I bolted downhill, nearly face-planting on my second step.
"W-Whoa!"
My foot slid across packed snow before I somehow caught myself on a nearby tree.
"...Okay."
I took a deep breath. "Running on snow is different." The Rimecrow glided overhead without a care in the world.
Lucky bird.
I shoved the whistle between my lips and blew a short note.
Nothing, another, still nothing.
The bird glanced down at me for half a second before continuing its lazy circles.
"You're absolutely judging me." I shrugged
"I don't know how this work I just got here"
Voices drifted through the blizzard.
"There!"
"He went this way!
They already caught up? Bs.
I pushed forward again, this time I lasted almost ten whole seconds before stepping on a hidden rock.
My ankle twisted.
My body lurched sideways.
"No no no-."
I pinwheeled my arms wildly before crashing shoulder-first into a snowbank.
Poof.
"I'm okay."
Getting back up was harder than expected, the snow swallowed my legs nearly to the knees, every step felt like dragging concrete blocks tied to my ankles.
Barry's body had the strength.
I just didn't know how to use it.
Back home, I'd never run through knee-deep snow, hell I never had snow in my country, hell I never even run in the past 4 year.
Another arrow buried itself in the tree beside me.
"That's motivating."
I threw myself forward again, a fallen pine blocked the path.
I tried to jump, keyword "tried".
One foot cleared it.
The other clipped the trunk, I flipped spectacularly through the air.
"AAAAAAAA-"
THUMP.
The shouting behind me was getting closer.
I scrambled upright, spitting snow from my mouth. "You know.. I thought possessing a stronger body would automatically make me athletic."
It didn't, every movement was either too strong... Or not strong enough.
I kept overcorrecting. smiling I thought. this is hard.
Another whistle blast, still nothing useful.
I tried a different rhythm.
Long, short, long.
The Rimecrow suddenly folded its wings.
"Huh?"
It swooped toward the ground, grabbed a loose rock in its talons, climbed high into the air...
...and released it.
Thunk.
"AARGH!"
Someone behind me cursed loudly.
I blinked.
"Oh ho!, Nice, it throws rocks."
The bird circled proudly.
"Good bird."
Not what i was expecting... But honestly?, its what I wanted.
I then proceeded to spam that command a million time.
"Fuck!"
"You bastards!"
"You motherfucker!"
"I'll fucking kill you!"
Especially on the sword guy, I did it to the point he was cursing with his main language which I cant understand.
Which is what I would say if this world had more than one language, which is the language of magic.
Meaning he's just saying shit.
I was closed to them yet I keep just far enought, out of grasp.
How?, Parkour!, parkour!, I was good at it, oh and the arrow is nonviable in long range due to the blizzard blocking the view, this guy is unexpectedly good at marksmanship.
i kept running, experimenting between breaths.
Different rhythms.
Every now and then the crow reacted differently.
A wider circle, lower dive, landing briefly before taking off again.
"Wait..."
Something clicked in my two remaining brain cell.
"It's basically Morse code."
Not exactly Earth's...
But close enought for my brain to connect dot and figure out pattern.
"this is fun."
By now my lungs had settled into a rhythm, something else surprised me, I wasn't tired.
At least...
Not physically, Barry's body could have kept running for hours, the problem was me.
Every leap, turn, landing, heck even walking is hard, it was like borrowing someone else's handwriting.
The hand worked perfectly.
The movements just weren't mine yet.
The terrain finally began leveling out, ahead stood a rocky hillside dotted with snow-covered pines.
I slowed just enough to look behind me, the swordsman was still chasing me.
The archer followed at a safer distance, bow already in hand.
The Tier-Two mage was nowhere to be seen.
Let's keep it that way.
I crouched beside a half-buried boulder.
Picking up a fist-sized rock, I handed it to the waiting Rimecrow.
"You know what to do."
Instead of continuing downhill... I turned, and started climbing, the sudden change in direction confused the mercenaries.
"What is he doing?!"
"Don't lose him!"
Snow exploded beneath my boots as I scrambled up the rocky slope, branches whipped against my coat.
The incline grew steeper.
Once I reached the top, I slipped behind a cluster of snow-covered pines and disappeared from sight.
Silence.
The only sound was the wind.
The swordsman came charging over the ridge.
Seconds later... The archer followed.
"...Where'd he go?"
No answer.
The blizzard swallowed his voice almost immediately, snow drifted across the trail, already covering the fresh footprints that had been there only moments ago.
Dammit I lost sight of him beacuse of the blizzard, but still he couldn't have disappeared.
"...Rolf?"
The swordsman didn't answer.
Where?...
He'd only been a few paces ahead, the archer quickened his pace.
His gone. "...Rolf?"
Still nothing, only the blizzard, his grip tightening around his bow.
Something felt wrong, the forest had grown unnaturally quiet.
No footsteps nor curses, the only sound left was the steady howl of the mountain wind.
He stopped.
"Rolf!?"
His heartbeat suddenly sounded much louder than it should have.
Ba - thump.
Ba - thump.
He turned around, nothing, uphill,nothing, Downhill, nothing, nothing but snow.
The trail behind him had vanished beneath the blizzard.
His mouth had gone dry.
No...
No, they couldn't have just disappeared, he took another careful step, the snow beneath his boots gave a soft crunch.
