In actuality, humans very rarely passed through this forest. Because of this, the village warriors — including Sara — did not have much experience with situations like this. There was no protocol for this situation.
When Rio had intruded half a year ago, their wariness had caused them to act rashly, making them lose their calm and causing Uzuma to go into a frenzy. That was why they had reflected on that experience and chosen to take the calm approach this time. However —
“S-Sorry!”
The boy tucked the egg into his side and pulled out a knife hidden at his waist, moving to cut the rope that tied the griffin to the tree. Then, he jumped onto the griffin’s back.
“H-Hold it right there!” Sara yelled in a panic.
But the boy ignored her order and directed the griffin to take off into the air.
“We have no other choice! Sara, give the order to attack!” Uzuma yelled as she activated the spirit art she held ready in her hand. The other warriors immediately prepared themselves to go on the offense.
“Kuh! Aim for the griffin! Make sure you don’t kill the human boy!” Sara commanded, and several of the warriors launched less harmful spirit art attacks into the air.
But griffins weren’t called the rulers of the skies for nothing: with their high intelligence, they could detect the low power attacks directed at them and calmly make maneuvers in the air to avoid them.
“Kaaaaah!” The griffin let out a high-pitched screech and flapped its wings as it suddenly sped up.
“I-It’s fast! Get after it -- that’s the direction of the village!” Sara yelled, taken aback. The warriors of the village all kicked off the ground and flew into the air.
“Sara, get on Ariel!”
At some point, Orphia had materialized her own contract spirit. Alma had already hopped on its back, so Sara hurried to join her.
“Yes, let’s go!” Sara’s group immediately took to the skies, flying high above.
◇◇◇
“Ugh, why can they fly?! Damn monsters!” The boy yelled, seeing the warriors of the village chasing him.
He had taken to the skies on the one-off chance they wouldn’t be able to fly after him, but he hadn’t expected the pursuers to be able to give chase in the air. If anything, this made the situation even worse than before.
“Hey, fly faster! You’ll be killed, you know!” he shouted wildly, ordering the griffin to accelerate using the method that Reiss has taught him.
Because of his desperate orders to accelerate — or maybe because of the stress caused by the attacks it had just received — the griffin huffed in agitation as it sped up. However, it still wasn’t enough to pull away from the village warriors behind him. If anything, they were closing the distance between them, little by little. Realizing that it was only a matter of time before he was caught, the boy’s panic increased.
Just then, a black shadow covered the boy’s vision. A large mass descended upon him at a rapid speed, coming to a stop just before him.
“Huh...?” The boy let out a dumbfounded noise. He didn’t understand what had just happened.
“Kaaah?!”
Meanwhile, the griffin noticed that something had obstructed its path and dropped its speed immediately. As a result, they barely avoided colliding with it.
However, the sudden movement had sent the boy flying, along with the egg that had been tucked into his side. The boy’s face twisted with fear as he instinctively curled around the egg. Once he had secured the egg within his grip, the boy fell through the tree leaves and branches at a high speed.
He felt the branches snap against his body, the powerful collisions causing pain all over. In the middle of his descent, he let go of the egg he had been carefully carrying, and landed on the ground, back-first.
“Gah!” A groan of pain escaped the boy’s mouth at the same time the egg made contact with the ground.
A huge crack ran along the shell, and the contents started to leak out. At that moment —
“W-What?!”
Latifa’s timid figure appeared; she had been running around the forest aimlessly when a boy had fallen near her.
“A-Are you okay?”
Once she had spotted the fallen boy, she ran towards him in a hurry.
“Huh? A human...?” Latifa froze at the boy’s human appearance. But, despite his species, she couldn’t cast aside someone so battered and injured.
“Are you all right?” she asked, and cast the healing spirit arts she had just learned the other day.
“Ugh...” the boy groaned, and weakly opened his eyes.
He found himself face to face with Latifa, who had twitching fox ears growing out of her head. His face twisted with fear.
“Eek! Stay away, monster!” he yelled, turning pale.
“Wh-Wha... Kya!” Latifa flinched and backed away, trembling.
