Chương 41

Shrouded in [Void Wrap] and [Mana Conceal], Ethan dived toward the sleeping beast with great speed, hands tightly gripping his bone spears as his cloak fluttered violently in the wind. Which wasn't ideal, to say the least. Let alone the danger skills or sharp instincts the wyvern might possess, just the sound he was making in the wind was enough to alert his target. The wyvern's cyan, slitted eyes shot open. It swung its barbed tail like it was swatting a fly.

Not wishing to test the speed of the beast just yet, Ethan [Blink]ed onto its neck with all the momentum he'd gathered and stabbed his spears. Azure scales cracked and blood gushed, yet Ethan grimaced. His spears barely managed to penetrate a few inches. If this kind of attack failed to do any considerable damage, then throwing his spears from a distance would do even less, with or without [Fabric Tear]. Then came a furious roar. A bolt of primal fear ran through his spine.

With muscles taut and eyes wide open, he almost dropped the fight right there and turned to escape. What is this? Mind magic? The effects somewhat lessened as the beast took flight. Gritting his teeth, he tried to push the spears more but failed nonetheless. This one's scales were on another level compared to the other wyverns. For the first time since coming into this world, he found his strength was lacking.

Due to finding his body in terrible condition after leveling up, he'd ended up distributing more points to Vitality over and over again. It was about 30% higher than what he was going for. Only now did he start to regret it, but even if he'd invested in strength instead, it wouldn't make this fight much easier. When he saw the wind blades the wyvern conjured, he thought maybe his high health points weren't all for nothing.

Compared to the other wyverns' crude spell, these ones were smaller, more refined, more precise, and more versatile. The moment they shot toward him, he [Blink]ed to the ground and called for another spear, throwing it at the wyvern's belly, where its scales were gray instead of azure. Afraid that it would use another wind blade to deflect the spear, he also opened a [Fabric Tear], delivering it to the beast almost instantly. It penetrated the scales more easily than it did on its neck, but not much.

This time, there wasn't even a roar, showing how lightly the wyvern took his attacks. It was still treating him like an annoying fly. If only I had some decent javelins instead of makeshift spears… Whatever. I guess I'll have to find more weak spots. Eyes, ears, and perhaps its mouth when it's open. Fetching another spear, he [Blink]ed upwards. Let me show you how much of an annoyance I can truly be.

Appearing in front of the wyvern, he threw his spear, and as he anticipated, a single wind blade blocked it easily, while another four shot toward him. Changing his position, he threw another one with a [Fabric Tear], but it missed the target. The next one missed the [Fabric Tear] entirely, frustrating him to no end. His first aerial battle wasn't going as he'd hoped. Since he couldn't hover in the air, he was also fighting against gravity.

The moment he teleported, he started to fall, messing with not only his aim but also his placement of the [Fabric Tear]s. With a sudden idea, he teleported himself above the wyvern. As he fell, the beast looked up. Without hesitation, he sent the spear downward along with a [Fabric Tear]. The next second, the spear appeared in front of the wyvern's snout and pierced through. Ethan's smile was cut short by the deafening roar. His body halted abruptly as his mind went blank.

It was only for a short while, but it was enough for a wind blade to make a gruesome wound on his thigh. The pain jolted him awake, and he [Blink]ed away with a dark face. He had no idea how to defend against that skill. The best he could do was to keep his distance and hope that its effect would soon pass. The aerial fight continued for a little while, and it quickly became clear that he was on the losing side. His best bet was to attack from above with a downward trajectory.

Unfortunately, the wyvern caught up to his scheme in no time, getting better at counterattacking. More and more wind blades started to find their way toward his body. Another concerning thing was his dipping mana reserves. He simply couldn't afford the constant [Blink]s and [Fabric Tear]s. I need better openings. This won't do. I have to get this thing to the ground. Throwing another spear, he called his dagger and sent himself on top of the wyvern. He appeared on the left wing where it met its torso.

