Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL] -
3.7 The Wyvern of the Foothills
Our approach is a little slower than Alana would like, but it’s a necessary use of time to prevent me from burning through my [Ether] reserves too quickly and becoming ineffective when my strength will be needed most. Instead of a straight flight path, we take a zig-zagging pattern, soaring higher and higher, and then gliding in a controlled descent. In doing so, I’m able to selectively activate and deactivate [Overland Flight].
I deactivate it for a couple seconds to rocket up at top flight speed, and then re-enable it as I descend downward into a speedy glide. Over longer distances, this seemingly unwieldy method should allow me to reach about 75% of my top flight speed, all while only burning about 5% of the [Ether] that I would while flying at full speed.
Alana, however, decides to fly ahead of us. Her flight, unlike Chloe’s and mine, is durational, with a single large start-up cost, but no maintenance cost while the Skill is active. Chloe stays close to me, which I think is the better course of action for all three of us. Alana is acclimated to fighting alone, and to fighting aerially, much better than either of us. And though Chloe has gained the incredibly powerful [Saintess’s Cloister] shielding Skill during her class change, she’s still far more frail than Alana or I.
It doesn’t take too long before I’m able to make out the beast that’s fast approaching the city. And it’s pretty immediately clear that we’re in for a rough time.
The creature before us is a winged serpent with two pairs of long, scaly wings. It’s not a true dragon— it has only a short pair of hind legs to go with its wings. And my [Angelic Insight] isn’t giving any indication that it can breathe fire. But its iridescent green scales look tough, and I suspect they’re as good at resisting magical attacks as they are physical ones.
Its tail is long, tapering down to a needle-fine point, and I’m not keen on getting spiked in the back for a third time in two lives. Neither of the first two occurrences were pleasant experiences, and I have little doubt the third will be no better. Still, I don’t hesitate, and I don’t show weakness. I coat myself in my [Etheric Armor], physically preparing myself for battle. Chloe renews her [Saintess’s Cloister] upon me, hanging back as I join Alana in the fray.
The [Valkyrie’s] movements are powerful, yet graceful at the same time. With her [Blessed Sword] in hand, she charges headlong at the creature’s side, avoiding both a savage chomp and a tail swipe before slashing into its scaly hide. As expected, however, her attack is mostly rebuffed. A few scales are lightly dented, but none break. No blood is drawn.
It did some very minor damage though, enough that the flying lizard turns its full attention on Alana. Its wings flap furiously, sending shards of razored wind hurtling toward Alana. I try as best I can to dodge the attack, but even I manage to suffer a few glancing blows as I attempt to approach, even through the dodging passive effect of my [Angelic Insight].
[[Saintess’s Cloister] effect activates. (36, 39, 41, 72, 14, 23, 29) damage absorbed. (Remaining: 2,946 / 3,200; Effect duration: 00:31:12)]
72? Why was that one so much more damaging than the others? I realize the answer an instant later as a small flicker of golden radiance briefly appears on the side of my neck. Yeah, not the absolute most vital spot, but definitely more impactful than the glancing blow to my finger or the other ones that mostly landed on my chest or arms. ‘Less likely to strike a vital area’ doesn’t mean ‘no chance to do so.’, and better that I know that for certain now than find out in an even more dire circumstance.
With the winged serpent distracted by Alana’s blinding blade, I take the opportunity to float up near the creature’s face. Its tail whips furiously and recklessly, the haphazard cutting of the air a brutal onslaught for any foe it might face.
Almost any foe. With [Angelic Insight], I can see the movements a fraction of a second in advance, the way the creature’s muscles undulate giving me clues as to what its next move will be. With poise and grace, I’m able to close the distance, though I only dodge one awkward tail flick by the skin of my teeth.
Once I’m within point-blank range, I fire my [Ether Bullet Barrage], sending burst after concussive burst right into the wyvern’s right eyeball. Unfortunately, however, this creature has a much higher [Vitality] than most all the creatures I’ve fought to this point. I pierce its sclera, and each consecutive shot digs deeper into its aqueous humor. But I fail to splatter its eye completely. It’s not fully blinded, I’m getting nowhere in terms of breaking through its eye socket and into its brain, and I’ve gotten it pissed, causing it to focus its attacks squarely on me.
