Chapter 68: [68] The Adventure Begins
At the break of dawn, Ark and Olivia met up with the party of three. The closest place to hunt wyvern eggs was on a rocky mountain a three days’ ride away from the city.
So they had to be as early as possible.
Once they met up, they all exchanged greetings before getting into the cart Rumble had rented.
"Pretty nice, isn’t it?" Sazan asked, tapping the wooden cart. He was in the driver’s seat, but he turned around to look at the party.
"I managed to bag this for just one hundred credits, haha! Who needs a fancy carriage when a good old cart can do the job? Right?"
"Carts are efficient," Ark replied, glancing at it. "At least we can all spring into action if we are attacked."
"Speaking of which, are there any monsters on the road?"
Although they were far from the Rocky Mountains, it would have been foolish to think it meant they were safe.
Esau shook his head. "The knight order usually patrols the road. As long as we don’t stray far away from it, we should be okay."
He paused and creased his brows. "Although a few monsters tend to wander onto the road every now and then, but it is nothing we can’t handle."
Ark nodded and summoned his map to track their progress, marking out locations where they were more likely to get attacked.
"You didn’t tell them the full truth, Esau." Sazan had to raise his voice a little because of the strength of the wind. "You forgot about the damn snakes!"
"S-snakes?!" Olivia sprang to her feet, one leg raised as she anxiously observed the carriage.
Thalia glanced at her, then her eyes moved to Esau. It seemed like she wanted to say something, but was too shy to say it.
Esau frowned. "I didn’t tell them about snakes because we don’t have to worry about the snakes..." he seethed.
He pointed at Thalia. "Our wonderful mage has a spell that can ward them off. Rest assured, no snake dares to come close with Thalia around."
Thalia nodded.
Only then did Olivia relax, settling into her seat next to Ark.
"So you are afraid of snakes—"
"Shut up."
Technically, it made sense that she would loathe snakes. Snakes and birds had been enemies since the day they were created.
"So what are you going to do if we encounter a hydra? Or something worse?"
Olivia’s face went pale. "Let’s stop talking about snakes!"
Sazan laughed, and soon the entire carriage was laughing.
Just like Esau had said, the journey to the Rocky Mountains was a smooth one. Throughout the three days, they only encountered a handful of monsters, which were swiftly disposed of.
And during the evening on the third day, they finally arrived at the Rocky Mountains.
Ark stared up at the colossal structure and let out a breath.
The trees here were monstrous in size, towering up into the sky, but some of these large trees had been crushed by enormous boulders that had seemingly dropped from the sky.
Up above them, the clouds were filled with black spots as wyverns glided through the air, occasionally unleashing a predatory screech.
"Why are these boulders here?" Olivia asked as she stared at one of them.
Esau glanced at it. "It’s the wyverns’ doing..."
Olivia’s gaze moved from him to the boulder, and from the boulder back to him. "What?"
"Wyverns are known to drop heavy objects on their prey to kill them and soften their flesh for consumption..." Ark explained further.
"What?!" Sazan’s eyes were wide with shock and fear. "So you are telling me that a wyvern managed to pick up this boulder and drop it from the sky?!"
"That doesn’t make sense!" Olivia said in disbelief.
’This was taught in the academy, though...’ Ark mused.
While Sazan and Olivia argued about just how impossible it would be for a flying creature to carry a rock that large, something rose from the forest.
But Olivia and Sazan continued arguing.
"I mean, how will its claws even grab something this big??"
"Hmph, exactly. Even harpies can’t do that!"
The monster looked like a mutated bear.
It was larger than most bears were meant to be, standing at nearly fifteen feet in height. And instead of fur, its back was covered in what resembled rocky skin.
The bear stood up on its hind legs and then stared at the two arguing players, as though confused by what was going on.
"Maybe the rocks slipped down the mountain?"
"Are you an idiot? How would that work?"
RAWRRRRRR—!
The monster suddenly unleashed a bone-chilling roar.
[Threat detected! Rock Bear, Level 10 x 1!]
Olivia and Sazan grew silent. They turned to stare at the monster, slowly, then swallowed.
"What the hell?! Get ready, it is coming!" Sazan sprang into action, pulling out his broad sword and stepping in the path of the monster.
"Where did that thing even come from?" Sparks appeared in Olivia’s hands as her glaive materialized from thin air.
Ark shook his head and sighed. He summoned the hero’s blade in the form of a magic staff, the weapon buzzing with lightning.
Rawr!
The monster pounded its fists into the ground, causing a tremor to spread through the earth.
Ark could see steamy breath gush out of its mouth, as frothy saliva dripped down its lips with anticipation.
And then it pounced.
But just as it was about to come down—
SKREEEEEEE!
It was as though a siren had been rung right next to their ears. They all reflexively clamped their ears shut, as a massive shadow washed over them.
VWOOOOSH—!
Their eyes widened in awe as they saw the outline of a monster’s underbelly...
Black scales that gleamed like black iron, long adamantine claws that could pluck out trees from their roots, and ferocious leathery wings large enough to blot out the sky.
A large gust of wind followed, crashing into the ground and causing their clothes to billow as a wyvern suddenly plucked the monster right from the air.
It lifted the bear up to its mouth with a single limb, and then tore its head right off its spine, chomping down with an audible crunch.
Blood dripped down the monster’s maw as it catapulted itself into the sky, and then once it was high enough, it let go of the corpse—
Splat!
The headless body slammed into the ground, its gut bursting apart and painting the area around it with blood and gore.
Everyone stood, speechless.
"W-what was that—" Thalia squeaked. She was visibly trembling as she stared at the blood-stained corpse.
"Why didn’t it eat the whole thing?" Sazan seemed just as terrified.
Ark walked up to the corpse and placed a hand atop it.
"Haven’t you heard?" He glanced at Sazan, his azure blue eyes flickering with light. "To wyverns? The best part of the meat..."
Ark pointed at his head. "Is the head."
[Harvest successful! You have successfully received 2 strength points!]
"We need to move, its children will come for the corpse soon."
Sazan gulped, but he wasted no time before sprinting away from the clearing....