Chương 7: Wyverns

Alex's sharp eyes analyzed the creatures before him. His Spiritual Senses expanded rapidly, constantly tracking their movements across the sky. His mind raced as it scanned every detail within his soul.

"Wyverns—winged creatures usually the size of cars. Their front limbs have transformed into massive wings, while their hind legs end in large, sharp talons. They are fierce and territorial, capable of spitting flames from their throats. Not a true flame breath; they seem limited to launching fireballs. Weakness? Not yet confirmed. However, piercing their wings and destroying the membranes should send them plummeting to their deaths. Yes… that could work."

In a single second, his mind locked onto the weakness and acted. He summoned bones from his storage and launched them skyward as blazing bone arrows, leaving Gyrg stunned as she continued to defend herself. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The arrows struck true each time, tearing through the wyverns' wings and disrupting their balance. Yet the creatures did not fall as he had hoped. He quickly realized they were also using Mana to stay aloft—the wings were mainly for maneuverability.

Losing them severely hampered their flight. Most of the wyverns dove toward Alex and Gyrg, jaws wide as they prepared to spit fireballs at point-blank range.

"How did you even do that?!" Gyrg shouted in disbelief.

"You can control bones? Is that some kind of weird Bone Magic?"

"You could say that," Alex replied. He had no time to explain. He dodged a fireball, leaped over Gyrg's mountainous form, and climbed atop her. With a powerful swing of his sword, he met the wyvern diving toward her head.

"Deactivate your barrier—now!"

"Okay?!" she cried in panic as the wyvern lunged for her eyes. A silver flash sliced cleanly through its neck. The head and body tumbled down the stairs.

"Woah! Were you trying to kill me?!"

"My apologies. I was simply calculating the exact moment—" He glanced upward.

"They're above us. Kneel!"

"Damn it!" Gyrg obeyed instantly, trusting that Alex knew what he was doing. He leaped from her head, grabbed a wyvern's talon mid-air, and unleashed Black Bolt straight into its body. Electricity surged through the creature until black smoke poured from its maw. It slammed into the wall and crumpled. CRASH! The Troll Queen stood speechless. For a moment she had believed she was the stronger of the two, the true leader of this duo. Now she realized how terrifying Alex's cold, precise style of combat truly was.

Quietly, she felt grateful she had chosen to become his ally—though she would never admit it aloud. Three more wyverns remained. They crashed into Gyrg, biting her arms and yanking her hair while hurling fireballs at her face.

"Aaagggh! Fuckers!" She summoned stone around her fists and smashed the creatures with brutal force, shattering bones and skulls. The final wyvern broke free and lunged at Alex, trying to seize him and hurl him from the sky. He answered with a blazing bone javelin that pierced its chest and heart in one clean strike. The creature plummeted onto the stairs and rolled lifelessly downward.

"It's done," Alex said mechanically. He cleaned his sword with precise, silent movements. Unlike Gyrg, who panted heavily after the fight, he showed no exhaustion—he lacked the ability to pant or tire.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…" she groaned, sighing.

"The little bastards only nipped me a bit. Good thing we didn't run into a larger flock. Those were probably just scouts. We should get ready—more will come once they catch the scent of their dead."

"Noted." Alex nodded, his attention shifting to the new notifications. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Ding! [You have slain [Mountain Wyvern – Level 20] x6 – Bonus experience earned for killing enemies above your level. 240 TP earned.] [Class: Soulweaver Necromancer (F+) has reached Level 7 – Stat points allocated. +1 free point.] [Race: Undead Skeleton (F) has reached Level 9 – Stat points allocated. +2 free points.] [You earned the Title: [Monster Hunter I]]"Hm?" Alex felt a surge of power as his aura flared. The new levels were helpful, but the titles clearly contributed even more.

