Chương 73

The Hunter Becomes the Hunted The fifth-wave construct was heralded by an ear-piercing shriek that caused Rel to feel two emotions. The first was fear. However, it was not entirely his own. It was a remnant of the simple creature he had once been, back in the days before the passenger's arrival. It was born of instinct – a primal warning that a predator approached and that the only sensible options were to run or hide. That fear was quickly smothered by a burning anger. He was Rel. Squire to Peter Brookes.

Grandmaster. Guildmaster. Champion of Oakreach. Avatar of Flame. Professor. Doctor. Lord. Commander. Probably several others he'd forgotten about. The point was, the oversized, screeching bird soaring through the air above had some fucking nerve making him feel fear – even if it had only been for a moment. He leaned on his staff as he observed the approaching construct, his eyes narrowed. A hawk – a dreaded enemy of arboreal observers everywhere.

On second thought, to the average arboreal observer, the word enemy was perhaps not appropriate. It implied some level of equality, as though the two species stood on an even footing within the animal kingdom. When a predator gazes upon its prey, does it think, ' Ahh, there's my enemy', or does it think, ' Ahh, there's my next meal'? Unfortunately for the overgrown winged dipshit circling overhead, Rel was no ordinary arboreal observer. The hunter was about to become the hunted.

* I admit I was a little surprised to see a hawk. It looked almost exactly like one you'd see on Earth, with brown and white feathers and a hooked beak. However, there were a few differences. It was significantly bigger, its body nearly as large as an elephant's. As a result, its wingspan was absolutely absurd – at least forty metres wide. Auroria was not at all surprised by the construct.

"It's very common for fifth wave constructs to take on the form of a predator from a Trialist's home planet," she said.

"A bird of prey is a very logical opponent for a squirrel." Kaelis gasped. I flinched. Voklum and Allaria stared at Auroria with something approaching pity.

"You shouldn't use the 's' word," said Kaelis quietly, glancing nervously at the screen as though Rel might somehow be listening.

"The Grandmaster does not like to be referred to as such." Auroria stared blankly at him.

"I don't understand… Rel is a squirrel."

"He prefers arboreal observer," I said with a shrug.

"Honestly, I have no idea why. I guess he just thinks it sounds more noble. Either way, it's probably best not to refer to him as a squirrel when he's around. You might find yourself on the receiving end of a fireball to the face." Auroria's face scrunched up in confusion, her cat ears twitching slightly, then she let out a sigh and turned back to the screen. She muttered something under her breath, and while I couldn't make out every word, I definitely heard the phrase 'crazy people' somewhere in there.

Rel soared into the air to meet his winged opponent, the lightning arcing across his body more intensely than I'd ever seen before. He thrust his staff ahead of him and unleashed a bolt of lightning so dazzling that I had to glance away from the screen for a moment. Apparently, this one was personal. I looked back, expecting to see the hawk's charred body plunging to the ground. Judging by the slightly dumbstruck expression on Rel's face, he had been expecting the same.

It turned out things were not going to be quite so simple. It was a wave-five construct after all. The hawk had dodged the attack and was looping back around, its wings tucked tightly against its body as it dove towards Rel, cutting through the air like a yellow-tipped spear. Rel snapped free of his disbelief just in time to veer aside, narrowly avoiding being impaled. His intelligence may have been monstrous, but his durability was nowhere near mine.

Even with his robes, reinforced by Armour Enhancement – Superior, bearing the brunt of the attack, I can't imagine it would've been a pleasant experience for him. The fight devolved into a brutal and chaotic scrap, the two opponents clashing in one exchange after another. Sir Rockington III – who was about as useful as a chocolate teapot when it came to aerial combat – was stomping about on the ground, attempting to stay underneath the combatants, shouting words of encouragement to Rel and insults at the hawk.

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"You are performing most splendidly, master! Show that feathered miscreant who's boss!" Neither combatant had emerged from the exchanges unscathed. Rel had a deep cut across his cheek where he'd failed to fully avoid one of the razor-sharp feathers lining the tip of the bird's wing. There was also a rapidly repairing tear across the front of his robe where the hawk's beak had snapped shut and almost torn a chunk out of him.

The hawk had charred patches of feathers where lightning and fire had struck, and one of its eyes was swollen and bloodied from where Rel had rammed his staff into it after the creature had torn at his robes with its beak. Corruption of the draeven was eating away at the hawk from the inside, but the bird was proving to be incredibly durable. Honestly, they were pretty evenly matched, and I was starting to get a little worried that Rel would slip up and end up being decapitated by one of the hawk's wings.

Thankfully, Sir Rockington III was there to turn the tide of the battle. The fight had dragged on for so long that his taunt ability had come off cooldown. He cast it, once more sending out his invisible lasso of ultimate disrespect. The hawk's wings snapped wide as it halted mid-flight and turned in the air, its murderous yellow eyes fixing on the earth elemental with a look of complete and utter hatred. I couldn't help but wonder what deeply personal telepathic insult had been delivered on this occasion.

