"how? just how? aero wondered. somehow in the last few days, the beast of pride had managed to attack. nothing big. no that was a lie, it almost killed his twice not including the first attack. but he served and won. so he didn't consider it too bad, they had mostly been some form of ambush or snipping. except one of them had been in the middle of the street.
now people knew he was under attack, he decide that was a problem as people were being so Zalt damn noisy. everyone one worrying about his health. he could take of himself. more than once someone offered to guard him, he didn't need a guard. but he did consider the offer to guard his mother and Adir.
what he found the most frustrating about this was that he knew it wasn't going to calm down anytime soon. the beast wouldn't give up and people wouldn't stop being concerned. at least no one was asking too many questions about the repairs he kept having to make to his room.
"at this point, I might have to hire someone to do the repairs." pulled out a floorboard to replace it with one that didn't have six holes in it. it was simply to do and he was done under a few petals. but it wasn't the first time he's had to do with it because of the beast.
thankfully the damage has only been limited to the walls and floor of his and none of his items. which he would be pissed about if he had to repair, none of it was really replaceable stuff. sighing he stood up and stretched trying to remove the tension from his body." Man, this was supposed to be a break."
taking the ruined wood outside to be disposed of later. next to the other wood that could ruined in the last few days. he was kind of running out of patience, but his current capabilities didn't have much room for action beyond adding more chains to the beast prison. which at this point was petty retaliation.
while he wasn't above being petty. it wasn't something he wasn't liked to do long term, he much preferred decisive action, with no room for question or retaliation. 'how does it do that ain't the embodiment of a sin?' he completed this as he worked on some carving taking his frustration out on some wood.
he was much calmer when lunch came around. enough that he could enjoy a simple time with his mother. right before something came flying at his head. only by hearing the air being split did he know to push back from the table.
letting the black object fly past him and strict the wall.his mother and Adir jumped at the sound of impact. but as they turned to look at the source of the noise aero was turning towards where it came from.
'a venom wing Ussil. careful each shot will be faster than the last. an average of ten shots for their kind." aero didn't respond to the information as he grabbed the closest weapons, his plate, and a knife. as the second shot came, he tilted his head out of the way as he charge closer. it wasn't a far distance on the other side of the room.
but doughed the shots that came every few steps took his focus. the fourth shot was twice as fast as the first, he had to use the ceramic plate to deflect. cracking it. but as close, enough that he threw his knife at the Ussil. while it didn't pierce, it did distract long enough for Aero to close in.
he wrapped his hands around its body. instantly he could tell it was as hard as a rock. he couldn't kill it that easily, so he brought it down as he brought up his leg. smashing its mid-section into his leg's carapace. it cracked and tore. it was still alive so he did it again. then again.
the noise of breaking growing louder with each hit. until the Ussil snapped in half. blood and guts flying out. "AH!!" aero cried when it hit his face. mostly in disgust in nothing more, it was always the most disgusting part of hunting or combat. getting blood on his face, specifically near his mouth.
"Plah!" he spit out the blood that had gotten in his mouth. it was bitter sour and sweet, definitely not edible. aero dropped the half and was mid-way turning, he wanted to wash up. when the helper shouted a warning.
"MM!" aero jumped out of the way from another attack from the venom wing Ussil.' the venom wings have a vengeance-type evolutionary future. allowing them to sneak in a few attacks even after death.' aero dodged another vengeance attack. he couldn't help but wonder how did something develop such a trait.
Tova's explanation of evolution was pretty concise and a vengeance evolutionary didn't ensure the survival of the singular.' but it might help with the survival of the species, so how did this one get on agustine?'
'evolutionary diminished presence enough that the planet's barrier wouldn't react too violently. but they aren't capable of space travel on their own so there is something else at play.' aero groaned knowing that was going to bite him, and it had to make the helper do more cautions. if the beast managed to ensnare something that could transport not space-faring species then they had more problems.
'my lord I know you aren't going to like it," the helper spoke after Aero and Adir had gotten the blood off the floor. his mother was making sure the bodies were probably disposed of, along with all the stingers they had to pull out of the wall. 'but I believe you'll have to request help from Baili.'
aero face creased in aggression. he really wanted to not do that. but between his pride and his mother. his mother usually one out, but she did this time. 'I'll write her a letter.' he wasn't going all the way to talk to her.' probably should send something to my teammates as well.' he took a moment to consider if the letter would arrive before he did.
it shouldn't plus it also had a better chance for him to put his thoughts on the matter together. mostly explaining the shit there were probably going to get into, the letter he sent would have to give them a good idea of the danger. 'I'll need to know if they're going to back out over this.'
he wasn't going to keep his hopes too high. these daily attacks from new sources were testing limits he wasn't aware he had before. it was much different from being out in the wilderness, he was supposed to be in danger out there. not at home, not in his bedroom, or by his mother's side.
