ACR - Ch6

Lyle drew his sword and spun in a single movement.

The crowgirl squawked and jumped back. Sparks flew where his blade crossed with massive shadowy talons from her feet, and she screeched in pain. The talons vanished, and she fell on her ass.

“Hurts!” she said. She glared up at him. “Give up. You’re too weak to stop me.”

“Say that when you’re not sitting on your ass because I hurt you,” Lyle said. He kept his guard up.

A trap. Of course. The crowgirl had been following him the entire time for a reason.

Although he’d expected Felife to be the one to try something. She seemed much more dangerous than she appeared.

The crowgirl rose into the air, fluttering her wings. The shadowy talons reappeared, along with a hood of shadow over her head. A strange red shimmer of flame burned within that hood.

Magic?

He wasn’t sure. This may be some sort of natural ability. He was out in the wilds. All of his experience regarding monstergirls was proving unreliable, but she seemed more dangerous than a random birdgirl should be. Ordinary knights from the Royal Army would be torn apart by her, he suspected.

Whatever the case, he didn’t take the risk.

She screeched at him.

He stepped forward and hit her in the head with the flat of his consecrated steel blade. Her head sizzled like the sausages he’d cooked this morning before her shadows vanished. Spinning in the air, the crowgirl lost control of her flight. She slammed her knee into the corner of the table.

Slumped over the table, ass sticking out, the crowgirl was vulnerable. She cursed and rubbed her face.

“You don’t know how to fight, do you?” he asked.

“Kill you,” she snapped back, rising to her feet with a scowl.

He hadn’t wasted the precious time her ineptitude had bought him, however. His crest flared as he summoned his magic and cast a spell.

A spellcaster required three components when casting: a concept to bind the magic; a target to apply the magic to; and a medium to channel the magic through. From what Lyle knew, almost anything was possible with magic—that was why it was called magic. There were few rules, and most of what he knew were better termed guidelines.

His crest channeled magic from the ambient air and glowed brightly as it processed out the corruption present. Without the Priestess’s blessing, he imagined casting spells would be life-threatening. Or perhaps his crest was special.

Then he visualized his concept. When he restrained the Vierfach, he had wanted physical restraints to tie them to the ground. But this birdgirl looked far more dangerous.

No, what he needed was something that restrained her monstrous abilities. Not physical chains, but magical chains. A metaphysical concept, that would eat at her essence and bind her abilities.

Two steps down. He had a spell in mind, and plenty of magic available. The crowgirl reared up, her broad, black wings stretching across the room as she resummoned her hood and claws. An almost demonic fire licked out from her as she prepared to swoop down on him like a screeching phoenix.

Lyle cast his spell, targeting her magical essence. All monstergirls had deep core of corruption residing within the magical domain of the world, that could only be touched with magic. It was this core that allowed them to cast magic without needing a crest, as they had a foot in the realm of magic at all times.

But it also allowed Lyle to target them with special spells.

Glowing purple chains etched themselves into the crowgirl’s skin. They looked like glowing tattoos that moved with a life of their own. The crowgirl screamed as they appeared and her claws and hood vanished instantly. She crashed to the wooden floor, as if she had lost the ability to fly as well. As she writhed, the chains shifted across her skin.

Immense pressure struck Lyle’s mind and he grunted in pain. Maintaining the spell took far more effort than he expected.

Just like the Vierfach, this monstergirl contained a depth of corruption an order of magnitude greater than her intelligence suggested. In Ghraive, only the strongest monstergirl knights and warriors had magic resistance this powerful. Not random crowgirls who moaned and begged while rolling around on the floor.

“Why, why, why, what you do?” she whined.

Lyle stepped forward and slammed his foot into her torso. She grunted and rolled over.

“Hurts!” she squawked again. Her wings fluttered pointlessly, and she rose to her knees.

Well, she remained sturdy despite his spell. The Vierfach healed life-threatening wounds instantly, and this crowgirl took a rib-shattering kick like he had given her a love tap. Lyle didn’t let up.

Couldn’t. If she remained this strong, then she could still seriously hurt him. For all his magic and raw strength, she was a monstergirl. Lyle hadn’t survived this long by letting down his guard around someone who could snap his arm like a twig.

He pressed his foot against her head, and began to channel more magic. His crest flared with purple light again, and the crowgirl froze.

“Wait, wait, wait,” she chattered, eyes wide and wild. “Don’t kill.”

He placed his sword against her neck, and it sizzled. She fell silent and stopped moving. A moment later, he pulled the sword an inch away from her skin.

“Why did you attack me?” he asked.

“Stupid male needs to learn place,” she said. “Join breeding hall. Felife won’t do it. I will.”

Really? That was it? Such an ordinary reason for monstergirls, but he had expected something more.

His gaze turned colder, and the crowgirl shuddered beneath him. “Did she order you?”

“I’m warrior. Deal with stubborn males,” the crowgirl said.

A lie. Probably.

Lyle was wasting his time.

He removed his foot. The crowgirl’s muscles stiffened, and she prepared to leap at him. A moment later, his magic snapped into place on his own body, greatly enhancing his strength.

His foot slammed into her head. She didn’t have a chance to scream before he bounced her head into the solid wooden floor. Her body fell limp as she fell into unconsciousness from the raw force.

