“Katia-san, it’s an emergency! Please wake up!”
Neil’s voice and the sound of knocking on the door jolted me awake.
I sat up in bed, trying to assess the situation.
Looking out the window, it was still early morning.
I quickly finished getting ready and finally tied my hair back.
My head was a little dizzy from waking up so suddenly, but I shook it off and opened the door.
“Katia-san, it’s a Wyvern! It’s in Teska Village, and it seems to be an unusually strong individual, giving them a hard time. They’re requesting reinforcements!”
A Wyvern… a strong “individual,” you say? Does that mean it’s a stray?
Wyverns are monsters that usually travel in packs.
Stray Wyverns are often individuals who lost fights for leadership and were driven out of their groups.
They typically come down into populated areas because of this.
As the second strongest of the pack, they don’t appear often, but they cause significant damage to settlements each year.
“I’ll head there immediately!”
“The horses are ready!”
I collected the equipment I had entrusted to them and left the lord’s residence.
Gale had apparently already gone to the soldier’s guild.
I got on the horse that was waiting in the courtyard and galloped through the early morning town.
The cold morning air brushed against my cheeks.
I didn’t know the way to Teska Village, so Neil was leading the way.
Then, as we left the town, I realized the sound of hooves behind us had increased.
“Fina-san!?”
I looked behind me while being jostled by the horse and saw Fina.
When did she…?
“Fina-nee!? Why are you here?”
Neil was also surprised.
So, she came on her own.
“I’m going too! I won’t be a hindrance!”
There was no time for questions.
I had to switch gears.
“Fina-san, what magic can you use?”
“…! Wind and water, both up to advanced level!”
Fina looked happy at my question, which was practically the same as giving her permission to come.
She replied while riding her horse next to mine.
So, she was a mage, after all.
“Wyverns are flying monsters, so we might have to rely on magic depending on the situation. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, leave it to me!”
Fina raised her iron staff with a jewel at the top, looking determined.
Aura weakens drastically when it leaves the body.
Therefore, front-line soldiers have few long-range attack methods.
Bows and arrows are also difficult to enhance with Aura, so they aren’t very common in this world.
Even that old geezer was somewhat bad at dealing with flying enemies.
“I see it!”
A single Wyvern was circling overhead, letting out a shrill cry.
As we entered the village through the gate, a gruesome scene unfolded before us.
Several people with large lacerations were lying on the ground.
Blood had soaked into the earth like puddles.
“How terrible…”
Fina muttered.
It certainly was a sight you wanted to look away from.
But something was off.
I felt something unnatural about the state of the bodies.
None of them looked like they were “eaten.”
Stray Wyverns usually attack settlements when they are hungry.
Wyverns that hunt large monsters and animals in packs are bad at hunting alone.
That’s why humans, who have low awareness of threats from above, are often attacked.
So, the fact that they only had lacerations and were not torn apart was unnatural.
It was possible they had eaten before we arrived, but if they were full, they should have returned to the mountains already.
It was as if the purpose was to kill… ?
“Fire!”
That’s where my train of thought was interrupted.
Under the command of a middle-aged human unit leader, magic spells were launched into the sky all at once.
Various wind, fire, earth, and water spells rushed toward the Wyvern.
Here, the Wyvern showed a surprising move.
It precisely dodged not only the magic coming from the front but all the magic as if it had eyes in the back of its head.
This Wyvern was not normal!
“Gwaaaa!!”
The Wyvern roared.
It swooped down toward the defenseless soldiers who had just cast spells.
The front-line soldiers with shields tried to intercept, but they were too far away.
I spurred my horse to run.
The voices of the Raza siblings yelling something receded into the distance.
I had no time to pay attention to that.
I advanced while firing a fire orb as a distraction.
At the same time, I drew my sword and kicked off the horse’s back to jump.
“Turn your attention–to me!”
It was an awkward slash, without much weight behind it.
Even so, the black Orichalcum sword fully displayed its performance, successfully slicing off one of the Wyvern’s legs just as it was about to hit the soldiers.
“Gugeee!?”
