Chapter 361: The Wyvern, and the Miraculous Strike.
(Author Note: This became pretty long, so I'll be splitting it into two parts and releasing them simultaneously.)
Crap. Crap, crap, this is bad!
A wyvern is a bit too much no matter what!
I used up all my precious explosive grenades, and I didn't bring my knight order equipment with me!
In the first place, I can't deal with a wyvern by myself! If it was on the ground, I might've been able to do something, but I don't have anything that can shoot down a flying wyvern.
While flapping its wings, the wyvern continued to glare at us.
I dropped down from its nest and regrouped with everyone else slowly, while trying not to agitate the wyvern.
"Yo, you've got to be kidding me, why is a wyvern…"
"Wyverns are red-ranked subjugation targets. There's no way we can do this…"
Rose and Sarges-san stood stiffly like frogs being stared at by a snake.
Apparently, when His Majesty was still a novice adventurer, he defeated a black dragon and gained the title "Dragon Slayer"; however, it'd be a grave mistake to compare us to him.
While the black dragon was a red-ranked subjugation target like the wyvern, there's a huge difference between the two. While the black dragon was a proper dragon, the wyvern is only a subspecies that isn't a true dragon in any way. That's why, even if someone defeated a wyvern, he or she wouldn't be able to get the Dragon Slayer title.
Eh, even if we can get a title, if an actual dragon showed up that'd be worse… We'd definitely die.
It might even be better in this case that it's a wyvern, if you think about it that way. (Note: Homura, are you escaping reality right now? Come back to us, oii.)
"Everyone, listen carefully. We need to move away slowly. Don't act hastily. And don't show any hostility towards the wyvern. Don't agitate it. If we make any kind of weird movements—"
Suddenly, cutting off my words, a loud *garararaan* sound of something metallic being banged on came from close by. Ueeeeeeeeee!?
When I turned around, there was Gallon, who had dropped his shield onto the rocky ground. Wai—! (Note: Gallon, the man who continues to gather hatred from the moment he showed up.)
"Wa, no! The handle of my shield suddenly came off—"
"GogaaAAaaa!"
The wyvern made a loud roar and spit out three fireballs towards us.
"Run away!"
Everyone ran desperately away from that place, and got away from the fireballs. The fireballs that landed behind us charred the rocks around easily; it was a power that would've turned us into cinders if we were hit directly.
What do we do!? Is facing it our only option left!? Chief and the others should've noticed something abnormal is happening here already, but until help makes it here, can we face off against that wyvern by ourselves…
"O, oi! What're we supposed to do!?"
"You're saying that!? You're the one who caused this in the first place!"
"The two of you! Now isn't the time to be squabbling like that!"
… Nope, no way!
Can't be helped. I wanted to continue with my mission until the end, but guess that ends here. I need to do something about this situation myself.
"All of you, if there's a chance, run away from here. I'll draw its attention away from you guys."
"Wa, wait just a second! You're gonna make yourself the bait!?"
"I'm the one with the highest agility in this group, after all."
I answered Rose's question with a smile.
"That won't do. I'm staying too."
"Miu-san… I'm glad, but it's easier to run by myself. If Miu-san came along it would become harder instead. I'm sorry but you'll be in the way."
I let out somewhat cruel words. To be honest, if someone else was with me I'd get distracted, so it's true that they'll be in the way.
"Still, leaving you alone…!"
"And that's settled. Run away quickly, you guys."
Abert said something, but I ignored it and charged towards the wyvern.
I took out some bo shurikens from my bosom and threw them at the wyvern's eyes, but it dodged them swiftly. Tch.
While running towards a direction opposite from everyone else, I threw shurikens as well as rocks at the wyvern to draw its attention.
When I glanced over towards the others, they didn't run away and were still at the same spot, possibly due to some hesitation. Just run quickly, you guys…
I took out the vial containing the cursed frog's poison from my sleeves, and threw it up in a parabolic trajectory towards a spot above the wyvern.
Immediately after it reached a good spot, I threw a bo shuriken at it and destroyed the vial. The paralytic poison contained within rained down on the wyvern like a glittering rain.
