Chapter Eighty-Eight - Wyvern

I had been looking forward to the day where I would get to meet a dragon since... about the time I discovered what dragons were, really.

Big, magical fire-breathing creatures that were at once majestic and terrifying. There was so much lore and mysticism around them. I had spent countless hours imagining what it would be like to talk to a dragon, to ask them about their life story, to make friends with something that no one would ever dare bully, and that I could ride across the skies on.

They were the stuff of legends, both good and bad.

The dragon on the fifth floor of the Path of Broken Reflections wasn’t a creature of flesh and blood as I had imagined, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Five meters long--I guessed--from snout to tail, wings that had to be longer than its entire length, all made with delicate curves. It had a pair of horns wrapped around its head that ended in jaggedy points, and its teeth were as long as my hand.

Its size alone was impressive, but this dragon was more than just big, it was like a mosaic of stained glass. I could see the ceiling on the dragon’s other side, warped and shifted by the glass that made up its body. Delicate filigree of spun glass circled out across its wings. It turned its head our way, pupils like golden mirrors locking onto us.

It didn’t move though, probably because we had yet to enter the room proper.

“Whoa,” I said. “So pretty.”

“No,” Amaryllis said. “You can’t walk up to it and ask to be its friend.”

“I’m sure it’s nice,” I said.

She sighed. “It’s draconic. Their idea of being nice is eating you later instead of eating you now. Besides, if it eats you, Awen and I will have to face it alone. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“Awa, I don’t want anyone eating Broccoli,” Awen said.

“You’re not trying to guilt trip me into not trying to talk to the pretty glass dragon, right?”

“I would never,” Amaryllis deadpanned. “Who am I to stand between you and an opportunity to be chewed up by a wyvern.”

“Wyvern?” I asked.

She gestured to the dragon. “No forelimbs, the wings are at its sides, not its back. That’s a wyvern. They’re the more... animalistic cousins of dragons. Not nearly as dangerous, but still a threat.”

I scrunched up my face, but gave up with a nod. “Fine. I guess. No talking to the pretty wyvern.”

“It’s a dungeon creature, and the boss at that. There’s no way you’ll be able to negotiate your way past it,” Amaryllis said. “Which means that we’ll have to fight and kill it. Which I’m not sure we’ll be able to do.”

I looked from her to the dragon, then fired off an Insight at it.

The Stained Wyvern of Mirrored Paths, Boss, level ??.

“Oh, that’s not very good,” I said. “Can you see its level, Amaryllis?”

The harpy shook her head. “No. But I can guess. Judging by the level of the dungeon it has to be between levels eleven and thirteen. Basically, you can expect it to have a second class waiting in the wings, probably far below ten, but still there.”

“Ah,” I said. “That’s not good.”

There were a few problems with trying to fight a dragon... or a wyvern. First, it was a giant predator bigger than a minivan and we were just three very small girls that would all neatly fit into its tummy once we’d been chewed a little.

Second, it had wings, and could presumably fly.

Third, it was a few levels above us. I couldn't say how much stronger I was now compared to when I arrived in this world. Or rather, I couldn’t say how much of an impact levelling up on its own had. Skills, on the other hand, were huge boosts to both my power and abilities. I bet that the Wyvern would have a whole bunch of really good skills.

I winced. “I say we try. But we also prepare to run out of here if we need to.”

Amaryllis tapped her talons against her wing, then nodded. “I agree. We’ll try a few things, then if those fail to work we leave and try something else.”

“Awa, I’ll go where you do,” Awen said. “I, I can help from afar now, too.” She raised her crossbow. It only had a few bolts, but they might help.

“You’re both able to fight at range, so maybe we focus on that?” I asked.

“It can fly. That will neatly negate any advantages we get from our range,” Amaryllis said. “And as much confidence as I have in Awen, she is very new to that toy of hers. Hitting a moving target will be a challenge, and I doubt a couple of bolts will be enough to hurt that thing.”

“We’ll try anyway,” I said. “Are we all ready?”

Amaryllis sighed, then did a few quick stretches. “I suppose so.”

“I’ll try my best!” Awen said.

Grinning, I stepped into the arena with my friends at my back.

The wyvern shifted on its huge haunches, its chest puffed up, and it let out an ear-piercing shriek.

You have heard the screech of a fearsome creature! Your soul is shaken.

I tripped, almost falling before I caught myself. Black spots flickered in the corners of my vision and I was worried I might faint for just a moment before it all receded. I looked up, saw that the wyvern was still in place, then turned to check on my friends.

Amaryllis' wings were trembling, but she wore a fierce and downright mean scowl as she glared up at the Wyvern.

Awen... didn’t look so good. She was on her knees, eyes wide, and her entire body was shaking just a little bit. “Awen!” I called.

She gasped and snapped her attention around to me.

Our eyes met, mine trying to be reassuring, hers filled with unshed tears. “You’ll be okay,” I said. “It’s just a scary monster. You’re better than it is.”

