The Alpha Wyvern let out a deafening roar that sent a shower of ash raining down from the pine canopies. The ground vibrated beneath its obsidian talons as it supported its massive weight, arching its wounded back.
Its charred left wing hung uselessly, but the musculature of its hind legs and its healthy right wing coiled with explosive power. The beast completely ignored Jinneth; to its apex predator instinct, the sole priority was to pulverize the mage who had just carved away half its health.
— It's going after her! — Alaster shouted in his mind, feeling his blood run cold.
Floating in his vision was the creature's health bar displaying a staggering figure: [53% HP]. It was still a walking fortress.
Jinneth, who had frozen halfway between the smaller crags, saw the monster's massive silhouette lunging in a straight line toward Deinderatrix's hiding spot. Her initial panic morphed into reckless bravery, born of the guilt of having blown their stealth.
«No... I'm not going to let it kill her because of me!», the baker thought.
Stepping forward onto the limestone ground, she planted her feet, raised her short sword, and slammed it hard against her iron shield. The metallic clang echoed throughout the entire eastern sector.
At the same time, she blinked frantically to open her interface and selected her only crowd-control skill.
— Hey! Let's see if you can ignore me now, you overgrown lizard! — she bellowed with all her might —. [Taunt]!
An invisible ripple of reddish energy surged across the clearing, striking the Wyvern dead-center on its skull.
The system's effect was instantaneous. The monster's yellow eyes flushed with a blind, forced hatred. Temporarily forgetting the mage, the beast violently twisted its massive body with a piercing shriek and charged furiously to the east, straight at Jinneth.
— Jinneth, move! — Arya shrieked from the pine grove.
The monster was already upon her. Its right talon swept down in a wide arc, slicing the wind with a sharp whistle.
Jinneth threw herself flat on her face at the very last millisecond. The tip of the claw missed her leather jerkin by a hair, kicking up a shower of dirt and stone. Without stopping, the girl scrambled desperately to take cover behind a nearby limestone boulder.
BAAAM!
Frustrated by the missed strike, the Wyvern whipped its spiked tail directly into the boulder. The impact was so brutal it sheared off massive chunks of stone that exploded into the air, sparking violently against the steel-hard scales. Jinneth pressed herself against the vibrating rock, her heart hammering wildly.
The monster continued to circle the rock, cornering her.
Some fifty meters away, hidden among the ancient pines, Arya raised her bow and lined up the string, pulling it to the limit of the wood's tensile strength.
— You are not doing this... — the elf hissed, channeling her energy —. Let's see how you like this.
The archer began to chant, her voice taking on an ancient, melodic intonation that resonated across the clearing:
— Rise, swirl of my wrath, from this daughter of the forest... lash the wind with the eternal flame and strike down my foe with searing force.
Arya's mana flooded into the arrowhead, compressing layers of intense heat until the projectile glowed like an incandescent ember.
— [Blazing Arrow]! — she roared.
BUUUM!
The arrow detonated flush against the Wyvern's right side—the healthy flank armored in thick, metallic plating. A dense cloud of black smoke blanketed the area, but when it cleared, Jinneth turned instantly pale as she felt the sudden backdraft of heat.
— No way... — she whispered —. That barely did anything. Those scales are too thick...
The impact had only shaved off a handful of points from its bar. However, it was enough to re-infuriate the Alpha. The creature snapped its head around with a hiss, locked its yellow eyes on Arya, and lunged in her direction, using its leathery right wing like a forelimb against the ground to build momentum.
Arya spun on her heels. Her steps were rapid as her boots bit into the dirt, running with the creature hot on her heels. She plunged into the deep woods, dove forward, and found shelter behind the trunk of a massive pine tree.
BAAAM!
The monster's spiked tail slammed into the trunk a fraction of a second later, causing the entire tree to shudder and unleash a downpour of dry needles.
From his original vantage point to the north, Alaster watched the daring interventions of both women.
«I can't just stand here and watch... but what do I do?», he scolded himself, gritting his teeth. «My standard Ice Lances won't pierce that armored hide».
