Chapter 10

“Whew…”

The view from the edge of the sheer cliff was incredible.

“This is seriously no joke. It takes your breath away.”

The altitude was so high that her ears felt blocked.

Whoooosh-

The strong wind blew her hair wildly.

Anyone with a fear of heights probably wouldn’t even dare look down. They might already have wet themselves and started crying.

“If I fall, they probably won’t even find my body.”

Erica looked ahead.

Her view stretched wide and far. She could see all of Ruzis at once.

It was a magnificent sight.

As she looked at the spectacular scenery of nature, she wanted to simply stay there and watch the sun rise and set.

There was nowhere else where she could see a view like this.

Maybe this used to be one enormous mountain range in ancient times?

The terrain was that unusual.

The cliffs that rose here and there like giant spires looked bizarre.

Their shapes were all different, but their unbelievable height was enough to make her shiver.

Perhaps the Creator God had been bored one day and simply chopped a huge mountain range apart with the edge of his hand.

Come to think of it, Erica liked the strange terrain and landmarks of Ruzis, too.

There was only one thing she disliked.

The smell of monsters.

“Kieeeek!”

Whoosh-

A wyvern suddenly flew past right over her head.

“Whoa, shit. I almost lost my head.”

Her scalp felt cold.

She had almost gone to the afterlife while standing there absentmindedly admiring the scenery.

Erica quickly took the bow off her back.

She pulled the hem of her shirt and used the fabric to rub the bowstring and bow a few times.

Her shirt stretched, revealing her smooth abs, but there was nobody around to see her. And Erica wasn’t the kind of person who would care anyway.

After quickly finishing her usual bow maintenance, she secured the quiver tightly to her back and prepared to run.

Thirty arrows.

Wyvern requests were normally paid by the day.

There was no bonus for each wyvern she killed, but Erica had set herself a personal goal.

Use all thirty arrows for thirty perfect one-shot kills!

If I miss even one, I’ll skip dinner tonight.

It was the harshest promise she could make to herself.

That was what made it thrilling!

Erica looked around the sky.

Countless wyverns were flying around, beating their wings.

There!

She spotted her target ahead.

Tap-tap-tap!

Erica quickly began running.

She accelerated and jumped straight off the edge of the cliff.

Whoosh-

She flew through the air.

Thump!

She landed on the back of a wyvern.

“Grrrk? Kieeek!”

Whoooooosh-

The wyvern she had mounted flew through the sky, cutting through the wind.

It shook violently, trying to throw off the strange thing clinging to its back.

Then suddenly, it dropped straight down at incredible speed!

“Hnnngh!”

The fierce wind hit her so hard that she could barely breathe.

As they descended as if they were about to crash into the ground, Erica wrapped a rope around the wyvern’s neck and pulled.

The wyvern changed direction and shot upward into the sky again.

“……Hyaa!”

It was exhilarating.

The wind violently struck her cheeks.

She narrowed her eyes slightly.

The wind was so loud that her ears felt numb. The only sound she could hear clearly was the loud flapping of the wyvern’s wings.

Her long hair, tied high in a ponytail, streamed behind her like a tail.

Before she knew it, they had reached an unimaginably high altitude.

Being up in the sky made her stomach flutter, while every nerve in her body tingled with excitement.

The spectacle was on an entirely different level from the view she had seen from the cliff.

The people scattered across the ground looked like tiny dots.

No ordinary person could do this.

“What…? What is she planning to do while riding on a wyvern?”

Even half of the Ruzis Knights couldn’t do it, and none of the high-ranking mercenaries were crazy enough to risk their lives by jumping onto one.

If you fell, you died instantly.

And it didn’t end with death.

They wouldn’t even be able to find your body.

That was how incredibly high they were.

The pressure was insane. The altitude was so high that even her ears hurt.

Once they reached a certain flight path, the wyvern began flying more slowly.

Flap, flap.

They were right in the middle of the flock in the sky.

“Kwieek, grrr.”

Wyverns weren’t very intelligent.

