Chapter 3: Ambush

Inside one of the tents in the center of the military camp, a few armored figures had gathered and were engaged in a heated discussion around a table. They were clearly not ordinary soldiers, judging from the fancy armors they were clad in. In the midst of their discussion, a movement occurred at the entrance of the tent and a mesmerizingly beautiful woman in crimson armor with long red hair entered the tent. This woman was Amber Redwood, daughter of Salina Redwood, the current leader of the Redwood Family.

When Amber entered, the ongoing discussions suddenly stopped and the people inside turned their heads towards her. Soon everyone averted their gaze when they saw who had entered and silence fell over the tent. No one dared to stare at her for too long.

Amber did not mind this situation. She gazed at the people around her for a while and then moved with steady steps towards the chair reserved for her at the head of the table. Once seated, she began to speak with a stern expression. It was a completely different attitude from the confused and cute one she showed to Olivia.

"I heard that the scouts who went into the forest came back with some interesting news." She looked around a little. "I don't see them among you, will one of you explain the situation to me?" Hearing his words, one of the nobles in the tent, a young woman with brown hair, stepped forward and began to explain the situation.

"Lady Amber, some of the scouts who arrived saw strange lights shining in the forest last night." She paused and waited for Amber's reaction. Hearing this, Amber frowned and looked uncomfortable at the noblewoman who had spoken. 

"Lights? You didn't call me in the dead of the morning to tell some news that was unclear, did you?" and then she squinted at the people around. The nobles in the tent shuddered under her gaze.

The noblewoman who had just spoken swallowed and spoke again. "O-Of course not, my lady!" she continued after controlling her voice. "The scouts didn't think it mattered much either, but just to be sure, they went to the place where they saw the light and examined the area. Strangely enough, they found some motionless animals on the ground."

Amber raised one eyebrow and asked. "Motionless animals? Not dead?"

"No, my lady. The animals were still breathing. Strangely enough, they were just left behind and there were also burn marks in the area. We were just evaluating the situation before you arrived." 

Hearing this, Amber frowned and asked in a serious tone. "Do you think this was done by the corrupt wyvern we are looking for?"

At this question, a middle-aged man from the nobles who had been waiting silently began to speak. "My lady, we do not know exactly what the situation is, but this anomaly is puzzling. We were discussing how we should deal with it."

After listening to the nobleman's words, Amber put her hand under her chin, bowed her head slightly and thought for a while in silence. Meanwhile, everyone waited for her without saying anything. After a while Amber looked up and spoke confidently.

"We've been here for a while now and have found no trace of the corrupt wyvern. And now that we have a lead like this, it would be a shame not to take advantage of it." she stood up from her seat and continued. 

"Tonight we will enter the Ancient Black Forest and see what this anomaly is. If this is caused by the wyvern we are looking for, this is a great opportunity to find it and kill it." She looked at the people around her and began to give her order in a loud voice. "Make arrangements for the night! Tonight we're gonna track the wyvern through the woods!" 

Hearing Amber's words, the nobles bowed their heads and saluted with their hands on their chests. Now that the situation was finalized, everyone started to leave the tent to go back to their work. It looks like tonight is going to be a busy one for all of them

 * * * * *

While preparations were being made for the wyvern hunt at the military camp, there was a strikingly handsome man wandering hopelessly through the Ancient Black Forest, not knowing where he was going.

For several days, Edwin had been on the most depressing journey of his life. Sometimes he passed similar places again and again, sometimes he reached dead ends and eventually was forced to return to where he had started.

Around mid-afternoon, tired after his long walk, Edwin went under the shade of a large tree and threw himself down on his back onto the grass. As he lay there looking up at the clouds in the sky, he began to grumble to himself.

"Why!? Why can't I get out of here? It shouldn't be this hard. I really wonder what I've been doing wrong all this time." He straightened up a little and leaned his back against the trunk of the tree. Afterwards, he began to look at his clothes. 

After days of traveling, he was covered in dirt. In particular, his cloak was torn all over and in terrible condition. If Edwin had learned anything along the way, it was that cloaks were not the best choice of clothing for traveling through the forest. Dejected, he untied the ties that bound his cloak to his armor and took off his cloak.

