Edit: 4/21/21 (lots repaired)

Chapter 9.2 – Sakura’s First Adventure Fight, Flight, or Fall

            The spider fought the guardian bird fiercely by dodging all but a few bites. It was taking those in the legs. But in the end it spun just enough thread over the head to obstruct the penguin’s sight. Then it bit the bird in the neck and under the arm before felling one of these giant birds.

            The slime suffocated and burned the birds head till it died. And it was the fastest and most efficient hunter because it didn’t even have to hunt the bird. It was merely launched at the group and clung on to the first head it hit. Only pausing long enough to cheer “Victory is slime!!!”. But then becoming a little bothered as Sakura seems to have vanished from sight.

            After the slime, and spider have both achieved victory over a mountain penguin the worm eventually showed up and discovered a few eggs mixed in the local rocks. It would have felt even greater achievements if it wasn’t so far behind everyone else in this. To make matters worse the spider and slime were both concerned because Sakura had disappeared into the sky with the flock of penguin. And then they noticed a massive Eagle swooping through the air currents. The Mighty Mountain Eagle in one cry caused the flock of penguins to feel absolute horror.

            Squawk, Squawk, Squawk, the sound echoes off the nearby mountain edges. Sakura’s knuckles have gone white as she clings on to the cord she wrapped the bird with. And before the fear could really settle in she sees sky above, and far distant ground below. The wind wildly whips her hair about behind her, and she squints her eyes in the force of the wind.  Sakura and the penguin are struggling in the air for just moments when the two are attacked from above. It feels like she’s being crushed into a fatty pillow to the point of suffocation. The extreme pressure of the eagle’s talons over the majority of her body started to contort her form threatening to crush it or break bones over the core.   

            With a deafening screech the eagle cries over a good hunt. It glides and flaps out toward the nest. In a few moments the penguin stops breathing and falls completely limp. This only makes a little room for Sakura but not enough to make a difference.

            Sakura reaches out with her mind instructing her servants to quickly devour everything, and return to her as soon as possible. She’s unsure of where she will end up, but they should be quick to bring back anything that will help. They comply leaving bones to the slime, fleshy stuff for the spider and the worm gobbles down what eggs it sees.

            After a few moments Sakura extends out small veins into the penguin to absorb whatever she can from it. While this is a far less effective mechanism to consume the bird it’s the best she can do to replenish her mana.

            In less than minutes Sakura was disturbed from her work when she was literally dropped with no warning and plummeted through the sky. After several seconds she came to a crashing halt as the penguins body exploded into smaller chunks on a pile of bone and debris. This shocked Sakura’s core even inside her body.

            No sooner did she recover from the momentary stun she realized she’s laying in the corpse of the penguin and all the other kills from this eagle. The bones of animals, monster, and men litter the ground of this mountain eagle’s nest.

            Her eyes fly across the surroundings looking for both threat and weapons. Nearby is not only a little armor that was torn open but the hilt to a weapon this soldier used in life. But just behind that is a fluffy lump of feathers that starts to move. The feathers fluff up and a head rises up from the other side to rotate around and big round golden eyes look down on the fresh kill that’s no more than 15 feet from the rear of this baby mountain eagle.

            Sakura tries to spring into action going for a weapon, any weapon to fight this baby bird off. But as soon as she starts to move her left arm throbs with pain and makes her pause for just a moment before pushing forward.

            The baby bird lets out a thankful squawk to mama bird as it turns around to face the fresh food.

            Sakura knows the bird could overtake the armor and weapon in just a moment. So with no time to lose she makes a few steps and leaps to cover the distance. It was just enough and she gets her hand on the weapon hilt.

            Success!!!

            Squawk…  food that wants to be eaten. Yeay.  CHOMP!

            The big hard beak slams Sakura in the back and side expecting to get a mouth full, but it’s caught up in something tough. So the bird lifts and slams, then tosses the food in hopes to tear it apart.

            Sharp pain punctures Sakura in the back and side, but she clings to that hilt as she’s plucked from the ground. She is quickly slammed against the ground then tossed worse than a rag doll. When she comes to a stop her finger tips confirm that she’s holding onto something. She rolls over and tries to get to her feet. Her left arm just below the wrist is dangling off in a grotesque manor. Standing is just as hard because her left knee isn’t where it should be so it’s not supporting the weight correctly. If her body was completely human or her mind was this could be the breaking point. The ends of the beak punctured through the thick layers of webbing that wrapped her body and if there was enough pressure her core could have been crushed.

            Raising the hilt Sakura can see a sword not very long but beautiful and simple in its design. Curly and ivy like patterns decorate the hilt and the metal has an unnatural shine to it. The metal is identified as one of the rare Elvin works called “mithril or moon metal”. Sakura lifts her purple tail and it twitches in challenge and excitement to the baby bird.

