Chapter 7. Ravens

The two sprinted through the jungle like environment for a ways before coming to a stop; the boys stopped because they were simply too tired to continue moving. 

It was after a couple of minutes that they heard one caw, then two, then a cacophony of them. Huddled on the surrounding branches were a conspiracy of ravens staring at them ravenously.

"Damn it" thought Ash, "We weren't careful enough; our scent is covered but we can still be heard and seen. Still, probably better than whatever spawn was being resurrected in the cave."

The ravens continued to caw more and more as their numbers grew even more numerous.

Kaz stood back-to-back with Ash as the birds covered the branches around them. It looked like a storm of black birds, and they were in the eye of it. The two were still a little winded but they steeled their resolve for the upcoming fight. Unsheathing their weapons, the two faced the first couple of birds to fly at them.

Ash unleashed a slash and Kaz swung his mace. They killed one bird after another, but the bigger and noticeably stronger ones were waiting. Ash mentally went over the characteristics of Ravens and knew that right now he was facing the weakest of the bunch. Between swings he would look around and noticed that the ones closest to him were the weaker cannon fodder. They were most likely f- tier monsters, the lowest of the low.

The next level above were actual f tier ravens who could give the two a run for their money. Each level of beasts is ranked: f, e, d, c, b, a, s, ss, sss. Each tier is further classified into -, regular, and plus. An example would be f-, f, and f+. The constant stream of cannon fodder acted as a ruthless but efficient way to sap their energy. Ash came to the realization with the increase in difficulty to breath.

Ash was starting to breath hard as it was a never-ending barrage of the birds. They had killed probably 20 birds a piece. The surrounding branches were still thick with black bodies. Kaz called out, "can you see any of them that are special? We can't keep this up, we have to do something while we still have a bit of energy." Ash nodded and quickly took 2 pills out and swallowed them.

They were upper rank nutrient pills. They would give him a small boost in healing but mainly increase energy recovery; courtesy of his mother. Ash then sped up his killing, earning him a small window to fully look around.

In the higher trees were four strange looking birds. One of them had glowing red eyes, another an unusually long beak, and the final two seemed like the children of the pair. One of the smaller ones had white eyes and the other had red eyes. Ash called out to Kaz and communicated what he saw, while also throwing him a nutrition pill.

Kaz thought momentarily while he was fighting and then said, "I have something that can change the tide but the characteristics of the monsters up top suggest that we may already have to pull out the few lifesavings measures we have." Ash nodded saying," The top four must be f+ monsters." Both boys became dreadfully silent, they may die, and it was only the first day.

F+ monsters may be low on the entirety of the scale but that was still a monster and each tier and sub tier higher meant that there would be a qualitive change. Kaz took out 2 talisman and threw it at the birds around them. The first one creates a cutting gale while the second would create a blast of fire. Together the two attacks had cleared out most of the lower tier f- birds.

The topmost birds seeing the attack had flown up in the air to avoid it's range but upon seeing half their flock destroyed they were furious, especially the four f+ monsters. Ash braced for the impact of the red eyed raven that flew so fast at him he could barely try blocking those big claws. The f+ Raven were the size of a big dog, the force of the impact sent him flying. He rolled on the ground and recovered his stance, blood heavily dripping from his lips.

The red eyed one seemed to be a male and the one with the longer beak a female. He eyed the female out of the corner of his eye waiting for her attack as well, but only a playful look was cast back at him.

'Good, they're cocky. They're dumb enough to let their disdain and cockiness prevent them from killing us immediately.' Intelligence stood as a key factor in a beast's capabilities.

Kaz was caught up dealing with the last of the f- and f rank birds as they were swarming him. By killing one of the leaders, Ash believed it may scare them enough to flee. Ravens were viscous but cowardly things. They ate the scraps of the dead but always retreated when faced with danger. Ash and Kaz just had to present the ravens with a big enough threat that they would be seen as predators not to be messed with.

The two of them were unfortunate enough to run into an entire flock of these birds that honestly had the right to look at them as prey. They were already somewhat tired and the birds had an advantage in numbers.

Ash took out a red pill and sighed before swallowing it, it was an expensive medicine dubbed the bulking pill. They were used to give the body a 20% boost in strength, speed, and healing; his pill was upper grade which provided a 30% increase. His teenage body swelled up a bit before he rushed at the bird with everything he had. They went back and forth; he was being pushed back but was learning how to mitigate the force as time went on. Droplets of blood steady flying from the immense grip the boy placed on his saber. The skin turning raw but his determination unhindered. He was steadily becoming more adept at the [Foundational Saber Technique].

Strength was not the biggest trait of the raven, and with the boost of the pill, Ash was steadily getting used to the bird's attack pattern. He had been cut a couple of times and the blood around those wounds continued to leak.

'The bird must have a blood related skill, hence it's red eyes. Better not drop before I can administer medicine.' Ash knew it was a matter of time before he got an opening on the bird but Kaz was bloody at this point and painting like a dog.

He needed to finish this and used one of the two techniques he knew. (Crescent slash) was taught to him by his father and it was a tricky slash. It dealt a good amount of damage at the cost of a lot of energy. The slash cut into the wing of the bird but it had dodged part of the cut. Courtesy of the agility being a raven's best quality, but with that hampered, it was as good as dead. With the addition of the deep gashes inflicted on it, it would not last long.