Chapter 53: The Bird in the Mockery (3)

In any case, the 「Windbird Feathers」 were never intended for our own use, but to be collected and sold.

So… we could just go into the business of selling direct-fire roasted chicken.

The taste is certainly good, after all.

“…No, why is it so delicious.”

That is, if Ibi doesn't eat them all before then.

After tasting it once in the rest area near the boss room (though in this dungeon, neither are strictly ‘rooms’), even after leaving the rest area, Ibi still hasn't let go of the skewer with the 「Roasted Windbird」 on it.

I couldn't bring myself to tell her to stop eating since we had to sell them… because of the hardship she had gone through.

Anyway, it was a shame that we couldn't sell the feathers, but it didn't mean that we couldn't make the ‘wings’.

In the first place, those ‘wings’ were not made from 「Windbird Feathers」 but──

“──Kueeeek!!”

“It's f*cking huuuuge!!”

From the feathers obtained from that 「Windlion」.

The boss of this dungeon.

If the windbirds were about the size of a sparrow, that thing, as its name suggests, was a ‘griffon’ with the body of a lion, so it couldn't be small in the first place.

So as you can tell from the size difference, its feathers are much sturdier and less likely to break, have a much longer glide time, and most importantly, they come pre-enchanted.

Of course, they are that much harder to obtain.

“Got it? We must not roast that one.”

Therefore, this time, we will avoid skills like 「Fireball」, 「Pillar of Fire」, and 「Lightning Bolt」 as much as possible.

“We must catch it intact and retrieve the feathers.”

“Understood.”

“…Can that thing even be roasted?”

But just then.

“──!”

The 「Windlion」, which had finally looked down and spotted us, looked… strange.

And on the other hand, it felt strangely familiar.

At first, it tilted its head as if it couldn't believe what it was seeing, and then.

“Kieeeek──!!”

After it suddenly let out a shriek, I finally realized the source of that familiarity.

It was a similar reaction to the windbirds that had seen their egg broken.

And sure enough, its eyes also began to glow red.

–

The Windlion has become 「Furious」!

--

“No, not again, why!?”

Ibi, who was reminded of her ordeal with the windbirds, flinched and trembled in panic.

In Ibi's hand… the skewer with the 「Roasted Windbird」 was still there.

And the blazing ‘eagle eyes’ of the 「Windlion」… were clearly fixed on that skewer.

The Windlion wants bloody revenge on the enemy of its kind.

“Me, me again──?!”

…I never thought there would be a gimmick like this.

I pride myself on knowing this game inside and out, but to be honest, I had no idea about this one.

Of course, I had never roasted windbirds whole, let alone provoked a boss by eating them in front of it.

How could I have?

I can't believe they had set up even such detailed details…. This game really deserves to be called a masterpiece.

“Do you know what this situation is called, Rine?”

“Pardon?”

“The ‘Eagle’s’ eyes are… ‘blazing’….”

“──Puhut.”

“You, you crazy bastard! Now is not the time for── Nyaaaaak!?”

The moment she saw the shape of the 「Windlion」 rapidly descending like a missile, Ibi immediately started to flee.

But despite its body being several tens of times larger, its speed was even faster than the windbird's, not slower.

Peeong!

As soon as a sound like the air exploding echoed, the 「Windlion」 was already in front of Ibi.

“Fa-Fast!?”

Its sharp beak flashed in the light.

「Pecking」.

It was the same attack as the windbird's.

But its beak was not a beak, but practically a sharp spear.

The only one among us who managed to ‘react’ to that blow was.

“Not this time!”

Miki.

──Kaaang!

Miki's shield, who had quickly run out with 「Guard」, blocked the pecking beak.

“Good job, Miki!”

Unlike with the windbird, if he had been hit directly by that 「Pecking」, it would have surely not ended with just a wound.

But thanks to Miki, she was safe, and even though it was unintentional, in the end, Ibi had done a great job.

In any case, she had skipped the tedious processes we originally had to go through and eventually brought this boss down to the ground.

『Sit!』

In other words, she had lured it into the range of 「Word Command」.

“Kik──!?”

The eagle head of the beast, which had collapsed to the ground by the 「Word Command」, seemed to be unable to understand why it had obediently followed my words.

“Now!”

At my shout, Rine's 「Magic Arrow」 was fired.

Papak!

The 「Magic Arrow」, which fires one arrow per circle, was ‘empowered’ with 3 circles, and three arrows flew out at the same time and hit the 「Windlion」's wing.

“Kueek──!”

The 「Windlion」, while writhing in pain, could not get up as if it were bound and was still ‘sitting’ on the spot.

“Hah! Serves you right!”

Seeing this, Ibi immediately rushed towards the beast, thinking it was safe.

Then she stabbed with the two daggers in her hands in turn──

“──! I-It's hard!?”

Chaeng!

They bounced off without causing much damage.

Of course, its feathers and skin are almost as hard as steel.

“Aim for the ‘joint’ of the neck!”

But the part where its ‘eagle head’ and ‘lion body’ were connected was not.

“That's its weak point!”

Therefore, to deal significant damage with weapons like daggers or arrows, you had to aim there.

The problem was that the beast also knew that.

Hwook!

Hwook!

That's why it was desperately covering its neck by flapping its wings wildly, as if to say it would never expose its weak point.

That was why all three of the 「Magic Arrows」 from before had hit its wing.

