Chapter 69: Cheep!? 68

Cheep!?

Chapter 68

Niko shook his head, slinging bits of pink and green slime off of his own face in order to see a bit clearer and to be able to breathe more easily. He snapped his head back around a second later, checking the state of the room he was about to leave behind in favor of engaging new enemies in the hallway.

‘Looks good, that big guy is–holyshit!’ Niko winced as Ronald ducked under a wide, wild cleave from the enslimed man before him. The strike roiled with enough essence that the air crackled in its passing, gray motes of smog spilling from the sword's wake. ‘Gotta say, I’m glad you’re dealing with him and not me, Ronald,’ Niko thought to himself with a small prayer to Alterra that Ronald could keep dodging, parrying, and keeping Captain Androv from getting the pink bubblegum snot blob off of his own head. 

When Niko turned his attention back to the hallway, he waited just long enough for Skye to get into position and call out, “I’ll support you from back here. Go nuts, Niko!” 

He sent a firm thought of acknowledgement before he leaned down low. His leg muscles trembled as essence coarsed through them, filling his leg patterns. The ten men rushed down the hall, faltering at what Niko imagined they saw as a pink, bird-shaped slime. ‘Two spears, the rest are swords–oh, actually, those two have an axe and mace. Plenty of shields between them… that’ll be annoying.’ Niko quickly collected information on them, deciding that the two he needed to deal with immediately were the spear wielders. With a deep breath, Niko dug his talons into the flooring, cracking tile to get a better grip. 

Skye let loose a pair of arrows from either side of him, somehow managing to make them bend ever so slightly around his body. Niko chased after them, letting out a long, high pitched shriek packed with essence conveying his intent to rend and maim. Bloodthirst pervaded through the air with the essence wave that seemed to reverberate with his pounding steps. Thus far, Niko hadn’t met anything that didn’t flinch when charged like this.

This time remained no exception.

The men put aside the ridiculousness of the sight and recognized the immense threat for what it was, but too late. They stopped their prior offensive, instead trying to marshall a defensive line when the two arrows from Skye caught the mace wielder in the neck and lower gut. “Shit! Archer!” 

In the next second, Niko leaned in a bit lower, a pair of braced spears pointing at him from the front of the group. With a flare of his essence, Niko forced his feathers to all stiffen together to form a more durable sort of armor. He had to ignore the ‘squelch’ of slime shifting all over his body when he did that, but there was a reason why he hadn’t shaken it totally free of his hide as of yet. His muscles surged as he threw himself forward, reaching out with his claws and ignoring the spear tips aimed at his flanks from either side.

The spear tips made contact with Niko, the one on his left threatening to cut through the barrier his plumage presented with an essence empowered blow. The slime seemed to instantly tense and slide away as the spears made contact, effectively deflecting the strikes as the weapons failed to gain purchase.

The dismayed men had no chance to so much as gasp when Niko hit them like the kool-aid man and his favorite wall. They, along with a third man, took a pair of claws and Niko’s head to their chests before being flung hard against the ground. Air blasted from their lungs as chest-plates were very clearly dented, Niko wasn’t sure they’d be getting up anytime soon. The rest of the group parted around him before surging back in, jaws clenched as they prepared to strike.

Niko was not the least bit intimidated, instead feeling his blood pump with vigor and excitement.“Fight me!!!” Niko blasted out at the top of his lungs, briefly staggering his attackers with another wave of potent essence. He then lashed out with an empowered kick, his intended target just barely managing to lean back just enough to only get clipped by a claw. Even so, it was still enough to throw him back a few meters, forcing him to stumble hard to keep his footing. 

A sword hit Niko’s left side, clacking hopelessly against the slime and feather defense, before another large section of hardened slime slid away. Niko reflexively responded with another kick, this time the attacker was completely unable to get away in time.

The talon dug upwards through the plate like it wasn’t even there, rent metal punching in on its wearer with the kick. He felt essence flow into him like a sunny day, a wonderful meal, the most amazing cocktail, all at once. That did his next target no favors, a woman with a broad shield and sword coming at him from the front.  

He struck downwards, essence infusing his beak strike as he punched into the shie–

A rebuffing force hit him smack in the face, blowing him back with a ringing sound in his ears like he’d just had a pot put on his head and rang like a gong. “Pecking hell! Ow!” 

In the next moment, another strike slipped through, hitting his right flank. Niko spun with his claws out, trying to get a feel for the situation. One of the other guards half-stepped in right after Niko’s claws passed and stabbed at his side. He targeted the same place as his companion had, digging into his feathers with a grunt before managing to breach through and cut a line of red into Niko’s flank.

“Hit the clean spo–” The man began to shout in triumph when two arrows took him in the neck.

