[Now where is she, I wonder….]

Endrossa was wandering here and there, looking for someone. But somehow she wasn’t able to find out who she was looking for.

[She wasn’t in the pedestal either.] [Where she could have roamed, I wonder….]

[Are you looking for someone, Elder?] One of the senior witches asked Elder who had been wandering aimlessly.

[I was looking for Josephine.] [Do you know about her whereabouts?]

[Josephine?] [Last time, I saw her went toward the Valiant office.] [Maybe she’s already out of this village, doing some work, I suppose?]

[Eh?] Somehow Endrossa looked so shocked hearing the information, but trying to keep her cool. [I understand, thank you.]

Endrossa started to quicken her path toward the Valiant office.

***

[WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?!?!]

*BRAKK!

Endrossa jumped suddenly from her chair as she screamed toward the receptionist.

[P… please calm down for a bit, Elder….]

[HOW COULD YOU JUST ALLOW HER TO GO TO THAT FORBIDDEN SPOT JUST BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO PROCURE SOME SUPPLIES!?!] [HAVE YOU GONE MAD!?!?]

[I… I actually wanted to forbid it also, but….]

[I allowed her to do so.] As one of the circle member of the Valiant Unit goes out into Endrossa’s presence.

[And what have you been planning here…?!]

[I was just thinking, with a Familiar that strong, wouldn’t it be possible that Josephine will be able to do it?] [Since we do heard some news that that familiar was able to stand toe-to-toe with a Vasp Queen.]

[And what will you do if she failed to do so…?]

[It just means that we’ve been overestimating her.] [It’ll be a good lesson for other people too.]

[HER LIFE IS ON THE LINE, YOU KNOW?!?] [HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT WE STILL UNABLE TO CONFIRM WHAT KIND OF DANGER LIES IN THERE?!?!]

[That’s why, Elder.] [If, by any chance, she survived, whether she managed to remove the danger or not, we can confirm what had actually happened in there.] [Besides, it’s not just her, all Valiant outside were always risking their own life.] [Isn’t that kinda unfair to favor her life only?]

[Don’t belittle things with your logic!] Endrossa quickly turned her back as she tried to go outside, as then….

[Are you going to save her yourself, Elder?] [Forsaking the whole village, just to save one girl?]

[You…!]

Endrossa, who reluctantly stopped, clicked her tongue and glared at the council members. Just then, another person had stepped inside the office.

[Then it’s fine if I’m the one who go, right?]

[Huh…?] [You….]

***

*BVWAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!!!!

A surge of light beam went straight toward where one man, a fully armored black person, wielding a great shield, was standing. As he quickly predicted the direction of the light beam, he quickly abandoned his shield and starts to roll sideways. The beam easily pierced the shield and blows it away as there’s only an ash of it left.

[BLOODY HELL!] [THAT’S ONE SCARY ATTACK IT UNLEASHED!!!] Rud, whom were either too afraid to join in the fray, or was doing as what Vram told him to, to protect Josephine, was commented on the sideline while hiding together with Josephine.

[But that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a wyvern that big!] [Not to mention that light projectile, it is on a different scale compared to any wyvern in the recording!!]

Josephine observed the wyvern carefully. With some kind of stone scale on its thick meat was something akin to a mineral that usually used to create a weapon. As such, it is almost impossible to pierce such skin, as it can be seen on the ground, that Vram had already unleashed many weapon, only to end up being broken so easily by its skin. Though thanks to that, the monster’s movement was way to slow that it took forever for that monster to chase its prey.

[But its ability to control other mineral around him is a real trouble…!] [If not thanks to that, we were already able to get away from that monster easily.]

[How could such a monster exist in this world anyway?!?] [Damn it, if I know this was going to happen, I would’ve bought Yohn also…!]

[For now, we can only observe and find its weakness while Vram distracted it!] [I don’t know whether magic would’ve worked against it too.]

[But how about that sword?] [The sword that he used once when he was capturing those monsters to create your new weapon.]

[Rud….] [Are you already forgotten about that…?]

As Josephine was aiming toward one place, there lies a fragment of a broken sword. Though the shape was already known to be a short sword, the ornament on its fragment wasn’t natural. It was a fragment of the sword that was able to directly damage the victim’s soul. But yet, it was broken now.

[Since when…?!]

[Ah, I guess it happened when you were freezing in place.] [My guess is that the stone scale itself wasn’t connected to his skin.] [Since it was akin to Vram’s armor, an exterior skin, it won’t be able to penetrate the soul.]

