Chapter Twenty Four: Just a Dance

Taking a quick stretch, I order my main desbat, the one holding my stuff, to fly down next to me, allowing me to retrieve my staff. Then I start preparing my mana, moving it through my body, allowing it to be instantly utilized.

“Zorren, these overgrown birds are going to be more difficult to take down than the desbats.”

Unfortunately, they have a lot of muscle, feathers, and fat which makes it very difficult to hit proper joints. Combine that with their higher speed and it becomes very unreliable for precision strikes.

I look away from the incoming birds, turning to Zorren, ”So um, I suggest you don't hold back.”

Zorren gives me a silent nod before reaching back and unsheathing his crystal club.

“What Happen? Groknak need fight? Groknak strong. Groknak not scared!”

He looks at the approaching flock. His eyes widen, mouth agape.

Not scared?

“Why are you moving away Groknak? They're just birds.”

Groknak looks to me like I'm crazy.

“Flying Death.” He says, ”Bad. Hard Bash. Many many death.”

What????

“Zorren, translate.”

The [Berserker] gives me a look that could freeze fire before gazing at the quickly approaching flock, completely ignoring me.

It was worth a try.

From the corner of my vision, I see the minotaur running on his hoofed feet, finding himself a position under a pretty large tree branch.

He opens his mouth and shouts.

“Death coming!”

I snort, mentally ordering my desbats to take flight and to encircle my position.

Like a hive mind, my undead minions position themselves in the air, heeding my call.

Once positioned optimally, I blast my mana onto the desbat which carries my supplies next to me.

A significant amount of mana is spent, entering the leather holders around my desbat, causing several dozen circular bone scales to leave and start floating around me.

With another mental order, the ‘razor discs’ as I call them, start to spin, turning into literal razor blades.

Actually, now that I think about it, this might be easier than I thought. The birds are moving directly towards my desbats with incredible speed and show no signs of slowing down.

“Hmmm, I better time this right if I am to make this work.”

With a mental command, I move my razor discs in front of my desbats, positioning them vertically to limit visibility

I'm probably going to lose a few minions… but this will be more reliable.

Lastly, right before the birds reach our location, the moment before they ram into my minions, I turn towards the Groknak cowering under a tree.

His eyes meet mine. I smile at him, showing my teeth. I activate my [Loud Voice] skill.

“I AM DEATH”

And then the birds finally reach their destination.

Torsos, wings, heads, body parts, blood, all of it starts falling from the sky as my spinning razor blades slice most of them apart.

They had aimed for my minions, completely ignoring my spinning blades positioned in front of them.

The bodies are dropping, some into the water, others falling and slamming into trees. There is even one which is still flying while its innards pour out of its abdomen, creating a bloody trail on the ground.

About fifteen of them had found themselves too injured to fly.

And of those fifteen, only three had survived the landing.

Of those three that survive, one got stuck on a tree, another is on the ground crippled, chirping in utter pain, while the third is already getting up, seemingly uninjured except for a cut on its wing, limiting its ability to fly.

Its eyes gaze into mine before turning away and moving to Zorren, a seemingly more dangerous prey.

Zorren, to his credit, looks annoyed instead of angry considering he had been hit by bird entrails and blood, which are covering his scales.

“Cawwww.”

The bird yells threateningly at Zorren before immediately taking a charging stance. Not even a moment passes by before the bird goes full sprint towards the Gejan, its feathers seemingly on end to make it look bigger.

Zorren lifts his hammer to the side, waits for a second, positioning his feet, before jumping forwards ten feet.

And for the first time ever, I actually hear the [Berserker] activate a skill.

“[Grand Impact]”

A slight glow passes over Zorren’s hammer before it swings with incredible speed, striking the bird head on.

*Crunch*

A sickening sound of internal bones cracking is heard, followed by a broken body whistling through the air, slamming and breaking through several trees, causing them to fall down.

My mouth is open wide, staring at the sheer devastation that strike had caused.

Fuck!

Shaking my head, I refocus on the battle, finding that the birds, which are uninjured and still able to fly had completely retreated.

Apparently, losing most of their number after one engagement is not something they are used to.

But then again, I lost a couple of my own undead due to the impacts of the much larger birds, followed by gravity.

I frown, noticing that many of my bone discs have lost their connection to me.

Damn, it seems that too much contact between discs and living foreign flesh will immediately destroy my connection. Probably should have tested them before.

I scratch my head with a sigh as I start looking through the eyes of my remaining desbats. I notice that the volare have all gone, no longer circling us.

I then turn towards Jessica’s location under a log and wave my hand, signaling her that the battle is over.

She nods before standing up and walking to me, finally getting a full view of the blood and dismembered parts.

“Are you ok?” she asks, already knowing the answer, her eyes staring at the grotesque sights.

“Yea, it actually was easier than I thought. The birds seem to have tunnel vision.”

She gives me a confused look.

“It’s a term that means single focused. They had no strategy, just hit fast and fly away. They ran into my discs, aiming for my undead. They died for it, though I did lose a couple of minions.”

