Cheep!?

Cheep!? 

Chapter 88

Niko couldn’t help but imagine hornets coming around every tree and lying in wait above the canopy as he breezed through the forest as quickly as he could. The noise from their oncoming advance filled the air, putting urgency into his steps as he and the rest of the Wyldwalkers blitzed through the greenery. Bright sunlight filtered down in columns throughout the sparser part of the forest, giving Niko plenty to see by. Still, there was only so far out that one could see with ordinary eyesight in a forest so thick, even as near to town as they were.

Luckily, Niko did not have to rely on normal eyesight alone.

“The group is ahead of us, about two hundred meters,” Niko called out, “There’s no hornets on them yet, though.” 

“Then we skip past them, there’s another group deeper in behind them,” Ronald called out.

Niko nodded in response, hoping that the nearby group would be able to get to the city in time. He wasn’t too worried about them, though, as he guesstimated that half of them were firmly in the third tier. Not to mention that, thus far, only mid and high tier one hornets were attacking. Niko was positive that would change soon, though. 

They passed by the group, just close enough to be seen. Niko saw the looks of confusion on their faces at the sight of the beast-riders, but they didn’t slow down to gawk. In a flash they disappeared past the trees behind the Wyldwalkers, and Niko continued his vigilance of the area in front of him. 

“If there’s a large number of hornets, we’ll need to do some area clearing. Mithel, how many grenades do you have?” Ronald called out suddenly, still directing Thokk even as he spoke to Mithel.

The woman grumbled, “I don’t know! A lot of them,” she said, whilst doing her best to get into her pack. 

“You might want to smooth out your running,” Niko half-joked at Sasha, “Mithel’s carrying a lot of explosives.” 

Sasha’s eyes widened and her gait noticeably smoothed out, though Niko could tell that it took more effort.

Still, Mithel gratefully patted her side while saying, “Thanks, I wasn’t sure how much longer my tailbone was going to stay in one piece.”

Sasha grunted at her but said nothing, and Niko wondered if that was partly due to not really wanting to be hauling another person on her back, or because she was suddenly aware that a very well-armed alchemist was riding on her shoulders. Whatever the case, Mithel called out after another few seconds, “I have two dozen! And I can whip up some emergency explosives as well!”

Niko privately thought the concept of ‘emergency explosives’ was partly horrifying, but Ronald happily shouted, “Good! Pass some out to Dachna and Skye, just be sure nobody throws it near friendlies.”

“Bird,” Thokk called out, “What are these grenades like?” 

Niko’s feathers ruffled at simply being called ‘bird’ for reasons he wasn’t sure on, but he answered, “I’m just guessing here, but they're probably just going to be very big and sudden fireballs that fade fade out. Maybe a lot of shrapnel too.” 

“Good to know,” Sasha replied, “And the emergency explosives?”

“Results may vary,” Niko said, enjoying his own private joke, “But expect it to be unstable, so don’t go anywhere near it.” 

At that, Sasha seemed even less pleased still about having chosen to carry Mithel, but said nothing as said gnome tossed out potions in crude leather satchels that they used for various materials. Niko ran closer, plucking two bags from her hands with his beak before awkwardly giving them to Dachna. 

He then tossed one to Skye when they entered a modest enough clearing, just in time for Niko to see their next team. “We have more people ahead of us,” Niko said, before focusing his vision further. Past them, just at the edge of his range, he could sense vague movement in the environmental essence. It took him several more seconds of getting closer before he realized that the ‘movement’ was actually just overlapping shapes in his vision. Dozens of hornets, all low tier one, swarmed in his distant field of vision.

“Lots of hornets behind them! Fifty and counting, low tier one,” Niko rattled off, “The group is definitely going to be overtaken at this rate.” 

Ronald nodded, “Alright, it’s time to get started. Niko, Dachna, can you outrun them?”

Niko thought hard about that for a few seconds, trying to think of the fastest that he’d seen the hornets move. After a few long seconds, and the knowledge that these were low tier hornets, Niko answered, “I think I can outrun tier ones and tier twos. I have no idea how fast the tier threes are, though.” 

