An Owl's Rise

Each of the tools was registered to the unique magical signature of their owners and could not be easily opened by anyone else.

Of course, there were ways to break into these devices, but neither Evelyn or any of her allies had the expertise to do so.

Until they returned to the Roost it would be impossible for them to search inside the humans' storage devices.

Thankfully there were other prizes to be claimed such as their weapons and the magic cores within their bodies.

"What do you think of these Katrina?" Evelyn asked, laying the weapons out for her to examine.

Katrina was the most knowledgeable about magic weapons and looked them over with a scrutinizing gaze.

"I can tell you now that these nine were not just your run of the mill people. The gear they had on them is good stuff. I am not sure what most of them do exactly since I am not an expert at inscriptions, but these weapons are better than anything that is marketed towards low tier tyrant ranks in the Inscription Hall. I believe they are more in line with the items made for peak tyrant rank beasts." Katrina said, giving her opinion.

The armor each of them possessed was also exceptional for their level and it was clear that these nine humans had an immense amount of wealth or someone far stronger backing them.

Among their possessions were also emblems of varying sizes and qualities that Evelyn figured denoted their ranks.

'Hm, I guess they must have belonged to some sort of organization, but I do not know much about human society on this world and do not recognize them.' Evelyn thought.

She tried asking the others if they knew what they were but none of them recognized the emblems either. This was just another thing that they would need to investigate when they returned to the Roost.

Soon they had gathered up all the loot they had collected from the humans and the massive number of tokens that they had won from beating the rose bush monster.

'We got really lucky that this monster attacked the group of humans. If it had not already weakened them, I am not sure we could have won without any casualties.' Evelyn thought, looking towards her companions.

Aralee was pretty badly injured with a broken wing, and everyone else had several injuries like cuts and bruises on their bodies.

Evelyn was the only one that had come out relatively unscathed and that was because her opponent's magic was completely ineffective against her.

It had really come down to luck that their ambush had ended in their victory and it was possible that next time someone might not make it.

'I need to be more careful in the future. I know that this place is valuable and making sure that we secure it is important, but these humans outmatched us. If not for catching them already severely weakened, we never would have had such a complete victory.' Evelyn thought, taking a look at her performance as a leader.

This time she had certainly prioritized rewards over the safety of her allies, and looking at their battered bodies she could not help but feel a bit bad about her decision.

Had she simply abandoned the place none of them would have gotten hurt.

However, she could see that her friends, siblings, and Savan did not have any regrets. They may have put their lives on the line, but it was for a prize that they felt was more than worth the risk.

'We won. That is all that matters this time. I just need to make sure that as a leader I never bring them into a situation where we lose.' Evelyn thought.

After collecting everything valuable from the humans the nine of them headed back to the crystal dome to rest and heal. They had applied potions to their injuries, but the battle had been intense and only time was going to allow them to fully recover. Especially Aralee whose wing was broken. Even after receiving healing, she was still unable to fly very fast and was resting on Bylur's back as he continually channeled his life magic into her to accelerate her recovery.

Along the way their group was attacked a few times by other plant monsters, but luckily nothing as powerful as the wriggling rose bush and within a day, they had returned to the area crystal dome where they could rest relatively safely.

"I am ready to sleep for several days.' Evelyn thought, feeling the exhaustion creeping in.

Not only had they just ought an intense battle, but they had been searching for their quarry for nearly a week until they managed to find them.

Unfortunately, Evelyn could not just pass out as she wanted to. She was the leader of her team and needed to plan who would take which shift as lookouts. While the area around the crystal dome was normally safe, there was still the chance of being attacked by the dangerous creatures that inhabited the domain.

"I will take the first watch with Otis. Then Katrina and Savan, if you would take over us?" Evelyn asked.

As neither of them were part of her core team and had just come as extra muscle basically Evelyn did not feel comfortable giving them orders.

"Sure Evelyn, that is fine." Katrina said.

"Good, then for the final watch Bylur and Rehni, you both will take it." Evelyn said.

Yet, despite expecting things to begin to wind down now that watch duties had been decided, Bylur made an objection.

"I will take the first watch with you Evelyn. As our party's healer I need to look over your condition as well." Bylur said, coming up with some excuse to join Evelyn on watch instead of Otis.

This prompted Otis to try and defend his position, but Evelyn interjected before any squabbling between them could start up. She was too tired for that today.

"It is because you are the only one that can use life magic that I want you to get a full rest now. Aralee is going to need more care and I want you to do your best looking after my little sister tomorrow." Evelyn said, not allowing for any objections.

Aralee had damaged her wing pretty badly and while potions could heal the damage there was the chance that the bones would not reform properly. That was why it was imperative that Bylur do it since he had more control over the healing process with his magic and could make sure the bones were in their proper place as they healed.

Nodding his head, Bylur relented. Though he still glared jealousy at Otis who was getting the coveted position of watch partner with Evelyn.

Soon things had settled down and everyone, but Otis and Evelyn had gone to sleep in the trees.

It was during this time that Otis approached Evelyn with a question that had been on his mind since the first battle they had with the humans.

"Evelyn, do you think that I should be fighting more in my humanoid form?" Otis asked.

Up to this point he had just been staying as an owl to do battle as he always had, but during today's battle for the first time he got to witness how other tyrant rank beasts that had humanoid forms fought, and he could only feel that he was wasting his potential.

Anneli, Katrina, and Savan had mostly fought while in their humanoid forms, but when the situation had called for it, they seamlessly transformed into their owl forms as well.

This was something Otis was not capable of. He had barely spent any time in his humanoid form and was still clumsy with moving around with the unfamiliar body. Just completing normal daily activities was still hard for him, and fighting was out of the question.

There was also another reason that Otis had not used his humanoid form very much and that was due to Evelyn's initial reaction when she saw him transform. She had told him almost immediately and with a forceful tone to change back and he was afraid to upset her.

But he had seen her interact perfectly fine with Anneli, Katrina, and Savan who were almost always in their humanoid forms, and he was now more confident about broaching the topic.

"I suppose that if you want to learn how to fight in your humanoid form that is not a problem, but it is not as big of a deal for you. Most tyrant rank beasts stay in their humanoid form if they have one simply because they are too gigantic. That is not a problem for you, but there is no reason not to increase your options. Still, wait until you join the Roost. You can have someone properly teach you there, and more importantly, get a set of clothes that will transform with you."