Then, the wind carried the metallic scent of blood and charred flesh.
As the creature swung around to deliver another tail swipe against Arya's tree, Alaster stared at the Wyvern's exposed left flank. There lay the horrific wound Deinderatrix had inflicted upon it: a massive zone completely devoid of scales stretching from its flank to its rump, where raw flesh was scorched and bleeding profusely.
«If I hit it there...», Alaster thought, narrowing his eyes.
The floating panel hovered above the monster: its HP was now hovering around 4,600 points due to the continuous attrition. «If I land a few solid hits and reach the heart, I can kill it...»
He looked down at his hands and realized they were visibly shaking.
«This is no time to be afraid! It's now or never!».
Suddenly, Jinneth, seeing that Arya was about to be cornered in the pines, began shouting insults at the monster again from her position.
— Hey, ugly lizard!
The baker crouched, scooped up a fist-sized limestone rock, and hurled it with all her strength, striking it right at the base of its snout.
The creature flinched slightly from the unexpected impact, whirled around, and roared so thunderously that the shockwave blew the dry leaves clean off the ground. Jinneth paled instantly, taking clumsy steps backward.
— Uh... uh... I was just kidding!
The girl spun on her heels and bolted, but the beast, thoroughly fed up with the interruptions, overtook her before she could dive back into the dividing boulders.
Alaster clenched his fists, rose from the northern undergrowth, and broke into a full sprint across the open field. With every stride, the creature looked more imposing; those fifteen meters of length were terrifying from a ground-level perspective.
«There's no running away anymore», he told himself, tapping into the cold detachment of his past life.
The wind around him turned frigid, churning into small vortices as he pooled every single drop of mana into his chest. The flow rushed toward his hands, and a colossal spike began to materialize.
With his clothes soaked in sweat from the exertion and adrenaline, Alaster felt the arctic chill of his own elemental creation: an ice lance over three meters long, the largest and densest he had ever forged.
— [Ice Lance]! — he bellowed, hurling it toward the monster.
FUASH!
The lance launched with immense force, but it missed the target. The creature was still over fifteen meters away, and, occupied with tracking Jinneth's trajectory, it moved unpredictably. The icy projectile missed its back by mere millimeters, disappearing into the southern vegetation.
At that exact moment, the Wyvern delivered a blind tail swipe at Jinneth. The young woman tried to interpose her small iron shield, but the gap in levels and stats was insurmountable.
Although the Wyvern's tail struck a few nearby saplings first, absorbing a fraction of the momentum, the residual force was still brutal.
The sheer force of the impact sent the baker flying fifteen meters through the air. Her left arm, which had held the shield, hung limp due to a dislocation as the girl tumbled across the ground, rolling like a discarded log until she lay motionless near the central outcrop.
— Jinneth! — Arya roared.
Forgetting her own safety, the elf crossed the clearing at breakneck speed, sprinting directly toward the monster to interpose herself. The moment she reached the unconscious baker, Arya slid across the limestone ground, skidding on her knees.
Using both hands, she hooked her arms under Jinneth's armpits, dragging her backward with tremendous physical effort to pull her out of the beast's path.
The Alpha Wyvern snapped its jaws wildly, lunging straight for them.
Arya, her hands completely occupied hauling the dead weight of her companion, reacted out of instinct. She forced her torso to twist backward, dodging the snapping jaws that slammed shut inches from their faces, kicking up a gust of foul wind that whipped their hair.
Without letting go of Jinneth, Arya launched herself into a lateral ditch, narrowly evading a massive stomp that pulverized the earth where they had been standing a heartbeat prior.
From his sprint, Alaster witnessed the critical situation. There were no more arrows distracting the monster; Arya could barely keep them safe through extreme evasive maneuvers and was at the end of her rope.
«I am not going to let it kill them!», Alaster decided, sweeping away every trace of doubt. «This is my chance. It's completely focused on them, and its left wound is totally exposed».
He accelerated his stride, feeling chills run down his body due to the heavy mana drain. Taking advantage of the beast leaning forward to crush Arya, Alaster took a massive leap from an elevated boulder and landed squarely on the Wyvern's back.
