The farther away he traveled from Gobéliard, the clearer the damages were. At one point it was transparent that nobody was living there anymore. The lone farms weren’t only worse from wear but downright collapsed. That’s when Edward encountered Harpies for the first time. A group of three Harpies were feeding from the corpse of a cow. From this distance, they look just like a murder of gigantic crows. They were ripping out shreds of flesh with disgusting wet noises. As Edward walked closer, they finally noticed his presence and shrieked in alarm. They moved in front of the corpse, their body crouched as if to proclaim it was their prey, enabling him to have a closer look.

Although Harpies were often described as a mix between women and birds, those monsters were leaning toward the feral side. They had two wings instead of arms, and their whole body was covered in feathers except for their face. They had yellow-slitted eyes watching him ferociously and their legs were ending with impressive talons.

Edward shook his head. In this world, maybe monsters had their place, but they were definitely overreaching. Just looking at the state of the farm, Edward didn’t feel an ounce of pity, their death would be quick. Seeing that Edward wasn’t getting scared, the monsters were about to take to the sky, ready to use their usual attack behavior. Edward didn’t give them the opportunity. He teleported right next to them, took out his dagger, and let his aura materialize, prolonging the blade until it reached two meters long. With a single swipe, the three Harpies dropped dead, the aura blade cutting through them without resistance.

They don’t look that difficult to deal with. But I didn’t even let them fly away, they should be more troublesome once they are out of reach in the sky. Still, Gobéliard isn’t lacking awaken adventurers. If the Harpies are still there, it meant there is something more to it. He quickly absorbed their blood essence, it was roughly equivalent to a Lusus naturae, which wasn’t much for him now that he had reached the predator stage. Edward shrugged. Still better than nothing, I guess. Anyway, I’m not hunting them to grow my power but to protect Gobéliard.

As he progressed, Edward kept encountering small Harpies groups, never less than three at once, but going up to seven or eight for the larger gatherings. He wasn’t always able to kill them before they took flight. Once in the sky, his killing speed drastically decreased. He first threw aura blades at them, but the Harpies were ridiculously agile and avoided them with ease while sending their own wind blades. With several Harpies sending wind blades at the same time, it was hard to notice all of them. He had to rely both on his aura senses and on his improved eyesight to track them.

However, even when he got hit, it didn’t do much damage. Leaving only a faint mark on the armor Leyla had crafted. And if Edward reinforced it with aura before the hit landed, it didn’t even leave a mark, the attack dissipating as if it was only a slight breeze.

In order to kill them, Edward found the fastest way was to simply teleport right onto them. Although they were flying, Edward’s teleportation had reached a range of fifty meters. This was no joke in a fight. Even after seeing him teleport, the Harpies had severely underestimated him. They had to stay relatively close If they wanted their attack to be effective, such a distance was usually enough to keep them safe, but not against Edward. Each time he teleported, one Harpy was falling from the sky, never getting back up.

It was a slow but steady method. The Harpies weren’t a real danger to him, the damage they did was not enough to threaten him, and they were only a hindrance to take care of. Each time he took care of a group, Edward quickly absorbed their blood essence before moving on and continuing his travel toward their possible nests’ locations.

After several hours of travel, Edward could see the sea from his location, the waves hitting the cliff with a rumbling noise. Edward was on top of the cliff, maybe thirty meters above the waves crashing down against the rocks at the bottom. The sun was reflecting on the waves and he could see clouds in the distance. He extended his aura, probing the cliff for caves and cavities. The first ten meters were solid rock, but below that, the cliff was full of holes like a gigantic beehive.

Edward frown. I do sense Harpies in there, but I was expecting a lot more of them. He looked around and noticed that faraway clouds were coming his way at a fast speed. Wait, those are not clouds. This is a massive group of Harpies flying! It’s a murmuration. Edward watched in fascinated horror as the Harpies were getting closer. I can take down a group of eight Harpies but this is a bit much. I know Harpies are supposed to be gregarious, but damn!

Edward fell back, letting more distance between himself and the side of the cliff. However, that wouldn’t avoid a confrontation, the Harpies had noticed him and were flying in his direction. Strong gusts of wind tousled his hair. At this distance, he was able to distinguish the Harpies individually, but with so many of them flying together, it was hard to keep track of a single individual.

