Anna’s knees buckled as the abomination shook the ground when it landed. Alex ran to the trees while Dmitry held his bone spear, screaming some bullshit about the spirits erasing the darkness.

Gale cursed inwardly. Seriously. Every time there was silence in this forest, something huge was going to hit them in the face. They were on the ground, and the blue moon usually does not shoot at things it couldn’t see because why would it. He should’ve known.

Only one thing led to their favour. That bullshit of a bird had one of its wings burnt off. If it could fly, they might as well all pray with Dmitry and hope it killed them painlessly.

The faceless crow moved to the nearest one. And unfortunately, that was Dmitry. It swiped its only wing at the man, sending him flying to a tree. Air knocked out of his lungs.

Dmitry stayed on the floor, unmoving.

Gale’s muscles tensed and launched himself onto the crow. “Annett, slow it! Ollie, cover fire!”

Annett’s hands glowed with a translucent yellow light. It spread all over the crow, and its movement became slower as if stuck in molasses.

Ollie emptied a clip of tracing ammunition toward the bird. They streaked across the trees. All of the bullets hit at one spot, and all shattered uselessly against the thick metal-like feathers that covered it.

“Shit!” Ollie reloaded. “This ain’t going to work!”

Gale activated Distort, turning himself nigh invisible. He circled the crow. It ignored him, not turning his way. As soon as he got to the place where the stumped arm was, he lunged, putting Phase Touch across the blade of his sabre.

The faceless crow suddenly swung at him mid-lunge, wing meeting his sabre, with the sound of metal clashing against metal.

It had accurately deflected him even when he was invisible and parried his sabre. Gale let out Breath of the Void, shrinking its influence just to the clearing they were in. A feeling gnawed at him that felt more like the click of a thousand times per minute.

Gale lunged one more time to the side, this time into its blind spot under its wing. Again, it saw him somehow and swiped its feathers towards him. The sabre once more clashed with its wing like the ringing of two metals when struck against each other.

That was when he felt it. Its clicking got more rapid as he moved faster. It was echolocating at an incredible frequency.

“Be careful! It doesn’t have blind spots!” Gale shouted, deactivating Distort.

Rachel stomped her foot forward and punched. Flames spewed from her hand, directed at the crow.

The faceless crow covered itself with its remaining wings. One flap outwards caused a wind that blew Rachel away, sending her tumbling backward and also extinguishing her flames.

“I can’t get close to it, I got nothing to block with,” she picked herself up from the ground.

Gale charged again. No other choice but him to be the one taking point on this. Annett and Ollie also couldn’t use weapons. This time, he was prepared, knowing that it was echolocating. No blind spots? No problem. Just run at it.

He examined the feathers on the wings. There were differences between the edge of the wing and the feathers in the middle. The middle didn’t have the metallic sheen that the edges had.

Gale lunged once more. Sabre slashed directly at its body. Wings swiped at him predictably. But it was all a feint.

He sidestepped, allowing the wing to pass by him with only milimeters apart from his nose from the edge of the metal feathers. During its mid-swing, he pounced at its wing rather than its body.

Birds’ weaknesses were always the wings. The phase touched sabre slashed horizontally at the middle part of the wing, passing through with no resistance.

Gale stepped back immediately, allowing himself to regain ground from the monster.

Bubbling and sizzling sounds rose up from the wing where he cut it. Its wings started regenerating immediately, covering up the wound as new feathers sprouted. After it finished, there was no mark left where he had cut it.

“What the fuck!” Gale shouted.

He rolled away as its wingspan covered the distance between him and the bird. More of its swipes went his way as he weaved and dodged through the relentless attacks of the crow.

It was fast, too fast even with Annett’s slow applied to it. Ollie had no way to attack it too due to its metal feathers covering most of its body. Rachel had no choice but to stay back. That thing was a death sentence to a martial artist with only her fists.

This monster didn’t make sense. Its body was covered in protective feathers that bullets can’t go through. Only the middle feathers were weaker, enough so that Phase Touch could cut through them. However, it had no blind spots.

Is this bullshit life joking right now?

