Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 205

A massive crow flew into my view, pausing mid-air as it hovered in place. Its six, red eyes locked onto me as I took in its enormous form. It wasn’t even half of Crow’s size from the last time I saw the eidolon in his graveyard, but still massive. This bird had several dark green, nearly black growths all over its body like sacs of puss. Vines entwined in and under its feathers as if the creature was a mere flower bed.

I swept the surrounding area for the magus responsible for summoning the bird. Nothing. I flicked on Aetherial Perception to better track the flow of the Aether, coming to the startling realization that no one summoned the crow before me. It was just here on its own, seemingly possessing a corrupted aura just the same as the dryads.

”I can smell his scent on you,” A guttural voice called out- no, it wasn’t speaking. It was more of a telepathic call. It felt a bit similar to that bird from New Tress Radio; its voice caused a small headache. “Come out, come out, little brother.”

What is he-? Little brother? Corvid? It's the only thing that would make sense… What the hell was going on? Did sprites even have brothers? Or was this related to that oddity I noticed a while back where Corvid had a name, and most other sprites didn’t?

The small crow that’d been accompanying me since I got the Corvid Perk popped out of the Aether, landing on my shoulder. He stared up at the other massive crow seemingly in anger. “Caww!”

“Oh, don’t be like that. That false ruler of the Aether deserves no loyalty after what he did to elder brother! After that bastard stripped elder brother of his might, forcing him to be a mere mortal! For what? Understanding? Ha!” The crow called out righteously in his deep voice. “It’s not too late, you know? Join me! Together we can take down that- that pretender!”

I took a step back, lightly shifting my shoulder away. The crazed mania in his guttural force drove a spike of anxiety down my spine. I lightly whispered to Corivd, “Enjoy your family reunion? I think I’m just going to head over there-“

”The pretender’s puppet wants to retreat? Hahah, no surprises there. Ever the coward. Come, little brother, eliminate that beast first! Join me in glory! In power!” The guttural voice called out as the green growths on its body started to pulse with a green, corruptive light.

”Umm… Corvid?” I looked at the crow sitting on my shoulder in confusion. I wasn’t worried about him attacking me. I could feel the anger seething off his dark feathers.

Corvid nudged up against my face lightly with his beak before flapping off my shoulder. Mid-air, his body surged with the Aether. In mere moments, the little crow from before was gone, replaced by the massive body of a crow almost on par with the other one. And unlike the green growths covering the others, his body was covered in sleek and majestic feathers.

Corvid surged to the other one ruthlessly, striking out at its wings with his talons. Red streaks launched from his talons as the Aether warped with an extremely fast spell. The other crow barely managed to dodge the attack with an agile feat of flight. “Brother! I should’ve known better! That’s fine, once I fell you, I’ll show you Mother’s promise of power!”

「Request - Slay the Greater Sprite, Corvin - Received」

-A traitor has no place in Crow’s eyes. End its miserable life or banish it back to Crow’s domain. Additional rewards are possible.

-Expose Corvin's knowledge of She Who Grows.

-This request has been forwarded to every one of Crow’s Magi and affiliated groups. Happy hunting.

-Reward(Contribution): 1 Trait Point」

Greater Sprite, Corvin? No, before that, was this a hit mission? On a sprite? Is it even possible to kill a sprite? I thought they just vanished back into the Aether upon taking lethal damage.

She Who Grows… Mother… I had a sickening drop in my stomach as I watched the birds brawl. Was that the entity I’d been seeing all around since I got the interface? The writhing vines and sickening corruption that plagued half of every plant I ran across?

Still, a Trait Point… it was a valuable reward. One I didn’t want to miss out on. Especially after the trait point for the egg vanished in the wind. I raised my rifle. Not sure how much I could do, but it was only a matter of time till hunting parties came out. I had no doubt a mission directly from Crow himself would drive people up the walls to complete it.

Corvin seemed to be getting the better of Corvid as they fought. The evil crow sprite had a leg up not only in size but in Aether control too from what it looked like. Their fight wasn’t just a match of claw and feather. 

With every one of Corvid’s strikes, great red streaks blew through the Aether. Magic flashed abundantly, shearing through solid rock as their fighting grew more and more intense. Feathers flew as blood dripped into the fires far below. Unfortunately, most of the injuries were upon my avian friend as he desperately fought off the other bird.

I fired up at the wicked crow to try and help, but my shots seemed to do little against its feathers. Soon, I noticed others joining in. Only the new guys fired rampantly into both of the birds to little effect. The squad had joined, and they didn’t know one of them was friendly.

I could see the conclusion if things kept up though. Corvid’s presence in the Aether rapidly weakened with every strike he took. He was much weaker than the other. It also didn’t help that under the glance of Aetherial Perception, I found Corvin was closer to two entities fighting than just one. 

That corruptive green seemed to ooze from the malevolent bird, each pulse destabilizing the Aether more and more as its space seemed to warp. The very air itself cracked with tension, as if She Who Grows was trying to bring her main body here, into the fight. The spreading corruption and resonated with the ritual circle below as if to summon some great monster.

From the looks of things? It was only a matter of time till she succeeded. Paired with the squad unloading into the two of them, although they were little more than bug bites? This was a losing fight if I’d ever seen one.

I jumped from my high ground, the Drop Chutes flicking on to stop my fall as I sprinted over to the rest of the Crusaders. “We need to get out of here! Get the civies!” 