Skye relayed that, looking nervously between Niko and the distant trees, “You’re sure?”

Niko nodded, and Ronald, seemingly satisfied, called out, “Then get going, try to draw the edge of the swarm off track, drag as many as you can together while thinning them out as we escort this group. Command seems to want to funnel more teams towards us.”

Niko cringed at that, realizing quickly that their team was now functioning as a rearguard against the Hornets. 

“Are we going to be getting any backup?” Dachna asked with heat in his voice, “Because this sounds like a Samut cursed job right about now.”

Ronald looked uncertainly in the air for a few seconds before giving a shake of his head, “They’re moving people towards us, but they have no idea how long it’ll be.”

“Well that’s just great.” Dachna snorted, before shaking his head, “Alright, alright, I guess we’re doing this.”

“Just imagine, we could be sitting around bored out of our minds at the Guild right now!” Niko said with exaggerated cheer. 

Skye relayed his words, but Dachna was chuckling even before she’d finished translating. The half-elf arched an eyebrow at his interruption, before he answered, “I think I’m getting bits and pieces of what he’s saying.”

“Oh, well, that’s good.” Skye said after a few seconds, though Niko didn’t miss how she seemed almost disappointed at the development. 

Niko cawed with amusement, “Don’t worry, Skye, you’re still my main translator.” 

“Gee, thanks, the honor is overwhelming,” she answered flatly, before saying more seriously, “Good luck.”

“You, too,” Niko trilled, before forcing his essence to move into his legs, “If you hear me making a lot of noise, get everyone moving faster.” 

Before Skye could answer, Niko pushed his legs deeper into the dirt and roots of the forest floor, digging up furrows as he practically threw himself forward. Atop his back, Dachna desperately gripped onto his feathers while whooping loudly, “Woohoo! Let’s gooooo!”

“Don’t bite your tongue off. Or eat a branch,” Niko reminded him while doing his best to cut through shallower foliage, “I don’t think I can stop to pick you up.” 

Dachna sat down a little closer to his back, “I don’t know exactly what you said, but please don’t ram me into a tree branch. I might break several things at these speeds.”

Niko cackled a short retort before focusing on his pathfinding. Dachna leaned in, nearly hugging horizontally to Niko’s back as he tried to reduce drag and distribute his weight more evenly. Appreciating the effort, Niko poured more power into his legs, feeling the patterns coursing with ethereal strength. When he nearly smashed into the side of a tree, Niko stopped increasing the power, relying on his honed eyes and reflexes to see them through.

As they passed the team, Niko wasn’t even sure if they had noticed them, given that they were little more than a blue and red blur in the underbrush. Now, though, Niko could hear the sounds of the hornets filling the air, the atmosphere and the trees seemed to vibrate with their combined might.

Dachna shouted something on top of Niko’s back, but the words were swallowed up by the environment. Still, with him patting his side, Niko tried to guess what the rogue was wanting him to do. He slanted off the side, taking them at a sharper angle to the front of the horde, when Dachna sat up on his back a little more. 

The glint of essence almost stole Niko’s attention from the corner of his eye as Dachna began to use his attention-ensnaring ability. The sound of jingling chains swept through the air behind Niko and he almost looked, but after repeated exposure, he could at least manage to ignore it when he wasn’t looking directly at it.

And then, even with Niko’s essence-sight guiding him, he was still almost taken by surprise by the swarming white and red insects that darted between the trees and branches. The Phorus belted out a deep, essence charged screech as they entered their line of sight, blasting the area all around them for as far as he could reach.  

For a stark, terrifying moment, Niko wondered what exactly he was planning on achieving when nearly a hundred sets of compound eyes seemed to stare at him. The moment passed just as quickly, his mind kicking into gear even as his body kept running, now curving around through the leading edge of the swarm.

“C’mon you oversized flies!” Dachna called out, “Got dinner on the run, right here!”

“Speak for yourself,” Niko cackled, half-hysterical from adrenaline.

