Chapter 245: The Bear Versus the Cockatrice Part Two

Chapter 245:
The Bear Versus the Cockatrice Part Two

 

KUMAKYU CARRIED MUMULUTE off on his back, and I positioned myself to keep the cockatrice from following them. I took care not to take my eyes off the monster—not even once. If it went after Mumulute, I readied myself to go after it in a flash.

The new cockatrice didn’t even give Mumulute a passing glance as he retreated. Instead, the monster spewed purple gas from its beak and glared at me, growling. Now I could get my revenge for Mumulute…though, uh, don’t get me wrong: he definitely was still alive.

 

I ordered Kumayuru to drop back and stood before the angry cockatrice. The monster howled, spread its wings wide, beat them, and fired dark red feathers. I pulled up an earth wall and repelled the attack. The moment the feather assault stopped, I jumped out from behind the wall and pressed forward with my own attack. But then the thing soared right into the sky…

I fired a wind blade at the cockatrice. It dodged and fired its feathers from the sky; I leapt back and out of the way.

Ugh, could it stop doing that fly-away thingy?! If I had a skill or magic like “Bear flight”, I’d love to have an air battle, but sadly, no dice. Then again, a flying bear sounded way too surreal, even for my imagination. My bear onesie already drew attention. If I could fly while wearing this...jeez, I didn’t want anyone to see me like that. No flying in public for me, even if I learned how to do it.

Okay, Yuna, no more nonsense. Focus on that cockatrice flying high above you…

 

Mumulute wasn’t here anymore, so there was nothing stopping me from slaying the cockatrice right away. I could even use magic I didn’t want to let others see. Plus, if I took too long, Arutul and Labilata might turn up.

I gathered mana in my white bear puppet. It crackled and coiled around my hand, turning yellow and more bear-shaped as it collected. But I’d have a hard time hitting the midair cockatrice with my electricity…I needed to prep a launcher.

I gathered mana into my right hand now—directly into my black pear puppet. Wind swirled around it, forming something like the barrel of a revolver. I set the lightning bears inside that rotating wind. The electric bears were now rotating around my right arm now, spinning and whirling. I carefully aimed my right hand at the flying cockatrice and blasted a bear.

The lightning crackled toward the cockatrice—followed by another, and another, and still more. I fired a ton of electric bears, just in case it dodged. The cockatrice flapped its wings to blow the electric bears off-course, but since they were spinning fast enough, they broke through the wind barrier and hit its wing.

Whoa! Maybe this attack was more powerful than I’d thought. When I’d been experimenting, I’d figured that pairing electricity with a whirlwind would be pretty strong. As more of my electric bears found their mark, the cockatrice’s wings began to show some serious wear and tear. Before long, the cockatrice fell to the ground, way too damaged to fly.

Then, the cockatrice stood up, spread its wings, shrieked, and tried to intimidate me. Its massive wings were tattered and riddled with holes. No more flying—not anymore. It glared at me, putrid purple breath spewing from its beak.

Unfortunately for the cockatrice, I couldn’t just leave it like this. Time to finish it off!

The cockatrice spread its tattered wings and stirred up a gust, but it didn’t have any power behind it. I drew the black handle of a knife from my bear storage—my Kumayuru knife. I held it tightly in my black bear puppet, dodged the cockatrice’s attacks, and came in close. Then I poured mana into the Kumayuru knife and sliced right through the cockatrice’s neck.

Sorry. The cockatrice had probably just been attracted to the sacred tree, but it was a threat to the elves. Since it attacked them, I had to slay it.

The cockatrice collapsed. Wow, these mythril knives were something else! Oh, and just to say it outright: I named the knife with the black handle the Kumayuru Knife and the one with the white handle the Kumakyu Knife.

 

It was finally over. Kumayuru came over and supported my weight from the side. I guess I was pretty tired. Mostly, I felt mentally exhausted. Maybe my bear onesie would help me recover?

Well, I’d defeated the cockatrice. There weren’t anymore, right? I checked with my detection skill and didn’t get any cockatrice signals, but there were some people moving fast. Whoever they were, they’d be arriving shortly.

I looked over at where I sensed them—Sanya, Labilata, and several other elves appeared from the forest.