“I’m not killing unless I have to,” I said.

“Get ready to have to,” she said.

“Let’s avoid battle.”

I reached out across Abigail for the door handle. In that same moment, one of the spear-limbed monsters moved toward us. The quick movement startled us and we each let out a soft gasp. Another of the monsters reared its head and looked at us. Then the first one was suddenly halfway down the path between us and them. It appeared there suddenly, with one leg poised in mid-air as though it were a cat stealthing its way.

I heard a rolling click from the one closest to us; saw the skin of its neck rapidly inflate and deflate. All the other monsters lifted their heads and peered at us.

Abigail raised her bottle of Explosive Touch to her lips. The monster halfway between us halved its distance again. Abigail paused.

“Do you have a weapon ready?” she said.

“My axe.”

“Get ready.”

Abigail raised the bottle to her lips. The monster blinked forward.

“Wait,” I said.

“What? Why?”

“Maybe it’ll leave us alone.”

“That’s not how this works. It’s clearly not leaving us alone.”

“It’s worked before.”

“Hawkin,” she admonished.

“As long as we’re not moving, they're not moving.”

“How long do you think we can stand here?”

“Isn’t it worth it not to kill them?” I said.

“You’re playing a dangerous game.”

“I know that they’re monsters, but…”

“I need to know you’ll fight with me,” she said.

“Of course I will.”

“They move fast; you should have no trouble if you use Slow Time.”

“Why aren’t you using it?” I said.

“Because I knew you wouldn’t want to kill them. Slow Time will help us evade them, and kill them if we wanted to, but I was hoping Explosive Touch would scare them off.”

“If that doesn’t work?”

“As long as we have mana and endurance, we have options.”

“I trust you,” I said.

“I’m gambling here.”

“I wouldn’t have pegged you as a gambler in battle.”

“I don’t usually take risks in battle,” she said. “Again, I’m doing this for you because I know how you feel about living things—monsters or creatures.”

“…they have the right to live.”

“Drink.”

Abigail lifted her forefinger and thumb into a pinching position. We drank.

Time slowed like water turning to cold honey. Sounds petered away.

The monster was rushing toward us. Its movements were so fast, that even with the Slow Time attribute, it looked like it was casually walking.

From the corner of my eye I spotted a light emerge from Abigail’s pinching fingers. It dawned on me that she’d known the monster’s next move would be to rush an attack. In her real time, she was using Explosive Touch.

Trusting Abigail, I moved out of the way as the monster quickly covered ground. The light from her fingertip bubbled outward in a slow flash as the monster drew near. A red flash followed a white flash. The bubbles popped and clouds of fire-red smoke billowed out from each bubble. My grip tightened. My knuckles went white. The monster tried to skid to a halt, but it was too late. Explosive firepower consumed it, burning it, and sending it flying back into the group of other monsters that were walking into action.

The rest of the monsters took a walking pace toward Abigail. I intercepted them when they came to close and used the butt of my axe to knock them back a few steps. They returned all at once, slow enough that I could parry each stab from their needle heads and beaks. I saw light reflect on their bodies and I dove out of the way to let another one of Abigail’s Explosive Touch blast the group. I’d kept each monster a good few feet away from her, so when they all took the opportunity to rush in, her blast sent them careening off.

They got up and kept coming so I put myself between them and Abigail once more and parried their attacks. They were already heavily burned. Blood oozed from charred wounds.Because they weren’t letting up, I realized what that meant.

When Abigail’s Explosive Touch began once more, I kept the monsters at bay until the last second. I dove out of the way. Explosive firepower blasted the monsters back once more.

One of the monsters had flanked Abigail and I rushed to protect her. Just as I arrived, it’s beak sliced her arm. I lopped off its head.

I stood before Abigail, breathing hard, assessing the battle.

In real time, she was still using her Explosive Touch so I moved off to the side and watched the fireworks. She’d known. The gold rank Brewer knew how the battle was going to pan out.

All the monsters lay motionless. Blood hadn’t yet started to fall from the headless one. Since Slow Time was still active, I found and gathered all the corpses together and waited until Slow Time ended.

Sounds and the motions of the world came rushing back.

In the time that had been nearly frozen for Abigail, she’d stopped using Explosive Touch and slowly moved to react to the scratch she’d suffered. It was only a scratch.

When she realized the monsters had died, she said, “At least we tried.”

“That’s the least we could do. I pushed them into your line of fire.” I gestured to her wound. “They were fast, even with Slow time.”

“I’m surprised they got me.”

“Let’s clean that up.”

I brought her into my cabin, heated water, and cleaned her wound.

“I’ll take the body parts; see if I can sell them at market,” she said.

“I’ll save one for Thrush to eat,” I said. “I think he’ll like that.”

“I’m sorry my flowers have brought monsters.”

“To tell you the truth, I loved fighting by your side. Thanks for respecting my desire to do as little harm as possible.”

“It’s a desire we share, but you might want to think about brewing an attribute beer that is also a weapon.”