"Note to self; do not wear a cloak when traveling through a forest." While talking to himself, he was adjusting the sword at his waist to a position that would not make him uncomfortable. When he was done, he leaned back in thought.

'I really didn't think I'd be such an amateur at wayfinding. Now that I think about it, Livian never gave me any training on these things. I don't need it in the Goddess's realm, so I barely notice its absence.' He sighed in annoyance.

'That aside, even though I used light magic in the hope that someone might notice, still nobody has noticed me. I guess this is a forest that people don't choose to enter very often. Really... in the first few days, I didn't think that I would be in such a ridiculous situation.' 

As he was lost in thought, his eyelids slowly began to grow heavy. His body began to relax with the feeling of lying down. Edwin checked his surroundings one more time and seeing that nothing strange was happening, he decided to sleep here for a while. So he immediately cast a protection spell around him, then wrapped himself in his cloak and closed his eyes. He left his current problems for his future self to solve.

A few hours had passed since Edwin had fallen asleep and the sky was already dark. The silence of the dark forest was interrupted by the screams of people in pain. When Edwin heard shouting, he quickly opened his eyes and stood up with lightning speed, his sword drawn. Unable to see in the darkness, he cast a spell and a small ball of light came out of his hand, illuminating the surroundings. For a while he stood on guard, his sword in his hand, waiting to fend off any attacks. But after a while, when he saw that everything was fine, he looked around in confusion.

"Strange... I thought I heard a noise." 

Edwin had been trained to maintain vigilance even when he was asleep. So when he heard a sudden noise, his body reacted reflexively. Although he was surprised to see that there was no danger, he did not sheathe his sword. After a while, he suddenly heard a high-pitched scream, similar to the one he had just heard, and a strange roaring sound.

He looked in the direction of the sound with worry and hope. Worried because he realized that someone was in trouble and hopeful because he had finally found someone in this damn forest. Without thinking too much, he started running in the direction of the sound.

Meanwhile, a few hundred meters away, a group of soldiers were fighting two wyverns. Some wizards were there to help the soldiers, but this battle was not going to end soon.

One of the two wyverns was seven and the other ten meters tall. Their green skin was covered with strange blackish purple patches, and their once green eyes were now red. This was an indication of a phenomenon called dark corruption. Creatures affected by this corruption would grow in strength but lose their minds and become extremely aggressive.

There was a beautiful red-haired woman among the fighting soldiers and she was looking at her suffering men lying on the ground with a frown on her face. This woman was Amber, who entered the forest with her men to track down corrupt wyvern. While they were moving in order through the forest, they were unexpectedly ambushed and their formation collapsed. Currently she was trying to control the situation around her, which had gotten out of hand. 

"Donna, you and your mages focus on casting protection spells and block the acid attacks of these creatures, while Chloe and Rory, you and your soldiers concentrate on the small one! I'll take care of the big one, while the healers take care of the wounded!"

After giving her orders, she charged towards the big wyvern at great speed, with her sword in her hand. Nimbly avoiding the acid attack that was coming at her, she managed to reach the creature's side. Meanwhile, before the smaller one could focus on her, it was distracted by the soldiers' attacks and began to focus on what was in front of it. In this way, the large corrupted wyvern and Amber were left facing each other alone.

Annoyed by how awful the overall situation was, Amber began to attack the creature in front of her in a fury. First she dodged the scorpion tail, which came at her like a spear, leaping into the air towards the creature. In mid-air, Amber's blue eyes began to glow and then she swung her sword at the creature. The sword, heading for the wyvern's head, burst into crimson flame and when it met the creature's scales, it created a small explosion.

Boom!

Tossed backwards by the force of the blast, Amber did a backflip in mid-air and landed gently on the ground a few meters in front of the big wyvern. Although her attack was successful, there was a look of irritation on her beautiful face. After a moment, the smoke from the explosion cleared, revealing the creature's slightly burnt face and angry red eyes. Looking at the now angry creature, Amber began to mutter aloud.

"This is going to take a while. Damn it! None of the reports ever mentioned a second wyvern!"