Chương 86: I'm Definitely Catching That One

The leader did not descend immediately. It circled above the ridge once more. Aurora light spread through the inner membrane whenever its wings moved. It was not beautiful light. The color could exist only after chewing and swallowing reindeer antlers and wolf blood. Kichan tightened his grip on the wake-up rod.

"I'm definitely catching that one." Riphiel held her bow but could not fire. The leader flew on a different level from the others. In the space of one fold and spread of its wings, it changed direction two or three times. It seemed to step on the air itself rather than shallow snow. The saber-toothed tiger growled low. The leader's gaze remained fixed on it—a large living beast, muscular, hot-blooded prey. With the reindeer gone, it was the next size worth biting. Kichan stepped in front of the tiger at once.

"Not that one." The leader dropped from the sky. Wind struck their faces first. Valkyrie spread a shield, but the wing blast alone tore its edges. Riphiel's arrow was blown aside, and the saber-toothed tiger crouched. Kichan did not meet it head-on. At the last instant, he twisted and raised the wake-up rod toward the base of one horn. The hit landed. The leader's weight was greater. Gold burst from the end of the rod, and Kichan's boots cut long trenches through the snow.

"Ah. Heavy." A forefoot came down immediately. Kichan rolled aside, and claws split even the earth beneath the ice. The saber-toothed tiger bit the flank, but the scales were too thick. The leader turned its head. Its teeth went for the tiger's neck. Riphiel inhaled. Elvish again. Shorter this time, but sharper. What kind of beast descended from the sky only to chew reindeer horns? Even a winged pig ate more cleanly than that. The leader's head turned. Argaon laughed softly.

"Faster this time."

"This is not the time for praise!" Riphiel was already retreating diagonally toward Kichan. The leader banked after her, turning away from the saber-toothed tiger and toward him. Kichan smiled at the sight.

"Good. Come here." This time, he did not strike immediately. He studied the leader's chest and the space beneath its wings. Thick, heavy flesh with an oddly rich layer of fat. Kichan suddenly looked at Argaon.

"Hey. Ever had fried chicken?" Argaon's eyes narrowed.

"What is fried chicken?" Riphiel nearly screamed.

"Is this the time for that conversation?"

"You'd better not eat any later."

"We must survive before we can eat!" Argaon looked at the leader, then back at Kichan.

"What is it?" Kichan adjusted his grip.

"Where I come from, there are people who've never tried it, but no one who eats it only once." Argaon's eyes changed by the smallest degree.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Make its body heavier." Argaon asked nothing more. He flicked one finger. The moisture in the sky descended at once. Not powdery snow, but water. Cold streams covered the leader's back, wings, and neck together. They were not forceful as a waterfall, but left no time to dodge. Water seeped between its scales, into the grain of its wing membrane, and beneath the bases of its horns. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The leader's wings grew heavy.

One wing sagged as it opened, lowering the body half a beat. The wyvern screamed in fury, aurora light slick across its wet scales. Kichan charged at that instant.

"Die!" The shout warped before it fully left his mouth. It began in Kichan's voice, but somewhere in the middle it rang like song. Wind across the plain stopped for one instant. Gold gathered at the tip of the wake-up rod. The light became lightning. Kichan had not expected it either.

"Huh?" Lightning leaped from the end of the rod. It struck the soaked wyvern directly. Boom! The leader convulsed. Its wing membrane froze halfway open, while blue and gold burst between the scales. Aurora light cracked at the horn bases. A strangled scream tore from its mouth. The saber-toothed tiger instinctively backed away. Valkyrie shot into the shelter of Kichan's sleeve. Riphiel froze with her bowstring drawn.

"Did you just summon lightning?" Kichan looked at the tip of the wake-up rod. A thin layer of gold remained.

"I don't know." Argaon studied the wet wyvern and asked with complete seriousness,"Is this how fried chicken is normally prepared?"

"No. Normally, you use oil."

"Then what is this?" Kichan looked at the collapsing leader. Blue blood ran between the wet scales. The inner wing membrane flashed silver-white. One branch of its horn carried a deep crack.

