Chapter 104: Harpy Champion

Clawing his way back to land, Claude swept his hair out of his eyes.

“Do me a favor and turn.”

Ash clicked his tongue, but did just as asked.

A few moments later, Claude walked alongside Ash, now changed from his earlier brown leather pants and fish-skin shirt into a sleek black bodysuit made of Marauder skin. He even had a pair of black shoes and gloves he’d gotten from the Marauders to complete the set. Finally, he reequipped [Whisper of the Wind], causing the wolf skull to form over his head and turn the inconspicuous outfit quite conspicuous.

This fit gave him fewer stats than his previous one, but provided bonuses to his overall stealth.

Claude huffed as he tilted his head to the side and wrung out his long hair as best he could.

“Can you at least tell me your plan?”

Ash set off at a steady pace toward the last waterfall’s crest, a thirty- to forty-minute walk, depending on whether they had to stop and fight rogue monsters along the way.

“My plan… I don’t particularly have one.”

Claude scratched his red horn as he gave his hair another shake.

“Huh? I thought you always had some sort of plan.”

Ash sneered.

“When it comes to myself, I have a myriad of potential paths mapped out before me. But I can make no such assumptions when dealing with people, let alone under circumstances like these.”

Claude dropped his hand, bowed his head, and sighed.

“I see…”

“However…”

The odd tone in Ash’s voice caused Claude’s head to perk up.

Ash continued:

“What you said earlier… I am not so blinded by faith in myself that I see myself as capable of surviving solely on my own merit. But never will I dare truly rely on another, let alone those who are destined to be my enemies. Still, I do see some value in cooperation. Maybe not in might, but in knowledge and trade.”

Claude smiled lightly.

“That’s much more reassuring than what I’d thought you’d say… My opinions may differ, but I don’t think you’re necessarily wrong. With that said… what if they try to fight us?”

Ash glanced over at Claude.

“I believe you know the answer to that.”

A tense expression settled over Claude’s face as he thumbed the dagger strapped to the belt of his Marauder pelt suit.

“I understand.”

***

Claude held his hand out in front of Ash, then whispered.

“Stop…”

Ash walked into it, bumping against his black glove, causing him to stop even if he didn’t want to.

Turning to Ash, Claude held one finger over his mouth with his right hand while his left tapped the wolf helmet. Finally, he pointed toward the edge of the waterfall.

‘It’s them.’

Or something in the water worthy of worry.

Either way, the two exited the open side of the river and took cover in the thicket for the rest of their journey to the edge. Claude even activated [Stalk], causing Ash to lose sense of him for a moment.

A slight flaw of a stealth-class Assassin in this game seemed to be that the stealth effects of items and skills extended to party members.

Ash tapped Claude’s shoulder, causing them to both stutter-step, then pointed up.

Immediately, the two took to the trees, jumping from bough to bough for the rest of their journey until they reached the second-to-last tree before the cliff, as the last one was half-hanging over.

From there, Claude took a stance a little farther up, taking advantage of his stealth, while Ash hid behind the tree’s trunk and peered around from the thick branch he stood on.

Once in position, he peered down at the wondrous basin of the last waterfall, which was the grandest of them all.

There, he saw…

‘All of them.’

All five winged-humanoids were gathered at the edge of the basin. Beyond them was a gigantic feathered egg a little inside the treeline.

As for the winged-humanoids themselves…

It looked like they were taking turns flying over the water.

‘I see.’

That was one very obvious drawback. Flying was hard. Due to a number of factors uncertain to Ash, it made sense.

‘They’re practicing using it.’

As Ash watched, it was clear that the longer they flew or the higher they went, the harder it got to control. While the girl had looked pitiful before from the top of the mountain, it was now clear she’d already flown nearly 100 feet in the air, making the feat anything but pathetic. Especially when the others could barely make it 30 feet without issue.

‘Though maybe it’s because they’re wet?’

Even that same woman was struggling to make it 40 feet now.

Ash marked down water as another potential weakness. [Vortex], which Nora had taken in the end, seemed to be quite the counter to them.

He took a look at the one he’d seen fly the highest. The one he assumed to be the Champion based on her presence. Then, he cast [Assessment].

♱♱♱

[Fae Thorne] – [Harpy Champion]

LEVEL: 4

STR: ~[19-22]

AGI: ~[19-21]

DEX: ~[19-23]

INT: [19-23]

CON: ~[19-24]

ACTIVES: [???] [???] [???]

PASSIVES: [???]

♱♱♱

He’d learned that the secondary name was their equipped Title, as when looking at any of his fellow Dragonkin, they had [Dragonkin Vassal] there.

But…

‘Level 4?’

‘The hell have they been doing for the past three weeks?’

Suddenly, Claude sprang into motion.

Ash was confused until he suddenly sensed a shift in the mana right at his side.

A Marauder had leapt from the tree next to them.

Claude tackled it to the ground, then slipped out his dagger and stabbed it a few times in the throat.

Ash drew the bow back.

‘[Focus]’

“Move.”

Claude kicked the panther and rolled away.

Ash shot and nailed the Marauder between the eyes.

[You have slain Marauder]

[+1 EXP]

However…

Canceling [Focus], Ash looked back down to see five sets of horrified eyes staring straight back at him.

‘Cat’s out of the bag.’

Jumping off the tree, he landed next to Claude, who was lying on the ground, and said:

“[Stalk] is pretty good, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yeah… what about it?”

“Use it properly. They saw me, but only me.”

With that said, Ash approached the edge of the cliff.