Calm down, Gale. Even if it seems impenetrable, there has to be a way.

Impenetrable… that’s it. He needed to test where its weakness is.

Gale picked up a stone the size of his fist as he rolled under the crow’s wings and whipped it at the head of the crow. It blocked the stone immediately.

Again, he picked up another stone and whipped it once more at its back, where metal feathers covered it. This time, it ignored it.

One more time for confirmation. He whipped two stones, one at the head and one at its body. It ignored the one thrown at its body and blocked the one that came for its head.

That was it.

“Annett!” Gale shouted. “Target its head! Only slow down the head!”

Annett nodded, sweat beading on her brow as she concentrated. The change was noticeable.

The crow moved forward to Annett, however, it stumbled and tripped over its own imbalanced proportions. It looked like a drunkard trying to control its balance.

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Chance. Gale dashed forward, dragging his sabre across the grass. Phase Touch spread across the edge of the sabre.

But before he could get near the faceless crow, it looked at him and opened its mouth. Decayed jagged shark-like teeth opened themselves, revealing a singular flesh tube inside its mouth.

Something hit him. A silent wave of sound grounded him, forcing him to kneel.

Rachel threw a punch once again. A fireball flew through the air toward the crow’s face. It dodged by letting itself fall onto the ground.

But that did the trick of letting Gale go.

“We need to deal with the face!” he lunged with desperation at the crow’s face to end it as quickly as possible. Alter activated before hand, increasing the length of the sabre.

Suddenly, tens of mouths opened themselves across the faceless crow’s face. All the mouths that opened up screamed in all directions. This time, an audible sound of metal grinding together in a high pitch blasted across the clearing.

Everyone covered their ears and closed their eyes tightly. However, Gale didn’t relent to the scream. One leg forward. The creature screamed even harder. Then he lunged, stabbing his sabre into its head.

The faceless crow thrashed, throwing Gale away. Its movements became erratic, moving randomly throughout the clearing as black blood dripped from where it was stabbed.

Silence fell over the battlefield, and Gale couldn’t feel the echolocation clicks anymore. Not after he did a number on its head.

“Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come…” Dmitry sprawled on the scorched earth, staring blankly above at the canopy. His voice was weak, but loud against the silence.

The crow’s head snapped toward the sound, the only sound in the current location. It lunged at Dmitry.

“Dmitry, shut up!” Rachel screamed.

The crow’s talons stabbed themselves right into the old man’s heart.

“Deliver us from evil…” Dmitry said as his last breath took away the last words.

“Annett!” Gale shouted, lunging immediately at the crow, Breath of the Void shrinking even more to only a few metres around him. He felt everything and anything. Clarity in his mind as cold seeped into his skin. A chill emanated into his fingers, touching his weapon with resistance.

He circled the beast, aiming one more time at its head.

Translucent golden light enveloped the head. That was the sign.

Gale pounced upwards, making eye contact with Rachel. A wing swiped at him.

A twist of his body sent him downwards to the ground.

Rachel sent a fireball again at the head. Its wings shielded it once more. But it was the chance that Gale was waiting for.

He used all his strength to jump up. Phase touch activated. Sabre cleaving upwards along the base of the crow’s wings.

However, the crow swivelled before he could cut off the whole wing. Shit!

Its talon lunged at him.

He barely had time to dodge as its talon stabbed at the space where he’d been standing. Its wings slowly sizzled and pieced themselves back together. Much slower than before.

Gale still needed a new strategy. This was going on for too long.

His eyes fell on the spears strapped to his back. Idea formed. No other options available.

He grabbed a spear, focusing his Alter ability. The weapon grew in his hand, becoming longer and heavier.

He took aim. Every muscle in his body activated. All his joints moved forward to propel the spear.

The spear whistled through the air, aimed at the crow’s wing. But at the last second, the creature shifted. That’s right. This thing was smart, so make it think I’m aiming for its wing.

Four spears left. He whipped another spear again. Missed the wing again just by a hair.

Gale’s eyes met Rachel’s. She nodded as if knowing what to do. Dashing low to the ground, Rachel circled the crow as flames engulfed her fists.

