“Caaw!”
Leaving her master’s shoulder, Fala flew down, directly aiming her talons at the constricted crimson pupils.
So far, in this encounter with a Nightmare Creature, the crow companion was denied to be present, to be beside the master she had grown to respect and care for.
When she first came into being and met him, he seemed meek and weak, unable to achieve much. Even at that point, her instincts told her not to hold out hope.
And yet, slowly but surely, he grew stronger, and she learned more about him. With every level he gained, with every moment he shared with her, she seemed to be growing smarter and stronger.
Now, her loyalty and devotion for that master were undying. She was ready to do whatever he asked of her, even if it meant fighting with him in this unfamiliar eerie landscape.
From the moment they had both been relocated here, she had felt an unexplainable chill. An animal’s instinct was seldom wrong when it came to life and death matters.
Fala knew something bad was around.
Something horrifying, monstrous beyond comparison.
However, her master was now standing up to a similar monster. He had brought it to its very knees, overcoming his own emotions and limitations.
Naturally, Fala needed to meet her master’s progress too, even if temporarily.
“!”
***
The monster looked up, witnessing the descending bird distort as black smoke surrounded it, only for it to emerge again three times the size. The new glowing, violet runes spanned from below its neck, all the way across its long, open wings.
“CAAWWW!”
Unlike the other sounds it had made before, this one was accompanied with an invisible wave of vibrations that shook the air in front of it.
“!”
“Where are you going?”
Just as the scarecrow monster attempted to move aside to dodge the transformed crow, the master that had been watching from afar until just mere seconds ago, instantly appeared right behind it. The pointy edge of one sickle poked the top of its head as a warning.
“Don’t move.”
Every sound made the Nightmare Creature shudder as it found itself completely stuck in place.
In fact, its two knees were basically rooted in the ground, making it assume the very position it was based on.
An unmoving scarecrow with the facade of fear to scare away those who saw it.
Except, this one wasn’t as successful.
The crow was attacking the scarecrow, tearing its eyes out from the sockets.
“GRAUUUGHHH!!”
The sudden shriek alone carried with it the agony and pain, echoing through the surroundings as a warning and reminder to not come closer. Far enough, the sound of more crows fleeing could be heard.
The other Nightmare Creatures around had known better than to get involved when something like the scarecrow monster made them shiver in place.
However now, an aura far more intense and overwhelming had appeared, shaking in place was no longer an option. They had to flee.
“Next, tear out the teeth.” The voice said. “One by one.”
“CAAWWW!”
“!”
After having gouged out the crimson eyes and threw them aside, the crow did as it was asked. It landed on the monster’s face, began to grab each tooth with its talons and then tear them out one by one.
The scarecrow monster could do nothing but suffer through the pain. It was being used as a play thing.
It came into being for a purpose, and yet, there it was, being tortured alive by the very prey it was supposed to be haunting.
By the very prey it was supposed to be feeding on, and yet for some reason, it could no longer smell the aroma of fear on the one behind it.
There was no way for it to comprehend, it was barely able to consider its situation.
However, one thing had stayed consistent ever since it had appeared in this place…
It had evolved at a rapid rate.
“?!”
“GRAUUUUGGHHHH!!”
With another shriek, the scarecrow’s form lashed out, the straws from its very body turned and began to form an unexplainable chaos around it.
Both of those who had been torturing the scarecrow had to step back as its body floated upwards, an amalgamation of mayhem surrounding it.
“Fala! Step back!”
“CAAWWW!”
BOOMMM!!
***
Just as Somnu and Fala tried to put distance between them and the rising ball of chaos, an explosion of shockwaves shook the entire graveyard, sending both of them flying back.
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Thankfully, both were able to land and recover safely, but the moment they looked back at where the monster was, they knew things had once again changed for the worse.
“!”
The monster standing there now seemed much less like a monster, and more like a human.
It already had arms and legs before, along with a head.
However, those features were now more refined, more compact, almost with the same size and width ratio precision as an average human.
Its skin was still made of straws, but ones so neatly weaved and pulled together that they could almost pass for a real human skin.
The crimson eyes had regenerated, the long flowing white hair had been styled into a neat shoulder-length cut, and the teeth had taken on the qualities and shape of a human’s teeth.
And to make matters worse, something far worse came next.
“I bet you enjoyed that, didn’t you?”
“?!”
Somnu’s eyes behind Grudgekeeper mask shot up. He couldn’t believe neither his sight, nor his hearing.
“Did… did you just talk?” He asked.
“Indeed, it’s nice to talk, isn’t it?” The scarecrow monster replied, keeping his calm demeanor.
Somnu hadn’t heard a single other person’s voice ever since he had fallen into his coma. And now he was hearing a monster talk to him of all things, a monster whose voice sounded eerily similar to any other polite and well-spoken man.
“How…?” Somnu began to ask, then remembered something crucial. I don’t have time for this!
