The speed given by the winged boots didn’t make Daniel the fastest thing in the sky, but level 1 monsters were by and large slower than him. The incoming monster horde was close enough to the town to make it worth what he was attempting, considering the Kahvin levels of incompetence that captain was displaying.
It was insane, potentially fatal, and Daniel was doing this alone while the rest of his team returned, but it could make a difference. Even if the undefined monster just unleashed its horde without trying to kidnap people to convert, that was still too much to risk. He was banking on two assumptions: first that the undefined monster couldn’t control those it hadn’t spawned, and second that its own spawn were still subject to his powers despite its control.
He wouldn’t have done it if not for that voice. That pressure. His oath. He had Flash Jaunt and all the sky in the world to fall away from the horde. He needed power, and thought of how much he could potentially advance if this worked. To get Hunter back, he needed to be strong. This plan would work, would make him stronger, and he couldn’t summon the will to resist given he truly believed he could escape if the worst happened.
Daniel, I have successfully located you and… there was a pause in the voice that suddenly spoke in his mind, and it grew more tense afterward. Are you aware monsters are chasing you!?
“Very much, Silora,” Daniel replied out into the air. His voice wasn’t being carried to the Fate, however with her viewing him it made for roundabout long-distance communication.
What? I can barely hear you. Gods, you have monsters chasing you! Where’s the rest of your team? The rush of air turned louder as another wind blade came after him from a sunbreak falcon. He’d thought it would have some kind of light or fire-based attack, but so far it’d just chased after him and tried to hit with slashes of air that felt like solid blades.
He was running with Hunter’s Evasiveness and Flash Jaunt, which had allowed him to avoid most of the hits. He’d been attracting the attention of any level 1 monster he could path to while on the way down by firing on them from a distance. There were dozens now, all focused on him but unable to fully catch up. Normally this would be a difficult struggle that might require him to make full use of both his health pools, considering how many he’d grabbed, but he was hoping he wouldn’t have to touch them.
“It’s already halfway to the town Silora, what’s happening there?” he asked instead. What he was attempting wouldn’t solve the problem by itself, but it would buy time if it worked.
They’re making us search the entire region for other attacks. Some of the Fates were quite upset at being brought out of what they were doing, but-
“Silora!”
This isn’t the only one. There are large groups of monsters moving toward Aurus and other population centers, though yours is the closest to reaching one. That little Tyrant friend of yours is making me contact every team near Pinion’s Point to get them to return for its defense. The haughtiness in her voice faded a little as she continued. I’m afraid you’re on your own. The Commander and this ‘Apex Flight’ are going after individual threats. The swarms near Aurus are so large they’ll need time to kill them all even if it will be easy. How are there so many monsters?
It’s the Origin Beast, Daniel thought. Its physical form was still waking, though a fraction of its mind had already demonstrated the ability to influence monsters. He wouldn’t be surprised if Aughal was facing a similar surprise attack. “Keep gathering people! I’m going back after this.”
After what!? He didn’t answer. Adrenaline was surging through him as he did his best to continue evading. There weren’t any more monsters to pull on his path, he just had to make it to the switch over.
Daniel had moved up through the sky limit after aggroing every level 1 monster he’d marked that he could reach on the way to the monster horde. They’d followed as he hoped, and now he was flying face up, monitoring the monsters and the massive cloud of red kilometers above him. He’d appear near the fringe of the horde, away from the large undefined monster commanding from the back, and deliver his payload.
There was no changing the decision to try and hold off the attack at Pinion’s Point, and it might even be the correct one. Daniel wasn’t some great tactician, he just didn’t want this horde to threaten the townsfolk. If the mortals weren’t going to fight it before it was too late, he could at least try and cause some chaos to buy more time to fortify.
This is crazy, Daniel thought to himself as he dipped toward the shimmering barrier of the ground limit. But I can do it. I have to do it. He was counting on his movement being fast enough to escape before anything hit him. The horde was close enough that he could fall towards Pinion’s Point and rejoin the defense while leaving the monsters he was bringing behind.
At the last moment, he replaced the blast bow into his bag of holding and readied the feature that was key to this plan working, one he hadn’t thought about in a while despite how life-changing it had been. It had been so long he’d had to read its description again just to make sure the plan could work.
