SWNOVELXO Chapter 60
Chapter 060: Wyvern Extermination (3)
“I’ll go ahead.”
“What?! What are you talking about!”
“We can’t all die like this.”
Ron put Jan carefully on the ground and firmly grasped the iron hammer.
“It’s not like I want to die either. I’m doing this because I believe somehow I can survive. Doesn’t my past career tell you anything?”
“But still, this is…!”
Yes, I feel less confident this time.
With that self-deprecating joke held only within himself, Ron pushed the hesitating Jan away. Even though Jan might seem naive, being a mage after all, he would certainly end up doing as Ron said.
‘How long can I hold them back…? I want to at least buy a few minutes. That would let me escape more at ease.’
Facing tens, hundreds of monsters was the task at hand.
No matter how high-level skills of the pathfinder type Ron had, surviving was virtually impossible.
Ron knew this fact better than anyone.
“Sigh….”
To be honest-
He would rather choose the path where he had the highest chance of survival and flee. Yet, it was his stubborn belief, or call it principle, that kept his feet rooted here.
‘At least having one foolish mercenary wouldn’t be too bad, right?’
That’s how he had lived his entire life.
Initially, it was nothing more than acting out the part of a ‘mercenary with a conscience’ to compensate for his lack of skill.
He was just a country boy who foolishly headed to the city to become a mercenary, without the talent for wielding weapons like Maya or the innate talent for magic like Jan.
Of course, it was a mistake made without understanding the nature of an industry where looking weak meant being eaten alive.
As a result.
He was betrayed several times by those he thought were his comrades. Fortunately, thanks to his incredible survival instincts that he had since then, he stubbornly lived on.
Even after surviving, Ron didn’t stop acting.
A mercenary who never betrays.
With such a nickname, Ron made a name for himself in the industry, and later on, he made significant progress in his skills as well by learning combat techniques using the iron hammer from a barbarian friend he met on the battlefield.
That’s why he went about touting himself as ‘Ron Ironhammer’ wherever he went. It could be seen as compensating for the inferiority complex he had for the past half of his life.
‘Huh. I thought tagging along with the barbarian dude this time might fetch me something, but now all I’m left with is facing death.’
Overreaching his grasp. That’s how Ron calmly accepted his death.
“Ah…! I’m going to get scolded so badly by my mentor!”
“Jan?”
Thinking Jan must have already fled, Ron turned to see Jan advancing forward with his hands trembling and clutching a necklace with a gray gem embedded in it.
“If you ever meet my mentor, you must tell him it was really unavoidable. Promise me that!”
Before Ron could ask what he meant, the gem on the necklace cracked, and nearby Ron involuntarily rubbed his goosebump-ridden neck.
The mana storm that erupted around Jan was so immense that even Ron, who was not sensitive to mana, felt chills.
GROOOWWW──.
Soon, Jan gestured with his hands.
As if his fingertips were the conductor’s baton, the mana storm began shaping into a certain form, causing Ron to instinctively step back to create a distance.
‘This is……!’
A sense of pressure he had felt before. Recently at that—.
“Get back…!”
Halting his thoughts, Ron immediately started running and glanced back only to move his head slightly.
ROOOAAAR─!
Above the pathway where the monsters were advancing, a gray sphere expanded its massive presence, and the monsters that realized the anomaly tried to escape in panic.
However, it was too late by then.
That’s the nature of the spell.
One of the high-ranking offensive spells of the Gray Tower that crushes everything in its range—
‘Collapse!’
The Collapse spell, which had wiped out a Named minion of Darkin in a single blow during Darkin Subjugation, was now manifested by the hands of the tower’s young prodigy.
“By the gods, unbelievable…”
Dozens of beasts were crushed beyond recognition, and the monsters attempting to change their path too late were systematically turned into flesh pieces.
This is why a proper mage could be a calamity in a large-scale battle.
To a real mage, numerical disadvantage was utterly meaningless.
“Jan, you! Were you such a great mage… Jan?!”
“Cough!”
As the sizable monster horde visibly reduced, an exhilarated Ron shouted out, then stiffened his expression upon seeing Jan vomiting blood.
“My level couldn’t normally cast that spell… It was prepared by my mentor for when my life is truly in danger…. You must keep this a secret, okay?”
“Of course, it goes without saying. Thank you. I owe you my life.”
“I won’t be able to cast spells for a while. So now is the chance to….”
“Don’t say anything; I know!”
Ron carefully hoisted the collapsed body of Jan and started to run.
Wondering whether to leave his cherished Dwarven-made iron hammer to gain speed, he then felt lighter.
“Hurry up. We can still make it in time if we go now!”
“If we block it at the city gate, it will be much easier!”
Elena cast a blessing, and Maya, as if volunteering to take the rear, drew her spear.