She moved in, entering the range of its talons while it was still recovering from the cut. Its talon lunged for Rachel, but she immediately jumped backwards.

Only one foot held its balance now.

“Gale!” Rachel shouted. A fireball grew in her fist. She punched, aiming for the crow’s face as she landed on her back from the jump.

Gale had already lined up his spear.

The crow blocked the fireball with its wing, and it was too late. The spear’s trajectory was square on the head.

Hit. Too shallow. The spear didn’t pass through its skull.

Its talons grabbed Rachel as she screamed.

“Rachel!” Gale shouted.

The crow threw Rachel up and opened its mouth to swallow her.

Time slowed down. One more shot. Gale lined up another shot. Every joint and muscle fibre of his body activated, transferring all that energy onto the spear.

The spear hit the spear already lodged in the crow’s skull and finally drilled it through the other side of its skull. The momentum transferred to its head, and the crow dropped sideways.

[Tainted Faceless Crow felled.]

[Tainted Faceless Crow description.]

[A noble guardian of the skies, transformed by the corruption’s malevolent plague, consumed by an unquenchable appetite as it sought to restore its lost divinity.]

[Extracting Origin from prey…]

Gale sprinted towards Rachel, sliding to his knees beside her. His hands trembled as he lifted her up into a sitting position.

“Rachel,” he yelled. “Can you hear me?”

Her eyelids fluttered open.

Gale took a deep breath. The torn bits of cloth from her shoulder showed the deep purple bruised parts where the talon held her.

His fist clenched, thinking that if he hadn’t found the beast’s head as its weakness, this could’ve turned a lot worse. One or more of them could’ve died. Or worse, a full party wipe.

“Can you help me up?” Rachel asked.

His hands still trembled as he stood her up. He looked away from her bruises. She didn’t die. It’s fine. It’s going to be fine, Gale, he told himself.

And that reminded him. Dmitry’s lifeless body lay in solitude at the opposite edge of the clearing. Gale and Rachel walked over. They saw his expression. It was one of peace with a slight smile.

Why are you smiling, you idiot? You died. Gale clenched his fist.

Dmitry’s hands held a small notebook, a half-empty water canteen that definitely held alcohol before, and a few strips of smoked meat he’d given.

Gale’s nails dug into his palms. Blood dripped onto the ground. He dropped to his knees, holding onto the old man’s arms. It didn’t matter if Dmitry was useless. A mundane. Or anything. A life was still a life. He failed him.

First, it was John. Now Dmitry. It could’ve been Rachel too.

Gale’s fist hit the ground, leaving a dent in the charred forest floor. It didn’t hurt, though. He can’t die from hitting the ground.

“Dmitry, you stupid idiot,” he mumbled. “You stupid, stupid idiot. All you had to do was shut your fucking mouth.”

Footsteps approached them. Anna, Alex, Annett, and Ollie. They all kneeled down in front of Dmitry.

Rachel put her hand on Gale’s shoulder. Warmth spread from her hand. This time, he knew she did that on purpose.

Without another word, Gale stood up. Grabbed a bone spear from his back and walked over a couple of steps near the tree line. He thrusted the spear at the tough ground, using the spear as a shovel.

The others watched in silence. It was a grave. Something they hadn’t been able to do for John.

Gale knew he’d grown arrogant. I can deal with one forest predator myself, we should be fine, that was what he said. What a fool he was. It was all an illusion under the gaze of the nigh god-like blue moon of this world. There was always something bigger. Something stronger.

His spear struck once more, hitting stone under the earth.

“We can’t let this expedition go to waste,” Ollie said. “We can’t, not after Dmitry’s sacrifice.”

Gale paused in his digging, looking up at the group. Their figures told him of their exhaustion. Rachel’s hair all ragged from the fight. Annett breathed hard, shoulders slumped. Alex’s face was pale from the hike. Anna… she was already broken.

No more arrogance. Not unless he wanted to see her die in front of his eyes.

He continued in silence until it was finally deep enough. He stepped back from the grave. The others moved forward, ready to help lay Dmitry to rest.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he carried Dmitry’s body into the grave. “But we can’t stay here.”

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