He began running up the steel-hard scales from the base of the tail upward, scrambling in a mad dash while gripping tightly onto the bony ridges protruding from its spine.
The plates burned beneath his gloves from the residual heat, and the creature began to thrash violently upon noticing the intruder.
Reaching the midsection, right above the horrific, gaping sore that bled in torrents, Alaster concentrated every ounce of mana he had left. A new, razor-sharp ice spike materialized in his hands.
— Die! — he screamed with fury.
With all the energy he could muster, he drove the spike with all his might right into the center of the raw flesh of the open wound. The projectile tore through internal tissues, driving down toward the heart, burying itself about twenty centimeters before slamming to a halt against the internal bone structure.
«What! It didn't go all the way in!», he thought in horror as he saw the monster's bar only drop to [51% HP].
Desperate, Alaster grabbed the end of the ice lance with his free arm and threw his entire body weight into it to deepen the damage, struggling to maintain his balance amidst the frantic thrashing. The ice began to flash-freeze the Wyvern's internal fluids, solidifying its blood supply.
The Wyvern emitted an agonized, long-drawn shriek. The creature's spasm was so violent that Alaster was tossed around like a ragdoll; his hands lost their grip on the dorsal spines, and he was hurled off the monster's back.
The elf rolled heavily across the dirt and tried to stand immediately, but just as he got to his knees, the creature, driven mad by pain, executed a full 360-degree sweep flush with the ground and caught him dead-center with the whip of its tail.
The impact was devastating. Alaster was sent flying through the air, crashing violently into the dry dirt of the northern slope, right where the strip of thorny brush ended.
For a few seconds he lay there, staring blankly up at the gray sky, feeling a searing pain in his ribs that threatened to shut down his consciousness.
«It hurts... damn it, this actually hurts!», he thought, as the metallic taste of blood flooded his mouth. «This isn't a game... if I die here, it's over for real».
He heard hurried footsteps crushing the dry leaves and low branches of the brush. He felt trembling but warm hands carefully roll him onto his back.
Coughing and wiping away the blood trickling from his lips, Alaster focused his vision on the face hovering over him. It was Liena, the halfling who had lagged behind in the rear guard.
— I... I thought you ran away — he managed to murmur in a choked, broken voice.
Liena forced a small smile, though her large blue eyes were glassy with tears of helplessness.
— Who is more foolish, Alaster? The fool who charges into suicide, or the one who follows him knowing it's suicide? — she said, her voice shaking. She immediately fumbled through her travel pouch and pulled out a glass vial —. It's a healing potion... drink.
Before she could bring the vial to his lips, another blind swipe from the Alpha's tail swept through the northern brush zone, obliterating the cover of giant ferns.
Liena dove to the side at the last second to shield Alaster's body; the impact of the scaly tail didn't land a direct hit, but it clipped her as it grazed her flank. The force of the graze tore through her leather armor and opened a deep gash in her side, from which blood began to pour.
Alaster, prone on the ground, watched the beautiful red-haired halfling collapse beside him, clutching her wound. Liena's blue eyes filled with silent horror as she realized the gravity of her injury.
A kilometer away, in the middle of the great open meadow that preceded the hostile zone, the tranquil atmosphere shattered instantly.
Mirage had initially been lounging lazily beneath the shade of a weeping willow, keeping an eye on the surroundings. However, the moment the dull echo of explosions and roars from the eastern woods reached her sharp feline ears, her laziness vanished completely.
Her senses caught the subtle shift in the air currents: the smell of fresh blood mixed with the scorched trail of Detrix's mana.
«What is happening over there, myow?», she thought, her black ears twitching violently. A sudden presentiment of danger jolted through her. «They are touching what is mine... No one takes anything from me, never again, myow!».
The catgirl lunged forward and began sprinting across the field. Her figure blurred into a black streak tearing through the high grass, propelled by a silent fury.
As she neared the rocky border of the eastern sector, Mirage spotted the silhouette of the Wyvern thrashing furiously among splintered trunks and fallen bodies.