[Then how are we going to defeat it?!?]

[That’s what I’ve been thinking, okay!?!?] [Well, for now I think Vram’ll be fine, since that monster were unable to fly, it’s easy for Vram to keep his range away while he focused to defend himself….]

*BWUSH!!

Suddenly a weird sound was coming from where the Wyvern is. Sounds of raging wind was blowing right below the monster, as the monster’s feet slowly leaving the ground and keep going higher.

[… Eh…?]

[… Are we… screwed or something now…?]

***

[What the…!?]

Vram was seeing something unbelievable. A monster, though it does have wings, the thickness of its skin should’ve left it unable to fly. But what happened in front of him right now defy all common sense. It flew. It flies out of the place where they were trapped by the same monster that are flying and circling around.

{What kind of strength does that monster have to be able to flap its wing like that and fly?} {No, I guess that’s to be expected, but I never thought that it would really fly that well, though.} {But for now…!}

Vram started to pull his great bow from his “storage” as well as the lance he usually used to either throw it or be used as an arrow. He aimed his arrow toward its wing as he was planning to shot it down.

*BVWAAAAAASH!!!

Without even flinched or having doubt a little bit, Vram releases his grip on the arrow as it flew straight toward what Vram had been aiming this whole time, its wing.

But something unbelievable also happens. The moment the arrow had almost reached the wyvern, it furiously flapped its wing harshly that it stopped right in the middle of its flight, and thus having Vram’s arrow completely missed its target.

[Seriously!? It was that flexible?!?!]

Even Vram couldn’t hold its surprise as he keeps seeing the wyvern circling around and around. And finally after making a big, sharp turn, it bend its body down toward where Vram located at and started to flap its wing once.

[That posture… can it be?!?!?]

*BVWOOOOSH!!!

Vram quickly ran to the sideline, but as the wyvern had started to charge itself from the air against Vram, noticing it were trying to run away, the wyvern shifted his body a little bit to change its falling direction toward where Vram was running.

[THAT GUY WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE AERODYNAMIC!!]

Rud whom have been watching on the sidelines screaming as he protested against what that wyvern was capable of, as the wyvern completely noticed its presence. But there’s no way that that wyvern was capable of changing its falling direction as it keeps closing its distance toward Vram.

[VRAM!!! RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!]

Josephine frantically screaming, hoping that Vram was able to shook it off. But it was all for naught, as it doesn’t seem like Vram was able to evade the tackle.

[GHRK!!]

Vram quickly pulled a giant shield that’s over than 2 meters, completely hid Vram’s body from the monster’s sight. But the wyvern doesn’t even care about it and just went straight for the killing.

*BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The impact was so great that it created a blast of water towering over the cliff itself. The sight of both of the monster and Vram was being hidden by the water blast that Josephine have a hard time confirming Vram’s condition.

*GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!

The wyvern’s roar was so loud that the water that’s been raining on it completely disappears. The roar was also heard by both Rud and Josephine that they ended up covering their ears, since the sound was too loud it may have split their ears.

[Vram…?!] [Where’s Vram?!?!?]

Josephine was walking a little bit closer toward the place where the wyvern was. But not only couldn’t she find Vram’s whereabouts, all she could confirm was that the shield, that was around 2 meter in height itself, was completely flattened despite its sturdiness.

[Don’t tell me… he’s dead?!]

[NO!] [HE’S STILL ALIVE, I CAN FEEL IT!!]

[Then where is he?!] [If he really is still alive, he needs to help us quickly or that monster will be making a mince meat out of us.]

Josephine and Rud were on guard, or to be exact, almost losing hope. The moment the monster confirmed Vram’s whereabouts was unknown; it shifted its target toward Josephine and Rud.

[… Vram…!]

*GHRK!!!

Suddenly the monster jerked. The wyvern was flinching its head while letting out some moan as its tail, though short, were somehow stretched out, as if reacting to something. Not long after, the monster itself starts to run amok all by itself, unclear of reason so.

[That’s…!!]

Rud was pointing toward the monster’s head, or to be exact, right behind the back of the monster’s head, around its neck. From it was hanging a figure of a person, while grabbing the parts on its neck as his left hand was thrusting through the skin of its neck.

[Vram!!!]

[Impossible!] [How could he survived that?!?!?]

[What?! You want him dead, huh?!]

