Return of the Runebound Professor

Chapter 76: Bushes

Brayden’s snores covered Noah’s steps as he padded out of the camp. As soon as he’d heard the large man fall asleep, Noah had slipped out of his tent and crept away. He’d caught a glimpse of Moxie beside the firepit before he left, but she still looked half asleep and hadn’t noticed his departure.

Noah continued for a few minutes, cresting hills until the camp was behind him. The cool night prickled against his skin and made his chest yearn for – well, something. He wasn’t exactly sure what.

The hills around him were fairly empty. There were bushes, grass, and the wind. Normally, that would have been perfect. However, Noah was currently in the business of trying to find a monster to annoy, and there was a very stark lack of monsters in the area.

He jogged, keeping to a straight line to try and make sure his trip back to the camp would be as easy as possible. Of course, he’d memorized the way, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get lost.

Noah continued for a little under half an hour, finding nothing but more and more bushes. Brayden had made it sound like there would be a large number of big monsters roaming around at night, but as far as he could tell, he was alone.

Or, more likely, I can’t see them. Nighttime predators are often stealth hunters, right? More birds, maybe?

The sky was empty, devoid of everything but the moon and some wispy gray clouds. Noah squinted, trying to tell if something was somehow blending into the night, but he found nothing in the air.

Okay, maybe no birds here. Underground, then. I’ve been walking for quite a while and haven’t found anything, though. I wish I could have left my gourd back at the camp so I could be a little less careful, but the risk of someone finding it while I was out is just too high.

Noah knelt, studying the grass at his feet. Aside from its color, it really did just look like normal grass. He chewed his lower lip.

If I were a monster hiding underground, what would make me want to come out? I suppose predators usually don’t expect prey to be strolling around casually. It’s possible they’re avoiding me because they don’t know how strong I am. That means I need to sniff one of them out.

Noah’s gaze landed on one of the bushes that dotted the landscape. They supposedly drew Runic energy out of passersby. That meant they had energy themselves – and typically, whenever there was a resource to harvest, there was something there to leech off it.

He approached the bush carefully. It was a good bit larger than the ones that had been along the path near Arbitage. Noah walked in a circle around it, keeping his magic ready to jump aside at the first sign of trouble. He pushed some Flashgrass into his pipe, though he didn’t light it yet.

Noah completed the circle and crossed his arms. It was a bush, and now he felt like an idiot. The flowers were all closed for the night, and they didn’t even lean toward him when he passed by. Noah nudged one of them.

The bush rippled, leaning away from him. Noah suppressed a laugh. He poked the bush again, then shook his head.

If these are the monsters in the area, I don’t think I’m going to be able to get all that much training in for the kids. But… if they feed off energy, there has to be something in the area that actually has said energy. Where is it?

Noah prodded the bush again. Once more, it leaned away from him. A small frown crossed Noah’s face.

What good does pulling away do a bush? It’s not like it can go anywhere.

There was a soft shuffle from behind Noah. He spun as the ground behind him started to churn and shift. A long nose poked up out from the ground, followed by a shaggy, tubular body. What looked like a huge mole clawed its way free, snuffling aggressively as it turned to look in Noah’s direction.

It was a little larger than he was tall, and about twice as long. The monster didn’t have any eyes, but it clearly knew exactly where he was standing. Noah shoved his gourd into his travel bag and tossed it to the side as hard as he could, giving it a boost of wind to make sure it went far enough.

The monster’s nose twitched and it stood perfectly still, trying to figure out where Noah was. He watched it, ready to move at a moment’s notice. Noah was pretty sure he could have killed the beast already, but that was defeating the purpose of why he was here in the first place.

Did the bush somehow summon this? Maybe a symbiotic relationship of some sort?

Noah waved his hand. The monster didn’t respond to it. It looked to be well and truly blind. He gently shifted his weight, his magic at the ready. Not an instant later, the mole lunged at him, snapping with wide, sharp teeth.

He launched himself back with a blast of wind, hopping as he hit the ground to keep his momentum. The moment Noah’s feet touched down, the mole whipped its head toward him and bit at him again.

Noah resisted the urge to ignite the Flashgrass in his pipe. The purpose of this wasn’t to kill the monster.

He and the mole spent the next minute in a strange dance where he led and it followed, matching every single move but never quite able to catch up with him. Noah moderated his usage of the Greater Wind Rune, using as little energy as possible to make sure he didn’t run out midway through the fight.

It wasn’t full, so there wasn’t nearly enough for him to practice as much as he would have liked. Luckily, even though the mole’s movements were snappy when it struck, the monster wasn’t particularly fast itself.