After the boy pushed her away, he fled in a panic, face screwed up in pain. Only Latifa and the cracked egg were left behind — or so she thought, when...
“Kyaa?!”
Suddenly, a large black mass dropped from the sky, snapping the branches of the trees as it fell. The force of its impact easily blew Latifa away.
“Ugh... Eek?!” Latifa opened her eyes from where she laid.
Before her eyes was a dragon-like creature, with its front legs and wings constructed as one limb, its whole body covered in black scales, and with a height of 20 meters. It stared down coldly at Latifa.
This was a Black Wyvern — a member of the superior wyvern subspecies, and it sat at the top of all other demi-dragons. Its combat abilities were believed to be greater than all but pureblood dragons themselves. Even amongst demi-dragons, they were of a completely different caliber than the Winged Lizards that Latifa and Rio had encountered in the Wilderness.
“D-Dragon...”
To Latifa, who had never seen a real dragon before, the Black Wyvern’s form had a presence that was just as overwhelming as a true dragon.
“Grrrooaar!”
Latifa had been trying to get to her feet when the Black Wyvern’s roar made her cower. She let out a squeak and fell back down onto the ground. As she began to slowly back away, the Black Wyvern shot her a glance that said she wasn’t worth its time, before looking around at its surroundings.
Then, once it spotted the cracked egg —
“GRAAAAAH!”
It let out an even greater roar at the heavens, and its enraged and menacing eyes locked onto Latifa. The Black Wyvern twisted its body with a snap; Latifa thought that it was turning itself around, but a whip-like tail swung out horizontally, and the sound of air being sliced through rang throughout the air. The trees, which grew everywhere in their surroundings, were all mowed down at once.
Latifa’s scream fell on deaf ears as it was drowned out by the thunderous crash made by all of the trees that were sent flying.
◇◇◇
The village warriors came to a screeching halt at the grave situation that had suddenly befallen them. Right after the enraged Black Wyvern suddenly descended upon the boy on the griffin, another Black Wyvern appeared — and it was leading several other wyverns.
“Lady Sara, it’s a flight of the flying dragon subspecies!” Uzuma immediately identified the intruders as she confronted them, as the wyvern herd menacingly flapped their wings from a distance.
“Nobody panic! They wouldn’t come this far out for nothing. They won’t attack immediately and it doesn’t seem like they’re here to hunt... Oh no, don’t tell me...!” Sara trailed off, remembering the egg the boy had been carrying moments ago.
“Sara, it’s the egg! What if that boy just now stole that egg?” Alma and Sara came to the same conclusion.
“If so, this is bad. Both he and the egg are in the forest...” Sara bit down hard on her lip, furrowing her brow.
One of the Black Wyverns had descended to where the boy had landed in search of the egg. If the egg was safe, it was likely that the wyverns would avoid a confrontation and simpl
y return to where they came from. However, if it wasn’t... the worst-case scenario flashed through Sara’s head, making a chill run down her spine.
After some time, the Black Wyvern below them let out a roar towards the skies, as the herd of flying dragons above beat their wings in a show of furious grief.
“It doesn’t seem like that’s an option anymore. This is very bad. The village is right there...” Alma’s face scrunched up.
The Black Wyvern on the ground swung its tail and razed all of the trees in the area. In response, the flying dragons in the air attacked Sara and the others.
“Orphia, Alma! We’re going to take care of those two Black Wyverns! Uzuma, you lead the other warriors and eliminate the remaining wyverns!”
“Understood!”
The other members of their party moved out as soon as Sara gave the order. As they faced the approaching wyvern herd, each warrior released their most powerful specialty spirit arts. However, as many of the spirit users present were of a flying type, most of those present specialized in wind abilities.
Spirit arts could manipulate natural phenomena, but the laws of nature could only be influenced, not completely dominated. Depending on the strength of the arts user, one could ignore the laws of nature to bring about unnatural phenomenon. When the village warriors used their spirit arts, the surrounding winds blew violently, attacking the flying dragon with blasts of air launched from blades of wind and ode.
