Chapter 244: The Bear Versus the Cockatrice Part One

Chapter 244:
The Bear Versus the Cockatrice Part One

 

MUMULUTE FLED from the cockatrice, and he fled fast. The monster shot after him through the air, and I chased behind.

From time to time, Mumulute attacked the cockatrice with a skillful blast of magic, but nothing was enough to actually hurt the monster. I wanted to attack the cockatrice’s undefended back, but that was a risk too—what if it turned around to fight me, then backtracked right to the village? It would’ve undone all of Mumulute’s work to lead it away. For now, I followed after them without interfering.

The cockatrice blasted Mumulute with gusts of wind and even with its own feathers. Mumulute defended with a barrier of wind. Farther and farther they went from the village, never slowing as they went, with Mumulute using the trees for cover from cockatrice attacks.

We came out into a clearing. Mumulute stopped. The cockatrice slowly descended.

They faced each other.

The clearing was wide-open—perfect for a battleground. Then again, no cover also meant nowhere to hide. At some point Mumulute had to stop running, so I figured he might as well do it here. All that mattered was staying in sight of the cockatrice and keeping it from coming back to the village.

The cockatrice beat its vast wings, launching a volley of feathers at the stationary Mumulute. Mumulute summoned a protective wind barrier and leapt back in a dodge, quickly getting his footing back. He launched another magic attack, a burst of wind that shaped itself into a blade. The cockatrice swooped up into a dodge and flapped its wings again, stirring up a huge zephyr. Mumulute met it with wind magic in a perfect block.

Whoa, they were an equal match! Mumulute was looking really cool too. They kept exchanging blows, and…wait, what was I doing just watching them? If they were evenly matched, he might lose!

I was right at the edge of the forest, out of the cockatrice’s vision. It was facing Mumulute with its back exposed, like it was just asking to get attacked.

I slipped away from the forest, gathered mana in my bear puppet, and created a wind blade. Then I fired it toward the cockatrice’s defenseless back. It couldn’t avoid it if it didn’t know I was there, so my attack hit it square on. The cockatrice shrieked out in a fit of rage.

Mumulute finally noticed me. “Miss! Why are you here?!” I ignored him and continued to fire wind blades.

In games, you gotta get damage in while you have the chance. But the cockatrice was no birdbrain, and it wouldn’t let me have an attack free-for-all forever. It immediately noticed me, turned around, gave its wings a huge flap, and launched dark red feathers at me. Those things were dangerous—a cockatrice’s feathers are filled with poison. Mumulute and I both made wind barriers to defend ourselves.

“Miss!” Mumulute fired a wind blade at the cockatrice from behind. The monster beat its wings and flew high into the sky.

Hmm, I guess a normal attack wasn’t gonna cut it. I probably should have used some bear magic instead of trying to keep the monster in pristine condition. Guess bad habits die hard.

“Why did you come?!” Mumulute rushed over, glaring at me.

“Sorry! I was just worried.”

“What are you saying?! Get out of here. I’ll handle the beast!”

“It’s okay, I can protect myself. You don’t have to worry about me while you fight.”

Above, the cockatrice circled us in the air.

Mumulute looked back and forth between the cockatrice and me. “Just promise me one thing. You must escape if the worst should come to pass. I do not wish to see a child die.”

A child?! Okay, maybe I was a kid to Mumulute…although I guess I wasn’t exactly an adult either.

“If the worst should come,” Mumulute continued, “I will give you time to escape, so you must not fail to do so.”

Hold on, were we doing the whole “You run and I’ll hold them off” thing? No way was I going to let Mumulute die! That’d make Sanya and Luimin super sad. For now, I nodded along and looked up at the cockatrice in the sky. It beat its wings and slowly descended again.

Its belly was starting to swell. Wait, I knew what that was!

“Mumulute, don’t move!” At that moment, I fully encircled us with a wind barrier and the cockatrice spewed purple gas. Poison—I’d once been poisoned in the game from a cockatrice’s breath.

There. The attack was fading now, so I expanded my wind barrier to clear the poison away.

“Thank you, Miss,” said Mumulute, then immediately he started running toward the cockatrice. He fired a wind blade at point-blank, slashing some of its wing away.

Enraged, the cockatrice spit poison up close, but Mumulute produced wind magic and blew the breath in the opposite direction. Mumulute pressed his advantage, but then, the cockatrice spread its wings wide and spun, catching Mumulute with a gust and sending him flying.

“Mumulute!”

“I-I am fine…” Mumulute replied from the ground. But the cockatrice flapped his wings at Mumulute, launching a barrage of feathers.

With my left hand, I created a wind barrier in front of Mumulute. I fired wind blades and fireballs at the cockatrice, but it dodged and repelled every one of them until the monster took the sky, escaping my attacks. Hmm, I guess I really did have to use bear magic. If I messed up and hit Mumulute while he fought the cockatrice, that’d get dangerous fast.

Surprisingly, Mumulute was…kind of getting in the way. Of course, I couldn’t turn to him and tell him he was in my way and should probably scram, so…

“You saved me, Miss.”

Well, what other options did I have? “What do you want to do? If you’d like, I can slay it.”

“Oh ho!” A laugh slipped out as Mumulute stood up. “How bold of you to say such while faced with a cockatrice!”

I wasn’t being bold; I really meant it. The cockatrice circled above, monitoring us.

“I have something to ask you after seeing your abilities,” Mumulute said.

“What is it?”

“Once it comes down, could you prevent the cockatrice from escaping into the sky?”

“I suppose I could.”

“I’m going to use a powerful move, understood? Take care not to get caught in it.”