[No, but… even if he did receive the damage head on, there’s no way he’ll be able to stand up and fight just like that!]

Rud was somehow makes a good point. No matter how sturdy Vram is, to be able to stand up after being tackled that hard against such a monster was an impossible feat, or that’s what Josephine at least thought. But as of now, Josephine can only focused on how Vram was struggling on the back of its head and start to chips away its thick skin by using his entire available short and sturdy hammer.

*THWACK!! *CHRACK!! *KTHRAK!!! *JHRACK!!!

{This bastard… just how much weapon do I have to sacrifice just to pierce the skin on the back of its head!?}

*GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!

The monster keeps struggling, but Vram was stubbornly hanging onto the neck as he keeps thrusting and chipping away the rock-like skin.

*PRAKKKKK!!!

As he started to pull a lance that was a bit thicker than the usual lance, it finally made a crack on its neck as Vram quickly strike the lance toward where the crack is.

*JRAAAAAASHH!!!!!!!!!!

*GRAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!!!

The monster screamed as hard as it could as Vram was finally able to pierce through its thick, rock-like skin. But as soon as it screamed, the monster jumped as high as it could and rolled backward, trying to flatten Vram while doing a backdrop.

[DAMN!]

Sensing what would happen, Vram quickly jumped from his position, start pulling another spear from his storage, pierced the ground, and using it as a pivot to swing his body away from the wyvern.

*BAM!!!!

*GROOOOAAAA!!!

The monster’s groaned. Not only it was failed to flatten Vram, the impact of his backdrop gravely injured its-already-wounded inner skin, it squirming itself on the ground. As Josephine and Rud sees this as a chance to regroup.

[YOU DID IT, VRAM!] [You finally found its weakness!!]

[Nhah, that’s just pure luck.] [That monster’s quite cunning than I thought, that I don’t think the same trick will work twice.]

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

[Trick?]

[I wasn’t actually shielding at that time. I used that to hide myself while I jumped to the sides to evade its tackle at the very last minute.]

It was a moment that Vram thought of that way. What Vram used to guard himself was a 2 meter shield in height that it was able to completely covered Vram’s body. As the monster was about to reach the ground, Vram quickly jumped toward its blind spot, above his head. And since the monster were also received quite a bit damage from slamming right onto the shield, it just completely unconcerned about its neck.

[Rud.]

[Yes?]

[Change of plan.] [I’m going to guard Josephine, while you should try your best to survive on your own.] As he said that while casually lift Josephine with both of his arms. To be exact, Vram was doing a princess carry for Josephine, with his left arm on her body while his right arm was lifting her legs.

[Uwaaah???] Josephine’s face somehow went red after being carried by Vram.

[WHAT!? WHY?!?!] [You were able to fend off its attack just fine before!!!]

[Right, and now, I don’t think I would stand a chance while protecting both of you at the same time.]

Vram turned his head toward the wyvern as he was concerned about what to do. Rud was somehow still confused at what Vram was worried about, until he also tried to look at the now struggling-to-stand wyvern. Josephine somehow sensed something weird was happening to it, as she quickly put her hands toward her ears.

[Rud, close your ear.]

[Eh?]

*GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!

It screamed. But the way it screamed just now wasn’t an ordinary scream. It was enraged. A scream of rage that could even split the hardest diamond ever was echoed through the whole place. Rud, whom was a little bit late covering his ear, had his ears bleed a little bit.

[It’s coming!] [Rud, quickly move away from us!!]

Vram was trying to warn Rud, but sadly Rud was unable to hear anything thanks to his ears being paralyzed.

[Vram! He couldn’t hear!!]

[Dang it!!!]

*GROAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!

The monster charged toward the place where Rud, Vram, and Josephine were. The speed of its charge tackle were somehow faster, if not, twice as fast from its usual speed. Though it’s still slow, Rud’s unpreparedness left him standing like a log.

[RRGH!!!]

*THWACK!!

Vram swing his right leg right toward its side and kicked Rud out of the range of the wyvern’s path. As he finished the kick, Vram letting go of his left hand and quickly pulled another giant shield to cover him while Josephine, instinctively knew what would happen, gripping tightly against Vram.

*BHWAACK!!!!

The recoil from the impact by the wyvern hitting the shield causes Josephine and Vram to be thrown off far from the wyvern.

*BRAAKKK!!!

