Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Who Catches the Most (8)
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Time rewound just a bit.
Around the time Nazriya and Depika were heading toward the valley with light hearts, utterly unaware of what awaited them.
Galen and Lilia were also starting to wrap up the day's hunt.
"Another wyvern, huh."
Lilia spotted a black speck far off in the sky and remarked casually.
Wyverns had appeared every single day for the past eight days, and each time they'd captured one for scouting, so she even seemed a little pleased to see it.
Of course, humans loathed evilkin just as instinctively as evilkin despised humans on a primal level, but... well, it was like useful trash?
"Shall we do one last scout with that one and call it a day?"
"Sure. Though I doubt it'll turn up anything worthwhile."
Using wyverns or byakons to pinpoint evilkin positions ahead of time and take them out first had proven so efficient that all the juicy targets were long gone.
Lilia's scouting wasn't perfect, of course, but if something slipped past her eyes, it was safe to say they wouldn't have spotted it anyway.
The competition was essentially over today anyway, and sunset wasn't far off, so calling it quits now was reasonable enough.
A few more small-fry evilkin wouldn't make much difference to the total score.
But there was no need to rein in Lilia, who was always so enthusiastic.
Especially since Galen didn't even have to lift a finger to capture the wyvern.
Slash! Slash!
Wyverns usually flew in pairs or threes, so she'd take out the smaller ones quickly by slicing their necks.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Then she'd hop on the remaining one and give it a thorough beating.
Now that she'd gotten the hang of it, Lilia even knew exactly where to press to make it obedient.
"Kieee..."
The wyvern struggled for a bit before finally submitting.
But for some reason, instead of taking off right away, Lilia made it land.
"Oh? It can land too?"
"Pushing or pulling on its neck adjusts the altitude. Just keep telling it to go down."
"Ah, got it. But why bother landing?"
"Well... the competition's basically ending today. Tomorrow's for heading home."
"True."
"Want to give my brother a ride before it's over?"
"Pardon?"
Galen tilted his head at the unexpected offer.
"On the wyvern?"
"You said you were curious what it feels like."
"Oh, right, I did say that."
To truly feel like you were flying on Earth, you'd need skydiving or paragliding at least.
A normal passenger plane just felt like floating a bit indoors. Hardly real flight.
Riding a wyvern bareback was on a whole different level. So yeah, curiosity made sense.
"But isn't it dangerous? Even after beating it down, if it gets cranky, we could crash."
"We can make a safety harness!"
And that safety harness turned out to be...
Strapping their legs to the horns on the wyvern's back with rope.
"It held up fine when I tugged on it, so it should handle your weight easily, brother. Your feet will be nice and secure!"
"I-is that so?"
Amusement park rides used similar straps—over the shoulders or thighs—so maybe it wasn't so different.
He still felt a twinge of unease, but curiosity won out. Plus, Lilia's expectant eyes as she pulled out the rope made it hard to say no.
In the end, Galen let Lilia help him awkwardly strap onto the wyvern's back.
The wyvern clearly hated it but sulked after one smack.
Whoosh!
And soon, the two soared into the sky.
Galen had tensed up at takeoff out of necessity, but he relaxed after a short while.
The view from the ground and from the air were definitely worlds apart. The untouched wilderness looked almost picturesque from afar.
The wind whipping past at high speed felt refreshing too. The up-and-down from wingbeats was like familiar ocean waves to someone as sea-hardened as Galen.
"How is it?"
"Great. Really."
Lilia beamed at Galen's answer. He smiled back and added,
"Though I do feel a bit bad watching you work so hard at steering."
"Can't be helped!"
"There are wind spells that let you fly. I'll teach you one someday."
"I'd be the one feeling bad then! No, more importantly, stop picking up magic so easily!"
Their flight—scouting or joyride, who could say?—ended abruptly less than ten minutes after starting, amid their usual banter and laughter.
"Huh?"
Lilia voiced her doubt while scanning the ground below.
"Something huge in that small valley over there."
"Huge?"
"Bigger than a basilisk."
"No evilkin that big..."
"There is, though."
Lilia chimed in, finishing Galen's trailing thought.
The wyvern changed course.
Once they were close enough to identify it properly, Lilia's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Yup. Looks like it. Wyvern-shaped but no wings, that size... A drake."
"Not even on the score chart, right?"
"Nope."
Byakons were too pathetic to rate, but drakes were the polar opposite.
They weren't listed precisely so no one would be dumb enough to try.
The nickname "King of Evilkin" wasn't for show. Drakes were so overwhelmingly tough that it took several Golds piling on or a straight-up Gem to handle them.
Of course, the two weren't thinking about points right now.
"Still, I wanna catch it."
"Me too!"
Lilia couldn't resist something as rare and hard-to-find as a drake.