This, however, gives Chloe the chance to attack with another of her new spells, [Piercing Beam]. It’s a weaker version of the [Ether Strike] Skill I had in my past life, summoning a massive beam of golden light as wide as a basketball and throwing it at the wyvern’s left eye.
It partially dodges, to my chagrin. But Chloe’s attack did singe its tongue in the process, something I can’t imagine did nothing at all.
The wyvern roars. Its ferocious screams shake the sky, pushing clouds back and sending me spiraling outward into a partial tailspin. Alana was thankfully on the opposite side of the sonic-energy blast, and Chloe was far enough away, but… If not for Chloe’s spell, I’d be feeling it something real fierce. I’d definitely have two busted eardrums and be heavily rattled from the vibration force. The System confirms as such.
[[Saintess’s Cloister] effect activates. 2,694 damage absorbed. (Remaining: 252 / 3,200; Effect duration: 00:29:54)]
The hells? Even with [Etheric Armor], that attack did right at two-thirds of my maximum health. Just what kind of a creature are we dealing with? And I haven’t got access to [Seraphina Overlimit] either; the cooldown is still at a bit over a hundred and nineteen hours.
How in the world are we supposed to bring this damn thing down? I force myself back into a fighting stance, this time readying a [Glyphcasting] array while Alana keeps the beast distracted. The one saving grace to the fight so far is that the creature is tempestuous, easily distracted, and seemingly incapable of proper strategy. Though I dare not assume that means a lack of sapience, or that we’re not being led into a trap.
There… is one option I can think of. To bring it down literally. Clip its wings, force it to crash into the ground. Even with its [Vitality] shielding it, a creature of that size dropping to the ground would kill it. Or at least cripple it.
The problem is that we’re over the eastern outskirts of the city already. There’s no guarantee that the wyvern won’t land on someone’s house. Better than that it ravages the entire city, but the sort of thing Chloe would prefer to avoid if at all possible. What other possibilities, then?
I charge up an ice-based [Glyphcasting] array. The movements are swift and precise. Manifest the [Ice] glyph in the center, then [Intensify] it and [Expand] it further. Finally, use an inverted [Heat] glyph to make it even colder still. Cold enough to solidify the creature’s insides, no matter how much cold resistance it thinks it has. Combining [Ice] and inverted [Heat] proves to be a bit of a challenge, the two glyphs not interlinking particularly well. But it’s more a matter of technique, rearranging some of the terms and modifying the complex array of linking runes on the outer annulus of the pentadecagram.
Ow! It’s a mental strain and a half to maintain the glyph, but I don’t want to accidentally miss. Or worse, miscast it again. Not exactly keen on having to rebuild my [Mechanical Arm Cannon] because I shattered it in the exact same way I shattered my original arm.
Worse still, the wyvern seems to have noticed the surge of magical energy gathering in my right hand. It turns its mouth toward me, likely readying another sonic burst that will strip the last bit of my [Cloister] and deal serious damage to the rest of me. I prepare to dive downward, but a last-second slash from Alana right as the bellowing beast prepares its blast gives me the perfect opportunity to strike.
And strike I do. My attack is an icy beam of pale blue-white permafrost, chilling the air around me and condensing the water vapor into a thick layer of mist which surrounds me. The wyvern roars, but its forceful impact is muted— quite literally— as its mouth and tongue and vocal cords all freeze solid. Its one good eye stares at me with pure ire, malice tinges its every fang, and even its scales darken to show its discontent. Its wings begin to slow as the supercooled ice continues to ravage its way through the wyvern’s insides and… oh shit!
“Alana, Chloe, we need to stop this thing from falling over the city!” I yell out, already charging toward the creature. And worse than that, I’m starting to run dangerously low on [Ether] myself. If I don’t make it to the ground in the next twenty seconds, the wyvern isn’t going to be the only one crashing to the dirt with a nasty thud.