Though he was hit, Vram was able to make sure that his master, Josephine, was safe from any attack. Though the impact caused by its raged tackle does damage on its body.

[Vram! You okay…?!?!] Josephine, thought surprised a little, was somehow able to survive the tackle uninjured. She quickly checked what had happened to Vram.

[I… I’m fine…!] Vram’s struggling, trying to stand up while still carrying Josephine on his arms.

[Vram, y-… your left hand…!] Vram was unable to hide it, but his left hand was trembling. Not because of fear, but because it had taken its toll after being hit.

[I’m sorry, Josephine….] [Just give me a minute, and my left arm’ll heal in no time.]

[No it’s not!] [Let me down!!!]

[I’m afraid I can’t do that…!]

Vram was about to get ready to evade another attack, but the wyvern didn’t attack. Or to be exact, it was looking at an entirely different place.

[DAMN!] [SO IT’S STILL AIMING FOR RUD!!]

[RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!!!!]

Rud was already standing after being kicked by Vram, but his hearing was still at its worst and it seems also that his vision becomes so blurry that he couldn’t even tell what was happening here and there. The wyvern, seeing the chance, charged toward Rud while slowly opening its jaw.

[Uh…?] Rud was still half-awake and blurry when he realized that something is closing toward him.

*CJHRAAAAAAAAACKK!!!!

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!!]

He was crushed. Its mouth that’s wider than Rud’s slender body was completely covered Rud’s upper body. Its fang was already buried deep inside Rud’s body, though thanks to Vram’s armor, the wyvern had a hard time chewing it. But it does Rud more torture since it wasn’t able to completely crush him.

[RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!]

*BLAM! *BLAM! *BLAM! *BLAM! *BLAM! *BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!

Josephine panicked and started to cast all of her magic and shoot it toward the wyvern. The repeated magic just keeps hitting off the wyvern body. But its already enraged state wasn’t feeling anything out of it.

[JOSEPHINE! STOP IT!!!]

[LET ME GO!!] [RUD… RUD IS DYING! I HAVE TO SAVE HIM!!!]

Josephine was squirming and struggling while still casting off all of its magic attack toward the wyvern.

[WHAT IF YOUR ATTACK ACCIDENTALLY HIT HIM!?!?!]

[Ah…!?]

It’s abruptly stopped. The magic bombardment that’s been unleashed stops abruptly after hearing Vram’s reasoning.

[Then… then what should we do…!?]

[Aim for the back of its neck with your magic!] [If you just calmed down, you’ll be able to aim precisely at that spot, right??]

[Ah…!] As if she was being knocked by a hammer in the head, she quickly realized her mistakes and started to focus herself toward where she has to shoot.

***

[ARGH!!] [AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!]

While Rud was still struggling against the pain and the torture, his eyesight and hearing somehow were able to return. After seeing what had happened to him, Rud panicked even more.

[Eh?!] [Wh… why… ARGH!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!]

It was hell. A hell of pain and regeneration of its body struggling to survive. Though Vram’s armor did helped a lot in him to not being chewed thoroughly, the main reason why Rud was able to survive was thanks to its ability to regenerate and to make its body condition at its usual form as before. But the pain caused by the wyvern’s bite was enough for one to wish for ‘death’. As Rud’s keep going back and forth between conscious and unconscious state, Rud was almost gave up on his own life.

{Why… why do I have to go through this…!} {I… I only wanted to get myself healed…!}

[“It’s impossible”]

{Wha…!?}

Another sound was played inside Rud’s head. It somehow feels familiar; yet such sound has never been appearing before him.

[“There’s no way for you to return back to normal.”]

{Th-… THAT’S NOT TRUE!} {SHE SAID THAT SHE WILL HEAL ME!!}

[“And how is it exactly?”]

{What…?}

[“You’re stupid, so you haven’t realized.”] [“From the very beginning, they never see of any chance to restore your body”]

{NO!} {I BELIEVED IN THEM!!} {THERE’S NO WAY THAT MY BODY WILL NOT BE RESTORED!!!}

[“But you’re going to die here….”]

{What?}

[“You’re going to die before you even had a chance to recover what you’ve lost.”]

{No…!} {NO! I DON’T WANNA DIE!! I DON’T WANNA DIE!!!!!}

[“Then embrace me.”] [“For I shall grant you the things that you desire the most.”]

{I…!} {I’M NOT GONNA DIE IN A PLACE LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!!!}

[WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!]

*BYAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!