            Baby bird stares at the food that won’t be eaten and is becoming upset. It bit the food mama gave but it wouldn’t be eaten. Now the food is acting threatening. Even worse that movement like the food is taunting or insulting baby bird. The baby bird’s feathers are heckled and it raises the wings exceeding a span of fifteen feet. It glairs down on this pathetic food with its big round golden eyes and lets loose a shriek. “NOW I EAT!!!!!!!”

            Sakura being nearly rooted to the spot watches as the baby bird postures, then charges. While the baby isn’t as fast as she is, its strength is overwhelming compared to her body. In a few short strides the two collide. Pecking, pecking, and more pecking. Sakura swings the sword at the head, and she’s deflected instead from its size and brute force. She stumbles back the first two times. But she understands she must turn the attack aside and not be there to receive it.  Deflection is an easy concept, but much harder to do in a body.

            The beak and sword ring in the air stroke by stroke. When the baby bird is enraged with a headache it bludgeons Sakura in the side of the head with the bones of its oversized wing. Sakura tumbles and rolls from the power of the blow.

            Screech it roars as it chases down the food that pisses it off. Step by powerful step. The baby bird bears down on Sakuras' thrown body. Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp comes the inevitable clash.

            Rolling and tumbling Sakura gets to her knees and hands. With sword grasped tightly she looks up at the charging bird. She waits for just a moment and prepares to leap straight at it.

            It is painful but she leaps directly under the body of the baby bird. She lands on her back between the bird’s feet.  ((( Snap))) echoes the beak right behind Sakura. She holds the sword with her hand and body and plunges it up under the bird’s body between the leg and torso. If the bird collapses then it would only bury it in more. Or else it should at least hobble it.

            The bird screams in pain, and before it could collapse it gives a mighty push to try and lift off this painful thorn that has just been plunged into its body. With the last effort it heaves over to the side to scream and squirm while kicking wildly.

            Sakura’s body is hit before she could roll away with the weapon and it rakes her up the back of her legs. But she gets to her feet. She takes in the flailing movement pattern of the baby bird and chooses the neck. In seconds she leaps back into the bleeding fluff ball of a baby bird and right into the neck feathers. She plunges the blade up at an angle with the feathers burying her body in with the blow into the bird.

            With a final exaggerated cry the baby bird convulses, shakes, and then all falls still for less than a dozen heart beats.

_CRASH!!

            Bones, bodies, a torrent of wind, and blood fly past Sakura because the mama bird came to face the threat to her baby.

            “Well isn’t this a bunch of goblin shit….” Sakura says as she tries to stand for the encounter.

            SNAP!!! Pops near Sakuras left ear as mama bird bit off most of her arm. And pain washes across her body. Sakura tries to leap aside to the sound of another.

            SNAP!!! And another wash of pain hits Sakura. Most of her left leg and part of her tail was taken off.

            In a last ditch effort Sakura curls up around the sword. And almost on cue.

SNAP!!

            Mama bird’s beak closed the last time and Sakura vanished from the mountain side.

            The birds’ throat made a sound, gulp.

            In mid motion of gulp the bird made a cough sound. A moment later the bird made a choking sound, and tried to gulp again. For long moments the Mountain Eagle tries to screech, and shriek. But it chokes, and gasps. The bird flounders around in the nest and eventually raises up the head high to call but all that comes out is trails of blood. The neck finally is punctured in multiple spots. Blood trails out of each puncture wound before it lets out a final garble sound and falls flat on the ground. It wheezes a few times then eventually stops breathing.

            Schlop, cutting, tearing, and then a plopping sound is heard. From a gaping neck wound Sakura falls out of the neck with icicle chunks.  Her remaining arm drags the sword with her all the way to the ground.

            “Ha, Ha, ha…. Ha ha ha..” Sakura laughs in a somewhat maniacal way. Relief, excitement, and new energy pour into Sakura’s core. Mine, all this energy is mine now. You damn oversized bird think you’re all that just cause your big.

            “Ha ha ha ha ha ha…”  she laughs more as the blood pools up around her on the ground. She eagerly sends out veins from her torn limbs and it starts to absorb the fresh blood and corpse of her kills.

            Slight reddish steam rises as the barrels of blood seem to evaporate. Sakura’s energy pool swells but just as quickly as she can it is cycled over to mana. More veins grow from her open wounds as well as a purple mist to solidify to bone and muscle. Bit by bit she replaces her missing body parts, and heals the cuts.

            Silently she apologizes to her master for taking all the life here, but remembers that he said he would understand if there are times when you just have to protect yourself. Still this is a fast way to get energy, but it’s rather dangerous and difficult. Not to mention this is a case of more than a little self sacrifice.

            Hours later the worm riding the slime being pulled by the spider eventually rendezvous with Sakura. After sharing their tails of what happened they decide it would be best to get down off the mountain. Before worse things happen. Maybe they should just start heading to a human settlement. However this time they leave no bones in the area or bodies. Not from the mountain eagles and none of the bones left from the eagles’ food. They gathered functioning belts, bits of clothing, bags, a few weapons, some scrap iron that was left over and what survived the weather.

            It begins with one step.

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