Chương 40: Chapter 39: Not Fly, Jump Good!

With a kick off the ground, Sir Sebastian Little and his mount, the crow-dragon princess thing, whatever her name was - did he ever say? It felt like a social faux pas to have already forgotten if he did. THAT IS STUPID. Yeah, I guess! She seemed nice though! IF WE CATCH HER Wolf said into my head, SHE IS LUNCH. I decided not to argue too much. Mmmm... like chicken, I bet.

'You two, by the world!' Gelidia said, exasperated.

'The bird's name is Zephyri. Focus!' she admonished educationally, and I snapped my attention back to where... Sir Little absolutely was not. Gone? I looked around, twisting my neck this way and that to get another eye on our enemy. That was of course when I suddenly got a bead on him again - when he was already half-way through a dive bomb directly at my back.

A blow that would probably have removed my head if it had connected turned into a glancing slash off by back's much thinner armor, scoring a line of burning pain across my spine and left shoulder. I brought my hammer around, or tried to, but with a defiant cackle into the air, Zephyri beat her wings once and swooped upwards, quickly dwindling out of my reach.

A low growl escaped my lips and I took off after her on pure instinct, pumping a surge of stamina into my legs, accelerating rapidly and beginning to catch up. She was gaining height as well as distance though, swooping upward. That was alright! One step bunched my leg under me, and when the other leg caught up, I hauled myself into the air with a ripping snarl, ascending rapidly after them! In... an arc that was well short of the mark, turns out. I fell away, while the floor boss kept ascending!

'Kick off again! As hard as you can!' Gelidia said, and obediently, I coiled my legs and kicked out again! It was like kicking a waterfall - but it propelled me a few extra feet upward towards the surprised guard commander and his mount! With a snarl, I brought my hammer around at the startled Knight's back, and sure his shield came up to soak the hit, but I wasn't operating with merely human strength and slapped him off of Zephyri's back with a dopplering startled cry from the man and from his birdy friend also!

'No! You bitch! That's mine!' Zephyri screeched, and as I somersaulted in the air gently at the apex of my leap, she beat her wings and turned sharply, diving for the man as he fell! Then, I was suddenly tilting right side up as wind rushed around me, getting faster and faster!

'Supplement your stamina with my power - remember?' Gelidia's voice came, and as the ground rushed upwards to catch me, my legs coiled beneath me. Just as I landed... I poured stamina and the shade's power into my legs. A whale of a lot of energy was wasted outwards from my landing site, dispersing mostly as a rush of wind, but the forest floor buckled a bit beneath me as leaves and branches flew in every direction with the rush and a sound like WHUMP.

I looked up, and saw the bird swoop to catch the man, who simply grabbed onto the saddle and swung himself into it as naturally as breathing as, the moment his hand made contact, Zephyri pulled out of the powerdive with grace. Bunching my legs, I did a fifty-fifty mix of my stamina and Gelidia's, but put just as much stamina as I'd ever put in before. Thirty-thirty, and the world became a green blur as I zipped over a glade and between trees.

At the speed I was going, I felt sure I'd paste myself if I hit any one of them, but another burst of stamina, and another kick that was almost dainty with how much effort it felt like it took, I hurled myself skyward once again, turning myself into a missile aimed right at him! I will miss - can I kick off again?

'You got it!' and I shot my leg out, bouncing through the air and modifying my trajectory on instinct with Gelidia's help! It very definitely wasn't as cool as flying, but... a bit of wind magic, some strength, and I could just about manage to keep up! I wasn't the only one who had instincts - instead of taking a hit like he had last time in surprise at my jump, Sir Little rose in the saddle and met me with a thrusting stab that...... skewered me neatly, drove his blade right into my belly to the hilt!

Gelidia gave a terrified squeak, and I watched another eighty health vanish in an instant! It steadily began to tick down, too, even as I watched, stunned, my mouth hanging open as blood flooded over my tongue. I couldn't breathe - I couldn't draw a breath, and I realized... he'd pierced my solar plexus! He knew it too, grim satisfaction filling his face as my vision began to dim.

I had moments to get that blade out of me, to do something with him, and he was helpfully drawing back in the suddenly slowed perception of time I had going. I grabbed his hand, and pulled him back inside with a jerk and a flash of white-hot pain, and leaned my head forward towards him. BOK! My forehead, right on the thickest bit on the crown, met his hat and won, denting it inward with a sound like a coconut and a cry of pain from the Knight!

