There was a commotion in the forest. More of a commotion than these last two nights. The large baboon had rallied the others and they were now running through the forest in a single group. They circled my last kill with an ever-increasing radius and would get close to the walls in a few more rounds. If my assumption was correct, that was when they would run up the tunnel to the goblin village. I did not want that to happen.

If these monkeys ran in there single file a lot of goblins would die. Their wooden barrier might hold against a group of smaller baboons but the alpha could crack it in a few hits at most. At least judging by how it ripped through the trees in its way. I had two options. Tell the goblins to evacuate, or somehow stop the monkeys. Technically I could run away or hide, but I felt like this might have been caused by my actions. I also wanted the levels.

My initial plan looked very similar to before. Group up with the monkeys and rely on [Mingling] to hide in the crowd. Only going for the attack would be far more dangerous. The alpha was not just way bigger and probably a lot tougher, it also led the group from the centre. I had no path of escape after landing a strike.

For now, I simply flew above the group and kept myself hidden with [Owl’s Shadow]. There was a faint hope of an opportunity coming up. It did not come. The Monkeys were closing in on the tunnel to the goblin village. They came upon the camp and the first few baboons were pushed into the wooden stakes by the rest of their group. This only served to agitate them further. The alpha smashed the spiky logs apart with wild swings of its arms. Splinters flew everywhere. Soon the monkeys were on the move again.

This time I went into the group and acted like them. We were moving into the tunnel. I was near the end of the group and a desperate option came to my mind. What if I took out a monkey at the back? Would that turn the group around? Luckily there was an easy target. I sidled up to the smallest baboon at the very back of the group and struck.

~ding~ You have taken out your chosen target. Experience awarded.

~ding~ [Assassin] reached level 17. 1 Attribute Point awarded.

Quickly retreating, I waited for the group to come after me. But they did not. The group simply rumbled on. I realized immediately I had been too efficient. My kill was so quick, the monkey did not even scream. The others had no chance to notice they lost another of their own. So I went for another. This time I started with an [Identify] just as I shot towards its back. The monkey turned around and let out a growling roar. I flinched a little, but my talons still made their way into its face. Cut up and bleeding the baboon swiped at me. A claw clipped my wing and ripped through a few feathers. Then I was past it and landed on the next monkey.

This time I pushed off its back immediately and turned around. My previous target was confused and screaming at the shadow that had taken its eyes out. On my pass back I dug into its neck and finished it off. Then I rushed back down the tunnel as fast as my wings carried me. The commotion behind me grew. They were following me!

‘Well, shit. Why am I doing this again? Right, I riled them up even more. Gotta fix the problems you caused.’

I reached the cave after a few moments. The monkeys were following me like a tidal wave of bodies. At least now I had enough vertical space to work with. I rose and looked behind me. The baboons swelled out of the tunnel entrance and rushed into the forest. The alpha was at their rear. There were a lot fewer monkeys than I expected. Almost half of them had not heard the commotion. Or maybe the alpha told them to continue down the tunnel.

I was safe for now, but the goblins would be attacked. I considered helping them but decided to instead keep an eye on the cave. If they went back up the tunnel I would pick off some targets at the back again and make them turn around. I found a crevice overlooking the goblin camp and settled down for some rest. The best outcome would be the monkeys exhausting themselves completely. Then I could get my shot at the alpha.

I recovered for about an hour. First I spent some time [Preening] to straighten out my feathers and then I simply watched the monkeys’ movements. They kept in a group around the alpha, though they were slightly more spread out. As time went on, they turned less and less frantic. Exhaustion was seeping in. My time would come soon.

I took off again to keep a closer look at the alpha. The monkeys around it were moving mostly on the ground instead of jumping from branch to branch like before. Most of them were panting and some had their eyes half-closed. Only the alpha itself was still energetic. I considered letting them return to their territory. There was not much of a reason to kill these monkeys. Yes, levels were great, but I did not want to be a heartless killer.

I asked myself. Why had I attacked the monkeys in the first place? There was the juvenile that attacked our scouting group. And then I heard they would exhaust themselves and thought I could grab some levels. So I already was a heartless killer? There was doubt in my heart. These were animals. Maybe you could even call them monsters. They were a threat to my new home, to my territory. I wanted them to stay away. Maybe there was no need to kill all of them. I could however find a reason to kill the alpha. Without its lead, the area would be a lot safer.

