With the chase coming to an end the two standoff, A harpy on one side and a Swordswoman on the other, they've been in a rush with distance as the goal for more than half an hour and both are not able to keep this up. The Harpy being not used to this body while the Swordswoman carries armor, her sword and a promise to herself: Bring back this harpy, alive or dead, wanting at least something to bring back for a possible quest and not wanting this to be a complete disaster on their side, instead wanting at least to apprehend ONE of their enemies, the ones that caused all of this.
The Harpy, however, didn't stop here just for the distance from the village, no, after seeing a human village as any videogame player she took precautions, after all, what could one expect out of approaching the place where humans that hunt harpies live?
As tested, once the human approaches the Harpy shoots a Fire Starter which goes wide, instead of hitting the human, it goes completely above her, as planned. Fire starts raining down on the swordswoman which hesitantly tries to stop it with her sword but fails, grunting in pain though another fire starter is sent flying at her sword-wielding hand, knocking the weapon away from the burning foe of the enemy.
The Human seems to be only slightly moved by this tactic, as if something activating there's a strong push the Harpy feels, like her body is pushed towards the burning lady and some of her strength is removed. A few moments later the strength is returned forcefully, a gust of raw mana coming from the human's skill in a circle around the burning girl, leaves flying around and some levitate towards the skill user, forming a sword of sharp leaves.
With her balance removed the Harpy can only watch as the Swordswoman dashes forward and let out a horrified scream when her left-wing is pierced by a thrust of the Make-shift sword, the Harpy's eyes turning bloodshot red and the two girls being stuck, the sword not coming out of the injury, blocking the Swordswoman in place as the Harpy, Enraged, releases a powerful kick with her sharp talon, striking the human right in the head, blood being thrown to the ground.
Quiet whimpering starts filling the air as the blade of grass dissipates, leaving a hole in the Harpy's wing, and the human falls to the ground. As soon as the swordswoman is defeated Ariara's eyes lose the bloodshot that appeared with the forced activation of her Rage skill, the Harpy stumbling a bit back and falling on the ground, looking at her broken wing in tears.
"Status." The girl says out loud, in a rush to know what her state is like.
Ariara the Harpy
Level 7 (69/70 EXP)
22/47 Hp
20/38 Mana
Skills
Bird of Many Feathers (LVL 1) - Colorful Harpy (LVL 2) - Fire Starter (LVL 1) - Self Pluck (LVL 2) - Flight (LVL 2) - Harpy Eye (LVL 2)
Titles
General of Warfare - Traveler of Worlds - Reincarnated One - High Ranker - Opportunist
Once having confirmed her hp the monster sighs to herself. This confirmed her theory, 0 hp wasn't fainting, it was dying, game over. Despite her pain, she reaches for her right-wing, moving it closer before plucking a feather, from the pain though she immediately let's it go from her mouth, it falling on the dead girl, turning green. Seeing the transformation she lowers herself to pick it back up, putting it back in the inside of her right-wing.
Ariara strangely feels a bit better at this, checking her status not only has she gained a new skill, but her hit points have regenerated, not as much as she lost, but a little. After confirming that it was a new effect of the leveled up Self Pluck and Colorful Harpy combination she examines her new skill.
Grass Blade (LVL 1) - Ariara can focus her mana to merge nearby grass or leaves into a blade, in case of no grass or leaves nearby the mana usage is higher and the leaves will appear with magic, disappearing afterward.
The Harpy whimpers more, the pain starting to get bigger because of the adrenaline wearing off, going to pluck another feather in her rush she mistakenly plucks two, grunting in pain at the double usage of hit points and letting the feathers fall onto the fallen adventurer, both of the features turning green once again before being placed on her right-wing near the other green feather, the monster checking again her sheet to see two new titles and two new skills.
Chlorophyll (LVL 1) - Ariara passively absorbs light to heal at a faster pace, the impact of the skill varies depending on what kind of light, sunlight being the best.
Natural Mana Hijack (LVL 1) - Focusing mana, Ariara can then absorb mana in the proximity, the more enemies or creatures with mana the better, to then release the absorbed mana in a shockwave effect.
Skill Holder Apprentice - The Title Holder has held or yet holds a moderate amount of Skills
Minor Nature Affinity - The Title Holder has an affinity, whether gained or born with, towards nature. Holding either the favor of nature spirits or skills that use such power.
With the skills and new titles down Ariara grunts, clutching her left-wing with her right and starts walking away following the river, leaving behind both the coat and pouch, after this encounter she's sure she won't be able to connect with humans. Being hunted like this meant she wouldn't be able to trade, or even hide as a human, she was decided to be a monster...
After a number of minutes Ariara just couldn't be bothered to count spent walking away from the corpse the Harpy falls down on the ground, her body not able to sustain her anymore after all the stress and now bleeding she endured throughout the day, the last thing she sees before closing her eyes is a horn proudly planted on the forehead of a jackalope, the bunny she saw in the morning.