Chapter 24: 24. The Battle of the One Thousand Eyed Bird

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Scours for the Big Skewered Beast >

 

This prompt held an entirely different meaning now that Frost possessed all one thousand eyes on her side. Even more feathers coated her body, fused onto her skin by the black blood of the trees. In a way, she was a chimera of all the denizens of the forest.

An amalgamation, so to speak.

She could see it now. She could see the end in sight looming just over the shoulder of the One Thousand Eyed Bird in the distance. Half of its pitch-black silhouette was masked by a layer of trees as the beast meandered aimlessly, for it no longer possessed any eyes to see.

It was like a giant ball of coal. Its feathers were ruffled up by the countless number of thorns that had penetrated its body, forming a shell reminiscent of the Accused. Frost closely clutched her pale stake in hand, almost as closely as Jury stuck by her side as they approached the climax of the tale of the Black Forest.

Her heart pounded against her chest, beating as if wishing to break free. The level 150 beast was not something that could be easily overwhelmed with their levels. But Frost had faith in the power she had gained by devouring the denizens of this forest, and in the condition that promised its defeat.

“I wonder if I can judge it immediately.” Frost wondered to herself quietly, speaking as if the bird could hear them from the hundreds of meters that separated them.

“Do you have a plan in mind?”

“Stab it with this, kill it and then eat it. There isn’t much else we can do besides that.” Frost shamelessly admitted. “It looks disorientated, and it only has one attack as far as we can tell. The 10,000-damage bite attack. Still… that doesn’t mean we can relax. System. If there’s anything I should know, now’s the time to tell me.”

“Unknown. All that was previously extracted was the threat level before the Blessed and the Ateliers of the Nexus were forbidden entry into Grandis. Years passed and this Corrupted created a domain of its own. The Witnesses. The Accusers – they are all unknown. The weeping child is the only known denizen apart from the One Thousand Eyed Bird.”

“So it’s all a shot in the dark.” Frost murmured as they drew nearer to the stage of their final battle.

“Essentially. But you have the eyes to make them all count.”

Frost firmly nodded in response. Jury also made a strange sound as if also hearing the System’s voice. The hundreds of meters quickly became tens. And before long, they arrived at the foot of the finale.

She anticipated some sort of boss room to appear like in a game.

But the forest did not change. They were in a section like any other; wide, spacious, and surrounded by many thousands of towering trees. The canopy seemed to rise higher here, however.

The thorn-riddled beast lumbered in circles, each of its step made by the comically small feet causing everything short of their courage to shake.

The size of the beast could not be understated. 10 meters was absolutely huge for a living being. Not to mention it was in the shape of a near perfect sphere. Most dinosaurs weren’t even that tall.

Its grand scale coupled with its hidden maw were the components of an everlasting nightmare.

Regardless of this, Frost could only see it as food.

It was considerably weakened. A single attack was all it would take to kill it. But she’d be a fool to believe it was this easy. After all, the requirement specifically stated to enact judgement.

“Jury. Let’s do this!” Frost riled herself up with these few words and nodded to the woman beside her.

Jury held out her clawed hand and savagely bared her teeth, also primed for combat.

System. Tell me, is it considered a skewered beast?

 

< There is No Skewered Beast in the Black Forest >

 

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Scours for the Big Skewered Beast >

 

That answers everything. Then, let me skewer you, you oversized bird!

The One Thousand Eyed Bird quivered as Frost took a step forward and pointed her stake towards it. Silence followed as it suddenly froze in place. Jury held her breath as she waited on with anticipation before Frost suddenly launched herself forward.

She moved like the wind. A gust of air swirled in the wake of her explosive movement. With one heavy thrust, Frost lodged the pale stake into its lower body. Her hand wove past the protruding thorns with ease, and in the next moment – the beast let loose of a horrific screech.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

 

< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Judges the Skewered Beast >

 

Frost instinctively released her weapon and rushed back to Jury’s side in anticipation of a sudden attack. She quickly checked it status and was shocked to see that it’s HP had not dropped at all.

