Mumuroot-san ran quickly as the Cockatrice followed him in the sky. From not far behind, I realized that while his attacks were effective at attracting the Cockatrice’s attention, they did little to no damage.

I thought of attacking the Cockatrice from behind, seeing how it was focused on someone else right now, but that could also backfire as it might turn towards me and back at the village, making Mumuroot-san’s efforts go to waste.

Better to just keep following them for now.

The Cockatrice managed to close a bit of a distance to Mumuroot-san and then flapped its wings, sending a powerful wind attack against him. Without stopping even for a second, Mumuroot-san casted a windwall to block it and continued running through the village, eventually making it to the forest.

Mumuroot made quick use of the trees, dashing behind them to dodge the Cockatrice’s attacks.

After a while of doing so, Mumuroot stopped at a clearing with a small hill and readied to face the Cockatrice, which slowly descended.

Certainly, this spot was spacious and suitable for such a confrontation, but without the trees to shield himself, his only option was to face it head-on.

Well, our goal was to lure the Cockatrice away, so this should do.

The Cockatrice again flapped its wings at the now stationary Mumuroot-san, sending dozens of sharp feathers his way, but Mumuroot-san simply created another windwall while also leaping backwards to dodge any stray feathers.

Immediately after landing, Mumuroot-san sent a wind blade at the Cockatrice, but it swiftly dodged by flying back up. The wind blade curved and struck the ground, leaving behind a deep graze.

The Cockatrice then began slowly beating its wings to gather up wind, but Mumuroot-san immediately used wind magic to disrupt it.

Wow, they were battling on equal grounds; Mumuroot-san was really cool.

Wait, this wasn’t the time for me to stand by and watch them. If they were of about the same strength, there was a chance that Mumuroot-san could lose if I didn’t intervene.

Right now, the Cockatrice had its back turned towards me, and all its focus was concentrated on Mumuroot-san.

Thus, I gathered a small Bear Fireball and shot it directly towards the Cockatrice’s defenseless back. The Cockatrice didn’t notice it at all, so the small Bear Fireball managed to damage its wings.

The Cockatrice let out an angry shriek, immediately turning around to face me.

「Young lady! Why are you here?!」

Mumuroot-sane called out to me, but I simply ignored him and sent another small Bear Fireball at the Cockatrice. In games, it was common sense to deal as much damage as you could while you still had the chance. Still, the Cockatrice wasn’t going to let me continue hitting it for free. It once again beat its wings, sending red and black feathers directly at me.

「Young lady!」

Copying Mumuroot-san, I created a windwall to block the feathers while Mumuroot-san took the chance to send another wind blade at Cockatrices’s back. Again however, the Cockatrice simply flew higher up to dodge it.

「Why did you come here?!」

Mumuroot-san rushed up to me, clearly mad that I had disobeyed him.

「To help you, of course.」

「What are you saying?! Get out of here immediately while I distract the Cockatrice.」

「Don’t worry, I won’t get in the way. I can handle myself. This way, we can take it down together.」

The Cockatrice now circled above, waiting for us to act.

Mumuroot-san threw a glance at it before turning back to me.

「Fine, but promise me one thing: if it gets too dangerous, save yourself at any cost. I don’t want to see any children die today.」

Children? Was that how Mumuroot-san saw me?

「If that comes to pass, I can buy enough time for you to run away, at the very least.」

So, he was just telling me “Don’t worry about me, save yourself!”? No way I would do something like that. Sanya and Ruimin would be devastated if he died.

For now, I decided to just nod in reply, so we could resume the fight.

Together, we looked up at the Cockatrice flying in the sky. It once again slowly descended towards the ground, this time a bit away from us. Once it landed, its stomach suddenly began to puff up.

「Mumuroot-san, don’t move!」

As soon as I shouted, the Cockatrice expelled a purple-colored breath, but I managed to create a wind-dome to shield us just in time.

That breath attack was very poisonous. In the game, a Cockatrice’s breath would inflict a lethal poison status effect, so we had to avoid it at all costs.

Once the Cockatrice stopped breathing out poison, I expanded the dome to blow away all the toxic fumes from our surroundings.

「Young lady, you really saved me there.」

Mumuroot-san thanked me then rushed towards the Cockatrice and threw a point-blank wind blade at it, slicing off a part of its wing. The Cockatrice was infuriated by this and blew a large amount of poison right at him. However, Mumuroot-san did not fall for the same trick twice. Using a strong gust of wind, he blew the breath right back at it.

Just as Mumuroot-san tried to deal the final blow, however, the Cockatrice extended its wings and, with a wide swing, knocked Mumuroot-san away from it.

「Mumuroot-san!」

「I’m fine...」

Mumuroot-san replied from the ground.

Still, the Cockatrice wasn’t going to wait for Mumuroot to get up, so I quickly shielded him with a windwall with my right hand before shooting a small Bear Fireball at the Cockatrice with my left. I knew it wouldn’t hurt it, but I at least wanted to attract its attention.