However, even if they managed a direct hit against the wyvern’s skin, they had no effect other than a mild physical attack. At most, it slowed them by a fraction. There was not much else it could do against the large frames of what were, easily, ten-meter-tall examples of a typical sub-species. Wind elemental spirit arts had a wider and more adaptable range of use compared to other elements, but it also had a lot less power. Especially in a case where the opponents had such large bodies, in most circumstances, a spirit art of great scale had to be used to not be outmatched.
“Tch, we can’t use high power spirit arts while we’re flying! Spread out! Form pairs so that one can act as bait as the other maximizes their physical enhancement and aims for where their armoring is weakest!” Uzuma ordered, causing the warriors to scatter.
Meanwhile, Sara’s group had drawn the attention of one of the Black Wyverns.
“I can see why they call it the closest sub-species to the pure dragons. I’ve heard that true dragons have special skin that completely repels ode... These flying dragons seem to possess a similar effect,” Alma said with a bitter smile. The girls had already fired spirit arts at the Black Wyverns to confirm their suspicions, noting that they weren’t able to deal much damage.
“Isn’t there a more effective method, Alma?!” Sara asked, turning to look at Alma as she rode on Ariel’s back.
“It’s a simplistic strategy, but we can only attack it with spirit arts that bring about more physical effects. Rather than using ode to materialize energy and give it a physical form, doing it this way would lessen the difference in power by quite a bit. I’ll take the one on the ground... Can you two handle the one in the air?”
“We have no choice... Understood. We’re leaving the ground unit to you, Alma!”
“Sara, please lend me Hel. We’ll fight in coordination with my Ifritah.”
“Got it. Hel, help Alma out!” Sara said, materializing a silver wolf in midair that turned to head towards the ground.
“Thank you very much. May the fortunes of war bless you!” Alma said, jumping off of Ariel’s back and summoning “Ifritah,” a spirit with a form similar to that of a lion. She hopped on its back and fell downward.
Once the four-meter-long lion and wolf had both landed safely, they ran towards the Black Wyvern as it prowled on the ground.
◇◇◇
Immediately after the Black Wyvern had obliterated the trees with its tail, Latifa was blown away by the force of the wind. She was blasted up ten meters into the air, but she managed to catch herself, thanks to her light frame. In a worst-case scenario, she would have hit the trunk of a tree back-first.
“Uugh...”
Despite her ordeal, she somehow managed to stand, and broke into a run to get away.
“Graaaah!”
“Eek?!”
The Black Wyvern roared, making Latifa’s body tremble with a jolt. She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the beast open its impressive mouth and inhale deeply. Air flowed into its lungs, expanding its torso a bit. Then, fireworks burst from its mouth as the Black Wyvern exhaled it all in one go. A line of searing heat extended outward, burning down trees and attempting to fully envelop Latifa’s body whole.
But, just as it was about to make a direct hit —
“Latifa?!” Alma weaved through the gaps and appeared, slamming the mace in her hand against the ground with a powerful amount of force. The ground rose up high, forming a thick wall to protect the two of them.
“A-Alma!” Latifa hugged Alma, overcome with emotion.
“H-Hey! We’re in the middle of a battle right now. Why are you all the way here?! Wait, let go of me first. It’s not over yet — it’s coming! Get on Hel’s back, quickly!”
“O-Okay!”
Latifa hurriedly climbed onto the back of Sara’s contract spirit. Meanwhile, Alma got onto the back of her own contract spirit Ifritah once again. As soon as the two had securely climbed on, the wolf and lion spirits both leaped high into the air, just as the dirt wall Alma created crumbled into pieces.
The Black Wyvern’s tail emerged from the rubble, and Hel’s wolf form leaped into the air and spat out an icy breath at the beast. Immediately after, Ifritah’s lion form struck similarly with a breath of fire.
A combined ice and fire attack — once the Black Wyvern’s body had been exposed to such dramatic temperature changes, Alma leapt from Ifritah’s back, down towards the wyvern. She enhanced her physical body with spirit arts, and swung her mace. The Black Wyvern roared, whipping its tail towards Alma as she leaped at it. Alma’s mace and the Black Wyvern’s tail collided with each other with a shrill sound.