Mumulute moved away from me and readied himself, then gathered mana in both his arms. The bracelet on his left arm was glowing super bright now—he was collecting more and more mana.

While I was distracted by Mumulute, the cockatrice fired feathers at him from the sky. Ugh, annoying much? No matter how many times it tried attacking, the result was the same. I deflected the feathers with a wind barrier and all they did was lodge themselves into the ground. Attacking from up high was pretty low, if you ask me. Made me want to smack that bird down like a bothersome fly.

I started running, then kicked off the ground and leapt high into the sky. Higher, higher—crap, too high! Too high!!! I soared straight past the cockatrice!!!

I adjusted where I was falling by twisting around and using some wind magic to aim straight for the cockatrice. I lunged with my right leg and hit the monster’s back with a bear kick. The cockatrice ate it, falling to the ground.

Whoa…looks like I did it…!

The cockatrice tried to stand up, but Mumulute had finished his magical preparations. “Take care not to get caught in this, Miss!”

A twister gathered around Mumulute. He compressed the wind in his hands and fired it at the cockatrice as it tried to spread its wings and escape. The wind became a gigantic wind blade and, with a thwack, chopped off one of the cockatrice’s wings.

Amazing! That was one tough, gigantic wing, and he’d chopped it off with a single blow! But…Mumulute seemed frustrated. Maybe he’d meant to slice the monster in half?

Still, Mumulute immediately ran in to finish it off. The cockatrice couldn’t escape into the air without both wings, so Mumulute was planning on dealing the finishing blow ASAP.

The cockatrice menaced Mumulute with a whip of its long, serpentine tail, but the elf dodged the lightning-strike. A cockatrice’s tail is poisonous—even a graze can mean danger. I was at the edge of my seat just watching.

I wasn’t actually afraid for myself while fighting because of my bear gear, but seeing others risk their lives terrified me. A single blow would’ve been fatal to Mumulute, but he still fought on to protect the village.

The cockatrice’s tail twisted and assailed Mumulute. Watch out!!! But no sooner had I thought that than Mumulute swung his arm down and sliced off the cockatrice’s tail. He followed that up with another slash at its torso.

Something like wind coiled around his arms now. Was that a wind sword?!

The cockatrice flew into a rage, exhaling its noxious purple breath, stabbing at Mumulute with its beak. Mumulute jumped back to dodge. How was the thing still moving? It was missing a wing and a tail, and it was losing blood fast. I thought it wouldn’t be able to move by now.

The purple gas spread out around the one-winged cockatrice—definitely poison. My bear clothes would probably protect me from poison, but I wasn’t about to risk being wrong on that one.

Not that letting the poison spread was an option either, but Mumulute was already on top of that. He unleashed a gust that scattered the cockatrice’s poison. Then, he closed the distance between them again and used the wind blade around his arm to slice through the cockatrice’s neck.

Wow…yeah, I’d definitely have to try making a wind sword later.

 

Just when I thought it was over, the cockatrice came into my field of vision.

“Mumulute, watch out!”

A gust of wind battered Mumulute from the side and sent him flying.

“Mumulute!”

“I am fine…!” He’d barely managed to raise the wind barrier up in time and hadn’t been too hurt. I looked over where the wind gust had come from…and saw another cockatrice flying there. It looked livid as it took position right in front of the cockatrice Mumulute had defeated.

A second cockatrice...

The new cockatrice spread its huge, menacing wings wide, then it fired wind blades at us. I dodged.

“Run, Miss! I’ll fight.”

But Mumulute was pretty exhausted. He wasn’t completely wiped, but he wasn’t in any condition to fight.

In my mind, I called out for my bears. “Kumayuru, Kumakyu, come to me.”

 

Skill: Bear Telepathic Communication

You can call your summoned beasts from a distance.

 

It was a skill I’d gotten after defeating the golems. I sent the telepathic communication to my bears, then moved over to Mumulute. “Can you move?”

“Miss…you must call for Arutul and Labilata. Ask Sanya where they are, she’ll know.”

Easier said than done…because now, the new cockatrice was eyeing us now. If I made a break for it, it might follow me right into the village.

The cockatrice screeched and spread its wings wide. Purple poison leaked out of its mouth. It was in a rage. Right as it beat its great wings closed, it delivered a barrage of feathers at us. I immediately raised a wind barrier, but I couldn’t deflect the feathers as well as I had in the first battle.

“Do not mind me, girl. Please, go…I can at least find you time to escape.”

Maybe because he had used too much magic, or maybe it was his age, but Mumulute was out of breath. It wasn’t like I could leave him like this. Also, he should escape, not me.

 

No, I wouldn’t let that happen.

I fought to protect Mumulute from the cockatrice’s attacks until Kumayuru and Kumakyu dashed out of the forest to me. The cockatrice fired its feathers at us, so I made an earth wall to protect Mumulute and my bears.

“I’ll take it from here. Please rest in the village, Mumulute.”

“Girl…?” Mumulute couldn’t understand what I was saying.

I lightly touched Mumulute and then gave him a little magical zap.

“G-Girl?” he repeated. “What in the world are you...” Mumulute went down on one knee. He tried to move but couldn’t.

“Kumakyu!” Kumakyu came over to me and leaned down. I lifted the paralyzed Mumulute and placed him on Kumakyu’s back. As usual, my bear puppets were always useful. I could lift a man with them, no sweat.

“Wh-what are you doing…?!” Mumulute tried to struggle, but that weak electricity magic I’d used kept him still for now.

“Kumakyu, please take Mumulute to the village.”

“Cwoom.” Kumakyu obeyed my order and ran off. Mumulute was saying something, but I ignored it.

Well, cockatrice…time for round two.