"What do titles do?" He opened his status and tapped the Title tab, eager to learn more. [Necromancer] A Title granted to those who delve into the dark arts of necromancy. It strengthens mana recovery and the power of summoned undead. +30% Mana Recovery Speed. +30% Summoned Undead Stats. [Self-Summon] A Title granted to one who has summoned themselves, becoming their own familiar. You are an Error and an Anomaly within the System. +50% EXP Earned. +50% Skill Learning Speed. +10% All Stats.

[Monster Hunter I] A Title given to those who hunt monsters for sport and have slain at least 50 monsters. +10% Damage to Monsters. -10% Damage taken from Monsters. +3 Strength. +3 Agility. +3 Endurance.

"Huh, I see." Alex nodded, now understanding the fresh wave of strength. The bonus stats from the titles had clearly taken effect.

"Huh, I leveled up…" Gyrg muttered, reviewing the same notifications.

"Heh. I was stuck in my dungeon before, but now I can do whatever I want! The world is my oyster!"

"It would be better if we stick together for now, Gyrg. Otherwise, humans might hunt you down," Alex warned.

"You don't know their language, right?"

"I… guess not," she sighed.

"Ugh, so boring. Stuck with this useless pile of bones."

"Useless? Hardly," Alex replied.

"I believe I saved you several times already."

"I could've beaten them myself!" she insisted.

"Really? That seems rather improbable. But if those lies help raise your morale, I approve of the slander," Alex said with a mechanical nod as he walked toward the monster corpses.

"He's such a weirdo…" Gyrg thought. She hadn't even meant the insult—she was only trying to get a reaction. Yet Alex remained completely unfazed. Maybe it was simply because he was dead.

"Hmm…" Alex examined the corpses closely. One by one, he dissected them with his sword and extracted the valuable red cores that shimmered with flame-like mana.

"Interesting. How can I use these to gain more power?" He wondered if he could integrate the cores into himself to increase his mana reserves, but he would need to study them properly first.

"Gyrg, aside from leveling, how do monsters grow stronger?" Alex asked.

"What?" Her eyebrows twitched.

"You don't know? Like this." She snatched a core from his hands and swallowed it. To Alex's surprise, she digested it almost instantly, condensing its power into her own core. Her presence swelled as new mana surged through her like dancing flames.

"It depends on your compatibility, but all monsters can absorb cores," she explained.

"You were doing something similar for mana before, remember? Consume one entirely and you gain a portion of that monster's power. Once you absorb enough, your own Monster Core develops and increases in Rank. After that, we usually evolve."

"I see. It's different for me," Alex said.

"I lack a core yet still possess a Monster Rank… Perhaps because I'm also a Player. How intriguing. Still, I have other methods." He stored the wyvern bones separately and placed the flesh and innards in another batch. The wyvern bones were far lighter than troll bones, which felt as hard as stone. Their lightweight nature and hollow structure could allow them to trap air—perfect for flight.

"Maybe I can craft wings with these," he thought.

"My body is already light. With wings, my combat potential would expand dramatically."

"Wings?!" Gyrg asked, eyes widening.

"If you could fly, there'd be no limit to what you could do…"

"My wings would likely depend on Mana and Nether, so I couldn't fly freely without heavy resource consumption," Alex replied.

"Still, they would be far better than nothing. This should be a priority for now." He placed his hand on the second wyvern corpse and activated Death Echo. The cooldown had ended with the new day, allowing him to use it once more. Absorbing the death energy raised his stats again, enough to feel another noticeable surge of power.

[Death energy absorbed: +32%] [HP +3] [MP +3] [Nether +4] [Strength +2] [Agility +5] [Spirit +2] [Endurance +2] [You learned the Skill: [Dive-Bombing (Tier 1)] Dive down toward a target and attack with claws or weapon, increasing Damage Dealt by at least 50% and causing a potent explosion that may damage nearby foes. The higher the fall, the greater the damage—but your body may also take damage in return. [Undead Evolution: 135%] [Undead Evolution threshold achieved. Level 20 required to evolve as an Undead Skeleton (F).]"Dive-Bombing?"