Chapter Ninety Seven: Boulder

“I would suggest you three disappear for a bit,” Shiro says as he quickly glances at the three travelers.

He frowns as his gaze lands on one of the adventurers who looks like he is carrying a wagon's worth of supplies on his back with little care to the weight.

“Um,” Alissa starts, her eyes ignoring the man's chiseled muscles and chest, nor his slightly unusual darker skin, but on the unwieldy weapon in his hand.

“Are you Shiro Bloodborn?” she asks.

Shiro raises an eyebrow to answer but stops as a Perma-Frost Wyvern lands on a boulder in the distance. A snowstorm follows the monster as its mana seeps into the air around it.

“Hoho. I Haven't seen a Perma-Frost Wyvern in awhile. Look, Artyom, Alissa.” Zeek points, “See those slightly glowing scales? I’ve told you before that beast can evolve, but if they live long enough, then they can evolve to use mana. Thankfully, this one is rather unused to its evolution, so it shouldn't be able to use any truly powerful abilities.”

“I’ll handle it. You three, find somewhere to take cover,” Shiro quickly says as he begins to accelerate towards the monster. So far, only a few cracks to its scales was all the damage he had been able to inflict.

Artyom gazes at the accelerating figure before dropping his massive pack.

“I wouldn't recommend it. Even I can admit that that monster is thoroughly out of your league,” Zeek exclaims nonchalantly. To him, taking down such a creature would be child's play, even without his domain. He has any number of skills and abilities to make it happen, but Artyom holds none of that.

Artyom ignores Zeek’s words and begins charging towards the monster.

With quick strikes, Shiro breaks the ice boulders heading his way. The Perma-Frost Wyvern has started increasing the sizes of its ice attack, making it more and more difficult for Shiro to dodge. Now, he must break the projectiles while moving closer.

“Ughhh, big stupid bird,” he says while jumping out of the way of a spike that was popping out of the ground where he had been standing.

“Fine, you want to play, let's play. [Berserker’s Charge].”

Shiro begins to smoke as the bonuses he gains from [Berserker’s Rage] multiply. He rushes forward, breaking through ice and ignoring the small shards heading his way. As he gets close, the storm of snow intensifies, momentarily interfering with his vision.

His rapier strikes forward and lands on the blurry image of the Wyvern, only for the image to crack and burst into icy shards.

Shiro weathers the shards well, but the tail slap is another thing as he is sent flying dozens of meters away, ice forming around the area where he had been struck.

So far, Shiro’s body has been frozen several times, and each time he has been able to ignore it thanks to the [Berserker’s Rage] passive skill that lets him ignore such deliberating effects. Even better is how the steam helps his body heat up and recover rather quickly.

The wyvern gazes threateningly from its new perch. Mana coagulates and coats the ground around it, creating hidden traps with barely any mana cost. With how cold the weather is and the monster's size that dwarfs two carriages, it may be a rather fruitless fight.

Shiro stands up and twists his body. His free hand moves and pushes snow off of his body. As he prepares to engage again, two spinning axes accelerate past him towards the wyvern. Unfortunately, before they even hit, a pillar of ice rushes out of the ground and intercepts them.

“I wasn't expecting to fight a Perma-Frost so far south.” Ulfric says behind him.

Shiro looks behind, finding the [Frostaxe Thane] and [Lieutenant Mercenary] coming from where the caravan is located.

“Is the caravan safe?” Shiro asks.

“For the most part. With the leader absent, the attacks have decreased. Only a few have stayed to attack. Aljnar and Vidar are cleaning up and will join us when they can.”

Ulfric then points at the wyvern, “So, anything I need to know about that guy?”

“Oh, nothing too much, just that it keeps making ice clones of itself.”

“Frosts take me. That thing looks like it barely just became a Perma-Frost Wyvern.”

“Yes. It is new, and it is learning fast. Do you think you can pin it down?”

Ulfric licks his lips. He still has more than half his mana but he will probably need all of it to have any hope of creating an opening.

“I might be able to give you a few seconds. My skills aren't the best for these types of creatures.”

“It's fine. I just need to land a few hits. I doubt its defense can fully withstand my strikes.”

Ulfric nods and begins channeling his mana. Two ice axes form in his hands, but differing from their usual look, the ones now in his hand glow brightly from the dense concentration of mana within.

“Go!” Ulfric yells.

“Got it. [Fencer’s Flash-Steps]”

Shiro begins to move quickly, his body disappearing and reappearing constantly. The wyvern sees this and begins creating and chucking ice boulders towards Shiro and Ulfric.

“Shiro!”