Jessica nods in understanding, her head shifts to look behind me.

“YOU MAKE DEATH!” Groknak roars loudly.

“Groknak, stop goddam yelling. It’s annoying.”

Groknak quickly closes his mouth, eyes staring at me with revelry and fear.

Good. He can be trained.

“Groknak, do you still want to fight Zorren?” I ask, pointing at the [Berserker] who is removing entrails from his scales.

Groknak, to his credit, widens his eyes and quickly shakes his head.

*Chuckle*

Heh, so he saw what Zorren did. Can't argue with him, Zorren destroyed that body thoroughly.

“Well, Groknak, it’s good you have a very high strength stat, especially since we have a lot of meat to drag back to my base.”

The minotaur gives me a questioning look.

**********************

To Thorous, the job of making sure that the camp is organized and the wood is being cut down and dragged within the walls is actually rather boring.

All she does is sit and watch for threats. She doesn't even have to do anything else since everyone is completely and utterly motivated to work.

Darrow is helping his men cut down trees.

Tessa is in the forest, watching for non-existent threats.

Lilly is standing guard at the gate, her subordinates guarding the food and water.

And Marcia is having her group work with some of the wood, cutting them with sharp crystals.

As for herself, she has her group dragging the trees while she supervises everything.

Moving her head, she leans from the top of the wall which she is sitting on and looks down.

”Lilly, any idea how long until he comes back?”

Lilly yawns and looks up, ”No idea.”

She pauses, unfolding her arms and stops leaning against the gate, ”Do you know what his plans are? I thought we were going to fight, but this is boring.”

To the boring part, Thorous would have to agree. As for the other questions…

“He wants to build a safe place first before we start fighting and gaining levels. He doesn't want to see us die. He needs us to become stronger before we start heading towards the next floor.”

Lilly nods and then shrugs, her understanding of tactics is limited to combat and nothing else. She doesn't understand the needs of a large group. Things like shelter, food, protection, a place to craft or sharpen weapons. All of it is required, all of which her father had taught her the importance of.

Sighing and turning back towards the forest, she notices Tessa, sprinting towards her, her group and Darrow’s following behind.

Realizing that something is wrong, Thorous jumps off the top of the wall, spinning in the air and landing gracefully with a twirl.

“Lilly, get your people. It seems we may have trouble.”

Lilly reacts by jumping to her feet, a smile forming on her face as she runs inside.

“Report” Thorous exclaims as Tessa draws near, taking quick breaths.

“Minotaur, a lot of them. Almost forty. They’re coming this way.”

Thorous lifts an eyebrow.

“I see. Then we should prepare for combat. Get your group behind the walls.” she orders before running full sprint towards the returning group to organize Darrow’s men.

__________

The first of the Minotaurs come through the trees, massive hairy things with large horns and hooves for feet, while wearing necklaces and charms of bone. Many of them are sporting some form of leather clothing mixed with bone, but the amount differs per minotaur.

In their arms, they have clubs of bone or wood but lack any armor.

“What classes do they have. What levels?” she asks Tessa next to her.

“Most of them are [Warriors] in their twenties. A few are [Bashers] of the same level while the big one is a level 43 [Chieftain].”

Thorous focuses on the [Chieftain], finding that he looks a bit different than his own kind. Bigger, in the taller sense, but also more muscular as well. His body seems to even have thicker hair while his head has four prongs sticking out instead of two. And in his hands, he holds a yellowed bone club the width of Thorous’ waist.

She frowns, getting a feeling that he will be the most difficult to kill.

Even so, a smile forms on her face as she watches her kind stand ready, organized in formation at the front of the gates.

Darrow’s group is in the front, holding massive shields of bone and spears, the shields locked next to each other with small openings on the sides for spears to flick out and strike.

Quasi had called it the spartan phalanx. A style of group combat that protects against almost all forms of attack while being able to deal damage as well.

Her own group is spread on the walls, waiting to jump down and join at her discretion.

Like an unorganized horde, the minotaur trample forward, following their leader who is in front of the pack.

He stops twenty feet before the soldiers, looking at them, confused.

The [Chieftain]’s own men stop behind him, also looking confused.

After about half a minute of staring, the [Chieftain] opens his mouth.

“I AM CHIEFTAIN OF HARD ROCK.”

Loud, bordering on annoying, the [Chieftain] yells, looking expectedly at the group in front of him.

Silence passes and nothing happens. A very confused expression, or at least that's what Thorous thinks it is, forms on the [Chieftain]’s face.

“Where Chieftain?”

And for the first time, Thorous understands what just happened, ”Darrow, don't engage until I say so.”

Taking a deep breath, she steps forward, Darrow nodding and ordering his men to move aside, giving her enough space to meet the [Chieftain] in front of her people.

The [Chieftain] takes a look at her, even more confused.

“I am Thorous, [Lieutenant] of the [Hero]’s army and currently highest ranking individual here. Why have you come?”

The [Chieftain] blinks, looking down at the puny person, and then immediately starts to roar with laughter, the other minotaurs joining in.

