Chapter 1273 1273 Hold Onto Your Hats Lasses!
--- Nixilei ---
Another rough patch knocked the plane upwards and Nixilei nearly had her knees knock into her chin. Asteodia was no longer annoyed about Nixilei's hands around her. Their outfits might be waterproof, but there were gaps, especially around the neck in Asteodia's case, or the fact Nixilei didn't have hers on properly… well it meant that water was getting into their costumes and they were starting to get cold. Asteodia was doing her best, but her best meant only holding onto the steering wheel half of the time.
It had seemed like such a great system. Move the steering wheel to control the vertical movement of the plane. Easy, intuitive, and responsive. Now that the wheel was being moved contrary to her wishes because of all the wind, Asteodia was much less happy with things. Soon they'd have to switch over to using the button, but for now, they'd do what they could.
On the horizon, the cyclone was getting closer and Nixilei could make out some monsters they might have to deal with. In the cyclone itself was a creature that was a mix of fish and bird. Nixilei recognised them as 'Storm Riders'. They were swarm predators that would ride waves, or stormfronts and then pounce on prey while it was weakened by the weather. Nixilei was hoping that the fact the plane was heading straight for the cyclone would mean they weren't seen as prey… but Nixilei couldn't be certain.
Storm Riders were an odd creature. Their front wings were actually wings, feathers and all, though they were coated with some sort of naturally hydrophobic oil that clung to the feathers and kept them dry even as they storm riders swam through the ocean or any rivers they ended up in. As for their back fins, they were more like a normal fish's except that they were set into a cross shape and all four sections could move independently of each other, even if they looked connected.
Their body was mostly made up of smooth leathery skin with only their face being covered in scales like that of most fishes. The scales were a lighter shade of blue that reflected the light well, while the rest of the body, feathers included were a darker blue that was bordering on black, like the ocean on a stormy evening. The tips of their fins were the only other thing with a dash of colour, they were bright yellow that transitioned into the dark blue of the rest of the body with a splash of dark green.
They were very pretty tiny. Only about the length of a human hand and half as tall. The wings did add a bit of bulk to them, but not all that much. The real problem was the high pressure jets of water they could shoot from their noses. Gross perhaps, but devastatingly effective. It was a combination of natural spellcasting as is usual for monsters, and a bit of interesting biology. Just behind their brains they had a sack that could be filled with either water or air, and then unleashed with high pressure. They normally used water for attacking, but technically air could be used as well.
Nixilei had been told stories of people who had tried to casually smack away a horde of the small fish only to have their hands cut-off and their weapons falling to the ground before the pain even registered. They could be brutal little fishies. The annoying part was, despite the danger, smacking them away was still the best way to deal with them. They didn't fly well without assistance from the weather and they didn't seem to know what to do once they hit the ground. They just flailed about like a normal fish for a while before gathering their wits. Perhaps an old instinct they couldn't get rid of?
Nixilei didn't know, but she did know she wanted nothing to do with the bastards and she could see at least two swarms in the cyclone ahead of them. The main save grace was that a thunder eagle was there as well. Those guys had no fear at all, which might not have been the smartest tactic, but it also meant they would happily dive into a swarm of the buggers to eat as many as they could.
Thunder eagles were one of those weird partially elemental monsters, but despite their strength and Rank 2 or 3 classification were really easy to deal with if you knew how and had the right equipment. Namely, metal. See, in response to just about any attack they instinctively switched into a lightning-based form. If you could set it up properly you could force them through the metal and into either a specially made container for storage and selling, or just straight into the ground killing them instantly.
Sadly they were in the middle of the air and Nixilei didn't have any metal weapons on her, and neither did Asteodia… but they were too big for the eagles to eat and there was plenty of fish so they shouldn't be a problem. Emphasis on 'Should not'. They could be stubborn when they wanted, and were regularly found attacking smoke coming from houses over and over again despite having no effect. They were still rather rare birds, but they were just a bit stupid. A Rank 2 wolf was much scarier, they had some animal thought behind their actions. Thunder eagles gave other bird-brained creatures a bad name. Asteodia, if prompted, would say it's from constantly zapping their brains with lightning.
After identifying and relaying their foes to Asteodia, the shaking in the plane got noticeably worse. Asteodia frowned, not wanting to press the button just yet. She corrected the plane slightly and made it so that hopefully they were going with the wind, instead of just straight for the centre. The smoother ride and slight speed increase was nice… until Nixilei yelled out "TREE, BEHIND!"
Asteodia shoved the wheel to the side moving the plane and causing the ride to get noticeably worse, and she was almost annoyed. Almost. When a whole damn tree came flying through the spot that they'd just been, she found herself very justified in the move. It took a bit of wrangling to find the right spot to be going along with the wind again, though now Asteodia was wondering why they weren't more effected by it. If the wind was powerful enough to move an entire tree, why wasn't it shoving them around more?
lightsnοvεl.cοm Of course Nixilei and Asteodia were thinking of it as a normal tree instead of a tree heavily air attributed and much lighter then it appeared. Sadly for them, they didn't have time to work it out when another series of obstacles came flying up past them. A few bushes, another tree, if one that was smaller. It was only when a giant boulder came flying past that Asteodia and Nixilei started thinking that something weird was going on.
They didn't have time to think on the realisation though, soon a thunder eagle appeared next to the plane, perhaps thinking it was going to contest them for the food. Asteodia was about to steer away from it when Nixilei managed a nearly perfect recreation of its shriek and the thing backed off. Asteodia just stared at the fae for a few seconds before asking. "What the fuck was that?!"
Nixilei went bright red but managed to answer calmly, "In my line of work, you regularly need something to signal your contacts. Bird calls are a classic for a reason, and normally quite hard to notice as being odd unless you're paying attention to them. So I have a rather large repertoire of bird calls based on region and meaning. The thunder eagle one is… well I probably shouldn't say but… it's not hard to guess.
"It's for when shit has hit the fan and you need backup RIGHT NOW. Stealth is usually a loss at that point so the fact it's that loud is hardly an issue. Plus, while rare, thunder eagles do just… show up occasionally so it's not always something that's worth investigating. Still, it hardly matters because usually you've been found at that point, so the guards already know you're there,"
"So… how many bird calls do you know? What do some of them mean?" asked Asteodia curious… and hoping for a distraction from this damned weather.
"Ah… I really shouldn't tell you. The thunder eagle one is silly and barely used it real field work. A lot has to go wrong for that one to even be used… but the others are codes that I keep up with and other spies use regularly for our work. I'd have to be married to you, and you'd need to be interviewed before I'd be allowed to share that sort of stuff with you,"
Now it was time for Asteodia to go red. "How bold, thinking of marriage already," stammered Asteodia. Nixilei's eyes widened and she tightened her hold on the elf, making it just a little crushing. If Asteodia was having trouble breathing now? Well it was her own fault.
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