Logically, both Cove and I knew that this fight against the rook wouldn't be the same as our last.
In practice, neither of us truly realized what that meant for this battle. In one strike alone, Cove had trimmed the rook's health points by half. My own arrow followed on its heel, missing the rook by inches as it cried out, releasing a deafening screech that was quickly followed by the heavy thud of boots on stairs. We slid all the way into the rook's room, and I kicked the door shut with a loud bang, locking it with a click. Moments later, fists pounded on the other side, the door shaking with the force of impact. It held.
There was another twang as Cove released an arrow. It hurdled through the air toward the rook's chest. The rook flicked its gaze down and began to flap its wings, panicked. The resulting gust of wind causes the arrow to wobble, giving the rook just enough room to tip out the large window behind it with a beat of the wings and a loud cry.
Cove was at the edge of the window nearly as soon as the rook's talons had left, leaping off the ledge behind it. I sprinted forward, my hair smacking against my face as the rook lifted into the sky, Cove balancing on its feathered back, the wings arching and falling around him. He angled the arrow down at the rook's head, releasing another.
Despite the short window for the critical damage strikes having passed, the arrow dealt massive damage, cutting the remaining health in half. I followed Cove's lead, my arrow lodging into the rook's wing.
Staring at the rook now, I was reminded of my mother's raven pincushion.
Shouts echoed from around the small clearing, tiny silver flashes rolling across as the guards drew their swords, pointing them at Cove. The banging on the door behind me stopped, footsteps echoing down the stairs once more as they moved to join their comrades, convinced the enemy had left the tower on the rook.
The guards kep their hands held steady, unable to attack Cove while he was riding on the rook's back. I did much the same, halting my attacks so as not to draw attention to myself. Quietly, I vanished the bow into my inventory, switching it with the gun I'd stored there. The metal of it was cold and heavy. I aimed the sight at an older, gray-haired guard who stood with a focused gaze. His narrowed grey eyes were devoid of life, dead and empty like the rest of the NPCs. Like death.
Like the eyes of the chimera. The poignant smell of burning trees and flesh burned through my nose.
My index finger twitched, pulling the trigger. The bullet flew through the air to pierce the guard's head. He fell to the ground, dead. His white hair was stained red, his eyes still staring blankly ahead.
The rook cried out.
My hand jerked and my finger twitched hard on the trigger once more, sending another bullet flying wide through the air, the unexpected recoil jerking my arm painfully back. Cove looked up. Our eyes met, and he hesitated slightly. The rook arched it's spine, angling down into a short, steep dive. Cove leaped forward. Bow and arrow in his hands, he wrapped his arms around the rook's neck, angling the arrow to stab it into the rook's neck. The green health bar dropped to nothing as the rook dropped like a rock, colliding with the ground in a great explosion of trees and dirt.
[Level up!]
[While unnoticed, you can now lock onto critical damage areas!]
Soemthing struck my shoulder. I jumped, whirling around to find Cove standing with his hand outstretched. He raised an eyebrow and motioned toward the door. I nodded, and we slipped out down the stairs and into the trees, leaving the angry shouts and stomping boots of the crowd behind us.
Ahead of me, Cove walked lightly, the tension that had lined his shoulders missing. Chased away by the adrenaline of the fight, I assumed.
Once I was confident we wouldn't be overheard, I turned the radio back on. Cove doubled back, curious. "Sinbad, do you copy?"
No answer.
He was probably still dealing with his own rook problem. Without the bow Cove used, it would take them more time.
Still…the faster we met back up with him, the better. "Do you have a lock on Sinbad?"
"I'm no rookie," he said, not looking at me as he grabbed my arm. His magic rushed over me, bowling over and reshaping the trees around us. An angry screech, identical to that of the rook we'd just taken out, rang throughout the air. A dark shadow blocked the moon momentarily, diving down from the sky a short distance ahead. Shadow-covered figures shouted and pointed, attacks falling in from all sides as Sinbad's crew and the guard clashed.
Before Cove could leap forward and join as his finger twitches indicated he itched to do, I snagged his shoulder, switching to the thief class to recast our buffs. As soon as that was completed, he was bounding off toward the fray.
I halted at the edge of the treeline, reaching into my inventory for a standard bow and an arrow Cove had gifted me. Cove halted next to me, drawing and loosening an arrow in the time it took for me to spot Sinbad, leaping off the shoulders of a guard to spin in the air, his machete slicing at the rook's belly. I drew the bow, letting loose an arrow at the rook even as Cove's struck through the eye.
The combined damage was overkill, the rook's health dropping to nothing faster than it fell toward the ground. It skidded across the earth, bowling over anyone unfortunate enough to stand in the way as a cloud of dirt and dust plumed. This close to the site, it invaded our lungs, sending Cove and me running back as we coughed and struggled to breathe. Through the haze, I caught a glimpse of Sinbad's bright red pirate coat vanishing into the dark shadows of the trees ahead, his crew behind him.
We straggled away on their tail.