Bazel felt Risken tap his shoulder, he looked back and saw him pointing at some incoming harpies.

"Got it."

Bazel swung the Xanadu around and aimed at the gross creatures flying towards him. They were all flying in a close formation. He heard the sound of his gun load and pulled the trigger.

KA-BOOM!

The Xanadu rocked Bazel back with its recoil. Fire and smoke bellowed out, obscuring the view of their enemies. Risken jumped back with a shocked look, obviously not expecting the gun to be so loud.

《 Congratulations! You defeated a Feral Harpy (level 7)

300 Experience Points awarded

…

You defeated a Feral Harpy (level 7)

300 Experience Points awarded

…

You defeated a Feral Harpy (level 8)

340 Experience Points awarded 》

All three harpies thudded on the ground about ten feet away from them, their bodies mangled beyond recognition. Feathers rained down from the sky.

"That weapon is quite loud!" Risken shouted.

"Sorry," Bazel gave his friend a sheepish smile, "I probably should have warned you."

"What!?"

Samara nudged Bazel, "Eyes front, we have more incoming."

Two more harpies were diving towards the group, their cries an uncanny mixture of bird screeches and human screams.

"I'm not loaded yet!" Bazel said.

Samara didn't say anything, but put her shield up, and corralled Bazel and Risken behind her. They all ducked down as the harpies struck the shield in an attempt to claw at the humans with their taloned feet. Their claws clanged against the brass disc.

The harpies continued their flights and gained altitude. They circled around, preparing for another strike.

"How long does it take to prepare the gun?" Risken asked.

"Ten seconds." Bazel spoke over his shoulder.

"I may be able to help." Risken turned to Paris standing a few feet away, "Will the [Song of Hermes] decrease that time, Lady Paris?"

"Yes," she pulled her bow back and loosed an arrow, "It'll decrease the cooldown speed of all items and skills."

"Very well."

Bazel was more than a little excited to see Risken's skills in action. He couldn't fathom how poetry made things work faster.

Risken stood up straight and put his arms out, "Beset on all sides by flying horrors!"

Bazel heard his gun load and aimed it at the two harpies coming back around for another attack.

"Grotesque merging of woman and wing!"

Bazel pulled the trigger. Two more harpies died in an explosion of feathers and blood. Risken didn't pause in his speech.

"The hero Bazel stood firm against the monsters, and the blood curdling songs they sing!" Risken pointed at Bazel, "[Song of Hermes]!"

Bazel felt a rush of adrenaline. He felt lighter and faster, despite the weight he was carrying. Also, as soon as Risken finished using the skill, the Xanadu reloaded. Samara must have heard it, because she pointed to another group of three harpies coming in for an attack.

Bazel pointed his gun and fired. Three more harpies perished.

"Let's move!" Samara began walking.

As a group they moved towards the main street running through the town. The bulk of the harpy invasion seemed to be focused there. The monsters were breaking windows and flying into the buildings in search of food.

As they passed a shop, Bazel looked inside and saw a mess. The harpies had turned over furniture and broken shelves looking for something to eat. Merchandise littered the floor.

Bazel thought it strange that the harpies had enough intelligence to figure out that breaking into homes and businesses might score them food. Yet, they seemed to not realize that the townspeople had moved the food, and ransacked each building in their search.

A scream behind them made Bazel turn. He saw one of the harpies trying to carry off a grown man, flapping her wings while clutching his shoulders. The harpies were the size of a normal person, there was no way they could carry things heavier than themselves.

"I will assist him." Risken said.

He ran over to the harpy and used his cutlass to slice one of her wings. She let go of the man and cried out while trying to claw at Risken. He easily dodged her attacks – stepping lightly from side to side and turning his upper body, as if dancing. He waited for an opening and ran his sword through her chest.

The man Risken had just helped shouted a quick "thank you!" and ran back inside. Risken jogged back over next to Bazel.

"You think they would try to eat people?" Bazel asked.

"It seems a possibility," Risken nodded, "if they are truly desperate."

"Look out!"

Samara pushed both of them out of the way and got her shield over her head. Something clanged off of the brass disc and hit the ground beside her.

It was a rock.

While the harpies might not be able to carry off an adult human, they could still carry heavy things. The rock would have crushed the skull of whoever it hit, and neither Bazel or Risken were wearing helmets.

Bazel looked up and saw more of the harpies flying towards them carrying large stones.

"We should run!" Bazel shouted.

Everyone ran down the street as the harpies flew in overhead and dropped the stones. They crashed into the brick street making small impact craters, and sending debris into the air. Bazel weaved side to side as he ran hoping the monster's couldn't predict where he would be. Stones fell in front of and behind them as they ran.

The three of them rounded a corner and pushed themselves against the wall of the building. A couple more rocks impacted the street near them, and then it stopped. Bazel looked up expecting to see the harpies circling the town, but the skies were clear. The screeching of the monsters faded into the distance.

"They're retreating," Samara said, looking to the sky.

The main street was devastated. Rocks littered the street, and broken glass was everywhere.

The group walked through the town to make sure all the harpies were actually gone. The buildings along the main drag were heavily damaged, but that was the extent of it. A few people caught up in the attack had been hurt by the creature's large talons, Risken gathered a group of the injured together in the street.

"The winged menace did not fail," Risken held his hand out with the other pressed to his chest, "to leave the town in ruins, but though the damage there was great, the people were whole and hale. [Soothing Song]!"

Green light flowed out of him and enveloped the whole group of people – about a dozen in all. They watched in amazement as their wounds healed before their eyes and then talked over each other to offer their thanks to the prince. He bowed and excused himself.

