Chapter 78- Hybrid Clawing Bird (Part 2)
A split second was all that was left for Rin before he get crushed by the sharp claws aiming for him. He was at a complete disadvantage no matter how he looked at it. Not only was he now falling down from a very high altitude, but he also didn't have any possible way of using shadow manipulation at all since there were no shadows around him in the first place.
The strong wind assaulting his body got more and more intense as he got closer to the Gate of Licaria. His death was certain.
But, even then, Rin was weirdly calm and composed. His erratic breathing became stable and his eyes closed.
He didn't know why, but he was anticipating something happening. His guts told him that he was indeed in a very dangerous situation but he won't die at all… His end wasn't here.
Miraculously, at the last moment, he felt his body moving slightly without his control. Opening his eyes, he smiled and thought in his head.
'Thank you, Elise. I owe you one.'
The small diversion in his falling trajectory basically messed up the bird's aim. Elise had simply increased his falling speed for a very short amount of time, making the bird's claws miss by a hair's breadth.
Rin's hand quickly extended and he grabbed the end of the bird's claw.
"AAAAGGHHH!!" Rin groaned loudly.
The fact that he stopped the power of gravity that was pulling him with one single arm took a huge toll on his biceps.
'I'm pretty sure the muscle is shredded! Fuck! This hurts!!!' He cursed under his breath as he tried to ignore the pain.
"RAAAAAAAAA!!!" The bird screeched and flew all over the place in a frenzy to get rid of Rin. Each swing injured his muscles even more. It reached a point where blood accumulated under his skin. Some blood vessels ruptured and leaked blood inside. The injury was as painful as it sounds.
"WOAAAAH!! Stop swinging, you fucking chicken!!" Clenching his teeth, Rin plunged his dagger into the bird's leg. Blood splurted out of its leg like a fountain and fell on Rin directly, covering him in an ominous red color.
"RAAAAAAA!!!"
"Maybe this was a very bad ideaaaaaa!!!"
The creature became even crazier as it started shaking violently. Rin's hand lost its tight grip on the leg and was falling quickly.
'Can't I do something? Think, Rin.' His mind raced to find a way out of this mess before he dies.
Time was very tight and he had to do something before he falls down.
A few moments passed before his clouded eyes lightened up and a wide grin appeared on his face. He had found a good plan.
"RAAAAAA!!!" The bird's rampage continued.
Elise watched this with a frown on her face, she could see that Rin was struggling greatly but she couldn't help him at all. Even if she tried to use her ability on the bird, she wouldn't be able to do so because of its chaotic movement.
"I-I'm sorry…" Phillipe tried to speak to her.
However, before he could even finish the first word, Elise looked at him with an extremely cold look. If glares could kill then Phillipe would've been dead a hundred times by now.
At first, Elise didn't really care much about Phillipe except for his importance in her plans. She even ignored his clinginess just for the sake of the future. But, now, she could say with a straight face that she hated this person a lot.
After a mere glance, she looked back at Rin's fight as if she didn't feel Phillipe's existence at all close to her. Her whole focus was on the black-haired boy struggling in the middle of the air.
The boy cowered in fear and didn't say a single word. His face returned extremely grim.
'I fucked up! Now she hates me to the bone!'
'Ok, I can do it. I can definitely do it! It's hard but I can do it! Give me some encouragement, system.'
[You are very good-looking, host.]
'That's not the type of encouragement I neede- WOAAAAAH!!!'
The bird suddenly decided to dive down from the air. Rin's body was now in a higher position than before.
"Ok! Here goes nothing!"
*Swish*
Releasing his hand, he completely let himself free in the air.
"You idiot!" Elise shouted.
Rin body then started falling down at the same speed as the bird. Being way smaller, he was able to quickly exceed the bird.
'I'm close to its face.' He thought.
This was the easy part, the more challenging part was yet to come. Rin then changed his grip on the dagger and span in the air with his whole body.
"Take this!!"
*Swish*
The dagger then was sent flying toward the monster's eye. The latter didn't feel Rin's presence until he was beside it. But, by that time, it was too late.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
The dagger plunged into the monster's eye. The eyeball was popped like a balloon as blood flowed out endlessly. The monster's free dive stopped and it started struggling in the air. It swung its legs and wings everywhere trying to get rid of the dagger. In the middle of that frantic resistance, Rin was hit by one of the wings. The hit was so strong that he felt some of his bones rumbling and shaking.
'I really didn't think about this part at all! How am I going to land on the bridge?!' He thought as clear distress appeared on his face.
"You are amazing, young man." Suddenly, a voice spoke near his ear out of nowhere. Looking to the side, Donnie was there as he grabbed Rin by the waist and pulled him up before flying toward the bird.
"RAAAAA!!!"
"Air blades." Extending his hand, he summoned some transparent sharp objects and launched them at the bird.
The magic attacks pierced the monster's body and killed it on the spot. It had no time to resist at all.
"That's your dagger right?" He asked.
"Yes…" Rin replied while still in a daze.
With a small smile, Donnie blasted after the falling bird. When he reached it, he grabbed the whole monster by the wing and dragged it with them.
Carrying something that was at least a few thousand pounds of weight was certainly something amazing to look at.
Reaching the bridge safely, Donnie put Rin gently on his legs.
"Rin." Elise came rushing toward them.
"That was a close call," Rin said as he dusted his clothes casually.
"You almost killed yourself." She said with an angry tone.
"There was nothing I can do. I would've died a hundred percent if I didn't do anything."
"That was still reckless. What if the bird saw you before you threw the dagger at it."
"I would've died, for sure," Rin said as he grabbed his chin with a small nod.
"..."
Elise was speechless at how lightly he took the fact that he was an inch away from death multiple times in a few minutes. She had no idea how he was able to speak about this so easily as if it was nothing.
"Your name was Rin, huh? Nice to meet you." Donnie intercepted.
"Yes! Thanks for the help!"
"It is my duty to keep an eye on you youngsters. But, what happened today is a first for me."
Rin and Elise secretly looked at each other. This was indeed something that happened in the original plot line but the way it happened was completely different.
First of all, the bird should've only appeared at the end of the test when everyone reached the end line except Phillipe. That's when he will face it and end up engaging in a bloody battle with it before he wins eventually.
But, not only did the bird appear way before the end of the test, taking Rin and Elise by surprise, it also didn't aim for Phillipe as in the game but instead was aiming for them.
But, they obviously wouldn't mention any of this in front of Donnie so as to not raise his suspicion.
"Sigh, I should check on my subordinates. Lazing around and leaving a dangerous creature like that roaming around the candidates is an unforgivable sin." Donnie thought as he closed his eyes for a few seconds.
Rin and Elise watched him intriguingly to see what he intended to do. He was now using a spell called 'Soul link' and it was basically a magical cellphone that linked two or more individuals by a soul link that made them able to communicate from huge distances with ease.
After some time, he opened his eyes again and his face turned grimmer.
"Weird… No one is responding. What is going on?" He murmured to himself.
'Ok! Everything is according to the original plot. Thankfully, the sudden appearance of the demon bird didn't change the plot too much.'
Then, his eyes eventually shifted to look at a certain person in the corner and it turned a degree colder. He had some personal stuff he needed to settle with this guy urgently.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading. Any support you give me is always appreciated no matter how small it was. Let's all keep it up :)