“Thanks, Skye!” Niko called, grateful that she was backing him up. There were four enemies left, resulting in a situation he was much more practiced with. Niko ducked a blow, trying to get a read on how these people moved, attacked, and if they tried to coordinate in any way. His long hours of practice against golems helped, but the golems lacked readable expressions. Niko had hence learned via body language, rather than facial cues. As such, when the shield woman looked over to her comrade on Niko’s right flank, he found himself somewhat at a loss.

‘Isn’t this easier?’ Niko thought privately, before the woman stepped forward. Niko feigned going for the strike with a machine-gun burst of cawing, but as soon as he heard the movement on his side, he aborted the attack. With a slime covered arm, Niko swept outwards, catching the surprised attacker’s blade. The impact still hurt, granted, and Niko briefly wondered how many bruises he’d have at the end of this. Still, he carried on with his own strike, moving into the man’s space and kicking out his knee, reversing the direction his leg bent in one fell swoop.

The man screamed, and Niko darted past him while clawing him, more or less harmlessly, across his plate armor. If nothing else, it forced the poor bastard to become an obstacle of sorts to his comrades as they tried to keep engaged with the murder-bird that had now crossed their defensive line. The other three swore at the situation they found themselves in, stuck between a distant archer and a slime-armored bird. Niko did a quick check of the first three he’d struck, noting that they were still down, but alive and conscious if the groaning and whimpering had anything to say about it. 

Another arrow flew through the hallway, this time hitting one of the remaining guards in the back of the calf where he wasn’t nearly armored enough. The guard cried out as he fell partly forward to a knee, “Argh!” Niko vaguely listened to a string of half-curses along with screams, only interrupted by the man suddenly and vehemently declaring, “I don’t get paid enough for this shit!”

Niko arched an eyebrow at that, actively standing up straighter, his plumage fluffing out as he shook slime from his form. The guards were confused until they saw the look of absolute confidence in the bird’s eyes.

“This is bullshit.” The man with the arrow in his leg complained, “You know what, I’m done.” 

“What!?” His companion beside him balked while alternating between looking at the bird and the half-elf with his shield interposed, “You’re done!?”

The arrow-guy grunted before dropping his sword and shield and shuffling to land hard against the wall with his hands up and grit teeth, “Oi! I give up!”

Niko stopped at that, bewilderment coloring his expression, “Uhh… huh. Actually… yeah I guess that’s the smart option here, isn’t it? Skye! What now!?” 

Skye groaned across the mental link, but didn’t let that leak into her voice, “If you surrender your weapons and kindly cluck off, you can go!”

They looked at her strangely at the ‘cluck’ part, before she gestured back to the two and a half plus meter tall aberrant Phorus behind them.

“Yeah. Alright.” The woman dropped her weapon, “Can I keep the shield? Family heirloom.”

Skye blinked at that, before shrugging, “Sure, why the hells not. All of you pull your people out with you. If you’re still here by the time we get back, I’ll have to shoot you.”

The man who wasn’t shot in the back of the leg wasted no time in discarding his weapons, “Don’t need to tell me twice.” He uttered quickly, before hauling his arrow-impaired friend up in spite of his hissing protests. The shield woman quickly disarmed her other downed comrades before she paused for a brief moment, looking upon them with a troubled expression. 

Then she looked at the slime with an increasingly amused expression. 

Niko only watched after her long enough to see her slather the trio in slime, and wrap rope around their wastes before he himself trotted off down the hall. He didn’t miss the way the guards flinched when he passed them, though admittedly it almost made him feel good that he’d done well enough to earn that kind of response. 

“Good job, Niko,” Skye patted him before making a face at the bits of slime still there, “Ugh… Well, let’s see how Ronald is doing.”

Niko nodded, just in time to hear Ronald bellowing, “Just stay down!!!” 

Skye and Niko exchanged looks before returning to the room, where they found Ronald beating Captain Androv with his bare hands, whilst keeping the latter pinned to the ground under his own weight. Much of the pink blob around the man's head was gone, but he was now riddled with injuries. Ronald wasn’t unscathed either, his chest piece–which Niko noted had been brand new–was a still-smoking wreck, and it looked like a gnarly chemical burn had marred Ronald’s torso from his right side to about his middle. It must have been agonizing, but Niko noted that Ronald was obviously too pissed to care. 

“Brand new armor! My favorite glaive!” Ronald was hitting hard with every pronouncement, Captain Androv’s worst injuries quickly becoming those on his head, “Couldn’t just give up! You damn prick!” 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ronald so mad,” Mithel came up beside them with a complicated expression.

“Did you roid him up?” Skye asked with a perplexed expression, just as Dachna finished dealing with the last of the group that had come in with Captain Androv. These ones hadn’t surrendered, thinking they could kill Dachna and move on. Obviously, Niko noted, they’d been quite wrong, considering he was breathing hard and holding a pair of bloody daggers gingerly, like they might fall from his grip at any moment. 

