Chapter 15: The Wyvern
Sasha didn’t know them well, but the other group of adventurers guarding the caravan included two swordsmen, a black mage, a white mage, and an archer, all males in their late teens or perhaps early twenties. In what could be considered a sneak attack, the archer and black mage launched a volley at the wyvern, distracting it from eating whatever was in the wagon. The arrow and fireball were deflected by scales.
The wyvern pulled its head and neck out of the wreckage and turned to look at the approaching party, blood dripping from its maw. After a few moments of eye contact, it stuffed its head back into the wreckage to continue feasting on whatever was in there.
“Retreat… retreat…” Sasha wished aloud, praying the party would take the hint. From her perspective, it seemed like the other group of adventurers interpreted the wyvern’s indifference as a sign that it wasn’t hostile.
Ardreth wondered if DM was observing these events unfold through Sasha’s eyes right now. He knew DM was clever and capable, but he wasn’t sure if DM was able to do anything other than watch from this great distance.
The adventurers arrived next to the wyvern, maintaining their usual formation. The two swordsmen nodded to each other and then unleashed big swings at the wyvern’s leg from either side. Immediately after, an arrow and an icicle lance struck the wyvern’s side.
“Look out!” the white mage shouted, although too late. The wyvern’s tail, which had been limp, swung at the vanguard, blowing away one of the two swordsmen.
“Ardreth, what do you think we should do!?”
“I’m pleased you’re actually interested in what I have to say lately, but I’m not sure. I… propose we hang back and ensure the merchants and drivers keep away. Hopefully the wyvern will not attack anyone aside from that hostile group.”
“You’re abandoning them!?”
“You saw what happened, didn’t you? They’re no lower level than us, and their primary attacks have been almost entirely ineffective. Don’t join them in suicide.”
“All right. You guys heard Ardreth, right? We’ll keep everyone else away from the wyvern and hope it escapes!”
“Got it.”
“Okay.” The four of them fanned out to corral the gawkers and pull them back.
By now, the wyvern had headbutted the second swordsman, sending him flying as well. The white mage was still tending to the limp swordsman suffering from a tail strike. The third volley from the archer and black mage hadn’t accomplished much.
“What are you doing!” the head merchant yelled loudly enough for all to hear. Apparently, he was displeased that his guards were getting defeated and risking further destruction of his supplies.
In response to the shouting, the wyvern turned to look at the head merchant and opened its mouth.
Sasha called over to Ardreth as they jogged over to help others. “Ardreth, can wyverns—“
“Yes. Yes they can.”
A fireball, certainly bigger and hotter than the T1 spell used by beginner mages, flew from the wyvern’s mouth to the head merchant’s midsection. The remains of his body tumbled away, smearing black powder on some grass.
The archer and black mage, so far unsuccessful at injuring the wyvern, stared at the corpse for a few moments, then turned and started running away.
“Guys! It’s too—“
The white mage didn’t finish his sentence. They wyvern had hopped into the air, glided, and pounced on the man’s body, crushing or at least lethally injuring it. A second ultra-hot fireball charged within the wyvern’s throat and then launched at the fleeing adventurers. The archer had been watching over his shoulder and jumped to the side at the last moment. The fireball curved in the same direction he jumped and struck him, bringing his archery career to an abrupt end.
The fleeing black mage repeated between his labored breaths, “Oh god, oh god,” but the gods were not kind. The wyvern scampered after him and, following a few seconds of pursuit, caught the man in its jaw. It swung its head back and forth a few times, then tossed the dead or near-dead body aside while turning back in the direction of the caravan.
The wyvern kept its body stationary while turning its head slowly, taking in the entire situation. It locked its eyes on the wrecked wagon, then on the people scurrying about.
The adventurers all made a point of backing away slowly while facing the direction of the wyvern and distancing themselves from the wrecked wagon. The merchants and drivers were further away and generally fleeing.
“This is the critical moment,” Ardreth uttered under his breath to Sasha as they continued backing away.
In the wreckage, a chicken squawked as it climbed out from under debris. The wyvern now turned its eyes on the chicken. The chicken locked eyes with Ardreth.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Oh no…”
“What?”
“Panicked animals sometimes run towards elves like me.”
On cue, the chicken sprinted at Ardreth. The wyvern roared, slammed its tail into the ground once, and ran to intercept.
“Ardreth! Can’t we let it have the chicken!?”
“It’s too late! It’s like we’re too close to its hatchlings now!”
Sasha understood what Ardreth meant. Battle was imminent. Most likely, the fleeing noncombatants would survive at this point, but her party was probably done for. She held her sword in front of her, preparing for a last stand. Her archer nocked an arrow and held. The burglar drew a throwing knife but clearly had no desire to use it.
When the wyvern was still about 20 meters away, a tentacle rose from the ground and slapped the creature’s face, stunning it into a sliding halt. As it turned its head down to peer at the anomaly, the tentacle disappeared and a new one wrapped around the wyvern’s ankle.
The wyvern was clearly confused but not quite frantic. For some reason, it turned its head towards Ardreth and opened its mouth. He began chanting in a last-ditch effort to repel the ball of fire that was surely coming.
The adventurers could all see the flame growing more intense within the wyvern’s throat, as though time was running slowly. At the moment when they expect the ball to fly, the wyvern choked and turned its head down towards the ground.
