Taboo Online

Before Luke could move, Lauren’s fingers tightened around his hand, and another vision rushed into his mind.

Ten black birds tore themselves from the Black Rain. Some peeled away from the branches, while others rose from pools gathering between the roots. They did not attack together or follow any clear formation. Each chose its own path through the trees, diving from different heights and angles.

Several went straight for Luke, while the rest swept around him toward Lauren. Black wings crossed through the rain until he could barely follow them. Talons flashed near his shoulders, ribs, and back, and the vision ended with Luke turning too late as three birds closed in on Lauren from different directions.

When the forest returned, rain was still hammering the canopy and churning the mud beneath their feet. Lauren held his hand tightly, but neither of them could hear anything beyond the downpour, not even each other.

Ten at once. Of course it couldn’t be two or three.

Luke dismissed the system windows hanging in front of him and turned toward her. He moved her hand from his palm to the back of his belt, then waited until her fingers closed firmly around the leather.

Lauren stepped in close behind him. She could still follow his movements through their physical contact, and Luke now had both hands free for the spear.

With her hand anchored to his belt, he faced the trees again.

Lauren’s vision had shown him how the attack might begin, but everything after that could change the moment he reacted differently. He could not wait for her to guide him through every second of the fight. That was what his new skill was supposed to prevent.

Luke focused on the nearest bird.

It crouched along a thick branch with its liquid wings folded against its sides. Although its body faced him, its head remained slightly turned toward Lauren. He would have missed such a small detail before.

Now he understood what it meant.

The creature wanted him to swing first. Once the spear moved out of position, it would slip around him and attack Lauren.

Luke tightened his grip. The bird had not moved, but he had already read its plan.

Luke checked the other branches. Some birds prepared to dive at him, while others watched Lauren and waited for an opening.

Following all ten quickly became difficult. He could read one clearly, but the others blurred together whenever he shifted his attention.

Violet light brightened across Lauren’s blindfold as Unveiled Weakness pierced the creature’s watery body. Her free hand pressed between Luke’s shoulder blades, and a fragment of her sight passed through their contact.

For an instant, Luke saw the bird as Lauren did. A pale knot of mana glowed beneath its left wing, standing out from the black water around it.

The image vanished almost immediately. Unveiled Weakness exposed the flaw, and Oracle’s Glimpse passed its location to him.

The bird launched itself from the branch. Luke waited until it committed to the turn he had already seen coming, then stepped into its real path and slashed upward.

His blade passed through the glowing knot.

The wings folded into the creature’s body before it splashed across the mud as black water and sank into the ground.

Satisfaction surged through Luke. The attack had felt clean.

A second bird dropped from his right before he could enjoy the victory. Luke turned and met it with a thrust.

The point went straight through its chest.

Instead of collapsing, cold black water closed around the spearhead and rushed partway down the shaft. Wings reformed around the blade and beat hard enough to drag his arms downward.

Luke’s confidence vanished. What the hell had he done wrong?

He had pierced the bird without hitting whatever held it together.

More creatures fell from the canopy before he could adjust. One came for his shoulder, another for his face, while a third prepared to curve past him toward Lauren.

Luke fought the urge to yank the spear backward. Mercer had spent the past week punishing him every time he panicked, pulled too hard, and ruined his footing.

Don’t pull. Control the shaft first.

He shortened his grip and turned the weapon across his body. The bird wrapped around the blade slammed into the first attacker and knocked it aside, but the second creature slipped past the shaft and raked its talons across his shoulder.

A sharp line of pain ran down his arm.

The third bird curved around him exactly as he had expected. Luke pivoted without breaking Lauren’s grip on his belt and blocked its path with his body, allowing the talons to tear across his back instead of reaching her.

The impact shoved him forward, but his footing held.

Pain burned across his back, but his footing held exactly as Mercer had drilled into him. A week earlier, that strike might have put him on the ground.

The bird clinging to his spear kept twisting around the blade, throwing off every movement. Understanding the others did not mean he could answer all of them in time.

Lauren tapped his right shoulder blade.

Luke twisted just before a bird swept through the spot she had marked. He caught it with the middle of the shaft and knocked its dive aside.

Her fingers touched his left side next, then traced a line toward the center of his back. Luke followed it and slashed diagonally as another bird came for his ribs.

The creature immediately began pulling itself together after the blade passed through.

Lauren pressed two fingers into his back, and another image flickered through Luke’s mind. This time, the pale knot appeared near the base of the bird’s neck.

He reversed the cut before the creature finished reforming. The second strike passed through the knot, bursting the bird into black water that splashed across the roots and disappeared into the mud.

Some of the tension left Luke’s shoulders. He understood her now.

A tap marked where an attack would land. A traced line showed its direction. If he needed more, Lauren sent a quick glimpse of the weakness inside the creature.

It was simple, silent, and fast enough to use while the flock circled them.