 

One Thousand Eyed Bird | HP : 300

 

“FROST!? Good!?” Jury worriedly asked as the beast reared its body back and smashed its skull against the floor, further impaling the thorns into its body.

“I’m fine! System! Is it working!?” Frost required clarification immediately. She did not know if it worked or not. There was no foreign sensation or overwhelming urge to judge it.

“It’s… It’s… working I believe!”

 

< Judgement in Progress >

 

Could it be that easy? Did the month-long journey finally pay itself off with an easy victory?

 

< Decision of One Thousand Juries Pending >

 

No. Easy? There was no such thing as an easy road to victory. The path must be hell when faced with a Corrupted of this caliber. Frost sensed this. Her guts churned as she took a fighting stance and prepared for the worst.

Her foresight showed her a disturbing image.

In the next moment; pale blobs suddenly oozed from its wounds. The pouring liquid fell upwards, unaffected by gravity. One by one, pale orbs formed like a sea of bubbles above the giant bird. It did not take her longer than a second to realize that these were its one thousand eyes.

 

< One Thousand Hung Juries Have Revoked the Verdict >

 

“STATUS!” Frost cried.

 

 

“W-what the fuck is going on!?” Seeing the sheer number of False Juries shocked her beyond words.

“Big – Bad skewered beast!?”

“No…? No? FROST! It didn’t work!” Even the System was taken aback.

 

< Judgement Postponed Until All Hung Juries are Resolved >

 

No. These weren’t a thousand eyes. It was a masquerade of a thousand eyes. As their names implied, they were false juries. Like the mocked spirits of the Hanged Juries Frost had devoured.

This was a major setback. The last thing they expected was to be faced with the very same thing they had already set free.

“SYSTEM!” Frost roared, anticipating an attack at any given moment, even though her foresight said otherwise.

For now.

 

< CONDITION : The One Thousand Eyed Bird is invulnerable While its False Alibies Attest to its Innocence >

 

< SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENT : The One Thousand Eyed Bird Will Become Vulnerable to [Enact Judgment] After All Alibies Are Extinguished. >

 

< SUBJUGATION REQUIREMENT : Enact Judgement >

 

“Another fucking thousand of them!? You’re kidding me!?” Frost yelled, wanting to deny all that unfolded before their very eyes.

But she had to face this reality head on. They knew it was not going to be easy to begin with. It just exceeded their expectations. In the end, if all they had to do was take down one thousand more of these things then so be it.

Frost’s shock quickly morphed into strength as she was about to head straight into the fray. Though that did not last long. Because the second biggest shock then hit her the moment she took the first step forward.

 

< [Biased Verdict] >

 

This phrase had no meaning to her. But from the format alone she immediately realized that it was a skill of some sort. The only logical conclusion she came to was that it must belong to the One Thousand Eyed Bird.

Scorched trees sprung from the ground underneath them. Frost was fast enough to dodge them before its living branches could ensnare her. Jury on the other hand, was incapable of dodging this attack. She was seemingly frozen in place as she stared into the pale eyes hovering over the bird.

 

< [Scrutiny] >

 

Jury was under this condition caused by the soul-crushing gaze of all the glowing eyes. Frost was immune to it because she too possessed these eyes, and consequently, was also able to inflict it onto others. It prevented Jury from moving entirely as its false eyes scrutinized her very soul.

“JURY!” Frost called out her name as the rows of scorched trees disappeared save for the one that managed to wrap its twisted branch around Jury’s throat.

It instantly sprouted upwards to a height unreachable for her. Another branch held her clawed hand aside, keeping her immobilized as she croaked for air. Frost, now seeing only red, instantly cleaved the skinny tree with a powerful kick.

The tree was felled like any other ordinary tree as it released Jury. Frost caught her and gained some distance from the One Thousand Eyed Bird, her blood physically boiling at this point.

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“Are you ok!? You didn’t lose any HP, but – are you hurt!?”

“Jury… Good!” The woman assured, clasping at her throat before she took a stand beside Frost.

But they could not relax. Not even for a good second. In this brief moment, the giant bird tilted itself forward and sprinted headfirst with its maw agape. A black void lined with countless teeth spanned its entire body as it rushed to consume them both in one fell swoop.

