The Frost-Fang Ice Wyvern let out a loud roar that shook the snow-capped peak, making the glaciers beneath Evren’s boots tremble.
The massive, forty-foot beast spread its wings, generating a localised blizzard of Arctic storm. Its jagged, pale-blue scales shimmered in the dim light of the Rift, while its long, spiked tail smashed against the frozen rock, shattering boulders into dust.
SCREEECH!
The Wyvern beat its wings with explosive force, launching its massive body thirty yards into the sky.
Circling high above the mountain pass, the Wyvern opened its jaws wide. A bright sphere of concentrated blue mana gathered in its throat, glowing brighter with every passing second.
BOOM!
The Wyvern unleashed a blast of freezing frost, pouring down from the sky like a powerful blue waterfall.
The frost beam slammed into the mountain ridge where Evren had been standing.
CRACKLE.
The frozen earth was gouged into a thirty-foot trench of solid, black ice, flash-freezing everything within twenty yards.
Evren had already moved.
Relying on his S-Rank agility, Evren sprinted across the steep mountain incline, leaping from one jagged ice spire to the next like a mountain phantom. The freezing shockwave whipped past his fur-lined coat, but his insulated combat suit absorbed the ambient frostbite.
’Its breath attack has a three-second windup,’ Evren noted calmly. ’If it stays in the air, I can’t reach its core. I have to bring it down.’
High above, the Wyvern locked its glowing slit pupils onto the sprinting human. Angered that its breath attack had missed, the beast folded its wings and executed a devastating, high-speed dive-bomb!
SWOOOOOSH!
The Wyvern descended like a falling blue comet, extending its four massive, razor-sharp front talons to crush Evren into paste!
Evren stopped his sprint, planted his feet firmly onto a solid granite ledge, and gripped his Glacial Trench Blade with both hands.
He didn’t run. He channeled golden mana from his S-Rank core into his blade, causing the metal to hum with light as it cut through the freezing mist.
Thirty feet... twenty feet... ten feet!
The instant the Wyvern’s massive talons closed within inches of his head, Evren dropped his center of gravity and slid forward on his knees across the icy stone.
CLANGGGGGG!
The Wyvern’s talons struck the rock where Evren had just stood, crushing the solid granite into powder.
As the beast passed overhead him, Evren swung his golden-infused blade upward with all his might, aiming straight for the joint where its wing connected to its body.
SLASH!
The blade sliced through the soft skin under the crystal scales. Glowing blue blood sprayed across the snow as Evren severed the main tendon of the Wyvern’s left wing.
SCREEEEECH!
The Wyvern shrieked in agony as its left wing went limp. Unable to maintain lift, the massive forty-foot beast lost its balance in mid-air and crashed into the side of the mountain.
BOOM!
The impact triggered a small avalanche of snow and ice. The Wyvern tumbled across the frozen plateau, flattening several ice pillars before grinding to a halt in a deep snowdrift.
Evren jumped back to his feet, breathing out a cloud of mist.
’Now we fight on my terms.’
The wounded Wyvern struggled to its feet, roaring in blind rage. Even on the ground, the Level 45 beast was still terrifying. It swung its heavy, spiked tail around, cutting through the snow like a scythe.
Evren leaped six feet into the air, clearing the tail sweep cleanly.
He landed on the Wyvern’s broad back, driving his boots into the crevices between its crystal scales to secure his footing.
ROAR!
The Wyvern thrashed violently, slamming its back against the stone cliff to crush him.
Evren leaned forward, holding onto a jagged dorsal scale with his left hand, while raising his Glacial Trench Blade high above his head with his right.
Beneath the Wyvern’s thick skull scales, a faint, pulsing blue light marked the location of its central Beast Mana Core.
"Rest now," Evren whispered coldly.
Golden mana erupted along the entire three-foot blade, forming a brilliant, radiant spike of concentrated energy.
Evren drove the blade downward with terrifying force straight into the center of the Wyvern’s skull.
CRACK—!
The blade punched through the hard crystal plating, piercing the core deep within the beast’s brain.
BOOM!
A blinding flash of blue and gold mana burst from the wound. The Wyvern stiffened for a second, letting out a weak, shuddering hiss, before collapsing heavily onto the snow.
Its massive body dissolved into a swirling vortex of shimmering blue mana particles, fading into the freezing wind.
Silence fell over the mountain plateau.
On the snow where the Wyvern had fallen lay a fist-sized, radiant diamond-shaped crystal glowing with deep sapphire light, alongside a rolled silver parchment.
[Monster Slayed: Level 45 Frost-Fang Ice Wyvern (B-Rank Boss)!]
[Loot Acquired: 1x S-Rank Glacial Wyvern Beast Core!]
[Loot Acquired: 1x Ancient Wyvern Scale Armor Blueprint!]
Evren picked up the warm, dense S-Rank beast core and the blueprint, storing them into his Spatial Storage Ring.
He turned his gaze toward the final ascent.
Fifty yards ahead, at the very summit of Glacial Peak, sat a natural circular crater shielded from the howling blizzard.
Evren climbed the final stone steps into the crater.
In the center of the plateau rested an unfrozen pool of crystal-clear thermal spring water. Floating gently in the center of the pool was a breathtaking flower made entirely of translucent blue ice petals, radiating a soothing, sweet medicinal fragrance that filled the air.
The Glacial Lotus.
Evren walked to the edge of the pool, carefully reached down, and plucked the glowing lotus by its stem.
The moment his fingers gripped the flower, a brilliant golden light erupted before his eyes as the System UI flared with triumphant fanfare:
[DING! HIGH-PRIORITY SYSTEM QUEST COMPLETED!]
[Quest Target Acquired: 1x Glacial Lotus Essence (Pristine Grade)!]
[Alchemy Blueprint Unlocked: Stage 2 Nerve Regeneration Pill Synthesis!]
[System Milestone Triggered: 1,000x Rebate Multiplier Activated for Stage 2 Synthesis!]
[Mission Cleared: Frost Rift (Sector 4) Boss Defeated by Apex Guild!]
Evren looked at the glowing blue lotus in his hands and a genuine, warm smile spread across his face.
’I got it, Amber,’ Evren thought with quiet satisfaction. ’You’re going to walk again.’