Reborn As A Beastman With A System

"Commander Lahm!"

The remaining beastmen from Duskin halted abruptly, a palpable fear seizing them as they gazed upon their fallen comrade.

This is the fourth-level commander of the Duskin tribe, tragically slain by an arrow!

"Horrible!" exclaimed a voice in the chaos.

Previously, the archers had been targeting the ordinary beastmen warriors to their rear, leaving the commander unnoticed until it was too late.

"There!" Kule pointed out to another formidable sixth-level warrior of the Duskin tribe after spotting Logan darting across the rooftop.

The two beastmen exchanged glances, each recognizing in the other a formidable adversary of equal prowess.

"Only a warrior of significant strength could make such a leap without invoking their battle spirit," Kule observed quietly.

"Harvey, return to your father at once. These adversaries are beyond your skill," instructed Surshen, the Chief Duskin's brother, his voice tinged with urgency.

He eyed his nephew, pushing the younger warriors towards safety, away from the lurking dangers.

"Yes, Uncle!" Harvey replied, his relief palpable.

The young beastman, previously eager for glory, now understood the grave risks; the sight of the fourth-level commander's fate had instilled a deep fear in them. With Sam's directive, they retreated hastily, grateful to avoid a similar demise.

Sam watched the trio's hasty retreat and muttered under his breath, "Cowards all!"

Kule also shook his head in disdain. Despite being of the chief's lineage, his thirst for power and his cowardly disposition were all too apparent. Among the Duskin youth, only Mamuti, the fourth young chief, showed any real promise.

"Kule, let's pursue them!" he called out to his companion.

...

Inside a house, several Beastmen women and children crouched in a corner, trembling with fear. Logan turned to Jean, his tone resolute. "Stay here and don't worry about me!"

"I understand," Jean nodded, carefully applying a healing powder to Manticore's wounded wings. She was aware that her presence outside would be more of a hindrance than a help.

"And you," Logan stood up, spotting a quiver on the wall, a sign that warriors had occupied this house. He swiftly emptied the arrows into his pouch, addressing the petrified group, "As long as you remain silent, no harm will come to you."

The Beastwomen and children nodded fervently, their movements quick and anxious like chickens pecking at grains of rice.

Logan cast a quick glance at Jean before leaping deftly out of the window. He landed with agility on the roof of the neighboring house, his movements swift and calculated.

Drawing his bow, he narrowed his eyes and took aim at a thunderbird circling overhead, evidently searching for him. With a sharp whoosh, his arrow cut through the air.

The thunderbird plummeted to the ground, its cries piercing the sky as it fell. Almost immediately, the calm was shattered by the enraged chirps of dozens more thunderbirds. They swooped down on Logan in a frenzied assault. With quick reflexes, he stashed the fallen bird, leaped across rooftops, and began a swift retreat, firing arrows as he moved.

In mere minutes, six more thunderbirds were taken down, each stored swiftly in his magical warehouse.

The sky above buzzed with the angry calls of the thunderbirds, growing louder as hundreds converged, forming a dark, ominous cloud. Lightning crackled around their wings, painting the sky with strokes of purple electricity. Surrounded by this threatening display, Logan halted abruptly.

"Behold the thunderbirds!" he shouted, a note of awe mixed with alarm in his voice.

Kule and Surshen, the formidable sixth-level warriors of the Duskin tribe, paused on a rooftop a few hundred meters away. They too were transfixed by the spectacle unfolding in the sky.

"What's their plan?" Logan muttered under his breath, puzzled and wary. Without hesitation, he drew his bowstring taut and released an arrow straight into the heart of the swirling lightning.

Boom! A bolt of purple lightning met his arrow, resulting in an explosive clash that echoed across the valley.

"Unbelievable! Is this some kind of combined attack?" Logan gasped, both stunned and impressed by the thunderbirds' coordinated defense. But his wonder quickly turned to urgency as he realized the danger. "Run!"

He sprinted at full speed, just as a barrage of thunderbolts struck the spot he had vacated seconds earlier. The impact was catastrophic, houses exploded, flames erupted, and a Duskin Beastmen, flames licking his fur, staggered out of the wreckage.

"Again!" The call was almost drowned out by another series of thunderous crashes as more houses were obliterated.

