My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 1039 - 1041: Wyvern In The Sky
Previously on My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger...
Damon observed the setting up of tents and the establishment of battle lines. The vanguard section was expansive, stretching across multiple forest areas. The objective for this segment of the army was to ignite the forest and carve out a secure passage.
Evangeline was a pivotal figure on this path. Her innate abilities served as a natural bane to all dark entities, and the runes she etched proved exceptionally potent. Furthermore, she was a formidable warrior. The forest itself was a place of profound distortion, populated not only by terrifying creatures but also by insidious corruption and decay. Contact with the wrong element, or being touched by it, inevitably led to corruption. Even succumbing to the forest's insidious whispers guaranteed a similar fate.
Those who met an immediate end were considered fortunate. The unfortunate souls were those who slowly transformed into monstrous beings.
A countermeasure was devised by the demon lord Paimon, leading to the creation of a special rune integrated into the soldiers' equipment. This was mass-produced by Lazarak, an organization Damon established under the direction of Lilith Astranova. She had broadened the scope of the initial operations, and by leveraging her family's influence and her keen understanding of noble society, she elevated the organization's prestige even further.
Damon was seated beneath a small tent, observing the soldiers consume their rations as a significant section of the adjacent forest blazed. Minor skirmishes erupted periodically between the troops and lesser monsters attempting to breach the fire line.
Five hours had elapsed since they made camp, and not a moment's rest had been afforded. The forest posed a relentless threat.
As the sun began its descent, Ashergon remained unseen, his distant roars the only indication of his presence, like peals of thunder.
Just as Damon prepared to rise, his gaze sharpened as he detected movement in the sky. It was immense, with vast, outspread wings, easily dwarfing a structure.
He was not the sole observer. Several soldiers also noticed it, and then one of them let out a piercing scream.
"Dragon..." his voice trembled with absolute horror and dread as he desperately sought shelter from this overwhelming adversary.
However, Damon remained stationary, recognizing that this was not Ashergon. It was merely a wyvern, slightly larger than Ashergon. This posed no significant threat.
He reached into his shadow storage, retrieving a spear as soldiers, unnerved by the man's cry, rushed back to their combat positions with grim resignation etched on their faces.
Only Damon remained in the open alongside Evangeline and Leona. All three fixed their gaze upon the sky.
Leona emitted a sigh and shook her head.
"I wonder how palatable that wyvern would be."
Evangeline's lips curved into a smile at Leona's remark. Though it sounded like a jest, there was a genuine seriousness behind it.
"Very well, let us discover. Shall we?"
With a single, powerful leap, she ascended into the air, reaching an altitude of hundreds of meters. The air ruptured with a sonic boom, leaving a small crater near Damon. Air rushed past her face as she intercepted the wyvern in the sky.
She then swept her sword upwards.
[Noon]
A brilliant blade of light shot upwards like the midday sun, hurtling towards the wyvern.
The sky was its domain, and it would not fall easily. It maneuvered in mid-air, narrowly evading the attack. Its wings sustained minor nicks.
Gravity began to reclaim Evangeline, and the wyvern opened its maw.
Damon was poised to hurl his spear when her feet ignited, and with a wave, she hovered in the air.
He detected no spellcasting, indicating she was not utilizing a flight enchantment.
"Since when could she fly?" he inquired in a flat tone.
"Oh, you missed a few occurrences and developments; she flies now," Leona stated, gesturing for the artillery unit to engage.
Resonant magical sounds erupted, booming towards the heavens like celestial streaks aimed at divine entities.
The wyvern was struck by this barrage, its body shimmering as it employed magic to resist. It opened its maw, unleashing a massive torrent of flames that surged towards Evangeline and the troops below.
A golden barrier materialized around her as she swung her sword.
[Radiant blade]
A crescent-shaped slash cleaved through the air as the wyvern countered with its horn.
From the ground, the world registered a thunderous clap as Leona transformed into a flash of lightning, streaking through the air and raking her sword across the wyvern’s underside. A concussive sound reverberated as its entire body convulsed, and blood streamed from its mouth as it cried out in agony.
A second volley impacted its body.
Evangeline readied her sword once more. This time, she intended to shatter the protective barrier surrounding its form.
[Noon]
A colossal sun descended with her sword, and the sound of shattering glass accompanied the blinding radiance.
The wyvern's roar filled the heavens as blood cascaded down like rain, scorching those below who lacked the fortitude to withstand its heated ichor.
Then, from the ground, Damon raised the spear in his hand.
With a tremendous, booming resonance, he hurled it skyward towards the wyvern's head.
Surrounded by shadows, it shot upwards, piercing the wyvern’s chest. The beast let out a deafening roar that gradually faded until silence fell completely. Its colossal form, crippled and unable to fly, plummeted towards the earth, succumbing to gravity’s relentless pull. [You have slain Ashergon wings] With a resounding boom, the ground trembled as the wyvern impacted, its massive body sliding towards Damon with a heavy thud. Pools of blood mingled with the soil where the beast had been impaled. Damon reached out, his spear returning to his grasp, now stained crimson with wyvern blood. Leona and Evangeline landed beside the fallen wyvern, their boots sinking slightly into the viscous blood. "Hehe," Leona chuckled, a grin spreading across her face. "I'm craving some grilled wyvern, and this time, make sure we have seasoning, unlike that last time." Damon opened his mouth to ask about the 'last time' but a sudden memory surfaced—they had indeed consumed a wyvern from Ashergon's followers years ago, just before venturing into the Whispering Forest. That wyvern, if he recalled correctly, had been slain by an unknown force, torn apart by a murmur worm, leaving them only with scraps. Damon let out a laugh. "In that case, let us prepare for a grand feast."