The Habitat Incident

After a brief moment of blaming Lily for her lackluster scouting, Ensi quickly put distance between himself and the valley.

Being near the water meant there was no proper cover. He had no intention of washing up defenseless in terrain that gave every advantage to a flying Harpy.

Ensi moved silently and swiftly. With footsteps as light as if he were weightless, he vanished into the densely wooded area. Once hidden, he double-checked his belongings. A change of clothes, a towel, a water purification artifact, and a dagger.

He already knew, but facing the grim reality without any surprises made him sigh.

‘A dagger against a winged, aerial monster?’ This was practically a death sentence.

A true knight might have a way out, but he was no knight. Having taken up the sword out of necessity and merely continuing the act, his skills were fundamentally lacking. He needed a proper weapon—either a bow or a sword—but the question was whether he could return to camp without being detected.

Thinking positively, if that screech had just been a yawn from a drowsy Harpy, he might make it back safely. It would mean it hadn’t spotted him yet.

Whoosh—!

“…Right, of course not.”

How often do wild animals make loud noises for no reason? Monsters were the same. They rarely revealed their presence so loudly without a cause. Which meant…

‘Just you wait, Lily. I’m going to have words with you when I get back.’

The Harpy had already locked onto him.

The distance had closed enough that he could feel the wind from its wings. A piercing gaze pricked the back of his head, as if it could bore a hole through his skin. He felt the Harpy’s cunning—it was waiting for its “mouse” to move first. And its greed.

If the Harpy wanted to, it could use its massive body to wreck the surroundings or use its sharp, hard feathers to precisely fell the trees. The fact that it was just watching meant it didn’t want its habitat ruined. Harpies were notoriously sensitive to environmental changes near their nests, so his guess was likely correct.

‘I might be able to use this.’

The goal was simple: satisfy the monster’s hunting instinct while minimizing provocation. He felt bad for his teammates, but he had to lure the Harpy back to camp to get his hands on a real weapon.

Having decided, Ensi moved without delay. No matter how much patience a monster had for its territory, it was still a monster. He couldn’t know when its thin thread of restraint would snap.

“Kii—, kiik.”

‘What now?’

Ensi could tell the cry meant something different than usual, but he didn’t have time to decipher it. With just a few flaps of its wings, the Harpy was right on him.

Thwack—!

A feather embedded itself into the ground with a sharp sound, despite the mud from the rain. It landed exactly where Ensi had been about to step. It seemed the Harpy wanted to control his escape route. Irritation flared; if he only had his bow, or even a sword, he wouldn’t be in this pathetic state.

Fortunately, the camp wasn’t far. Lily must have heard the screech, so he trusted that the others were ready by now.

“Ensi! Over here!”

“Kyooooh—!”

Lily’s voice brought a look of relief to Ensi’s face. At the Harpy’s shifting cry, he spun halfway around. Locking eyes for the first time with the Harpy as it craned its neck to shriek, Ensi reflexively threw his dagger.

“Kii-aaaak!”

The dagger cut through the fog and sliced the Harpy’s thick eyelid. As a searing, burning pain surged, the Harpy thrashed, letting out a cry that sounded eerily human.

“Gasp! I think that dagger was expensive…!”

‘If you were just going to throw it away, you should’ve given it to me!’

Ensi ignored Lily’s typical remark and patted her shoulder as he snatched the bow from her and immediately retreated to the rear.

“Agniele!”

Agniele, who had been flawlessly parrying the rain of feathers from above to buy Ensi time, took cover only after confirming Ensi had reached a safe distance.

“I’ll aim for the wing joints. Cover me.”

“Roger that! Agniele, I’m going in first!”

“What? Wait, Florence!”

Agniele reached out as Lily charged without a proper signal, but he had to steady himself as a gust of wind nearly knocked him over. Grunting, Agniele drew the Harpy’s attention while Lily moved with the agility of a possessed cat. She wove through the falling feathers and kicked off a tree near the monster.

“Ensi!”

As Lily leaped toward the Harpy, swinging her sword, the monster—realizing the sword it had been ignoring might actually land—flapped its wings and ascended higher. Just as Lily clicked her tongue and retracted her sword while mid-air, a hail of sharp arrows shot out from the dense trees.

“Kiyo!”

