Book 3: Chapter 34 — Wyvern Cliffs Pt. 4

Book 3: Chapter 34 — Wyvern Cliffs Pt. 4

It took nearly an entire day of walking, even with their speed, before the group finally found their destination. It was the smell that Noah noticed first, the distinct smell of water somewhere in the distance growing stronger and stronger till it was everywhere. Next came the sound, of water flowing through the area.Yourr favorite stories at novelhall.com

Tony moved swiftly through the sky, staying low enough to be under the canopies above to avoid being detected by the wyverns, scouting the area ahead. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the shores of the river, looking upon the rocky banks as humid and cool air flowed all around them.

Vion walked close to the river, leaning down as she cupped her hands, picking up some water within it. There was a faint glow present within it, and Noah could sense mana swirling within the water. Vion drank it.

“This river comes from the heart of the cliffs, where the wyverns live. Both of the peaks, and their subsidiaries are a single mountain range and right from their center, this river flows out, carrying a lot of the residual mana from the wyverns,” the dragon woman said, taking out a water container which she began to fill up.

“That’s quite a lot of mana. Even the air has more of it,” Noah remarked. He looked at Vion, who seemed almost relieved drank more of the water, and Noah remembered how Zax’s status had said he was... mana deficient, that there wasn’t enough mana in the area to sustain him properly.

“I’m surprised how you live in the city. Don’t dragons need a lot of mana to survive?” Noah asked.

Vion glanced up at him, standing up as she put aside her waterbed into a storage device. “Well, I’m not a full dragon, am I?”

“Are you not? You looked like a dragon when you were fighting Zax,” Noah said.

“It’s... complicated,” Vion said, glancing aside.

Noah heard a beep from his bracelet, before Aurelia’s voice came to him telepathically. “Don’t pry. There’s clearly a lot of complicated things going on with her background.”

“If we’re going to be here for a while together, I think knowing more wouldn’t hurt. Not to mention... is Vion even giving the trial? Her level isn’t very high, and she’s an actual honest to god dragon. What would the title even do for her? I feel like the whole point Zax sent her with us is so we can learn more, and maybe help her control the dragon form or whatever.”

Aurelia didn’t reply, and Noah continued. “How does the dragon thing work anyway? It says all Draconians are descendants of dragons.”

“I don’t actually know. My growth was slowed down by spells and potions and all sorts of things, and then, I was given this form at birth, a human, not even a Draconian but a human instead. It’s all sorts of complicated,” Vion said, before facing towards the river.

“Let’s worry about crossing this thing for now. I can see the sea serpents further up the river. This is the one area even the wyverns avoid. Sea serpents are nasty.”

“Can’t we just rush across quickly?” Aurelia asked.

“Or I could teleport us across,” Noah added.

“Won’t work. I’ll show you,” Vion said, as she picked up a somewhat flat rock. Heat rose in her fist as the rock began to glow, soon turning red, before she swung it. The red hot rock shot forward, arcing through the air, as it sizzled.

Boom.

A bolt of lightning came from nowhere, striking the rock as it vaporized into thin air, leaving nothing behind.

Noah and Aurelia simply stared in surprise.

“You’re with my, m’lady,” the shadow said, curtsying towards Aurelia as he extended her hand. The woman looked extremely uncertain, glancing in Noah’s general direction with an expression that said ‘what are you doing?’ As she accepted the shadow’s hand. The arcane spells swirled around the two, Arcane step activating as the shadow and Aurelia both were on the other shore in the next instant.

“Our turn,” Noah said, extending his hand to Vion.

“It won’t be that easy with me—”

“—Just trust me on this one,” Noah interrupted.

Vion stared at him, then, after letting out a quiet sigh, she put her hand in his.

Noah activated metamorphosis. His body transformed, a monstrous form starting to appear, but Noah did not let the physical transformations happen completely. Or rather, he asked Tony to dial them down. His teeth still turned to fangs, and the vertical slits in his eyes grew longer and sharper, and there was a downright threatening aura of void around him, but otherwise, he remained unchanged.

All except for his attributes. Noah felt power rippling through his body, as all his attributes doubled in power. Letting Arcane Step channel, he barely felt a blip as the two of them appeared on the other side of the river.

Vion let out a quiet ‘oh’ as she stepped back, while Noah let go of Metmorphosis, the short burst of power not giving him the usual exhaustion afterwards. He’d been experimenting with more fine tuned control of the ability like this, but there was still some tricky parts that he and Tony needed to figure out together.

He grinned at the two women, as his shadow merged back into him. “See? I told you I could do it.”

Vion almost seemed disappointed.

“You don’t look too happy?” Noah asked, looking at the woman. Then, he realised something. “Did you... want to cross the river? With some kind of plan?”

The dragon woman did not reply for a long minute. The silence held between the two of them. Vion glanced back at the river behind her. A second later, in a quieter voice, she admitted. “I had thought of a plan. We could single out a deidacros, fight it, as these creatures are always hungry to fight, and then when it knew it couldn’t beat us, we’d use the prey we caught as lure and sit on top of the monster and sail across.”

Noah and Aurelia simply looked at her. The two glanced at each other. He knew Vion was something like a century old. But he also knew that she was treated like a teenager for all intents and purposes, and that was starting to become evident over time.

She was not a child, she was capable and a powerful young woman, and dragon, but she certainly wasn’t a mature adult.

Not that I am one either.

He patted Vion’s shoulder. “How about this. If we have to cross back at some point, we’ll use your method instead.”

That seemed to placate the Dragon woman, as she gave Noah a little nod.

“Let’s not waste too much time now, the hive is just there,” Aurelia said.

Here, through the gaps of the cleared near the shore, they could see it more clearly, the mountain peaks, as the foliage thinned down a little.

The group made their way closer.