She planted her boots firmly into the limestone ground, halting her sprint for a fraction of a second as her green eyes flashed, opening her combat menu to activate her assassin runes.
— Skill... Assassination Arts... [Critical Point]! — she uttered in a frosty whisper.
The entire world shifted color before her eyes, bleeding into a sepia tone. The flow of time seemed to decelerate until it nearly ground to a halt; dust particles suspended in the air formed a static haze, and her pupils contracted into razor-thin vertical slits.
Suddenly, a thin, translucent line of brilliant gold traced itself across her field of vision, cutting across the entire clearing and pinpointing an exact spot on the lower back of the beast.
Mirage locked her gaze onto the termination of the tracks highlighted by her skill. There it was: the massive spike of crystalline ice Alaster had desperately left buried, connected directly to the monster's central nervous system.
— There it is... — she said with a fierce grin, baring her fangs.
Her feet moved with supernatural agility, tracing the golden line. The moment she reached the point of the terrain where the trajectory demanded a vertical angle, the catgirl executed a high-power leap that defied gravity, soaring forty meters into the air, completely clearing the canopy of the tallest southern pines.
With a terrifying calm mid-descent, she brought the soles of her boots together in midair and murmured the activation of her movement utility:
— [Sky Walk].
Anchoring her feet against a translucent magic circle that materialized beneath her soles, Mirage propelled herself downward with an explosive impact that distorted the air, diving like a dark meteor straight toward the ground.
Arya, who at that moment kept her eyes locked on the monster while hauling Jinneth's body with the last of her strength to shelter her behind the outcrop, saw Mirage falling from the sky like a shooting star.
The catgirl landed with pinpoint precision directly onto the exposed end of Alaster's ice spike.
Channeling the entire accumulated inertia of her forty-meter drop, Mirage stamped down on the frigid projectile with both heels, driving it entirely into the interior of the Wyvern's body. The ice sheared through frozen tissues, fractured the spine, and buried itself directly into the heart of the level 100 creature.
The Alpha Wyvern tensed in one final, violent spasm, its yellow eyes rolled back, and its gigantic fifteen-meter bulk collapsed inert onto the limestone earth, kicking up a dense cloud of dust. Silence snapped back into the eastern woods.
In that exact same instant, a wave of vital energy surged through Alaster's body. There were no flashing lights, but the effect was immediate and physical: the agonizing pain in his ribs vanished as his shattered bones snapped back into place with an audible crunch. The severe fatigue evaporated, leaving him completely refreshed. He had leveled up.
A few dozen meters away, by the central rock outcrop, Jinneth stirred with a groan.
Under the influence of the level-up surge, the deep lacerations on her body knit together seamlessly, and the dislocation in her arm reset itself with a sharp pop. The blood coating her skin dissipated into the air like faint wisps of dark smoke, leaving her unblemished, though her leather armor remained torn and caked in dust.
— Huh? Did we win? — Jinneth asked, blinking and pushing herself up from the stone she had been dragged against. Her small voice echoed with confusion through the clearing.
Arya, who had been hauling the baker's weight with the last of her strength, let out a long breath. Seeing that the girl was already fully restored, the elven archer abruptly let go of her, causing Jinneth to drop onto her rear with a comical crash.
— Hey! Why did you just drop me like that? — the young woman protested, glaring up at Arya with a furrowed brow.
The elf smirked, dusting off her leather gloves.
— You can walk on your own now. I've been hauling you around for way too long... — she countered with irony, though the relief on her face was unmistakable.
Meanwhile, on the northern slope, Alaster quickly snapped his head toward Liena, who was still right beside him.
The horrific gash on the halfling's side closed right before his eyes; the deep wound sealed tightly as the severed flesh knit back together, and the flowing blood evaporated into nothingness.
The chill of death Alaster had feared for both of them vanished instantly. He saw the halfling's blue eyes fill with a profound relief as she verified she was still alive.
The elf smiled at her and pulled off his gloves, extending a hand toward her as they lay side by side in the dirt.
— See, I told you everything would be fine — he said in a soft voice.
Liena accepted his hand, squeezing it gently, her cheeks flushing with a faint blush, but she said nothing.