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Natural Affinity (Feature, Wisdom, Level: 1):
You possess the Power to passively calm or Charm Monsters of the Type: Beast within a short range. Unless threatened, beasts of a level equal to or lower than this feature will not be hostile towards you. Beasts of a level lower than this feature will be charmed. This feature does not function while you are in the presence of sentient creatures who do not also possess this feature.
Natural Affinity: Level 2: Extend this benefit to allies for a moderate Mana cost each. This is a Designation effect that lasts one hour.
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The limit of only affecting beasts wasn’t an issue due to the monster horde’s mixed nature. Essentially, Daniel was going to fly by the horde while doing his best not to aggro the ones his power would affect. It wouldn’t charm anything as he’d figured out earlier that applying the bonus to a friend didn’t make the level of the effect increase. That it could only charm level 0 monsters and calm level 1s had made it mostly useless for hunting until now. If he was right, calming the beasts in the horde would allow them to retain their hostility towards unaligned monsters as long as there were no other mortals in their presence. If the undefined monster could shield its entire horde from one power, then, well… It''s going to work. Don’t doubt yourself. Become stronger.
The transition between the limits didn’t feel like Flash Jaunt. It was instantaneous, and Daniel also didn’t feel like he was passing through any medium on the way. There was also suddenly a huge cluster of monsters below him. None were individually larger than he was, at least among the level 1s.
The undefined monster glided behind the majority of the horde, wings locked in an extended position. Its appearance wasn’t completely bird-like, though it had that general outline. Instead of feathers, it had exposed, lumpy flesh that gave the impression of hills and valleys along the thick wings. From this distance, Quick Mind put it at around sixty meters wide and twenty long. He had no inclination to get closer and verify that estimate.
Now came the hard part. Daniel wasn’t sure about the exact radius of Natural Affinity as Hunter had been the only creature it had worked on, and the best the ringcat had said about its effect was that it had worked when he was ‘close’. This wouldn’t be something to hit the whole horde with, only enough to assure what did try to attack him would swerve off as he started a fight.
The level 1s he’d baited appeared above him without any sign other than the noise from their movement, but it was already so loud around Daniel he’d be hard pressed to hear anything other than the screams of the wind and monsters. In the last moment, he decided to let his temporary sending stone crumble to dust and Flash Crafted a shield using the slot. Construct Shield may have also worked, but he had no material to work with.
Only the slightest rumble of the incantation reached him, and in the next moment he was guiding himself toward the edge of the horde while blocking another wind attack. The level 1s didn’t have much that could threaten him aside from their numbers, but as he had hoped, the auras of the beast type among them turned gray as they approached and broke off their attack run from below. About seventy percent of the horde were beasts and all those nearby were affected, the rest remaining hostile to him. The non-biological monsters would still target him, but the others?
Chaos erupted around him, and he twisted his head back to see the small flock he’d brought get briefly overwhelmed by the horde redirecting toward them. It was working. This strategy would have been difficult to pull off elsewhere, but he’d managed to get them fighting each other. The non-beasts and those he’d ‘attacked’ on the way here held him as a priority target, but they now had to fight through the level 1s trying to bring them to the undefined monster.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
With the pressure of those chasing him relieved, Daniel did his best to avoid attacks from those Natural Affinity didn’t work on. It was impossible to escape fully unscathed, and the pain from each hit that landed fed a little more into his desperation to get away. What he’d survived had toughened him up, to say nothing of what he was like in cat mode, but the stakes here were higher than even against the hulk stomper in Aughal. He didn’t want to count on Unyielding Tenacity to save him again.
At the same time, Daniel had to focus on solely defending himself. This would all be for nothing if attacking the non-beasts in the horde broke Natural Affinity on the beasts. It had sounded so simple in his head when he’d thought of the idea, dragging monsters behind him to fight the horde. His team had tried to talk him out of it, but he’d survived worse. Hadn’t he?
A young ludegrund rammed him, Daniel only just able to twist and blunt most of the force behind the attack as he reappeared from a Flash Jaunt. It worked, but evading this way robbed his momentum. Daniel quickly realized escape wouldn’t be as easy as he’d thought. He’d had to break out of the initial steep dive both because of the attacks and because the horde was forming a wall below him. He could attempt to free fall and Flash Jaunt through them, but if he misjudged it and slammed into a group that would likely knock him out. Daniel started to feel a chill as the bond’s constant reassurance that this would work grew dimmer. Neither of them had accounted for something.