“What happened!?” Sasha called to Ardreth, hoping he knew.
The wyvern turned its face towards the sky and roared, rocking its head from side to side.
“I don’t know, but our friend from the forest is helping us!”
The wyvern forcefully lifted its leg, freeing itself from the tentacle. Another tentacle sprouted and wrapped around the claws at the tip of the wyvern’s wing. The wyvern suddenly collapsed, awake but not struggling.
“Is… is it paralyzed?”
“No, I don’t think so…”
“Then what? What’s it doing Ardreth?”
While Ardreth tried to make sense of what he was seeing, the burglar offered, “It looks like it’s getting its—“
“That’s it!” Ardreth interrupted.
“What?” Sasha wasn’t following.
“Pleasure! Uncouth as our colleague may be, he likened the wyvern’s behavior to being stimulated, as though by the, uh, opposite sex.”
“Why would it—“
Sasha was interrupted by the wyvern suddenly roaring and forcing itself free of the tentacle again. It hopped a couple of paces away, only for a fresh tentacle to whack it in the face again. It seemed to have completely forgotten about Sasha’s group and the wagons, wary of enemies in tentacle form.
The tentacle made some efforts to grab it again, but the wyvern immediately shook it off each time. The tentacle slaps seemed to be having more of an effect. Sasha noticed the tentacle appear further away this time, scooping up a rock with the tip. The tentacle leaned away from the wyvern, then launched the rock at incredible speed.
The archer, an expert on ranged weapons like this, judged that the projectile attack would be more effective than his own arrows, but likely wouldn’t do much damage to the wyvern, given its impressive scales. When the rock made contact, the wyvern flinched as though the rock dealt more damage than warranted, considering its energy upon contact. Perhaps the rock was somehow enchanted with a special effect upon strike, strange as that was.
The wyvern looked around frantically for the next tentacle, then lunged at the wrecked wagon. It scooped up some debris in its claws and then flew into the air. A second projectile rock struck its flank, causing the wyvern to stumble for just a moment.
“Is it escaping!?” Sasha didn’t care at this point whether the wyvern was defeated or ran away. She just wanted her party to survive.
The wyvern, which had been ascending, suddenly banked left and descended towards her group. It released the debris in an attempt to dive bomb them. The four braced, getting ready to jump in whichever direction was safest.
The archer noticed the wyvern continue its descent despite having already released its bombs. “It’s! It’s going to—“
The wyvern released an air blast from its wings, targeting the ground directly adjacent to the party. None of the adventurers received any damage from the spell, but the eddy currents from all the motion of air destabilized them, robbing them of their balance. Dodging was not currently possible. The debris rained down, barely affected by the disturbed air currents.
As the wyvern was arresting its descent and preparing to climb again, it took a lightning bolt to the face.
Neither Ardreth nor Sasha were hurt badly by the debris. They were just lucky; their partners were not. The two men were unconscious, although most likely still alive. Ardreth delayed healing them. Instead, as he rose to his feet he grabbed Sasha’s shoulder and tugged, indicating they should move away from the other two.
A tentacle appeared right in front of Ardreth, startling him. Taking advantage of the brief respite from the wyvern’s assault, he watched the tentacle closely as it patted the ground several times and then pointed at the wyvern.
“What?” Ardreth pressed a hand to his chin.
“How are you still so calm!?” Sasha was wiping tears from her eyes and sick with worry about her allies.
“That’s it!” Ardreth started chanting and pointed his staff at the wyvern.
“What are you doing?” Sasha wasn’t objecting, but she wanted to know.
Ardreth completed his chant but delayed casting the spell to answer her question. “Providing that tentacle with a foothold.”
The tip of Ardreth’s staff glowed green, and a large clump of soil materialized adjacent to the flying wyvern, momentarily matching its velocity. A tentacle grew from the soil and slapped the wyvern’s wing, causing it to lose control and descend for a moment.
The soil quickly separated from the wyvern, too far away from the wyvern to serve as a suitable perch, and the tentacle vanished.
“Ardreth! Keep doing that!”
“My MP will run out. I can’t do this too many times.”
“Whatever! Keep targeting the wing!” Sasha then realized there was something else she needed to do while the wyvern was distracted. She removed a potion from her pouch and ran over to her allies to administer it. She’d need to scavenge a second potion from one of them as well.
Ardreth repeated his spell, enabling the tentacle to attack the wyvern’s wing again. The wyvern lost further altitude as a result. Repeating this cycle two more times, on the fourth attempt, the wyvern crashed into the ground hard.
Ardreth collapsed to one knee, using his staff to support his weight. He wasn’t quite out of MP but he couldn’t cast that challenging spell again. His sensing magic was unable to assess the wyvern’s health, so he didn’t know how close it was to death.
The wyvern was slow to rise but clearly still lived. A tentacle appeared next to its head and wrapped around its thick neck. The wyvern roared, but with only half the vigor of its earlier cries. The tentacle likely wasn’t strong enough to crush the wyvern’s neck, but it was doing something.
After several seconds of the wyvern making feeble attempts to wiggle free, its head fell flat to the ground. Now, Ardreth’s sensing magic was able to tell him something. The wyvern was dead.