First things first, I activate my [Overland Flight] once more the second my hands grapple the flailing wyrm. Even through layers of insulating fat and scale, the creature’s body is still cold to the touch. But I persist, bearing through the pain even as more notifications pop-up in the periphery of my vision, alerting me that the last bits of my [Saintess’s Cloister] effect are being consumed.
Even as my right hand and shoulder start to go numb, I keep flying at full force, less concerned about staying aloft and more about getting this freezing corpse to land where it’s least likely to cause death or serious injury. Alana assists me, grabbing the overgrown lizard’s helplessly flailing tail, now moving by random muscle twitches, and pulling us further to the east.
Chloe has flown downward; due to weird System mechanics, she can out-dive our terminal velocity, allowing her to better scout out the small park we’re aiming for. I just hope she doesn’t end up in a position where she can’t save everyone; I know how much it eats at her whenever she has to pick and choose who to save.
My [Ether] ticks lower and lower as Alana and I continue to try to push the creature toward our chosen landing site, all while flying upward to try to slow its descent. It’s helping, just a bit. But buying even a second or two could mean the difference between a life protected and one lost. A more complete victory and fulfillment of everyone’s goals.
Sure enough, the center of the park has half a dozen kids playing around and on a jungle gym. Chloe is rushing to and fro, grabbing and pulling them away from monkey bars and down slides, barreling through the various contraptions with the supernatural dexterity the System provides, all while being gentle enough not to cause more than a few scrapes to the kids, most of whom are young enough not to have unlocked their own System.
I feel strain in all of my joints and I can barely feel my right arm at all anymore, so numb it is from the cold embrace I inflicted. The warm air and the hot sun helps— slightly— but I’m going to need a lot of healing when this is all done. Thankfully, I know the best of the best in that department!
Alana and I manage to push the wyvern’s icy corpse where we need it to go. There’ll be some incidental property damage from the cratering impact, but hopefully the loss of life will be kept minimal. And that’s a more than acceptable outcome. Homes can be rebuilt. Things can be replaced. Even bones can be mended and wounds stitched back together. But lives cannot, once they are snuffed out.
The corpse splatters. Icy chunks of flesh and thousands of scaly discs the size of a large frisbee go flying. I suffer a few cuts, shredding the last bit of my [Saintess’s Cloister] and suffering a handful of wounds before I force a [Repulsion] barrier with the last of my [Ether].
The damage to the surroundings is great. Plenty of broken windows and fallen trees, and a lot of the houses are going to need extensive repairs. There’s a crater in the center of the park, maybe half the size of a football field, and the handful of people unfortunate enough to witness the battle are in various states of shock. All in all, though, the threat was dealt with, and I’m able to grab half a dozen scales and take them for myself before the rest of the creature’s flesh and sinew dissolves back into the Ether.
[You have slain a Foothills Wyvern (Level 41). You have gained a boosted 63,000 Experience.]
[You have gained enough Experience to reach Level 36. [Strength] +1, [Speed] +1, [Vitality] +1, [Mind] +1. Please assign free stat points (Remaining: 4).]
One into [Strength] and three into [Speed] as part of my attempt to start balancing my stats out a little bit more now. That bit of [Speed] is particularly important; my [Angelic Insight] boosts my [Agility] in relation to my [Speed] stat. I’ve been underutilizing that passive effect, but no longer.
[Maximum Health increases by [Vitality] x 2 + Current Level + Rand[1,3] = 191]
[Maximum Ether increases by [Mind] + Current Level + Rand[0,2] = 155]
[Level: 36; Experience: 560,245; To Next: 31,935]
[Current Stats: [Health]: 3,148 / 4,274; [Ether]: 189 / 3,011]
[Current Stats: [Strength]: 38; [Speed]: 38; [Vitality]: 77; [Mind]: 117]
[Your [Angelic Insight (Rank V)] has upgraded to [Angelic Insight (Rank VI)].]
[Your [Glyphcasting (Rank XV)] has upgraded to [Glyphcasting (Rank XVI)].]
[Your [Etheric Armor (Rank II)] has upgraded to [Etheric Armor (Rank III)].]
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