Galen's eyes were blinded by thoughts of experience points.
But the closer they got, the stranger things looked.
"Whoa, someone's already fighting it? Ah, earth fairies!"
"What? Did they wander into another team's territory?"
"Not that far... No, more importantly, this is bad! They're gonna die!"
Stealing another team's prey was against the rules.
But no matter how you sliced it, the earth fairies were getting crushed here.
They weren't human... but fairies, sure. Lilia wouldn't just stand by and watch people die.
"Help them, brother!"
"Before we descend."
Galen spoke to Lilia, who was forcing the panicked wyvern—freaking out at the sight of the drake—back under control.
"Let's drop in on the drake's head first."
The spirit from his wrist was unleashed.
"A little gift from above."
The water giant plummeted from the sky, smashing straight down onto the drake.
Boom!!
Made entirely of water, its weight increased exponentially with size.
No matter how beefy the drake was, it matched up perfectly—and had to take the full impact.
No way it came out unscathed.
"Kraaak?!"
The drake writhed and screamed from the massive shock.
The water giant shattered from the equal counterforce.
Sploosh!
But it slurped up the mana from Spirit Creation and reformed into a giant atop the drake's back in an instant.
Meanwhile, the wyvern half-crashed into the valley under coercion.
Slash!
It got punished with righteous fury from Lilia the moment it landed for being so uncooperative. It would've died later anyway, even if obedient.
"I'll head in first!"
Lilia shed her bag in a flash, untied Galen's ropes, and bolted off.
Brilliant platinum flames enveloped her sprinting form.
Fwoosh!
Miracle of Blessing at max output, and a Spear of Radiance sprouted in her hand.
Reaching Nazriya in seconds, Lilia twisted her waist, channeling her momentum.
Crack!
The air tore as the spear became a streak of light.
The drake was so close to Nazriya it could've stomped her flat, still reeling from the impact—it couldn't dodge properly.
Splat!
The spear pierced more than halfway through its thick neck.
Like hurling a javelin at the golem boss in the ruins, but that was a construct—this was living flesh.
"Kraaaargh!"
The drake shrieked, foaming blood. Its foreclaw swung wildly.
"Bear with it just a bit!"
But Lilia had already scooped up Nazriya and leaped away. The claw cratered the ground harmlessly.
Eyes rolled back in pain and rage, the drake targeted Lilia next—or rather, Depika collapsed in her path.
But before it could swing again...
Sploosh!
A waterfall blasted from the giant's mouth behind it, curving nearly 180 degrees.
From its blind spot—no way to anticipate. The drake couldn't even shut its eyelids in time.
Water Flow Manipulation twisted the stream into blades that stabbed both eyes.
"Kiaaaah!"
No creature had eyes as tough as its scales and hide.
As the drake literally wept blood, Lilia scooped up Depika too and retreated smoothly to the rear near the wyvern and bags.
She gently laid the two earth fairies down and said,
"Looks like you'll have to finish the hunt solo, brother."
"You okay with that?"
"We might see another drake someday, but these two won't get treatment if not now."
A truly priestess-like, upright answer. Galen smiled faintly.
"Then I'll wrap it up. Take good care of them."
"Got it!"
Leaving Lilia rummaging for tools, Galen advanced.
Truth be told, that javelin strike had done half the work already.
The drake had no hands to yank it out easily.
And no focus to try.
The water giant was still riding its back.
Thud! Splosh! Thump! Bang!
Like pro wrestlers tangled up, it pinned the drake relentlessly with watery weight.
Its body shattered from tail strikes only to reform and counterpunch.
Now nearly blind to boot—the drake must've been losing its mind.
'Needing several Golds means Golds can actually hurt it.'
In other words, a couple tanking aggro while the rest DPSed could take it down.
If Golds dealt zero damage, it'd be a Gem-only monster.
King of evilkin or not, still just evilkin. No match for Gems.
So Galen had no reason to fail. He already equaled several Golds in power.
Especially starting with a giant drop and Lilia's javelin—two massive hits.
'Too big for a water prison, bit of a hassle.'
Water sprayed everywhere with each spirit shatter, obeying Galen's control.
No need for a full giant; massive water pillars like arms sprouted randomly, pummeling the drake.
Especially the face and head.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Half-blind, evasion was impossible. Each headshot rattled its brain.
Forced forward? High-pressure jets whipped legs and body, disorienting it.
Meanwhile, the backrider wouldn't tire, and blood poured nonstop from the neck wound.
"Kaaaaah..."
The drake that had crushed honest earth fairies with sheer bulk finally buckled before a bigger wave.
It had burned through nearly all the mana for Water Flow Manipulation and Spirit Creation.
Thud!
The slowing behemoth toppled sideways, going still.
A pitiful end for its reputation.
Galen couldn't care less.
Level 70 wasn't far off.