James froze momentarily, staring at the unexpected flock of bird monsters flying about the wall of nests. He took a step back…

Crunch

His boot made just a faint noise on the pebbles, but James saw it. One of the bird monsters sitting in its nest turned and made eye contact with him before squawking and taking flight.

He turned and ran, as fast as he could, away from the swarm. He managed about four steps before the first bird monster tackled his back, knocking the wind out of him and knocking him to the ground. Pebbles scattered as he caught himself on his hands and knees.

The tackles continued.

Thud thud thud thud thud…

Eventually, battered and bruised, James managed to get his shield up and he shuffled closer to the wall, reducing the amount of tackles he was taking. Through his visor all James could see was the chaotic flock of bird monsters flying about. He stowed his hammer in the magic bag and held his shield in his right hand and trudged on, enduring the strikes on his shield as he trudged back dozens of yards back to his wards.

The Smith endured…

And eventually, the tackles stopped. On the unremarkable pebble beach in front of James' feet were several crab monster carcasses.

James lowered his shield cautiously. Looking around, the bird monsters were now keeping their distance, although the cacophony of their squawking continued just as loud as it had been.

He had made it back to his ward.

James collapsed to his knees, exhausted. His muscles ached, and suddenly he was panting for air. He lifted his visor and collapsed to his knees, letting his shield fall to the side. He thanked the gods that he had left his ward intact as he explored and for a long minute he did nothing but pant and revel in the sense of safety.

Eventually the flock of bird monsters thinned out, then flew off. James ate some bread, then pulled out one of his buckets and filled it with meat from the crab monsters. The raw meat still wouldn't go into his magic bag, although the Water Magic Crystals did easily enough.

After about an hour of waiting, James resumed his trek back to base camp, blessedly free of monster encounters.

For the rest of the day James rested and plotted. He had three paths through this floor: the way of the bird monster flock, along the wall to the right; the way of the lake in the center; or along the wall to the left, with no guarantee there won't be flocks of bird monsters that way as well.

James glanced at his Green Iron Tower Shield. The shield had saved his life several times, and had been a near constant companion in his fights thus far, but it was proving too heavy to bring to bear against the faster bird monsters, with their speedy tackles.

It was time for a faster, lighter shield.

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First thing next morning, James smelted down the Green Iron Ore he had collected, producing about fifty ingots worth. More than enough for a new shield and some repairs, but not quite enough for an entire new suit of armor.

Next he cast the Green Iron into a roughly circular shape, as best he could make it, roughly three feet across. Once it had cooled enough, he forged it into a curve, producing a large, round shield of roughly the same thickness as his tower shield.

But with less than half the surface area, it was also less than half as heavy.

Used to hefting the heavy tower shield, the new shield felt incredibly light and easy to maneuver. The thought of leaving his legs exposed worried him, but so far there had been no mole monsters with razor sharp claws on this floor, just the ineffective crab monsters.

Finally, James enchanted the shield with a dense pattern of [Reflect].

[Appraisal]: Green Iron Round Shield, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 15/15, Enchantment: Reflect (28)

The square shape of the [Reflect] enchantment pattern hadn't played nicely with the round shape of the shield, leaving the pattern incomplete at the round edges. This reduced the overall score for the enchantment, but James was satisfied. It should be more than enough to protect from a water spear from the lake, especially if he kept his distance.

That night the Smith and Enchanter slept deeply, the sleep of a craftsman successful on his latest job.

The next morning the son of two Brawlers awoke.

Time to test out his new shield.

First, he waited just outside his ward for a crab monster to show up. He didn't have to wait long. With a loud clacking and skittering of its legs over the pebbles, it raced directly toward James from the direction of the lake.

Bam

With a well timed [Rapid Blow] [Hammer Strike], James stunned the crab, and with several more strikes he finished it off. He collected the meat and magic crystal and then retreated into his ward, waiting for his bait to draw in bird monsters.

This also didn't take long. In under an hour, they came. Three bird monsters swooped down and landed near the carcass before beginning their competitive posturing, trying to scare away the competition from the free food.

James took his Round Shield in his left hand and his Green Iron War Hammer in his right. As soon as he stepped outside his ward, the bird monsters turned their heads towards him in unison, squawked, and took flight. James turned, trying to keep them all in view at the same time, knowing that with his ward behind him, they could only come from the front or the sides.

The first bird swooped down, accelerating unnaturally fast as it lined up for a strike on James' unprotected right side. But this time, James was light on his feet. He was able to turn and get his shield in the bird monster's path before it struck. It caught the edge, jerking the shield and his arm.

It was an uncomfortable hit, but an acceptable block. The bird monster fell to the ground, stunned by the shield, and James was able to take out the monster with a single [Rapid Blow] [Hammer Strike] to the head, snapping its neck and finishing it off.

Thud

A dive bomb tackle hit James' backside, nearly knocking him off his feet. He barely managed to recover, unable to use his Round Shield to steady himself like he had with the Tower Shield, but he stayed on his feet. He reset himself, and scanned around for the two bird monsters.

One was already in the middle of a dive. James swung the Round Shield into its path.

Paff

This time he managed to get the center of the shield into the bird's path, producing a much more satisfying sound from the block. It also felt better on his arm holding the shield. Looking around the shield's round edge, James saw the bird writhing on the ground, seemingly unable to get back on its feet.

Putting the injured bird out of his mind for the moment, James returned to the sky, seeing the final bird monster lining up its tackle. This time he followed it from the top of its dive through the entire attack, and swept his shield in at nearly the last moment.

Paff

Another successful block. This time, with no more bird monsters in flight, James quickly finished off the bird monsters with his hammer.

Three bird monsters down. Three successful blocks. Only one attack taken.

An almost perfect success with the new shield.

James collected the materials and tossed the rest of the carcasses in a pile some dozen yards from his ward. Let the crabs and birds have it. After a quick lunch he re-armed and turned back in the direction of the bird monster nesting cliff.

Revenge time.

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