42. Subjugation of the Listening Bird

“AH HA HA HA HA!”

The Listening Bird wove through her golden eyes with ease, using them as footstools. It was so fast that she could no longer maintain eye contact with it to utilize her foresight.

She had blundered by not being thorough with her kill. In her defence it was not easily possible to predict if a critical strike would hit. And neither could she see future values in the System unless she solely focused on the open prompt.

And neither did she expect Prejudice to completely annihilate everything within reach. Regardless, it only required one more good hit to end this madness for good. The problem was catching it now.

Biased Verdict was out of the question until its speed could somehow be brought down. Neither did Jury have any means of fighting it. Frost tried to wildly move the floating eyes, but the creature was simply unhampered by any attempts of intervention.

“Nav! It doesn’t have any other tricks up its sleeve, does it!?” She yelled, returning to the sea of red Screaming Galleries to replenish her mana as she scrambled her mind for a method of combat.

She briefly observed the forest. How it was enshrouded in a white fog on all sides but one, which was dyed in blood like a red mist. How the Adventurers fought for their lives, screaming out their hearts as the wails of children run at the same pitch as the Screaming Galleries.

“Monsoon entities are powerful, but simple in comparison to Eternal Nights! We have reason to believe that it is just a matter of dealing the final blow!”

“Leave that part to me! We just have to figure out a way to slow it down! You know, now would be a great time to use magic! But all I have are my fucking fists!” Frost’s yell was complete and utter nonsense to the onlookers, save for Jury who proudly watched on. “Furio! Shift your target to the skies and open fire!”

“Again with open fire!? I’m taking that you want me to attack above!”

Open fire isn’t really a saying here, huh!?

The man redirected his columns of flames to the skies. It suddenly transformed into a giant cloud of fire. He commanded a miniature firestorm from the flat of his palms, charring the trees and incinerating the webbing of the Anid nest…

That’s right. They were still in an Anid nest.

She had almost forgotten about that. The strands gave her an idea, and upon glancing at the last remaining Octanid she remembered the thick wall of steel strands that served to protect the inner parts of the nest… like…

“… like a giant bird cage.” Frost grinned as her face immediately lit up.

“Oh? Do you have a plan in mind already?”

She then bared her teeth.

“We’re in an Anid nest. Filled with webs, and that thing’s bouncing around like an insect! I have the Octanid’s ability to construct steel stands!” She began, finally reaching what remained of the Screaming Galleries and quickly gnawed at their hideous flesh. “If I can’t predict where it’s going, then we only have to limit where it can go!”

She didn’t know how the ability exactly worked. Cer’s tutorial of the Dimensional Storage came to mind again. And so, just from touching their living flesh with the intention of turning it into steel strands –

“It works… Nav, we have a method of dealing with it now!”

The flesh of the Screaming Gallery flash boiled at the site where the strand was pulled form. The little geyser of super-heated steam seemingly formed these stands by some unknown method. Magic. It had to be magic.

Not that it mattered, but it definitely stole her attention for much longer than she realized.

Nevertheless, Frost tugged it straight from the chest of the Screaming Gallery like it was a living loom and presented the unbroken strand to the world.

“Nav. Watch me. I’m going to turn this forest into a giant bird cage!”

“With what method? You are incapable of moving faster than it, never mind leaping from tree to tree.”

“I don’t need to. I have one thousand eyes to do that for me!” Frost revealed, managing to surprise Nav with this outrageous plan.

Would it even work? Frost did not know. However, if there was anything she did know about these eyes was that they were essentially an extension of herself. Not just as eyes, but as limbs. Her own flesh and blood.

They possessed the exact same AGI, MAG ATT and MAG DEF stats as her, and carried about a tenth of her total HP.

Judge's Aid
HP : 3,000     ATT DEF : 500     MAG DEF : 350     AGI : 55

It had no other information than what was listed. She could only imagine how powerful these would have been if they could attack.

“… Healer Frost!? You – You’re a Nilhinid!?” Jaris’ face warped in shock. “One of the… taboo Anids… Born from the wombs of healers…”

“Nilhinids can’t create strings! So how can a humanoid – no, a healer do what those humanoid Anids cannot!?” Another exclaimed as their knowledge of everything they knew crumbled before their very eyes.

Nav briefly explained that Nilhinids were Anids that were born limbless, hence the name. Nearly all Nilhinids were born stillborn, and very rarely did they pass the adolescent stage of growth as they required immense, intensive care around the clock as one would imagine for a limbless child.

Not only that, but they were also the only Anid incapable of producing their own string.

They were quite a useless existence when one thought about it.

That aside –

The glowing orb brushed against the back of a Screaming Gallery. With the same intention to draw string from their flesh; the orb dragged out a long, taught strand of steel string.

“It… works! Now to get the rest!”

“You never cease to surprise me. You’ve discovered yet another outrageous synergy.”

Frost felt like a grand puppeteer as more of these orbs gathered by these plentiful screaming mounds of flesh. They each pulled thin strands from their beings as the others spared her glances in between their bouts of combat, unable to comprehend Frost’s magic.

“A healer that fights like an Adventurer. That weaves strings like an Anid… and bears the appearance of a human. All those stories of the Wandering Healer and the Wayfarar sound more believable than this.” Furio eventually surrendered to the reality before him, somehow revelling in it.

“Stop the flames, Furio! The Listening Bird isn’t taking any damage from you!” Frost said bluntly, causing the man to click his tongue as he reluctantly vanquished his flames.

Before long, at least a hundred strings were dragged into the forest sky like the innards of a monumental, grand piano. The damage these strings caused to the donor was far from substantial and it hardly affected their miniscule HP as well.