They could quickly forget that there was something riding on their backs.

I picked a nice, simple-minded one.

They were surrounded by a huge flock of wyverns spread across the sky.

Wyverns flew rapidly around them, their thin wings beating against the air.

Kreeeek, krek, kieek.

Their cries sounded strange and eerie.

Erica’s ears were already numb from the high altitude, so the monsters’ cries weren’t particularly bothersome.

“Phew…”

Erica raised her bow.

She loaded an arrow and aimed into the air.

She took a deep breath.

Slowly, she pulled back the bowstring.

Even after it was fully drawn, she held her breath for a long moment.

The wyverns flew quickly without stopping.

An ordinary person’s eyesight couldn’t possibly track them.

But Erica had trained for this.

She could.

Bang!

The moment she released the bowstring, the arrow struck a distant wyvern directly in the neck.

Thud!

“Kieeeek!”

She heard the wyvern fall.

Immediately, she aimed at the next target.

Whoosh.

Thud!

“Kieek!”

Whoosh.

Thud!

“Kek! Guaak!”

She hit two more in a row.

Damn, I’m on fire today.

She didn’t even look at the wyvern corpses helplessly falling from the sky.

Instead, she loaded another arrow and aimed.

But then—

“……”

She lowered the bowstring again.

The wyvern she was riding was a living monster.

It didn’t move according to Erica’s wishes.

Once her target left her field of vision, it was difficult to find the right timing.

Swoosh.

Whoosh.

She helplessly circled through the sky several times.

She was watching the situation again when—

“……?”

She spotted an unusually large wyvern in the distance.

She raised her head.

It was flying even higher than Erica.

“What is that? Is it the king?”

It was twice the size of the other wyverns.

Its color was also strangely different.

The king of the wyverns? King Wyvern? No way. It must be a King Wyvern!

There was no such official scholarly name, but Erica gave it one anyway and began targeting the King Wyvern.

Come closer! A little closer!

She wished it would just come a little nearer.

She slowly drew her bowstring.

……This won’t work.

It was too far away.

Still, she couldn’t give up.

Fwoosh!

“Ah, shit!”

She missed.

The arrow flew through empty air by the narrowest margin, making her anxious.

She had promised herself that if she wasted even one arrow, she would skip dinner tonight.

But now she didn’t care about that at all.

I’m going to get that one.

I have to get it!

As if the wyvern had somehow heard her thoughts, the one she was riding began moving closer in that direction.

Before long, it positioned itself below the King Wyvern.

“Kwieek, grrr.”

It was still quite far away, but it was closer than before.

Erica slowly pulled the bowstring upward.

The icy wind slicing against her skin was brutal.

But Erica’s cold expression was even more frightening.

Will an arrow pierce its belly?

Wyverns had thick hides.

Their necks were relatively thin, which was why Erica usually aimed for their necks.

She had never tried shooting one from underneath, aiming at its belly.

Will the arrow even stick in its stomach?

What if it just bounces off?

What if it runs away?

Would it be better to wait and aim for its neck?

Under the enormous shadow of the wyvern, Erica was briefly lost in thought.

Then—

Crack!

“Kieeeek!”

Splash!

Suddenly, blood sprayed through the air.

A red rain scattered across her entire field of vision.

“……?”

The King Wyvern let out a scream so loud it felt like her eardrums were being torn apart.

“Kieeeek!”

Crack!

Splash!

Red blood sprayed out again like a wave.

Drops of the monster’s blood landed on Erica’s face below.

“Kek… kieeek……”

Flap.

The King Wyvern began falling helplessly.

It plummeted toward the ground.

A sword was stuck in the top of its head, right where the red blood was spraying.

A sword?

Erica stared blankly at the sight.

Then—

Clang!

Suddenly, someone jumped down onto Erica’s wyvern.

From behind her.

Erica was startled.

“……?!”

She quickly turned her head.

A man had jumped onto the wyvern and was sitting behind her, pulling her into his arms as if protecting her.

“……?”

“Hello.”