Chapter 174 - Black Birds

I walked over to the plants and crouched down to take a closer look at them. They were plants with grey leaves slowly growing, but at a rate that could just barely be seen by the naked eye. They had roots that latched on to the dead bodies of the creatures from before. Given that their dead bodies weren't the most intact, they were also quite scattered.

I rubbed my chin with my thumb and forefinger.

"These things have already snuck their way here. Didn't I just kill those creatures a moment ago?"

The piece of paper trembled.

"These plants... are like parasites."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Were they in the creature the entire time, or do you think they just came along afterwards?"

The piece of paper paused for a moment.

"I don't remember seeing them come over, so it appears that they reside within these creatures, sprouting after they die."

I nodded.

"I see. What do you think they will grow into?"

The piece of paper paused.

"...Either they will just grow from here like fungi or they will turn into some other form of plant made to be eaten by something else. From there, whatever eats that will become the new host of that parasitic plant."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Honestly, that sounds disgusting. Let me speed it up a little."

After a few moments, mana shot out from the tip of my finger and injected into the plant before me. The leaves grew rapidly, before becoming what seemed to be a bush. And within that bush, were little fruits that began to form.

They started off as tiny little beads before growing into their full size, which was about as big as a blueberry.

I pointed towards one of these berries.

"So is that the thing filled with parasites?"

The piece of paper mumbled.

"It should be. I imagine it to be that way at least."

After staring at it for a few seconds, I put away my stake and plucked one of the berries.

The piece of paper seemed to panic.

"Hey, you aren't going to eat that, right? Some parasites can do pretty bad things."

I shook my head.

"No, I'm just looking. But these things are rather strange..."

The necklace trembled.

"They are?"

I nodded.

"Yes. It feels like this thing is trying to struggle. For whatever reason, it doesn't like being in my grasp. Almost like... it's an animal."

The piece of paper let out a soft hum.

"Then it probably is a parasite. Or at least parasitic in nature."

I tilted my head to the side. Then, after a few seconds of silence, I squished the berry.

It burst into dark red fluid. My eyes scanned for any living things within, but couldn't catch any.

"Huh. I didn't catch anything inside." 

The red piece of paper trembled.

"That doesn't mean there aren't any! They could still be inside but blend in well."

I shrugged my shoulders and got my stake back out.

"I suppose."

Suddenly, the necklace began to stammer.

"Um... I might just be calling for a false alarm, but there are a lot of birds around us."

I looked up, and sure enough, there were black birds all scattered throughout the air. Once my eyes landed on them, they began to caw aggressively.

"Ah, yeah I see them. They appear a little angry."

The piece of paper also turned to look at the birds, then at me.

"Uhh... I think you should start running."

The black birds shot towards me, clearly having hostile intentions. I nodded.

"Yeah, that seems to be a good idea."

My eyes widened while my pupils constricted. The black birds that so confidently shot to their target, suddenly found that it disappeared. They ended up colliding with each other, causing many disgruntled caws to fill the air.

However, it did not take too long for them to get over it and find me, standing a few meters away.

I casted the dash spell and began running away. However, it proved to be quite hard. The branches and trees bent at strange angles already made it difficult to navigate the way. On top of that, the vines that came from my arm already made it quite awkward to move forward, making my movements even more clumsy.

As such, the black birds had an easy time closing the distance.

The piece of paper seemed to be panicking.

"You should just abandon the vines! They won't help you now!"

The corner of my lip turned up.

"But I've gotten a little attached to them. I'll get rid of them later. As for now..."

This seemed to really confuse the paper.

"What? But-"

It was interrupted by a series of deafening bangs.

Once the black birds got a little close, I whipped my arm of vines back, directly smashing through a tree before pulverizing about ten of the black birds. It continued on, breaking several other trees until eventually relaxing once more.

The necklace trembled.

"I will help!"

Suddenly, a black mass shot out from it and shot towards the black birds.

...However, they just passed right through.

The corner of my eyelid twitched.

"Well, that's a bit unfortunate."

Seeing this, the red piece of paper crumpled up slightly.

"There is no use fighting! Far too many birds are here, they will overwhelm you!"

I clicked my tongue. Noah wasn't exaggerating when he said there were alot of birds.

"You are right..."

For one last time, I whipped my vines once more, causing more destruction within the forest. Several more of the black birds exploded into mush, but that didn't stop the rest of them from coming after me.

I stopped channeling mana into the vines, causing them to decay rapidly. As I began running past trees, the decayed vines got caught on something and ripped off entirely. It was a little more painful than what I expected, but it was not a big deal.

The necklace trembled.

"Um, they are catching up!"

After hopping over a branch, I glanced over my shoulder. Because they were able to fly, the chaotic assortment of trees did not bother them nearly as much. I turned forward once more but pointed one finger behind me.

Fire rapidly coalesced at the tip before shooting out.

A small explosion rang out along with the cries of a few dying crows. I continued to cast the firebolt spell repeatedly, causing a series of loud noises.

For whatever reason, these things were so damn stubborn. Some of them were able to slip by my firebolts and even peck me. It was quite painful as they would peel off my flesh, albeit a small amount to match their small beak.

When this happened, I put away my wooden stake and directly grabbed onto them before crushing them into a mess. It was quite gruesome, especially with the sounds of their bones breaking, but I wasn't going to be merciful as they clearly weren't to me.

After quite some time, I suffered quite a few injuries, but the black birds weren't much better. Even though swaths of them had died, they continued chasing. I couldn't help but wonder why.

Wouldn't this just hurt both parties?

Feeling a little aggrieved, I continued to run through the branches.

Eventually, I came across a strange light in the distance.

Although these black birds were already quite the handful, I decided to run towards the strange light, even when I had no idea what it was. More out of curiosity as opposed to anything else.

After going over a small hill, I was able to see where that light was coming from. It was a giant sphere that was emitting that light, almost like a secondary sun. It was being held up by some structure, making it like a tower.

As I got closer, I could make out other things. In particular, a village right underneath. Most of the walls were hardly standing, some just barely being held up on their own. I couldn't see much of the village inside, but I could make out a few trees with those glowing banana-like fruits here and there.

"...People are living here?"

The piece of paper sounded a little frantic.

"You are still being chased by the birds, you know?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah. Let me get a little closer. To this place."

The light became a little clearer the closer I got to it. The feeling of it was slightly warm, or maybe that was just my imagination. It wasn't that strong, after all.

As I got closer to it, I came across a fairly large set of gates and began to slow down.

The piece of paper freaked out when it saw this.

"Why did you stop running?!"

The necklace responded before I could.

"Um... the black birds seem to have left."

After taking a glance over my shoulder, I saw that the black birds were indeed flying away, no longer bothering with me.

....It seemed that this light was rather special.