Winston snarled at the swarm of birds, heart pumping wildly. How was he supposed to defeat them?

  Looking at his party members, he found that they weren’t all completely unconscious. Both Erynd and Norra were awake, if barely. Their eyes were glazed over, and the only sign of consciousness was a half-formed word from Erynd and the twitches in Norra’s hand.

  Winston steeled himself. He just had to hold out until they woke up. Baring his teeth at the swarm of finches, a golden light formed around him.

  Winston inspected the leader at the same time as it screeched.

  [Alpha Fringillade - Acolyte 3]

  The moment the alpha squawked, the finches descended on him, but Winston was prepared. Food energy formed a bubble around him, repelling the finches. The shield was holding, but not for long.

  Winston bared his teeth and forced out more energy. Dozens of spikes and shards suddenly shot from the shield, jutting out at every angle. A moment later, the storm of red and gray feathers was joined by splatters of blood.

  Ignoring the barrage of kill notifications, Winston summoned a chunk of venison from his spatial ring. He quickly consumed it to replenish his energy. But when he looked up, the birds were gone. Had he killed them all already? That didn’t seem quite right.

  Then, through the sheen of blood and gore on his defensive bubble, he saw that the main swarm of finches had retreated, and the much larger, much more dangerous birds were approaching. They could barely be called finches, with their long beaks and razor-sharp talons.

  Winston dispelled his shield, retching as a sheet of blood fell onto him. Wrinkling his nose at the smell, he squared up to the approaching birds. There were four of them, each around Initiate 7. One of them took to the air, circling above them as the others attacked.

  Winston sent out razor-thin tendrils of golden light, whipping the energy at the birds’ feet. Then, they all leapt at once.

  As Winston saw their claws racing towards him, he felt something in him change. Ever since he got here, he’d been confused and weak. But now he had power. Not much, but power nonetheless. This was only the first floor. If it was so dangerous here, how was he supposed to survive the later floors? How was he supposed to save his humans? He wouldn’t let anything get in his way. After Roderic, he’d vowed never to let anyone he cared about die again. And he wouldn’t let Erynd or Norra or anyone in the party die. Not today.

  With a cry of defiance, the golden tendrils around him multiplied. First, there were two. Then five. Then a dozen.

  A flurry of gold shot from him, the tendrils reaching dozens of feet around him, pushing his range to its limits. The birds cried out in pain and fell back, but Winston didn’t relent. The threads converged into one, and it shot forward, stabbing through a bird’s skull.

  [You have killed Fringillade - Initiate 7]

  The Fringillade that had been circling above dove towards him, claws extended. Winston let it come, and a moment before it struck him, he summoned a spike of energy before him, causing the bird to impale itself on it.

  [You have killed Fringillade - Initiate 7]

  [Channel Food Energy lvl 4 → Channel Food Energy lvl 5]

  The bird struck the spike, but instead of stopping, its body slid down. Winston cried out in pain as the claws of the dead bird raked across his back, drawing blood.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Two birds down. Two birds left. Winston trapped one of them in a bubble of energy as it lunged at him. Then, he shot a flurry of shards forward, ripping into the Fringillade’s body. The other bird shattered the bubble, but it was too late.

  [You have killed Fringillade - Initiate 6]

  Before Winston could attack the final bird, it flew back to the alpha, who had finally gotten back onto its feet. The alpha stalked towards Winston, its massive wings spread out behind it. Winston growled. Along with the alpha, three regular Fringillades advanced as well.

  The strands of golden light around Winston disappeared. The tendrils of energy were powerful, but they were draining his energy far too quickly. Even his body was beginning to ache from using them. For the first time, he was using such a sheer amount of energy that he could feel it running through channels within his body, threatening to burst as he forced in more than could fit.

  Winston glared at the birds. Then, his eyes widened. He’d killed three of them, and three more were before him, but where was the seventh? When the Fringillade the party was fighting had fled, it had returned with the alpha and six other Fringillades. Where was the seventh Fringillade?

  Whipping his head around, he saw it. It had crept around him during the battle, moving to attack the rest of the party. With a cry of alarm, Winston dove forward as the bird attempted to attack the stunned Erynd.

  Winston growled. He wouldn’t let Erynd die like this. He launched a cone of golden energy at the bird, blasting it into a tree. Leaping, he drove his claws into the bird’s wings before biting down on its neck. It let out a cry before it collapsed.

  [You have killed Fringillade - Initiate 7]

  Winston checked on the party for a moment. Most of their eyes were already darting around, and Erynd had begun to move a whole arm. How had the bird done this? Why had it done this? If it were this powerful, it could’ve killed them all with ease.

  Winston stalked forward, muscles tensed as he approached the alpha. The last time he’d attacked an Acolyte-tier beast, he’d struck it in the eye; it’d barely distracted it—but he was stronger now.

  Leaping back from the strike of a normal Fringillade, he channeled food energy. A golden light appeared before him. But it didn’t grow in size, only mass. Winston kept compressing and compressing it until it began to shrink.

  [Channel Food Energy lvl 5 → Channel Food Energy lvl 6]

  The marble-sized orb of energy took a dark amber hue as it radiated a brilliant light. With a growl, Winston shaped it into a spear as he simultaneously launched it at the alpha.

  [Channel Food Energy lvl 6 → Channel Food Energy lvl 7]

  The spear of energy struck the alpha's chest. With all his might, Winston forced it forward. Then he compressed another orb, pouring energy into it before launching the projectile at the beast’s head. There was a flash of brilliant light, and Winston received a dozen kill notifications.

  [You have killed Fringillade - Initiate 7]

  …

  [You have killed Finch - Initiate 1]

  Winston yipped in alarm. There hadn’t been a notification for killing the alpha. It was still alive, and his own attack had blinded him. Winston stumbled back, blinking aggressively. Once his vision cleared, he found that Erynd was back on his feet, leaning against a tree.

  “Winston,” Erynd cried, “Run! Get out of here while you still can!”

  Winston shook his head, ignoring Erynd. He wouldn’t abandon them like this. Turning, he faced the alpha once more. But his eyes widened. On its forehead was a large bald patch, the missing feathers revealing scorched flesh. A trickle of blood wound its way down the alpha’s beak. That was all it had done. He’d put everything into it, but he couldn’t do anything but burn it. He’d barely drawn any blood.

  He realized that it was a fight that he couldn’t win. The Ursiterra had been weakened, lower-ranked, and taken down with teamwork. But that didn’t matter. Winston had known from the start that he couldn’t win the fight. He just needed to hold out for a little bit longer.

  Then, everything changed. The alpha decided to take the offensive. The alpha also used some sort of golden energy, but it was different from Winston's. And far more powerful. Winston dove to the side as a beam of energy shot from the bird’s beak, burning a line into the ground. Winston launched a shard of food energy at it, but it leapt into the air and avoided it. Winston launched another—it flew true, a shard of brilliant, razor-sharp energy. Then, there was a flash of movement, and the shard was gone, crushed in the alpha’s talons.

  Winston huffed and shot another shard at the beast. Nothing happened. No shard was released, nothing but a small wisp of gold. He was out of energy.