Another.
Crunch.
Then-
A different crunch.
Not his, behind him, he spun around, bow already half-raised.
Nothing.
Only drifting snow.
"Rolf this is not the time to be messing around."
Silence.
The kind of silence that made him hear his own breathing.
I'm being watched.
The thought appeared uninvited, his eyes darted between the trees.
Every crooked branch looked like a person, every shadow looked ready to move.
"Rolf..." His voice cracked this time, he's getting desperate.
No answer.
Then... Something shifted above.
His instincts screamed, he looked up.
A silhouette, falling, way too fast, a cheerful voice cut through the storm.
"Yo."
Before his mind could process what he'd seen, something slammed into him from above.
The impact drove every bit of air from his lungs.
The bow flew from his hands.
Snow exploded around them as both bodies tumbled down the slope together.
The archer crashed into the snow with me, the impact knocking the wind out of both of us.
He reacted fast.
Faster than I'd expected.
He thrashed violently, trying to throw me off before I could get my footing. His elbow slammed into my ribs, another clipped my jaw, and he twisted with surprising strength, desperately trying to break free.
"Whoa, okay."
I shifted behind him and locked my forearm beneath his chin, wrapping my other arm around the back of his head.
A rear choke.
His hands immediately clawed at my arm.
"You know..." I grunted as he nearly rolled us over again. "I didn't really put much thought into killing you, don't take this the wrong way, with your appearance it's really easy to guess how you live your life so I don't have much question."
He answered by smashing another elbow into my side.
Ow.
"Quick question!."
I glanced around.
"Where's your dagger?"
No answer, Well... That was expected.
"I mean, archers usually carry one."
I tightened my grip another inch.
"So... you really trust your friend that much?.. Rolf, was it?" His struggles became even more frantic.
"Hm, actually... I should probably stop talking."
I felt the subtle shift in his body.
Mana.
He was trying to reinforce himself, that required controlled breathing.
"Yeah, no."
I squeezed harder.
His attempt collapsed almost immediately, he kicked wildly, elbowed me again, scratched at my sleeve anything to create enough space for a proper breath.
"Never mind."
His movements slowed, then weakened, then stopped.
Took 10 whole sec.
I held the choke for several more seconds,
Just to be sure.
Only then did I loosen my grip, the body slumped into the snow.
My eyes drifted toward the pack strapped to his back, a bag and a Quiver i grabbed an arrow and stabbed the carotid artery.
Looking at the bag.
"Oh hey."
Food.
.....
Meanwhile Rolf:
"You fucking bird, I swear to God if I get my hand on-'
Suddenly he stop in silence, looking behind him seeing no one.
.....
Cassius sat comfortably atop a snow-covered boulder.
Well...
Technically it was a boulder.
Practically speaking, it was the unfortunate archer.
The man lay buried beneath the snow practically naked, all his item were in my inventory, I planned to sell them later on, I need all the extra money I can get.
Across from me, the Rimecrow pecked happily at strips of dried meat he'd found inside the mercenary's pack.
"Good bird."
The crow gave an approving caw.
It seemed surprisingly fond of being bribed with food.
Far below, through the curtain of snow, three tiny figures had become...
Two.
The Tier-Two mage was already hundreds of meters away, still searching, she's getting close.....
I rested my chin on my hand. she doesn't want to kill me does she?.
"Btw how does the inventory work?, I put a live bomb in there yet the other item is fine."
[It's stuck in time, somewhere.]
That's convenient.
"Honestly... That went better than expected, now all I have to do is kill the swordman guy, and dip."
A rectangle drifted into view.
[You planned all that?]
"Most of it, do you want me to explain?."
[Nah, I more or less got it.]
Partypooper.
I tossed another piece of jerky toward the Rimecrow.
The rimecrow caught it midair.
Grinning. "You noticed how awful I was at running?, i genuinely had no idea how to use Barry's body."
I flexed one hand.
"This body's amazing, my brain... Not so much, I kept slipping, overcorrecting, i kept limping whenever I lost my balance."
I chuckled. "Turns out six years of barely running doesn't magically disappear just because you borrow someone else's body, So every mistake I made looked intentional."
[...Lucky.]
"Hella lucky." I nodded.
I looked toward the mountain.
"Humans hate uncertainty, if you think your target is barely escaping you, well, you get pissed off, you start thinking about finishing the job."
The Rimecrow tilted its head, I scratched beneath its beak.
"Who's a tactical genius?"
The bird puffed out its feathers proudly.
"You are."
[...I'm beginning to think you're praising the bird more than me.]
"Maybe you should try dropping rock next time."
[...]
I continued.
"The blizzard did the rest, the moment they lost their visual contact, their brains started filling in the blan-"
[I get it, you don't have to explain it to me.]
Tsk.
"Why is he so slow?, shouldn't he have caught up to my rimecrow by now?....."
It's really annoying saying rimecrow for the thousand time now, should I name it?
The Rimecrow suddenly perked up, spreading its wings.
Ah there it is
Its eyes locked onto something downhill.
I followed its gaze.
Crunch.
Crunch.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the storm,
a broad figure emerged through the blowing snow, sword already drawn.
Rolf.
His face was red with fury, his eyes darted wildly across the hillside.
"Yo!"