That big bastard is directing them like a Beastmaster, he thought. It was another sign of increased coordination and strategy coming from empowered monsters. Dismayed, Daniel concluded that they could screen him from escaping below them to Pinion’s Point regardless of how many uses of Flash Jaunt he could squeeze from his mana pool. Worse, the horde leader was wafting its way through the pack to get closer to him. I have to go back up through the sky limit. Worst case, I hope the ones staying to fight the other monsters don’t notice me attacking the ones that follow. At the very least part of the plan had worked, whatever instructions the horde leader was able to give unable to override his calming power.
Daniel began flying upwards, but before he could reach his target, the horde leader used one of its abilities. A young mirrorbeak cutter, only able to sustain invisibility for half a second if that, was trying to claw at him with its sharp back talons when its chest exploded. At first he’d feared another mortal had engaged, ruining what he’d done. He saw too late what had really happened and what was about to happen to him.
When the monstrosity of flesh roughly shaped into a huge bird had reached past the center of its horde, it had shot out part of its mass toward the closest level 1, spearing it and causing another burst of flesh toward the next to form a red chain. Whereas the level 1s that followed it were formidable in quantity, this attack held the true terrible strength of the horde leader. When he saw spears of melded tissue and bone easily penetrate the monsters, his error in judgment became fully realized.
This horde leader was far more powerful than he’d expected. Even he had fallen to assumptions of the old world order, knowing that the person he was now could have survived against the lightning dragon if only by escaping and evading. He’d also underestimated, or perhaps misunderstood its intelligence. If it was strong enough to contest the town directly, why would it hover near the sky limit instead of joining the battle where its minions could more quickly return victims they’d seized?
It’s not here to die, Daniel thought as he Flash Jaunted away from the tendril that had come after him from the mirrorbeak cutter. The maneuver saved him, but it was costly and he didn’t have enough mana to reach the sky limit while in the invulnerable state. This isn’t a siege where it takes and goes after more. This is just a raid.
The monster was hoping to snatch what it could and run, perhaps sacrificing part of its horde in its escape. The level 4s in the town would be enough to challenge it, but only if they could do so without abandoning the townsfolk. Daniel didn’t fully understand how monster spawning worked, but if his earlier observations were anything to judge by, living things turned into monsters ended up one level higher. This horde being level 1 was primarily due to the leader prioritizing vacuuming up the lesser wild animals in the lead up to this assault. Fighting the best in the area would be a risk for it, but if forced, also a potential source for high level converts. Rather than go to that trouble, it had decided to target regular mortals instead.
The horde leader regarded him now, the monster having two eyes on each side and a fifth nestled under its twisted maw to watch the sky below. They all swiveled toward him as he Flash Jaunted away from another attempt to catch him. All of its minions, even the gray auras, turned to face him.
Daniel was breathing hard, furiously debating whether he should activate Beast Mode or save it. It would help with the rising dread, but he’d yet to take any meaningful injury. At the same time, could he seriously be expected to fight this and win? The horde was all around him, some of it clipping into the sky limit to circle off his escape. He was about 100 meters away from that, and the horde leader was growing closer. It had been maneuvering him into this pocket ever since he’d first appeared.
Moment of Clarity activated as yet another chain of flesh bounced through the horde, coming for him. Too far for anyone to help. I can’t count on Silora watching and warning people, and my team’s still in Pinion’s Point. I have to kill it. That’s the only way. Kill it and get stronger. He doubted the horde leader’s death would automatically kill them all, but it should make them lose coordination. Without that, he could easily outmaneuver level 1s and get to safety. The ability helped him clear some of the fear closing in on him, but the sight of his target didn’t inspire confidence.
It was like a well put together flesh golem still somehow able to fly despite how heavy it must be. As he looked closer at the wings, he could now see that the pits he’d noticed earlier in the flesh were moving slightly, especially at the upper edges. It gave him a horrifying impression of a piranha plant, especially because the gaps could easily fit a dusker.
The body between the wings was roughly bird-shaped, but there were writhing limbs growing out of it at random places that swung out and grasped at the air. Those were what it was firing to start a chain. Then there was the maw itself, surrounded by the five eyes. There was no beak but instead another, larger pit filled with various teeth no smaller than his arm. Clacki would have died in seconds if he’d been dragged into this instead of the acidic one of the fused whitesprings and Daniel wouldn’t fare much better.
When the moment ended, Daniel immediately went for his blast bow and pulled back on the bolt. He’d only managed to do so before the next attack came, and he bitterly Flash Jaunted away leaving more mana behind him. He had about a third left.
