Chương 417: Chapter 388: A Wyvern’s Limits

Wind howled under the massive wings of the green wyvern as it climbed into the sky, not caring in the slightest that a whole army armed to the teeth was ready for it. The killing intent and aura pouring from the wyvern's body was strong enough to resist—and even partially push back—the aura of the army above. Thalion was already charging up his breath attack the same way he did as the Tidecaller Serpent, while at the same time staying ready to shapeshift into Eagly at a moment's notice.

Eagly would be the far better form for this kind of fight, but Thalion simply wanted to see what a wyvern could do. After this System Event, Eagly might very well evolve into a wyvern as well. Thalion opened his maw wide as soon as he got into range and unleashed his breath attack at the incoming fighters. A stream of green mist shot upward as the fighters dove toward him, screaming, weapons glowing with power. One massive lizardfolk warrior swung his long axe at Thalion's breath attack.

The axe grew larger and larger until it reached five times its original size right before it collided with the poisonous mist. The lizard man was blasted upward, his swing not strong enough to stop the attack alone. Other lizardfolk joined in, slashing at the jetstream of poison heading toward the skyship above Thalion. Together, they managed to annihilate it after a few hits. It seemed these lizardfolk were highly resistant to poison. Thalion saw no corrosion, no coughing blood—nothing. They looked perfectly fine.

He didn't have the time to observe further, because the birdfolk attacked next. They dove at him like a swarm of furious birds—no formation, just pure chaotic aggression as each fighter tried to attack from a different angle. Some stabbed with spears, others shot with arrows. Those arrows were the strongest projectile attacks Thalion had encountered so far; a single hit would have turned Eagly into a feathery explosion. Against his wyvern scales, most arrows bounced off, though a few penetrated—but not deeply.

Still, Thalion quickly realized that flying into an army of fighters who could damage him from every direction was… unpleasant, to say the least. The skyship was also charging something—something that looked like a massive giant spear pointed directly at him. The wyvern form couldn't turn fast enough for Thalion to eliminate even a single target. They fought like a wolf pack encircling prey, always striking from the opposite side while he was focused elsewhere.

While Thalion got peppered with arrows like a giant scaly porcupine, the skyship's attack continued charging—and his danger sense spiked violently. Whatever that shot was, it would probably kill him in one go. It was sad that he couldn't test the wyvern form more thoroughly now, but it was time for a change. Thalion unleashed one last breath attack while spinning as fast as possible to hit as many enemies as he could. It was also meant as a distraction so Eagly could escape.

He could have dropped himself straight downward in wyvern form, since he doubted any of the army would follow him into the poisonous green mist—but the army was far stronger than he had expected. He wasn't sure he could kill them with any of his forms. As Eagly, however, he might just have a chance to secretly infiltrate the city. He was relatively small, and his passive skill Sky Veil might be able to hide him—especially in the chaos of battle.

Thalion shapeshifted the moment his breath attack ended, turning into Eagly and letting himself fall like a stone to create distance from the army. The greater the distance, the lower the chance of being spotted. If they did see him—and connected the suddenly missing wyvern with a lone eagle—he'd have to kill them. As Eagly, he needed to dodge everything. A single arrow could kill him. Danger Sense alone wouldn't be enough.

Fortunately for him, the soldiers of both races didn't notice the eagle soaring upward at a distance. They were all staring at the space where the wyvern had been mere moments ago. Thalion couldn't hear them, but there must have been some telepathic communication between them, because they began scanning the area. Luckily for him, they mostly looked down, not up. Speaking of looking up…

As Eagly, his perception was far higher than in his other forms, and now he noticed a few more floating rocks far above the skyship—much larger than the island he had just escaped from. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Maybe I should just fly up to the bigger ones… Thalion thought, but couldn't finish the thought. Someone was using Identify on him.

His head snapped around immediately, and he spotted a birdman with a head shaped almost like a chicken, pointing straight at him and making a shrill, clucking call. Well, it would've been too good if they just lost me… Now I need to fight my way up. The first fighters of the army were already shooting in his direction—but now, as Eagly, Thalion was finally the faster one. He activated Tempest Glide to gain even more speed, and at the same time began charging up a lightning beam.

