The Good, The Bad And The Wyvern

Surprisingly, nobody had noticed the beast coming down from the sky until it fell in front of their poor horse. It looked like a four meters high lizard with only two legs and two wings covered in muddy green scales. Its head had a huge mouth filled by sharp looking fangs and two yellow reptilian eyes. Its two legs were currently rooted in the ground by four sharp talons coming from its bird-like pawns which were cutting the dirt like nothing.

Roaring, the huge beast got on all four, using its wings like arms and dangerously flaying a long and sharp tail behind it. The poor horse panicked as it was facing such a primal predator. Trying to flee, it madly dragged the wagon behind it and forced its occupants to hold the planks around them in order to stay inside and sitting.

However, the monster didn't let his meal run away and quickly got a hold of the horse's neck with its massive jaws, ending its life instantly. Since their ride stopped moving for a fraction of second the travelers all took this chance and jumped out of their wooden seats. Robert didn't have the same presence of mind and stood weakly in his driver's seat, fighting the urge to puke he got after having smelled the scaled beast's disgusting breath.

"Robert, come here !" Leon hurriedly screamed as he was taking his distances from the giant winged lizard which was currently producing crunching noises with the horse's carcass.

'A wyvern... It's been a while since I've seen those things. I wonder if it can do the dirty job for me...' Jack thought, looking at the farmer clumsily getting down and running toward them while the lesser dragon behind him was watching the scene with a hint of amusement dancing in its amber eyes.

"Evelyn, stay behind and don't cast spells. Laena, be careful and use your fire blade only to protect yourself. Let's use this wyvern to "unfortunately" cause these people's death." The immortal coldly ordered to his students through their minds. The girls threw him angry gazes as he was wanting to eliminate those innocents people but knew that they couldn't speak their opinion right now.

During this exchange, the other three had drawn their weapons and the priestess had already started to chant a spell. Jack was having shivers as he felt light mana and a tinge of divine one fusing together under her will. Robert had ran a few meters more but his hope and his life ended together after a claw pierced his chest.

Looking down, he saw the bony white blade-like body part protruding from his body as the wyvern had used the only finger it had on its wings to kill him.

"NOOO!" Leon screamed of sadness and grief. "YOU DAMNED MONSTER !" He howled before running toward the scaled beast raising the farmer's body to its mouth.

"*Sigh* Oh God of Radiance, may you protect this fool during his righteous fights. Divine Barrier !" Alikio muttered, finishing her incantation and making a translucid shield appear around the frenzied paladin.

'She can also cast divine spells...' Seeing that Leon's figure seemed to glow a little and that his shadow had disappeared thanks to his radiance, Jack shuddered a little. Divine Mana and Demonic Mana existed in Kaneoldor, and they were both opposed since the beginning of time. Divine magic used the power of the Heavens to protect or smite its enemies while Demonic magic simply destroyed everything, bringing chaos and entropy as it came from Hell.

Believers or those who made pacts with such beings could wield portions of their powers and use powerful magic like she was currently doing. This was why many evil sects made sacrifices to their dark gods in exchange of more power.

In this case, she simply had used her faith and weaved the spell like she was chanting a prayer. During this time, Fyorn had followed his foolish companion and together they faced the towering wyvern while Jack and his companions were following them slowly. They couldn't activate any spells so Evelyn simply kept her distance from the monster while Laena ran toward the beast to try to help the other two.

Trying to win some time and maybe distract the priestess, the immortal asked her if she knew what that monster was in a fearful tone. Earning a glare from her, she replied quickly :

"Like hell I know, this thing come straight out of a legend book !"

"Maybe your Church had information about a walking disaster like this no?" Jack grunted while inwardly smiling.

'If they don't know that the wyvern's belly scales are the thinnest ones this will make my job easier...'

And those scales indeed proved their solidity as they repelled the paladin's sword slash like he was hitting an armor with a stick. Frustrated as this human had dared to touch its magnificent skin, the wyvern smashed him with its arm. Rolling away on a few meters, Leon got up without any wound thanks to the spell protecting him. However, he had lost his fiery behavior and looked at the beast with new eyes while Fyorn was also studying it, trying to find weaknesses in the monster's natural armor.

Laena had joined them and asked worriedly :

"Any idea to wound this thing?"

"Nope, none." The dwarf grunted while dodging a huge scaled arm coming down to smash him. Seeing the crater the strike made, he felt quite afraid and knew that his armor wouldn't protect him against this kind of attacks. Trying to strike the beast again, Leon let a grunt of pain as his sword bounced again off the scales. Angered by the insistence of this puny human, the wyvern tried to bite him but only ate air as he rolled on the ground agilely.

"Win me some time !" Alikio told them while glaring at the martial artist staying next to her. Sensing her gaze, Jack shrugged and said with a terrible acting:

"I'm no match against such creature you know. You want me to break my hands on this thing's scales?"

