Awareness filters in, and I force myself to roll out of the way just in ti. Sothing in my body aches, like I've pushed it too hard; I've never started a loop like this before, but I don't have ti to think about it.
Two tries left.
I don't bother with Temporal Echo. I can use it I can sense it in the way the skill resonates, so strange feeling deep in my mind. I can call up the version of myself from the fifth loop and have him take care of the mantis.
But there's no point. I don't even take a step back this ti.
I don't need to run if I know exactly what the mantis-monster's weakness is.
Chitin snaps with a crack, and I pull the scythe out of the ground. I have leverage the mantis doesn't I can twist it out. It swings its other hand at , and I try to dodge. I still have so mories of how this mantis behaves, how it fights. I have an advantage here.
I don't completely manage it. I'm rattled, and the ache within is persistent. I don't know what it is, but I have a good guess: the use of Second Wind, straining again and again against the interface's crushing power...
It's a new goal to put on my map. I need to find a way to stop the interface from doing that.
Thankfully, Tough Body handles what little of the attack I do take, and it glances off my arm, leaving only the thin red line of a shallow cut. My movents are almost chanical I force myself to climb up the mantis, remind myself that it's a threat, even though my thoughts are still focused on the crows and what was done to them.
The scythe plunges into the mantis monster's eye, and I feel nothing.
[ You have defeated a Broken Horror (Rank E)! 1 Strength credit. 1 Durability credit. 1 Reflex credit. 1 Firmant credit. ]
It's not enough.
The credit rewards are decreasing as I get better, and the mantis is distinctly weaker than its harpy counterparts, even though they're at the sa rank. It's still an improvent over using Temporal Echo, I suppose; I don't seem to get the credits for anything my echo does. It's a tool in a fight, but not a replacent.
But even doing this myself, it's not enough. There are twelve harpies, and it took everything I had just to kill two. I didn't even get a Speed credit for this one, and that's the one I need to bank next.
I take a breath.
The air around thrums, and I ignore it, calling up the interface map. There's a small line over it now, with small hour markers designating little sections and a green dot slowly moving along it. A red dot at the twelve hour mark is labeled with Lost Harpies (Rank E).
A small hope begins to die when I see it. The raid is going to trigger whether I'm there or not, it seems, and I can't avoid it just by going sowhere else. I'd thought that if the battle was too rough, I could evade the raid entirely, and focus my efforts on getting stronger before I tried again. Or, alternatively, if I could just manage to survive, then I could spend the rest of the loop training, giving myself more ti.
But the interface has cornered. The raid looks like it'll trigger no matter what I do, and it kills if I fail.
It puts in a ti loop and then it gives a ti limit. There's a certain irony in that.
Just in case, I ask. "Is the Lost Harpies raid triggered by proximity?"
There's a small pause, as if the interface is deciding whether or not it should answer , and then:
[ Raids are set events that happen based on the amount of ti that has passed since the last reset. ]
Figures. I try not to dwell on it, and instead set out towards the Cliffside Crows; the rank on the map still reads as N/A, which tells that danger rankings don't take raid events into account. Raids are just things that happen.
Just another thing to be wary of.
There's sothing about this loop that feels... different. I can't pinpoint what it is exactly. Maybe it's just that ache inside of , that strain from using Second Wind the way I did. I don't think that's what it is, though. Now that I'm thinking about it, my fifth loop felt much the sa, and there was a pressure that was missing in my sixth loop that's now back in the seventh.
Nothing is obviously different, though. I keep an eye out as I traverse through the now-familiar forest, a little put off by how easily I've adapted. I try to move quickly I want to push Speed to at least fifty credits before banking it, and I'm close to that milestone but I don't want to exhaust myself before the raid, especially since I suspect Second Wind won't be so easy to use again.
Plus, I want to learn whatever it is that old crow said he'd teach . Maybe he'll know what the deal is with Firmant. He'd said sothing about how my Firmant was weak...
...I never did ask for his na.
It doesn't take that long to reach the Cliffside Crows again, though I have to stop and gather so food and drink on the way. My clothing snags on the wood and branches as I do so, and I grimace in irritation this is going to be a constant problem, since my clothes reset every ti I die, and I was wearing pajamas when I fell asleep.
At least I'm wearing my shoes. I certainly hadn't worn them to bed. A small rcy on the part of the Integrators, perhaps.
I don't thank them for it.
Unlike before, I don't get imdiately accosted by the old crow, perhaps because this ti it's still early morning when I arrive. The village is considerably more lively, though instead of the crows all being inside their huts, they're outside, moving around and chattering brightly with one another.
I see a mother washing so laundry in a river that runs off to the east, in a direction I haven't been yet. I see two adults challenging one another off to the left, squawking at each other and dancing around what looks like a small box on the ground. I see so children playing near the center of the village, in what could charitably be called the village square.
