WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 106: Wyvern’s Den
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‘Wow!’
It was my first time seeing a wyvern up close.
And this net gun was even more effective than I had imagined.
The net expanded to an incredible size, completely tangling up one wing of that massive wyvern.
The net alone would have been nothing special, but I could clearly see something else. Something like a Magic Stone was embedded in the center of the net.
Complex Rune Language symbols were engraved on it.
-It reads Manus Impulse. That is an application of the inscription magic I taught.
I know!
Blue sparks burst from the net wrapped around the wyvern’s wing.
It was definitely lightning magic meant to electrocute its target.
Of course, it was nothing compared to Heavenly Thunder Decree, but it was effective enough.
“Gwoooooo!”
The wyvern let out a thunderous scream and plummeted.
Thanks to the blue sparks, the humans could probably see it clearly too.
It was a truly terrifying sight.
It was the one I had seen earlier. It had been quietly clinging to one of the stone pillars, waiting for the humans.
“It, it was lying in ambush...!”
That meant the wyvern’s intelligence was far from low.
It had realized this was a place where humans might rest and hidden here in advance. The adventurers’ faces turned pale.
Still, they couldn’t possibly fight something that large with just one net gun.
I scribbled on a piece of paper and held it in front of Jericho’s face.
‘Don’t worry about me. Fire more net guns.’
Jericho nodded despite being flustered.
Then it was my turn.
“Gwooh, guok!”
The electrocuted wyvern forced itself up.
The net didn’t look flimsy, but when it forced its wing open, the mesh snapped apart with a crackle.
It flapped its wings.
It was clearly trying to take off.
‘It can fly despite being that big.’
Its body began to rise slowly.
I couldn’t let it fight in the air.
*「You use Heart-Eating Leap Lv. 3.」
I leaped at its exposed chest, intending to tear out its heart.
But a wyvern wasn’t an easy opponent.
Its long snout whipped toward me.
I barely avoided being bitten.
Instead of its heart, I bit down near its shoulder.
Crunch!
Rather than sinking straight in, my fangs barely managed to pierce its flesh.
Even injecting venom was difficult. Its hide and muscles had to be incredibly tough.
Still, seeing it up close made one thing clear.
I’d thought wyverns would resemble dragons, but at least their heads didn’t.
Its overall silhouette was like the dragons from my imagination, but from its neck to its head, it looked exactly like a snake.
In other words, it was like a strange snake relative with wings and legs.
“Gwooooh!”
A snake should go, “Sss!”
Gwooh? You fail at being a snake.
One of a snake’s defining features was its extremely flexible muscles.
The wyvern was no exception.
It curled its neck around to snap at me, even though I was hanging from its shoulder.
Boom!
When its teeth clamped down where I’d been, it sounded like thunder.
I barely dodged, climbed over its shoulder, and clung to its back.
Sharp spikes ran along its spine.
Then it bent its neck backward like it was doing the limbo.
It didn’t bite me, but its head slammed into me and sent me flying.
I landed after rolling once across the ground.
Twitch, twitch.
‘Isil, are you okay!’
Isil was firmly attached to my body.
Fortunately, rolling across the ground hadn’t crushed their leaves or vines. Isil was much sturdier than they looked.
The adventurers did their part as well.
“Fire!”
They raised their net guns and fired them at the wyvern all at once.
Boom, boom, boom!
Three nets wrapped around the wyvern in an instant.
Crackle!
Sparks burst as the wyvern writhed in pain.
Its Lightning Resistance clearly wasn’t high, but it showed no signs of collapsing or dying.
This was why monsters were dangerous.
“Gwooooo!”
But I still had plenty of moves left.
*「You use Transparent Hand Lv. 13.」
A longsword cut through the darkness.
It flew toward the wyvern’s neck.
Thud!
Considering how sharp Sunset was, it was surprising that only a third of the blade sank in.
It was incredibly tough.
Cutting through its neck by force would be even harder.
For now, this was enough.
I charged at it.
The creature slammed its head down, as if trying to crush me.
*「You use Acceleration Lv. 7.」
Dodged!
Boom!
It slammed its face into the ground so hard that dirt erupted behind it.
In that opening, I managed to slip beneath its body, between its legs.
If the net guns weren’t enough to bring it down...
*「You use Heavenly Thunder Decree Lv. 2.」
Then I just had to call down stronger lightning.
The horrible drawback of Heavenly Thunder Decree was that the lightning struck me too.
After Isil began clinging to my body, I’d spent a long time thinking of a way around that.
Lightning came from the sky.
So if I got under the enemy and stuck a lightning rod into it, wouldn’t that solve the problem?