Rud’s body was shining in a crimson colored line as he screamed his lungs out. The wyvern, realizing that something had happened, started to put out all of its strength inside his jaw and aim to completely crush him.

[OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

***

[Vram, look!] [Rud’s body…!!]

[That’s….]

Vram was familiar with that scene. It is also happening to him when he was fighting against the Queen Vasp. It is the moment where an instinct of a monster surfaced and overtaken what was left of his human senses. The only difference is that, when it happened, only Vram’s eyes was turned red and a red line was covering his body in an orderly manner, while in Rud’s case, though his eyes were also turned red, it’s shining and the red line covering his body was somehow jumbled up and overlapping each others.

[Josephine, you just keep focused on targeting the place I’ve told you!] [I shall go to the frontline and confirm his situation!]

[Alright!!!]

Vram quickly dropped Josephine and started to sprint toward where Rud was. It was quite a sight, as he was seeing a wyvern, struggling to crunch a slender man, though it is hard to call him a human anymore.

[WAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORGH!!!]

Rud’s face had contorted into more of a skull-face than human ones, that even Vram could even feel the dread out of it. He just glad that Josephine hasn’t had a chance to see his face, or something bad might happen.

[Now’s the chance!]

Vram pulled out another pole arm with a trident on the tip as he jumped and aimed toward the monster’s back head, where a part of its skin was already exposed. Thankfully, the monster was too focused on chewing Rud that it completely forgot about Vram’s existence.

*JRAAAAAASH!!!!!!!

*GRAAWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The monster screamed hard that it finally let go of Rud and started squirming on the ground.

[JOSEPHINE! NOW!!!!]

[HUMH!!!]

Josephine doesn’t have to chant any kind of magic, since she’s a witch. She just has to concentrate her mana in one position, creating a formula on her head, and apply it on any kinds of medium. As she finished the formula quickly, her hands moved toward the air and start to draw some kind of magic circle. The finished magic circle then gets enlarged and started to cover the whole roof where all of them was.

[Fleeting thunder of the blue sky, VRONT FUROGA!!!]

*JRUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!

*GRAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!!!

The center of the magic circle creating a spark and within it a 4-headed flaming thunder was streaming toward where Vram stabbed his pole arm before. The 4-headed thunder magic was attracted toward it and started to strike the pole arm, which was positioned behind the back of the wyvern’s neck. It is as expected; the wyvern was fallen after receiving such damage from a concentrated attack.

[I DID IT!!!]

[No, Josephine, stay vigilant and move away from there!] [It’s still breathing!!]

[EH? IMPOSSIBLE!!!]

It is as Vram said, the monster’s still breathing, and started to gather its strength to quickly stand up once again.

[In that situation, there’s no way he’ll be able to avoid my attack even if I used DragonTooth…!] And just before Vram was able to pull out his weapon. [… Eh?!?]

*BRAKKKH!!!!

He was kicked. He was being thrown off a bit, though thanks to his quick reflexes, he wasn’t thrown far off and still not having his posture gets broken.

[What are you doing, you red monkey!?!?]

It was Rud. He attacked Vram right before he was about to deal the finishing blow toward the monster. Since he was about to pull a DragonTooth, Vram was unable to pull out any other weapon and can only faces him bare-handed.

[UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!]

Rud started to dash toward Vram and launched a barrage of punch and kick. Though it was to be expected, Vram was either able to block, parry, and evade most of its attack.

[He… He’s unconscious!?!] [Moreover, this strength… wasn’t he unable to freely changes his strength?!?]

*BRAK!!!

Vram started to swing his arm to moves him away from Rud. As there are ranges between them, the two had started to stand still and gets wary of each other.

[To think that useless, ignorant fool would exert such strength….] [Now I kinda understand that True Descendant’s intention….]

[VRAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!]

As Vram was about to pull out another weapon from his storage, Josephine was starting to scream from afar.

[THE WYVERN!!! IT’S CLOSING ONTO YOU!!!]

[Eh?]

Vram was surprised. No matter how much attention he paid off to Rud, there’s no way that Vram weren’t able to notice the wyvern’s charge tackle or its fire beam. But what had happened now was something beyond his logic even more. A moving rock. A rock was moving and swimming toward Vram and Rud’s position at an insanely crazy speed.

[DAMN!!!!!]

*BKRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARKH!!!!!

