Unsafe Working Conditions : A He Who Fights With Monsters 6+ Companion Story

Chapter 29 - Magical Amazon Packages

 Henri focused on sensing the life forces around him. With the recent experience of his senses leading them into a dangerous situation, he was not as confident as before. He was holding the pistol they looted from the snake in the compound they arrived in, and his other hand was holding the summoned needles he was most comfortable with.

The life essence he felt in the area was dispersed and muted, like a fog with no distinct focus, but there were areas that were muggy and others that were thin. One of the crystals seemed to be emitting a stronger feeling of life as he approached it, nothing seemed to set it apart visually or magically. Henri threw the needles in his hand at the crystal, instead of exploding like he expected the needles were rebuffed while the crystal flashed an electric blue. The needles were reduced to puffs of rainbow smoke.The strength of the life essence in the crystal dispersed.

Henri continued on but barely made it three meters before his attention was brought back to the crystal as flashes of light began emanating from it. Insects were assaulting the crystal, each one striking it, causing it to emit a flash, at which point the insect was rendered into rainbow smoke. Henri raised an eyebrow before returning to his survey of the area.

Liam held his shotgun in a relaxed grip to his side, his sword was held out in the direction he was facing, his grip was firm and strong but not tight. As he moved into the dark area between two cavities that crystals were in before being mined he was attacked by something that could only be described as a turtle squirrel. His reaction was to bat it away with the flat of the blade followed by raising his shotgun and firing it, the flechettes buried themselves into its body.

Liam started to pick up his pace. The area they were in was much larger than he initially thought. The shadows he thought were caused by mining were actually openings into other chambers. He was peering into one when a screech that made his teeth ache blasted into him, the ringing in his ears reaffirming that it was an attack. Squinting through the tears in his eyes he saw something yellow moving in his direction at speed, and he dove to the side.

Rolling to his feet he looked for whatever had passed him, fumbling at his feet to pick up his weapons he caught sight of movement of something green disappearing into the shadows. Liam kept searching for the yellow creature and started to make his way towards Henri, concentrating he used his synapse nexus gift to send the description to Henri.

Not long afterwards Henri responded that there was a green bat attacking him with dive bombs. Liam began to run towards the direction that Henri should be in, careful to keep an eye out for the yellow bird.

Henri was having trouble hiding from the flying menace, the crystals around him were washing all of the shadows in blue light so his dark skin and clothes had the effect of making him stand out. The creature would attach itself to the side of a stalactite and open its wings into the shape of a satellite dish before its beak blasted him with sound. The force of the sound waves were enough to cause the ground to crack, and dust devils were sent chasing each other along the floor.

Some of the crystals cracked, causing brilliant light to shine like a camera flash. In one of these flashes, Henri realized the bat was not a bat but a yellow bird type creature. He crouched behind an outcropping and sent the thought to Liam, "The green bat is a yellow bird, come quick." Henri summoned his needles in one hand, exiting his protection he threw a wind blast at the creature followed by a needle. The bird let go of its perch and dodged the wind blast, a beat of its wings deflected the needle. Henri was ill-equipped to handle this creature. He retrieved the pistol from his belt and tried to fire it at the bird, the shots struck the body of it but did not do any damage that he could see. The creature must have resistance to resonating force damage or some other ability that negated the projectiles that he could use.