"That was pretty neat!" Bazel said as Risken approached.

"The skill?" Risken nodded, "It is quite useful, but difficult to use in the midst of battle. It takes time to get anything useful from my skills."

Samara crossed her arms, "How does that work, anyway. The reciting poetry, I mean."

"The normal skill does not do much, [Soothing Song] only heals four points. But every line of poetry I say before using it doubles the amount, so…" Risken stroked his chin trying to work out the math.

"Sixty-four," Bazel said, "with four lines, it would double four to eight, eight to sixteen, then thirty-two, and finally sixty-four."

"Ah!" Risken clasped Bazel's shoulder, "Yes, you are correct Master Bazel!"

"And all your skills work like that?" Samara asked.

"Yes," Risken nodded, "all of them are weak by themselves, but as long as I take the time to make up a few lines of verse, they become strong."

"That's great!" Bazel said, "What other skills do you have?"

"Have a gander." Risken summoned his interface and turned it around so they could see.

《 Skills:

[Song of Hermes] - Boost the agility of you and your allies. Also makes items and skills refresh faster.

Cost: 25 Aether Boost Amount: 4 points, doubles for every verse spoken or sung Refresh Reduction: 1 second, plus one second for every verse spoken or sung

[Soothing Song] - Heal nearby allies with a song. Does not remove status effects.

Cost: 25 Aether Healing Amount: 4 points, doubles for every verse spoken or sung

[Vicious Taunt] - Stun your enemies by ruthlessly taunting them.

Cost 25 Aether Stun duration: 1 second, plus one second for every verse spoken or sung Resist: Intelligence 》

Bazel noticed that the [Song of Hermes] cut the reload time of his gun in half. If Risken had made up four more verses, it could have gone as low as one second. He decided to keep that in mind for later. While Risken's skills may not have seemed impressive at first glance, they could be powerful given the right opportunities.

Thinking about the balance of their team, Bazel realized something. Both him and Risken needed time to be of any use, and they had to rely on Samara to protect them until then. Bazel couldn't fire the Xanadu repeatedly without her protection and Risken couldn't speak while under assault.

Bazel liked being in a team with Samara, but he also wanted to be able to do things on his own.

"Hey Risken," Bazel put his hand up, "How were you fighting by yourself with just those skills?"

"With this." Risken made his cutlass appear from his inventory, "I am well-versed in the art of swordsmanship, having been trained by experts since my youth. This is my personal sword, but the dungeon recognizes it and it has its own description."

Risken changed the screen on his interface to display his sword's statistics.

《 Fancy Cutlass, Special

42-63(3) damage (slashing)

Causes bleeding effect

Requirements:

Level 1-10

10 Agility

10 Sense

"This sword was made by expert craftsmen, probably for a noble." 》

"I discovered that my agility stat made the damage increase and used the [Song of Hermes] to make it do more." He shrugged and put the sword away, "I had to dance around like a fool while making up verses until I could activate the skill, then I would stun the enemy using [Vicious Taunt] and strike a decisive blow."

So Risken used his natural skills and the ones granted to him by the dungeon in concert. Being quick on his feet allowed him to evade his enemy, while being eloquent allowed him to quickly make up verses. Once the [Song of Hermes] activated, the agility bonus would allow him to do an extra one hundred and ninety-two damage with even a simple sword. The [Vicious Taunt] skill could make the enemy stand still for a second, and that was all he needed to take them down.

But I don't have anything like that.

Bazel didn't have any skill in combat, and wasn't strong enough by himself to do much. The [Drain Strength] allowed him to wield the Xanadu, but it would still take ten seconds for him to be able to use it.

Using [Mesmerize] or [Entangle] could give him the time he needed, but they didn't always work against opponents.

"What are you thinking about?" Samara asked, leaning close to Bazel.

Bazel snapped out of his thoughts and turned to Samara.

"I was thinking about how I could do better in combat. I don't mind relying on you, but I should be a little more self-sufficient, I think."

Paris walked over and put her fists on her hips while nodding, "It's good to recognize your shortcomings. We can use that as a base for your training."

"What can I do?" Bazel asked.

"Let me see…" Paris tapped her chin while thinking, "You don't have much combat experience to begin with, and I don't want to spread you too thin, but it might behoove you to think about a secondary weapon. Also, your class has a lot of skills that can be used to render the enemy useless, mostly the drains."

"There's more than just [Drain Strength]?" Bazel asked.

"Yes," Paris nodded, "There's a Drain for every stat except Spirit, and also one that drains health. Swindler is mostly a skill based class."

Bazel considered that. If he could obtain all the drains, then he could remove the advantages that any enemy might have over him. That, combined with the manipulation skills like [Mesmerize] and [Entangle] could hobble his opponents quite a bit.

Like Paris said, they would be useless.

"But you will still have to train your body as well," Paris pointed to him, "Even with those skills, you need to be able to dodge attacks."

"Let's talk about this later," Samara pointed towards the gym building, "I think the mayor wants a word with us."

They turned to see Alexander approaching from that direction. He looked worried.

"Thank you for the help, heroes." The old man put his hands together, "We have been dealing with attacks like that often, and they seem to be increasing in frequency lately."

"The harpies nest is growing," Paris said, "and with it, the amount of food they need."

"Indeed," Alexander nodded and pointed towards the nearby mountains, "which is why we need you to exterminate them at the source."

Samara walked over and put her hand on the man's shoulder, "Don't worry, sir. Well do whatever it takes to destroy their nest."

Alexander bowed his head.

"Thank you."