The purple grass was intimidating on its own. Jacob remembered how the raptor-like bird-type beasts on this floor fought alongside the armored lizards, using their pseudo-flight to leap over the frontliners and attack those in the middle and back of the formation with ease.
Jacob looked back at his friends as they moved farther from the gate.
"Keep an eye out for the scaled birds," he said. "The lizards are armored and as large as boars and will keep you busy in the front while those things jump over you. They were also quite good at flanking in this tall grass, given their ability to move quickly. They gave Carlos's group quite a bit of trouble when I came through here before."
Oren glanced toward the purple grass before looking back at Jacob.
"How high can they jump?" He asked.
"High enough that standing in front of them won't help much, especially when you're busy with the lizards," Jacob replied. "I'm not really sure if you could call it flying, but they can stay in the air longer than something that size normally would. Their beaks are razor sharp, and they have some strong claws from what I had heard last time."
That caused Oren to look toward the grass once more, though Mira was already moving a little farther to the side to get a better view of their surroundings.
They hadn't gone much farther when she raised a hand.
"Something's coming."
Jacob could hear it a moment later. The grass rustled ahead of them, followed by a series of sharp cries that reminded him of the last time he had been in this tall grass.
Bran brought the golem forward as Oren called out a formation for the others to get into position.
The first armored lizard pushed through the grass with its head lowered, its thick plating brushing the stalks aside as it charged.
Another followed close behind it, while dark shapes moved through the grass on either side.
The golem stepped into the first beast's path and brought its arm down.
The strike landed across the lizard's shoulder, forcing it lower to the ground, but the beast kept moving. Its weight drove into the construct and pushed it back a step before Bran managed to brace it, forcing the construct and the lizard into a deadlock.
Jacob watched with interest as the golem held its footing. Bran was already bringing its other arm into position, seemingly much more comfortable making adjustments while something was actually trying to knock the golem over.
Thomas moved to keep the second lizard from slipping around the construct, with Caleb lowering his pitchfork beside him.
Before Jacob could see how they handled it, one of the dark shapes sprang out of the grass.
The scaled bird was larger than he remembered, though he figured that might have had more to do with how close it was this time. Its black feathered arms spread as it rose above the fighting, carrying it forward toward Bran and Sera.
On a whim, Jacob raised a hand and sent a slash of pure cutting force toward it.
He had tested the attack without an active core before, just using the enhancement workaround, but he didn't feel like it had been powerful enough to use in combat and eventually became forgotten.
However, the birds looked like they would be susceptible to the slash, and he figured it might do more damage now that his magic had reached a much denser threshold.
He had been aiming for its body, but the bird shifted in the air, and the spell caught one of its spread wings instead.
A few dark feathers scattered from the impact.
The beast barely seemed injured, but its smooth leap immediately turned into a frantic attempt to stay upright. One wing folded awkwardly, and it dropped into the grass right behind Oren.
The swordsman turned at the sound and brought his blade down before it could regain its footing.
Jacob blinked at the result.
That worked better than I thought itwould, he thought to himself with a bit of disbelief.
He hadn't put a significant amount of power into the spell, thinking it would be a waste of mana if it didn't do anything.
It had been more of an attempt to knock the creature away from his friends, but apparently, he didn't need to do much damage to interfere with the little lift it managed to get from its feathered arms.
Another raptor-bird rose from the grass, this one coming from farther to the left.
Jacob watched it spread its feathered arms wide, and he sent another cutting slash toward it, deliberately aiming across the feathers this time.
It managed to achieve a similar result as the first time.
The beast let out an angry screech as its leap fell short, dropping it beside the golem instead of carrying it over the construct.
Bran turned the golem slightly, holding its armored lizard with one arm, and struck down at the scaled-bird before it could scramble clear.
The blow knocked it flat, leaving it beneath the construct's arm as Bran lifted it for a second, much heavier strike.
A small grin started to form on Jacob's face.
"Keep them in front of you," he called out. "I think I can stop the birds from getting over us."
Oren gave him a quick glance before turning back toward the movement in the grass.
"Good, you keep doing that, then. We'll make quick work of them," he replied.
Caleb had meanwhile planted his pitchfork against the second lizard as Thomas kept it occupied. The tines initially scraped along its plating, but Caleb adjusted the angle until they caught beneath the edge of a plate.
He thrust forward, shifting the weapon's weight forward with the assistance of his enchantment, and as he did, the beast jerked back with a pained cry.
Thomas took advantage of the movement to strike, and the two of them finished it before it could pull away.
Jacob barely had time to appreciate how well his brother was doing before another bird tried to clear the front line.
This time, he was already waiting for it.
His spell caught its outstretched feathers just as it started to pass over the lizard still struggling against the golem.
The bird dropped onto the beast's back, scrambled for purchase, and tumbled into the grass.
Mira stepped in from the side before it could get up.
Jacob could see why the creatures were normally such a problem.
