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1487 Words
He was just too slow.
An arm thick beam of fire lashed out, and resisted any control that Matt could exert on it with his [Fire Manipulation]. Matt threw himself to the side, while commanding his flying sword to fly up and in the opposite direction.
The beam of fire quickly lashed upward, and sliced his flying sword into two uneven halves that were instantly melted with follow-up blasts of fire before they hit the ground.
“My sword!”
Matt couldn’t believe it. That was his first and favorite flying sword. He and Keith had scoured and reviewed every Tier 7 flying sword on the market to find the perfect one for him, and it was gone, just like that.
The damn tower hadn’t even left him with slag to keep as a memento.
Liz and Aster rushed over, asking, “Are you okay?”
Matt threw up his hands. “No! I’m clearly f*****g not! I liked that sword! Someone’s going to pay with their head for destroying it.”
Matt could hear the eye roll as Liz said, “Okay, you’re fine then. So, while this place doesn’t have an anti-flying formation, it’s the kind of rift that attacks anything that flies. Good to know.”
Aster poked Matt’s face with her nose with a questioning thought of her checking the air, but Matt just patted her in reassurance.
He got to his feet, retrieved his longsword, and said, “Well, we’ll be able to fly fine when I kill whoever is up in that tower.”
Liz pointed out, “Could be the building itself.”
“Well, then, I’ll knock the f*****g building to the ground.”
That ended the conversation. Matt was still fuming as they entered the city but forced himself to remain rational. While his AI hadn’t gotten a perfect look over the massive city, it had gotten enough to help them avoid turning in circles.
Their first encounter with a troop of orcs was night and day compared to their last one. Matt’s upgraded weapon cut through armor and flesh as if they were nonexistent.
Liz fared even better than he did. Her new weapon and armor allowed her to fight toe to toe with the Tier 9 monsters.
Aster avoided getting hit with her smaller, more nimble form as she continually froze feet and armor at the perfect moment, allowing Liz and Matt to dispatch the orcs in short order.
Just to test her combat abilities, she soloed a single group of orcs. She had to quickly rotate through her skills to avoid the spears that destroyed any skill or spell that lingered for more than a second or two but fared well otherwise.
Aster started with a spurt of [Hail], then transitioned to [Ice Manipulation] to surround all the orcs in ice and finished with [Shatter]. Even with the magic-resistant shield, the orcs were shredded in seconds, as their armor did nothing to stop the onslaught of ice from all directions.
With their combat prowess proven, they moved through the city with more speed. They even took fights with more than one squad at a time when they needed to push through a certain part of the city.
They only struggled slightly with the orc squad leaders bearing flags. It took them five fights with one of the ten orc squads before they settled into a working routine. Aster would hold the attention of the red armored monster by shooting him with ice. That simple tactic was enough to keep his attention completely on the fox. Her small size meant that the orc had trouble actually hitting her. When the orc did get too close, she simply created some water, then flash froze it. She had no trouble walking on slick ice, but the boss struggled.
Her toying with the ever-strengthening boss gave Matt and Liz time to slaughter the other orcs, who were no stronger than the other squads.
It took them close to six hours before they reached the central tower.
Matt had expected it to be the headquarters of the orcs, but the patrolling squads avoided the building like it would set them ablaze as well.
They entered the wide-open door to find a simple layout that was conspicuously empty. The lack of any enemies caused them to take extra care as they climbed the ten-story building, but they found nothing.
No guards, no shadow assassins in the objects of the building…nothing.
As they reached the ninth floor, they found the first oddity. The ceiling was made from some sort of brick or stone, and it radiated heat that they could even feel from the floor below.
When they reached the steps, Matt carefully poked his head over the lip of the floor, to find they were facing a giant chicken.
A giant flaming chicken.
A giant flaming chicken, at the peak of Tier 9.
It was sitting in a nest of charred timbers, but it was still a giant firebird.
Matt popped down and said, “I think your flightless cousin is up there.”
Liz was confused until he shared his AI recording of the view he had gotten, and his girlfriend winced.
“Matt, let me remind you. Please don’t ever call a phoenix a chicken. That really, really pisses off mom. That isn’t a phoenix. It’s a flaming ostrich.”
Matt grumbled, “They’re both flightless birds, and they’re both on fire. And what will your mom actually do?”
Liz shrugged. “Last time someone said she was a chicken who just laid eggs all the time, she followed them around and burnt their hair and clothes off at inopportune moments. Just don’t. You won’t win that one.”
Matt made a note of that, but pointed up at the ceiling and asked, “So, what’s the plan? I’m pretty sure this is the sub-boss that Luna was talking about. It feels strong.”
Liz highlighted a portion of the AI recording Matt had missed. “Look here, there are giant lenses on each of the walls. I’m pretty sure that was how the ostrich shot such a strong beam of fire at you. The glass concentrated it. That means we probably won’t have to deal with such a strong fire attack.”
Aster quietly yipped, “Also explains why it burnt the sword.”
Matt and Liz looked down to her, and she explained, “Jealous it can’t fly. Stupid chicken.”
He resisted a snicker at Aster picking up that insult. It was funny.
It also made sense, and they hadn’t seen any other birds in the rift, which the jealous chicken might be responsible for.
After hashing out a rough plan, Matt ran up the stairs and cast [Hail] directly over the nest. The ice spell worked about as well as they expected.
Not at all.
The ice turned to vapor before it even reached the bird. It did obstruct the long-necked chicken’s vision enough that it completely missed its first stream of fire at Matt. Now that he was close, he could feel it wasn’t pure heat vaporizing the ice but some part of the monster’s Concept at play.
The attack was noticeably weaker than one that killed his flying sword, but Matt didn’t let himself get overconfident. He could still feel the heat from the attacks passing.
He could feel it through his stupidly strong armor skill.
If he got hit, he was sure that he would be seriously burned at best.
Matt lashed out with his sword, and a crescent of mana smashed into the bird, bringing its attention to him long enough for Aster and Liz to get into their positions.
Rolling out of the way of another attack, Matt rushed forward, only to be forced to dodge once again.
The stupid chicken, as it turned out, really was an ostrich. The characteristic long legs and neck were revealed as soon as the boss stood up and stomped its feet.
The nest it had created for itself roared to life with an outward wash of flame that Matt was unable to control with [Fire Manipulation]. He was forced to activate his physical armor enchantments, and to cast [Create Water] over his head. Even with all of that protection he still felt the skin of his face and limbs singe.
His AI said that Liz and Aster were okay, so Matt rushed forward while bringing his blade around, and a mana-filled arc flew into the flaming feathers of the beast.
The rune inside of the weapon was only Tier 7, but Matt had no problem bridging the Tier gap with mana. The two thousand mana stored in the weapon exploded out with a burst of wind that caused the flames to gutter out for a moment.
The sub-boss screamed, which roused the flames from the entire room to life at its cry.
- Writer
