Calm down. I’m not in my own fief. It’d do me no good to cause trouble here. Furthermore, I wasn’t in particularly peak condition either. Sure, I’d recovered my mana considerably, but under normal circumstances, I had to recuperate and wait until I’d fully restored my mana. I couldn’t fire high-level spells in quick succession, much less use the ancient arts of my house. In fact, I’d easily burn through my mana if I rapid-fired intermediate spells without a second thought.
“To think there’d be a day where I was reluctant to use a mere intermediate spell,” I grumbled.
My current condition, where my mana was restricted, reminded me of Shadow Wolf Lofus who fought in the second act against the main character and his forces. I’d consumed a vast majority of my mana to unleash a massive horde of shadow wolves and topple the kingdom. As a result, I didn’t have enough mana to wield my ancient magic and advanced spells against my enemies. Had I been in top shape, I knew that I wouldn’t lose to that measly main character.
I wasn’t keen on reaching mana exhaustion ever again. I had a bad habit of letting my emotions get the best of me to make bold and brash decisions, and I knew better than anyone to refrain from such recklessness. And so, I decided to do a few more laps around the mountain in search of wyverns; if I couldn’t find any then, I’d come up with a different idea.
Hmph, I didn’t imagine wyverns to be so timid and sneaky. I wish they’d take a page or two from the sea monsters’ book and be a touch more aggressive...though I suspect that the Wicked Whale made those monsters more hostile than usual. Since wyverns could be tamed and domesticated, perhaps they were cowardly and amicable in contrast to their frightful appearance.
Just then, I felt a signal on my perception field. Finally, I managed to find a wyvern, but it seemed to have very little mana, and it was by the foot of the mountains, near humans. Needless to say, the mountains served as a home for other creatures and monsters as well, and I could sense various other mana signals, though they were feebler in comparison to a wyvern. The wyvern that was on my radar had very little mana and was clearly weak, but its characteristics were unmistakably draconic. Though this was in the middle of the night, the fact that it was near humans was less than desirable. Left with no other choice, I dropped my altitude and flew close to the ground to approach this mana presence.
“Huh? This wyvern is...” I muttered under my breath.
When I finally landed on the ground, a wyvern’s corpse lay before me. One of its wings was broken and tattered, implying that this beast didn’t die of old age. A white flower had been laid by its face like an offering.
“A flower? In this region?” I wondered.
I was a touch surprised to learn that flowers bloomed in this snowy region, and since it was offered here, someone must’ve visited this wyvern’s corpse to pay their respects. Perhaps this wyvern had been a knight’s steed in life, but my concern was that I was able to sense it all. Did I mistake the mana of this corpse as the wyvern that I was searching for? While corpses indeed still emitted mana, their wavelengths were different from those of living creatures, and I was certain that I’d sensed the mana of a live wyvern. Maybe I just made a mistake because the presence was so faint... No matter. Either way, a corpse is rather convenient for me—it saves me the trouble of capturing and killing a beast myself.
I gazed at the beast.
“Devour,” I chanted.
A dark void with countless eyes stretched out from my shadow and swallowed the wyvern corpse whole. A broken wing was of no concern to me; my Shadow Eater could repair any injuries and make the beast into my obedient shadow familiar. Once the wyvern was under my control, it got up, let out a massive roar, and turned to me.
Something’s...off.
I grimaced and instinctively jumped back, trusting my gut, and none too soon. A moment later, the wyvern opened its jaws wide and pounced, chomping down on where I stood earlier. Luckily, I avoided that attack, but if I’d ignored the alarm bells ringing in my head, my upper body would’ve been gobbled up.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
The wyvern glared at me and outstretched its regenerated wings. The fact that its injury was healed implied that it was under the effects of my Shadow Eater, but the dark shadow that tried to completely envelope the wyvern was pushed back as though the beast’s body were putting up some resistance. The wyvern fought back, its body now clear for the world to see, leaving only a bit of darkness in its restored wing—this creature’s will was powerful enough to resist my spell. This guy wasn’t dead... I’d heard that dragons and their ilk possessed great vitality, but I hadn’t expected this creature to still cling to life when it looked so clearly weak.
I’d always been told to not use Shadow Eater on the living, and this was the first time. I see... So, this is what happens when I use it on a living being. Not only did the creature refuse to listen to my orders, but it also steadily sapped away at what little mana I had left since it took my shadow spell to heal its wing. This wyvern might not be alive, but surely it was on the verge of death—did this foul beast even take my mana to replenish its fading life force and reinvigorate itself? Good grief... Cheeky little lizard. A sigh escaped my lips, but this was nothing more than an extra chore. I just had to kill a lizard was all, then make it my familiar.
“A chore is a chore, but not one that I can’t handle,” I said. “I’ll finish you off.”
I summoned my Dark Scythe in my hand and pointed it at the beast. Just as I was about to square off against the wyvern, another mana presence alerted me—this time, it belonged to a human.
“What the hell are you doing?!” a boy’s voice echoed.