Chapter 90: Tales of the Hero’s Adventure (5)
The hero fell towards the ground.
As the hero raced down, he straightened himself out and slammed his greatsword into the earth to absorb the impact, then glared up at the wyvern hovering above him.
The wyvern was staring down at the hero. Sure, the hero could jump into the air a bit, but he’d never fly as freely as that wyvern. This wasn’t going to be an easy fight.
Of course, he could launch a slicing attack, but the power would drop off with distance, and the attacks were so straight-line that dodging them would be a piece of cake.
If it were any other monster, it wouldn’t have taken long to deal with, but… Hmm… what’s the hero going to do now?
Considering how the wyvern had yelped in pain when he stabbed its tail, it was safe to say it definitely had a piece of darkness tucked away inside.
Keeping an eye on the wyvern, the hero scanned his surroundings and chopped down a few trees with his greatsword.
Then, he picked up the fallen trees and – surprise, surprise – decided to throw them at the wyvern!
Thanks to some mana-boosted physical enhancement, the tossed trees flew straight at the wyvern.
Of course, those tree trunks weren’t going to hurt the wyvern, especially not one powered by a fragment of darkness. The wyvern simply flicked its tail and sent the trees flying into splinters.
But maybe, just maybe, that little impact might’ve ruffled its feathers since it let out a pained scream.
“Gyaaaaa!”
What’s that foolish lizard doing?
But the hero didn’t stop; he kept chucking logs like he was in some kind of tree-throwing competition.
Some trees sailed off into the distance, while others hit the wyvern, but, woefully, they didn’t seem to do much at all.
Realizing the wooden logs were no threat, the wyvern began to ignore them.
“Hup!”
It belatedly noticed the hero riding one of the logs heading straight for it!
In a panic, the wyvern spewed fire at the soaring hero.
“Haaah!”
The hero swung his greatsword and sliced the fireball in half. The explosion from his chopping effort pushed him faster towards the wyvern.
His blade aimed for the wyvern’s head.
“Gyaaa!”
The wyvern quickly recoiled to evade the strike. But the hero seemed to have expected this and, in mid-air, he executed a sharp spinning slash.
That move successfully tore a long gash in the wyvern’s wing membrane.
“Yes! Fall!”
“Gyaaa!”
With damaged wings, the wyvern couldn’t stay airborne anymore; it was simply a bipedal lizard now.
It was only natural that it would crash to the ground.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
After that, the battle between the wyvern and the hero turned into a chaotic brawl that utterly devastated the landscape.
“Yaaah!”
The hero’s sword sliced through the wyvern’s skin like it was butter, and now the wyvern knew that all too well. It kept breathing fire at the hero without taking its eyes off his glinting blade.
“Haaah!”
With no hesitation, the hero kept charging towards those fireballs, slicing through them as if swatting flies.
The severed flames scattered everywhere, setting the nearby trees ablaze, but the hero was unfazed.
He closed in on the wyvern’s jaw and swung his sword. The strike barely grazed the wyvern since it had tilted its head back to avoid it, but it still earned a tortured scream from the creature.
“Gyaaaaa!”
“Shut up already!!!”
Seizing the chance, the hero unleashed a flurry of cuts, ripping into the wyvern’s body, chopping off its tail, and breaking off its horns.
The wyvern fought back with its claws, its half-severed tail, and its teeth, but nothing could withstand the hero’s relentless assault.
Once it lost the high ground, the wyvern was doomed.
And then…
Crunch!
Ultimately, only the hero’s blade resting on the wyvern’s neck awaited its fate.
Well, that was to be expected.
Unlike other wyverns, this one actually had wings.
Sure, it had tough scales and strong muscles, but it sacrificed all that for a sleek, aerodynamic form for flight.
In a situation where it lost its wings, this relatively weak-bodied wyvern, which had traded so much for flight, stood no chance of taking down the hero.
Well, those fireball attacks were still threatening, but the hero was fully capable of countering those too.
“Phew…”
He glanced at the wyvern’s decapitated body, took a deep breath, and plopped down to the ground.
The moment he severed its wings, victory was all but certain, but the fight hadn’t exactly been a cakewalk.
Caked in ash from the burnt trees, dirt from the chaos, and the wyvern’s blood, the weary hero paused for a moment, taking stock of the situation and staring at the wyvern’s lifeless body.
What could he possibly be thinking? If he wasn’t off running away, I’d really like to ask him.
After a brief rest, the hero slowly got up, brushed off the mud and ash, and heaved his greatsword onto his back.
Now that the big threat was handled, it looked like he was gearing up to head back to the village.
Hmmm… When will he finally return from his little escape? After taking down a darkness-infused wyvern like that, there likely wasn’t a monster out there that could oppose him.
I hope he wraps up this runaway business and gets back to starting his proper hero’s journey soon.
And off the hero went, back to the village.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
What caught the hero’s eye was a massive snake wreaking havoc on a small village.
“What…?”
Ah! That snake… is it still around?!
I thought it had been taken out by the wyvern’s fireball…
“Tch!”
The hero broke into a sprint. Leaving that snake unattended was a recipe for disaster.
From a distance, the snake was darting after something, moving quickly, and just ahead, he could barely make out the shape of a small figure.
Of course, that turned out to be a young girl.
She looked a mess! With a wound that looked like it pierced through her shoulder and her right arm dangled limply; she was doing her best to run away from the snake.
But her legs wouldn’t carry her for long.
“Kyaaa!”
She tripped over what looked like a rock and tumbled to the ground.
“I—I have to get away…”
But the girl didn’t give up on escaping just yet. She struggled to push herself up with her still-functioning left arm.
However, the girl’s left ankle was twisted in a weird angle.
“Ugh, ughhh…”
The girl bit her lip to stifle her cries. If she didn’t move now, that snake would have her for dinner.
Realizing she couldn’t run much longer, the massive snake was now slinking over leisurely.
But the girl was visibly losing strength.
Her very life was slipping away bit by bit.
Suddenly, the snake was close, opening its giant mouth ready for a snack.
Just as the girl stood on the brink of death,
“Haa!”
A greatsword plunged from the sky, piercing the snake’s head.
Crack!
The sword sliced through its thick scales and skull, bursting through the snake’s palate.
Naturally, the snake fell dead in one blow.
“Ugh!”
The hero pulled out his sword and jumped away from the collapsing snake, hurrying over to the girl.
She was covered in wounds; not a single part of her was unharmed, and her breathing was becoming faint.
The hero quickly activated his life force with magic and funneled it into the girl. Following the teachings of the Goddess of Life, he tried to heal her using his own vitality.
He poured his healing magic on the girl, and while many of her injuries healed quickly, the wound on her shoulder just wouldn’t close.
No, it was turning black!
It was poison.
The snake’s venomous fangs had penetrated and had sunk into her shoulder.
“Ugh… Damn it…”
“It’s… cold…”
The girl whispered in a tiny voice.
Not the usual flood of chitchat, but the faint whisper of a butterfly’s wings about to be extinguished.
Words from someone nearing death’s doorstep.
“Damn it! Don’t die! Just don’t die on me!!”
“Ah, haha… I’m… sleepy, I guess…”
“Don’t go to sleep! If you sleep, you’ll die! Stay awake!”
“The hero stories… they say it’s you, isn’t it? I’m… so surprised…”
“That’s right! I’m the hero! So whatever you do, don’t die!!”
The hero kept casting his healing magic, but he couldn’t stem the girl’s fading life.
He let out a heart-wrenching cry.
“I’m… sorry…”
And just like that, another life faded away.
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