“Kuh, that isn’t enough to finish it?!” Alma frowned, using the recoil from the impact to leap backwards. After landing on the ground, she looked at the Black Wyvern’s tail to check for damage, but it was still completely unharmed.
“A-Alma, let’s run away! You can’t win against it... it’s impossible!” Latifa yelled from Hel’s back.
“No! If I run away, the village would be — kya!”
The Black Wyvern wasn’t about to wait for Latifa and Alma to finish their conversation; the jet black demi-dragon waved its tail in a fit of rage, aiming its attack on Alma in particular. Alma leapt in the air and evaded the attack, but there was no opportunity for her to launch a counterattack.
“Alma?! Hel, Ifritah, go help Alma out! I will too!” Latifa ordered.
At that, both Hel and Ifritah broke out into a run. Latifa jumped off of Hel and dashed hurriedly towards Alma.
Honestly, she was scared — but seeing Alma under assault made her unable to stay on the sidelines any longer.
“L-Latifa! You mustn’t come this way!”
“I-It’s okay, I can fight too! H-Hey, you! Over here!” Latifa approached the Black Wyvern and provoked it, making it switch its attack target to her. In that time, Ifritah picked Alma up on her back and temporarily retreated to the safety zone. Hel backed Latifa up as she faced the Black Wyvern, helping redirect some of its attention. From what Alma could see, Latifa was using her light movements to evade the fierce attacks of the Black Wyvern. But she couldn’t keep that up forever. “Kuh... Ifritah! You help Latifa and Hel distract the enemy. I will use that time to prepare a large-scale spirit art!” Alma ordered after a moment’s hesitation.
Defeating the Black Wyvern would require a considerably high-powered spirit art, but there was nothing that she could activate on the spot. She needed all the help she could get, so she was grateful for their efforts in distraction.
“Latifa, buy me a little time, but without endangering yourself! Retreat once I give the signal!”
“O-Okay! ...Kya?!”
Just as Alma gave her instructions, the Black Wyvern changed its attack pattern. It had only used its tail to attack up until now, but this time, it suddenly leapt forward. The irregular action made Latifa freeze up for only a moment, but that moment was all it needed.
Latifa would be crushed under its weight.
Just as Alma thought that, a seven to eight meter-wide ball of ice came shooting from behind her, colliding head-on with the Black Wyvern’s body, heavily knocking back the jet black demi-dragon. Immediately after, a gust of wind blew past Alma, closing in straight for Latifa.
“Huh...?” Latifa let out a slightly dumbfounded noise.
She thought her body had gotten lighter for a second... But before she realized it, she was being snugly held in the arms of her most precious person — Rio.
“Sorry I’m late, Latifa,” Rio apologized with a slightly darkened look on his face.
“It’s... okay. I’m... sorry... too. For... running away...” Latifa blinked blankly for a moment, before that expression gave way to a steady stream of tears as she apologized to Rio.
“We’ll talk later. Everything’s all right now — you can step back,” Rio said, smiling as he patted her head and lowered her to the ground.
He had been in the middle of his walk when he hurried to intervene, so he was without his weapon. But Rio showed no hesitation as he glared coldly up at the Black Wyvern, which towered far above his head.
Soon after that, he was off. Jumping high into the air at a tremendous speed, he kicked the chin of the Black Wyvern from directly below it.
“Grah?!” The Black Wyvern’s large frame bent backwards, and a sound of pain uttered from its mouth.
Without pausing for a breath, Rio gracefully twisted his body and aimed a slashing kick with the outer edge of his foot at the opponent’s neck. The jet black demi-dragon staggered, taking a stumbling step to one side.
“Its skin is so rigid... Guess it wouldn’t be that easy,” Rio said, frowning slightly in midair. He had kicked it with the intention of incapacitating it, but the attack hadn’t done much damage to the Black Wyvern.
Blessing of the Spirits Page 20