"A first sear?" Riphiel muttered very softly.

"This is driving me mad." The leader trembled where it had crashed into the snow. It was not fully dead, but had lost the strength to fly again. Kichan approached immediately. When he raised the wake-up rod, gold gathered quietly at the tip this time.

"Stay still. You'll ruin the materials." The leader twisted. Kichan aimed at the base of the horn. Boom. The crack sounded clearly. One branch of the horn broke away and flew across the snow. The wyvern's head snapped sideways and dug into the ground. Cold light emerged from the broken face before blood. Fine green and blue lines mixed through the dark red liquid. Dust shot from the bag.

"Hey." Before Kichan could catch it, Dust climbed onto the broken horn. Then it looked at the bloodstained snow, the torn membrane, and the leader's teeth in turn. Its small body shook with indecision. Kichan smiled.

"You like it too." Riphiel saw the smile and took one step back. The leader never rose again. The saber-toothed tiger held down its flank, while a thin shield from Valkyrie covered the lower neck. The remaining wyverns retreated to the ridge. Argaon had not even revealed his true form, yet the sky went quiet. Kichan picked up the broken horn. Blue light slowly circulated inside the cross-section. The tips of the teeth shone white, and the inner membrane carried silver-white grain.

When he caught the blood in a bottle, green and blue lights trembled over the red base.

"Useful?" Argaon examined it briefly.

"It does not compare to dragon blood."

"Dragon blood? That's your blood." Argaon covered his mouth too late. Kichan's gaze slowly moved to him.

"Let us not discuss that." Argaon continued quickly.

"It can rival dragon blood in the right application. It is cold that holds light. It clings rather than flows. Too coarse to mix directly with dragon material, but used properly, it will save your dragon-horn powder." Kichan's expression immediately recovered.

"Then it's good enough." Riphiel opened her mouth in disbelief, then closed it.

"You were extremely angry only moments ago."

"The materials got better."

"Does that resolve everything so quickly?"

"All's well that ends well." Kichan spoke as though it were obvious and began with the horn. He extracted teeth, cut only the intact inner grain from the wing membrane, and changed bottles repeatedly to catch every drop of blood. When the saber-toothed tiger approached at the smell of meat, Kichan raised a palm.

"Don't tear into it raw. I need to examine its properties first." The tiger snorted in complaint. Valkyrie touched the light gathered on a horn fragment and retreated when a cold ripple spread. Dust hugged the smallest chip of horn. Kichan picked it up at once.

"That one really isn't yours." Dust tightened two legs around it. Kichan knocked on the scales over the leader's chest, then stopped.

"Should I check the belly too?" Riphiel looked exhausted.

"Are you truly going to examine everything?"

"Coming this far and missing something would annoy me more." For once, Argaon reached out before being asked. His fingertips touched inside the leader's rib cage, revealing where faint light had gathered beneath the scales.

"Something has condensed beside the heart." Kichan raised his head.

"The things it ate hardened there?"

"Something like that. Aurora snow and beast blood accumulated for a long time. It will be small."

"Small is fine." Kichan changed knives and opened the space between the ribs. More blood came, but he was prepared this time. He caught it beneath a small bowl fragment rather than letting it spill. The flesh inside was tougher and colder than expected. Deep between the ribs, his hand found a hard lump. When he pulled it free, he held a translucent core the size of a marble. Threads of aurora light were trapped within. Kichan grinned.

"This is real." Riphiel studied the translucent core.

"A wyvern heart is very valuable, though not equal to a dragon heart." Argaon looked down at his own chest. He nodded reluctantly.

"Not dragon-grade, but close enough." Kichan looked quite pleased.

"Close is enough." He arranged the horn, teeth, blood, core, wing membrane, and flank hide in front of the magic bag. The loss of entire reindeer and wolf herds still bothered him, but the trip had not been wasted. He had gained materials stranger and more expensive than expected. Riphiel pressed one hand to her head.

"Do people not normally feel relief after surviving a crisis?" Kichan raised the bottle toward the sunless sky. Light trembled thinly through the blood. Only then did he answer.

"With Argaon and you here? What's there to worry about?"