An incredible force has driven itself through the tunnel area. Upon its destruction, it randomly hurled huge chunks of rock towards the village, damaging and destroying some buildings in the process.
One flew our way and crashed at the plaza leaving dust and debris in its wake. It was too fast and too big for us to intercept...
Landing just a few feet away from us... We were lucky enough to not get hit by it as it is just too sudden... because if it did, it would've spelled instant death for our group.
There were those are unlucky, however... women and children were the majority of the people there while also counting a few adventurers and rescuers...
From the place, I was standing on. It was like... somebody spilled over some ketchup and half-assedly wiped it off using a piece of cloth...
At the place of impact lay a torn and bloodied teddy bear... around it are humanoid remains... I closed my eyes and looked away... I pray that the suddenness of the event granted them a quick and painless passing...
When the dust had settled. The magic crystals that lighted the ceiling illuminated the monstrosity that towered over 30-35 meters high and 70-80 meters long as it emerged from the hole it had made using its sharp claws. Its body, almost bare bones with a few patches of its hide in between. On its back is what used to be wings of some sort and in its hollow eye sockets lies a red flame, which flickered each time it moved.
"An undead?!" [Maria]
I've heard about them from Maria and Kate. The undead can only rise if there is a pool of negative energy nearby that can reanimate them, it is not the same energy we use for invoking magic. As I've read at the royal library it is more like the energy of negative emotions, but it is still being concluded if it were the case as there is very little to no information regarding them.
"Not just an undead it is also a wyvern..." [Irvine]
"Vers-verschlinger?!!"
The nearby elf screamed its name. As he did, the other elves also went into a state of shock, where a few of them ran away and those who stayed readied for battle. We can see the fear in their eyes as they stared at the giant moving skeleton that was rampaging from the distance.
"Verschlinger?" [Angelica/Blake/Mooly]
"It was one of the strongest wyverns that we've ever faced in the past. We have only managed to defeat it by combining the remaining human, elf and dwarven armies hundreds of years ago." [Irvine]
As we were still baffled by what had happened a battle ensued. Near the wyvern, we could see multi-colored lights that were illuminating the building walls, they were magic spells of different elements. We hear battle cries and clashing at the foot of the wyvern.
It had swung down its bony tail wrecking building after building and swiped with its claws, which sent bodies flying some of which are dismembered... It then picked up a house with its mouth and crushes it with its jaw.
"Everyone! Evacuate the village now!"
"Village leader!"
"The guild master!"
Russel who was carrying a child over his shoulder ran towards the plaza with five dwarfs that are behind him.
"Please get everyone away from the village as soon as possible." [Russel]
"But what about our homes? Our shops?"
"You'd be much safer outside. I doubt that the other pillars can support the additional weight as a few of them had already collapsed..." [Russel]
Just as he finished saying that another pillar crumbled and fell on a building that is close to the wyvern. Looking back at us he continued...
"As of now, there is a very little chance that a snowstorm will generate. I advise some adventurers and a few who have combat experience to accompany the evacuating villagers from the dangerous monsters outside and I wouldn't want them to be defenseless." [Russel]
"Alright, we'll go with them!"
"Do your best!"
Some adventurer raised his mace and willingly announced that they will help with the evacuation and the child that Russel carried earlier cheered on them.
"Thank you, everyone..." [Russel]
When they left. Russel glared at the rampaging wyvern.
"We need to defeat that wyvern here or it would be bad for those who are escaping." [Russel]
He judged that it will most likely pursue them when its finished with the village and fighting on snow isn't exactly an option since it would be hard to move in.
"Where are you going?" [Angelica]
"We need to fetch a few stuff at the guild." [Russel]
"Okay, we'll assist the adventurers who are currently engaging it." [Angelica]
"Stay safe." [Russel]
We both headed on our separate ways. Russel taking the five dwarfs with him and us with a band of adventurers.
When we got there it was total chaos, spells flew at the wyvern in different angles and people trying to attack it up close whenever they could. Despite being bare bones this thing moved very swiftly that the magicians had trouble aiming at it with non-homing spells.
When it moved back towards me I used the fire enchant on my steel kris to cut off its bone.
"What the?!" [Angelica]
My fire enchant only made a dent that was probably 2-3 centimeters deep... and everyone stared at me in amazement.
It was only a minor damage, but my strike fared better than most adventurers, who even with their mythril weapons, they were only able to do 1-2 centimeters and those are the impact types. The bladed mythril weapons had barely noticeable damage and low-tier weapons only bounced or scratched when it hit.