With each devastating strike, the Duskin beastmen who had been sheltering within the buildings had no choice but to flee, desperate to escape the relentless wrath of the thunderbirds. As they scattered, the air was filled with the continual, menacing boom of the thunderbirds' fury.

Another cluster of dwellings was reduced to rubble.

"Holy hell, it's relentless!" Logan exclaimed, releasing another arrow skyward at the swarm of thunderbirds. No sooner had the arrow flown than a barrage of thunderbolts retaliated.

"Damn it all!" he cursed as he darted away.

Boom!

...

"That fool! He's deliberately drawing them to the houses!" Sam, a formidable sixth-level warrior from Duskin, spat angrily as he watched Logan. The Thunderbirds' strikes were indiscriminate, and many of the Duskin tribe had sought refuge in their homes. These merciless attacks could have claimed hundreds of lives, all because of that reckless behavior.

"We can't just watch; we need our archers to counterattack now!" Sam commanded, aware that any further delay would mean more casualties among his people.

"Keep an eye on him. I'll rally the archers," he instructed Kulle, his expression grave.

"I understand!"

...

Boom!

Logan felt his heart pound as he glanced back at the devastation. The power of the Thunderbirds was overwhelming, and he was drenched in a cold sweat. Yet, there was a thrill in the danger; he deliberately maneuvered through densely populated areas, drawing the deadly focus of the thunderbirds towards the Duskin tribe with calculated malice.

Suddenly, the air filled with the sound of hundreds of arrows whistling through the sky towards the thunderbirds, launched by the Duskin archers.

"Chirp~~~!!"

"Chirp~~~!!"

...

Effective?

The arrows penetrated the thundercloud, eliciting screams of pain from the thunderbirds as the once ominous purple cloud began to dissipate slightly.

Though it wasn't enough to bring the thunderbirds down, the assault clearly wounded them. Logan quickly notched another arrow to his bow, but then hesitated, lowering his weapon. The situation was shifting, and he needed to reassess his strategy amidst the chaos.

As the thunderbirds and their ominous thunderclouds moved swiftly across the sky, Surshen, a formidable sixth-level warrior of Duskin, found himself in a state of panic.

"Damn it, shoot quickly!" he shouted, realizing with horror that the thunderbirds were rapidly changing their targets, their movements too swift for him to effectively respond.

"Everyone, run for your lives!" Kule bellowed to the hundreds of Beastmen archers below, before sprinting away as fast as he could.

Boom!

The sky erupted as more than a dozen purple thunderbolts struck down, hitting the archers who had no time to escape. Their cries of pain and the roar of the thunderbolts mingled in a terrifying chorus.

Kule, blown back by the force of the thunder, lay on the ground momentarily stunned. When he sat up, he saw the devastation around him. What was once a road lined with houses and bustling with archers was now a scene of destruction: buildings reduced to rubble, a massive crater in the earth, and charred bodies scattered amidst the flames.

Meanwhile, the thunderbirds had already moved on, their cries fading into the distance.

"It's so damn terrifying," Kule muttered, his voice a mix of awe and anger.

"But you cursed beasts, you've lost your edge!" Logan yelled into the sky, frustration boiling over. He noticed that the thunderclouds were thinning, their color fading.

"Is this magic?" he wondered aloud.

Just then, he saw a fiery red magic circle forming above the thunderclouds. "Could it be Jean?" Logan thought, recalling his companion's expertise in magical arts.

"Chirp~~!!"

As he braced himself to flee, Logan noticed the thunderbirds starting to break away from the dissipating thundercloud. "Are they retreating?" he questioned.

High above, Jean stood on the back of Manticore, her voice rising in a powerful incantation, "Element of fire! By the command of the God of Fire, transform into unyielding explosive flames!"

Boom!

The air filled with the scent of ozone as more thunderbirds sensed the imminent danger and began to scatter. However, the fiery red magic circle unleashed a torrent of flames, tearing through the purple thundercloud with ferocious intensity.

"Chirp~~!!"

The sky above the Duskin tribe was alive with the cries of thunderbirds. One after another, they were engulfed in red flames and plummeted to the ground like fiery meteors. Only the first twenty or so managed to escape; the rest were doomed to fall, turning the sky into a spectacular, albeit grim, pyrotechnic display.