The next day we all woke up early, had a healthy breakfast, and headed off to the southernmost field. That's where the creature was supposed to be appearing. Luckily for us, during the trip from the main village to the Brother Village, Rex took some time to practice the skill that the Rodenti were using in the tunnel. The one that created a large platform to carry large groups of people. With that skill, he was able to do the same thing outside and take us to our destination.
That being said, the journey was far from instantaneous. Rex wasn't kidding when he said that the rock flying tunnel was the main reason why the whole setup worked. Outside of it, not only was it a very bumpy ride, but Rex had to constantly be using his Energy to reconstruct the platform, which caused us to stop several times so he could rest. Not to mention that using it outside in the open air made it much, much slower.
While I was assuming that we were moving at a similar speed to that of a horse while under the tunnel, outside we were going maybe as fast as any of us could run. Of course, without the skill, it would take us most of the day to reach there. But with it, our travel time was reduced to about four hours instead of six.
But the biggest hurdle that skill faced on the outside was the random debris that we encountered along the way. Every time we passed by a bush, a strangely shaped rock, at least loose pebbles on the ground, or anything at all, one of three things would happen. One, the obstacle would cause us to spin around uncontrollably and spend several moments to adjust ourselves.
Two, we could be completely stopped if the object was tall enough to interact with the particles that were below the rock. And it didn't matter if the thing that was reaching the rock was just a small piece of dried leaf or a single piece of dirt that was a bit too tall. The skill could be completely halted as if we were hitting a wall.
And three, for bigger obstacles, the ones that Rex could identify to be a problem, instead of just making a slight turn and going around it, he had to stop completely, turn the entire platform 90 degrees, move forward, and then turn again. The ability to turn was almost non-existent when we were not in the rock flying tunnel.
I questioned him why there was so much difference, and his response was that the spell on the tunnel was allowing everything to work like that. Because the tunnel was straight no matter where you were inside of it. Unless you were perfectly at a 90-degree angle, which would cause you to just loop around. If you were at any point in the tunnel and moved in any direction, you would reach your destination eventually. Even if you had to keep going around the tunnel millions of times until you got there.
From what he was explaining to us, this was the core of the skill. {Rock Fly} was something that allowed you to pick up a rock from the ground and make it fly in a straight path. The rock flying tunnel was what allowed them to be so nimble and maneuverable because it had set the path the rocks would take from one point to the next. So all the particles involved only had to try to correct themselves to go in a certain direction, even if those on top of it tried to move around.
I really wanted to talk to whoever created that spell to learn more about its intricacies. Especially on how it actually worked. And I wasn't the only one interested in that, as Riley was clearly curious about how that spell functioned.
During the journey, we went over the plan a couple more times. I was the one who was going to act as bait, carrying a bunch of green apples that the village chief offered to us. While the rest of the group would be hiding nearby, I'd do my best to look weak.
We even came up with a few ways for me to look as helpless as possible. That way, the creature wouldn't be threatened by my presence and would take the bait. And we were all confident that it was going to work. Despite how annoyed I was to have to play the damsel in distress. That was a trope that I never really liked. But still, we had to do it.
When we arrived, we took a moment to understand the layout of the area. There was a part of this field more to the east where the trees could serve as a cover for those who were hiding, and the goal was one particular tree further away than the rest. That tree was big enough so that everybody could just jump on top of it and stay hiding without having to worry about something seeing them from above.
And if it was some sort of bat-like creature that had echolocation or something, the cover of the leaves should be enough for it to not understand exactly what was going on in the trees. And hopefully, my presence and my act as someone helpless and an easy prey would be enough to make it ignore the possible danger, even if it was able to detect my companions' presence.
Once we got to the tree, they quickly climbed on top of it, doing their best to be sneaky and not stay too much time on the outskirts of that particular area. Even then, we still waited a few minutes. One, for everybody to get properly set up on the tree and not have to worry about holding a position. And two, so that if the monster was able to see them go in there, there would be enough time for it to forget about the shapes that it saw moving in that direction.
We set everything up with me staying far away from them almost half an hour before they headed to the tree. And I was already starting with my act. I was going to walk around the orchard, making sure to stop by several trees and pretend to take the green apples from them. All of which were being placed in a basket that the Rodenti who worked here used to gather the harvest. I made a point of always dropping the apples on the ground as if I were doing it by accident. And every time I did that, I would also let out a giggle as if it was the funniest thing in the world.
When moving from one tree to the next, I would always go through an empty corridor in the orchard, towards a more open area that could be seen from the sky. And that wasn't even half of it. Every couple of times when I moved from one side of the orchard to the next, I would accidentally trip and fall to the ground. This would make the apples in the basket fall over, and I would scramble to get them while walking on all fours. This was just yet another way to pretend to be vulnerable. In hopes that the creature thought of me as easy prey.