“That sucked…” Dachna groaned, “How’d it go on your… Wow, he’s really going at it, ain’t he?”

The Wyldwalkers and a few onlooking civilians watched on, and Niko noted that they didn’t look particularly off-put by the display, nor fearful. In fact, if anything, they looked impressed that Ronald was doing what he was doing.

Androv struck upwards with an essence strike, hitting Ronald in the ribs hard enough that Niko heard the crack from where he was standing. Niko’s feathers shot on end, but before he could do anything, Ronald only groaned loudly, “Mother–” Then laid into him with a double overhand crush with his fists.

One that met Captain Androv’s meatloaf face with a crunch.

  No longer moving, Ronald put a bloodied hand against his right ribs, a bruise already forming there. “Yup… Oh…! That’s broken.”

“Did he just solo a tier three?” One of the civilians asked.

“Yes, but no,” Phil answered, giving Ronald a respectful look, “That balding bastard was blind and asphyxiated for the first half of the fight. Still, damn good showing, kid.” 

Ronald only grunted in response before rising to his feet. Niko trotted over, leaning down enough to help him out. 

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“Thanks,” he said, unconcerned by the slime on Niko’s feathers as he slung his good arm over Niko’s neck. “You’re bleeding? Are you good?” Ronald noted a bit of red that didn’t match Niko’s feathers.

Niko rolled his eyes before suggestively pointing his muzzle all around Ronald’s absolutely punished body.

“Fair enough,” he chuckled before wincing, “Mithey, can you help?”

“Oh! Uhh, yes!” She startled a touch as she dragged her eyes away from the carnage she’d helped forge. With practiced hands that only trembled slightly, she plucked out a light amber colored flask. “Drink up. Let me know how it tastes.”

Ronald took the potion wordlessly with a small nod to Mithel,  then popped the cork with his teeth, and downed the liquid. He moaned appreciatively as it hit open cuts in his mouth from glancing blows that had happened in their fist fight. “Tastes like… lemon and honey, that’s good. Painkiller?”

Mithel nodded, pleased with herself, “Yup, and a coagulant, with a bit of general antibiotic bolstering. Mild antitoxin, lots of stuff to kickstart healing, especially broken bones. Just don’t move your ribs too much…”

“Good, well, I’d like to not move them too much, but we gotta go,” Ronald grimaced, “Dachna, can you loot that bastard for me? I feel like if I lean over I’m gonna break another rib.”

Dachna nodded, his tired eyes lighting up, “Looting? I can do that!”

Niko chortled at that, and while he stared at the group of people behind them, he noted that the fight in the stairway had ended. Surprisingly, it looked like most of the people on their side were healthy, albeit a few wounded former-guards. The fighting either hadn’t nearly been as fierce, or perhaps Tabitha–or rather, Mary–had taken care of most of the fighting herself. Niko imagined the Baron couldn’t have that many tier two guards to go around.

The tier three was another case entirely, though, and as Niko stared at the now fallen Captain Androv, he felt perplexed about how he would have dealt with the man. 

Ronald broke him from his thoughts by giving him a pat on the side, before standing up a little straighter. Niko noted the brief strain on his expression as he fought a wince, but when Ronald started talking, he betrayed no sign of the pain he should still be feeling, “Alright everyone, take care of anyone wounded, keep a lookout, and let’s get out of here.” 

It was simple and straightforward, but no one looked at him strangely for that. If anything, Niko thought he saw some looks of admiration from the civilians. Niko walked alongside Ronald as they went, with Skye on his opposite side in case Ronald stumbled. With a steadying and firmly placed hand, Ronald did an excellent job of appearing to be far more stable than he probably felt he was.

“Nothing in the hallway,” Niko announced, before quickly amending, “At least, nothing I can see.” 

Skye relayed that, before commenting further, “I’m not hearing anything nearby.”

Ronald grunted at that, “Might be that was the bulk of their forces. I can’t imagine the Baron has that many more guards.”

“Well, considering how many of them are with us now, I’d say that we might be good.” Dachna thumbed backwards at the trailing civilians, “Can’t have been that many guards on the estate, right?”

Mithel groaned, “Can you guys please stop flagging us?”

Niko turned his gaze on her and with a subdued chirrup, agreed. His thoughts then immediately veered elsewhere though, as he realized what she had just said. He rapidly began contemplating everything that he knew about her, thus far. ‘Flagging… that’s definitely a gamer term. Then there’s that ‘Stop, Hammertime!’ comment from earlier, too... That’s well beyond just cultural meshing. She knows far too many direct references for it to be coincidental. Is Mithel another reincarnator from Earth, like me?’ Niko felt his heart rate rise dramatically as the realization began to sink in. ‘I have to assume she is at this point, but I can’t very well ask her directly with all the others around… Well, actually, I guess… Maybe I could if I write to her? But is that a good idea? I mean, maybe that’s fine.’ 