After the gales of winds, came the first wind blades, first a few at a time and then an entire downpour. They were too numerous to avoid, the whole area was blanketed with them, rocks flying where they impacted the ground. Edward reinforced his armor with his aura, it endured the impact, but he could feel the strain.

Edward counterattacked sending his own aura blades at the Harpies. They cut right through their attacks but they weren’t particularly effective at killing the Harpies. Even with their massive number, they were simply too agile in the sky. It was very rare for one of them to be actually hit, although one hit was enough to kill them.

This isn’t working. There are too many of them. At this rate, I will exhaust my aura before getting rid of them. Change of strategy. Edward teleported to the middle of the flock, he was blinded by a flurry of feathers, but his aura senses were enough for him to orient himself. He stroked as many times as he could before gravity took hold, making him fall. Edward had barely time to teleport into the sky again before he could crash onto the ground. However, he kept his momentum, his fall only accelerating. This time, his teleportation didn’t go off cooldown quickly enough. He did manage to slay a few more Harpies but he impacted the ground violently, the impact making him groan even with his sturdy body.

The good news was that his teleportation had disoriented the Harpies, having lost their target, the downpour of wind blades stopped for a brief moment. That didn’t last long, spotting Edward anew, the continuous attacks began again. It was just enough for Edward to regain his bearing.

Edward was in a difficult situation however, he didn’t lose his calm, it wasn’t the first time he had been in a dire situation. I’m not in danger yet. Their attacks put my aura under strain, but I can hold for some time. The problem is that I’m not able to kill them effectively. My attacks are strong enough to kill them but they keep avoiding them. My strong point is speed but while I’m stranded on the ground it is useless. What I need is to move freely into the sky.

Edward paused, suddenly having a crazy idea to solve this situation. While he was thinking, the downpour of attacks continued, Edward was able to withstand it thanks to his aura reinforcing his armor. This wasn’t the case for his surrounding, rocks were being chipped away, and the soil was covered in wreckage. The short grass and the moss had been reduced to a pulp.

Edward looked up at the Harpies a fierce grin on his face. He bent his legs and jumped, propelling himself into the sky, the already weaken ground cracked under the pressure, tears expanding in the earth. Although surprised, the Harpies simply moved away, a hole forming in their formation. Edward was already anticipating this result. He put one leg forward, in the direction of the escaping Harpies, seemingly attempting to walk on empty air. And then, the unexpected happened. Materialized aura formed under Edward’s foot.

He had practiced his aura control, now able to form it from any part of his body, notably to reinforce his armor against attacks he couldn’t avoid, just like his present situation. However, this ability had other usages that he was only discovering right now. The aura he manifested was giving him enough support to provide a foothold. Edward walked on it and jumped after the fleeing Harpies, catching up to them. He managed to kill two of them before they dispersed once more, but that didn’t matter anymore as he kept pursuing them.

Edward laughed maniacally as he was running freely in the sky. He was now able to catch up to the Harpies, he was fast enough that they weren’t all able to escape him. On top of that, being a moving target, and in the middle of their group, the Harpies were unable to attack him with wild abandon like before. He was much more difficult to aim as a moving target, and even then, they had to be careful not to shoot at each other.

Edward was having a blast, the sensation of liberty even more intense than when he was testing his new abilities while running in the woods. He didn’t even feel angry at the Harpies anymore, instead wanting to thank them for making him learn such a trick. Who knows how much time it would have taken him to figure something like that without having to face flying opponents? He could feel the wind resistance as he was running through the sky, sensing the Harpies and the emptiness around and below him. He wasn’t exactly flying but this was close enough not to matter.

It was now the Harpies’ turn to be on the back foot, if the situation didn’t change, they would be decimated. Suddenly, a powerful shriek shook the whole murmuration. A form shot from the caverns below to join the cloud. The Harpies that had become disorderly suddenly moved in concert with a common purpose. An open space cleared around Edward, the Harpies circling him instead, all flying in the same direction from right to left while maintaining the encirclement.

What was that? Something joined them, and then their behavior changed. I feel like I’m in the eye of a storm. Edward blanched as a strong whirlwind of wind was building up. Oh, shoot.