'she should be in this much danger either,' the thoughts made him grid his jaw. his limbs ached from how long he remained tense. he was growing tired a bit more easily as a result of the stress. it was all a pain he had to adjust to.
when cleaning up was done he took some time to head over to the library. to find a scroll to unwind with. he was supposed to be on vacation, should at least try to relax despite what was happening. when he walked into the library Tova was busy helping a child with a checkout.
she give him a look over the child's head, she wanted to talk. aero gave her a nod before he headed deeper into the library. he didn't heed over to his usual self. as he's already read a good portion of those and instead, he looked for something new.
something he could immerse himself in and stop paying attention to the world around him, not that was safe for him to do at the moment. 'by the zalts does that mean I can't read in peace.' the thought made his skin crawl in aggravation. if he got attacked while he tried to read ye was sent a blade of pride at the beast.
that probably wouldn't do much, but it would at least tell the beast he was not to be toyed with. he was doing his best to think about the most painful form the energy could take when he was thinking about something with lots of small hooked spikes that would be a pain to pull out when Tova came around.
"I've heard about your situation?" aero pounded if she heard thought gossip chain or another method. 'the gossip chain was probably faster.' he sighed," look unless you have a recommendation for a way to increase my defenses, or a new genre to read I'm not in the mood to talk."
"you're rarely in the mood to talk," Tova smiled as she moved to a different shelf running her finger over the scroll." and for your questions, I have an answer to both." now aero turned away from the scrolls he was looking over.
"From what you've explained you only use your pride energy to attack or sense. it may have defense capabilities. As for a new genre I think you'll like interested in horror novels." there was a glint in her eyes, Augustine didn't have the concert of horror stories. well, not ones that were focused on scaring you, "I suggest the ones from Crov b56 they're great!" her smile was bright.
"I know you planning something, but at the same time I'm curious!" he turned his attention to the helper ask asked about the horror stories of crovb56.' the horror stories of that planet are a 7 out of 5.' okay he was impressed. maybe he should read those. but first, he was going to look into defense capabilities.
the energy has little to no physical presence. so a barrier or armor wasn't a real solution for the problem he was currently facing. just he could detect the pride of other things so he could use it to increase his awareness of his surroundings.
furthermore, could he use that to tell when someone was attacking him, even if he couldn't it was something he should probably experiment with. it would tell me I'm more about the limits of his power. 'it might just grant me more awareness of another person's pride than what I see.' he remembered the little girl he accidentally hurt.
he did not like repeating mistakes.
when he headed home from the library he tried spreading his awareness with the use of his pride energy. it was vaguely working, getting a very vague feeling of people's pride despite them not being in the line of his sight.' a lot of work needed,' he thought as he returned home. getting the helper to bring out a story from Crov b56!
a flower later he was staring at the ceiling of his room, trying to come up with swears and curses to describe how he felt at this moment. the story from Crov b56 had been a simple and short one. about a creature going for a walk, but as the story went on you noticed things were wrong with the environment.
for the first half, you thought the environment was the worst thing. but in the latter half, you learned the creature was the cause. how they distorted the land around them how they enjoyed doing so, knowing the consequences of the people who lived there before.
In the last sentence, you learned the creature was walking towards you, the last word was your death. one without peace.
it was an incredible story, aero was amazed by what he read. having gotten very immersed. it was creepy and disturbing, but it didn't scare him too much. that wasn't him just being too prideful to admit to it, the story got more of his fight response than his flight response.
thankfully the story didn't follow him to his dreams but it was something that he thought about when he woke up in the morning." alright what am I doing today?" he thought over this as he went over his morning routine and had a vague plan for the day.
it would be pretty simple barring any interruptions from the beast," I'm not making any prays for that?" instead he worked his pride awareness getting a gauge presence of his mother and Adir as he ate. before heading out to do some shopping, he wanted to start getting ready for his return to hunting.
which meant collecting dried food and other tools, before settling down to listen to a story or carve more wood. the beast didn't try anything when the sun was out, but he had to avoid an attack. another tentacle from a hole in space. it was kind of annoying. but it was simple to deal with than leave in the kitchen for the morning.
thankfully he knew better than last time and managed to keep his room from melting. which meant he could go right back to sleep, he didn't anticipate how loud his mother would be when she found a tentacle on her table its fluids having melted a hole in the floor. 'I'm glad I didn't fully lay it on the table.'
she probably would have been more upset if they had to replace the table. they had wood for the floor, aero was able to fix the hole while his mother cooked. She grilled the tentacle with a certain look in her eye.
adir helped Aero by getting the new wood for the floor. which they were able to place down just as his mother set the table. they dove into the meal Adir tried to bring up the mood. but Neroa was still upset about her floors while Aero was just tired of being attacked.
the mood didn't improve throughout the day as Aero carved wood outside, partly because people kept trying to give him their sympathy. then he got attacked again. by another tentacle," Really! By the zalts calm down." he rushed off to the wood to let some aggression out on a tree. it needs up being three trees.
before he sat down and meditated," you want to play then let's zalts damn play!"