Assassin Crow Evolution

Standing across from the Chief, was a creature that triggered Jimmy’s innate fears. It was the equivalent of waking up from a nightmare, and it was a deep fear that he had never experienced in his life as a crow.

Whether it was his human side, or crow side that the fear stemmed from, he didn’t know, but it hit like a truck, and it pushed him into fight or flight mode.

Being a bird, he wanted to fly away, and abandon the task altogether.

However, his curiosity was greater than his fear, so he looked at the creature once more. He had to, and he didn’t care about some preachy example of conquering his fear, he just wanted to know what in the world he was looking at.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"What..." He mumbled.

The creature, in its essence, switched forms.

Or better described, it was almost shapeless. Every time Jimmy blinked, it appeared like something else.

From a Goddess-like blue spirit, to a goat, and even a crow, the creature’s appearance always shifted, seemingly refusing to commit to one form.

It seemed otherworldly, and perhaps the creature was of another dimension? He didn’t know for sure, but he knew that it was neither a ghost, nor an animal.

Jimmy had summoned someone from the dead before, and that didn’t scare him. He had some experience with what lurked beyond the grave, but this was entirely new.

The plan to attack the Chief fell in the water, because he was quite sure that he couldn’t kill this creature that the Chief was obviously associated with. The hottest fireball he could summon, might just irritate it rather than hurt it.

Jimmy had half a mind to abandon the task, head back, and grab as many Flesh Cores as he could carry. That sounded like the best course of action now, but still, he couldn’t avert his gaze from this thing.

The brothers circled ahead, and likewise, Vorin didn’t know what he was looking at. He just saw a faint source of blue light, and could not understand what was so important about it.

"Is the Chief there?" Vorin asked, "Do you want me to go and cut his throat?"

"Hell no," He said, "I’ll kill him myself if I get the chance."

Jimmy was intimidated into staying quiet. For reasons he could not understand, he simply couldn’t shake off the deep, horrific fear he felt. He tried to be quiet, he even whispered as he flew, but that wasn’t enough.

The Chief heard the faint caws of the crows, and something clicked in his head.

Alert, he swiftly looked up, and between the ground and the moonlight, he spotted the nearly invisible silhouette of the crows, their wings, circling tens of feet above him.

"Spies!" The Chief shouted.

In a blink, he jerked both of his hands upwards, stretching his arms, aiming at the crows.

At the corner of his left eye, Jimmy saw the Chief’s hands move, and so, he forced his attention away from the creature, and looked at the Chief.

For a period that couldn’t be longer than a split second, he felt as if he was witnessing the birth of a star!

A thin, concentrated source of light materialized between the Chief’s hands, which then developed into an orb. It looked like an orb of fire, an elemental attack.

Almost instantly, Jimmy summoned the Elemental Shield skill. Fire didn’t intimidate him.

A phantom, V-shaped shield popped up a single foot in front of him. He had maxed out this skill a while ago, and so he was sure that it was strong enough to fight off any elemental attack!

However, he knew that Vorin was vulnerable, so in a blink, he flew in front of his brother, manning the shield, aiming to protect him as well.

Below him, the orb of fire that the Chief mustered, wasn’t fire at all.

It quickly developed into a thin line of light-blue excellence, and it moved so fast that it was hard to figure out what it actually was. All the brothers knew was that it was blinding!

It struck his shield the moment Jimmy flew in front of his brother. He could see it crack his shield almost instantly!

Luckily, since this particular skill was maxed out, a second layer of the shield popped up the moment the first layer began to crack. It didn’t cost a single mana point either, since this skill depended on his Mana Comprehension instead, and he believed that he was capable enough to depend on his comprehension right now. He was in the second Realm of Mana quality, after all.

The shot tore through the second layer of his shield as well, and then it hit the third.

In this single second that felt like an eternity, Jimmy watched almost every detail of his shield, and despite his prior confidence, he couldn’t help but give in to fear.

When the third layer of the shield began to crack, he was certain that he was going to die.

There was no protection beyond the third layer, and he knew that he didn’t have enough time to summon a whole new shield.

Another, more concerning problem was that the Chief’s attack had thrown him backwards as well, by a few feet.

Vorin ended up on Jimmy’s back. The forward ascension was too rapid for either one of them to carve another choice for themselves. The shield, although phantom, apparently featured a very physical push because of the Chief’s overwhelming attack.

He was sure that he heard a bone crack as well, but in the heat of the moment, he didn’t know if it was his bone, or his brother’s.

"No..." He could hardly get that word out.

The third layer of the shield was nearly gone. It maybe had a tenth of its protective values left.

Jimmy tried to brace himself, he tried to prepare for the worst, but even in hindsight, that seemed useless. Instead, he closed his eyes, and waited for his untimely death.

If he accepted his death in grace or hatred, it did not matter. Death didn’t care either.

A split second later, he heard a snap. The shield broke, and yet, he wasn’t dead.

Confused, he opened his eyes, and could not believe what he was seeing. The battle scene had shifted significantly!

Apart from that, before he could even react, he heard a boom!

Thunder!

The Chief had tossed a lightning-bolt at him. After all, the sound of thunder came after lightning itself.

He understood that now, he survived the attack, but he couldn’t figure out why the Chief was suddenly lying on the ground. The shift in battle didn’t make any sense!