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“Awa,” she said. She seemed at a loss for words, but still climbed back to her feet and hugged her crossbow close. “Right.”

A huge ‘whap’ sound had me looking up in time to see the wyvern jumping off and taking to the air. It was truly majestic to see it wheel around above us, that is, until I remembered that we had to bring it down.

The arena’s many pillars ranged in size from a meter wide to about twice as much, and each one was nearly three Broccolis tall. That means that the wyvern couldn’t just scoop down and snatch us off the ground, but it also limited our visibility a bit.

“I’m going to try and draw it closer,” I said. “You guys try to knock it out of the sky.”

“Got it,” Amaryllis said. Awen nodded behind her.

I bunched up my legs, then kicked off to land atop one of the larger glass pillars. It took me a moment, searching the wide ceilinged arena, to spot the wyvern spinning past above. It’s brilliant glassy body flashed past walls made of shaped mirrors and warped glass, sending prismatic rainbows against every surface that it flew past.

“Now, how am I going to get you down here?” I wondered. All I had was my spade--my backpack and Awen’s having been left by the entrance--and that wasn’t exactly handy for grabbing a wyvern’s attention.

Maybe magic? Cleaning magic wouldn’t do much to a wyvern, I didn’t think, but it might be enough to grab its attention. I didn’t have anything to lose except a few points of mana.

Shrugging, I aimed a hand up towards the wyvern, pinched my tongue to help with my aim, and fired off a tiny but fast ball of cleaning magic.

I missed by about fifty meters.

Cleaning magic was not hit-scan. I hadn’t accounted for the amount of lead time it would take to hit even a target as big as the wyvern.

My second shot missed, and so did my third. Its circular path wasn’t perfectly circular as it avoided spikes and crenellations in the ceiling. I had to either aim a whole lot better or...

Scrunching up my nose, I started to fire more and more cleaning balls, each one making my mana tick down by a point or two, but I was filling the air with glowing balls of mana. I hoped that the wyvern wasn’t into bullet hell games.

A few of my spells hit with a series of dull plops, like dropping a pebble into a bathtub.

The wyvern spun around in the air, golden eyes locking onto me.

“Get ready!” I called out.

I saw the girls moving over to stand next to a pillar, Amaryllis with her hands sparking and Awen with her crossbow raised.

Wind battered around me as the wyvern came screaming down towards the pillar where I stood talons-first like a bird of prey. I stood my ground for just a little bit longer, coiled and ready to jump.

Then lightning rammed into the wyvern’s side.

I jumped, moving towards another pillar that I bounced off of on a path towards the far end of the room.

The wyvern wheeled upwards with huge beats of its wings. There was a faintly darkened spot on its side, but little else to show that it had been hit.

“Darn,” I said. Then the wyvern flipped around and came roaring down towards the girls. “Double darn!”

The wyvern’s chest began to glow and it pulled its head back in a way that I was certain was very bad news. Then it opened its mouth wide and a cloud of sparkling dust poured out of it and splashed out towards the girls.

Lightning filled the air between them, Amaryllis doing her best to stop the deluge, but while it pushed some of the particles back, plenty still landed around the girls.

I took off at a hopping spring, bouncing from pillar to pillar while the wyvern flapped its wings and regained some altitude.

The dust it had spat was glass. Fine particles of loose glass, like sand that choked the air. I began to fire my cleaning magic in little bursts as I jumped down into the cloud.

Finding the girls was easy. They had huddled together under Awen’s long jacket, using it as a barrier of sorts. Seeing them coughing up blood and wheezing was a lot harder. “Are you okay?” I asked rather stupidly as I moved to their side. They were both covered in multicoloured, sparkling dust. A fresh burst of cleaning magic took care of some of that, but I was starting to run low on mana already.

Amaryllis tried to say something, but just choked and wheezed instead. She tapped her bandoleer.

I caught on and reached over to yank a pair of potions from her chest. Popping the cork off of one, I pressed it to her lips, then I did the same for Awen with the second potion.

It took a few fretful seconds, but my friends were soon breathing easier. “That was disgusting,” Amaryllis said.

“Awa,” Awen agreed.

“Good thinking with the coat,” Amaryllis said. She shook her wings and a few strands of glass tinkled out. “That was... unfortunate.”

“I--I think I hit it with a bolt,” Awen said.

I tried a smile, then looked up as a shadow flitted past. “That didn’t quite work as planned,” I said.

“We noticed.”

“Right. One more thing, then we leave and regroup, okay?” I said. “Are you both up for it?”

“I won’t let one little setback hold me down,” Amaryllis said as she stood taller and shifted her wings.

“Awa, I, I can try!”

Grinning, I told the girls the bare bones of my plan, then I jumped onto the top of the nearest pillar. “Alright, buster, it’s time to... get...”

My voice trailed off as I stared around and at the three wyverns flying just over the pillars all around us.

“Oh, shoot,” I said.

***