System Change

The wyrm whipped its head just in time to see the large crescent slash fire out from Derek’s attack. This time, because it was infused with void energy, the half-moon attack carried with it a purple hue. Without any more time to react, the wyrm faced the attack head on with a roar.

Time seemed to slow as Derek watched on in anticipation. He wanted, no, needed to see how well this current attack worked on an epic ranked monster. This would go far in determining whether his reckless plan for the wyvern would be feasible.

In an instant, the wyrm steadied itself and lowered its head, and the attack landed. The enormous creature, to its credit, barely moved as it tanked one of Derek’s most powerful attack. Soon, the energy blade dissipated and Derek closely focused on the dragonkin to see the outcome.

The wyrm was unmoving. Derek could see a current of blood flowing out from its maw. The physicality of the attack had actually managed to penetrate its thick scales. That was a surprise, a happy one, to Derek. However, the blade of energy had not dug in, as the cut was only a few inches deep at most. But it was much better than nothing. If nothing else, it showed that his level 19 Sweeping Slash, augmented with his level 18 Heavy Weapons Mastery, made for one hell of a combination. Especially considering his rather middling Strength stat.

But no, what he was most interested in was how all that affected the void energy he had channeled into his attack. It had done something, something big, as the wyrm had not moved for seconds after taking the attack. His hope was the void would reach far enough past the beast’s maw to land on its brain, and considering its state, it had.

He hadn’t, however, received a notification about slaying the beast. It was still alive. Stunned and injured, maybe, but alive. Just the fact that his attack was able to hit the wyrm hard enough to cause such a reaction was enough, though. When he attacked the wyvern, it was going to be with a much more potent attack. Even if it only stunned the wyvern, like how the wyrm was reacting, it would be enough for him to cause massive damage.

Most of all, he was happy that he knew for certain that attacks laced with void energy at his level could penetrate the scales of a dragonkin. From what he knew, which was just based on myths or legends-things he’d only read about in his old world-dragons and their kin had very high magical defenses. So, it was a weight off his mind when the attack landed.

Having already wasted too much time on one of the lesser monsters, Derek chose not to stick around. He kicked off a void ripple and started back toward the wyverns.

A few seconds after his departure, an infuriated roar resounded out from behind him. He looked back, only to see the wyrm had finally regained its clarity. The wyrm slung its head in Derek’s direction, then began the chase again. At least, it tried to chase him.

It seemed that the wyrm didn’t quite have a proper balance anymore. It would slither directly in his direction for a moment, then veer off course, the next. It also dropped its head to the side, front, and back multiple times. It was struggling to get, anyway. I… I think its erratic movements have actually increased the distance between us.

Derek continued glancing back at the creature while moving toward the wyverns. After a few more moments, the wyrm ceased its chase and lay on the ground, unmoving. It seemed it had given up and finally decided to focus on regenerating its own health. Derek smiled and faced forward. He had a dragon to slay.

Avery was in quite the predicament. On one hand, he needed to distract the black wyvern so Derek could take care of the wind one. But on the other hand, this was a prime opportunity to get his hands on a companion of his own, and he had the pick of the litter.

With his sight, he was able to make out the entire small army of beasts coming at them for round two. Included in that army were drakes, and even some kind of winged serpent. Other than the wyvern, which he would have next to no chance of forming a contract with, the rest of the attackers were all epic ranked beasts, and best of all, many of them were capable of flight.

In the back of his mind, he already wished he hadn’t received a buff from Tara. Having that kind of help from another person would make it multiple times harder for a beast to accept a contract, though his chances would still be much better than trying to contract with a beast of a higher rank. With it being epic, even, his chances may be better than Edgar’s chances of contracting with one of the wyverns if he is able to bring it down.

Who knows, at the end of the trial, he and Edgar could both end up with epic ranked beasts. It would certainly be a bit of a loss for the prince, but a drake is nothing to scoff at.

First, though, he needed to figure out what to do. It wasn’t like he could just ignore everything and go tame a drake. He had told Derek he would take care of the death attuned wyvern, and that’s what he would do. Besides, he had 30 minutes before some of the buffs wore off of him. Losing them would make taming a drake that much easier.

So, Avery rushed forward, toward the incoming wyverns, his sights set on the black one. The most pressing issue, other than window shopping for the best beast to tame, of course, was figuring out a way to deal with the wyvern while simultaneously distracting the other beasts as well. He wanted to keep those away from Derek too while he dealt with the wind wyvern.

Additionally, it wouldn’t hurt to figure out the rhythm of the other beasts. One of them was going to be a life-long companion after all. He wasn’t going to pick out a dud. The first thing he did was cross all the wingless drakes off his list. If the monster was on the ground, then he would avoid it.

It was too bad Gerald Torith wouldn’t be there when he got back from the dungeon. He would have made the perfect chew toy for his future companion.