[Countdown: 01 Minutes 24 Seconds.]
“Fala!” Somnu shouted as he dashed forward, the grip on his violet sickles still holding firm.
Even though he had [Hollow Gaze] active this entire time, it quickly became abundantly clear that it had stopped working ever since the scarecrow’s new transformation.
Nevertheless, Somnu had around another minute left before his power boost with Grudgekeeper, this Night Terror State, came to an end.
He needed to end this as soon as possible, no matter what.
“Well, this should be fun.” The scarecrow monster said as he called forth a wave of straws to encompass him. “We weren’t meant to fight with these forms until much later on, but alas, there are no rules through the veil.”
Somnu had too many questions, but he wasted no time on words now. In a matter of seconds, he was in front of the supposed monster, hacking and slashing at the straws swirling around to create a thick layer of shield around his enemy.
“Dammit!”
“Keep going, maybe you can get to me eventually.”
Even without seeing him, Somnu could feel the grin forming on the monster’s face.
Despite that, Somnu narrowed his eyes and made up his mind to try something too risky to leave to chance, but he had no other choice.
His time was quickly running out anyway.
[Countdown: 00 Minutes 45 Seconds.]
“CAAWWW!”
First, the dependable crow companion that currently was much larger, carried heavy rocks and boulders, dropping them from the sky right above the scarecrow monster and his straw shield.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The more rocks hit the shield, the more it bent down slightly. The constant barrage of attacks from Somnu along with it began to crack down on the shield.
“Is that really all you got? I’m really disappointed…” From inside of the straw encirclement, the voice echoed with an air of confidence.
“!”
A moment later, spears of straws shot out and stabbed into and through Grudgekeeper’s stomach.
“Crow-shit!”
The second the scarecrow monster heard that, his grin stretched much wider. He didn’t waste any more time and continued to send additional spears and swords of straws to continuously stab the one who had tortured him.
Despite the sounds of agony, the hacking and slashing against the shield didn’t stop. Instead of cutting anything though, they had been merely pounding against the thick layer of straws.
Perhaps out of curiosity, the scarecrow opened a small window to watch his enemy die in agony.
However…
“Caaww!”
The crow companion flew down into the new window and directly at the enemy of its master.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The monster said, grabbing Fala effortlessly.
“Caaww!”
“!” Then he noticed. “You… why are you normal-sized again…?”
“Because this is over.”
STAB!
“?!” Looking down, the scarecrow monster saw the two sickles sticking out of his chest.
“How… did you…?”
“You don’t need to know.” Somnu replied bluntly. “You’re dead.”
Although he didn’t explain it, his method had been obvious. He simply abandoned Grudgekeeper at the front, having it tank the blows, imitate his voice as it had during the fight, and then used [Silent Step] to sneak behind his enemy. At the end, Fala delivered a last distraction, while [Rooted Vigil] and Eclipsed Requiem helped deliver the last blow, even with Somnu standing in nothing but his bathing suit.
He quickly re-equipped the tattered, hole-filled Grudgekeeper with a simple mental command.
And then…
SWISHHH!
Without another second to waste, Somnu swung both sickles in opposite directions. The two blades cleaved through the scarecrow monster’s straw-reinforced chest diagonally, ripping the body into pieces after Eclipsed Requiem activated.
“This isn’t… over…” The flying, disintegrating scarecrow head mumbled with a nasty grin. “I’ll… be back…”
“...” Somnu narrowed his eyes, then made sure his enemy heard him before the end. “I’ll be getting much stronger. Next time you show up, there won’t be a running phase, just the sight of me rushing in to kill you again. If there is one thing I learned now is that it’s not enough to scare the vultures away… The old geezer was wrong. I have to eliminate them completely.”
“Hah… good for you…” With a last snicker, the Nightmare Creature faded away.
“That’s why I have to finish this quest after all.” Somnu looked down at his sickles. “Too many have died because of Nightmare Creatures.”
“Caaw?” Fala landed on her master’s shoulder.
Standing over the remnants of the battle and his enemy, Somnu furrowed his brow.
“I’ll do it myself.” He said, quickly feeling the toll of his efforts creeping in. “I’ll eliminate every single monster until there are none left.”
To protect the crop.
To protect everyone.
To protect himself.
That was his job as a scarecrow.
“!”
Finally taking a breather, the fatigue in his body came all rushing back at once. The wounds on his back, the draining usage of abilities and the new enhanced state of Grudgekeeper… Somnu couldn’t help but fall down.
There was no way for him to stand back up any time soon.
He had received no rewards for the recent kill, something he could not begin to question, let alone answer.
However…
“Caaw!”
Nothing waited for the ideal time. Looking around him after being alerted by Fala, the exhausted Somnu saw the hordes of Nightmare Creatures coming for him, their eyes glowing crimson in the night.
Crow-shit… Give me a break here…
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