Records of Rebirth

Chapter 24 - A Familiar Greeting

I peer through the crack that was the entrance of the cave, to see the nestlings all gathered up in one area, peacefully asleep.

How could they all sleep with no one left to keep watch. How careless!

An enemy could have passed by and raided the nest in my absence. They were so lucky the cave was well hidden.

I drag the wolf corpse and fling it over the edge.

It falls from the entrance to the ground with a loud bang.

The sound wakes up the nestlings. It started with a slow ripple as they began to stir, slowly crawling out of the nest that was a tangled mess of sleeping bodies. Soon, they were all alert.

Awake and ready for an attack, the nestlings look around the cave for the source of the loud noise.

I look at them all from up high, displeased.

So now you wake up.

When I hiss, they all turn to look up.

Something begins to happen to the group. First it was just two, then ten, and suddenly they are all doing the same wriggling dance as they look at me.

Each of them with a pleased look as they gyrated about like little bendy straws.

Was this spaghetti dance supposed to be a new form of greeting?

I stared at them with a deadpanned face as Sensei bursts out laughing.

This was not what I intended by showing them how to do this!

I was glad they recognised me this time, but was this going to happen every time I saw them?

That is not a greeting you idiots!

If another creature saw this, weren't they advertising to the world just how stupid they were?

How embarrassing for me, their aspiring leader!

They were absurdly cute creatures.

No! I refuse to think of this as cute.

They were going to be my force from now on. My little terror minions were not cute! How could they look so pathetic!

I helplessly sighed. To think I was going to have to train these idiots.

I was annoyed at their stupidity and myself for showing it to them. Great job Aurelia, you've really outdone yourself.

«At least they learn fast»

"That's not helping, Sensei."

I climb down the cave wall, carefully navigating a path to the ground by gripping on to cracks and any jutting rocks.

Once down, I drag the wolf corpse away.

I notice the nestlings have begun to look at it with hungry eyes. They must be ravenous at the sight of fresh meat and I would use that to my benefit.

As I take the wolf away, the nestlings follow me. Some salivated at it while others just followed silently.

For a second, I thought they were about to swarm and attack me for it, but they don't. The all cautiously stare at me, then at the wolf, their eyes glistening with undisguised hunger.

I was surprised they had such self control.

I remembered Sensei's words. How he'd said they weren't truly hungry and just liked the texture of the egg shells. What a liar! This was clearly the sign of ravenous hunger!

I appraise the nearest nestlings and see its stamina points are dangerously low.

Not hungry indeed! I should have a word with him later.

I stop dragging the wolf corpse and face off with the hungry nestlings. They don't move like they will attack me, they just stare. They seemed more afraid of me than before.

My new horns marked me out as different, even though we were still the same size with the same markings.

I stand in front of my quarry like a stern guard.

I suppose they couldn't attack because I looked differently than I used to. They were probably wary of my horns, or of me.

I wasn't that strong to confidently take on all of them at once. However, they did not seem to realise this.

I watch one of the nestlings tentatively take a step forward, cautiously approaching me and the wolf. It attempts to take a bite.

I immediately strike at it, slashing its body with my horns. It reels back in pain from the two shallow cuts on its body. While it retreats I follow it, constricting its body in a tight hold that forcibly stops its blood flow, until it suffocates.

It is already fatigued from hunger and does not stand a change. I release the nestling as soon as it faints.

It was better for me to overwhelm them with brute force, before they wizened up to attacking me together.

The others look at me, confusion in their beady eyes.

I really wished I could communicate with them to clear up the misunderstanding, but I couldn't, so I had to settle for doing things this crude way.

They all looked hungry, but none tried to come forward. Not after seeing what had happened to the last nestling who tried.

I bite deeply at the wolf corpse, cutting off a chunk of flesh which I set on the ground. The nestlings all follow it with sparkling eyes, their mouths drooling.

It only took one look to know what they were thinking, they probably thought I wanted to divide it amongst them myself.

A nestling approaches the meat but watches me hesitantly.

When I don't do anything, it sees this as a sign of approval and moves to eat. Its caution wiped away by the hunger that blinds it.

I immediately slash at it and it backs away, my horn just narrowly misses its head. The other snakes all step back in confusion, looking at me with terrified looks.

This isn't how I wanted this to go.

I take the meat and set it before them, gesturing up at the wall with my horns and then down at it. Hoping they would understand.

The nestling just continues to stare at the meat and me in confusion. The others that are further away look on at us.

I carry the meat over to the wall and point at it.

They keep looking confused, even after I repeat the same instruction, gesturing at the wall over and over again. Until finally, one snake moves to the wall and starts to climb it.

I felt so happy that I wanted to cheer it on. Finally somebody gets it!

I watch the nestling climb, getting about midway through before falling down.

Its body twitches painfully on the ground, as it struggles to get up. It must already has pain resistance because it didn't pass out immediately.

With this fall it would gain impact resistance, that was a second skill down.

This quest was not so bad after all!

The nestlings were pretty good at following instructions as long as they understood what I meant. Having a communication barrier was the only thing that made this difficult.

I carry the piece of meat over to my fallen brethren and set it down beside it. It quickly gobbles it down, its pain momentarily forgotten.

As it eats, I watch its diminished HP replenish to half.

Hmm... so food refilled it much quicker than just waiting around.

The others that watched, see that I have allowed him to eat and soon more begin to climb the wall. They are lethargic but are spurred on by the promise of food.

I watch their attempts.

After repeated tries, some have managed to reach a quarter of the wall but keep falling.

I reward each one with a small piece of meat which disappears into their mouths instantly. If they wanted more, they would have to resume the climb after they recovered.

I let them continue their attempts until I see each one has fallen at least twice. After each fall I check to see who has pain resistance, impact resistance or both.

After so many falls, their earlier enthusiasm is gone.

With only so much meat to go around, their HP and SP are not recovering as fast as they lose them by falling.

I look around at all the tired, demotivated nestlings and start to demonstrate the proper climbing method to them.

They watch as I scale the wall, using grip to strongly attach myself to each rock before moving to the next. I do this repeatedly until I have climbed up to the exit without a single fall.

The nestlings watch but I am unsure if they understand what I am doing.

I climb down and just as I am about to demonstrate the climb again. I see some of the nestlings have begun to follow my example.

Half of them manage to grip the wall without falling, while the other half is not so successful.

Of the better half, I see two nestlings that have managed to properly implement my strategy and have climbed half of the wall without falling once.

The upper half where the curve steeps upside down is the most difficult part. Yet, somehow they managed to reach up to this point, until it got too hard and they had to crawl back down.

I was impressed at how quickly some of them were catching on.

The two that reached the highest point, I awarded with huge chunks of meat.

Seeing this the others try harder, emulating my climbing method until fifteen more reach the midpoint.

I also reward them with meat.

The ones who weren't as successful only received a small portion.

I let them keep practising and appraise the successful ones. I see they have managed to get [Grip] to LV2, along with [Impact Resistance] and [Pain Resistance] which was pretty fast.

The constant falling seemed to do the trick!

After what felt like hours I bring an end to the training session.

The nestling all gather in one place and fall asleep, their bodies in various stages of bruising, all looking worse for wear. I felt slightly sorry for them.

Imagine having peaceful days and then suddenly getting thrown into difficult training. But it was all for their own good.

The ones who worked hard here were one step closer to surviving the Labyrinth when they got out.

There wasn't much meat left on the wolf corpse, but I took it away with me while I found a good corner of the nest to rest.

I curl myself and drift away to sleep.