Chapter 281: Wyvern That Wouldn’t Bow

Victor continued observing the enormous Wyvern in front of him while she kept her body lowered, wings partially open and eyes fixed on him. The difference in size was almost ridiculous. Even among the other creatures he had seen in that mountain range, that female seemed to belong to another category. The bony plates covering her neck were thick, her claws had easily sunk into the rock and there was still blood from the two Wyverns she had devoured dripping from her teeth.

"So how exactly do I tame something like that?" Victor asked while keeping his hands relaxed at his sides and quickly glancing at Rowena.

Rowena simply shrugged, making it clear there was no elaborate method hidden behind taming those creatures.

"Beat her until she submits of her own free will." Fafnir replied with complete naturalness while examining the Wyvern from head to tail. "And don’t use Gram. She’s a Dragon Slayer. If you hit that thing properly, you won’t tame anything because you’ll kill her."

Victor nodded and was about to ask how much he would need to beat a creature that size before it considered someone worthy when the Wyvern simply disappeared from her position.

She had not used magic. It was pure speed.

Victor saw the enormous head appear in front of him at the same instant the jaws opened, but he did not have enough time to completely get out of the way.

The teeth closed around his torso.

The sound of breaking bones echoed through the cave as the bite tore through ribs, organs and spine all at once. The upper half of Victor’s body was ripped away from his legs and thrown several meters to the side, spreading blood across the ground.

For a few seconds, the Wyvern merely observed the two halves of the prey she had just killed.

Victor did too.

"Being a Vampire really is great." Victor murmured while looking at his own legs still standing several meters away and seeming far more impressed by the practicality of regeneration than concerned about having been torn in half.

The upper half of his body exploded into dozens of black bats. His legs did the same shortly afterward, and the swarm spread through the cave before gathering again several meters behind the creature.

Flesh, bones and clothing reappeared together.

By the time Victor completely recovered his human form, Lilith was already appearing in his hand.

The blood sword lengthened and gained consistency until assuming its usual form. Victor rotated his wrist once and then pointed the blade at the Wyvern.

"Let’s make one thing clear. You’re going to become my mount or you’re going to become a coat." Victor warned while a smile began to appear on his face. "The choice is yours."

The answer came as another roar.

Victor released his entire aura.

Black Ice immediately spread across the cave floor, climbing the walls and freezing the surrounding rocks. Lightning began jumping from his body, striking the ground and opening small craters, while White Fire appeared around his arms and shoulders.

The pressure pushed away the bones scattered across the floor.

The Wyvern did not seem even slightly intimidated.

She charged again.

Victor raised Lilith to block, but realized at the instant of impact that he had made a rather simple mistake: it did not matter how superior his technique was if a creature weighing several tons simply decided to run him over.

The Wyvern’s head slammed into him violently.

Victor went flying out of the cave entrance and crossed dozens of meters before striking the wall of another peak. The rock shattered around his body and opened a wide crater, but he barely had time to free himself before seeing the creature’s enormous shadow appear in front of the sun.

"This is much better." Victor commented while climbing out of the rubble and realizing that now he had enough space to fight without destroying the entire cave in a few seconds.

White flames exploded from his back.

They did not take the shape of vampiric wings. Instead, two large wings of fire formed behind him, resembling the structure of a Phoenix. Victor opened them once and his body shot upward.

The Wyvern came from the opposite direction.

Victor narrowly avoided the first bite, passed over the creature’s head and spun in the air. Lilith became covered by a thick layer of Black Ice and, immediately afterward, lightning began running across the entire blade.

He brought the strike down against her neck.

The explosion was strong enough to throw the Wyvern against a nearby rock formation. Part of the mountain gave way from the impact, scattering enormous stones across the valley.

Victor remained in the air while observing the result.

There was a cut between the scales.

It was not deep, but it had pierced the protection.

The Wyvern stood again and looked at her own blood before raising her head toward Victor.

The next roar was much more irritated.

"Now you’re paying attention to me." Victor commented while adjusting Lilith’s position and opening the wings of fire again.

The creature launched herself into the sky.

Victor did the same.

The two collided in the air and began crossing the space between the mountains in a succession of attacks. The Wyvern tried to use her size and strength to restrict his movements, while Victor compensated for the physical difference with speed.

