In a normal comando crawl, a person uses the strength of their arms, back, abdomen, and legs to move forward, mainly using the strength of their arms and abdomen to pull their body in a caterpillar-like motion.
Since the crawl I did was downward, the initial position I had to be in wasn't the same as it should have been.
It felt a bit strange, to say the least.
It looked like the ready position swimmers assume while waiting for the signal to dive. Except I was holding a rope in front of me, and with a sea of zombies below (yes, the zombies from before can practically see the street in front of the building).
This was on top of a building more than 60 meters off the ground, so... I think it's fair to say that even someone who wasn't afraid of heights would also be scared if they were in my place.
[Skill: Fear Resistance 0 –> 1]
[Experience gained]
I repeat, it wouldn't be surprising if someone were even more scared now.
With the advantage of being downhill, I descended quickly, even more so with the added momentum of "kicking" the parapet.
The disadvantage was that I descended a little too fast.
Not only that, I also had to keep my legs in the air for a few moments, thanks to the kick. This ended up affecting my balance and almost causing me to end up upside down.
And being upside down more than 50 meters from the ground is not something I want to experience.
Another bad detail: nylon ropes also hurt your hands. I just discovered this, at this very moment.
Fortunately, it doesn't tear the skin off my hand like the straw ropes in the movies. But it's still an annoying injury.
I slid like that for about 3 seconds until I managed to regain my balance a little and cut the descent short; from my perspective, I must have reached almost halfway down. Taking advantage of the pause, I repositioned my legs so they were in the right way and continued descending.
As I imagined, the smell of putrefaction and decomposition became almost unbearable.
'Almost there, just a few more meters.'
I slid slowly, using as little effort as possible so I wouldn't have to breathe this putrid air.
Almost reaching the price display, I felt something sway the string.
As I had feared, the arrowhead became somewhat loose when it hit the display, and with me getting so close to it, it started to come loose.
Without time to think much, I made another idiotic decision. Not before quickly checking a detail.
[MP: 80/145]
*Tix, crush crush*
*Uuurrrggggg*
'It'll have to work!!'
With a desperate plea in my heart, I used as much mana as I could to activate the ice spell.
'[Ice Wall]'
*Zing, Crushhh*
In mere seconds, a 2.5-meter ice wall appeared below me, sending at least 4 zombies flying.
[Eliminated: Rotting Zombie]
[Experience Gained]
[Eliminated: Rotting Zombie]
[Experience Gained]
That was a nice bonus, but the attention the ice wall ended up drawing didn't compensate, including the attention of the vultures that had been resting until now.
Almost the instant the wall formed, the arrow came loose and I fell on top of it. With cat-like reflexes, I managed to get out of the pool "lying down" and into a minimal crouch on top of the wall.
Calling it a wall was an exaggeration; it was barely 8 centimeters thick, my feet barely fit on top of it. The fact that it was a block of ice didn't help either.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh*
*Ufff, Uffff, Ufff*
*Ggggoooouuuhhhh*
*Uuuuuwwwwwggggg*
Vultures coming from above, zombies trying to pull me down from below, 4 meters to the display and only 5 more seconds until the wall crumbles (yes, ice magic has a timer). Gathering strength in my legs, I jumped as high as I could.
I managed to climb the remaining 50 cm to reach the same height as the display, and almost get within 1 meter of it. But I still needed to get past the last few centimeters to even touch it.
Once again in desperation, I used my favorite magic so far.
'[Shadow Sphere]'
I threw it at the head of a particularly tall zombie, whose mouth was open, ready to tear off a piece of my foot (or my whole foot).
[Eliminated: infected zombie]
[Experience gained]
The sphere hit and shattered, along with the zombie's head, and I used the momentum to cover the rest of the distance. I managed to hold on to the top of the display, mere centimeters from the zombies' hands and mouths.
'Thanks to the Shell station for liking large displays (or was that just the manager of this one?).'
I thought, climbing and standing on top of the 3-meter display (probably a few more centimeters), which was almost 1 meter thick.
I didn't have time to relax, I managed to get past the most dangerous part, now I had to deal with the annoying details.
*Ufff, Uffff, Ufff*
*Vup, Vup, Vup*
With 3 of them approaching quickly and casting a very unpleasant shadow close to me.
By reflex I reached for my spear, but stopped at the last instant. Vultures are commonly seen in the city, much more common than caracaras. However, while reports of attacks by caracaras are "relatively" common, reports of attacks instigated by vultures are practically nonexistent.
After all, unlike caracaras, vultures are complete scavengers. They don't have a hunting instinct, only the instinct to defend themselves and their young. Therefore.
'If I show that I'm not a threat they can just leave.'
Sure, that's considering how they were before being altered by mana; things might have changed. But I have a solid basis to believe that wasn't the case.
The fact that they didn't immediately approach me when they saw me.
They just circled me and watched me attentively; one or two got closer, but not close enough to swoop down.
Resisting the urge to grab my spear or use magic, I kept my hands visible and near my head in case something happened. But they only continued circling me for a few moments; after about five laps, they simply returned to their nests.
Not before one of them grabbed one of the zombies. And I want to settle this: the vulture grabbed the inner zombie, almost my size, and took it to the nest with him.
'It's a good thing they don't seem to have changed much besides size. Fighting them would be more complicated than fighting the caracaras.'
I thought, letting out my first sigh of relief of the day.