Either way. They were all determined to overcome this situation together.
Ron felt a twinge in his nose but tried not to show it. Instead, he harbored a thought. With them together, they might truly overcome this challenge and kill the wyvern.
CRASH──! CRACKLE CRACK──!!
“Ah! What in the world…!”
“Ahead! The city is…”
Ron’s mouth dropped open. Jan showed no less astonishment, and Maya, her eyes aflame with zeal, stared at Al-Rasdel.
“As expected. The Goddess was not wrong…!”
And Elena let out a scream of ecstasy.
In the distance.
Al-Rasdel, a major city boasting its grandeur in the North, had maintained its form despite the city’s downfall due to internal strife.
Koo-goo-goo-goo…!!!
Stirring up a sandstorm that seemed to reach the skies –
“Boss, what on Earth are you doing…!”
It was crumbling, unrecognizable from its original form.
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In wyvern hunting, there’s one thing of utmost importance.
“Kuh…!”
Bang—!!
That is to limit its nearly cheating level of mobility. A simple, yet virtually impossible condition.
“Kieek!”
Crack-crack-crack!
The wyvern’s claws, descending rapidly, tear the road to shreds.
Naturally, the spot where Khan had just been standing was included.
Rolling on the ground, Khan quickly regains his stance, holding a dwarf-made hand axe in front like a shield.
Immediately, a gut-wrenching impact hits, sending Khan flying backward.
Thud-!
Khan slammed into the central tower, spat out saliva, and then, without any preparations, launched a spear pulled from Aecharis’s pouch.
The thrown spear, faster than any arrow, was dodged as the wyvern raised its altitude.
“Damn. That’s damn annoying.”
Its mobility was forcing Khan into a purely defensive position.
If he were a mage filled with long-range attacks or a warrior with overwhelming speed and utility skills, it might have been a different story.
Khan didn’t have that luxury.
All he could do was smash, cleave, and throw.
“Kieek!”
Even his throwing skills had no effect on it.
Having been hit once by a throw in the stable, the creature was on high alert; it never stayed in one place.
Whoooosh! Zeeek—!
The wyvern flew past, whipping its tail like a lash.
This time, Khan met the attack head-on, but the impact pushed his body backward.
“Damn. What a cheat.”
Cursing, Khan retrieved his magic sword, feeling the shock travel through his arm.
Its hard scales deflecting even a careless strike, a strength that could easily mock even formidable trolls, and the overwhelming mass born from its great size and incredible speed.
Certainly, Khan’s strength was beyond human, no doubt.
The problem was, the wyvern was the same. After all, it was a creature left by a dragon.
‘Of course, wyverns are not just any leftovers, but at least a nail clipping of one.’
Simply put, Khan’s only real advantage, his brute strength, was useless against it.
Unlike Darkin, who foolishly attempted a head-on fight while entranced by his own power as a dragonkin, it was also a cunning hunter.
“Kieek. Kek!”
The wyvern circled around Khan, letting out a sound that resembled mockery, recognizing it had the upper hand.
It seemed to plan on repeating similar, baiting attacks to whittle down Khan’s stamina.
“Let’s see how long you’ll swagger about…!”
Thump!
Khan’s figure ascends diagonally, closely watching the wyvern’s movements and then leaping into its flight path.
The wyvern, as if mocking him, flaps its wings and opens its jaws wide.
Its throat pulsates, indicating it intends to knock Khan down with a fireball.
“Shut your mouth—!”
“Kieek?” The wyvern was visibly startled by the sudden war cry. The taunt effect forcibly concentrated its senses on Khan.
Of course, the moment was fleeting.
‘That’s enough!’
Shrrring!
In that brief gap, Khan focused and opened Aecharis’s pouch.
What he took out was a very long chain with stakes attached to both ends.
Sensing an instinctual threat, the wyvern hurriedly changed direction to distance itself from Khan, cleverly aiming for the central tower, a massive obstacle.
Bang!
Using a throwing skill, Khan hurls the stake he was holding.
Without looking back, the wyvern effortlessly dodged by folding its wings and reducing its altitude sharply.
‘I knew it. Damn lizard.’
It was expected. A creature with even a bit of intelligence wouldn’t neglect the use of a visible, robust obstacle.
Crack! Slaying.
The stout stone tower, erected to prove the city’s grandeur, is deeply penetrated by the thrown iron stake. Probably, even if several strong men attacked it, it wouldn’t budge.
Not stopping there, Khan threw the remaining stake with all his might, concealing his intention until unleashing at maximum speed—!
Shrrring! Thuck!
“Kieeek—!!”
The stake specially forged to capture Al-Rasdel’s rampaging military horse goes through the wyvern’s scales and deep into its flesh.