This scientific experiment was a huge success.
Krrrrraaaack!
It wasn’t some little crackle. A far more explosive sound rang out.
The adventurers screamed and covered their eyes.
Instead of striking me, the lightning hit the longsword embedded in the wyvern’s neck.
The powerful electric shock paralyzed its body, making it go stiff.
Blood trickled down.
When I came out from beneath it, the wyvern was frozen in place on two legs.
Something that might have been smoke or steam rose from its body.
Every adventurer except Pandan and Jericho was clutching their eyes.
Pathetic!
Anyway, I thought I’d taken down the wyvern.
The problem was, no Magical Essence was being absorbed.
Wriggle.
It began moving.
It was still alive.
It used its wings like legs and tried to escape. It was faster than I expected.
Unable to let it get away, I jumped up and bit down on the hilt of the sword still stuck in its neck...
Sizzle!
Ah!
My mouth burned fiercely.
The sword had heated up from the lightning.
I had no choice but to let go, and just as I was about to fall again, Isil stepped in.
Whiiish!
Isil, who had been attached to my body, shot out their vines.
The long strands wrapped tightly around the sword’s hilt.
They had Flame Immunity, so this much heat didn’t seem to bother them.
‘Good job!’
After landing, I braced myself against the ground to hold on.
‘Damn.’
The difference in size was too great.
I gripped the sword tightly, but I could only get dragged along.
I was wondering whether I should use Giantification when...
“Argh!”
“Hurry up and help! Pull!”
The adventurers rushed over.
Then they grabbed my body with both hands and started pulling.
This wasn’t a tug-of-war.
‘That hurts!’
Still, the effect was excellent.
The sword was buried in the wyvern’s neck, and we pulled hard.
Crack, crunch!
The sharp meteoric iron sword finally split through the wyvern’s hide and neck bones.
Splurt!
Blood spurted out as the wyvern’s massive body tipped over.
Dust burst up from the impact.
Finally.
*「You have defeated ‘Gray Horn Wyvern Lv. 97.’」
*「You absorb Magical Essence.」
Was it because Isil and I were so close?
I could clearly feel the Magical Essence gained from the hunt being shared with Isil as well.
It didn’t seem to be shared with the adventurers.
*「Your level has increased.」
*「Your level has increased.」
Even after sharing Magical Essence with Isil, the amount was no joke.
I leveled up twice in an instant.
As expected, killing one big creature like a wyvern was a hundred times better than picking off little termites.
‘Still, that wasn’t easy.’
-Wyverns are never easy monsters. They are especially dangerous when they attack in groups.
Pelerian said so.
Come to think of it, if I’d been alone, or if there’d been even one more wyvern, it would have been dangerous.
‘Why did you build a Dungeon in a place like this, old man?’
Pelerian’s Dungeon lay even farther beyond the Blade Pillar Zone.
-Because it is a bitch to enter. That way, not just anyone can get in.
‘Fair enough... But how did you get in here?’
The Dungeon in Delphram didn’t need to worry about intruders.
Wyverns guarded the skies, while termites guarded the ground.
Then how had Pelerian entered the Dungeon?
-What do you mean, how? I used invisibility magic and flew in.
Invisibility and Flight magic.
They were advanced spells I had yet to learn.
Deep down, I felt the path of the magic swordsman really was the right one for me.
I needed to study magic seriously too.
Pelerian would have been pleased to hear that.
But I never got the chance to tell him.
“Gwoooooo!”
“Gwoooook!”
Wyvern roars echoed through the dark night sky.
“There, there are more!”
The adventurers stared in shock.
We had killed one Gray Horn Wyvern, but it hadn’t been alone.
‘I figured there would be at least one more.’
There was a reason I hadn’t attacked by surprise at the start.
Its description had listed the trait, ‘Mated Pair.’
That meant another wyvern might be nearby, didn’t it?
But I’d been wrong.
“Gwo!”
-That must be the wife.
One was as large as the wyvern we had just killed.
“Grrrrele.”
“Gwegegegegek!”
And there were three others, a little smaller but still threatening.
They weren’t a pair. They were a family.
Four more wyverns had joined the fight.
Even Giantification would be dangerous now.
There was only one answer.
‘Ruuuunn!’
“Run!”
We had no choice but to run for our lives.
I climbed onto the adventurer who seemed to have the fastest legs.
It was Pandan’s shoulder.
“By His Imperial Majesty!”
Pandan used an expression typical of an Imperial citizen.
The easygoing air that seemed to be his trademark was nowhere to be seen.
“Net guuun!”
At Jericho’s shout, the adventurers hurriedly loaded their net guns.