Inside her chest, a warm, uncontrollable tingling began to bloom. It had absolutely nothing to do with the physical relief of having survived or the sudden surge of energy from the level-up. It was something entirely different.
Alaster released her a second later and leaped to his feet. His muscles responded with so much energy and lightness due to the massive increase in his attributes that he practically launched off the ground, skidding slightly forward and taking three quick steps to brake.
He looked around: the clearing was a ruin of splintered trunks, broken boulders, and flattened vegetation, crowned by the massive, motionless corpse of the Alpha Wyvern.
As he watched the leaves still drifting lazily down from the damaged pines, he noticed the world seemed to be moving slower; it was a subtle but perceptible effect—the leaves falling from the trees, the wind moving through the blades of grass, everything seemed slowed down.
His body felt better, but not just free of injuries and the weakness of blood loss; his limbs and senses were more potent and sharper than ever before.
«I leveled up», Alaster thought, marveled by the weightlessness of his own body. «What level am I now?».
He closed his eyes for a second and summoned his interface. His pupils dilated as he beheld the new golden digits floating upon the bluish screen of his mind. «No way... I'm Level 15 in one shot! The experience payout from an Alpha Wyvern is insane».
His status data displayed clearly:
Spoiler
< [STATUS] >
Name: Alaster
Race: High Elf
Age: Hidden
Attribute: Space
Level: 15
[Stats]:
Vitality: 400
Mana: 1,700
Stamina: 380
Strength: 23
Dexterity: 23
Resilience: 23
Intelligence: 100
Luck: 99
[Active Spells]
Fire Arrow | Common Rank [F]: Allows the condensation of fire-element mana into the form of a swift projectile. High probability of causing burns. Casts upon creation. [Cost: 10 Mp].
Ice Lance | Common Rank [D]: Shapes frigid mana to project a dense, sharp spike capable of impaling and freezing the target's fluids. Remains static until projected. [Cost: 15 Mp].
[Passive Spells]
Spatial Affinity: Decreases mana consumption and increases efficiency when using spatial attribute spells by 90%.
[collapse]
«My mana skyrocketed to 1,700!», he marveled internally, analyzing the numbers. «My intelligence hit 100. And my strength, dexterity, and resilience are more than three times higher than before! My vitality tripled too. Now I understand why high-level players look at newbies like simple insects... the power gap is enormous».
However, Alaster was forced to postpone his conclusions. His linen shirt was reduced to useless tatters and soaked in sweat from the impact of the monster's tail, so he tore it off completely with a firm motion, exposing his lean, well-built elven torso.
Mirage dropped down from the Wyvern's back with an agile hop and strolled over slowly. The entire group began to gather around the dead reptile's gigantic head.
The catgirl locked her green eyes onto Alaster's bare chest, analyzing it in an unusual, intense silence.
«Miowwwhhh... purrr...», Mirage thought, her tail twitching with a sudden thrill of excitement as she stared at him. «That ice spike in the central nervous system was his doing. Even though he was such a low level, he calculated the exact blind spot to immobilize the Alpha...»
She held up her right hand, counting with her fingers one by one.
«Not only is he cute, but with that body... miow! He is hot, and incredibly talented with magic», she extended another finger, showing off her long, pink-painted nails. «And he is smart, too...»
She let out a soft, frustrated sigh.
«It's such a shame elves are so cold, miow. It would be so much easier if he were a beastman; my pheromones would have done the trick by now! Miow... Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'll just sneak up on him, press him tight against my chest, and wrap my tail around him. There's no way he'll be able to resist me then! Miowuhu...»
Mirage began taking a suggestive step toward Alaster, but Jinneth, having dusted herself off, abruptly cut across her path, arms akimbo with a highly competitive glare.
The two were right on the verge of starting one of their usual territorial arguments when Alaster broke the rising tension.
— Where is Deinderatrix? — he asked, looking toward the central bushes.
— Right here... Did you miss me? — a silky voice drifted out.