"GugigiaaAAa!?"
That poison wouldn't show much of an effect if it's not applied within the target's body. However, it would still generate a stinging pain on the skin on contact.
Of course, there's no way I thought I could defeat it with something like that. I just thought it would show great results if I used it to try and anger the wyvern. Like that.
"GurugaaAAAAa!"
"Oo-to to!"
While spewing out fireballs left and right, the wyvern chased after me.
When I looked back again, everyone else had disappeared from where they were just now. Seems like they finally escaped. Good.
I continued escaping in a direction opposite from where everyone else was, just in case. I jumped over the rock formation and escaped from the sloped area.
Now then. How can I run away from this guy… It should still take some time before Chief and the others get here. If I escaped too early, the wyvern might turn back and chase after everyone else…
Should've saved the explosive grenades. If I had some, I could've dropped that stupid dragon down to the ground somehow.
I think when Karina-sama hunted one, she aimed at the tendons in the wings… Nope, not possible for me.
If I have to do it, I would rather get close and cut it directly with a blade. Well, if I did something like that I'll just fall together with the wyvern though!
"GagyaAAaaa!"
"…!"
The wyvern had circled in front and cut off my current escape route, so I changed directions and charged into the forest nearby.
I moved from branch to branch quickly like a monkey.
Has everyone else made it to a safe location already, I wonder? I just need to somehow outrun this guy now…
When I was having that kind of thoughts, a fireball came flying from behind me and blew away the tree I was about to jump to. Not goo…!
I balled myself up and defended against the wood chips that came flying towards me. As I crashed onto the ground like that, I rolled forward to kill the impact.
"Ku!"
The tail tipped in poisoned barb flew towards me without delay. I dodged it somehow by jumping to the side, but a dull pain suddenly flashed in my right ankle. I think I might've hurt it when I crashed just now.
It might've become harder to run away now…
The wyvern above tried to spew another fireball at me who's starting to panic on the ground, but for some reason it made a coughing motion, and only a small flame came out of its mouth. Nn? Ah, has it run out of magic power?
Among magic beasts, the majority takes in magic element from the surrounding environment and converts that to their own magic power in order to power their magic. The thunder bear's lightning, and the killer mantis' wind blades are examples of that. I remember hearing somewhere that the wyvern's fireballs are similar too.
Serves you right. That's what happens when you spam it so much.
"Having said that, I'm still in a pinch aren't I…"
It's going to recover after some time too. Conversely, this time window now, where it can't use the fireball attack, is my only chance.
Still, I don't have anything that could defeat the wyvern. No, it's not like I have no ideas at all, but I don't think it'll work.
"GorugaaaAAAAAAaa!"
The wyvern landed on the ground and attacked me directly with its large jaw.
As I dodged that somehow by moving backwards, I threw some bo shurikens into the open mouth of the wyvern.
"GigyaaAAaa!?"
Even if it has tough scales, the inside of its mouth should be fine, right?
The wyvern spat the bo shurikens that pierced into its throat back out with gagging motions. Tch, doesn't seem like it did a lot of damage. Although it does seem like I managed to injure it somewhat.
Another tail strike came towards me who was clicking my tongue. It was a strike that had the added centrifugal force of the wyvern twisting its body.
I slid on the ground and barely dodged the tail. The tail that passed right over my head mowed down the trees in its trajectory easily.
This is bad. I'm getting worse at dodging. My ankle hurts. Chief, are you still not here yet!?
"[Entwine O Roots, curse of the tree spirit, Wood Bind]!"
What answered the question I shouted in my heart was not Chief, but the tree roots that grew out from the ground rapidly. Those roots bound the feet of the wyvern firmly.
Wait a second, this is…!
When I raised my face, the figures of Miu-san and the others running towards me entered my eyes. There was Sarges-san, the caster of that magic just now, behind them too.
"Eeeeeeeh!?"
The poison barb-tipped tail swung towards the approaching Miu-san. Dom-san and Abert received that strike with their shields, but as they were unable to withstand the physical strength of a wyvern, the three of them were blown back into the woods.