The startled Wyvern retreated back into the sky.
I rolled on the ground from the momentum of the slash.
“S-sorry! Are you okay!?”
The soldier who had escaped from the dire situation helped me up.
“I’ll buy some time! Please retreat and reorganize!”
I shouted to the middle-aged unit leader who had just given the order.
“Are you reinforcements from the town? There seem to be only three of you, what’s your rank!?”
More reinforcements were coming from the town, but it would still take time.
“Two B-ranks, and one C-rank!”
“Alright, I’ll leave it to you! Those who have used up their magic power, retreat, those who can still fight, reform the ranks!”
As far as I could see, the villagers had already been evacuated.
But if we didn’t stop it here, more people would die.
This Wyvern was abnormal.
“Katia-san, what are you going to do!?”
Neil and Fina dismounted and ran over to me.
I didn’t know why but that Wyvern was highly intelligent.
It neatly dodged the magic and targeted our openings after we attacked.
In fact, there were no signs it was coming down now.
There was an option to attack it while it was coming down, like before, but there was no guarantee that wouldn’t cause more victims.
If possible, I wanted to actively make the first move.
To do that, I needed to do something beyond the enemy’s expectations…
Hmm, considering the low defense of the Wyvern’s legs when I cut them…
It was not guaranteed to work, but even if it failed, it would at least buy us time.
I told the two of them my plan.
“Katia-chan, are you serious? Honestly, it just sounds like a stupid plan! It’s not buying time at all, and why are you making the first move!?”
Fina snapped at me.
Stupid, huh…
Well, it is, I guess.
“Is it to reduce the number of victims…? But, isn’t that dangerous for you alone, Katia-san?”
Neil seemed to have understood why I wanted to make the first move.
Fina gasped and looked around at the bodies.
Then, she frowned and looked like she was thinking deeply.
“…Let me ask you one thing, Katia-chan. You aren’t looking at your own life as less important than other people’s, are you?”
I appreciated her concern, but that was a needless worry.
The life I was carrying was “for two people.”
I had no intention of giving it up easily.
“It’s okay. I have no intention of dying at all.”
“…I believe you.”
She looked worried, but at least she understood.
Okay, let’s do this.
The Wyvern was still circling above.
The unit wasn’t ready yet.
“Don’t blame me if something happens!?”
“I should be able to reach it at this height. Anytime now.”
I was currently standing on the flat of Neil’s bastard sword.
It was awkward, but it couldn’t be helped.
Operation start!
“Haa-aaaaa!”
Neil spun with his Aura activated and used centrifugal force to throw me up into the sky with all his strength.
Even with a movement impossible in my past life, Aura made it possible.
I strengthened my leg strength with Aura and jumped in tandem.
My target was slightly above the Wyvern.
The tremendous wind pressure almost made me lose my balance.
The ground was getting farther away.
The Wyvern turned to face me.
Had it remembered the human who had cut off one of its legs?
“Guaaaah!!”
It shrieked and charged towards me, with a hint of pleasure in its roar.
It acted without caution, as if saying the sky was its own field.
The Wyvern approached with its mouth wide open.
“Giii!?”
Then, the Wyvern lost its balance.
Fina’s magic had hit it.
The raging wind magic made normal flight difficult.
Fina’s magic control was incredibly precise.
There was almost no magic effect on me, who was jumping nearby.
My plan, which was hardly even a plan, was to launch a decoy into the air to limit the Wyvern’s path and hit it with magic. It was a reckless move, but as a result, the Wyvern was now exposed in the sky.
If that was the case, there was only one thing to do.
It was a bit difficult to maintain my posture, but I braced my sword in both hands and channeled my Aura and magic power.
The torrent of power overflowing from my body was poured into the sword.
“Take this!”
I swung the black sword wrapped in flames down on the Wyvern’s head!
At the same time, the powerful wind created by the magic pushed me towards the Wyvern.
–Nice assist!
Without much resistance, the sword cut through the enemy.
The Wyvern, now separated into two pieces while scorching the cross-section, fell to the ground without even a scream.