The mage's voice echoed from the edge of the primary rocky outcrop. Deinderatrix emerged from the dense wild vegetation; her magical silk robe was a disaster, torn down the sides and coated in black soot, but she maintained her poise and languid stride completely intact.
She walked over elegantly, locking her deep, dark eyes directly onto the elf who was bare-chested from the waist up.
— I could see your little exploit from where I was hiding — the mage said, stepping closer and closer until she was scant inches from Alaster, invading his personal space —. Not bad for a novice... I bet you gained a lot of levels from this split. Even I, being level 80, managed to ding 81, though I was already very close to capping my exp bar.
Deinderatrix reached out a well-manicured hand and rested it directly onto the elf's bare shoulder, subtly tracing his skin.
She bit her lower lip slightly as she felt Alaster's exposed warmth and firmness, but a sudden chill raced down her spine. She subtly glanced out of the corner of her eye and discovered that both Mirage and Jinneth were glaring daggers at her with genuinely murderous eyes, ready to draw weapons.
The mage withdrew her hand slowly with total composure, letting out a nervous but amused chuckle.
— How terrifying... — she murmured, stepping back.
Arya intervened at that moment, adjusting her bow strap and breaking the tension.
— Since we're all alive... we had better clear out of this sector before the scent of blood draws the other wyverns from the pack and we end up in real trouble without mana.
The elven archer turned gracefully, indicating the exit of the clearing.
Her toned legs moved fluidly beneath her fitted leather plate armor and short shorts—a highly stylized woodland hunter ensemble adorned by her green cloak, which now, shredded from the attacks, fluttered like ribbons behind her.
— Al! — Jinneth called out, taking his hand firmly with possessiveness —. Let's go now. I know exactly where we left the wagon hidden by the border, and that proud elf is heading the wrong way again. Besides, the medicinal herbs we came for are already harvested; I gathered the last batch myself before the chaos, and they're safe in my bag. If we stay any longer, the other reptiles will catch up to us.
Alaster let himself be guided by the baker's tug, but veered his gaze to his right to observe Liena, who was walking silently a step behind. The halfling had risked her life trying to protect him when he was defenseless on the ground.
Remembering the girl's panic-stricken face, staring at her own bloody wound with the real fear of vanishing from this world gave him a strange stir in his chest. He contemplated the beautiful face of the blue-eyed, red-haired girl, who kept her eyes cast down.
Feeling his own footsteps incredibly light and nimble due to the drastic spike in his agility and endurance, Alaster subtly accelerated his pace to match her stride, walking almost shoulder-to-shoulder as they left the limestone crags behind.
— Oh... Liena — he said in a soft, genuinely concerned tone —. Are you really doing better? Nothing hurts?
The halfling looked at him sideways with a serious expression, though her cheeks instantly flushed a faint but obvious crimson carmine at the proximity of his face.
— Yes, I'm completely fine now. The system patched everything up when I leveled up — she replied, tightening the straps of her bag.
Alaster smiled at her with relief and, with total naturalness, gave her a light, affectionate pat on her left shoulder, right above the area where moments before the Wyvern's tail had shattered her armor.
— The mark is gone. You're as good as new, I'm glad.
Liena stared at him for a second before turning her gaze back to the dirt path opening before them.
«How can he worry so much about me in a situation like this?», the halfling thought, feeling that warm tingling in the center of her chest deepen. «Could it be... that he actually likes me?».
The group advanced with a steady pace through the low brush of the eastern sector until they located the draft horses. The animals had bolted, spooked by the Alpha's roar, but fortunately remained sheltered in a ravine near the main trail.
After hitching them back to the transport, the wagon resumed its course at a brisk pace, leaving the devastated grove and the smell of ozone definitively behind.
Alaster sank into his wooden seat inside the moving wagon, watching the rocky landscape of the east recede and give way once more to the vast green meadow. He clenched his fist tightly, assimilating once and for all the physical reality of his new condition in this world.
«I have more than double the mana and triple the strength, dexterity, and endurance... My vitality is also three times higher», he concluded mentally, seeing that his hands no longer showed the slightest trace of a tremor. «And all this power... just for having claimed the life of a single monster»