Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 731: Shot Dead

"So? Where are you from?" Flying in mid-air, the feathered demi-owl girl flapped her wings in mid-air, as silently as a whisper.

"Lululalia, and you?" Replied, the demi-raven, her eyes all dark and her wings much more audible than her other flight partner.

Thankfully for them both, being in the brambles, their bodies were hidden behind thorny branches from all directions. Landing on one thick branch, the two folded their wings and momentarily looked at each other.

"Aesteradia, never thought I’d ever fly again after Batimos’ curse had just lifted," replied the owl-girl, slowly reaching for her back to pluck out loose feathers.

"Why?" Eyeing the strange behaviour, the other closely watched as her senior put her plucked feathers into a bag on her waist belt. "And what are you doing?"

"Making sure the enemy doesn’t know that we were here," holding the feathers towards the girl’s face, the owl girl waved them around a bit and explained. "You’re new, so I’ll tell you. Loose feathers are like footprints for us avians, put them away while you can."

Lightly nodding, the girl curled her feathers around her and began picking loose feathers as well. One after the other, while taking them out, she couldn’t help but notice her senior eyeing her ever so often.

"Something wrong?" She whispered.

"Blood," squinting to that response, the raven recoiled a bit, "I mean, owls and ravens, they’re known enemies, and it’s just..."

Shaking her head, the senior tried not to focus too much on the call of her blood. Instead, forcing a smile on her face, she lifted her head and jested.

"Or maybe I’m lost in those starry eyes of yours, your royal highness~" Striking a bowing pose, she held back her laugh, but the raven girl couldn’t keep herself from chuckling just a little. Lifting her head again, she placed a hand on her shoulder and took the loose feathers from her with her other hand. "Let’s keep moving, lest you wish to admire these brambles some more, my lady dark-feathered~"

Covering her mouth, the girl shook her head and stared at the owl girl for a few seconds.

"Yeah...Let’s do tha–" A loud ear-piercing bang cut their conversation short.

Rattled by the nose and the shaking of the branch, the owl-girl’s vision turned into two, but as it cleared up a bit, her heart seized with horror. The very eyes that she’d been complimenting had been shot clean off the raven girl. Her jaws were hanging loose, and the entirety of her upper face was splashed across their bodies.

Going limp, the body fell to the ground, but the owl girl remained frozen. Her ears were ringing, her mind raced with thought, and fear had taken such a grand hold of her senses that the screams of the other spies simply melted into the background. Her hand remained outstretched, and a phantom sensation of the girl’s shoulder still lingered at the tip of her fingers.

Drawing the other hand back towards herself, the owl girl’s eyes widened more and more as reality began to settle. The bloodstained dark feathers were still warm from the girl’s body. Clenching them in her hand, the senior looked down the withered branch, but adding to the confusion was the fact that the body was already gone.

"Wh-what happened?" She whispered, her voice finally snapping her back to the real world.

"AGHHH!!"

"GET BACK!!"

"WHAT IS IT?! ANOTHER HORROR?!"

The screams became real, but the voices bounced around everywhere, confusing the owl girl as to where they were coming from. Looking around frantically, she tried to find a source so she could get closer to her group again, but when that didn’t work, she tried flying up. As if responding to her every move, the brambles curled their upper branches and formed a cocoon that trapped the scouts within them.

The sky was sealed, and the light of the morning was completely cut off. Hitting herself against the branches while trying to get out, the owl-girl lost her balance and fell a few feet towards the ground before getting herself back together. In utter darkness, she made her descend to the ground; the branches were safe no longer and staying on or around them was just as risky, if not more than, staying on the ground.

Thanks to her nocturnal nature, she could see perfectly through the darkness, but upon noticing numerous bodies lying around, she hoped that she couldn’t, for it was far too much for her to handle after what she’d just experienced. In spite of that, the rush of adrenaline from fear alone brought forth her blood, her nature, and her cunning. Her senses felt heightened, her white feathered body folded upon itself. Making herself a smaller target, she used her padded feet to move without a sound to avoid this predator.

’Only one, otherwise there would be more noise by now.’ Like looking through a tunnel, her mind was focused on one thing and one thing, and although her heart was dragging her back to confront her fear, to process the emotions of what she’d felt, the beast within her knew better. It knew better than to unwind just yet.

"Where are you?" She whispered, trying to draw out the enemy.

A beam of light erupted to that invitation and was coming right towards her head. Avoiding it with a flourish, she floated in the air in a spiral before setting foot on the ground again. The bullet went through the brambles, destroying all the trees and making them fall. And in that moment, the girl noticed a brief window of the brambles trying to close the gap overhead that was left behind by the falling trees.

Looking around once more, she struggled to keep her heart steady, and so, throwing the feathers away, she flew towards the air. As soon as the feathers hit the ground, another shot came from the darkness, tearing through the trees. It opened just enough of a window for the girl to escape. Even so, the branches chased after her in the air, but with only a few scratches, she managed to escape.

Heaving a sigh, she decided to turn around and leave for the city. But to her misfortune, another bullet came chasing her just because of her exhale...