The small fireball hit its left wing, knocking the monster off balance.

Hmm, would a larger Bear Fireball be enough to defeat it? Well, if I used such a strong flame, Mumuroot-san would surely get steamed in the process.

Was it just me or was Mumuroot-san more of a hindrance than I thought?

Then again, I couldn’t just tell him:「You’re in the way, so can you please just leave it to me and get out of here?」

「Thank you, young lady.」

「Please don’t overexert yourself. Since you’re hurt, I’ll defeat it in your stead.」

「Huhu, you’re simply incredible. To be able to remain so confident even when facing a Cockatrice...」

Mumuroot-san laughed as he stood up.

I wasn’t bluffing or anything; I was quite serious about this.

The Cockatrice once again took to the sky, taking its time to observe us.

「Okay, then. Could I borrow some of your strength, young lady?」

「What do you want me to do?」

「When that thing comes down again, could you make sure it doesn’t fly back up?」

「Sure thing, I can do that, but why?」

「I am going to try casting a rather powerful spell. I don’t want you to get caught in it, so make sure to keep your distance.」

Mumuroot-san stepped a small distance away from me and started collecting magic power in both of his arms. At the same time, bracelet on his right wrist began to shine brightly.

I could tell that a tremendous amount of magic was gathering within it.

Noticing that Mumuroot-san was attempting to do something, the Cockatrice once again shot feathers at us.

These feathers were getting annoying. Didn’t it have anything different?

I deflected the feathers with another windwall.

How cowardly of such a monster, only attacking from the sky. I should bring it down.

I ran towards it, gathered some strength in my feet, and blasted into the air, flying past the Cockatrice.

Not good. I jumped too high.

With the help of wind magic, I safely dropped to its level and threw a Bear Kick at its back, sending the Cockatrice towards the ground.

Wow, it worked.

As the Cockatrice attempted to raise back up, Mumuroot-san finished preparing his spell.

「Young lady, try not to get caught up in my attack!」

A whirlwind started to form around Mumuroot-san, who then focused it into his hands before shooting it towards the Cockatrice on the ground, easily slicing off one of its wings.

So powerful. Good thing I used wind magic to descend slowly.

「Young lady, please finish it for me.」

Mumuroot-san fell down on one knee, breathing heavily. He must have exhausted all of his magical power.

As I turned around to send a few Wind Cutters at its defenseless head, I spotted a large shadow flying towards us

It was another Cockatrice, preparing to launch an attack at us.

As soon as it got in range, it shot feathers at me. I ended up having to use the wind gathered within my right hand to counter its attack and was unable to finish off the damaged Cockatrice on the ground.

「Young lady, run!」

Mumuroot-san shouted at me, knowing he couldn’t help me in this fight.

Even though he told me to run, I couldn’t just leave him behind.

I called for Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear in my mind then fell back to where Mumuroot-san was.

「Can you move?」

「Go to the village and tell everybody to escape.」

Even if I wanted to run and tell them, I could clearly feel the murderous glare of the newly arrived Cockatrice. If it killed Mumuroot-san, it would most likely chase after me next. I would just be bringing it to the village.

The undamaged Cockatrice growled and spread its wings, a whiff of poison coming out from its beak. Yeah, it seemed to be pretty mad at us.

It then sent another wave of feathers at us, prompting me to use a windwall to protect us. Yet, its attack was clearly stronger than that of the first Cockatrice, so my wall was not able to block all of the feathers.

「Young lady, don’t worry about me. Please just save yourself.」

「I can’t do that.」

Just as the Cockatrice spread its wings again, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear came running over.

I created a large gust of wind to protect us all then used it to blow the new Cockatrice away. Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear managed to make it to us safely.

「I am going to keep fighting.」

「Young lady?」

I then proceeded to pick Mumuroot-san up.

Thanks to my Bear Gloves, I could easily lift heavy things, so Mumuroot-san felt very light in my arms.

「What are you doing?」

I placed Mumuroot-san on Hugging Bear’s back while he kicked up a fuss at me. Noticing he tried to climb off the moment I let go of him, I used lightning magic to paralyze him.

「Young lady, what...」

「Hugging Bear, take Mumuroot-san back to the village.」

「W-what are you saying?」

「Go.」

Obeying my orders, Hugging Bear immediately ran off. Mumuroot-san had shouted a few more things at me, but I ignored him.

It was time for the second part of our little battle.

Author’s Notes:

This Cockatrice is not the strong version told in legends, but rather a weaker version.

P.S.: By weaker, I mean weaker than the ones you usually find in games.

In order words, it can’t turn people into stones and its poison won’t kill all the trees and plants around it.

Hmm. This almost makes it seem like I’m bullying Cockatrices for no particular reason. Maybe I should let them destroy the village a little bit. I guess I can just edit it in some other day.