Noah confirmed that he could outrun it, then sprinted back to make sure it didn’t lose interest and leave. For the most part, the monster just snapped at him whenever he grew close. It would only give chase for a short while before pulling back, seeming more interested in protecting the bush than attacking him.

Interesting. Not nearly as dangerous as some of the stuff in the Scorched Acres. They’re a bit fast when you’re close to them, but not anything too crazy compared to Slashers or Maulers. I wonder if they use hearing or some form of tremor sense to figure out where I am.

Noah lifted himself into the air with a burst of wind. The mole turned toward where he’d been standing and Noah clapped his hands loudly in the air above it. Tilting its head slightly to the side, the mole shifted from foot to foot.

It didn’t move again until his feet hit the ground, when it charged him upon landing. Noah dodged the monster again, skipping back until it gave up on the attack.

None of its moves were exactly the same, but it clearly had a preferred style of fighting. Noah was confident that both Isabel and Todd could handle it, but it wouldn’t be as straightforward as the monkeys had been.

I really need to find another Great Monster and make sure it doesn’t get any pieces of my soul so don’t have to kill it again. Damn Hellreaver. Causing me trouble even after it’s dead.

Oblivious to Noah’s internal debate, the mole sniffed at the red bush. Content that it was safe once more, it started to bury its way back into the ground. Noah approached it and the mole froze, jumping up and turning toward him.

Not the best memory on these things either. Does it have no object permanence? I can’t imagine these were what Brayden was talking about when he said there were threats, though.

The back of Noah’s neck prickled. He couldn’t place exactly what it was, but all the fights he’d been in over the course of the last few weeks had trained a sense that he couldn’t exactly place. It wasn’t one of the normal five senses as much as a combination of all of them – and it was telling Noah that something was wrong.

He ignited the Flashgrass in his pipe and spun, searching for the threat. It wasn’t the mole, as the monster was still sitting beside the bush. He tensed his muscles, waiting for something to jump out of the ground.

Instead, it came from the sky.

A streak of black flashed through the night, moving so quickly that Noah barely even saw it. It slammed into the mole, which let out a shrill shriek of terror and fury. As the two collided, Noah got a glimpse of the fast-moving form.

It resembled a vulture, but its body was pitch black and sleek. Its talons were long and curved. They left deep gashes across the mole’s back as the two monsters struggled, but it was clear that the bird had a huge advantage.

Even though it wasn’t quite as large as the mole, the bird shredded the other monster within moments. It whipped its large, pointed beak down into the mole’s head, killing it with a hollow thud.

Filthy little thief. That was my kill.

The bird ruffled its feathers, hopping onto the dead mole’s back and staring at Noah down the bridge of its beak. It looked to be sizing him up, but something was giving it pause. After a moment, Noah realized that it was the light coming from his pipe.

“Scared of fire?” Noah wondered aloud, igniting the smoke. A flash of flame rose up into the air, and he let out a low hum. It swirled around his head, then shot for the bird.

It squawked and fluttered back, lifting into the air to avoid the magic. Its ascent wasn’t particularly graceful or fast, but the moment it was in the sky, Noah nearly lost sight of it. The bird blended into the darkness so perfectly that it might not have even been there without the bright grass to contrast against it.

Noah snapped his fingers and ignited the smoke around him once more. Several streams of flaming ash shot out toward the monster, lighting the area up. It screeched, pulling away once more and taking higher to the sky.

Even though he knew where it was, Noah could barely spot the monster. He whipped a blade of wind at it and the bird tried to dodge to the side, but it wasn’t fast enough. It carved across its chest, cutting through thick feathers and sending several fluttering to the ground.

That was evidently far too great of an insult for the bird to ignore. It dropped like a rock, shooting straight for Noah. A series of sparks went off around him as he ignited the Flashgrass, sending it streaking straight into the bird.

It flew straight into the expanding cloud of superheated ash and screeched in pain as the smoldering motes enveloped it, catching on its feathers and setting it alight. The bird flapped desperately, trying to get away, but Noah had no intentions of wasting free energy.

He touched the cloud of smoke that still hung between him and the bird and poured energy into it. A deep thrum echoed through the night, traveling along the motes of ash and into the bird’s body. It shuddered violently, its beak clacking against itself. The ash solidified an instant later, turning into a sharp spike of embers and ash. Noah drove it forward, into the back of the bird’s skull.

An instant later, energy rushed into his body. The bird crumpled to the ground and Noah smiled. It had about as much energy as the Maulers did. Not exactly the most dangerous enemy he’d fought, but their camouflage made them considerably more of a threat than most of the enemies in the Scorched Acres.

Our target for training will be the moles, then. In the early hours of the day, the birds won’t be anywhere near as dangerous. Now, let’s see. I need to find some more moles to practice on before I go making any claims… I’m going to need more bushes. A lot more bushes.

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