IWUAaDNW: Initiative 6.4

So for wave thirteen, I decided to mix things up a bit, and try something a bit different.

The ravens flew out from around Lilua in a coordinated flock. Accompanying them were a handful of fleshpeckers fresh from floor 3.

The kids raised their weapons, but when my ravens started flying in circles around them, they instantly raised their guards. I heard Gwen groan under her breath as she realized I was up to something.

First, I tested my ravens’ stare while they were flying. So far, I’d only tried to use it with my ravens perched and focusing, but I had a theory that with my unlimited multitasking, there wouldn’t be much of a difference between using the stare while perched or while flying. And as I’d expected, it worked. It worked just fine. Test successful.

Next, I used my fleshpeckers. My ravens’ black wings formed a solid curtain that was hard to see through, so using that curtain as cover, I made my fleshpeckers silently throw themselves into their signature dives––

“The little birds are coming, careful!” Lilua shouted a warning.

––directly through the flock, with bare sixteenths of inches to spare. This was a pretty difficult feat of coordination, but it wasn’t all that different from what I’d already done before with thousands of insects. Birds were a bit less mobile, and collisions were more dangerous, but that was all. The kids, forewarned by Lilua, barely had time to react, and even then they reacted all wrong. Gwen and Cirys raised their shields directly in front of them and turned their heads to find the threat, while Olivia extended both her knives wide in a panicked defense.

My birds were aiming for their legs. Every hit, intentionally held back as they were, landed. Then as they reflexively brought their shields and defenses lower, my ravens flipped in mid-air and went for their heads and shoulders with their beaks and talons. I was careful not to actually hurt them.

[...]

I nodded at her. I didn’t need to, but just for the effect, I made my bird raise its wings theatrically just as my ravens took flight. They started circling the adventurers again.

“Oh, we’re doing this again,” Cirys complained. “Is this going to be a thing now?”

“Until we figure out how to break it, probably,” Gwen replied.

My fleshpeckers started their dive-bombings. They did their best to protect themselves, but the little birds were fast, and the ravens were close. Gwen tried to use her pick-axe to swat my ravens, but I kept them just out of reach of her weapon. Cirys’ sword was equally useless. Their shields were also very predictable, so it was easy for me to land hits around them.