My fire enchant could barely cut the bone... I am shocked and was terrified of its sturdiness. I wonder what spells and weapons they had used in the past in order to take down this beast when they fought it at its full strength...
As I was about to retrieve it, it had gotten stuck. The wyvern realizing how dangerous I was to it, attempted to snap at me with its jaw.
"Earth Tower!!" [Maria]
All of a sudden a slab of earth shot out from the left and jabbed at the wyverns jaw, dislocating it a bit, it was Maria's multi-casted Earth Pillar. Maria is such a good support that I can always count on her to cover my back.
Mooly makes a follow-up and strikes the area where my sword had gotten stuck in, but her pike breaks in the process leaving both her and I unarmed.
When the wyvern fixed its jaw, it swung its tail at an arc towards our group.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Ready your shields!"
"Stand ready!"
"Magicians support!"
The leaders of the adventuring parties issued commands one after the other, their members willingly following their orders and putting their trust in their teammates.
"Heal!!"
"Overpower!!"
"Minimize Damage!!"
"Steel Body!!"
"Defense Link!!"
"Endure!!"
~~~
Support Spells
•Overpower• Pushes the body to its limits providing strength comparable to that of dwarfs.
•Minimize Damage• Area support spell, cuts down the damage received to just 1/4 but only for a single attack.
•Defense Link• Area spell, the damage each person receives is evenly distributed inside the area of effect. Effectively lowering the overall/total damage they had taken.
•Endure• Raises defense against physical attacks while making the person immune to pain for some time.
~~~
A group of twenty people lined up to block the attack, and a few of them planted their shields on the ground.
When it hit, they were all pushed by a meter back... I thought that they would all go flying, to be honest, but I'm glad that it never did.
"Use this!"
"This can help you!"
"Here!"
The dwarfs cleared out their inventories of weapons and distributed them to people fighting the wyvern. This is the first time that I've held an arming sword that was made of mythril, the weight and feel of it is vastly different from all the other ones that I have held so far. Mooly exchanged hers for a mythril poleaxe so that she can be flexible, as the poleaxe has spikes for stabbing, a blade for cutting and a small hammer for smashing which is good for pounding the wyvern bones.
At first, I wanted to invest and buy each of us mythril equipment, but it just has too many downsides.
1. It is hella expensive, The cheapest ones cost around 150-200 gold and those are only the daggers, if you wanted something bigger then you'd have to be prepared to literally sell your house. If I remember correctly the mythril greatsword that I saw the other day costs 4000 gold...
I don't want to boast, but I only earn about 20 gold per month on average and 30 if I'm on a roll. That includes the transports, processing, taxes and wages for Mrs. Helen etc-etc.
2. Repair is a pain. Despite its good durability, and strength you would need special equipment in order to repair/maintain it. Adding salt to injury they could only be found in selected villages/cities that produce mythril equipment which raises the costs even higher... and also the danger...
3. You may be targeted and also killed for it. In this world, criminal organizations typically target the high-end adventurers for the equipment they possess. In order to survive such cases, you would have to have strong and trusting friends accompanying you.
It's not like I don't trust my party members nor undermine their ability. From what I heard "only rumors" the criminal organizations like to issue fake requests and trap those adventurers, much like the cannibal that I've told before, but... the criminal organizations are said to have "allegedly" a designated kill squad that is said to have been fully armed with mythril equipment from head to toe when they deal with the targeted adventurers...
I would be paranoid and wouldn't be able to sleep each night if it were the case and considering that most of my party members are female I could think of the worst that can happen to us...
"Everyone! Focus all of your attacks and spells on a single point! It will accumulate the damage and shatter the bones!" [Angelica]
At my signal, everyone attacked the wyvern simultaneously hitting it at the joints. They already knew where they should land their blows as a fellow adventurer it doesn't surprise me.
I used the wind enchant and inflicted multiple slashes on its tail, but despite my 6x speed boost I was only able to hit it four times because it was moving so much and so fast.
"Quagmire!!" [Irvine]
"Earth Shackle!!" [Maria]
~~~
•Quagmire• Turns the ground/ floor into quicksand regardless of substance/material.
•Earth Shackle• Earthen chains that bind the enemy and hold them in place with crushing pressure.
~~~
When Blake had a chance he used the mythril zweihander he got from the dwarfs and hacked at the tail along with my fire-enchanted crystal. He was not able to hit the place I cut earlier, but with just a single swing he managed to almost sever it. The wyvern now had its tail dangling between its legs.