It takes about a minute before the laughter subsides, the [Chieftain] smiling, ”tribe now mine. You weak chieftain.”

At that point, she realizes that the fight might not be avoidable.

Thorous unsheathes her blades, giving the [Chieftain] an annoyed look.

“You want fight? You small. You weak.” the minotaur adds.

But Thorous ignores his comment, walking towards the minotaur, her blades extended at her sides.

The [Chieftain] doesn't move, confused by what the puny person wants to do. He has been the leader of his tribe for a long time. None could best him in combat. All who tried had failed. Even his son Groknak who was stripped and banished when he also failed.

Like a switch flipping, Thorous bends her knees, accelerating her whole body forward, “[Cross Cut]”, her twin blades slashing towards the [Chieftain], aiming for his throat, cutting through all of the fur and possibly an inch into the throat.

She jumps away as fast as she had engaged, her eyes widening in surprise.

That strike was aimed to completely remove the head, not barely draw blood.

To her surprise, the [Chieftain] scratches his throat, finding blood. He smiles.

“YOU STRONG. I FIGHT NOW!” the [Chieftain] yells, showing his yellowed teeth.

Like an angry bull, he lifts up his makeshift hammer and slams it towards her. His speed, though surprisingly good, cannot compete with hers. Unfortunately, the weight of his strikes makes the ground shake, throwing her footing off.

But even so, she jumps left, right, backwards, moving away from the strikes as they descend, causing the ground to rumble from each impact.

From the corner of her vision, she finds that the other minotaurs are just watching, not even moving to help.

Taking a quick breath, she dodges forward, beneath the legs, “[Penetrating Slice]”, her sword glows, striking out at an impressive speed, cutting fur, barely even getting any blood.

The [Chieftain] moves, his arm flicking out. She dodges… mostly.

A part of his arm hits her on the side, slamming her away, forcing her to roll.

Like an enraged beast, he pursues, slamming down his hammer, forcing Thorous to move, to dodge.

As she does, she finds her side hurting, inflamed, though not restricting her movement. As she dodges, her thoughts spiral out.

This is not good. My blades can barely cut him. His fur is too thick. His movements are erratic and fast. His strength is outrageous. If I had better footing, maybe I could wittle him down.

She jumps away, barely dodging, the [Chieftain] getting seemingly faster and angrier.

“STOP MOVING. NEED SMASH,” he yells angry.

And then a reminder, a memory of a few days ago comes pouring in.

“Thorous! Stop focusing on hitting me. Blade dancing isn't about killing or cutting. It is, at its truest form, a dance. A dance of avoidance, of speed. Do not think about dodging or attacking. Focus on the dance, the rhythm of your surroundings. Focus on dancing and never stop. Just move.”

“I’m such an idiot.”

Like a switch turning on, her movements change, blades flicking out, twirling, though she is still dodging.

Faster… faster…

Her movements become faster, less erratic, her dodges minimal, starting to utilizing the shaking ground, improving her rhythm, her movements.

Only the dance matters.

The memory. The thought. It forms in her mind.

She jumps, moves, twirls, even landing on top of the club sometimes, her blades constantly flicking, twirling, hair and blood in the air around her, untouching.

Two minutes…Three minutes… Ten.

The fight continues, the [Chieftain] starts to slow, his fur covered in blood while Thorous continues her dance, cutting small wounds, hundreds of them, bleeding the [Chieftain] dry. He eventually passes out, falling on the ground, splashing causing a huge puddle of blood to splatter… Quasi’s enchant doing work.

And then she stops, her breathing hard, swords completely covered in blood. She looks down, the [Chieftain] had died, no longer breathing.

And then she hears it, the cheering.

**************************

Walking out of the forest, I’m greeted with a very unexpected sight. Close to forty minotaurs are dragging trees alongside his [Soldiers], their strength greatly increasing the work pace.

I turn around, watching as Groknak struggles to pull the makeshift sled filled with corpses. His fur was completely wet from sweat.

“Is this ok?” Jessica asks beside me, also noticing the sight.

“Well, it should be. Seems like Thorous is more capable than I thought.”

As I make my way to the camp, I start ordering my undead, both new and old, to fly inside and to unload the meat that I wasn't able to put on the sled.

This causes the minotaurs to stop working, quickly yelling ‘death’ several times.

But that doesn't last long once the Gejan explain the situation to them… and about me.

“Keep moving Groknak!”

Groknak, having stopped to see his brethren, immediately starts pulling again at my behest.

As I get to the gates, I am greeted by Lilly who eyes me with a smile while also saluting me.

A very seductive smile.

“So Lilly, where’s Thorous. It seems we got some more troops while I was gone.”

She stops saluting and points inside, ”She is resting. The fight had been hard on her.”

“Injured?”

Lilly nods, ”Just a little.”

“I see. Good work. I’ll go visit her now.”

I turn around, pointing at Groknak who looks like he is going to pass out from exhaustion.

“In the meantime, please direct him to where the corpses will be placed.”

Lilly nods and I Immediately walk into the now bustling camp, finding my timetable improved once again.