Then, I tried to throw him by his sword into space, ripping the weapon out of me. That felt ALL KINDS OF AWFUL, but I wasn't the one who just got my hat staved in by a wolfy headbutt of greeting powered by Bestial Might! He let go of the sword and nearly fell on the spot as the weapon spun into the void. My health began to drop - four or five points every second, and I figured I was bleeding badly from the wound I'd just given myself with his sword. [Health: 120/220] [Stamina: 185/250] [Mana: 85/130]'Emily! NO!'

Gelidia cried, and was baffled at my vague amusement as I poured mana into my injury. Heat flooded the wound as blood poured out of me, slowing it to a trickle, then a stop. Since I'd put TWO points into Bestial Vitality - my strongest skill, I got two health points for one mana. No sense skimping - I pumped forty mana into the skill, and was treated to Sir Little's face as he dangled down off the bird as... my wound closed, and I regained eighty health on the spot.

I reached down, and grabbed his wrist in my massive paw, and paid him little mind as he drew a dagger and tried to sink it into my face and neck or cut my throat. Some invested Stamina rendered my flesh apparently the consistency of gravel, because he stabbed into my shoulder and throat only an inch or two at a time as he grew increasingly desperate in my grip.

Holding him at arm's length, I snarled, lifted a leg and said"THAT WASNT VERY NICE" I roared with Gelidia's help, and kicked the terrified man into the void'I thought you were going to die!' Gelidia said, pounding my mental self with her fists about the face and neck as I cowered back Agh! Stobbit, I'm alright!

'YOU ALMOST WERENT - he coulda got your HEART!' she shrieked, and I caught her wrist in the mindscape in a vain attempt to stop her beating me! Wolf just watched, amused. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get STABBED! And ripping the blade out like that was dumb, I'm sorry! Immobilizing her smacking hand did nothing to help, she got a couple kicks in too before relenting.

'Never scare me like that again!' she complained, unreasonably I felt. I felt certain that this... kind of thing would definitely happen again. Wolverine rules, right? If you have regeneration, the world will put things in your way that let you showcase it. At least, that was how it worked in comics and movies! Not that I wanted to get stabbed! It was while so-distracted that Zephyri swatted me off her back with a sudden sharp roll and a bat of her wing like a house fly and dove for her friend again.

I didn't see a reason to try and stop her, not while I had a landing strategy to consider. I was falling, tumbling tail over teakettle, and I could feel myself start to panic as the ground rushed up towards me, arms outstretched to give me a GREAT BIG TERRESTRIAL HUG because she MISSED ME!

'Emilyyy!' Gelidia cried, and called her power up! I kicked out, but all I accomplished was a slowing of my spin a bit! Another kick out and I was at least no longer tumbling! I was, however, upside down! I had to shift my weight. Bed at the hips, tuck the left knee, extend the right. Create drag on the air!

I didn't question Sohei as it told me what I needed to do to get out of this, I just did it and found myself spinning upright once again, just in time to pump a significant chunk of stamina into my legs, along with the last of Gelidia's power, arresting my momentum with a hard, sudden JERK that again created a torrent of wind. That... had been way, way too close. [Health: 215/220] This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

[Stamina: 170/250] [Mana: 45/130]'World above, you're already healed!' Gelidia said, and I took a deep breath that tingled and burned a little, and I felt something... bubbling inside me. Did I have blood in my lungs? It felt... not good, so I tried to cough it up, spitting up several mouthfuls of the stuff as I retched a bit. When I looked up again, it was to find the sky... mostly empty.

My ears tracked around, twitching hither and yon to try and triangulate where the heck the boss went to, and caught sight of him fighting for altitude once again, Where was my - oh! the Lucerne hammer was still in my hand... somehow! Neat! I didn't remember thinking 'I should hold onto this' at any point - it just... was.

'You can only let go of it with an act of will.' Gelidia explained'And don't - it'll end the power I put on you, return you to normal, and he's not done.' she said as I finally got a bead on the guy. I turned my head to face the rising bird once again, the stunned Sir Little in her beak as she fought to rise in time as she careened towards the Great-Tree just outside town. She'd had to power-dive to catch Sebastian, I figured, and she had... a whale of a lot of momentum to bleed off.

