The Game Before the Fall

Chapter 78: Rescue. (Part 2)

The Wyvern shrieked, and the crown of scales around its chameleon like head began to flare and vibrate.

"Back away!" an Old Man croaked from the ground beside us, wounded and holding a bent metal stick. His warning however couldn't be heard by Zen who was fully focused on the ancient beast. A terrifying laser of heat and light flared and fired straight into Zen. Thankfully I had made it in time, casting a thick barrier around her, and though the barrier didn't last long, it was enough time for Zen to get out of the way.

"Holy shit," Vanter swore.

Zen landed close to us, her skin singed, "Thank you Aria, that would have ended me."

"No problem," I pushed down my nerves as the Wyvern shook itself and climbed back onto its feet. I began to cast a net of thorns around it, keeping it to the ground as I called to the Old Man, who had now risen. I finally recognised him as the Old Man who had been with Ria when we met Ardent in Areithia Online. "What the hell is going on?"

"The Archmage Kazu betrayed us and became a demon. He released the Wyvern King and I followed it," he answered quickly, cracking his shoulder back into place. That was a lot of information to take in at once. Ardy had told me about Kazu before, he was someone considered to be on par with a Witch. If he had become demonic like those monsters we had seen underground..., just what power could he have?

My larger concern however was something else, "And my brother?"

"Dealing with Kazu," the Old Man replied and I frowned. 'Dealing with Kazu'. Ardy had the power of the Void and I knew he had grown more capable but I still worried.

Vanter interjected, breaking me from my concern, as he readied his bow, "And how do we deal with this guy?"

The Old Man cackled, "Ardent trusted you to figure that out."

Zen looked to him as well, "His scales are too sturdy. Even with my Aura, I couldn't pierce them. Armour piercing techniques didn't work either."

I grit my teeth and focused on the task at hand as my spells began to untangle, unable to keep the Wyvern King down. I wasn't pulling in more mana than I was using and soon I would run out, "Vanter how did you deal with it last time!?"

"We knocked it out using its own breath attack and then pumped it full of sleeping gas. It only worked long enough to get what we wanted and high tail it out of there." He fired an arrow at the Wyvern King, it didn't even flinch. "Yeah, I'm going to need the bigger bow."

The Old Man frowned as he stretched his muscles, "You need to kill it, but not just that. Inside the Wyvern King is the Saint of Skies. We need to free her."

"Wait, do you mean inside as in its stomach?" Vanter asked scrupulously. "Or do you mean metaphysically?"

He shrugged, "Ardent used the Void and she went in. He was meant to use the Void to get her out." He turned his eyes to me, "You, you're Ardent's sister, right? You're the Witch of the End. Can't you do something?"

"I am but I don't know," I frowned while keeping the Wyvern King at bay. "Ugh, it's breaking lose. I'll think of something just get ready to pin it down!"

Zen entered a sprinting stance, her golden Aura beginning to flow around her again, "I'll keep it busy. Vanter knock it down when if it tries to fly."

"Got it," he saluted and ran to the tallest dune he could find nearby.

"Here we go," the moment I let the spell lose the Wyvern King tried to jump into the air. At the same instance two things happened. An incredibly heavy arrow slammed down on it from the skies and Zen tackled it from the ground. Each blow was enough to stagger the ancient beast, but like before, no real damage got past its scales.