Along the way, Derek decided it was best to use Void Shift to catch up to the others. He had plenty of mana potions, so it was worth it. While in the void, he was even able to make out Avery running ahead of him after a while. Even with his skill activated, the man was slowly moving forward. He didn’t doubt that Alanah’s second in command would be able to break him out of Void Shift just as easily as the wyrm, if not the wyvern.

Soon, Derek shifted out of the void and appeared relatively close to the wyverns. It didn’t take long, as the three beasts were also coming at him at full speed. Just after he appeared in front of the wyverns, Edgar appeared in the air next to him with a flash of light, and Avery kicked up dust below him as he slid to a halt.

They each looked at each other and nodded. No words needed to be said. They all had their own targets and their own mission. This time, they would bring the fight to the wyverns.

Once again, Edgar was the first to act. He had the most to gain from this fight. He vanished in a streak of lightning and shot forward. Not to be outdone, Derek gripped his halberd tightly and kicked off the void.

Just like last time, Edgar appeared next to the red wyvern and released one of his skills, drawing the attention of the monster. The wyvern released a soul rending roar and shifted all its anger onto the man who had irritated it before.

Derek shifted in and out of the void, avoiding a few creatures that were flying ahead of the wyverns in the process. After coming out of the void close to the wyverns, he downed a mana potion just to top off. His skill wasn’t free, after all.

Just in front of Derek were the two wyverns, along with a slew of other beasts. He counted at least 15 lesser dragonkin altogether.

Both wyverns opened their enormous maws and energy began to gather. But at that time, a massive blast came from below, blasting the bottom of the death attuned wyvern’s maw, causing it to shut its mouth and cancel the charge.

With more anger than Derek had seen when fighting it before, it swooped down at the bow wielding Avery. Before it got close, a multitude of arrows struck all the smaller beasts in the area. Derek looked at Avery with wide eyes, and the man gave him a sly grin back. After that, he very nearly disappeared, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

One thing was for certain, these beasts were easy to provoke. They seemed to hold grudges.

Derek quickly shifted his focus back in front of him, void shifting once again to avoid a tornado-like attack coming from the wyvern. When he broke from his skill, the wind wyvern quickly shifted in his direction and flapped its wings, sending multiple intense gusts after him, followed by dozens of wind blades.

The speed of the beast’s attacks was off the charts. It was everything he could do to avoid the attacks while looking for an opportunity. Finally, Derek shifted back in front of the beast. He kept a relatively safe distance away from the beast so he wouldn’t be knocked out of the void. He had figured out this distance when fighting the black wyvern, and hopefully, it would be the same for his new opponent.

That seemed to be the case, as his skill hadn’t been broken before he came out of his own power. He sighed. At least that seems the same.

With his grip tightened on his halberd, he charged forward, the purple aura flowing from his body to his weapon.

The wyvern shrieked and released a number of wind blades at him. Derek struck one wind blade head on with his halberd while avoid the others around him. He needed to take the most direct path to his enemy.

His attack was just enough to cancel out the single wind blade that reached him, but it all but caused him to lose his entire momentum. Still, once the attack dissipated, Derek continued on. In that short second, the wyvern had already shifted from one attack to the next and was charging up another blast.

This is what he was waiting for. Derek kicked off the void and began slowly approaching the beast in a circle. The blast was loosed and Derek barely avoided it while dodging to the side, all the while closing in on the wyvern.

Soon, he was on a couple dozen feet away from the wyvern, and because of his closeness, he was no longer fast enough to dodge the attack. The tension built in him as he moved all the void energy in his body to his halberd and charged in.

He held his left forearm up to protect his eyes while he gripped his halberd tightly. Just before the attack landed on him, he released a void empowered Sweeping Slash, along with Multi-Strike. The energy from the surrounding beast halted instantly as his own attack cut through the beast’s blast like a knife through butter. It was like he was in an eye of a storm.

Still, the wind from the beast had landed on him for just a moment before his own attack went off, and he had lost at least an eighth of his HP. He shuddered to think of what it would have been like if it had been the death attuned attack.

But he didn’t let those thoughts stop him. He charged in directly behind his own attack as it moved closer and closer to the beast ahead. In seconds, his attack reached the maw of the dragonkin, followed closely by Derek, who had already channeled the void into his halberd once again, ready for another attack.

His Sweeping Slash struck the beast in the face, sending the beast into an uproar. It slung its head and the beam of wind followed. Derek couldn’t let this chance pass him by and rushed in. The side of the wyvern’s head was just in front of him.

With both hands on his weapon, had swung down as hard as he could. All his skills were still on cooldown, but he still had the void, plus whatever effect his Sweeping Slash had left over when it landed on the beast.

With all the might he could muster, his strike landed on the side of the beast’s head, causing a metal on metal clank to resonated from the blow. Still, not taking any chances, he dove onto the beast’s head and gripped tightly. If his previous attempts hadn’t been enough to take care of the wyvern, then he wasn’t about to let go of this one chance to get in and stay in close. He almost laughed at a thought. I may not be taming a dragon, but I’m going to be the first to ride one.