He needed to thin out the herd before he could start killing them in earnest. Thalion also held back his domain skill. It would be best to surprise them with it after he dealt with the faster fighters currently chasing him. Most of these were birdfolk with spears and arrows. The lizardfolk were too slow to catch up, and the only reason the birdfolk could follow him at all was because Thalion flew wide arcs instead of a straight line. His goal was to separate them as much as possible before starting the real fight.

It annoyed him a little—they would all die in roughly two days anyway when the Zone of Nothingness arrived. Now, with better perception, Thalion had to admit that this stage was far larger than he had initially thought. It might even be bigger than the water stage. The first fighters were close enough and began charging their powershots. Charging their arrows cost them mobility, and Thalion unleashed his lightning beam and a few windblades. Charging the lightning beam had been complete overkill.

The first fighter he hit simply turned into a feathery explosion. In the open air it was impossible to hit more than one enemy with a single beam, but the windblades were perfect for slicing through limbs. One birdfolk was bisected outright; others lost an arm—or, in very unlucky cases, a wing. This was when Thalion realized that the birdfolk didn't have a second movement skill. Or at least none that worked without their wings. Losing a single wing was a death sentence.

They began tumbling helplessly toward the green mist—certain doom—desperately flapping. Thalion now started making sharp turns, firing windblades and lightning beams at any fighter who got too close. By now the first arrows were flying toward him, and he really had to pay attention. Normal arrows were already fast, but charged arrows were so fast they were almost undodgeable—not because of the arrow itself, but because of the shockwave surrounding them.

Dodging that shockwave was the true challenge, and without his title it would have been impossible. The best solution was killing them while they charged their attacks and had to remain still for a moment. Difficult, because the spear-wielders never stopped trying to stab him. The birdfolk died relatively quickly, but Thalion wasn't fast enough to thin them out before the first lizardfolk arrived. They had a lot more vitality than he expected.

And besides fighters, they had mages, who immediately began making Thalion's life miserable. They used some sort of blue wind beam—a spell Thalion didn't dare touch. Normally, wind spells couldn't harm him, but these ones carried a strange blue aura, and his danger sense screamed so loudly he didn't even want to test his luck. He couldn't hold back any longer or this fight might end in tragedy. Thalion began fueling his domain skills with a shitload of mana.

Howling winds kicked up around him, and suddenly the air crackled with electricity. Thalion worried that his enemies might be immune to wind affinity since they likely cultivated it too—but they clearly didn't have anything like lightning here. The first common lightning bolt descending from the sky utterly grilled one of the birdfolk. The lizardfolk were more resistant, but headshots from above still took their toll. Good thing Thalion had chosen not only wind for Eagly's form but also embraced lightning.

The level of electricity in the air rose by the second as Thalion fed the storm with power. Thanks to the crystal in his chest, it didn't drain his resources nearly as fast as it should have. Without the crystal, he would've run dry after a few seconds of sustaining both domains. His high affinity contributed as well, though not as much. Thalion used the storm around him to create distance while dodging those nasty blue windbeams with the extra speed the storm gave him.

Lightning sparked between his stormhorns, and he released a lightning beam that annihilated one of the mages instantly. The stormhorns were almost too powerful for Eagly when all domain skills were active. They pumped so much lightning into his body that it physically hurt. So he needed to release tension from time to time. With all the energy coursing through him, it was almost impossible to fire a weak lightning beam—which meant every mage hit was instantly vaporized.

The mixed group of fighters scattered before him, likely realizing they didn't stand much of a chance. They seemed to send some sort of telepathic message back to the skyship, because red warning lights suddenly lit up across the vessel. Either that, or the crew noticed how badly things were going. Since no one seemed to be talking, telepathy was the safest bet. Thalion first thought that this was the signal for the skyship to fire whatever weapon it was charging. But that wasn't completely correct.

A large blue circle appeared in front of the skyship. Thalion recognized it immediately. The runes looked almost identical to the ones Lucan had used when integrating the teleportation circle back in the tutorial. That meant someone—or something—was coming through. Someone the birdfolk and lizardfolk believed was strong enough to kill Thalion.