I had to set some rules for myself. For now, I decided only on this one. As an [Assassin], once I had decided on a target, I would kill it. All my other rules could be set about how to decide on a target. This meant I would kill the alpha. I had decided. And so I got to it.

The monkeys would have to cross the river in order to return to their cave. I would go for my attack there. With how exhausted they were I expected little resistance anyway, but having them weighed down by water would make it a lot easier to get out afterwards. For the alpha itself, I did not expect to kill it in a single quick strike like the other baboons. Its neck was too thick to get through with a single strike from the side. If I knew more about baboon biology I could have gone for some important blood vessel or other vital areas. Maybe they had one under the arm, like humans, but I decided on its throat. If I could get it to look up somehow such a strike would be easy and most certainly deadly.

There was only the issue of getting it to look up while being in a position to strike myself. For this, I decided to go with a simple rock. A small piece of stone dropped from high enough onto its head would surely draw the baboon’s attention. I could accelerate downwards alongside it and arrive at just about the same time. And even if I was unable to stop my fall the river would catch me.

I had another few minutes before the alpha would reach the crossing so I practised dropping a stone on some of the other monkeys. This was a good decision. Even with my high Dexterity, it took me some attempts to reliably hit their heads. For the alpha, I decided to pick up two stones. If the first one missed I should be able to see that early enough and abandon my attempted strike to get another one in before it crossed the river.

Finally, it was time. The alpha baboon stepped up to the river as I drew slow circles above it. As it stepped in, one of the normal monkeys slipped in the water. The alpha grabbed it by its tail and tossed it onto the opposite shore. Just as it set to step forward again something hard hit its head. It turned its eyes upwards and roared as a shadowy shape flitted by its mouth only to sink sharp talons into its throat to cut off the noise.

A splash sounded out right after and I struggled to push myself out of the water I had just dropped into. The dampened bubbling and rushing was met with another crashing splash as the alpha's body dropped forward behind me. Something gripped my feet and tugged me backwards. I flapped my wings and broke through the surface. Flexing my talons loosened the grip on my feet and the next moment I held onto the baboon’s arm instead. When I noticed the monkey’s head was submerged in the stream I pulled myself towards it and dragged my dripping feathers out of the water. Its back was barely high enough to give me a small island to stand on in the middle of the river. A few twitches forced me to step back and forth to keep my balance but after a few moments, the movement stopped.

~ding~ Congratulations! For successfully defending your chosen territory from a large threat you have gained bonus experience!

~ding~ You have reached level 7. Attribute points allocated.

~ding~ You have taken out your chosen target. Experience awarded.

~ding~ [Assassin] reached level 19. 2 Attribute Points awarded.

Wow! That was a lot! Status!

Species: Great Eagle Owl (fledgeling)

Age: 0

Name: Fio

Gender: female

Status: sapient, slightly wounded, mana enriched (minor)

Level: 7

Class: [Assassin lvl 19], -

Strength: 10

Constitution: 9

Dexterity: 20

Perception: 21

Intelligence: 15

Wisdom: 13

AP: 0

Skills:

Racial:

Utility: [Owl Senses lvl 3], [Preening lvl 3], [Owl Stomach lvl 3], [Soundless Flight lvl 3]

Offensive: [Solid Grip lvl 3], [Intimidating Screech lvl 2], [Owl’s Shadow lvl 4], [Aerial Combat lvl 2],

General:

[Maths lvl 4], [Identify lvl 3],

Assassin:

[Sneak lvl 4], [Surprise Attack lvl 4], [Mingling lvl 2]

I had gotten a lot from this. A point each in Strength and Constitution from my race level, Attribute Points, which I immediately dumped into Wisdom and even a level in [Surprise Attack]. From a single kill! It was definitely worth going for more difficult targets.

A questioning whimper ripped me out of my thoughts. Oh crap, there were other monkeys around. As I looked around, soaking wet wings impossible to take off with, I noticed a few baboons sitting on the shore and slowly edging away. They were scared of me. I looked around and produced some more shadows. By now I was able to extend them to my surroundings just like father had. They would dissipate sooner the further they were from my body but I could just pump out more. I was exhausted however and opted to just create some floating tendrils to increase my apparent size. Combining that with [Intimidating Screech] was the last straw and any baboon still around ran for its life.