The wyvern ripped apart the roots binding its feet and flew up into the sky again.
"You alright!? Any wounds!?"
Rose, who had reached where I was before I noticed, called out to me.
"I, I'm fine… Why did you guys come back!? There's no point in what I did now was there!?"
"We were running away while trusting you at first, you know. But along the way Gallon suddenly turned back by himself. After that, we all just followed."
"Haa!?"
Gallon raised his sword while glaring at the wyvern in the sky. He didn't seem to be as scared as he was before.
"… Are you an idiot?"
"Shut it! If you died because of my mistake, it'd leave me feeling bad! Like hell I'll let people point at me behind my back, saying I abandoned a kid to her death!"
Mistake… Ah, when he dropped the shield? I did think "no way-" when that happened though.
Miu-san and the rest came out from the woods again. It seems like they didn't receive a lot of damage, even though they were blown away.
"GogaaaAAAAaaaaa!"
The wyvern roared. If it was an elder dragon or something similar, just the roar alone could make people wither, but as it's just a dragon subspecies its roar doesn't have that kind of effect.
Still, I think it cannot be helped that our movements are duller than usual when facing against an opponent that's far above our own level. In actuality, everyone here has some stiffness in their movements.
The wyvern made a sudden descent and targeted Abert and Dom-san with its sharp claws. The two of them could do nothing but defend; they don't have any sort of leisure to counterattack. If they swung their weapons towards it, at worst they'll get their own arms ripped to pieces.
"Uoooooo!"
Aiming at the timing when the wyvern is focusing on the two in front of it, Gallon charged towards its back. The broadsword in his hand was swung down towards the long tail, which was hanging down close to the ground. Ooh!?
"GurugaaAAa!?"
Didn't work! Although Gallon's sword did cut through the skin on the tail, it didn't go deep enough and could only leave a light wound. The wounded tail then twisted around like a whip before sending Gallon flying with a sideway sweep. Uwa!?
"Gahaa!?"
Sarges-san ran towards Gallon, who was bouncing on the ground as he was sent flying, in order to heal him with magic.
The wyvern tried to chase after Gallon, who had injured its tail, but at that moment Abert also pulled out his sword and managed to inflict a cut on the wyvern's wing membrane. This one too, however, was a shallow cut, and not enough to deal serious damage.
"GogaAAaaa!"
After that many annoying attacks, as expected, it's probably enraged; the wyvern opened its huge mouth towards Dom-san and Abert.
The next moment, a strong breath of flame enveloped the two of them. It's not a fireball attack, but a fire breath.
It's recovered some magic power already!
Does the close-range fire breath cost less magic power to use than the long-range fireball?
"Guaaa!?"
"Unuu!?"
Although the two of them put up their shields, they still received the breath head-on; the two fell down onto the ground.
The flames breathed out by the wyvern spread to the trees around, and our surroundings were turned into a sea of flames within moments.
While completely ignoring that, the wyvern launched fireballs again, this time towards Sarges- san and the heavily wounded Gallon.
Sarges-san covered for Gallon, and while the two of them managed to avoid a direct hit, they were blown away together with the ground around them, and became unable to move.
I jumped towards the wyvern, which had landed on the ground and was trying to shoot more fireballs, without hesitation. If the two of them get hit again, they would die.
I leaped up to its back, and stabbed the ninjato in my hands down with all my strength. However, the ninjato only pierced into its body slightly. I knew it, but it's really hard!
If I knew something like this would happen, I would've bought a mithril one at least! It was my fault for thinking that I'll be fine since I have the knight order-issued crystal sword!
"GyaruaaAAaa!?"
"Uwaa!?"
I fell to the ground back-first after being shaken off by the wyvern. Ouch…!
As I was writhing from the pain, Rose and Miu-san, who followed me up, also received a strike from the wyvern's tail and were blown away.
Everyone had wounds all over their bodies and couldn't even stand up properly.
However, I still stood up while staggering.
