aero managed to not think that at some point he had to communicate with the zalts. worship them he might he didn't like a conversation with strangers. and no matter how many times he's read over their stories, and asked for their guidance or blessing. he's never met them, so he was understandably cautious about meeting strangers.
'my lord it would be best if you admit that you are nervous and scared about meeting your plant's divine beings.' the helper commented seeing their lord in denial, aero paused when he was washing his hands. blood slipping down the stream, "I'm not in denial about my emotions," he replied turning back to camp.
it was quite the walk, but they didn't want to move closer to the river as they were in the territory of the babbits'. they didn't want to risk their camp being discovered when the small creatures went for a drink. something already had slipped into Aero's cart when he was slipping, it tried to bite out his eyes.
aero killed it with his bare hands the moment it touched him. being a light sleeper in the face of danger was required for any hunter or you would pass in your sleep. Aero's never come close to dying but some things have crawled into his cart when he slept, even with shifts at night you couldn't catch the smaller things.
thankfully aero's response time was fast so anything that got close to his sleeping form was stopped before any real damage could be done. that didn't mean he hasn't been bitten, he's bitten back though.
at camp he checked on everyone else, he hadn't been the only one to be snuck up on. just the only one who had to wash his hands. tzilla was whipping blood off his axes while she watched the pile of corpses decays under the effects of the decay powder.
Inna and idit were watching the surrounding, making sure more of the small creatures were going to try something, they could see the numbers in the trees around them. you could feel their desire to attack and take revenge. the tension was strokable, aero glared at the creatures in the tree himself before moving to the cart. the sooner they left the sooner they could avoid a possible fight, to commence a slather.
in the end, they avoid the fight by moving their carts to a clearing where a bunch of tree rodents don't live. then they planned their attack on another group of creatures, "the number is a lot larger than I thought it would be. but that just means more of them to go around!" Lior said after a quick scouting mission.
"five hundred rounding down is a large number, but few people live close to this area so if the number does grow, they don't get noticed." Inna added, "So that means there won't be much of a problem if we take out most of them right?" aero asked as leader he was required to fill out some scrolls after this.
"yeah less paperwork probably," Galia commented," but at least you work out some frustrations beforehand. "so who wants to go first?" a quick argument assured before Aero put a stop to it and had them crack rock to determine who meant first.
"largest shard so I go first?" idit clanged her gauntlets together as she stepped into the direction of the Babbits' nest. the rest of the team follows, at a distance to interfere if things got rouge. but enough space so she could fight on her own, despite the early hour, several Babbtis were going around their nest. but the moment idit stepped into the range of their sharp ears. they all turned towards their leathery wings spreading wide.
the intimidation tactic barely halted her step, instead, she only smiled and charged. when she came closer, the Babbits jumped at her taking flight fangs at the ready. when the two sides meet, IdIt pivoted. slamming her fist into the side of the first creature, followed by an uppercut to the second, and a backhand to the third.
the force sent them flying bones breaking, but they still drew breath. idit didn't have time to pay attention to them, before the first even hit the ground, the fourth through sixth came at her. She fended them off with blows to the body.
"HA!" she struck the seventh on the head before the eighth dived at her feet. with a swear, she punched down, and the creature curved out of the way missing her legs. but it quickly turned around f for another strike while 9 came in from the front.
off to the side, 1 was starting to stand on its feet. something idit noted out of the concerns of her eyes as she raised her arms, grabbing the two charming babbits around the head." AH!" with a spin she slammed them into other babbits several times before tossing side their limp forms. at this point, she would start losing herself to the rhythm of blood and violence. but she came here to practice not falling into old habits.
as the next babbits closed in she sighed flicking her wrist. this unlatched rope, the next punch letting out a booming sound of a drum, she quickly swung around following up with several more quick and loud tricks. She could feel it in her bones of the melody forming, 'That's literal isn't it?' she realized in the beat between notes.
several more notes were played out before she roared!" time to go! You zaltess cursed creatures!" the melodies forced flowed into her body, and the babbits didn't get a chance to blink before her fist went through several of their bodies. blood coating the leather and metal of her gauntlets. bit of bones and organs flew, but the gore was something she barely paid attention to as she moved.
13 bodies were dropped before the burst of speed and strength came to an end. but there were still many more coming at her, she meets them recovering from the strain of the melody. but that didn't slow her fist or her steps, not at first at least.
'This is too much pain,' she thought feeling a slight spasm in her arm. her punch was off by an inch missing the chest of a baby coming at her from above. She corrected quickly before the teeth could reach her flesh. 'I messed up the melody,' it was a pretty difficult melody, but from the way, she was feeling it was probably the second part. the part of the melody that dealt with the melody effect on her body.
petals fell as she fought dropping more bodies as her muscles ached and bones stung. she didn't try for another melody knowing that it would probably aggravate the issue. she could only work through the pain for a while before it became clear that the pain and spasm were getting too bad.