And soon after, the beast, as befits a boss, managed to break free from the control of 「Word Command」 on its own.

At the same time, its blazing eyes began to burn even more intensely.

『Get in a box, you cat-or-chicken-I-don't-know-what!』

“Kueeek!!”

The beast staggered for a moment from the shock of the 「Vicious Mockery」 that I had immediately thrown.

And then.

“Kyak! Kyaaak!”

It began to 「Flap」 its wings to blow away Ibi, who had approached it.

Just like its 「Pecking」, its 「Flapping」 was also on a different level from the windbird's.

If the windbird's 「Flapping」 was a knockback that could only blow away one person nearby, that was a ‘tornado’ that would sweep away all of us── no, just the entire area.

Hwiooo──

The dust on the ground swirled and a fierce whirlwind arose.

“Lily! 「Blessing of Wind Resistance」!”

“Yes!”

As soon as Lily heard my instructions, she placed a hand on her ‘prayer book’.

Hwaaak!

A warm light enveloped all of us.

As the holy blessing settled on our bodies, the whirlwind swept over us, but.

“Ugh…!”

Everyone just flinched for a moment and took a few steps back, but not a single person was sent flying.

–

Resistance Success!

--

“Kuek?!”

The beast seemed quite flustered that no one was sent flying.

This is why you need a cleric in your party.

The beast, after its surprise, seemed to have its pride scratched.

Sure enough, it started to roar again and go on a rampage, and.

“Water!”

Rine, as if to calm it down, poured a 「Water Bomb」 on it.

Chwaaak!

And so the beast became completely ‘wet’, but of course, its anger (fire) would not be extinguished by such a thing, and it only seemed to have provoked it more.

Therefore, the beast, this time, as if it were about to flap its wings──

“It’s 「Feather Barrage」!”

──Shashashak!

Several feathers flew out.

As I said before, its feathers were no different from steel.

So, it was no different from several blades flying at us.

To Ibi.

“Why!?”

Because you were eating its kind in front of it at the beginning….

In other words, Miki didn't need to worry about anyone else.

“Sister! Behind me!”

Once again, he ran to Ibi and raised his shield.

Kakakang!

In the end, the feathers that flew out could not pierce Miki's shield and fell to the ground one by one with a pik, pik sound.

And while the two of them had thus bought another ‘turn’,

“Rine!”

It was Rine's ‘turn’ again.

Ssaek!

The beast, once again, instinctively covered its weak point, its neck, with its wing from the 「Frost Blade」 that flew, tearing through the wind.

──However, the target from the beginning was that wing.

As the shattered 「Frost Blade」's cold air spread, the completely ‘wet’ beast's wing began to freeze.

And the fact that one of its wings was ‘frozen’ meant that the beast could no longer fly.

At least until that ice melted.

“──Kieek!!”

But as if it just couldn't fly, the beast kicked off the ground.

In fact, the beast had the lower body of a lion.

Paat! and, four legs that could jump fast enough without wings, and.

Shwik!

The sharp claws on them.

Kagagak──!

It scratched Miki's shield as if it were an obstacle, with a force that seemed to tear it apart.

“Keuk…!”

Miki, who could not withstand that beast-like strength, ended up losing his grip on the shield, and the shield that was sent flying was thrown to the ground.

The 「Windlion」, not stopping there, immediately lowered its head as if to charge at Miki──

『──Duck!』

Kuung! and, it slammed its head not into Miki's armor, but into the ground with all its might.

Because the cooldown of 「Word Command」 was up again.

And as it did, the beast's ‘neck’── the ‘boundary’ between the eagle and the lion, was completely exposed.

Of course, the beast would struggle again, and completely exposing its weak point like this would only last for a moment.

However──

“──Nice bow.”

There was no way Ibi would miss that one moment.

“Kueoooook!!”

As soon as the 「Windlion」, who had sensed that fact, roared.

──Puk!

The two daggers that Ibi, who had climbed onto the beast's neck, had slammed down, hit the ‘boundary’ precisely.

Ibi immediately pushed the two daggers deep and twisted them.

“──!”

Perhaps because of that, even though the 「Windlion」's beak was wide open, not even a death cry could be heard.

Soon, the 「Windlion」's head drooped.

Then its large body followed and collapsed to the ground.

* * *

Having successfully cleared the 「Windbird’s Nest」, we immediately headed for Daian without any delay.

And two days later, a magnificent view that was both familiar to me and── yet, made me gasp in admiration, greeted us.

“Waaah─”

If Miki hadn't made that sound first, I would have surely voiced the emotion I was feeling right now.

What greeted us first when we arrived at the city's border were the city's famous landmarks that strongly asserted, ‘from here on, this is Daian’.

That is, the giant windmills lined up on the green hills.

“This is… the city of wind, Daian….”

Lily, who had come out of her village for the first time, was sparkling her eyes at the scenery of the neighboring city that she had only heard about in stories.

However.

“……Huh?”

Miki, who had been staring at the windmills as if he were possessed, soon tilted his head as if he had realized something was off.

Of course it was off.

“…Why aren't any of them turning?”

As Ibi said, they were all stopped.

Those windmills were not just windmills.

They were not at the level of a normal mill's windmill, but windmills of a size that one would think of when they hear of a wind power plant.

Of course, since they were actually installed for wind power generation.

If your memory serves you right, the windmills of the city of wind, Daian, were famous for turning continuously throughout the year without stopping.

But now, they were stopped.

Strange.