She flared her wings and beat them forward several times, but even from where I was, I could see it just wasn't going to be enough! CHASE! CHANCE! GO! And I went! I wasn't stingy with my stamina - I threw another surge into my legs, and though it wasn't nearly as fast as it was with Gelidia's power helping me now that I'd used up the charge she'd given me, it was still enough to send the forest blurring underfoot!

I reached the tree in record time, and bounded my way upward even as the swooping, frantically beating bird bounced off the tree with a SQUERK. Up, up, up I went, bounding from bough to branch, rising as Zephyri, stunned, began to fall. I felt something come at me from the side and behind, and I didn't think - mid-hop, I jerked to a stop, and where I'd have bounced again, moving to attack the bird while it was vulnerable, there was Sir Little, green-glowing rage flaring along his blade.

He had a sizable egg, and his teeth were bared in a savage grimace as he tried to blink blood from his eyes. Zephyri, meanwhile, managed to dig her claws into the side of the tree and beat her wings a couple times, though I could see that her left wing wasn't quite extending all the way, tucked in against her side. SHE IS WOUNDED. A WEAKNESS! my wolf observed, and I found myself licking my chops as I envisioned a chicken dinner.

Danger came on the heels of that as Sir Little jerked towards me on reflex, his sword darting towards my neck in a graceful swing as he lunged. Tipping back to let the swing pass overhead, I dug my hind-paw's claws into the stone-like bark and shifted my center of balance on instinct, rolling onto the underside of the branch by my grip and flipping so I landed the next bough down.

On pure instinct, I jumped up again, and neatly parried an awkward little slash aimed at my hand on the head of my hammer, twisting a little to snag the blade between hammer and spear heads. It didn't have the leverage to actually grip, but it certainly made him draw it back quickly enough!

I waded in with my free hand then, bringing my claws around to rake across the man's chest, only to be met by the flash of a dagger and a shower of sparks as he parried my blow and followed up with his sword, making me jump backwards to avoid it and just barely land on another branch. He came for me again, and this time I met his downward swing at my head with my Lucerne Hammer's haft and Gelidia's magic in direct contest against the man's own magic and might.

Then I kicked him again, dumping a surge of stamina into my leg before claws and pawpads met him full-on in the chest with a sudden and explosive WHUFF of expelled breath as he was shot out of the tree like a bottle rocket. Zephyri let out a SQUAWK and jerked after him, or... tried to. Suddenly, she had a problem - she wasn't the only one in the air at this point! I'd tried to grab her leg, to arrest her momentum, but... I was in a tree!

I had limited grip on the branch, and she was a hell of a lot bigger than I was! With a yelp of surprise and a JERK that shocked me, we were BOTH half-flying, half-falling after Sir Little!

'GET OFF ME THIS INSTANT, YOU BRUTE!' she cried, and tried to kick at me, but I was having exactly none of it. I couldn't hit her with the Hammer, or do more than hold on and try not to... make a very undignified screaming noise as we flopped through the air. I actually saw Sir Little hit a smaller - that is, normal sized - tree and lose, bouncing off it with a distant THUD.

THEN we reached him, and I let go of Zephyri's leg to drop to the floor below as she hit the tree as well, her bum wing preventing her from making anything like headway in slowing down this time. They both hit the ground, but a twist of her body saw Zephyri on the bottom, her crow-like talons in the air, slowly curling as she passed out where she lay. NOW WE FINISH THEM No, no we don't. They're done. Wolf was baffled.

I tensed to go, to finish Sir Little and his companion, felt the violence and anger and bloodlust in my Wolf, but... I let it wash past me, flow around me and waste itself harmlessly. Wolf snarled at me as I stood in her way, eyes locked with her own, fists balled at my sides. I said no. We're not killers. BUT HE IS OUR ENEMY Whom I said we were going to spare. HE TRIED TO KILL US! IT IS ONLY FAIR! What's that got to do with the price of fish?

The non-sequitur made Wolf blink and sort of like, shake her head a bit and tilt it, her anger and frustration suddenly as baffled as she was! WH- she began, then blinked slowly. The moment of murder had passed, and her anger had caught up to good reason at last, or... something like that, because she lay down with a sigh. TRUST IN YOU Thank you. I walked towards the pair, and stuck my halberd in the ground.