“No, no, no, Drumstick! We’re in this together!” Dachna called out, only for Niko to intentionally run him into a bush, “Whoa, hey, okay, calm down!” 

Niko took a deep breath and belted out an even longer and louder call, essence fusing into the sound and drawing more attention to him. On his back, Dachna’s chain almost seemed to keen in the air with the enhancement that Niko’s own Clarion Call gave.

The sound of the swarm behind them magnified, along with no small amount of crashing sounds as disoriented hornets crashed into trees and one another. Yet, Niko didn’t allow himself to slow down for them, instead cutting to a side where he could see another leading edge of the swarm.

Even with their interference, though, Niko saw a few going over the canopy, ignoring the sole rider and mount at the front of their formation. Niko couldn’t afford to give them any attention, knowing that they were well out of his range, and could only hope that the rest of his team could take care of them. 

“Alright, first grenade! Brace!” Dachna, while calling out to Niko, chucked the sparkling red powdered flask backwards. A simple mechanism at the top smoked from where Dachna struck a simple pin mechanism. Niko only glanced at it before pulling his attention forward, both to ensure he didn’t fall, but also because he was acutely aware that the grenade had seemed altogether too attractive to his eyes. Undoubtedly, Dachna had used his new favorite ability on the thing.

In just a few seconds, the swarm overtook the object, right as it exploded.

Heat and light blossomed behind him, casting the trees in front of Niko in shadow. He grit his beak tightly, doing his best to ride the pressure wave. For a few seconds he was almost afraid that he might have burns, but then the intensity dropped dramatically as they left its range.

“Bant’s arsehole!” Dachna cried out, “What and the hells is that!? That’s not a grenade, that’s a Firestorm!” 

Niko frowned, uncertain what the distinction was, before risking turning his head and surveying the damage.

And then slowed his steps slightly in sheer awe of the still expanding plume of flame that had erased the canopy for tens of meters, along with an unknown number of hornets. “Wow, that’s pretty pecking effective.”

“That’s too much! Mithey! Aren’t these illegal? What-” He shook his head quickly, “No, that’s fine, that’s good right now. We definitely gotta make sure she stops using her pattern to enhance ingredients without testing them first, though. That’s waaaay too big.” 

Niko nodded, still in awe of the ridiculously potent bomb, “How many more do you have?” 

Dachna’s face screwed up in thought as Niko began running faster, the noises of the swarm beginning to surge in once more, albeit seemingly avoiding the still smoking and partly flaming area of the forest, “How many? Uhh… Like ten.”

They ran in silence after that realization, before Dachna picked up his chain again. They didn’t need to exchange words to know what they were going to be doing. Niko’s ceaseless charge carried them close to another front of the swarm, this time letting them get even closer, goading them repeatedly with the Carrion Call variant of his throat and lung pattern. Dachna went even further, straddling Niko’s back while slinging out the length of chain even further, whipping it through the air expertly.

If Niko didn’t know any better, he’d have thought that Dachna was a well-practiced whip user. The man was heaving breath as they went, and even Niko had to admit that he was burning the candle at both ends with a flamethrower. Still, they didn’t stop.

After a far larger swarm had gathered behind them, Dachna shouted, “Round two!”

Niko urged just a bit more power out of his aggrieved legs, shooting ahead seconds before another vast fireball erupted from the forest behind them. Somehow, it felt even larger than the last, but a look backwards after the fact told him that wasn’t the case.

They repeated the maneuver once more, but Niko realized that the fireball this time was much smaller, and Dachna only said, “See, that right there is one reason why Firestorm isn’t legal, it’s temperamental.”

Niko could only nod to that, fatigue beginning to sap away at his energy and concentration. As they moved to begin a fourth round, Niko felt something amiss.

He turned his body more on reflex and luck than any direct awareness, narrowly dodging a forearm-long stinger that swept through the air where his body had just been. 

“Pox and–” Dachna started to curse, before lashing out with the chain link, striking a white and red hornet considerably larger than what they’d seen so far. Niko squawked in surprise even as he dodged another swooping strike from the creature, recognizing it quickly as a tier three, only different than he’d expected. Its wings were sleeker, emanating essence in such a way that Niko recognized immediately as a pattern.