Hawks are what you get when you order an eagle from Temu. Apparently forgetting that Rel even existed, the hawk screeched furiously and beat its powerful wings as it dove towards Sir Rockington III. The earth elemental prepared himself for the incoming attack… and by that, I mean he raised one enormous stone hand and greeted the bird with a middle finger while using his other hand to hold his hat firmly in place.

The hawk crashed into Sir Rockington III's enormous torso like a missile, shattering the earth elemental into hundreds of tiny pieces. Rel had not been idle. He'd charged up an absolute beast of a crescent blade of air and unleashed it at the hawk while the construct was still furiously pecking at Sir Rockington III's remains. It was cut clean in half. Rel swooped down to land beside Sir Rockington III's mostly intact head. His hat was still being held firmly in place by a now-detached stone hand.

"Spiffing job, old boy," said the earth elemental. His voice was weak, stripped of much of its usual booming pomposity.

"A victory for the ages." Rel raised a paw and the shattered pieces of the earth elemental began to sink back into the ground.

"Excellent work, Sir Rockington III," he said.

"You have proven yourself to be a most worthy minion. Return to your elemental realm and recover your strength. I shall have need of you again soon." * Fifth wave defeated. You are now eligible to access Tier Five quests. Reward: Ring of Instantaneous Invocation Ring of Instantaneous Invocation Equipping the item grants the following bonuses: + 6 intelligence + 4 agility + Grants the ability: Instant Invocation Instant Invocation The wearer's next spell that requires channelling or charging becomes an instant cast.

Cooldown: 1 day Rel's eyes twinkled as he read the description. The item would do very nicely indeed. Instant summoning. Instant Nature's Wrath. Instant fully charged blades of air. * Kaelis managed to make it as far as wave four before he was defeated. The giant worm spawned as the first-wave construct – although it had been scaled down so significantly it was debatable whether it still actually qualified as 'giant'. Very large may have been more appropriate.

Kaelis made quick work of the creature, his axe easily cleaving through the armoured shell. He fought the fairies and giant rats in the second and third waves. The fairies posed little challenge, but the rats put up one hell of a fight. If not for his Blackflame Plate, it was likely they'd have been chowing down on filet de Kaelis for dinner. He emerged from the fight covered in so much blood that he looked like he'd taken a bath in the stuff. His fourth wave construct was a creature we hadn't seen before.

It was a huge scorpion with a dark green metallic body, its tail dripping a black substance that steamed and bubbled. It darted forward, its tail and pincers lashing out with such speed that Kaelis was immediately forced onto the defensive, scrambling desperately to dodge and parry. He managed to keep it up for about five seconds before the scorpion's tail broke through his guard and impaled him, punching through his chest plate as though it were little more than sturdy cardboard.

And, as if the wound itself hadn't been bad enough, the corrosive venom coating the tip of the creature's tail coursed through his veins, melting his organs and turning them into something resembling soup in a matter of seconds. Voklum found a similar level of success, although he put up a slightly better fight against the fourth wave constructs. He managed to bring down three of the giant rats – his warhammer pulverising them into bloody stew – before the creatures overwhelmed him.

Fortunately for him, they went straight for the throat, so he wasn't forced to endure half an hour of them feasting on his limbs like the unfortunate Trialist Auroria had told us about. Allaria's assessment was a little different. As she'd previously defeated the first two waves, she skipped straight to wave three. She faced another unfamiliar construct. It was a snake. A long, slithery bastard that was all length and no girth.

I was about to proudly announce to my fellow spectators that we should name it the 'reverse-chode', but the words died in my throat as I imagined the sighs and disappointed head shakes that would likely follow. Their loss. The snake's scales were brown, but they were dotted with little speckles of a luminous white that seemed to glow with an almost arcane light. Allaria regarded it with cold indifference, drawing and nocking an arrow. I've got to be honest – I found her to be a very impressive individual.

One second, she could tell an inappropriate joke with the best of them; the next, she'd show no hesitation about poking someone's eye out with an arrow, pulling it back out, and doing it again. I respected that. Their fight ended up being one hell of a messy scrap. The snake's lack of girth proved very useful in a fight against an archer – there wasn't much of a target to hit. It also moved absurdly quickly, contorting its body in ways that would make a gymnast jealous.

After the fourth arrow missed, Allaria uttered several swear words that made even me blush, tossed her bow aside, yanked an arrow from her quiver, and charged the snake. The fight that ensued involved lots of hissing and attempted strangulation. And the snake did some shit too. It ended with Allaria putting the slithery fucker in a headlock and driving the arrow through its throat. It was glorious. After such an impressive victory, she entered the fourth wave brimming with confidence.

I could tell from her expression that she was feeling herself – that she felt a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, she could do it. It took the giant worm around six seconds to turn her into a pancake.