Chapter 104 – The Wyvern Hunt

Sam entered the mercenary guild at Russelbarr to find that the place was noisy as usual. 

However, a pretty woman smiled at him from the mercenary registration desk.

She had a short bob haircut with brown hair and eyes, wearing tight leather armor. 

"We have our final member" she smiled as she ran up to Sam. 

Sam smiled back at her. She was Nasha Razz, one of the administrators from the Training Hall. Although they've barely said a word to each other, mainly due to Sam being constantly going for missions, he did recognize her as one of the administrators, together with Arthur, Marisol, Kylie and Angelo. 

"What's going on?" Sam asked

"We're going on a wyvern hunt! And as we know that you've finished the impossible dragon mission in the Training Hall, I thought it was best to get you to join our hunt" she said

"Sure, if the rewards are good" Sam said

"You won't be disappointed" she smiled

A wyvern is a creature from the same family as dragons, drakes and wyrms. The most noticeable difference is the number of wings and legs they have, but their power levels will vary depending on their size and attributes. 

A dragon was the biggest and most powerful of them all, with 4 legs and 2 wings. A wyvern has 2 wings and 2 legs while a drake has 4 legs and no wings. A lindworm has 2 legs and no wings while a amphithere has 2 wings and no legs. Lastly, a wyrm has no legs nor wings and look like a large serpent.   

She brought him to where her team was standing and introduced the rest of her team. 

Nasha herself was a level 35 Ranger and was the leader of her team the Razzmatazz, named after her and her other members. 

She introduced her to Steven Ma, a level 33 mage who was from China on Earth, and level 32 barbarian Tommy Bernard, who is nicknamed Taz as he was an Aussie from Tasmania. 

Besides them, Nasha had also recruited extra help, namely Anfonzo Ramos, a level 26 priest, Ronaldo Caldaron, a level 24 warrior and Madelyn Fonseca a level 29 warrior. 

The other team members looked at Sam with skepticism as he was only a level 18. But Nasha was the leader of the expedition, so they reluctantly agreed. 

They departed immediately as Sam said he didn't need to make any preparations. 

The group had rented a few horses and wagons, as they planned to bring back wyvern parts to sell after a successful hunt. 

Nasha wanted to sit on the same wagon as Sam, letting him drive while she used her Ranger skills to scout ahead. 

Steven and Taz sat on the second wagon, while Alfonzo and Madelyn sat in the third one. Ronaldo drove the 4th wagon by himself. 

Based on the way Nasha treated Sam and the fact that he was very good looking, they assumed it was favoritism, or they were in a relationship. 

Since Alfonzo, Madelyn and Ronaldo had only joined the team for this mission, they didn't really bother. 

But Taz was the most annoyed as he seemed to have a crush on Nasha and he had always sat on the same wagon as her when on such hunts. 

The journey to where they were headed would generally take 2 days by horse, but this time it would take them 4 days due to the poor condition of the road, and for much of the journey, there wouldn't even be any road to speak off. 

On the first night, they decided to camp for the night in a clearing in the forest, several kilometers away from the road. 

Nasha left the camp to the rest as she went to scout the area to prepare for the night. 

Taz stood up and walked over to Sam

"I hear you're pretty good with a sword. How about we do some training together?" Taz asked

"Sure" Sam said standing up. 

He pulled out a basic sword from his "public" ring, a sword saved from the survival tutorial

"That's your sword? I guess you are a newbie after all" Taz laughed, unsheathing his large claymore. 

"En garde" Sam said

"Aaaaaah" Taz growled, attacking him with an overhead slash

Sam moved just a little, barely avoiding the slash by a few millimeters as Taz's attack cut into the ground where Sam stood. 

With a flick of his wrist, Sam's sword was touching Taz's throat. 

Taz refused to give up and swung his sword upwards in a diagonal slash, trying to parry Sam's sword, but he moved his sword and ducked so that the claymore barely missed his head and again pointed his sword at Taz's throat.

Taz again refused and tried to slash downwards again, but Sam moved his body under Taz's center of gravity and threw him feet over head as Taz landed hard on the ground. 

"Ippon!" Steven yelled

Sam kicked away Taz's sword and put his knee on Taz's belly, his sword onto his throat again. 

"I think this is checkmate... mate" Sam said and got off his belly

Sam extended his hand to Taz, but Taz smacked his hand away and walked off after retrieving his claymore. 

"Wow, Nasha wasn't exaggerating how good your sword skills are" Steven said

"I can't believe how much better you are than us. Are you really lower level than me?" Ronaldo asked

Ronaldo and Madelyn asked for a spar and before long, after beating both of them handily, Sam was sparring with both of them at the same time. 

"Wow. He's damn good" Steven said, admiring Sam's skills as he battled two of them

"He's alright. Nothing special" Taz said grumpily. 

"What's going on?" Nasha asked, suddenly appearing from behind them. 

"Sam is just giving the other two a lesson in sword fighting" Steven said

"Oh! Taz, why don't you train with him too?" Nasha asked

"I..um.." Taz said

"He already got his ass handed to him" Steven laughed

Taz punched him in the shoulder and walked off. 

"Taz is jealous of Sam and you, you know" Steven said

"What? There is nothing between us!" Nasha said

"Really? You both seemed very chummy in the front wagon" Steven said

"Truly, there's nothing between us!" Nasha said

"Then why are you blushing?" Steven teased

"Nothing between us doesn't mean I don't want anything to happen between us" Nasha said with a sly smile. 

Alfonso the priest sat nearby, pretending not to hear anything, hoping that this wouldn't lead to unnecessary complications.