The Knight looked up unwillingly at the flying battle, her hand tightening on her rifle as she slowly lowered it. Her other grabbed the hilt of her longsword. “If only they weren’t flying…”

”Good idea!” Dev jumped on a chance to escape a potentially imminent demise at the hands of the Underground. He was first to make a move, quickly followed by the other two Squires as they headed for the cages.

I glanced over to see the fight getting worse and worse with every moment. A dark green haze slowly filled the space around Corvin as he attacked Corvid, seemingly inflicting some kind of poison on my poor bird. If only I had some better firepower or more Molotovs, I could help. As it stands though? Fresh out of anything aside from bullets, and even then those did next to nothing against the birds.

Tyler, Persha’s Squire, tried to lockpick one of the cages. A moment later, he rapidly backed up as Persha closed in and cleaved the lock mechanism with a single slash of her longsword. The vibrating blade ripped through the rusted metal like it wasn’t even there. 

Of course, the addicts sat around in a daze, their minds lost to Euphoria. Getting them out would be- well, it wouldn’t be a simple process. Thankfully, as I supported the first of them--a woman who looked as if she’d spent days sitting in her own shit--she seemed to instinctively move with me. She went with the flow as I helped her out of the cage, though stood entirely still once I left her side. 

The others weren’t having much luck either. There were about three dozen survivors, and only three or four of them seemed conscious enough to help us move the others. Getting them to and out of an exit though? Especially with the danger around us?

A section of the roof collapsed, burying a part of the Enron field in rubble as Corvid let out a particularly devastating strike. Red ichor, like the molten ruby that covered Crow’s graveyard, flew out in several long streaks from his claws, cutting through the stone and a part of Corvin’s wing.

It wasn’t a triumphant moment, however. The vines came alive as the green haze intensified. She Who Grows was close, and already she was starting to exhibit control over the plants nearby. They lashed out at Corvid, leaving several bone-deep lacerations across his body as the enchanted vines flicked with a nauseating aura.

Corvid glanced at me, a silent message passing through his eyes. He would buy me time- time to get out of here. At what cost though?

Regardless, the sooner I got out of here, the sooner Corvid could. I withdrew a rope from my bag and tossed it to the others in my group. “Here! Tie it around them and let's get out of here!”

Persha was first to move, her boosted reaction speed allowing her to fly through the motions. “To the lift, then. It’ll be easiest way.”

I nodded to the woman as she took the lead, cleaving through a root that lunged up from the ground. I flicked on Aetherial Perception once more to check the situation.

Thousands of tentacle-like vines spread through the Aether, corrupting the very air itself with a sickly green haze. The ethereal vines lashed at Corvid, seemingly attacking his connection to the Aether.

With each laceration, his presence grew shallower and shallower. Not as in near banishment, but almost as if his very existence was under attack. Slowly, corruption seemed to infiltrate my bird’s aura like a fatal poison-

The vines snapped to me like they were eyes, slowly reaching out from Corvin’s body. They stopped attacking Corvid as I became the focus. A sickeningly sweet scent tickled my nose. No- not sickeningly. It was pleasant, like back when my mother used to garden when I was a child. The fresh scent of soil and crops had been oh-so refreshing compared to the city’s stench.

A warmth slowly spread throughout my body, almost like the comforting touch of my mother before she passed. It was a slightly restrictive warmth, but comforting all the same. Almost like a- like a hug?

「~~~Re-re-re- Car3$$ R3c3!v3d - Mother’$ lovely daughter

• Be-be-be- Be @ good daughter for Mother. $h##### hasn’t seen you in $o long! My, how you’ve grown–

• Re-re-r3qu3$t- FLE############- 

• Ignore the unholy b3!ng$ for @ moment, sw-sw-sweet daughter. Mother is close! How she w!sh3s to em-em-embrace you-

• Re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re——#$%###@————-~~~」

“Zuku!” A hand clapped my shoulder as the rope I held pulled me forward. I sat still for a few moments, dazed as I read the glitched interface. I flicked off Aetherial Perception, causing the entire thing to fade away as if it’d just been a figment of my imagination. 

The creeping vines all over the interface still haunted my mind as they seemed to want to reach out to me. Mother- no- She Who Grows? She had contaminated the interface- contaminated me? I felt sick. A queasy, nauseating feeling spread throughout my body, only stopped as I flicked on Cold-Blooded. Even then, Cold-Blooded didn't help much against the rage that started to rise in me as this monstrous bitch used my memories against me.

The rope tugged once more as my daze cleared entirely. I reprocessed all that was going on, and quickly followed the group as we left the sacrificial chamber with our group of high stragglers. The sooner I left, the sooner Corvid could leave.

My last glance at the fighting birds revealed a desperate cry from Corvid as he brought the whole ceiling down behind us in a burst of red ichor. I felt tears spring to my eyes, though quickly blinked them away. He was a Sprite, right? A Greater one at that since he was named, so I’d seen him again, right? At most, he’d be banished back to the Aether for a time… right?

But the Request from Crow talked of killing Corvin… can sprites actually die? A final, complete death like us mere mortals? My mind drifted to the image of the vines weakening and corrupting the Aether- to the vines slowly destroying Corvid’s connection to the other dimension. He- he’d still be fine, right? Crow? Tell me Corvid would still be fine. 

Pulses of cold tried to calm me down, though they had little effect as images of my cute little bird’s heavily injured state hit me again and again. He didn't look good. When did things go so wrong? The Perk was still there, so he had to be fine... right?

The interface remained wickedly silent as we trudged for the lift back up to Lang Tower.