'This would be the right time for me to strike but I've got a bad feeling.. Why is this girl chanting at her level?' Seeing her showing him many flaws in her guard and seemingly focusing, Jack understood something : 'She's literally baiting me? ME?'

"Humpf, useless fool. Oh God of Radiance, please grant me the power to punish my foes under your glorious judgment. Light Blade."

A golden sword appeared above her head, glittering and reflecting the sun's light before flying toward the wyvern's exposed torso and hitting hit with a loud sound. Roaring in pain as something was forcefully pushing it back, the lesser dragon felt something it had never experienced before in its short life : Pain.

Taking advantage of the opening the beast showed the three fighters stroke together with all their might. Surprisingly, Fyorn's axe coupled to his tremendous strength didn't cut the wyvern's scales on its arm but cracked them violently with the bone under them. Laena' sword was the sharpest and left a deep bloody hole in the belly the monster showed them as its torso was pushed back by the spell's power. Leon left a small cut in the thin scales, striking with all his strength but feeling too much resistance to go deeper.

Originally, the wyvern simply wanted a snack and found those small walking apes in their weird wooden box. One of them didn't look tasty but still, it took its chance and came on his meal stealthily. Since they were easy preys, it took its time and played with them like they deserved it before being eaten.

After all, their weird metal sticks couldn't pierce its mighty scale armor so why kill the fun so fast? However, this weird white burning thing which had left a scorching mark and many broken scales on its torso had angered and terrified it to the point that it hadn't even felt the other hits.

What was this feeling ? Why was it so uncomfortable ? Why such puny beings made it feel things so horrible like this? No... This was wrong. As a part of the dragon's family, it was supposed to be the apex predator. And those things were his preys.

This time, the wyvern's howl froze everyone's blood except Jack's one. Inwardly smiling, he thought :

'Looks like this little baby finally understood that life wasn't a game where you are the only dominant one.'

"Everyone, be careful !" Alikio said while panicking. 'If only I could give my all on this fight... Maybe the bad feeling I have from this weird guy isn't right? No no no, focus yourself. I'll continue to keep an eye on him and act only if things go south.'

Falling back, the three fighters looked at the crazed monster facing them with renewed determination.

"We can kill it guys !" Leon said to motivate them while crouching, avoiding the beast's tail as it was flaying it around.

"If it bleed, it die !" Fyorn laughed while hitting the incoming tail with his weapon. Surprisingly, he held his ground and pushed back the strike.

"Thank you !" Laena said before making her blade glow with heat and leap toward the crack in the beast's arm' scales. Forgetting her teacher's order because of the fight's intensity, she gave her all and slashed the wounded wing's bone. While she did cut it clean, she also left her back vulnerable and two maws appeared around her waist.

"LAENA!" Evelyn screamed as she was standing on the side, powerlessly watching the fight.

Jack was about to protect her when he saw light dance around the elf's body, forming a barrier around her stopping the sharp fangs from entering her flesh. Turning his head, he saw the priestess focused face for the first time and gave up on his petty murder plan for now as the woman had his student's life in her hands.

Since the monster's head was in front of him and currently occupied, Leon took the occasion he had and pierced the reptilian eye with his sword. Sensing that things were going south, the wyvern tried to raise its head but a heavy axe hit coming down on its neck stopped it for a fraction of seconds that the paladin took, sinking his blade in the monster's head to the hilt.

Flaying around for a few more seconds, the beast finally stopped moving as its brain had been damaged. Evelyn ran from her hiding place and hugged the haggard Laena who simply hugged her back as her legs gave up. Alikio smiled, looking at Leon :

"Well done, you saved a damsel in distress."

"N-no, I simply did what I had to do... Furthermore, she helped us to kill this monster since she cut its arm." He stuttered as all his adrenaline left him.

"You did good boy." Fyorn simply commented, giving the man a slap in the back.

"YOU. DAMNED. IDIOT." They all heard as Jack was looking furious. Inwardly, he was adding :'You ruined my only occasion to assassinate this damned priestess and helped to kill the wyvern!'

Seeing that all the attention was on him as he was grounding the poor elf whose ears were dropping down, he quickly corrected his tone and said :

"You got me worried miss Brathadh. What would I have done if you had been wounded?" Nearly spitting his next words, he grunted to the priestess : "Thank you miss Alikio, you saved the young miss' life. We owe you a lot."

'Well, you owe me nothing. Consider this as a payment for your lives. This time, I'll let you three go away, god damned followers of the Church.'

Even if he hated them, Jack had an honor code as he felt that it was the only last bit of moral he had left and if he lost it he would be nothing else than a monster. His words were truth to him and when he made a deal or owed somebody, he respected his part of the deal scrupulously.

"It's fine, I don't need anything coming from you." The priestess replied in a cold tone that reappeared like magic. "However, I'm curious. What was this weird thing you did to your blade? How did you cut the monster's arm like this?" She asked the pale elf who looked even further down as Jack glared at her.