There were four net guns in total.
All four had been fired once earlier.
Their design was far from modern. They were muzzle-loaders that had to be loaded through the barrel.
They weren’t gunpowder weapons, so I didn’t know the exact mechanism, but the adventurers were desperately trying to shove the projectiles into the muzzles while running.
Jericho loaded his gun the fastest.
Boom!
One of the young wyverns was hit by a net.
It fell, but it definitely hadn’t been killed.
Boom, boom!
The other two fired their net guns too.
This time, neither shot hit anything.
The wyverns dodged through the air, avoiding the nets.
The dead wyvern’s mate swooped down viciously.
The adventurer loading the last net gun panicked.
“Ah!”
And foolishly dropped the projectile.
The wyvern seized that opening.
Smash!
The wyvern dove down and rose again.
The adventurer who’d been there was gone.
“Argh!”
The scream grew distant.
The wyvern flew high into the sky, then dropped the adventurer it had been carrying.
It was a long fall.
Then the screaming stopped.
The wyvern didn’t even spare a glance for the adventurer, now reduced to a lump of meat. It flew back toward us.
I fired a Beam at it, just in case.
It didn’t budge.
‘Even Beam doesn’t work.’
Its hide had been tough enough to resist a sword.
It would be difficult to hurt it with ordinary Beam, not Destruction Beam.
I was fine, but the adventurers were terrified.
“Fuck, fuck!”
Even Jericho cursed.
Then it happened.
A streak of hope rose into the night sky.
Apparently, hope was red.
The glowing red line in the distance was clearly a signal flare.
I didn’t know who fired it, but it had to be safer than the wyverns.
“That way! Run!”
The adventurers ran like mad.
The wyverns managed to snatch one straggler.
The young ones tore into the poor adventurer in midair, shredding him apart.
The organs he had treasured his entire life fell with his blood.
“This way, over here!”
A hooded figure waited where the signal flare had been fired.
Jericho and Pandan’s expressions brightened.
He was an adventurer.
Pandan and Jericho had come to support those adventurers, but the adventurers had ended up rescuing them instead.
He was waving in front of a large hole in the ground.
It was a gesture telling us to come inside.
If that was a termite burrow, it would only be large enough for one person to barely fit through.
But the adventurers had no time to hesitate.
They jumped into the burrow one after another.
The waiting adventurer went first, followed by Jericho, then Pandan and me.
“Gweee!”
The wyvern arrived too late and desperately tried to shove its head into the hole.
*「You use Beam Lv. 3.」
I couldn’t inflict a fatal wound, but I could at least make it hurt.
Unable to catch us, the wyvern roared in fury.
“Gweeeeeeek!”
The inside of the burrow rang with the roar.
“Huff, huff...”
Jericho and Pandan panted heavily.
In an instant, all their companions had died, leaving only the two of them.
“Jericho!”
The man who had led us removed his hood.
“...Jakob!”
Jericho recognized him in surprise.
“So you were the one who came as support!”
But Jakob didn’t look happy at all.
“Don’t tell me you two are all that’s left?”
“No. Everyone else died.”
“They all died? Where’s the mage? The mage who can use invisibility! The mage we asked to be sent as support!”
So they had made that request.
But as far as I knew, there had been no mage in the group.
“There was never a mage to begin with.”
“What the fuck are you talking about!”
Jakob screamed.
Now that I looked at him, he wasn’t in a normal state either.
His entire body was caked in grime. His bloodshot eyes and trembling hands made that clear.
“Why did only you people come!”
“You know there are only so many high-level mages available.”
“Damn it, we’re all dead now!”
Jakob finally began shedding tears.
The mood grew heavy.
Pandan broke the silence.
“...Where are we?”
He asked exactly what I’d been wondering.
Yeah, where were we?
At first, I thought it was a termite burrow, but it wasn’t.
Stone covered the floor, and a long passage stretched into the darkness.
“...It’s an underground ruin we discovered. We came in here to escape the wyverns.”
“There’s a place like this... But why are the wyverns rampaging?”
“Because we half-succeeded at the mission...”
What did that mean?
“Luckily, we found this place and hid, but... We don’t even know what this ruin is for.”
“At least it should be safe from the wyverns.”
“Yeah. Come on, the rest of the party is deeper inside.”
Still, their bad luck didn’t seem to end there.
I asked Pelerian to make sure.
‘What is this place?’
-I have never seen it either. Still, if I read this roughly...
Ancient ruins always had something written in them.
And Pelerian and I could read the writing on the walls.
‘Wyvern’s Altar?’
That was the name of the ruin where the adventurers had hidden from the wyverns.
Footnotes:
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