Vram and Rud, sensing something off, start to jumped out from the place as the wyvern finally ascended from the ground it was swimming from. The ground was split as its feet finally touched the ground once again. It seems like it was more enraged than usual, and more powerful.

*GRAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!!

It shifted its sight toward Rud as Rud was quickly charging toward the wyvern. As Rud’s was about to flew its punch to its head, a strange spark was happening inside the wyvern’s mouth.

[It’s going to fire!!!!] [Rud, dodge it!!!!!]

As Josephine screamed out her lungs to warn Rud, the wyvern had finished charging up its blast and aimed straight toward Rud as Rud just blindly charged toward the wyvern.

*BWVAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!]

*JRAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!!

He took it directly. Rud has taken the blast head on, and yet there’s no sign of him being disintegrated. To be exact, his regenerative ability keeps replaying at full speed that it could easily taken the full brunt of the flame. Josephine can only open her mouth in awe of what has becoming of him.

[A… amazing… To think there are people outside of this island that could rival the might of the monsters around here….]

The monster finished throwing off its fire beam, and in front of him, Rud was standing there motionlessly. But no matter how much Rud has changed, there is no way he’ll come out unharmed from that kind of attack. His face that was once looked so dreadful started to return to become human-like again as he finally falls on his knees together with his body. The wyvern was also started to exhaust itself and was struggling to even breathing.

[You deserved some praise, red monkey.]

Suddenly the wyvern jerked. It was too preoccupied with annihilating Rud that it forgot about another existence that was more frightening that the one he’s been trying to remove first. Such is the instinct of a monster, to annihilate someone weaker first.

[I guess no matter how cunning a monster is, they’re still monster after all.] [With your condition, you couldn’t even react to me.] [Now, I shall deliver the final blow!!]

Vram was already pulled his biggest and strongest weapon from his storage, the DragonTooth, a club that shaped just like a fang of a dragon, with its base used to blow the enemy away.

[UWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!]

*JWEBHLAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!

*GRAOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Though it tried to evade it by leaping, Vram’s swing was faster that he already aimed straight at its chest area. Vram already knew that the chest was also a weak part of it, but after lost his precious sword, he gave up aiming for that place, until after Rud was managed to distract it.

*GROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

The monster was frantically trying to bite him, but Vram just quickly ducked and went closer toward the area of its chest where its neck won’t even reach. As he throws away his DragonTooth on the ground, he pulled another sword. It was a long sword with a wavy blade that looked like a flame with the hilt that had a crimson crystal as an ornament. It was a weapon he build together with Josephine, a special weapon made from monster material.

{Master named this “Vlamridge”, since it was made from a flame monster “Lava Ridger”.} [This sword shall end you!]

Vram positioned his right hand right besides his head while his left hand was grabbing the lower hilt of the blade and positioning the sword horizontally while aiming right at the exposed skin parts of the monsters.

[UWOOOOOOOOOOO!!]

*JCHRAAAAAAAK!!!

*GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Vram’s body was covered with red lines once again as he thrust and pierced the exposed skin part of the wyvern. As the red line flows and covering his whole body, the sword that’s inside the wyvern’s body start to react.

[EXPLOSION!!!!!]

*BTDHUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*BGHOGHK!!!!!

The monster’s body was expanded. Or to be exact, it was exploding inside that it expanded its skin. Normally Vram’s sword was to burn and completely explodes the monster into tiny pieces. But since the wyvern’s skins were too tough, it only expand and contract at a small interval and completely demolished its insides, leaving its outer skin left.

*GRWOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo…….!!!

*BUM!!!!

The monster finally fallen. With its whole inner body being roasted, the monster finally falls down and stopped breathing. A smoke can be seen rising from the wound came from the crack of its body.

[*hahh… *hahh….!] [Finally….]

*thud

Vram finally down on his knees, though he’s still trying hard to not lose consciousness. Josephine quickly running toward Vram after knowing that the battle is over.

[Vram?!?] [Are you okay…?!] [I’m sorry… for pushing you this far yet again…!]

[Don’t worry about that, Master….] [More importantly, you need to tend to Rud’s wound.] [He may be immortal, but that doesn’t mean he was immune to those kinds of attacks.]

[But Vram, your body is…!]

[I’m fine….] [Just need a bit more rest…!] [More importantly, Josephine….]

[Yes…?]

[We did manage to defeat this bastard….] Vram looked back at the monster while lightly hitting it. [But how do we escapes from here?] [Can you break the wall?]