 Niko then felt his rising pulse stop dead for a moment as another, very real, possibility occurred to him.

‘Actually, that might not be fine. If she was brought over by Alterra, it’s all good. But what if she was brought over by one of the gods? Can they even do that?’ Niko paused, ‘I mean… they’re gods, so I have to assume they can. But she hasn’t demonstrated any particular devout beliefs, unless being a memelord counts.’ He snorted to himself at that, still very uncertain about how to approach things. Before he could consider the topic further, Niko turned his gaze forward, ‘Let’s just get out of here first, then I can decide if I even want to engage Mithel on that front.’ 

As much as he was shocked at the revelation that Mithel was almost guaranteed to be a reincarnator, he still had a job to do. He’d have plenty of time to obsess over this later.

“Nothing in the main room… Foyer? Greeting hall? The peck do you call this part of the mansion?” Niko reported and, seeing nothing worrisome, posed his question regarding room terminology to Skye.

“Nothing still. And this is basically just a foyer, I think.” Skye shrugged at that, “I’m no expert on architecture, though.”

No one else chimed in at that, and when they reached the front door without further issue, the Wyldwalkers exchanged surprised glances. 

“To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m surprised or disappointed that nothing happened,” Mithel chuckled aloud.

“Do you have everything you need?” Ronald said while looking at not-Tabitha.

The woman looked around, seemingly also confused as to why nothing more had happened, but she quickly recovered, “Indeed. I was… not expecting things to be so smooth.”

Niko cheeped before kicking the front doors open with enthusiasm. He had come to appreciate some of the black and white decor, but that didn’t mean he liked the owner of the place.

The wind greeted him, and Niko trilled happily at the feeling of the sun on his face and then–

Ducked when a blur hit the wood next to the door with a solid ‘thunk’.

“Bacauwk!” A surprised Niko crowed out loudly, as a gathering of people fought outside. 

“Shit, sorry!” A voice followed the blurred flight of the object Niko now recognized as a bolt, and he looked over to see a young man in the city guard's outfit who was both pale as a ghost and red as a tomato from embarrassment.

“McGreir! Trigger discipline!” Roared a familiar voice before the man it belonged to crashed a shield into one of the Baron’s guards. The blow had laid the man out, gasping for breath. Guard Captain Magra stood over his winded adversary, ignoring him, as he glared daggers at the pale-faced McGrier. “You and I are going to have some retraining after this!”

The boy’s face screwed up in dismay, but he dutifully answered, “Yes, Sir!”

Niko balked at the scene when taken in total. The city guard, outfitted in simple iron with blue sashes tied around their waists, stood out against the much finer silver inlaid and gold embellished Baron’s guard. Many of the Baron’s guards were already down, and to Niko’s eyes it looked like the vast majority of them were only tier one. Considering over half of the city guard were tier two, there was no contest. Plus, it appeared that the Baron’s guards weren’t willing to go all out. 

At least, that’s what Niko’s gut told him.

“Guard Captain Magra!” Ronald called out, standing stiffly at Niko’s side before briefly glancing at the bolt in the door frame with something resembling exasperation. “We have civilians in need of escort!”

Gram Magra, Ronald’s father, underwent several transformative expressions in the span of a few seconds. Niko imagined the first as a beaming pride in his son and his words, the one immediately following was stormy and dreadful as he actually saw Ronald’s wounds, and the Guard Captain’s face was back to a stoic professionalism fitting his station.

‘Well, maybe not totally professional,’ Niko noted as Gram smashed his shield much harder than necessary into a rising enemy combatant's head as he passed them. ‘That guy’s gonna feel that in the morning.’ 

“Good work, adventurer. Let’s get you all situated. Are there any more civilians in the building?” Gram asked Ronald directly, who in turn glanced questioningly at not-Tabitha.

“If there are, they sided with the Baron.” Tabitha stated shortly, “I doubt you’ll find much trouble with them, though.”

Gram nodded before calling over a few of his guards who had finished up their business. Niko swept his vision across the group once more, feeling a strange tremor in his bones as the people with them were collectively escorted towards the gates of the Baron’s estate. Several wagons waited for them already, and what looked to be medics or priests received their charges with whispered assurances and blankets.

Niko paused then, the realization that they’d just successfully saved these people truly sinking in. That felt good in a way that he hadn’t expected it to. 

‘Now, I wonder where the Baron got off too?’ 

 

 

 

*Sorry for delay in post. For some reason the schedule publish thing isn't working right at the moment. Not sure what that's about... Anyways, double chaps today!

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