novelraw Chapter 7-7
Chapter 7-7
The terrordactyl’s name is half-mystery, half smack-you-in-the-face obvious. The ‘terror’ component at least is well deserved, as these scaled flying beasts possess a brutal sonic attack that can strike fear into the hearts of even experienced fighters. On the other hand, I’ve never met anyone with a fucking clue what a ‘dactyl’ is.
Regardless, the terrordactyl is an example of a typical flying monster with a single notable Skill. They are categorized as a low-density threat due to their considerable wingspan and inability to ‘hover’ while attacking.
The preferred attacks of these flying reptiles are the ‘rake’ or ‘punch’. Among the most common types of attacks among flyers, these maneuvers involve a high-speed flyby while either ripping or striking with the clawed feet.
Terrordactyls are far from helpless when grounded, but they are rarely observed fighting on their feet willingly.
- Bonnie, Level 41 Beastmaster, Bonnie’s Bestiary
Lydia failed to arrive and I began to get worried about how bad things really were out there. A pair of battered looking guards checked on us, but quickly departed when they realized none of us could hear them talking. I thought about using my potion, but I only had one left and I wasn’t sure how much they cost to replace. Then a System notification popped up in front of me.
Squad Update: Siare Sala requests to join your Squad.
I turned around, finding the Healer standing behind me, and accepted her into the Squad. We had a free spot, after all.
It was a few minutes before I spotted Leon and Elaine approaching. The Healer started talking, but I held up a hand to stop her and pointed at my ear.
“I can’t hear anything,” I said, probably far too loudly. “The badly injured are in the showers.”
The Healer looked exhausted, but she spared a trickle of mana as she passed me, briefly touching my shoulder. I felt a pop, and then I could hear again. I stored my gun and awkwardly cleared dried blood from my ears with my fingers.
“Give me a report, Az,” Leon ordered me, and I complied, trying to briefly cover everything that had happened. My heart rate was slowing gradually until I reached the part about Thiago’s Squad pushing past the Deathdealers to try and kill more monsters. Leon practically growled at that.
“Those fucking idiots! They were the ones that attracted the matriarch's attention to this building!” he told me, and my anger swelled.
“That… fuck! I am challenging that shithead right now, you got it?!” I replied with a snarl.
Leon smiled grimly. “Sure Az, assuming he’s still a student after this mess. I’ll be there cheering you on for that fight.”
“What do we do now?” I asked, and he sighed.
“Wait here while I clear the upstairs. Everything outside should be clear, but the matriarch destroyed the top of the watchtower and the alarm with it, so there’s no all clear signal. We’ll salvage what we can and find everyone a place to sleep for the night. It’s going to take a while to clean this mess up, for sure.”
“Did the matriarch get away?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Not that we didn’t try. JJ, Wolf, Sink, and Zenia put everything they had into that monster, not to mention Trite. It just soaked it up and kept coming. Level thirty-fucking-nine.”
I gaped at him as he nodded once and then strode past me. I quickly relayed the news to my team over the Comms.
I shivered as I realized I hadn’t spared a thought for the nearby town. What had happened there? Had they been attacked as well? From what I could remember, they had a few Tier 3 guards, but most of them were Tier 2 and Tier 1. Raylan was right, if the matriarch attacked the town… I very much doubted that they’d have any chance.
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Leon jumped down from the ruined second floor a moment later, giving me the all-clear signal. I gathered my team and we cautiously moved up the stairs, being careful not to slip in the pools of terrordactyl blood everywhere. The upper floor of the dorm was a disaster. The rooms nearest the staircase had suffered the least damage, but doors still hung brokenly where monsters had forced their way through. Towards the front of the building it just got worse.
The roof had been ripped off over the last few rooms remaining. They were full of debris, some having fallen onto monster corpses, crushing them into the floor in disgusting fashion. Jacye’s and Tara’s room was one of the ruined ones. The rest of our rooms were just… gone. There was nothing left of any of them.
I was grateful when Zaire stepped between me and Thiago as I turned around and found the Fighter’s Squad coming up the stairs behind the Deathdealers. If the manaborn hadn’t gotten in between us, I might have jumped the asshole in front of everyone.
Instead, I reached within and for the first time intentionally and deliberately activated Intimidation. I kept feeding stamina into the Skill until I’d stared down each and every member of his team, sending several of them stumbling back away from me. I managed to hold the snarl on my face despite the rush of lightheadedness that told me I’d just burned through my focus.
H’ruk led the way as we headed back downstairs, and when Thiago didn’t move out of the way quickly enough he found himself bouncing off the orc’s massive shoulder and slamming up against the wall. The Fighter shouted angrily, and then I was in his face again, so close I could see the blue flashing in my eyes reflecting off of his own.