[That’s….] [Maybe I could, but I need to collect some more mana to do that.]

As they were discussing about how to get out of place while trying to recover themselves, suddenly….

*BLAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!

[Huh!?]

A sound of explosion was heard a bit far from their current position. The wall was somehow broken and creating quite a wide hole leading outsides. As the fog cleared up a bit, something that looked like a round, hard creature came inside rolling. Just like a ball.

[Wha… another monster!?!]

Vram quickly ignored his fatigue and start to pull out his weapon while Josephine stands behind him, readying her magic.

[NAKED IDIOOOOOOT?!?!] [ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!?!?]

[Eh?]

[This voice, Senior Hilda?!??]

[Oh, so you did survive.]

***

[Wow… to think that this stupid buffoon could contribute that much.] Hilda was sitting right behind Rud, whom had been lying down and having his head right on Hilda’s lap, and Vram besides her, trying to recover most of his lost stamina together with Josephine.

[But to think… that you would encounter that Bastrios right on the first day of your expedition….] [You sure are a trouble magnet, aren’t you, junior…?]

[Bastrios?]

[You don’t know about it?] [It’s a subspecies of a wyvern that specializes in camouflage and explosive ability.] [I once heard that it could even control the terrain of the earth, spewing some fire breath, and even swimming on the ground.] [But that’s ridiculous, right?]

[It did, Lady Hilda.] [And for a reminder, it’s not just a simple breath, it’s a beam fire.] [All of my shields were easily penetrated by it.]

Hilda was just dead silent as she was looking at the sky hearing Vram’s explanation.

[*sigh… anyway, I’m kinda glad that you both were safe.] [If not thanks to Yohn’s keen nose, I wouldn’t even realize that you were trapped here.]

In truth, the reason why Hilda was able to find Josephine and the others was thanks to Yohn whom have been scouting all over the places together with Hilda. And now since Rud, Vram, and Josephine was too tired after the battle, Hilda was tending their wound as well as guarding them with Hougo.

[That mouse was worth more than how it looked.]

[Ehehehe~!] [I do agree, if not thanks to him, we would never been able to defeat that monster~!] Josephine was giggling while showing the mouse some gratitude.

[HEEEEEEEY!!] [YOU WERE RIGHT, THERE ARE SO MANY CRYSTALS INSIDE THIS CAVE THAT IT DOESN’T EVEN LOOK LIKE WE’RE GOING TO RUN OUT IN 10 YEARS!!!]

Yohn was running outside after scouting what was inside the cave. It was Hilda’s idea, considering that they must be wary of another trap set by monsters.

[And the trap?]

[There are none, Lady Hilda~!] [I tried to inspect every crevice that was inside this cave, and there’s almost none.] [Though it does seemed like that wyvern made this place to be its nest.] [The eggs were still around.]

[Humhumhum~] [Good job, Yohn.] Hilda’s hand went closer toward Yohn and started to rub his face and hair.

[Ehehehe~] [It was nothing, Lady Hilda~~]

Josephine and Vram can only watch in silence seeing how close Yohn and Hilda was, that they have nothing to comment about.

[You two, are you fine now?]

[Ye… yes!] [I think I can run already.]

[I’m fine now, thank you.]

[Good, now while I’m still tending this idiot monkey here, you guys can go ahead and secure the things that you needed.] [We do need them, but we shouldn’t destroy their ecosystem.]

[Alright!]

Josephine just hurriedly moves toward the cave while dragging Vram away from Hilda.

[“Hey, Vram!”] Josephine was trying to whisper to Vram while still walking toward the cave. [Senior Hilda… seems different now, wasn’t she…?]

[Hmm… I don’t know about that….] [One thing I do know is… Hougo was a lot more different than the last time I saw him.]

[Eh?]

Josephine was looking back at Hougo. It is as Vram had said; Hougo had a different aura coming from it. At first glance, it looked just like a boulder with a crystal on the center of the crack. But a magic line was visible through those crack as well as the way the boulder connected wasn’t natural.

[You were right….] [I guess she’s now in a good mood thanks to that.]

[By the way, I’m going to take this monster back for our experiment.] [Is that okay, Master?]

[Sure~❤]

Another day has ended with Vram and Josephine finally started to move onto the next stage. But unknown to them all, a dread was approaching the village of the witches. The day where Josephine shall make the hardest decision in her life was drawing near. A moment to decide what she shall let go and what shall remains besides her.