At the very least, I wasn't making a fool out of myself in front of a bunch of people. The village chief was kind enough to tell those working in this area about the plan. And how we were going to try to hunt down the monster that was causing so many problems to the Rodenti. Because of that, they cleared out, allowing the orchard to be without anyone taking care of it for a day.
Which, according to them, wasn't really the end of the world. As a matter of fact, they could even stay a couple of days without coming here, and everything would still be fine. As long as there were no animals or monsters trying to steal their crops. But since they were dealing with that creature that continuously attacked people in this field, even the animals learned to stay away, otherwise, they could also become part of the creature's next meal.
As a result, there was no one around. Only my friends, which was already embarrassing enough. Even without looking in their direction, I could sense they were smirking at my antics. Holding back giggles since they were not the ones who had to do this kind of thing.
After a good half hour, nothing seemed to be happening. So, frustrated with the entire situation, I started walking back to the tree where the rest of my friends were.
"I don't think this is working," I spoke out loud.
But before any of them could answer me, there was a whooshing sound coming from above. I barely had time to look up before a pair of large claws grabbed my shoulders. They were not sharp enough to pierce my skin. While I was playing along and pretending to be weak, I also had activated {Elemental Imbuement} together with {As I Flow So Does The Current} on my shoes. It was a bit strange to have wet feet here, but the idea was that the skill would empower me to be better able to handle whatever the creature was going to throw at me.
And that plan worked perfectly. The skill helped me hold my ground, not allowing myself to be injured by the monster. But it wasn't enough to stop it from carrying me into the sky. I was surprised by that. After all, I was still holding my staff in my hand. And despite it being very small right now, it was heavy. Almost too heavy for me to carry.
And now came the second part of the plan. I was supposed to be taken to the creature's nest. Which meant that I would need to fight it off enough so it wouldn't consider eating me in the middle of the journey, but not so much so that it would realize it was a danger to carry me along. Of course, no matter how well we planned this, which was not that well at all, talking about being carried off into the sky was one thing. Actually living a situation like that was another entirely.
I started to struggle, worried that a certain movement could signal my doom. And I made sure to keep constantly screaming so that my companions were able to follow my voice in case they lost the creature from their sight.
As we continued to move, I tried to glance up, hoping to catch a glimpse of this creature. But I could barely see. All I could see were the two sets of claws on my shoulder and another smaller pair closer to its body. They were much smaller. Almost like the forearms of dinosaurs. By the sound of the flapping wings, I could also tell that this creature had more than two wings. Although how many, it was hard to tell. One way or another, this truly was the monster that we came to hunt.
On the ground, my companions were following. They had given up the rock flying platform and were now running, with Rex carried on Astrid's shoulder. He still wasn't very proficient at running with his rock stump.
The creature started to pick up some altitude and suddenly flipped me around in the air. I only had a moment to realize that it was trying to take a bite out of me. By tossing me up and flying below. But I wasn't going to be eaten so easily. I shifted my body, triggered {Compression} on my staff, and slammed it on the side of the monster. The impact caused it to let out a screech before trying to get away. But considering I should be maybe a few hundred meters [feet] above the ground, I couldn't let it go.
I reached out, almost flailing in the air toward the monster, and grabbed one of its wings with my hands. Holding on frantically. The creature screeched again and tried to break free, but my grip was too strong. After all, even if this monster was trying to kill me, it was my lifeline right now.
We started to lose height quickly as the ground approached fast. All the while, we continued to struggle in the air, spinning around, unable to properly recognize when we were upright. I heard some shouts from below, but the sound of the wind rushing through my ears was too loud. The dirt that was sometimes below, sometimes above me, drew closer and closer. Noticing how close we were to crash landing, the monster seemed to give up on breaking free and focused on flying. It opened two of its wings, ignoring the third that I was holding on to. It curved so close to the ground that the wind kicked some of the rocks below into the air.
But I wasn't done. Seeing that now we were no longer high in the sky, though still moving very fast, much faster than what Rex's {Rock Fly} was able to do out in the open, I figured it was my best chance to stop it. Still holding on to its wing, I pulled my staff and slammed it at the back of the creature's head. Aiming for the joint where its two larger wings connected. The monster screeched again, but the wings were still moving.
Not wanting to stop, I added {Elemental Imbuement} to my staff and slammed it again together with {Clash of Nature} using both fire and water. This time, the impact released a large amount of steam in a small explosion, which was powerful enough to break some bones. The monster lost its ability to fly and tumbled to the ground. The two of us inevitably crashed, stumbling on top of each other a few times before we finally split off.
I found my entire body sore, but I couldn't afford to wait around. Jumping to my feet, I asked the system to tell me what this actually was.
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Wild Chicken of the Desert - Tier 2
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