Spearbound Ch. 41

AN: Didn't post yesterday since I was changing some things in previous chaps due to wanting to take this a different direction. They are extremely minor in the chapters posted. Pillar count in the Rift Zone went from 4 to 2. MP Recovery has been increased to 12.7% due to [Arcane Lancer].

“Are you sure he saw something?”

Kade grunted in reply as he glared at Hellion resting on Eliza’s shoulder. That had been the case for the past several hours. The bird was amazingly docile with the woman.

He didn’t mind… except that he did.

Why did Hellion act like a lunatic with him and then turn into an innocent chick with Eliza?

“Hellion, maybe you should fly again to make sure we’re going the right way,” Eliza hadn’t given up unconvincing the bird to do her bidding. Unfortunately, it hadn’t worked the previous million times she tried, and it wouldn’t change this time.

Kade gave Hellion another sharp look. “Get on my shoulder, now.”

It wasn’t the first time he had asked, but now that he sensed the bird was fully recovered, his tone left no room for refusal. Hellion sensed that and hopped over, his demeanor immediately turning from docile to aggressive.

Kade smiled in satisfaction. This was what he wanted from his… Kade wasn’t sure what Hellion was to him. The interface named Hellion a companion, but that was a title with no emotion behind it.

If he had to label Hellion, it would be ‘pet.’

“Get up there and see if there’s anything interesting near us.” It gave Kade great pride Hellion knew precisely what he meant by ‘interesting.’

With a shrill screech of anticipation, Hellion launched himself toward the sky to observe the surroundings. This time, he chose not to show off and shorten the flight time, much to Kade’s approval.

Eliza didn’t feel the same. “I feel insulted. He ignored me. All it took was a sentence from you for him to act.”

“He knows who the boss is,” Kade said, smirking at her. Eliza rolled her eyes and monitored Hellion.

“I have to admit, this is far less eventful than I hoped. You made it sound like you were facing threats every few seconds when you messaged me.”

Eliza glanced at him with a raised brow. “That’s an over-exaggeration. And that was in the forest I landed in. The grasslands are much safer… in a way. These karnathis have removed most threats, leaving themselves the only danger. Since there are enormous gaps between their settlements, we will spend most of our time walking around.”

Kade visibly deflated. “I got my hopes up when one objective was to survive for seven days. What’s the challenge when we could just run to pass the objective?”

Eliza looked at him with amusement. “That seven-day survival doesn’t start until we destroy all the pillars.”

“What?” Kade pulled up the interface to double-check.

Objectives:

Destroy the Pillars of Stability (1/2)

Survive for 7 days

This specifies nothing.

“System, does the second objective only start after the completion of the first?”

In this instance, yes. A counter will appear next to the objective once it becomes active.

“Wow, you really liked the answer you got,” Eliza noted with a curious look. “Are you that eager to face something that will put our lives on the edge?”

The broad smile on Kade’s lips and an enthusiastic screech from Hellion at feeling the excitement negated the need for a verbal answer.

Eliza chuckled before shaking her head. “I won’t lie and say I feel the same eagerness, but I understand it.”

Kade brought up something he had been curious about. “You don’t feel the same? Then how do you explain the four thousand points added to your ranking points?”

“Ugh, that,” Eliza frowned in distaste. “I killed bugs as I helped people travel to Chicago. There were so many swarms…”

Kade resisted the urge to gag at the way she trailed off. He could almost imagine the sky darkening with those disgusting creatures.

… Wait, she got points for killing the bugs?

“System, why didn’t I get points for killing bugs?” Kade ignored the look Eliza gave him.

There were different circumstances involved. She killed the monsters loose on Earth because of an objective, while you did it out of disgust.

If Kade didn’t know the System didn’t give two fucks about him, he would have thought it was mocking him. After all, killing all monsters was a standing objective the System recommended at the start.

His confusion at the double standard had to be shoved aside when he felt a sharp spike in excitement. Hellion screeched before diving at him.

“What did he find?” Eliza asked as she looked around, like something would magically appear on the edge of their vision.