 

< [Prejudice] >

 

This was the name of its 10,000-damage attack. The 8 AGI made it horrendously slow. But when coupled with Scrutiny, it was an undeniably powerful attack. The abandonment of Grandis aside, it was no wonder no one else challenged this Corrupted.

Frost and Jury easily ran past it on either sides and joined up in the center again before Frost pointed up at the floating eyes.

“Those are our targets! Take down as many as you can!” Frost yelled and leapt a substantial 5 meters into the air.

It was a massive jump compared to the normal human, never mind herself only a month earlier. The AGI stat was largely responsible for movement, including jump height. With hers at an impressive 55, she was like a bullet in comparison to the One Thousand Eyed Bird.

Frost thrust her fists into the air and it disappeared into her Dimensional Storage. From withing the grabbed onto the ends of the giant, metal feathers belonging to the Righteousness and brandished them like sabers. With the last ounce of momentum she had left, she swung them around and claimed a number of False Juries in a single attack.

She did not know how much damage they were capable of since they had yet to be appraised. And besides, they were only objects. Most of the damage likely came from her resounding 500 ATT.

The metal feathers cut into her palms as she gripped onto them even tighter. This pain hardly anything in comparison to the agony of losing.

Her landing was far from clean as well. She very rarely found herself jumping in the first place. Also, being high up in the air made it extremely difficult to move her body the way she wanted. The proximity of the False Juries was the only reason she was able to do any damage at all, and made it seem easier than it truly was.

Jury on the other hand was a natural at it. She soared up to 7 meters even with her lower AGI stat. Her body was simply built entirely different from hers. She swung at the False Juries with a spectacular cleave. The momentum of her swing somehow threw her further up into the air as she spun horizontally before sending one final downward slash to finish off her combo.

Unfortunately, she killed much less than Frost. The reason was because her ATT stat was still lower than their HP pool. Regardless, her display of mastery over her body inspired Frost as she threw herself into the air again, claiming more of the False Juries with rapid succession.

They shattered like glass, littering the ground with their luminous shells.

“Jury! Yell at me as soon as you feel anything! And System! Keep feeing me with information! I don’t care if it’s only a drop of Jury’s HP; I need to know everything that’s going on!” Frost ordered as the bird finally waddled its way back for another seismic bite.

“GOOD!” Jury responded.

“Very well. I will relay all that occurs to you. I can see Jury’s HP since she’s linked with your Blessing. She’s untouched at the moment. But she’s receiving stacks of Scrutiny at a rate of 1 per minute.”

 

< [Prejudice] >

 

“More importantly –! GIVE ME THE NUMBER THE STACKS FINISH ON!” Frost yelled as she moved to the side with Jury, watching the giant bird swallow the ground like an excavator.

A crater was left in its wake as tons of soil circulated in its maw. The beast shivered as it turned around and prepared for yet another charge. The cycle was predictable as far as Frost could tell. Dodge, head into the center and take down as many of the orbs as possible, fall back and repeat.

Scrutiny was the biggest obstacle by far. She guessed the next time it would use Biased Verdict was when Jury was hit with the Scrutiny negative condition. However, this was merely an assumption. And as if reading her mind –

 

< [Biased Verdict] >

 

The scorched trees emerged again. This time, both of them were able to avoid getting caught by the sprouting trees. The giant bird scraped its foot against the floor, riling itself up for another charge.

 

< [Prejudice] >

 

And so, the cycle repeated.

 

* * *

 

The bird itself was the least of their worries and was, quite frankly, the easiest part of the fight. It was treated like an environmental hazard. They claimed more than 100 orbs in the 10 minutes that elapsed their battle.

 

< Jury is under the effects of Scrutiny >

 

< [Biased Verdict] >

 

“10 stacks! The interval is every 10 minutes!”

“Good work System! That makes it easier to predict at least two of its move sets now!” Frost exclaimed as she rushed to Jury’s frozen side. They were already within close proximity, so she was able to quickly rescue her from the oncoming trees with ease.

However, she made the fatal mistake of throwing herself into the air.