"Ahh, whatever! It's do-or-die now anyway!"
Being a shinobi isn't an occupation with a lot of fighting involved in the first place. Retrieving intelligence and returning back with it; a lot of our techniques are specialized for that purpose. In the first place, the naming for our elemental arts had the meaning of "escape" in it. Things like poison as well, they're supposed to be used to delay our pursuers instead of actually trying to kill them.
However, I'm bad at those elemental arts. What I'm good at were things like taijutsu, close combat techniques. When training with the knight order, I've been doing things in that category all the time as well. And there's one technique among the ones I've been taught that could work against the wyvern.
In my current state, it's impossible for any attack I make to pierce through the wyvern's tough scales and thick muscles.
Then what should I do?
The answer is simple. Just inflict damage directly from within its body. Well, it's not simple to do at all, but it's not impossible.
"Etto, gather my magic power in my fist with a *guguu*, and when I hit the opponent, release only that magic power out with a *bam* like it's exploding… Or something? Elze-sama's explanations are pretty hard to understand…"
I gathered ki in my dantian as I was taught to, merged my magic power within my body slowly, and focused it on my fist. If one is a master, that person can strike far-away enemies without touching them with this.
Me? Un, obviously I was struck and flew away.
According to Linze-sama, I have more magic power than others. Most mystic eye holders are like that. If I had aptitudes on top of that, I could've been able to use magic; I thought about that quite a few times.
I gathered that magic power, together with the ki I gathered within me as well, all into my fist.
"I've only succeeded once, and I don't know if my technique is enough to reach a wyvern… But I can only do it."
I glared at the wyvern who's standing imposingly in front of me. It's probably because Abert cut one of its wing membranes just now, but the wyvern isn't trying to fly up. This is a good chance; before it flies into the sky, I'll hit it!
I charged towards the wyvern like an arrow. The wyvern opened its mouth and shot a fireball at me, but I dodged it at the last possible moment, and charged all the way into its bosom.
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
My fist, enveloped in magic power and the ki I tempered, struck the chest area of the wyvern that isn't covered by thick scales. The instant my fist touched the wyvern, I made the magic power in my fist explode, and released that force outwards.
I felt like I was punching a tough piece of rubber. While it may be obvious, there's no way the wyvern would feel anything from my small fists.
I fell backwards from the reactionary force of the punch and landed back-first.
I immediately tried to stand back up, but perhaps as a side effect of using my ki just now, my body isn't responding well. My knees are shaking. At this rate…!
"Gu."
A strange sound came from the wyvern. When I looked up while still crouching, the wyvern stepped backwards with shaky steps, one after another.
"Guboa!"
Eventually, the wyvern vomited out some weird stuff before collapsing face-first onto the ground.
"I did, it…?"
The wyvern, lying down in front of me, wasn't moving. Well, I can't move right now as well, though.
"Hahaha… Ue, it stinks! Also it hurts!"
Rather than being happy, I feel like crying in front of the wyvern's stinky vomit and my bloody right hand, which had sustained serious damage from that punch just now. Since I still can't move, I can't escape to somewhere upwind. I feel like vomiting now too…
"Guru…"
"Eh?"
I felt my heart stopping when I heard that low growling. When I raised my face again, the wyvern had raised its long neck into the air, and was trying to stand back up.
"Tell me you're lying…"
"GogaaAAAAAAaaaaa!!"
I faced the unbelievable reality as the wyvern's roar hit my ears.
I thought I defeated it…
The wyvern then started to breathe fire out in my direction; its motion looks slow to me for some reason. I don't think I can dodge this…
Uwaa, I think I might actually die. I should've eaten some more delicious stuff… Shizuku, Nagi, be well… Eh, wait…
—Weird. No matter what, Chief and the others should've reached us already by this time. Why… Ah. I see. I understand now. So it was an order from above.
It's that person's stance to not help until the very end in these kinds of situations, after all. Even so, he will still definitely help at the end, so it's kind of irritating.
He seems to be strict but is actually kind. That's why, there's no way I'm going to die from this.
"[Prison]."
See?