"switch!" Idit called out as she back peddles towards the tree line, at the same moment Inna jumped from her hiding spot in the trees. the Babbtis didn't see daggers until the skin was cut and blood was flying, the metal of her blades shining in the daylight as she moved. hacking at faces and wings, Babbits cried in the ear aching way reeling back from her, she only slowed her movement when they had forgotten about her teammate.
flipping her left dagger into a reverse grip she rushed into the pack of winged creatures," Bring it you ankle-bitting rodents!" they meet her with a hiss and tried to tear out her leg muscles. thankfully she had a pretty solid kicking ability as she spins around and over the creatures. more than five creatures fell to her blades before she started on a melody.
4 quick breezy notes, the vibrating of her bones, and then an aura covered her blades. then next slash into the side of Babbit's number she lost count, and a blade of air flew cutting the rest of the way through and into the body of another Babbit. The effect of the melody only lasted a couple of petals but she made use of that time to cut into the number of Babbits.
"she going very well," Aero leaned against a tree watching Inna move. She was deadly graceful, and she knew how to dance well.' I should have asked if any of them knew how to dance,' he knew that melody she used and it didn't last as long as she made it through the dance. "doesn't seem like she messed up recoil either," she was doing good.
her rhythm was sustained until she tried for a second melody, it was one moment of hesitation when two Babbits high and low. a moment where she tried to attack and continued the melody, but it was a moment too long, and the incomplete melody dispersed through her entire skeleton. "ah!" she gasped from the horrible sensation.
she didn't have time to call out for a change, she didn't have to. as the Babbits attempted to capitalize on her moment of weakness. a pu-dao came flying into the battleground, its owner just behind it, the blade end of the weapon clipped one babbitt. the moment her feet touched the ground and a hand wrapped around the shaft of the weapon.
Gailia sliced through another Babbit, where Inna was as graceful as a breeze. Gailia was as fierce as a storm, her relentless drew in the gazes of her team. Inna almost forgot to retreat, but when a Babbit got too close she quickly retreated to the tree line." failed to complete a melody, what an amateur mistake." Inna grumbled as she dropped to the ground.
"When it's not second nature completing a melody is hard," Aero commented," I can tell you that it would be the last time that happens while you get familiar with your new weapon." he could remember the number of times he messed up and pushed onward. some time without another choice as he messed up amid battle.
'okay another plus of having a team,' Aero thought watching Gaillia pull out a melody that coated her blade in a searing crimson flame. 'people to cover your back when you mess up.' This made him think about some of the more dangerous ideas he had but put them away just as quickly. 'just because I have a little backup doesn't mean I'm I can be reckless.' nor was he interested in relying on that backup.
just because he had it, didn't mean he wanted to need it.
Gallia lasted more than 10 petals as she took things slow, but she still made a mistake, a simple overreach on her strict. but for the babbit that was enough to dig their double fangs into her arm. they were quickly struck on the head but the damage was done and she retreated to the trees letting Tzillia have her turn.
"she's dividing most of them with her axes," if aero had to describe how Tzillia fought with her axes it would be precise to a mildly terrifying level. anything she cut was clean, and her throws were short arcs to the place she would be next. She was good, and Aero wondered if she held back in their spars more than she thought.' this at least tells me why it's so hard to hit her sometimes,' if she could plot such trajectories in the middle of a mass fight she could read the trajectories of his attacks.
her first attempt at a melody went pretty well, the base in the bottom of her axes rang out when she slammed them together. she managed 3 even beats before a chilling aura formed around the heads of her axes. "she's going with ice?"
ice was in treating choice to use in battle, it could be devasting. but usually took a great amount of effort to summon depending on the environment, but Tzillia used it with efficiency. each time her blade sliced into the flesh of a Babbit, ice formed on the inside of the wound. at some, this was lethal while others hurt and hindered the beast.
frozen droplets of blood landed on the ground beneath her as her arms moved with little pause, slashing through flesh that froze before blood could spill. having the most practice with the newest form of her weapons. She didn't make a mistake for a long while, her mistake wasn't concerning her melody. it was overconfidence, or underestimating her opponent too much.
"huh, that's happened like twice before?" she said watching the Babbit fly higher with one of her throwing axes. having caught the weapon midair, " sighing, she spun around another furry winged creature and sent her other axe on a path for the thief's head.
"by the zaltess!" another babbit snatched her flying weapon. for a moment she considered how she would spill their blood and retrieve her weapons. She noted a few sizable rocks on the ground and still melting shards of ice she could do some damage with. She could also retreat and come back later, as she considered some small options... "I have teammates!" that kind of slipped her mind at the moment.
looking at the bodies she put on the ground," I think I did good enough for today," grabbing a babbit that tried to ambush her. She kneed it in the face before rushing back to the tree, " Aero I hope you can get my weapons back!"
"you'll get them back when the numbers are low," that was Aero's only promise as he walked towards the battlefield. the babbits had wised up to switch out and slightly waited for him to arrive. but Aero wasn't in a rush, he was going to take this slow.
this wasn't the same group that put him in the care of healers, but they would have to do it. so he was going to slowly take out the rage of his wounded pride on them, he let the stored pride energy flare violently. he wanted this to hurt them physically and mentally.
the helper wondered if this rage would be a problem but for the moment made notes that it was something their lord would have to work on. but for the moment they observed an interesting reaction from their lord's energy.