Turning to face the door, he confirmed that the magical wards were still in place. Felife might be waiting outside and aggressive. He kept his spell in place, and his muscles magically enhanced. His veins and body bulged unnaturally, almost like the broken shell of a man from the hall earlier. Unlike him, Lyle was in complete control of his physical and mental faculties.

After a short period of analysis, he broke the ward and kicked open the door. A gasp greeted him, and then figures charged him.

He nearly drew his sword or cast a spell, but he’d gotten used to these particular figures.

“Lyle!” the Vierfach wailed. They stopped right in front of him, sniffing the air and staring at him. Their eyes curved, their expressions shifted, and they said in a much more sultry tone, “Lyle…”

The three wolfgirls eyed off his bulging figure, their eyes dropping to a particular part of him. He suspected they were comparing to the earlier sight, and imagining what lay underneath his clothes. They dropped to their knees and began pawing at his crotchplate.

Lyle ignored them. He had bigger fish to fry.

Beyond them stood Felife. She stared at him with a mixture of fear and shock. Her hands were raised as if to protect herself, but she didn’t hold a weapon.

“Surprised to see me perfectly fine?” Lyle said coldly.

“Among other things,” Felife said, fear laced through her voice. She gulped and closed her eyes for several moments. “I suspected your power came from the collars. Ein said otherwise, but I have never witnessed a human that could hold her own against us. Or that wouldn’t be reduced to a brainless aid in egg production, like the men here. You are both.”

“More than both. Give me a reason why I shouldn’t kill you?” he said.

“Given you have proved yourself highly capable, I believe we can work together. No more tricks,” Felife said, her tone steady but her eyes widened and shook. “And I am more than you suspect I am.”

He suspected a lot about her, given her ability to speak so eloquently and her apparent position in this flock. Or whatever it was.

“Work together how?” he said.

“You wanted food? We don’t have the excess you imagine we do. But maybe we can find a way to produce it if we work together?” Her voice became slightly hopeful.

“That requires trust. We don’t have much of that. You need to tell me everything. Because nothing here makes sense,” Lyle said, gesturing to the buildings around him. “Why you don’t form a flock when you clearly want to. Why you don’t have extra food. Why so few humans for so many birdgirls in the region. I could go on, but we were supposed to speak in private.”

Felife nodded, a smile rising to her lips as she looked at the crowgirl. “There is somewhere we can go. And someone you should meet for this discussion.”

She coughed. “Once they’re finished, I mean. I don’t meant to rush you.”

Felife stared at the wolfgirls who had managed to remove his crotchplate and were very enthusiastically rubbing themselves against his enlarged cock. While he hadn’t intended the spell to have that effect, it was a natural side-effect. Apparently, the Vierfach liked this.

Despite their enthusiasm, Lyle canceled his spell and let his genitals return to their usual size. The Vierfach whined and asked for their new “puppy-maker” back, but he ignored them. It had been distracting to talk while they lavished their affections on him, and he needed to remain focused until he finished with the birdgirls.

They’d tried to capture him once. For all he knew, this was another attempt.

Felife led him to a different patch of forest to the north. She left behind the crowgirl, saying that she had no use for her anymore.

The trees appeared to be devoid of importance. A slime slithered out from a log in the distance, trying to sneak a peek at Lyle.

“If you give me a moment, I can—” Felife began to say.

“The house is up there.” Lyle pointed up at a seemingly random part of the canopy. “The magical wards you’re using to illusion it are impressive, however.” Another thing to add to his list of oddities. Magic of this caliber was typically the realm of elite spellcasters—lamias, dark slimes, dragons and the like.

The Vierfach sniffed the air and let out a bark of approval. “I think you’re right. There’s some birdgirl scent that’s slightly stronger there. How’d you know, Lyle?”

“Yes, how?” Felife stared at him in a mixture of horror and shock.

Lyle didn’t speak. Instead, he let his crest glow and a purple light appeared in his hand.

“So that’s how you escaped,” she muttered. “I’ve met human mages before. But you…” She stared at the light hovering above his hand. “This is different.”

“My crest is old,” he said. He didn’t bring up his family history, or his connection to the Priestess.

“Maybe. But I’ve seen intricate crests before,” she said. “Arrogant mages make amazing breeding stock, especially once the corruption turns their frail, scrawny bodies into something better. You’re no mage.”

“No, I’m not,” he said. “Now let’s meet whoever is hiding up there.”

Felife accepted his attempt to end the conversation and carried him into the canopy. He didn’t see whatever trick she used to get through the illusion, but right before they struck the tree, his vision shifted.

A small wooden house appeared in front of him, with a platform for them to land on outside. It was built into the tree and was only slightly larger than the malformed trunk.

Lyle noticed there was a window and stared inside. The curtains on the window were drawn the one side, allowing him to see the occupant of the house.

“If you’ll give me a moment, I’ll step inside and let Itria know you’re here,” Felife said, facing Lyle.

“You may want to move fast,” Lyle said, pointing through the window. The Vierfach giggled at what they saw.

- - - - - - -

Commentary: A shorter chapter this time. I'm still adding in more details on the magic system.

Messengers will see the deleted crowgirl sex scene go up shortly. It was cut as she's not a relevant character (and there's a sex scene next chapter anyway).