It took me a moment of actual effort to let go of the weapon fully, but when I did the armor turned to white motes of lights around me, and the weapon returned to normal as it stuck in the ground by its spear point. I crouched on my haunches, and let them recover at their own pace. In short order, Sir Sebastian Little managed to stagger to his feet, sword still in hand, panting, Zephyri unconscious and clearly badly hurt on the ground.

"I... I..."

"Yield. It's over. You are beaten." Gelidia said, forming into reality again beside me, manifesting in her full aspect. She looked tired, that was for sure!

"I..." Sir Little said, and looked at me, unwounded as I was as he himself struggled even to stand, each breath coming labored. I waggled my tail at him, and let my tongue loll out in a doggie grin. That, more than anything, seemed to do the trick and he very deliberately held out... and dropped his sword.

"I yield." he said, and sank, panting, to his knees, becoming spectral once again before my eyes. Good Girl! You have bested Shade of Sir Sebastian Little, Guard Commander of Lambstock, level 8 💀 Good Girl! You have bested Shade of Princess Zephyri, Wind Princess of Ravens, level 8 💀 For defeating an opponent above your level, Bonus XP is gained! For sparing your foe, Bonus XP is gained! For fighting in the name of your Lady, Bonus XP is gained! For fighting with a favor of a loved one, Bonus XP is gained!

Due to fighting as a group, reward is reduced. Dang, that was a lot of EXP! Your [MONSTER] Bestial Vitality skill has improved, and is eligible for rank up! Rank A costs 3 Lycanthrope skill points! Oh! I guess that made sense, I used that skill a LOT in fights. It was already my strongest, but... I didn't even have enough skillpoints to make that happen yet, and I wanted to level Lycanthropic Transformation again instead! I felt like that skill was close, too.

Your [LIFE, COMBAT, SYNERGY] Sohei skill has improved, and is eligible for rank up! Rank C costs 1 Peasant skill point! OH-HO! My Sohei skill leveled up! I sank the point into it without a thought - Sohei was a strong skill so far, and it'd made my life, if not safer, then at least more survivable! [LIFE, COMBAT, SYNERGY] Sohei rank C: You are not a warrior whose job is to make war, but a maker of peace. The Red Lotus is in bloom. And there it was - the unhelpful description.

It somehow got even more obscure, and it left me with little idea just what-in-the-heck it was supposed to do, as usual. I didn't regret it though - Sohei had proven a super useful skill so far! None of my other skills leveled, and there was only one other notification Ding Ding Ding! Floor Cleared. Sweet!

"You... are certainly something, miss Goldtail." Little said as he regained his composure and our friends began to approach. He seemed to return to default settings - Teacher!

"You two work together very well, though... it seems like, Gelidia, you relied upon her might too much." he said.

"You should have been using her hammer as a focus to cast on me more than you did, and it seems to me, miss Goldtail, that you were committing too hard to your attacks." he said, rising to his feet. He held out his hand, and his sword leapt into it with a sound like ringing steel only to be sheathed at his hip with a smooth and competent motion that looked way too dang cool!

"Ordinarily, I'd be telling someone to press harder, but... that was too aggressive for your own good. Strive for a more thoughtful approach another time, and be glad that your mistake didn't cost you your life." he went on. I blinked at him, and tilted my head at him as Gelidia said"That's real big talk for the defeated!" she said smugly, and he, laughing, slapped her upside the head.

"Ow!"

"Don't disrespect your teacher." he admonished and she hugged him. For a moment, he blinked and hesitated, before returning it in a tight embrace. Distracted a moment, I didn't notice a hand coming down at me until Roxala was digging her fingers into my ruff and rewarding me with scritches behind the ears and in all the right places! I made a stupid noise and tilted my head into the touch a bit - I couldn't help it, not with the Wolf at the surface like this - and the Orc-maiden laughed heartily!

"That was certainly something!" she said, and chuckled"The elemental dungeons can get a bit..." she began, and Fel cut in with"The World tends to get a little extra in strongly aligned dungeons!" he said cheerfully "It's not fully understood, but sometimes the world seems to... tune things up or down a notch or two. I suspect there is something at play in this dungeon to make things more... more... well, to make them More." he said, and Torch, walking up, nodded.

"Yep. World's a drama queen." he said, and got a headslap too from like three different people, and a kick in the ass from Roxala.

"Don't blaspheme!" Roxala, Sir Little, Fel, and Gelidia said all at the same time. Really, it explained a lot.