Once Arthur removed the core of the beast from the bird he walked back to its nest. It didn’t take long because he had memorized the path there.

‘I hope the birds haven’t noticed yet. It hasn’t been too long, and I waited to attack when we were out of range. Though that first [Plasma Bolt] was pretty loud. I would say that fight went much better. Ambushing it was the way to go. I should make sure to ready [Mana Shield] next time so I can focus on attacking.’

When Arthur returned to the nest he found a spot to hide as usual and scanned the birds with [Life Aura]. They still sat in their nest huddled together waiting for their now dead friend to return.

‘I need to destroy their nest in one go to force them out and get their attention. There are a lot of branches in the way, so I need to overcharge my attack and send two maybe more in rapid succession. I’ll be giving up my defense for a bit during the initial ambush, but it should work out fine.’

Arthur adjusted his position and prepared his attacks. Holding the spells in his mind he let more mana than needed into the spells. The beginnings of the spells formed in his hands, and he looked up and aimed them before letting the spells go.

“[Fireball], [Fireball]].”

The two spells shot towards the purple-streaked shrieking bird’s nest with twice the diameter and noticeably more heat. Arthur had to step back after firing and felt his metal strain with the sudden change in temperature.

The birds first felt the heat before its effects came to them. They looked down and shrieked with terror as the attack hurtled towards them. The first fireball hit the nearby branches and the base of the tree the nest was in before exploding and starting a fire. The second one arrived shortly after and destroyed the area of the tree around the nest further which caused the nest made mostly of dry plant matter to catch fire.

Arthur took in a metaphorical deep breath as he pulled mana into himself after the last attack. He watched as the two healthier birds flew up and out of the way in time to survive the blast while only suffering first-degree burns.

The other two weren’t so lucky with the fire. The first fell out of the nest as it burned and was unable to fly as it flailed and fell one hundred feet down. The numerous branches helped slow it’s fall but also it's suffering while it stayed in the burning zone for longer. It also fired off its lighting attacks sporadically while trying to cling to life. The second got caught in the middle of the blast and burned quickly in the fire.

The two uninjured birds hovered in the air unsure of what to do.

‘I could let them go. I can get what I came for, but they humiliated me and took my finger as a prize. The heat from the fire melted the metal finger a bit, but I can still feel it resting on the forest floor now. I need to finish this fight quickly. I can’t let the fire get out of control’

Arthur watched them for a minute before jumping in the air.

“[Air Jump].” Which was followed up by “[Lightning Bolt]. How about you try your own powers for a change.”

Arthur jumped and floated upward towards the purple-streaked shrieking birds as he attacked. The two moved out of the way easily because they were so high up but they both shrieked back in provocation.

‘You are using our spells. We are the lighting birds. We must show you that we are superior,’ thought Arthur as the two birds fired off their spells.

The two worked together and lighting swirled around them like a shield before being launched towards Arthur. The spell hit Arthur, but he had [Mana Shield] prepared. The two spells interacted, and the lighting crackled as the shield split.

The interaction of the two spells surprised Arthur and pushed him back after shattering his shield. What little energy of the bird’s spell was left entered Arthur and caused him to seize up. He lost concentration for his [Air Jump] spell and fell to the forest floor with a thud. He inspected himself for damage while the birds prepared another attack.

They shrieked at him once more as they got a bit closer to him for their next attack.

‘Everything feels a bit slow after the lighting hit. Some of the wirings are frayed in places and it is now having a hard time transmitting a signal and providing power. I won’t be able to use another overcharged spell, but maybe I could try something else.’

Arthur thought back to when the purple-streaked shrieking birds worked together to cast the stronger spell and to how well Aria and Kendra used their magic together to create stronger effects.

“[Vine Trap], [Fungal Spore] Fusion!”

As he cast the two spells they overlapped in his mind and parts of both spells merged together and others amplified each other’s effects. The two-in-one spell glowed brighter and held a stronger intensity. Arthur emphasized the spell’s [Plant Growth] aspects to encourage the tree’s recovery so that the spell would be more effective while damaged from burns.

The trees reacted the same as the last time he cast [Vine Trap], but the trees changed in reaction to the spells changes. The smaller fires were quickly extinguished, and the branches extended their reach further. The purple-streaked shrieking birds noticed the changes in the trees and tried to drop down lower to avoid them. This was a grave mistake for them due to the spores.

It was then that all of the nearby trees affected by Arthur’s spell released the fungal spores. Openings in the knots of the trees grew in size before expounding its fungal contents into the air. Arthur felt no change to himself, but he watched as the birds did. During the fight, they had accumulated burns and scabs which now made them vulnerable to the spores.

The spores latched onto their body and with the trees creating so much, dust started to accumulate in the air and onto all three of their bodies along with the forest floor. Soon after this started the birds cried out in pain and stopped moving their wings causing them to collapse on the ground.

“[Plasma Bolt]”

Arthur quickly cast the spell and ended their suffering. He then repeated his actions from the previous fight and took out their cores before searching for his finger.

------

Initially, Arthur had been easy to track because of his large footsteps through the forest and the piles of twigs broken off of trees along the way. As they continued following him his tracks suddenly became harder to follow.

“This is strange,” said Lucas. “The way he moved through the forest here suddenly changed.”

“Can you still track him?” asked Aria.

“Yeah. He is still a giant piece of metal moving through the forest. Unless he is using nature magic to mask his tracks, and there is no indication that he knows how to do that, it is easy enough to follow.”

Lucas first caught sight of the fight from the smoke rising above the treetops. Lucas looked up at the smoke in the distance and then back to Aria. She nodded in response, and he turned back.

“Everyone follow me. Aria will be ready in case of an emergency. Stay a ways back from us as we go until we have confirmed the situation.”

The group followed Lucas and Aria. The pair of them sped up while the others jogged to the battle site. When Lucas arrived, he saw Arthur casting [Plant Growth] on the burning trees while searching for something. When he approached Arthur turned to look at them.

“Oh. Hi Lucas. I wondered how quickly you would show up. I knew it was likely that you would be waiting to jump in if I had any trouble, but don’t worry. I took care of them all on my own.”

Lucas looked around and the bodies of the purple-streaked shrieking birds and back to Arthur. “That’s right. We had brought people to help carry to back if needed, but I guess they aren’t needed today. You healed up much quicker than we anticipated. Let us bring you back so you can explain your fight to Zoe and get a checkup.”

“That is fine. I have some questions for Zoe, and I will ask her then.”

“I’m sure she or one of the other researchers can answer them for you and they will also have questions for you.” He turned to Aria. “Why don’t you help him take out the fires so we can get out of here quicker.”

“That’s fine by me,” said Aria. She cast a water spell that created a rain mist that in conjunction with Arthur’s previous spells hastened the removal of the fires.

“Lead the way,” said Arthur.