Switching his dagger to a reverse grip, he stabbed the wing. The blade went almost halfway through. With his left hand gripping the hilt and right hand supporting the back of its blade, Ethan placed his right leg on the wyvern's torso and activated [Long Jump]. All his muscles protested against the strain, but he soldiered through it. His dagger tore the scales apart as it sank deeper and lacerated a five-foot-long straight line. Another cry rang out. Ethan's grasp on the dagger loosened.

The surface beneath his feet swayed as the beast managed to shake him off. Just as he came to his senses, he heard the whistling of the wind and his vision darkened, finally tasting the barbed tail. Pain flared on his back. Spitting a mouthful of blood, he shot toward the ground, pretty sure he had more than a few broken ribs. Before the impact, he managed to [Blink] to stop his momentum and landed on the snowy field with a gentle thud and a grunt. Yeah, that didn't go according to plan.

He was hoping to do the same feat a few more times until the wyvern's wing was mangled enough to prevent its flight, but he ended up losing his dagger and almost his life. A health potion appeared in his shaking hand as he chugged it down, feeling its effect right away. The wyvern was already on him. It didn't attack physically this time. Instead, it stopped its flight near him and opened its mouth to suck air. Its eyes shone brightly as its belly expanded. The wind changed direction to the small vortex in its maw.

Time seemed to slow down. Ethan's heart skipped a beat. N-No way! An icy chill shot through his veins. He didn't linger any longer and [Blink]ed far away. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Turning around, he saw the path of ice sculptures in the middle of the snowy mountain. The jagged rocks, the trees, the small creatures on top of them, all frozen in time, shining brilliantly under the sun.

The wyvern huffed in displeasure as it realized it had missed him again and that pinning him down wouldn't be easy. Thrashing its wings, it took off into the air and dived toward him with impatience. Ethan bit his lip as he considered a new tactic. The gate of the next floor wasn't too far off. As he eyed the door, he opened his [Mana Connection] and focused on two emotions: hope and fear. It wasn't too hard. He was genuinely afraid of dying to this monster and really hoping that his plan would work.

Inside his domain, the wyvern would feel these two emotions from him, not knowing the context behind them. Next, tearing his gaze from the gate, he turned to look at the wyvern, pretending to be both scared and determined. Then, he broke into a sprint toward the gate. As the beast closed in, he touched the door and simultaneously opened his [Void Wrap] and [Mana Conceal] before closing his [Mana Connection]. As far as the outside world was concerned, he disappeared altogether along with the gate.

Beating its wings, the wyvern came to a halt and roughly landed in front of him, letting out a loud roar. No skills this time, just an outraged cry. Ethan grinned. He was afraid that it knew the conditions for him to use the gate, but that didn't seem to be the case. Whether it bought his act or couldn't think straight in the heat of the battle, it didn't matter. Now, he had his opening against the confused and furious beast, thinking it had just lost its prey.

Finding the perfect time, he cancelled his skills, called a bone spear, and threw it with all his might. Despite the short distance, he even used a [Fabric Tear], catching the wyvern unprepared. It didn't have any time to move, but still managed to close its eyes. The spear stabbed through its eyelid and penetrated into its eye, sadly, not going much deeper. He cursed under his breath.

As soon as it opened its other eye, he sent two [Shadow Spike]s with [Fabric Tear]s under his cloak, leaving a bloody wound to that one as well. Right after, he used a [Blink] to escape as the beast rampaged and drank a mana potion. The damage he'd caused wasn't much, but at least the wyvern lost most of its vision, while his resources were close to full. Although it was alarming that he had to use two potions in such a short time, he simply didn't have a choice.

This wasn't a fight where he could rely on his close combat mastery and save his skills for a surprise. He had to do all he could and some more. And so round two started, favoring him this time. One after another, the bone spears flew through the air, some doing superficial damage, most missing the vitals he was aiming for. Only one of them managed to find its way to its ear, but still didn't reach its brain.

And he was too close to being eaten alive that time, making him more cautious about getting close to the wyvern's head. As time passed, both his mana and spear supplies started to diminish. There were more than a hundred when he'd started, and even that wasn't enough to take this tank of a monster. While racking his brain to come up with new strategies, Ethan suddenly remembered the warning of the bartender Bob from the adventurer's guild.

