Chapter 186: Wingless Wyvern

?The wyvern’s four golden eyes widened in shock.

?It had clearly expected its signature attack to vaporize its target, yet the human standing before it hadn’t taken a single step backward.

?With a furious, gutteral growl, the beast slammed one of its massive forelegs onto the bedrock, digging its talons into the stone as it poured every drop of its internal mana into expanding the beam.

?The surrounding rock walls began to crumble into slag.

?Yet Cassian remained entirely unmoved.

?The air in front of him continued to distort as his mana continuously reinforced the kinetic force.

Meanwhile, a dense shadow ring had quietly anchored itself around his right leg, locking him to the cavern floor to prevent him from being pushed back an inch.

?Cassian’s lips curled into a cold grin.

?"You can’t win a battle of attrition against me."

?His words were proven true a second later.

?The wyvern continued furiously pumping Light mana into its breath weapon, attempting to overwhelm the invisible barrier through sheer volume.

However, Cassian possessed Infinite Mana. The amount of energy he could pump into [Push] was functionally inexhaustible.

?The blinding beam gradually thinned.

?Then, with one final, dying flicker, the energy vanished completely.

?The moment the attack sputtered out, Nyxara moved.

?She had been waiting behind Cassian, watching the clash and tracking the beast’s energy drop.

Now that the creature had depleted its breath weapon, she surged forward in a purple blur, her scythe manifesting in her grip.

?She intended to sever its head before it could recharge.

?Closing the distance in a fraction of a second, she swung her weapon toward the wyvern’s neck in a lethal horizontal arc.

?CLANG!

?The creature reacted with frightening reflex.

?Its thick, armored tail whipped sideways, intercepting the scythe blade before it could reach the scales.

The collision produced a deafening metallic clang that rang through the cavern, sending Nyxara skidding backward.

?However, she instantly adjusted her posture.

?Her boots barely scraped the ground before she launched herself vertically into the air, narrowly dodging the wyvern’s descending foreleg.

?BOOM!

?The creature’s massive paw smashed into the bedrock where she had been standing a millisecond earlier, pulverizing the stone.

?Nyxara was already airborne above its head.

?Her violet eyes narrowed as she extended her free hand toward the ground.

?"Shadow Spikes."

?The shadows beneath the wyvern erupted in violent unison.

?Dozens of massive, pitch-black spikes shot upward from the floor, impaling the beast from multiple angles.

Several drove deep into its soft underbelly and joints, cracking through its pale scales.

?However, they failed to pierce straight through its body.

’?Its physical defense is impressive.’

?Nyxara didn’t waste a second trying to force her spikes deeper.

?Instead, she altered their composition on the fly.

?The pointed tips of the shadow spikes twisted and elongated, transforming into thick, liquid shadow tendrils that coiled tightly around the wyvern’s limbs and torso.

The tendrils pulled taut, binding the monster to the floor long enough for her to deliver the killing blow.

?With her scythe raised above her head, Nyxara plummeted.

?But the white wyvern wasn’t out of the fight.

?Its four golden eyes blazed as Light mana rapidly condensed inside its open jaws once again.

’?Already?!’

?Nyxara’s expression didn’t flinch.

?She had already committed to the dive, and abandoning her momentum now would give the monster a free shot at her mid-air.

?Besides, she wasn’t fighting alone.

?The next instant, space distorted violently beneath the beast.

?Cassian vanished from his spot, reappearing directly underneath the wyvern’s raised jaw.

?His blue eyes locked onto its glowing maw.

?"Push."

?A heavy wave of kinetic force slammed upward against its lower jaw.

?BOOOOM!

?The wyvern’s mouth was violently forced shut with a bone-snapping crash.

?The concentrated Light mana inside its throat had already reached terminal pressure.

With its jaws suddenly sealed, the compressed energy had nowhere to escape.

?For a microsecond, the creature’s four golden eyes widened in pure, horrific disbelief.

?Then—

?BOOOOOOOOOOM!

?The compressed Light blast detonated inside its skull.

?A catastrophic internal explosion erupted within the wyvern’s head, sending violent shockwaves tearing through its brain and eye sockets.

Its massive frame convulsed as its own radiant mana incinerated its internal organs.

?At the exact same instant, Nyxara’s scythe completed its descent.

?Dense shadows condensed around her blade, expanding into a massive, dark energy edge that stretched three times its original length.

The weapon sliced through the air with terrifying velocity.

?The wyvern’s neck was already fractured from the internal blast as Nyxara passed beneath its colossal body, landing gracefully in a low crouch as her scythe completed its follow-through.

?For a brief second, dead silence returned to the cavern.

?Then, the wyvern’s massive, smoking head slowly slid off its shoulders.

?THUD!

?The severed head struck the ground with a heavy crash, followed instantly by the collapse of its massive, pale body.

?The four golden eyes gradually faded into dull glass.

?The Three-Star Rare creature was dead.

....

Cassian stood over the corpse of the fallen wyvern, observing its massive body as the last traces of Light mana dissipated from its scales.

?A considerable amount of experience flowed toward Nyxara following the creature’s death.

The Undead Champion’s aura fluctuated slightly as she absorbed the energy, her cultivation benefiting directly from the kill.

?Cassian, however, was far more interested in the corpse itself.

?He extended his right hand.

?[Undead Summoning]

?[Undead Summoning Failed.]

?"..."

?Cassian stared at the notification before letting out a quiet, resigned sigh.

’?Just as I expected.’

?Every single entity they had slain since entering the Orion Rift had produced the exact same result.

Regardless of their grade or classification, [Undead Summoning] simply refused to take root.

’?There goes my chance of snagging a dragon-type construct for my legion.’

?It was a real shame. A Three-Star Rare creature with such absurd physical attributes would have made an exceptional front-line tank for his forces.

Even if its original Light attribute was fundamentally incompatible with his undead army, a quick [Fusion] could have produced a terrifying monstrosity.