Cyberserk

Chapter 22 - b****y Ravens

The partners ran along the cliff. Crows pounced on their friends from above. The big birds tried to strike with claws of their paws and beaks. But the armor helped avoid damage. Dan was afraid that a nimble raven might peck him in the viewing slot on his helmet. He hadn't been seriously injured yet. The player tried not to think about the natural health regeneration that would help regenerate a blown-out eye! Sometimes this game inspired terrible thoughts.

Soon Dan Raven grew tired. This was the reason for stopping and starting a big fight with a flock of b****y ravens. The number of enemies could not be counted. These birds were large and tried to attack from different directions. The crows interfered with each other and most circled over their opponents, waiting for an opportunity to strike. 

Dan called the hobbits to the rescue!

"Take that nasty bird! I'm the best!" 

"I struck a lucky punch! I'm better than you!"

"Stop shouting! Kill your enemies in silence!" Dan tried to command these overly loud helpers. 

The hobbits obeyed the order. They began panting and making warlike noises to express their emotions. Dan was pleased to see the amount of experience they were getting increased. Unfortunately, no trophies were received by their squad.

Very soon Dan discovered that the hobbits had a weakness. They were dressed in leather jackets and knee-length pants. Their furry legs were covered by a dense covering of hair. The hobbits had no helmets of any kind! 

" Ouch! I'll kill you vile creature! I'll tear your eyes out," the hobbit screamed in pain.

"Master ordered me to kill my enemies in silence. I am the best. I endure pain in silence," laughed the second hobbit.

"Hobbits I can buy you helmets!" Dan waved away the pesky bird with his gloved hand. He looked at the hobbits and saw that there was blood running down the faces of the little hobbits.

"The master must not buy the armor. Master should bring us home! I'm out of stones for my sling," whimpered the hobbit.

At that moment Dan realized that the skill of summoning Brave Hobbits had a cooldown for a reason. And that his helpers require an upgrade, as does the phantom.

But the time for a new summoning of helpers had not yet come! Dan could see the symbol of the shaggy hobbit's head on the skill bar. On the edges of the symbol was a border that indicated when the skill was ready for a new activation.

"Either die in silence or hide behind my back," commanded the samurai loudly.

Dan jumped up to Tom and they stood shoulder to shoulder to fend off the ravens' attacks. The birds posed no threat! The hobbits showed courage and frenzied bravery. The little ones drew their daggers and proceeded to kill the crows with their edged weapons. At the same time, the hobbits kept running and distancing themselves from the two warriors. Despite their dexterity, the hobbits were constantly wounded and soon one hobbit was dead.

"Dan doesn't play the kindly Gandalf! Sacrifice him! That's all right," Tom suggested in a harsh voice.

" Fine. We'll have to check it out. I hate to see them suffer. Strange skill," Dan wanted to sacrifice the hobbit.

The shaggy kid with the dagger flashed in a stream of multicolored flames. But he did not scream in pain. The hobbit laughed loudly and vanished into thin air. Dan saw that his mana reserve had increased.

"Cool. They're brave and very useful, but they have to be sacrificed. This guy is drinking beer in his Valhalla right now!" Tom laughed. "They're very good for you. Also prone to rabies and similar to Berserks."

"I'm in control," Dan objected. He liked to play with magic skills for swordsmanship. He began to use techniques more often to increase his damage. Unfortunately, he couldn't finish off a b****y raven with a single blow. Both with and without skills, the player had three or four strikes to kill the pesky bird.

The flapping of black wings and loud cawing of birds prevented him from concentrating and understanding the number of enemies. But the friends managed to fight back! Suddenly they realized that the crows were over. And several large winged bodies were lying on the grass. Soon all the black corpses vanished into thin air. 

"Listen, brother. I don't know what the penalty is for getting experience from level 6 ravens. But you can get just a huge amount of experience in this forest and improve our skills nicely," the clone said quietly. " Renew me."

Dan activated the Phantom skill. Tom immediately jumped up to his old armor and began to put things on. Soon the clone was ready to continue exploring the new location.