The stinger, too, glowed like a flood light in his eyes, along with a smaller pattern in its abdomen. It evaded the first swipe of Dachna’s chain, seemingly trying to rise above the tree branches and escape when the rogue pulsed the chain with more essence.

For just a second, the hornet stopped ascending, transfixed by the sight of the chain, wings deathly silent even then, and that was enough for Dachna. He whipped the chain link up towards its wings, intent on fouling its flight. 

It did that and more, as the chain links hit and instantly tangled them, crushing through the crystalline-like material and sending the hornet crashing unceremoniously to the ground.

Niko gritted his beak hard, angling his body while trying to change direction. Dachna yelped atop his back, but with both hands free was barely able to clench on as Niko forced his rapidly overtaxed legs into another charge.

Before the hornet could shake off the disorientation of the fall, Niko’s beak tore through its neck with all of the momentum that he could manage. Dull pain radiated from his empowered beak, even with the sharpness he’d enhanced it with, but the explosion of essence soaking into his body told him that he’d been successful.

Dachna shouted, not words of encouragement and congratulations that Niko expected, but instead something that sounded like panic, “Go, Niko, go! Get us the hell out of here!”

Niko didn’t wait to see why, instead dropping every pattern he had except for his leg pattern. The only sound he heard was Dachna tinkling glasses together, and Niko realized he’d only left a single one untouched, and stuffed it into his overcoat pocket. 

“Hrraaah!” Dachna shouted, and Niko chanced a glance over his shoulder to see the pack of Firestorm potions flying through the air.

Said pack arced towards several sleek and bulky hornets that Niko placed at a minimum of tier two. The swarm seemed keenly interested in them for just a second, before one of them suddenly shifted away from the still-airborne pack desperately. In the blink of an eye that Niko had risked looking back, the swarm seemed to hesitate, though the faster members of their number immediately turned away from the satchel. It was a sentiment that he very much could get behind.

“Oh peck me! Nonononononono!” Niko felt a fresh flush of panic-adrenaline drop into his body. With a mixture of desperation and the knowledge that hitting a tree and falling now would either be death or a severely cooked bird, Niko somehow dodged under low tree branches and bounded over knotted roots, eyes currently unenhanced. Every drop of essence he could muster was fed into his legs to put distance between them and the swarm, as well as the payload they’d just left behind.

A noise louder than any other Niko had ever heard suddenly screamed into existence as the world turned red in his vision. Niko felt his body slam into the ground like a ragdoll against the might of a pressure wave that he found himself riding haplessly on. Dachna cried out along with him, holding tightly to his back even as they tumbled together, heat burning at their skin as they went. Niko struggled to get his feet under him, stealing momentum from the explosion where he could. It was only when he managed to right himself that he realized the air was still red from flames.

“We’re alive!” Dachna screamed out, laughing, “Oh my sweet arse! We lived through that!” 

Niko dodged under a tree limb before risking a look back, only to see an uncontrollable inferno between the trees, rising high above the canopy.

“How many tier twos and threes do you think that was?” Niko asked, trilling happily in spite of the many bruises he could feel forming all over his body.

“A lot of hornets! I have no idea how many, but I’m sure they bailed out as hard as we did if they knew what was coming,” Dachna laughed, before wincing. The man clearly misunderstood Niko’s question, but Niko didn’t begrudge him. 

“I think we’re gassed out,” Niko admitted, “I have maybe one good run in me left.” 

“We call it,” Dachna shook his head vigorously, “That was dumb luck that we didn’t just get assassinated by that stealth hornet. We’re out.”

Niko didn’t want to admit that he’d been taken completely by surprise by that hornet, but it was certainly the case. He hadn’t been aware of what was going on directly above him, and if he hadn’t lucked out, Niko was sure that he’d have taken that stinger right to the ribs. Whether or not that would have been enough to put him down, he didn’t know, but he certainly wasn’t willing to try it.

Hopefully, they’d bought enough time. The fireball was certainly going to be visible for a long ways around…