Chapter 34: Lord of the Sky

Once the Alpha of the wyverns began its attack, the others soon joined in and began to take off towards the intruders of their territory, but not before the first few that took off were struck down. Unlike the armor plating of the leader, the smaller ones had less powerful defenses and were hit on the head, neck, or body. They were resilient, so it took more than one shot to take them down. A wailing sound was produced from the Alpha wyvern, saddened by seeing its kin die so easily. Just when it didn't think it could suffer more, Dark Sentry went on the attack. It noticed them and immediately blamed them for their deaths. Vulcan saw it begin charging another attack and thought of an idea. He placed himself in front of the other Wyverns. Seeing this cowardly tactic, the Alpha stopped its attack as it growled at him.

"Vulcan, that thing is abnormal; usually wyverns don't have leaders of this size. What's its fighting prowess at?" She asked him as they began to fight the small wyverns.

"It's at low gold stage while the smaller ones are at low silver to peak silver stage," he said, as the statement made Jess freeze for a bit. A sentry covered for her while she was distracted.

"Low gold stage! How is that even possible!? We need to get out of here and report this to the guild!" She exclaimed as she got back into the rhythm of the fight.

"It's fine, it may be low gold stage, but it feels like it just recently became one. Besides, I have a plan, just like the ant queen. We will take care of the smaller ones and focus on the Alpha last." Another volley of shots were sent from the hidden commandos as they thinned the numbers of wyverns.

Angered once more, the Alpha let out a loud roar. It spread its large wings, the large flaps were large enough to block out the sun and cast a shadow on everyone else. It flapped once and just one flap sent gusts of wind strong enough for everyone to brace themselves, the smaller wyverns used the gusts of wind to their advantage. Following their Alpha, the remaining wyverns with the help from earlier jumped off the ledge and took flight. Vulcan didn't stand by while his prey got away. The sentries jumped on top of the small wyverns' backs. Some missed and had to freefall until a commando sentry showed up and saved them from falling to their destruction.

He looked down at Jess, and she reciprocated the look. "Just like when we were hanging off the cliff earlier." Nodding in understanding, he grabbed onto her waist and flung her towards the Alpha in mid-air. She grabbed hold of one of the scales on its back. He then charged his run and used the nearby terrain as stepping stones to jump high in the air. He barely managed to grab onto the Alpha's tail as it swung like a pendulum.

Annoyed by the humans jumping onto him, the Alpha dove down the mountain. Jess grabbed hold of nearby spike that grew on its back while Vulcan hugged the tail. After it saw its move didn't work, it started barrel rolling while spreading its wings. Unfortunately, this was enough to make Jess fall off its back. She screamed as she plummeted towards the ground. Vulcan was prepared and had one of the commandos follow the Alpha's flight, and caught her mid-air as it uncloaked its invisibility when it caught her.

This didn't go unnoticed by the Alpha. It watched the commando as it flew and appeared out of thin air to catch the female human. So this was how the cunning humans had killed its kin. It roared and turned around as it chased after the pair. Seeing what it was doing, Vulcan used its scales to climb one step at a time, trying to reach its head, but the air resistance was making the task more difficult.

Jess, on the other hand, looked back as the Alpha got closer to them. Her anxiety rose as the thing's maw opened up wide to devour them. Watching this from the commando's point of view, he grabbed onto one of the scales he was holding onto. Using his enhanced strength, he tried pulling the thing off, but it was a slow process. It started peeling off ever so slowly, and he was able to see pink skin underneath. Using all his strength, he gave it one last yank and the thing came off. The feeling of having one of its scales peeled off had the Alpha letting out a loud wail. But it couldn't give up now that the prey was in front of it. Ignoring the pain, it chased after the flying humans once more.

Seeing the Alpha Wyvern not giving up the chase, Vulcan got another, better idea. Placing his palm against the soft flesh of the Alpha, his palm began to heat up as he put in almost all his energy into the blast. The energy blast began to bore a hole into the vulnerable weak point. He knew it penetrated deep enough to cause some damage when another loud wail came from the Alpha, giving Jess and the commando enough time to separate themselves from the thing. Enraged again, the Alpha knew it had to get rid of the last pest causing it pain. Flapping its wings, it flew upwards to gain altitude. The motion caused Vulcan to lose his grip and almost fall off.