With a gleam in his eyes, he started to attack from a small area on the ground. He dodged the wind blades with [Long Jump] and aimed his spears at its underbelly. When the wyvern descended from the sky with claws ready to crush him, he [Blink]ed away a dozen yards and kept fighting. Finally, the wyvern sent another frost breath his way. Ethan [Blink]ed, but not to escape; instead, he appeared right in front of the open mouth. A cold he'd never experienced surrounded his body.

His muscles stiffened, his bones groaned. Setting his jaw, he took out his barrel of Blue Root Grass from his ring, punctured a hole with a [Shadow Spike], and threw it into the wyvern's maw before teleporting away. Barely two seconds. That was how long he'd been exposed to the frost breath, but it was enough to almost incapacitate him. It was so bad, he wasn't even feeling any pain, just an eerie numbness.

Yet, there was a fire in his eyes as he watched the beast gulp the frozen barrel, remembering Bob's words: 'Be careful lad, in extreme cold, this plant releases a lethal toxin.' He tried to clench his fist but failed, or maybe not. He had no idea. Come on! Die already! The wyvern turned to him and paused. A few more seconds passed as Ethan held his breath until eventually the beast started to bleed from every hole on its head. It opened its mouth once again for a roar, but there was no noise, only more blood.

Desperate, it took flight but collapsed after a short while, starting to crawl on the ground, moving slower and slower. Ethan rubbed his hands together and watched the wyvern take its last breath without blinking his eyes until he heard the sweetest sound there was.

'DING! You've leveled up!' With a big smile on his face, he plopped himself down on the snow and sighed in relief. If it didn't work, he would have to escape, cultivate, and come back for another try, again and again with fewer bone spears every time. And that was considering the wyvern didn't have a way to track him down. Otherwise, this snowy mountain would be his graveyard. I owe you big time, Bob.''Guess I just failed my first mission as an adventurer,'' he muttered.

''Ah, well. There is always next time.'' Once he caught his breath, he started to collect the spears nearby and turned to retrieve his stuck dagger while thinking about how to loot the azure wyvern. It was both tough and poisoned as hell. Though he wasn't really worried. This floor, not so surprisingly, was the deadliest of them all, but also the one with the most rewards–well, save for the magic water thingy. He'd gotten about a hundred tier-5 monster cores and plenty of body parts he'd stuffed into his ring.

Deciding to let this one go, he shook his head and allocated his bonus stats. Just from this floor alone, he gained two levels. If anything, he was very pleased with his recent pace.

Tier 3 - Level 37 Health: 490/1500 Mana: 241/1500 Stamina: 348/1000 Vitality: 150 Strength: 102 Endurance: 100 Agility: 180 Intelligence: 150 Perception: 80 *Available stats: 0 Skills(Rank 1): [Fabric Tear], [Mana Sense], [Shadow Spikes], [Long Jump], [Mana Conceal], [Mana Connection] Rank 2: [Void Wrap], [Mana Aura], [Blink] With [Blink] becoming rank 2, Perception once again gained importance.

He still didn't plan to go all out just yet because whether his domain's range was 300 feet or 600 feet, it made little difference. Despite the lack of strength he'd felt in the boss fight, the plan was still to focus on AGI and INT, and on that note, the incoming 50 INT stats, thanks to Aether Bloom, were much anticipated. Not to mention this opened another door for progression.

Rare as they might be, just like the magic water from before, treasures that granted permanent stats existed, and he was hell-bent on getting more of them. As his body gained most of its mobility, he turned toward the door and passed through it right away, without even cultivating to his best condition. A wave of heat assaulted him, though he attributed it to the involuntary cold exposure he'd just experienced. He found himself in a spacious room made of stone bricks.

In the middle, there was a matte black stone platform, containing two small chests. At one corner, there was a teleportation gate for Niamaris, and at the other corner, quite ridiculously, stood a tree with a cute squirrel and a sinister mantis on it, their startled expressions morphing into excitement upon seeing him. After all that mad grind, this would be a truly joyous moment, were it not for Evelyn's absence.