Chapter 6: Two More Tries

Chapter 6: Two More Tries

Awareness filters in, and I force myself to roll out of the way just in time. Something in my body aches, like I've pushed it too hard; I've never started a loop like this before, but I don't have time to think about it.

Two tries left.

I don't bother with Temporal Echo. I can use it I can sense it in the way the skill resonates, some strange feeling deep in my mind. I can call up the version of myself from the fifth loop and have him take care of the mantis.

But there's no point. I don't even take a step back this time.

I don't need to run if I know exactly what the mantis-monster's weakness is.

Chitin snaps with a crack, and I pull the scythe out of the ground. I have leverage the mantis doesn't I can twist it out. It swings its other hand at me, and I try to dodge. I still have some memories of how this mantis behaves, how it fights. I have an advantage here.

I don't completely manage it. I'm rattled, and the ache within me is persistent. I don't know what it is, but I have a good guess: the use of Second Wind, straining again and again against the interface's crushing power...

It's a new goal to put on my map. I need to find a way to stop the interface from doing that.

Thankfully, Tough Body handles what little of the attack I do take, and it glances off my arm, leaving only the thin red line of a shallow cut. My movements are almost mechanical I force myself to climb up the mantis, remind myself that it's a threat, even though my thoughts are still focused on the crows and what was done to them.

The scythe plunges into the mantis monster's eye, and I feel nothing.

[ You have defeated a Broken Horror (Rank E)! +1 Strength credit. +1 Durability credit. +1 Reflex credit. +1 Firmament credit. ]L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

It's not enough.

The credit rewards are decreasing as I get better, and the mantis is distinctly weaker than its harpy counterparts, even though they're at the same rank. It's still an improvement over using Temporal Echo, I suppose; I don't seem to get the credits for anything my echo does. It's a tool in a fight, but not a replacement.

But even doing this myself, it's not enough. There are twelve harpies, and it took me everything I had just to kill two. I didn't even get a Speed credit for this one, and that's the one I need to bank next.

I take a breath.

The air around me thrums, and I ignore it, calling up the interface map. There's a small line over it now, with small hour markers designating little sections and a green dot slowly moving along it. A red dot at the twelve hour mark is labeled with Lost Harpies (Rank E).

A small hope begins to die when I see it. The raid is going to trigger whether I'm there or not, it seems, and I can't avoid it just by going somewhere else. I'd thought that if the battle was too rough, I could evade the raid entirely, and focus my efforts on getting stronger before I tried again. Or, alternatively, if I could just manage to survive, then I could spend the rest of the loop training, giving myself more time.

But the interface has me cornered. The raid looks like it'll trigger no matter what I do, and it kills me if I fail.

It puts me in a time loop and then it gives me a time limit. There's a certain irony in that.

Just in case, I ask. "Is the Lost Harpies raid triggered by proximity?"

There's a small pause, as if the interface is deciding whether or not it should answer me, and then:

[ Raids are set events that happen based on the amount of time that has passed since the last reset. ]

Figures. I try not to dwell on it, and instead set out towards the Cliffside Crows; the rank on the map still reads as N/A, which tells me that danger rankings don't take raid events into account. Raids are just things that happen.

Just another thing to be wary of.

"Well?" Mari squawks at me impatiently, and I realize after a moment she's been waiting for me to enter first. I duck into the entrance of the hut, pushing the folds of cloth away, and she walks in imperiously after me.

There's no sign of the old crow, but Mari doesn't seem to care. "Husband!" she calls, and when there's no response, she sighs.

I feel a familiar thrum, and watch as Mari takes an even deeper breath. I clap my hands over my ears just in time.

"HUSBAND!"

Even with my hands over my ears, the call is loud, and the shockwave pushes me back a bit.

But not a single piece of furniture moves, to my surprise. I blink they must be far more reinforced than I thought.

A pile of blankets in the corner that I'd assumed to be exactly that suddenly shifts, and I watch a familiar old crow climb out. He makes an irritated sort of grumble. "Was having good sleep," he mutters. "Noisy."

Mari smacks him over the head. "Trialgoer here."

"What?" The old crow Tarin, I remind myself looks around wildly. Right past me. "Where?"

Mari sighs. "Eyes."

"Oh." A weaker sense of power, focused on the old crow's eyes, and he looks at me. "Aha! Trialgoer! Come! There is much to learn!"

And then he pauses and frowns. "Wow. Your Firmament weak. Much work needed."

I actually feel a little offended this time, but I shake my head. "We don't have time," I say, and something about the urgency in my voice seems to reach him, because he sharpens a little bit, staring at me. I'm not sure exactly what to tell them telling them that I've been going back in time might be a little awkward, but for all I know, they already know about the nature of the Trial so I opt to cut to the heart of the matter. "There's going to be a raid soon. In about..."

I check the map. "Ten hours," I say. It had taken me about two hours to get here, even moving fast. I was less tired than I thought I would be for two hours of exertion I'd been pushing myself pretty hard. An effect of Tough Body?

"What raid?" Tarin squawks at me, cocking his head. I take a moment to parse his question.

"Harpies. Twelve of them. They come down from the cliff"

"No. What raid?" Tarin repeats. "Raid is food? Raid is water? Explain!"

"A raid is an attack." I clench my fists, frustration boiling over for a second not frustration at him, but at the situation. Tarin's talked about their planet being used for the Trial, and about it being an honor, but it's sounding more and more like they haven't really been filled in on the nature of the trial. "Twelve harpies come down and attack the village in ten hours. You need to evacuate your village. I can't protect you all, and you can't fight them off."

Tarin stares at me. "You sure."

It's not a question. I nod, and he narrows his eyes at me. "How you sure?"

"I... I've seen it." How am I supposed to answer that question? "I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's part of my Trial. I have to go through things again and again. I've been here. I've fought. You all we all died."

If they evacuate, I'll have more time. I only failed the raid when they were all dead. If I just had the time to fight them all...

Maybe if we run. Maybe if we all run, we won't fail the raid. It'll give me the time to train until I can take out all twelve of the harpies, and Tarin can help me train.

As long as I can convince him what I'm saying is true, anyway.