The Harpy felt the arrows approaching and let out a sonic pulse from its throat, warping their trajectory. Simultaneously, it launched feathers at the falling Lily and folded its wings to attempt a vertical dive.

“Florence, move the other way!”

“I haven’t learned the Sky-Step yet!”

“Sky-what?”

Basically, she meant she couldn’t. Lily deflected the feathers with her sword but bit her lip, unable to think of a way to dodge the plummeting Harpy. Seeing her struggle, Agniele made a split-second decision. He kicked off a tree to climb upward, mirroring her approach but staying on the opposite side of Ensi’s arrows.

Hidden among the trees, Ensi realized Agniele’s intent and notched his arrows. ‘One won’t be enough… then…’

He notched three arrows at once and took a deep breath. He discarded his emotions and cleared his mind.

“Now!”

Focusing solely on the target, he released the string at Agniele’s signal—even though the Harpy’s body blocked his view of his teammate.

Twang—!

With a crisp sound, the arrows curved on different trajectories toward the Harpy. Simultaneously, Agniele struck from the other side. Caught between the two, the monster shrieked in frustration, gave up on Lily, and regained altitude. As the Harpy retreated, the arrows surged toward Agniele, but he calmly parried them and landed on the ground.

“It’s dangerous to charge in recklessly. We have to coordinate.”

Agniele warned Lily, who had landed a step ahead of him.

“Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to test the Harpy’s level.”

“Florence.”

“Yes, sir. No more impulsive actions.”

Knowing she was in the wrong, Lily gave a sharp answer and followed Agniele’s orders without further complaint.

Meanwhile, the Harpy searched diligently for Ensi. Specifically, it wanted to eliminate the annoying source of the arrows. It chirped in frustration as the dense trees blocked its vision. The wings supporting its massive weight were beginning to ache; it was time to return to safety and rest.

Sensing it was at a disadvantage the longer the fight lasted, the Harpy’s eyes suddenly gleamed. ‘If the trees are in the way, why not just get rid of them?’

Reaching a simple conclusion, it soared higher and higher. To knock down those countless trees, it needed a powerful impact. That required speed, which required distance.

Driven by experience, the Harpy performed a vertical dive. Agniele, realizing the intent, shouted at the top of his lungs.

“—Ensius! Get out of there!”

Ensi, hearing Agniele’s desperate cry from a distance, didn’t hesitate and jumped from the tree.

BOOM—!

Less than a minute had passed, but the Harpy that had soared into the sky slammed into the earth. The impact uprooted trees that had stood for decades and overturned the grassy soil.

“Whoa, it does body slams too?”

‘Is this a Poke-mon or something?’

Lily’s strange remarks aside, Agniele, who had escaped the impact zone, frantically scanned for Ensi.

“Agniele, what are you doing? Move!”

The Harpy was staggering from the shock of the collision. It looked like it couldn’t take flight immediately. Lily, seeing her chance, raised her sword.

“What about Ensius—?”

“Ensi is obviously fine. He’s the fastest person among us.”

Ensi was so fast it almost felt like magic. Trusting that he couldn’t have failed to escape, she lunged at the Harpy. Unlike Lily, Agniele hesitated, biting his lip, but eventually followed her to finish the monster.

The staggering Harpy felt the killing intent and squeezed its vocal cords to release another sonic wave. Agniele and Lily protected their ears with mana and pressed forward. The monster flapped its wings to fire feathers and create strong winds, trying to buy time to fly again.

Lily clicked her tongue as the approach took longer than expected. ‘If we lose it now, this subjugation is going to drag on.’ They were still unskilled at infusing their swords with mana; the longer it took, the more disadvantaged they became.

As if her fears were coming true, the Harpy’s body began to lift off the ground. Just as Lily’s brow furrowed at the thought of the upcoming struggle…

Thwack—!

“Gyaaaaak!”

An arrow out of nowhere pierced the Harpy’s already wounded eye. The monster, unable to withstand the sudden surge of pain, stumbled and crashed back into the dirt.

“Nice one, Ensi!”

Lily’s frown vanished into a bright smile. Not missing the moment while the monster gasped for air, Lily and Agniele channeled their remaining mana into their blades.

In that instant, they sensed each other’s movements through pure instinct. As if on a shared signal, they lunged. Lily’s sword severed the right wing, while Agniele’s blade cut through the Harpy’s neck.

“Is it over!?”