“I know, [Showy Flourish].”

Shiro flicks his Rapier and his skill activates. Light reflects off its metallic hilt and distracts the wyvern. The monster's focus immediately changes completely to Shiro.

Shiro dodges, bounding underneath, to the sides, over. His body is only a blur.

As Shiro gets near, Ulfric throws his two glowing axes into the air. They spin and twirl though the air, almost as though they were flying. He positions them right above the wyvern before having them accelerate downward.

“[Maximize Magic], [Enlarge Construct], [Axe Multiplication]”

His two axes split several times, turning into a dozen. Then each individual axe enlarges to ten times its usual size.

The wyvern sees this and begins expelling magic. The air around it begins to freeze as a storm around it worsens.

“Shiro! It's now or never!” Ulfric yells as he mentally orders all of his axes to explode.

The explosion causes thousands of icicles to rain down on the wyvern. In reply, the wyvern moves its wing over its head and blocks the attack. Regardless, the sheer number of icicles falling down causes the air to tremble and disperse the resulting storm.

Shiro smiles as he gets into range. “[Heartseeking Blade]”

He feels his skill take hold as his rapier is forcefully redirected downward.

“Shit, it's a decoy.”

The icy ground beneath his feet breaks as the wyvern’s head emerges and bites into the rapier. The wyvern that is taking the brunt of Ulfric’s attack becomes transparent as its body turns into ice.

With a twist of its head, the wyvern flicks both Shiro and his weapon right into the side of a mountain.

Shiro coughs up blood. After a quick moment, the dust settles and gives him clear view of the impending attack, “[Steelform Body]”

A spiked tail slams into his body, pushing him further into the stone. He coughs up more blood.

The tail retracts from the crater. The wyvern raises it and then accelerates it towards him again.

“[Fencer’s Reposition]” he yells as his body vanishes and reappears on the other side of the wyvern.

“Come at me!”

He raises his rapier and readies it to parry, but the wyvern doesn't take the bait. Instead, it begins to flap its wings to take flight.

At this point, Shiro has few options. One of them could very well kill him if he fails. The other may not work.

“Fine. You’ve forced me. [Berserker's Blood Ra-”

His words are caught within his throat as a boulder three times the size of the Perma-Frost wyvern sails through the air and slams the monster into the mountain. Its cries are muffled until the boulder falls away to reveal the wyvern.

The wyvern cries as it tries to move, blood seeping from its battered and broken body.

Unfortunately, another boulder slams into the wyvern as it attempts to get back up. The boulder falls once again, leaving the crippled unmoving wyvern indented in the cliffside.

Shiro follows the trajectory of the boulders and finds the three travelers he met earlier. The elder and the girl are standing a dozen meters away from the male. Shiro stares in bewilderment as the man kneels down and wraps his arms around a boulder. He lifts it before chucking it a hundred meters. It slams into the unmoving form of the wyvern.

________________________________________

Congratulations. You have defeated a level 189 Perma-Frost Wyvern. Calculating reward.

For defeating an enemy more than a hundred levels higher than you, bonus experience is added.

Level Up x 8

You are now a level 71 [Fist Warrior]

You have gained the following skills.

Level Up x 4

You are now a Level 28 [Hero]

Level Up x 3

You are now a Level 41 [Hunter]

The following skill has been upgraded.

Due to the presence of [Hunter's Insight], the skill [Analyse] has been removed.

Artyom gazes at the messages. They had shown up when the second boulder made impact. Regardless, he threw a third just in case to make sure the monster was dead.

He focuses on the new skills.

[Greater Strength] - (Uncommon)

Increase total strength by 20%

[Wraith Punch] - (Rare)

When activated, your next unarmed attack will project itself up to several dozen meters from your body. The greater the distance, the weaker the attack will become.

[Hunter's Insight]- (Uncommon)

Not only are you able to notice the environment with higher detail, you also are able to understand common properties of anything you look at.

“Well done, Artyom,” Zeek says as he gazes at the carnage the boulders had created, “I was not expecting that to work, let alone hit the target, but it seems to have worked out well.”

Artyom grunts in reply as he stretches his abnormally sore muscles. He had lifted various objects of weight and most had felt very very light, but he had so far never truly put his full strength into effect. The boulders had been heavy, enough to cause his muscles to spasm and hurt due to lower endurance.

“You there, traveler! I know not what skill you possess to throw boulders, nor do I care, but you've helped me best a rather difficult foe. It would dishonor me if I couldn't return your assistance with a tankard of mead.” says Shiro, as he walks to the trio with a friendly but tired smile.