As the wyvern screams almost pitifully, trying to remove the stakes embedded in its body, Khan clicked his tongue at its stubbornness to not come down. A damn lizard, indeed.Clang. Clang!
“Screech…!”
Spotting the iron stake connected to a chain, the creature’s eyes lit up.
True to its intelligence, uncharacteristic of a wyvern, it had found a way to remove the stake impaled in its back.
Shrrrrring!
The creature flew in the opposite direction of the central tower, intending to pull out the stake by stretching the chain to its limit. All the while, it zigzagged through the air as if to dodge any throw from Khan.
Regrettably, Khan had no intention of throwing anything else. What damage could a measly little spike do after all that time?
Swoosh.
Suddenly, Khan, standing beneath the central tower, picked up an axe imbued with divine energy.
He positioned himself as if he were about to split wood.
“Let the game of Jenga begin, you bastard!”
Now, it was a race against time. Khan’s muscles screamed in agony as he axed down the central tower with all his might.
Boom……!
The base of the tower was deeply gouged.
To any onlooker, it seemed as if an ogre had rampaged through, given the depth of the damage.
But it wasn’t enough.
Inhaling deeply, Khan’s muscles grotesquely swelled, and he swung his axe at the tower again and again.
Boom─! Boom─! Boom─!
The entire city of Al-Rasdel resonated with the thunderous noise several times over. Yet, the tower didn’t budge.
The wyvern, seemingly mocking this futile effort, had already removed the stake.
Boom…! Boom…!
And then, the energy began to fade.
Having already used his leap and throw skills more than ten times in the battle against the wyvern, Khan was significantly exhausted.
Without the recent acquisition of the Vessel of Greed and Draupnir’s buff, he would have been utterly drained long ago.
“This too.”
He had anticipated this, even regulated his energy consumption to reach complete exhaustion at this moment.
Khan did not stop axing, intent on draining every last bit of his strength. Soon, his limits were reached…
An overwhelming sense of fatigue came over him, his knees beginning to buckle.
[Indomitable Will (A) – 01%]
─Upon reaching a state of combat incapacity, one overcomes it with Indomitable Will. Ignores stamina consumption and continues combat for a certain period.
The activation of the skill seemingly rewound time, restoring his body to its prime condition.
Or so the skill made it seem.
It was the moment he had been waiting for.
Khan activated his ultimate skill.
[Surging Power]
Everything before him became hazy.
This was his first use of the Surging Power since leveling up. A nearly omnipotent strength filled the hands of a mortal.
That very moment, Khan felt a gaze upon him.
The gaze, as if it had been watching Khan the whole time, conveyed an inexplicable emotion before disappearing like an illusion.
Who was the owner of that gaze? And what was the emotion conveyed at the end? The thought briefly crossed his mind, but Khan, holding the axe tightly, swung it with all his might.
Crash───!!!
A thunderbolt struck right before him, splitting the world in two in Khan’s vision.
As the Indomitable Will expired, a dreadful sense of weakness took over Khan’s body.
Frozen in the posture of his swing, Khan staggered backward and flopped down, merely managing to glance at the miracle he had performed and grinned.
“Try dodging this, damn lizard.”
The central tower, leaving not even a trace behind, toppled just as Khan had. Its direction was predetermined.
Toward the wyvern, busily pulling at the chain to remove the iron stake.
Watching the wyvern futilely attempt to dodge the crashing tower, Khan let out a triumphant laugh, only to suddenly wear a concerned expression.
“Hope nobody asks me to foot the bill for this.”
He imagined the uproar the Argon royal family or the city’s heirs would cause, demanding him to take responsibility. Considering the abysmal nature of these medieval nobles, it was a very realistic future.
“…If anyone asks, I’ll say the Goddess of Justice made me do it.”
With that thought, Khan turned away from the reality of the situation.
That day.
One-third of Al-Rasdel, a major city in the north, was completely destroyed by the hands of a barbarian.
Later, a surveyor testified that astronomical sums, numerous mages, and at least thousands of laborers would need to be employed for years for the city to regain its functionality—
A catastrophic destruction that would be recorded in the kingdom’s history.
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[Level Up!]
[Level 25 -> 26]
[Strength: 60 -> 62] +1
[Agility: 33 -> 34] +2
[Stamina: 35 -> 36] +6
[Intelligence: 2]
[Act 2, Where the Dragon’s Trace Lies Buried]
─Failure results in the fall of the Argon Kingdom. Acceleration of the Great Barrier’s erosion. Subsequent scenario difficulty increases.
[Minimum clearance condition achieved.]
─First discovery and extermination of a dragon’s trace completed.
─Reward varies according to additional achievements.
─Current achievement rate, 33.3%
─Remaining entities: ???, ???