Once they were above the formation, everyone would have to turn to deal with them or leave their less protected companions to defend themselves.
Either choice would give the armored lizards an opportunity to push through, as the front line would be left unsupported while the backline had to deal with the swift raptor-like birds, or they would have to give ground to the large lizards to try to corral the birds into the fight.
But with the birds falling short, his friends could keep their attention mostly in front of them.
Even the golem was having an easier time now that Bran wasn't trying to decide whether he needed to turn it around to protect himself.
The last lizard finally gave way beneath the construct's repeated blows, and Oren finished another bird that had tried to run around the side of the fight.
For a moment, everyone remained in position, watching the grass for anything else that might be approaching.
When nothing came, Caleb straightened and looked toward Jacob, and said, "I thought you mentioned that those things gave Carlos trouble."
"They did, but only because even he couldn't be in two places at once," Jacob replied, looking down at one of the dead birds. "I wasn't expecting that spell to work quite so well."
He crouched beside it, examining the wing his cutting force had struck. There was some blood beneath the damaged feathers, but it hardly looked like enough of an injury to explain how quickly the creature had fallen.
"I barely hurt them," he continued, partly just muttering to himself. "But apparently, that's enough to stop them from getting over our heads."
He knew it probably had something to do with the aerodynamics the feathers on their arms allowed them to take advantage of, but with how small the makeshift wings were in comparison to the body, he suspected it to be some sort of innate magic.
But he wasn't here to do research on these beasts. So, he pulled out his hunting knife and jammed it into the base of the neck where they had found the beast cores previously, and retrieved a white core from the beast.
Sera had already let her song quiet down, and no one seemed to be waiting for her to take care of an injury.
Jacob looked back over the group, feeling quite pleased with the discovery, and a new core was always welcome as well.
If the rest of the birds were just as easy to keep on the ground, this floor might end up being much less trouble than he had expected, and quite profitable to boot.
And, as he surmised, the rest of the third floor went much the same way.
Once Jacob knew what to watch for, he was able to catch most of the raptor-birds just as they spread their feathered arms to leap. Those that managed to get into the air rarely made it past the front line before a cutting spell brought them back down.
The armored lizards still took some effort to put down, but without the birds dropping into the middle of the formation, his friends were free to deal with them without constantly looking over their shoulders.
Bran was also getting quite good at keeping the golem in position while the others fought around it. Caleb occasionally called out an adjustment, but the tinkerer seemed to need less help with each encounter.
Jacob found himself quite pleased with how easily they were progressing. The monsters were stronger here, and the combat experience they were getting reflected that, even if the fights themselves weren't causing them much trouble.
It seemed taking away the birds' ability to get behind them had removed most of what made this floor difficult in the first place.
By the time the ground began sloping upward toward the gate, they had killed enough beasts that Jacob was starting to wonder just how much experience he had gained.
Because of how comfortable he had gotten with clipping the raptor-birds wings with magic, he had started using his sword to slay the ones that got close to him instead of relying on magic alone, gaining more and more confidence as they progressed through the third floor.
The purple grass eventually gave way to the scorched clearing he remembered, though there was no towering construct waiting for them this time.
Jacob slowed as he looked over the empty space before the gate. With nothing immediately demanding his attention, he finally brought up his system to check his progress.
USER PAGE
Name: Jacob Hemlock
Age: 12
Integration Status: Complete
Class Information
Public Class: Farmhand | Rank: F
Hidden Class: Arcane Cultivator | Rank: F [Unique]
Levels
Combat Level: 1 | XP: 977 / 1000
Questing Level: 2 | XP: 100 / 1200
Base Stats
STR: 6 | END: 9 | DEX: 3 | AGI: 3 | INT: 4 [???]
System Skills
Legal Tradecraft [F-rank] Lv. 5
Inspect [F-rank] Lv. 6
Intent Shaping [F-rank] Lv. 9
Mana Flux Lv. 3
Mathematics [Common] Lv. 5
Tool Maintenance [Common] Lv. 2
Magic Herb Nurture [Uncommon] Lv. 2
Languages [Uncommon] Lv. 3
Hemlock Runic Script: Mastery 2 / 6
Weapon Masteries
Sword Mastery Lv. 2
Flowing Sword Form [Common]
Active Major Quests
1. Kill an E-rank Dungeon Boss
Reward: 1200 Quest XP, 1 Major Class Skill, 3 Free Attribute Points
2. Drink from the Solesthene River
Reward: 1200 Quest XP, 1 Major Class Skill, 3 Free Attribute Points
3. Slay 12 Zinthar Combatants [0 / 12]
Reward: 600 Quest XP, 1 Major Class Skill, +5 skill levels
Active General Quests
1. Complete the Harvest for Any Field | Reward: 100 Quest XP
2. Visit the Adventurers Guild in Thornhold | Reward: 200 Quest XP
3. Nurture 5 New Herbs Into Magical Herbs [0 / 5] | Reward: 100 Quest XP