Kade had put aside his annoyance as he received vague flashes from his bond with Hellion. He let the bird land on his shoulder and bounced excitedly as he tried to make sense of what Hellion saw.

“The dot Hellion saw in the distance got a little bigger, but it looks like something’s moving towards us,” Kade glanced at the bird happily squawking on his shoulder. “With his excitement, it might be another karnathi army.”

“You’re sure?” Eliza lost all signs of calm.

Kade knew he would get this excited if he knew an army was heading their way, and Hellion had a proper mindset like him. “Confident. How big was the city you destroyed? If there’s another guarding the last pillar, we should be able to estimate how many karnathis are in this army.”

“Thousands, with most able to fight. The only reason I could take it down was sabotage. There is little chance we can take on an army in an open field. We need to flank them.”

Kade stared at her like she was speaking another language. “I have a better idea. How about I just jump into it, and you bombard them from a distance?” Hellion squawked. “Right. Hellion can pick off the weaker ones from above.”

“… I am seriously questioning your sanity,” Eliza said.

Kade gave her an offended look. “I am very sane, thank you. It has worked for me so far, and think about what’s waiting for us at the pillar. If this army is the vanguard to try to kill us here, there must be an absolute monster of a monster guarding the pillar.”

“What do you think flank means?”

“Retreat?” Kade said unsurely.

Eliza patted his cheek like he was a naive boy. “It means take them from the side. These karnathis are predictable in combat. If we can take out a significant part of their army when they least expect it, you have a lesser chance of being roasted over a fire.”

“How did you know that?!” Kade gasped in shock.

Eliza tilted her head before slowly smiling. “That’s why you warned me about being captured by them. They were trying to eat you!”

He realized he had outed him and clamped his mouth shut. At least she forgot about me not knowing what ‘flanking’ is.

Kade cleared his throat. “Anyway, let’s get into position. Hellion, get back up there and give us eyes.”

***

The change in direction was a lifesaving decision.

“Good call, Eliza,” Kade whispered, taking in the black mass steadily moving as one unit. There had to be nearly a thousand karnathis in lockstep.

He wasn’t bold enough to think about taking this many at once, not with their strength. Even Hellion’s psychotic tendencies had disappeared when he had got a better view of what was approaching.

Kade was proud of his bloodthirsty bird. The thing knew when to relax.

As they watched the army from a distance, Eliza was on her stomach, just like Kade. “I suggest we try to pick them off in parts. Do you have any idea how to separate them?”

Kade shot her an impressed look. He had been thinking of letting this one go, but Eliza’s thinking was at another level.

“Little to no clue,” Kade admitted readily before an idea flashed in his mind. “… Or maybe I might. Let me test it.”

He pushed what he wanted through his bond with Hellion and waited for results. With how much the little bird hated the karnathis, and the ember falcons’ selection as one challenge in the underground chambers, there might be a deeper meaning behind all of it.

Hellion’s screech of rage spread across the vast grasslands, causing Eliza to look alarmed. Kade put a hand on her back to prevent her from doing anything to reveal herself and stared at the army intensely.

Kade heard a low growl that caused the army to halt. The karnathis were looking up, trying to search for Hellion.

He pushed Hellion through the bond.

Another screech erupted, this time directly above the army. Kade might have been telling Hellion to make the sound, but it truly contained hatred that was burned into the bird’s soul.

Several karnathis roared before raising their arms. Kade noticed they had strange weapons in their hands right before water and lightning erupted from them.

His eyes widened as he urged Hellion to fly away, but his worry was unnecessary. The bird knew what to do. It pulled away from the main body of the army. Even better, nearly all the karnathis that attacked Hellion split off from the army to follow.

Kade exchanged glances with Eliza. They both had the same look of shock. Eliza verbalized it. “They have mages.”

Kade gave her a brisk nod. “And the army is continuing without the mages. What should we target?”

“The mages were the strongest ones in the army. They will give us the largest Arcana Level growth. That would make it much easier to take care of the army afterward.”

“I like the way you think,” Kade smiled. “Let’s face the mages before Hellion gets ideas.”