A claw passed so close to his face that the wind opened a cut on his cheek.

Victor dove beneath the paw and cut between the scales.

The creature twisted her body and used her tail.

Victor saw the attack too late.

The tail struck his side with enough force to crush several ribs and tear off an entire arm.

He was thrown away while blood scattered through the air.

Before he even stabilized his flight, a new arm began to grow. The bones appeared first, followed by muscle and skin, until within a few seconds the limb was completely rebuilt.

The Wyvern was already coming again.

Victor extended his free hand.

"Let’s see if you can get through this too." Victor said while an enormous amount of Black Ice appeared in the space between them.

The first wall was destroyed immediately.

The second too.

At the third, the creature’s speed finally dropped.

Victor disappeared from her field of vision and appeared above her back.

Lilith came down between two bony plates.

The blade went in.

The Wyvern roared and began spinning violently in the air, but Victor kept both hands on the hilt.

Then she folded her wings.

The two plummeted.

Victor realized what was happening too late.

The Wyvern turned her body just before striking the slope of a mountain and placed Victor between her back and the rocky wall.

The impact destroyed an entire section of the peak.

Rocks collapsed while the creature moved away again.

For a few seconds, there was no sign of Victor.

Then Black Lightning tore through the rubble.

He emerged from the mountain with half his face destroyed, part of his skull exposed and one eye missing. By the time he finished opening his wings, his regeneration had already rebuilt practically everything.

"She learns fast." Victor commented while wiping away the blood still remaining at the corner of his mouth and looking at the creature again.

"She didn’t get that big by being stupid." Fafnir replied while following the fight through their bond and analyzing the Wyvern’s movements. "That female has probably ruled these mountains for decades."

"That explains the two idiots who became snacks." Rowena added while watching the creature circle through the sky. "They probably brought their fight into her territory and she decided to end the argument."

Victor smiled and attacked again.

This time, he began using his speed much more aggressively.

The wings of fire compressed and then exploded backward, propelling him like a projectile. He passed along the Wyvern’s side and opened another cut across her back. Before she could react, Victor changed direction, appeared beneath her body and struck the abdomen.

Black Ice spread through the wound.

A bolt of lightning fell immediately afterward.

The Wyvern was launched several meters upward.

Victor followed.

The next strike hit one of her wings.

Then another struck the rear leg.

The creature tried to pursue him, but soon realized she would not be able to win that way. Victor was too small and too fast to be easily grabbed.

She then completely changed strategy.

Instead of continuing to chase him, she dove toward the ground.

Victor followed while keeping some distance.

The Wyvern nearly touched the valley before opening her wings with all her strength.

A wave of air swept across the region.

Dust, rocks and trees were thrown upward all at once, creating an enormous cloud that covered the entire area.

Victor lost sight of the creature.

That was enough.

A gigantic head emerged from the middle of the dust.

The jaws closed around him again.

This time, the Wyvern began shaking her head to destroy the body trapped between her teeth.

Victor felt ribs, shoulders and part of his spine breaking.

Even so, he did not release Lilith.

"You still haven’t understood the part where this doesn’t work very well on me." Victor said while rotating the sword and driving the blade directly into the roof of the creature’s mouth.

Black Ice exploded inside her.

The Wyvern immediately opened her jaws.

Victor fell several meters before regaining control of his wings.

The creature backed away while roaring and trying to remove the ice that was beginning to spread inside her mouth.

"You’re slowly learning manners." Victor commented while observing her reaction and recovering from the damage caused by the bite.

"You have a rather strange definition of manners." Fafnir replied with a short laugh.

The fight continued.

Victor lost track of the exact amount of time after that.

The confrontation crossed practically that entire section of the mountain range. Every time the Wyvern tried to crush him using some rock formation, Victor answered by breaking another section of her scales. Every time he tried to get too close, he received a claw, a tail or a bite capable of mutilating his body.

The difference was simple.

Victor recovered everything.

The Wyvern did not.

Little by little, the wounds began accumulating on her.

Part of the right wing was torn. There were deep cuts on her legs, neck and beneath the belly. Some of the bony plates had broken, leaving more vulnerable areas exposed.

Even so, she did not retreat.

Victor began to like her even more because of that.