"I killed 27 ravens and earned 1,510 experience points for you," counted the clone.

"The hobbits and I killed 31 crows. That's about 2,000 experience points. Nice woods for collecting experience points," smiled the player.

"I think we should keep running. I had an idea about an old location with a portal to the human world. Two rivers bound a piece of land on two sides. It's like a harvest field for players. Monsters can't swim across the river. People are quietly gathering experience," Tom patted himself on the chest. "The armor is still holding up. I suggest we check this location. We should run along the wall. I think we're going to hit the river! The nice and useful thing is that we'll challenge the ravens to aggression and gather them into one pile of opponents."

"A monster steam train! Great solution," agreed Dan.

The boys ran along the stone wall. Occasionally they circled the huge trunks and drew more crows toward them. Then the players stopped and Dan summoned the hobbits.

The fight went on without loss. Den Raven got into a taste of the behavior of the severe lord of the hobbits. The player immediately ordered his helpers to hide behind the backs of the two warriors and silently kill the ravens with stones. When the stones for throwing ran out, Dan sacrificed the hobbits and received mana restoration. He did not feel any negative emotions when he applied this skill. The hobbits were glad to leave this fun place to be in their hobbit paradise.

After the victory, the clone acted as a counting machine and stated that they needed to kill about 300 ravens to upgrade any level 3 skill to level 7.

"I suggest we look for the river. We get away from the attention of the military and lose nothing. First, we raise the phantom skill to level 7. The ring will add another 2 levels to the Phantom skill. At level 9, you'll get 18% of my experience!" Tom jumped for joy.

"Then we'll boost three swordsmanship skills," Dan agreed. "Let's run to that unknown river. I like the idea of getting farther away from the entrance to this location."

The third run into obscurity along the mountain wall ended at the riverbank. Tom's assumption was confirmed. The unknown creators of the Game had prepared another hunting ground for the people! Weaklings and children could safely exist in the first location and kill zombies level 1. More brazen and brave got their special place to collect experience.

At the river, the guys behaved like experienced fighters. Dan summoned hobbits to help him deal with a cloud of new b****y ravens.

Dan did not accumulate experience points. The player immediately spent all the experience when his amount allowed to increase the skill level Phantom. After increasing the skill to level 7. The guys got busy developing the other important skills.

Tom began to act like a stingy and greedy miser. He asked to buy him a new helmet. The clone said to remember and honor the precepts of the great warrior Alastor Moody! Constant vigilance! The phantom will hide his face, and no nasty raven will rob him of his helmet. The rest of the armor can be worn until it is indestructible. A few blows to the body won't hurt to temper the character.

Near the river, it was pleasant to fight. The water had a cool breeze and you could wash your face and wash the blood of birds off your hands.

The gloves of the armor looked like wondrous wares. They were made of an unknown metal-like material. The blood of the enemies was seeping inside the gloves! This made Dan's sensitivity a little irritated. Tom paid no attention to the little things.

The indefatigable clone was constantly running around and attracting many angry crows. All the enemies were chasing the phantom that attracted the ravens to the site of the m******e.

The boys had wiped out several flocks of crows by the time it was time to eat and rest.

Dan was eating and suddenly an interesting idea popped into his head.

"Someday people will cut down a lot of branches and make a big raft. They'll float down the river! People will be able to swim to the other shore."

"You're getting some very strange fantasies," laughed the clone. "There might be a boss sitting in the river! He'll devour the adventurous travelers. But I find your crazy idea amusing. I heard wolves howling in the woods. We need to develop our sword fighting skills soon. Ravens rarely strike at the legs. Wolves will attack in the middle and lower zone. Ravens will provide an attack from the sky. We must be prepared to put up a dangerous and tense fight against a variety of opponents."

Dan Raven took a sip of delicious water and smiled. He was sure they could handle these monsters. They had defeated the Spider Queen! He wasn't intimidated by all kinds of wolves and ravens.