When he came out the other side, Daniel aimed for the head of the horde leader as he desperately sent shot after shot, doing his best to pick times when there was a relative opening in the horde to do so.
Every bullet still hit at least one inferior monster, but the penetrative power of his weapon and the size of his enemy meant most still connected. By the time the seventh round was in the receiver, Daniel was gasping for breath as blood seeped from a few deep wounds. One of the horde leader’s attacks had managed to hit him in his stomach, though he’d been able to cut himself free with Claw Strike. The fact that that part of the chain had come from a level 1 didn’t seem to matter at all when it came to durability. The incidental damage from other various attacks from the horde was stacking up too, despite there having been nothing to suppress his Regeneration. Even heightened, it couldn’t keep up.
He was running ragged and ready to activate Beast Mode, but paused as he saw something in the nearing horde leader’s face. It was pushing out the ammunition he’d hit it with. Daniel snapped off the last shot but didn’t wait for the results of his attack before he shifted, stowing the blast bow and taking out fire claws. Fearless quieted the white noise of panic in his mind, but despite the new perspective he knew the situation was grim.
Strangely, he didn’t get a sense from Defiant Rage giving him its extra bonus even though this monster was stronger than him. He still knew it would be more challenging than the hulk, and that was ignoring the gnats flying around him.
He had to go for the head. That was always the answer when fighting a monster larger than you, at least when you needed a quick kill. Unfortunately his earlier attacks hadn’t exposed anything that looked vulnerable, and the missing flesh of the monster was already being filled in by surrounding tissue. It was less fast healing and more the horde leader moving its own body to repair the gap.
That made him reconsider, though if this was at all tied to natural healing his fire damage should hurt it. Shame I can’t scan any of the horde. I need more damage types. It was too late for that thought, though if he’d tried anything earlier he’d have likely dropped his Focus. No, it was time to kill.
He landed on the front of the horde leader, claws dripping from the minions he’d slashed on the way. The rage was building, and he didn’t suppress it as much as he would normally. He needed his physical attributes higher. Endurance to live, dexterity to avoid the fast limbs that shot across the body to hit him, and strength to cut through. He had to win. He had to grow stronger.
He was distantly thankful for his efforts to make these claws as the monster’s flesh continued to prove mutable. What he didn’t tear away completely could reform back into its original shape, although the areas burned by the enhanced bone claws seemed truly dead. Without them this would have been a nightmare of a fight.
It was already difficult enough as it was. More injuries accumulated as both the horde and the leader’s self defense piled into him. Ferocious Healing’s bonus was enough to even it out considering he was almost continually slashing, but he felt like he was taking a chisel to a mountain.
He must have subconsciously swapped from Flash Jaunt to Lion Charge at some point, as Daniel found himself unleashing the charged attack at a section of the horde leader that another flesh tendril was coming from. Those were the main threat. Each limb was like a missile that could either be fired by itself or bounced through members of the horde. In both cases, detaching it from the horde leader nullified the attack.
He felt savage pride when the blast countered the oncoming attack. It was then that the horde leader showed him it hadn’t even begun to fight. A burst of mana issued from the creature underneath him, and Daniel immediately grew light-headed. It was attempting to incapacitate him, and he gave as much as he could into the rage to cling on. If he was thinking more clearly, he’d see why that was the worst thing he could do.
The second attack hit harder, both because his will had been weakened by the first, and also due to the rage siphoning his mental defenses to feed into his physical attributes. With fading consciousness came a return to lucidity. Daniel realized it had been waiting for him to ramp up enough to be felled by its hidden ability. If it had needed more, he might have been able to get away with some last ditch effort, especially because the horde around him was breaking away. They’d made it above Pinion’s Point.
I didn’t kill that many, he blankly thought as he was picked up by the monster’s limbs and hauled to a depression in one of the wings. The attack’s started. A dome began to appear above him to seal him into the space. It’s going to-
A burst of fury picked him back off his feet. This thing was just like Hammer. Just like him! A memory of pain, soul-rending and all destroying, came to him without any context. He didn’t need any. Daniel picked himself up, ready to leap out and tear the enemy in half no matter how large it was.
Flesh warped beneath him and rose to cover his body before he could move the dregs of mana within, lashing him to the floor and pulling him to his knees. He fought, but his body still felt like a limb that had fallen asleep. Daniel was helpless as he watched the dome above him close.