The Alpha reached an altitude above the clouds as the ground got farther away. Flakes of ice began to form around both of their bodies. Like a roller coaster at its climax, the thing dove as its body began to burn upon reentry to the planet. Small glimpses allowed Vulcan to see oceans beyond the continent and even a small bit of another continent towards the north. One day he will visit there; what other secrets did this world hold? But right now, he had to stop himself from falling off and survive.

One by one, his fingers lost grip, not because it became harder to hold on, but because they literally broke apart from the strain they were being put through. Even his own body began to slowly melt away from the heat. That's why when he finally let go with his last good hand, it was inevitable. As he fell towards the ground, his limbs that turned to molten metal fused together, and with the cool air hardening them, it made it harder for him to move. His entire top layer from his head to his waist was disfigured.

Adding pressure to the situation, Vulcan saw the Alpha Wyvern open its wings and rotate its body. It then noticed him free falling, and he was sure if he was eaten this time by this thing, he would lose his rank 3 body. He took out a stim from his inventory; the thing almost fell out of his hand, but he managed to hold onto it with his last good hand. He tried to stab himself, but his melted fused joints were stopping him from injecting himself. An idea came to mind, but it was risky. Timing it perfectly, he chucked the stim towards his legs and caught it between his knees. Letting out a mental sigh of relief, he went fetal position as he stabbed his forehead with the stim.

He no longer wore the gothic steel armor as it was the first line of defense that peeled off when he plummeted with the Alpha. Melted limbs and missing fingers restored themselves in time for him to take out a jetpack from his inventory. Activating the propulsion system allowed him to narrowly miss the loud snap of its jaws. Like a bullfighter taunts a bull, he hovered in mid-air as he looked at the Alpha in the eyes.

"It's fair game now. Come, little lizard, let's see who will be the king of the skies!" He yelled loud enough for the thing to take the taunt and speed up towards him.

As it raised towards him, he combined his palms and shot a concentrated beam at it. To his surprise, the damn thing's armor deflected the beam like it was nothing. He paused the attack and juked the thing by making it think he was going to dive. As it flapped its wings to turn around, he noticed a small opening hole on the right wing. This was his chance.

He took out a plasma sword and readied himself. Once again, they stared off at each other. When it was in range, he maxed out the output of the jetpack. Like an arrow, he flew directly at its mouth before the last second turning left and with perfect timing, cutting into the open hole and continuing until the wing flap was sliced in half. With its right wing injured, the Alpha couldn't hold its weight in the air and began to spiral towards the ground. It crashed against a mountaintop first and then onto flat ground, leaving a trail of debris and splintered trees in the wake of its crash. It layed down without moving, but Vulcan knew very well it wasn't dead.

Flying down, he landed a few meters away from it. This was a good opportunity. The next thing he took out was an explosive grenade. Due to its size, he took out more than ten. Just then, he turned around and saw Jess coming down from the sky with the commando.

"Glad you're alive. Come over and help me place these things around it before it wakes up!" He called out to her to come over. Giving out even amounts to her and the commando, they got to work.

When they finished setting up the explosives, he then thought about the open wound he gave it earlier on its back. Flying up, he found the still bleeding wound. Pulling out a handful of grenades, he shoved them down the open flesh. Unfortunately, this was where he messed up, and the sudden pressure of shoving multiple objects inside the still tender flesh caused the Alpha Wyvern to wake up from the pain. It jolted and swung its large tail around.

In those few moments, he saw that Jess was still too close to the attack. In a desperate attempt he sent out his commando to take her away, but it was too late. The commando was able to grab her as she maintained eye contact with him but not fast enough to fly away from the incoming tail. It first hit the commando on the back, causing the jetpack to be crushed and cause a small explosion. The flames from the explosion obscured his vision as the ball of flame and smoke kept going until it crashed against the side of a mountain and kicking up a large cloud of dust and debris. Everything went quiet in his mind and still, then something cracked inside of him. Something that shouldn't ever break under any circumstances.

"JESS!!!!"