“SHIT! They’re still active!?”

As a result, a small thicket awaited at her predicted landing point. She had no means of avoiding them outright. She fell into a nest of their branches like they were a giant bug net.

“This is fucking disgusting! Tch – Get the fuck OFF OF ME!” The sensation of being wrapped by cold, prickly branches was unpleasant to say the least.

Only the first tree that touched her quickly ensnared her arms together. One other branch slithered to her throat in an attempt to strangle her.

But it was a mistake cornering Frost like this. What the tree had done was akin to attaching a cornered rat to its chest. To escape, that rat was destined to gnaw its way out regardless of what was in its way.

Frost, being the lively specimen she was, snapped her jaw on the slow-moving branch. These things were slow to her in every possible regard. The only reason she was caught was because she had no avenue of escape. The tree silently wailed before solidifying like a regular tree. She towed her arms free with an explosion of bark and joined the rousing Jury below.

“Stand straight Jury… look at what we must overcome just to get out of here. What we had to do to even reach this point. What you had to endure to stand here at the cusp of your freedom from this place!” Frost roared.

These raw emotions were the steam produced from her boiling blood.

They both gazed up into the countless pale eyes and the quivering beast. The effort required to win was more mental than it was physical. Not a bead of sweat dripped from their bodies as they stood defiantly under its scrutinizing gaze.

The battle was still only in its opening act.

Frost brandished both feathery blades again. When the first drop of blood fell; they moved onwards and fought like it was their last.

 

* * *

 

Cycle after cycle, the pile pale waste grew like landfill underneath the eyes. Nothing drastic changed until 400 were finally put down to rest. The mound pulsated with an unknown energy as Frost and Jury fell back from another one of its Prejudice attacks.

But this time, it did not move after it stomped all over the waste. They cracked like glass, flinging shards all over the place as Frost prepared for the worst.

What’s going on System? It’s not moving anymore.

“Patience… I can only detect the skills being used, not before they’re used.”

You imply something else is coming. Should have seen that coming sooner or later. Tch.

“… Frost. Good eat! There’s bad skewered inside! Eat, eat, EAT!” Jury called out as if sensing what was going on.

She wasn’t fearful or warry. Rather, she seemed somewhat elated for some reason.

 

< [Rightful Ignorance] >

 

Then it happened. The same opening scream ruptured the air as the floating souls were pushed a little higher up, as if struck by a shockwave. The waste then began to move into clumps, forming balls that soon turned into the beings they knew as the Accusers.

They were pale in appearance, but their stats were slashed in half. There was not one, two or ten. But 50 of them formed and after a brief period of twitching as their bones were constructed beneath their flesh.

Then, they swarmed in like a pack of wolves.

More could be seen being created behind their approaching formation. But like Jury, Frost could not be happier with this outcome. They were fodder. Full stop. Such beings could not possibly dare to challenge them.

“Just what the hell do you think we’ve been doing for the last 50 days!?” Frost spat, half-insulted by the attack. The other half was pleased to see so much food running straight for her.

 

 

< CONDITION : The One Thousand Eyed Bird remains Dormant Until All Accusers Are Extinguished >

 

She had been bleeding nonstop ever since she first took hold of the Righteousness’ feathers. It wasn’t anything her magic could handle anyway. Interestingly however, was that she didn’t heal herself at all. In fact, her HP had been decreasing ever since.

Because the lower her HP became – the higher the chance she had of activating the Will of the Amalgam.

 

< The Will of the Amalgam Has Been Raised to the First State >

< There are still no active or passive skills to draw on. Beat this thing and make it your first for the next time >

 

< CONDITION : Insatiable hunger. Frost. This will last for the duration of the battle. Let your emotions drive you to victory >

 

The hunger manifested as quickly as she began to salivate.

In her mind there was no great devourer more terrifying than herself. The Prejudice attack was like a candle flame pit against the brimming light of the sun that was her maw. The first row of the Accusers froze the moment her gaze fell onto them. They may as well be walking cadavers at that point because there was no feasible way for them to resist her Scrutiny.

They were immobile fruit ripe for the picking.

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