Chapter 182: Chapter 165 – Man Against Beast

"Most adventurer guidelines would place drakes at the higher end of gold rank threatwise. While drake attacks were decidedly rare, the beasts were very mobile, and more often than not needed to be tracked down to its nest before the threat was finished. The recommendation was for a full party of gold ranks for such a task, as sending less would often just result in dead people." - Amber Ingwedotter, retired Jötunbergian adventurer, currently serving as branch head of the Flokisvet Guild House.

Cal noted how the Wyvern seems to have control over wind - clearly a wind affinity monster then - by the way the arrows loosed by three of the youngsters swayed and flew aside without coming close to the beast. Bolts from the heavy crossbows had more success in hitting its target, but did little damage. One pierced the membranous wing to little effect, while the other only cracked a scale before falling down impotently.

 

The javelins Elaina and Sidonie hurled with their Atlatls were heavier war javelins, and the wind failed to drive them off course. The drake swiped Elaina's javelin with one of its arms, breaking the projectile and causing a burst of electricity to strike and scorch its hand.

 

For what it's worth, the burst of lightning only scorched the surface of the beast's hand, but the surprise still caused it to flinch, which allowed Sidonie's Javelin to pierce its torso and discharge its lightning within, which stunned the drake for a moment.

 

Long enough for Leila's strike to arrive, as the bolt of molten lava splashed on and burned the beast's right wing, causing a sizable hole to form on the membrane there, and for the first time eliciting a roar of pain from the beast.

 

The party of youngsters loosed another series of arrows and bolts at the drake, though it did little more than annoy the beast. As for the drake itself, it was charging at Leila, and not even another barrage of javelins and molten lava from the girls could stop it. Neither did a third salvo from the youngsters manage to do anything. The leader of that party saw that Leila had stood her ground and was about to yell in warning for her to retreat, when Ying Xiao jumped in.

 

To most everyone's surprise - except Cal and Kino - the drake stopped in its tracks when the diminutive girl forcefully slammed her halberd against its chest. The beast even reared back, and everyone could see a bleeding gash on its chest, ringed by broken scales.

 

As for Ying Xiao herself, while her full-powered strike did manage to injure the beast, the force of the impact threw her a few meters back, as she was far too light to stand her ground in such a situation. She landed on her feet, however, and immediately charged the drake once more, even as Leila, Elaina, and Sidonie fired off another barrage.

 

Her performance baffled the party of youngsters for a moment, though to their credit they quickly got their act together and continued supporting with their bows and crossbows. They switched aim to the drake's head, which forced the beast to either block or evade their shots, lest one hit it in the eye, while another couple javelins hurled by the siblings pierced through its scales and discharged its lighting within the beast itself. Leila busied herself gathering her mana for a larger working in the meantime, while Ying Xiao kept the beast occupied up close.

 

The nimble girl dodged the drake's maw when it came to snap at her, while she harried it with occasional strikes from her halberd whenever she had a chance. A couple times the beast managed to swat her away with its arms, its claws leaving bloody gashes on her body, yet she stood right back up as if nothing happened and attacked the beast again.

 

On a signal from Sidonie, Ying Xiao dived under a swing of the beast's arm, and scored another bloody wound on its abdomen. This time however, she withdrew a moment too late, and the spiked tail of the beast caught her as she pulled back, two of the spikes penetrating her abdomen and out her back, nailing her violently to the ground.

 

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The drake had just raised its arm to deliver a finishing strike when another two javelins accurately pierced through its wounds, burying themselves deep inside its flesh and discharging bolts of lightning inside its body, which caused it to halt as it was paralyzed for a moment.

 

That moment was what Leila waited for, as she used up a good chunk of her mana and hurled a glob of molten lava the size of a cow towards the paralyzed drake. The beast recovered from its temporary paralysis and tried to evade, but the lava still splashed over most of its torso and its left leg, burning as they clung to the drake's form.

 

Apparently that was too much for the drake, as the beast spread its wings wide, and took to the skies, fleeing eastward, with its flight being visibly wobbly, likely from its injuries.

 

The young dwarf who seemed to be in charge of the party of youngsters was just about to approach Leila and offer his condolences for Ying Xiao, when the latter got up from where the drake had nailed her to the ground. He looked at her in surprise, before he noticed how neither blood nor viscera came out of her wounds, and realized that she was likely a blood mage.

 

"You want to join in chasing that thing?" Leila asked while she rested with her hands on her knees. Creating the larger spell had taken a bit out of her, and she felt the expenditure, though it was definitely worth it.

 

"Nah, I think me and me boys just gonna stay here and keep a lookout instead," answered the young dwarf, her voice identifying her as female. "We're rather useless against that thing. Bloody request only said Wyvern when we took it a week ago!"

 

"Likely late information. Doubt the rancher could tell the difference anyway," added Elaina to the mix. "We'll be taking the bounty for ourselves then since you're not joining along?"

 

"Be my guest," said the dwarf. She was the only gold rank in her party, with the other four - another young dwarf, two humans, and a half orc - being silver ranked. "Ain't no way I'd be taking this mission with just these kids had I known it be a drake waiting."

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