They're kicking a ball that looks like it might just be a bunch of forest debris gathered into the rough shape of a sphere; there are twigs, leaves, and no small amount of dirt. It's surprisingly durable, given that fact. I'm surprised it hasn't broken apart already, and that it's light enough to kick at all. Another Firmant enchantnt?
And then I notice sothing, and my breath leaves for a fraction of a second.
One of them is holding a colorful stick.
I see his face more clearly, now bright and innocent, with surprisingly large eyes and I try not to think about his neck snapping as he hits the ground, the crate crashing down over him. I grip the mantis scythe in my hand just a little tighter.
I need... I need to find the old crow.
The mont I step into the village, half the crows around stop, staring at curiously. The kids keep playing they don't seem to care that I'm here but an older woman approaches . I assu. I'm not great at identifying crow age.
"You!" she says, and for a mont I worry that she rembers; that she thinks that I failed them. There's no reason that should be the case, but the interface hasn't shown a great respect for the rules of ti so far. That worry dissipates when she continues. "Trialgoer?"
"Yes," I confirm. Hopefully the rest of the village shares the old crow's sentint about helping .
"Good!" the old woman fluffs her feathers. "Na Mari. Yours?"
"Ethan." I pause for a mont, and she looks at expectantly. "Pleasure to et you?"
I don't know how I'm supposed to greet crow elders. Obviously, the greeting isn't exactly right, because she snorts at and flaps her wings twice, as if agitated. "Bah. Don't know what I expected. Younglings."
"Is there... sothing else I should have done?" I ask politely. I can't help but feel like I'm wasting ti, though I still rember the fight, the people of this village dying all around .
But I doubt she's going to be more inclined to help if I'm rude.
"Bah!" she says again, and this ti she waves her wing in a more conciliatory sort of gesture. "Can't expect Trialgoer to know our ways. Co! Tarin wants to et you!"
I hope Tarin is who I think it is.
She brings to a very familiar-looking hut I pay attention to where in the village it is, this ti, even though most of the huts look the sa. If I have to try to beat the raid a third ti, I'll run directly to his hut. Save as much ti as I can.
"Well?" Mari squawks at impatiently, and I realize after a mont she's been waiting for to enter first. I duck into the entrance of the hut, pushing the folds of cloth away, and she walks in imperiously after .
There's no sign of the old crow, but Mari doesn't seem to care. "Husband!" she calls, and when there's no response, she sighs.
I feel a familiar thrum, and watch as Mari takes an even deeper breath. I clap my hands over my ears just in ti.
"HUSBAND!"
Even with my hands over my ears, the call is loud, and the shockwave pushes back a bit.
But not a single piece of furniture moves, to my surprise. I blink they must be far more reinforced than I thought.
A pile of blankets in the corner that I'd assud to be exactly that suddenly shifts, and I watch a familiar old crow climb out. He makes an irritated sort of grumble. "Was having good sleep," he mutters. "Noisy."
Mari smacks him over the head. "Trialgoer here."
"What?" The old crow Tarin, I remind myself looks around wildly. Right past . "Where?"
Mari sighs. "Eyes."
"Oh." A weaker sense of power, focused on the old crow's eyes, and he looks at . "Aha! Trialgoer! Co! There is much to learn!"
And then he pauses and frowns. "Wow. Your Firmant weak. Much work needed."
I actually feel a little offended this ti, but I shake my head. "We don't have ti," I say, and sothing about the urgency in my voice seems to reach him, because he sharpens a little bit, staring at . I'm not sure exactly what to tell them telling them that I've been going back in ti might be a little awkward, but for all I know, they already know about the nature of the Trial so I opt to cut to the heart of the matter. "There's going to be a raid soon. In about..."
I check the map. "Ten hours," I say. It had taken about two hours to get here, even moving fast. I was less tired than I thought I would be for two hours of exertion I'd been pushing myself pretty hard. An effect of Tough Body?
"What raid?" Tarin squawks at , cocking his head. I take a mont to parse his question.
"Harpies. Twelve of them. They co down from the cliff"
"No. What raid?" Tarin repeats. "Raid is food? Raid is water? Explain!"
"A raid is an attack." I clench my fists, frustration boiling over for a second not frustration at him, but at the situation. Tarin's talked about their planet being used for the Trial, and about it being an honor, but it's sounding more and more like they haven't really been filled in on the nature of the trial. "Twelve harpies co down and attack the village in ten hours. You need to evacuate your village. I can't protect you all, and you can't fight them off."
Tarin stares at . "You sure."
It's not a question. I nod, and he narrows his eyes at . "How you sure?"
"I... I've seen it." How am I supposed to answer that question? "I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's part of my Trial. I have to go through things again and again. I've been here. I've fought. You all we all died."
If they evacuate, I'll have more ti. I only failed the raid when they were all dead. If I just had the ti to fight them all...
Maybe if we run. Maybe if we all run, we won't fail the raid. It'll give the ti to train until I can take out all twelve of the harpies, and Tarin can help train.
As long as I can convince him what I'm saying is true, anyway.
Reviews
All reviews (0)