Limits

After a good rest and breakfast, I went back to the usual meeting place with Avians. After a while, a few Avians left the swarm and landed in front of me. The Avian I always spoke with, came to the front and asked "Are you ready?". I said "Yes, but there will be some changes in the plan. I will go with you to the entrances and cause chaos. The Corpse Dogs are in hiding now, but as long as I'm there, they will have to send reinforcements".

The Avians said "Alright, we will bring you to the cliff, you can then talk with the King of Avians about the details". I nodded my head and one of the Avians grabbed me, then we flew towards the Vulture Cliffs. I was excited at the prospect of looking at the world from bird's eye view again. Although I saw the same things as before, I could at least marvel at the sights in front of me.

Shortly after, we landed on top of the cliff and the King of Avians joined me. She asked "What is the plan?". I explained "We are going to cause chaos near some entrances, but I will be there as well. I will act as decoy and lure them to the exit. You can take care of them later, while I get the Yellow Dust from the Entrance No. 2". She nodded her head and asked "Which entrances should we cover?".

I said "3 of the Entrances further away from the Entrance No. 2. I need the Entrance No. 2 to be as empty as possible. When I have the Yellow Dust, the real fun will begin". She nodded her head and said "Alright, then we will cover Entrances No. 1, 4 and 6". She signaled with her hand and all Avians came down. When they landed, she said "We will attack Entrances No. 1, 4 and 6". Then she pointed at one Avian and said "Carry him down the cliff to the Entrance No. 1". She then said to the rest of the Avians "I will assign the groups. Each group will be responsible for specific entrance. On my sign, you will attack". All the Avians gathered, replied "Yes" in unison.

The Avian responsible for transporting me to the Entrance No. 1, flew over and grabbed me. I would arrive there first but it wouldn't be a problem. 'This King of Avians is not stupid. I will lure them out first and then they will arrive, dealing a lot of damage. I can then move to the next location and so on' I thought. We arrived at the destination, the Avian dropped me off next to the entrance and rushed back, into the skies. 'Time to slaughter!' I thought and rushed in.

The Corpse Dogs were present at the Entrance No. 1, but the numbers were abysmal. 'At most 10 of them and normal ones at that' I thought and disposed of them very quickly. I then went inside. 'Empty... We will see about that soon enough!' I thought and ran into the tunnel. I didn't do it stealthy this time, I used a torch to see better.

Not even 5 minutes later, I could hear something in the depths of the tunnel. 'Finally, they are coming' I thought and took out the Yellow Dust from my bag, I took out about a kilogram of that stuff and made a pile of it, in the tunnel. The Corpse Dogs arrived. I backed away a bit and when the time was right, I threw the torch in my hand onto the pile of Yellow Dust. Without looking back, I ran as fast as I could, towards the exit.

"BOOOOM!"

A loud explosion echoed behind me, while the blast of air pushed me forwards with incredible speed. 'Shit!' was the only word that came to my mind at that time. I flew through the tunnel and shot out of it at great speed. I flew through the air, around 20 metres away from the ground. I stabilised myself in the air, while falling down. 'This is going to hurt…' I thought and bent my body a bit to buffer the fall.

"Boom!"

"Argh…. My legs hurt like hell! Fortunately, they are not broken!" I said to myself and fell to the ground. The impact was quite severe, I couldn't stand up whatsoever due to pain. Although I was glad, that I didn't break my legs. 'This was dangerous, I shouldn't repeat that again. I didn't think that, only this much Yellow Dust, would create such an explosion. I was hit only by the aftermath of that blast… I wonder what happened to those Corpse Dogs' I thought.

I took out some medicine from my bag and drank it. I also smeared it on both my legs. The entrance spewed out a lot of dust from what I saw, then the Avians arrived. They also noticed me and some landed next to me. One of them asked "What happened?".

I said "Ugh… I didn't expect for there to be such an explosion. The Corpse Dogs inside must be blasted to smithereens now. I think that more reinforcements should be arriving, as long as the tunnel didn't collapse". The Avian asked "Do you need help?" I said "Not now. I already applied medicine, so I should get better soon. We will wait and see. If the reinforcements come, Take me to the Entrance No. 2. Otherwise, I will got to Entrance No. 4".

The Avian nodded his head and flew off to relay the news. I then saw the King of Avians arriving. She landed next to me and asked "Wasn't this a bit too reckless?". I responded "Yes, a bit. There are positives too, now I know the strength of that Yellow Dust. One kilogram of that stuff, could cause such an explosion. There are couple of tonnes inside the Entrance No. 2".

She became visibly shocked by that revelation and asked, with a hint of fear in her voice "Are you planning on using all of that?". I said "No, this would blow up the whole region. I need to collect at least 50 kilograms of that stuff and place it around entrances. I will then blow them up from a safe location". She seemed to calm down and said "Alright, as long as you don't blow up the whole region, do what you have to". She then looked into the distance and flew up, while saying "The reinforcements arrived. Judging by the number, there are at least 1000 of them. I need to get my Avians to this location". I nodded my head and said "Go".

The Avian, I related news to earlier, came by and asked "Are we going to Entrance No. 2?". I nodded my head and said "Yes, just drop me off somewhere remote, I will get inside by myself". The Avian nodded and grabbed me, then flew off.

We soon arrived next to the Entrance No. 2, and it was quite empty. I said "Wait somewhere near, I might need a ride back". The Avian nodded and said "I will be in the skies. When I see you coming out, I will pick you up". He then flew off and circled around, near the Entrance No. 2.

'My legs are much better now. Fortunately, I had some Healing Essence at hand. Otherwise, the basic Vital Liquid would not be enough, to heal up my legs that fast. I approached the entrance with the bow in hand and started shooting. 'I guess I'm in luck. All the Corpse Dogs guarding that entrance, are just the normal ones' I thought. I immediately entered the tunnel and made my way to the Yellow Dust deposit area.

I managed to get there no problem and the Yellow Dust was still there. Thanks to the diversion and that explosion earlier, all the eyes and ears were focused on the Entrance No. 1. I took out a spare bag that I had. 'I hope this will do' I thought and used the bag like a dust pan. I scooped, then scooped and scooped some more, until I got around 150 kilograms of that stuff. 'This should be enough. I'm not going to blow up the Entrance No. 2, this might lead to an even bigger explosion… I don't know how much that Avian can carry…. I will take more and hide it. When the war is over, Avians may want that stuff for themselves. I might not be able to get more later, better be safe than sorry' I thought.