But when Frost tried it on herself, she immediately realized that the pain would certainly make one wish that it did eventually kill them. The horrors of the Octanid’s biology returned to her again.

What a nightmare it must be to become the innards of an Octanid…

< “I must scream so they can hear my confessions.” >

< “We were judged by what was written… forced to wear those sins on our sleeves…” >

< “I smile… so I won’t be judged again… and I’ll scream internally ever after.” >

These words came from the Screaming Galleries. It caused her blood to boil and her hunger to soar to new heights. She still could not manifest the Second State as Judgement to use the One Thousand Eyed Bird’s unique skills, but that did not matter the slightest.

Not when she already had the Listening Bird right where she wanted it… conceptually, for now.

Frost, like a spider, wove a steel web around the forest. The countless eyes dashed together, creating fine barriers as they wrapped around many trees. The strands were so sharp and taut that they bit inches into the trunks of the pine trees, bleeding out its sticky sap.

She remained silent throughout the procedure, allowing herself to tank as many of its Dismissed Confessions as possible. No matter how painful it was, how much blood pooled underneath her feet, or how many layers of dermis its attack stole from her – she never relented.

It only served to further her resolve to save these people.

“The Blessed… we’re… what are we in the face of those people?”

“Unbelievable. Strings. Healing. Eating… S-someone… FUCK. Don’t’ stop fighting! Don’t stop yelling! Let her keep doing her own thing!”

“Don’t give up! Frooooooost!” Jury’s words of encouragement reached her heart.

She smiled as she took more of the attacks unflinchingly. Her HP was so ridiculously high that she did not even need to heal herself. This precious mana was for the finale.

HP : 10,000 | 30,000 ^5 HP/Min

A network of grey strings encased the forest like an iron shell. From here it was just a matter of slowly closing in on the Listening Bird until it was too late. Like deadly tripwires, Frost began to layer wires from one end of the cage to the other. Before long the various pieces of the bird were severed as it passed through these near invisible strands.

While it did not take any damage, it certainly did slow down as a result.

The others, however bewildered they were, needed to act fast. Copious amounts of Unlying Tablets began to form.

“DON’T RELENT! THIS IS OUR LAST PUSH! GIVE IT EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!” Jaris rallied their hearts onwards.

“Frost is so close! Just hold on a little longer!” Jury assured them. “The small unlistening beast is going to die any second now!” She said this, hoping to get a reaction from Frost.

And as expected, Frost could not help but to smile to those words. They were a parody of the one phrase she was only able to speak for the longest time. Hearing it repurposed for this bird caused Frost’s heart to swell as she prepared for the finale.

She was going to end this here and now.

You Corrupted make no sense. The other one had a sense of self-preservation, however fake that was. But you… YOU only fear the loudest. Tch…”

“The issue is that you are trying to make sense out of beings that lack it. But if there is anyone that can, I believe it would be you.”

Yeah, because who else is going to?

“Able to, you mean.”

Chunk after chunk, the Listening Bird gradually lost more of its outer coat until its hideous, apple-shaped innards were exposed to the world when it met one unsuspecting wall of strings.

“AH HA HA HA…”

Its momentum was destroyed in that moment. And Frost seized it faster than the bird could bleed from its wounds. Seeing its future position now with her foresight, Frost rushed towards this location deep into the forest and roared loud enough to cause the hidden canopies to shudder.

“[BIASED VERDICT]!”

The scorched tree ensnared it once again. This time much closer to the ground. She tugged on the strand that still connected her to one of the Screaming Gallery and towed its body towards her.

“GET. THE FUCK. OVER HERE AND BE EATEN!” Frost, reeling it straight into her arms and chomped down on its bleeding body.

MP : 4,050 | 5,350

With her mana now replenished, and with the Listening Bird dangling only a few meters above – Frost let loose of a voice that easily trumped all within the forest.

“[PREJUDICE]!”

The black mist devoured the Listening Bird in one fell swoop not a second later. The sound of a colossal snap reverberated within the forest, echoing alongside her voice and the remnants of the Listening Bird’s eerie laughter.

Its body spilled open, drenching the ground with not blood, but with feathers much like how the One Thousand Eyed Bird died. These feathers were grey, and they piled up to a meter high by the base of the half-eaten scorched tree.

Within that pile Frost knew that a certain Corrupted Object yearned to be unearthed.

What remained thereafter was silence. Complete silence…

… and a gaping hole in the fog above where the vibrant-blue skies of the world beyond beaconed them.

Her breaths were the only sound now, as were the rushing footsteps of her closest friend.

“Nav… Jury – good work.” Frost deeply exhaled as soon as Jury arrived at her side.

“That’s another chapter closed in this tale of the Price of Paradise. Although it is important to note that this was intended to be the first chapter. You began with the second… hence why it was so easy… the voice just spoke to me again.

Regardless – congratulations, Frost.”

Frost melded into Jury’s sudden embrace.

This nightmare was finally over, and in the absence of the creature came a triumphant choir of cheers from the Adventurers.

< The Listening Bird has been Subjugated >

< Listening Bird has been added to your collection >

< You may manifest the Active and Passive Skills of the Listening Bird when the Will of the Amalgam allows >

< Easier than the One Thousand Eyed Bird by a long shot…Good work, Frost! You too Jury! >

< Stats from the Listening Bird gained >

< Unique Ability Gained >

< All Unique Abilities of the Listening Bird Have Been Condensed >

< ABILITY: Language of Judgement >

< EFFECT: Understand what all cannot, and what judgement could never >

< One Thousand Good Deeds Tainted by One Sin >