We were steadily making progress and had broken off the joint from one of its paws, it dropped lifelessly on the ground. There is no problem I say it like that right? Since it is already dead and all lol.
Without warning the wyvern unexpectedly rolled around on top of us. Trapping some of us into its ribcage as we slid inside the gaps in its bones.
"Go in between the bo-"
"Aaaarrgh!"
"H-help! Me!'
It was like inside of a fucking washing machine. I couldn't see anyone or anything as I spin and tumbled around, my body hurts from hitting god knows what in this dusty and debris-filled vortex.
"Sister!"
I heard Mooly's voice, but I couldn't tell where she was.
(Pang!)
The rolling stopped when a metallic sound rang.
Mooly was behind the wyvern near the severed tail. Did it stop when she made the last blow?
The dust finally settles and almost everyone that is in melee range is lying on the ground. Some not moving others writhing in pain, including me and Blake who was using his zweihander to stand.
We used the new crystals we got from Maria and healed our wounds. Just then the wyvern slowly turned its head at Mooly and raised its hind leg.
She was boxed in by the fallen building and the severed tail with little place to escape. She can only close her eyes as its huge foot fell on top of her, the force it generated so strong that it made a shockwave and a tremor.
"Mooly!!" [Angelica/Blake/Maria/Irvine]
At that moment in the darkness. There were seven silhouettes that were around Mooly, she was surrounded by seven heavily armored dwarfs. They were all supporting each other holding up the wyverns foot.
That can be a good bedtime story. Mooly and the Seven Heavily Armored Dwarfs... {1}
"Just in the nick of time."
"Sorry, we're late!"
Lifting his visor Russel spoke wearing a full plate armor. So those armors at the guild weren't just for decoration.
"Let's show this skeleton what we're made of boys!!" [Russel]
"Heave ho!!"
The seven dwarfs lifted the humungous foot over them that it made the wyvern tumble and fall over.
"Cmon! Let's kick this wyverns arse!"
Raising seven differently designed mythril war-hammers as they gave their warcry. I'm not into hammers but their designs are so badass that it makes me want to collect them lol.
"Thank you!" [Mooly]
"Anything for the young lady."
I heard a familiar voice from one of the dwarfs.
"Seymour?" [Angelica]
"Aye!" [Seymour]
"I didn't know that you can fight." [Angelica]
"Did I look that way to you? You thought that my muscles came from forging only or something?" [Seymour]
"Uh, nevermind... we needed all the help we can get." [Angelica]
The other adventuring parties were finally able to recover, while the wyvern had trouble moving was it because it lost its tail?
Taking the chance I spoke to them if they had any plans.
"Any ideas on how to stop this thing?" [Angelica]
"We just need to make sure that it stays dead." [Seymour]
Thanks for stating, captain obvious.
"But how can you kill something that is already dead?" [Blake]
"Kill it again of course!" [Russel]
No shit, sherlock.
Sigh... and here I thought that the dwarfs are a smart race... Well, you gain some brain cells and you lose some, fair enough.
"We both know a strategy against an undead." [Maria/Irvine]
"Get on with it then!" [Angelica]
"Healing magic is devastating against the undead, but for something as big as this. We would be better off at using attack spells because healing magic is extremely exhausting to use. Also, we would need at least ten to fifteen people who have a healing spell that is comparable or equal to that of Master level to do any real damage..." [Maria]
"Is there any particular element that is effective against an undead?" [Blake]
"There are none, but..." [Irvine]
"But??" [Angelica/Blake]
Blake and I spoke in unison and glanced at one another, then instantly looked away.
Don't think of weird thoughts right now... I said to myself repeatedly. I wouldn't want to be seen acting weirdly at a time like this.
"Despite it being resistant to most elements, we can speed up the rate of its decomposition. That is, we need to use the elements of fire, water, and ice rinse and repeat. It should always be in that order for it to have any effect." [Irvine]
"In a language, that we can understand please." [Angelica]
"What Irvine meant is, we can make its bones brittle using the different elements. Fire heats the bones up to its innermost part, using water rapidly cools the exterior making it more brittle and the ice will not only hinder its movement, but it will also help with shattering the bone if it does choose to move because of the water inside of the bones shall crystalize leaving pockets of ice weakening the bone's structure even more." [Maria]
They are really informative on these kinds of stuff, but God these two can understand each other so clearly like husband and wife...
References
{1} Ref to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.