He flinched, and I gave him a vicious grin. I would have taunted him, but I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to hear me. I doubted Elaine had the mana to spare to heal everyone’s ears. We had to scramble over the ruins of the common room, and our rooms, to reach the path outside.
Once we were in the open, I looked around in awe at the devastation. As Arlo had told us, a huge swath of the roof of the trainee’s dorm was missing, and the veteran’s dorm didn’t appear to have a single intact window. Several of them looked like something big had tried to force its way through, and I spotted the bodies of several larger monsters among dozens of Tier 0 corpses.
When I Identified a couple, I discovered that they were Levels 12 and 14. The one Trite had brutalized was Level 19, and the headless corpse I thought JJ had decapitated was Level 22. There was plenty of moonlight to see, but not as far as the north walls. I assumed the walls themselves were fine, since the monsters must have just flown over them.
As Leon had said, the top of the watchtower had been swept clean, battlements sheared off. I hoped no one had been up there when it happened. But someone had to activate the alarm the second time, to pull the matriarch’s attention away from our building… Fuck!
A stream of students emerged from the other buildings, gathering in the square between them, awkwardly flowing around the monster corpses and pools of blood. When I spotted Arlo, I ran over and gave him a big hug, which he returned tentatively. I didn’t see Tara, to my mingled disappointment and relief.
We followed the veteran students towards the main square. Nearly every building had been damaged to varying degrees. The stables had been savaged, the guard barracks’ windows shattered, and the back of the dining hall had a gaping hole in it where a monster had forced its way in. The culprit’s corpse nearly filled the hole, and I Identified it as Level 28.
I saw grim-faced guards everywhere, and a few of the instructors looking equally stone-faced. I still didn’t see Wolf, or Lydia, but spotted JJ standing with Thompson, Leon, and Zenia. The porch of the administration building had been ripped apart, so Thompson jumped agilely onto one of the few remaining tables outside the dining hall to address the growing crowd.
“Quiet!” she called out, and though no one was talking, she only got a few people’s attention. I realized that the matriarch’s shriek must have been some kind of sonic attack, because it was obvious that most of the students still couldn’t hear. I had thought it was just because we were so close to the monster. Thompson sighed, then turned and said something to a man standing behind her. I recognized him as one of the Healers that worked mostly with the veterans.
He started circulating through the crowd, stopping to heal individual students here and there. I was still trying to puzzle out how he was picking them when he finished, looking even more haggard than before, and Thompson spoke up again.
“Quiet! If you can hear me, relay my words to the rest of your Squad over the Comms!”
I complied, and the restless crowd stilled as the other healed students followed along. He must have been healing one person per team. Thompson continued speaking, pausing between each sentence to allow us to repeat what she’d said.
“The matriarch has been driven off and the valley is clear. I am relieved to report that there were no student fatalities.”
I could feel some of the tension in the crowd drain away with that pair of statements.
“Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for everyone. We lost a half-dozen brave guards tonight, and one of your instructors – Westin Hargrave – is missing, with several other instructors and guards sustaining severe injuries. There will be time to mourn the fallen tomorrow, but tonight necessity rules.
“Those of you that are healthy, we need your assistance gathering the monster corpses to be burned. If you’re injured, go to the infirmary first and we’ll distribute healing potions. Then, collect as many corpses as you can and pile them either in the square between your dorms or here, in the central square. When you are finished – or unable to continue – make your way to the training hall. You’ll all be sleeping there tonight while the instructors keep watch.
“DO NOT RETURN TO YOUR ROOMS TO SLEEP! Even if your room is intact, we need you gathered in one secure location as scavenger attacks are likely. Stay together with your Squad as you work! Tomorrow, we’ll gather here for breakfast and I’ll make further announcements at that time!”
Once I’d finished repeating Thompson’s message, we joined the crowd heading for the infirmary. There, an exhausted Elaine met us outside with a stack of crates containing healing potions, each box marked prominently with a “T0” painted on it. The line moved very quickly, as each crate contained smaller boxes of eight potions, and she simply handed one to each Squad.
It turned out just a portion of one was enough to heal damaged ears, so we were able to save five of the potions for later. I made G’hala promise to drink one once she was safely able to do so, because she was still bearing some of the wounds she’d taken upon herself earlier. Once the rest of the team could hear again, we got to work on the grisly task before us.
The night in the training hall was unsurprisingly miserable. The building that seemed so large when it was being used for its normal purpose was barely able to accommodate two hundred students laying down to sleep. At least someone had found tarps to put over the sand in the sparring rings. The less said about that night, the better, especially when I spotted Tara lying next to Maya a dozen yards away.
But hey, at least I found a use for that Wasted cloak that had been sitting in my Inventory since the dungeon. It was a halfway decent pillow.