The next morning James awoke and cleaned up around the campsite, storing away the smoked meat from the day before.

Today James was going to clear the nesting area. He put on his armor, took his shield and hammer in hand, and after a quick scan for monsters, showing the area to be clear, he set out.

He was growing more comfortable with the lake as it became second nature to move quietly and avoid shouting. Still, he kept his distance.

By the time he reached the alcove where his wards remained, his left arm was growing tired again from the strain of holding up his shield. He paused a moment to let his arm rest and topped up the magic power in the wards. When ready, he crept forward, moving carefully with each step to avoid alerting the flock before he was ready.

He poked his head around the edge of the cliff and felt his breath hitch in his throat.

The flock had grown more numerous since the previous day.

Yesterday, he had finished off roughly half of the flock by letting the birds crash into his shield, injuring themselves, and then going back and smashing the ones that couldn't fly anymore. There had been well under a hundred bird monsters left by his estimate when he stopped for the day.

There were now at least a hundred, and likely several dozen more than that, swooping around the nests on the cliff.

"…" James nearly swore before biting his tongue. Making noise wouldn't help anything, not if it left him on the backfoot. He took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out slowly, centering himself.

Nothing had really changed.

His goal was still to wipe out the flock.

There was just more bird monsters than he expected.

After another deep breath he rolled his shoulders, loosening up his muscles. He stretched out his arms, especially his left, preparing for battle.

He fully stepped around the edge of the cliff, and immediately a bird monster spotted him, squawking as it lined up for a dive bomb.

James took a step back, readying himself to retreat as the flock assaulted him…

Clank!

James rattled around inside his armor as the first bird monster dodged his shield, landing a tackle on his shoulder.

Paff! Paff! Thud! Paff! Thud! Thud!

About half of the bird monsters he was able to catch on his shield, but it took all of his focus and energy to swing the shield around. The birds were faster than the day before, more aggressive. They swooped and swarmed around him, trying to flank him as much as possible.

James swung the shield around wildly.

He tried to take a step back and his foot slid on the broken wing of a fallen bird, and he fell on his back.

"Crap!" he couldn't help yelling as he fell. The birds were on him even before he hit the ground.

Thudthudthudthud…

For a hard, bone-rattling moment, the bird monsters had free rein to attack him as they pleased, and they didn't waste a second. James fell back onto his bottom, on the level of the hopping injured bird monsters, before he swung his shield up and rolled over, first getting to one knee, and then standing up with a hand on the wall.

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The bird monsters were a lot tougher than the day before. Worse, a lot of the birds on the ground were shaking off the stun from colliding with his shield and taking wing to line up for more dive bombs.

Something shifted in James' mind. Before, he had come into this fight planning to play defense, whittling down the flock bit by bit as they injured themselves attacking him.

Now his prey was getting away.

With a burst of strength, he held up his shield over his head and swung his hammer as quickly as he could, killing the birds while they were on the ground around him.

The sounds of his hammer smashing into the ground, bird monsters colliding with his shield, and bird monsters managing to get solid tackles on his torso mixed together.

At first, James tried to do everything at once. Block incoming birds, take a step, swing his hammer, all at the same time and he wasn't good at it. But soon, he found a rhythm. Take a step, block incoming strikes with his shield, [Hammer Strike] when there was an opportunity, then take another step.

Soon enough, he was catching more dive bombs on his shield than were getting through to hit him directly. Even as the ground grew littered with carcasses, his footing felt more stable. And he was spending more and more time killing grounded birds.

The Smith was growing more accustomed to the chaos of battle.

Not that that's something a Smith should be doing in the first place.

His muscles burned, but he pushed on. His chest ached and his heart pounded and he breathed heavily, forcing air into his lungs, but he pushed on.

Eventually, he caught himself leisurely watching only half a dozen more bird monsters swooping around, lining up for dive bombs. He sidestepped two, caught one on his shield, knocked another out of the air directly with a [Rapid Blow] [Hammer Strike], and stepped again to bring the downed bird within range before finishing it off, stepping again to prepare for the next two bird monsters.

Paff! Paff! Wham! Wham!

And then there were two.

Paff! Smack! Wham!

One he caught on the shield, then he smacked the other out of the air while side stepping, and finally he brought his hammer down crushing the head of the bird he had stunned.

He side-stepped again, continuing his rhythm, and swung his shield up when he realized…

There were no more bird monsters left.

James panted, breathing heavily as he slowly lowered his shield, scanning the nests on the cliff. The area was eerily quiet after the interminable squawking of the battle. The ground was nearly entirely covered in dead bird carcasses.

Suddenly, his side cramped, and he fell to a knee, letting the edge of his shield rest on the ground along with the head of his hammer.

Though he didn't let them go.

He wanted to clench his eyes shut from the pain.

But he forced them open.

After a long moment of scanning the area, he let go of his hammer and raised his visor, easing his breathing. Soon he was intentionally taking deep breaths, rather than gasping and panting. And after a minute, the cramp faded away.

Finally, starting to relax, he realized that he had overlooked several intrusive thoughts while focused entirely on the battle at hand.

[Enchanter] Class has reached level 6.

[Smith] Class has reached level 7.

[Smith] Class Skill [Nerves of Steel] has reached level 4.

[Technique: Hammer Strike] has reached level 4.

[Enchanter] Class Skill [Enchantment Activation] has reached level 4.

[Synergy] Skill [Product Testing] has reached level 3.

With one final large breath, James grinned.

Victory.

For the next several hours, James leisurely collected all the bird monster carcasses and ferried them all the way back to his campsite. Now and then crab monsters would show up to scavenge the battlefield, but he took them out quickly and with minimal effort, adding their carcasses to a separate, smaller pile.

In total there were just under one hundred and twenty bird monsters. And five crab monsters.

James set aside the thought of breaking down the carcasses and collecting the meat for later. He wanted to explore beyond the nesting ground while it was open. Who knew when more bird monsters would show up?

When he returned, the cliffside was still eerily quiet. The lake loomed in the distance, and James could see specks flying around the air above the water, but none seemed like they were coming over here. He continued on, passing a large vein of Blue Iron Ore in the wall next to a smaller vein of Green Iron Ore, and continued along the edge of the wall.

There were more pools and ponds and the occasional stream of water as he went, but James continued along the wall for about a mile before reaching another outcropping blocking his view into another alcove. James slowed down, approaching with caution, and he noticed that with each careful step he took, he was growing colder and colder.

A cold breeze was blowing past him, from within the alcove.

With shield and hammer ready, he peered around the corner…

The alcove was large, and a cold wind blew through his visor, chilling his face.

There were no monsters in the area, and the ground was the same pebbles he was used to. But halfway into the alcove there was a smattering of snow covering the ground, growing thicker and deeper the further into the alcove he looked. And at the far end there was a large hole in the wall, at least three times as tall as James was, wide enough for a dozen men to walk abreast. Snow spilled forth from the passage, kicked up and blown about from the wind that blew through.

James shivered.

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