Mistress Of The Evil Forest

Case 166: Dominance.

According to the owls I just met, for whatever reason, those wyverns have been multiplying rapidly these past few years. Because of that, more and more of them now travel near and deeper into the snowy forest to hunt, threatening the animals' safety.

Up until now, other species of monsters were competing with the wyverns, but it seems the balance has been broken.

Now, of course, it is not my business to interfere in nature's selection, but this concerns my distant... relatives, one could say, so I feel an obligation to help.

''I'm sure you want some actions, too, yeah?''

Hm... I think Blob is saying 'yes.'

In any case, it is undeniable that the experience coming from defeating the wyverns is desirable—not for me, but for Blob. I read that our enemies this time have an average level of around thirty to forty-five, which I can't really benefit from. It'll be an excellent field for my friends, though.

HOOT—! 

''Are we almost there?''

At my words, the big owl gingerly nods, blinking its round eyes a few times. This one and the others... they're quite friendly toward me, huh?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Several minutes following that exchange, we finally reach a slope noticeable enough to be conscious of. We're starting to ascend.

When I look up, an intimidating height greets me. The slithering wind running amok seems to have caused a faint fog, obstructing the top even without the presence of clouds. No, considering my excellent eyesight, there might be something else.

''What do we do now?''

Climbing the mountain isn't exactly hard, but the question is how can we find the targets. When I tug at the owl's feather, it nonchalantly turns to me and lets out a mysterious 'coo.'

Ah, I see now.

From a distance, I can hear some faint shrieks that get louder by the second. A group of something is flying toward us, and they aren't trying to hide their presence at all.

Is it arrogance or simply ignorance?

Well, it doesn't change the fact that the lizards approaching us have already recognized us as their prey. As the twenty or so wyverns enter my range of visual perception, I can see that they are significantly smaller than dragons, with an almost scrawny-like touch to their appearances, yet largely lizards.

HOOT—!

The big owl immediately realizes a fighting stance upon seeing them, flaring out its wings and lowering its body. It must look quite fierce to ordinary humans, but I think it's very cute.

Either way, we should leave one wyvern to guide us to the others, too, right?

''Stay back.''

As I step forward, bringing forth my mana forte that is sleeping within my veins, a powerful burst of power fills my entire body; some of it escapes and burns in the air a mystique blue.

I reach into my spatial inventory, pulling out a slender sword the color of the void. At my will, the blazing mana turns into bitter frost, embedding deep into the blade's bone.

''Hah...''

An empowering sensation—like the world itself is beneath my steps.

It has been a while, ice.

Let's freeze the world together.

With a single swing of my sword, the essence of glaze bursts out in a half-circle, shining a cold silver blue in the dark sky. Splitting the air diagonally, it travels at the speed of a bullet toward the horde of wyverns. 

Some keen ones immediately push themselves away, while the others face the slash head-on. Since the frost is already condensed, the collision breaks it apart, essentially setting off a blast illuminating the sky.

Caged in thick ice cubes with their head split into halves, the prey fall helplessly onto the ground, unmoving.

[You have defeated a Lv.36 Khruse Wyvern]

[You have defeated a Lv.41 Khruse Wyvern]

[You have defeated a Lv.39 Khruse Wyvern]

[You have defeated a—]

Before the remaining two can escape, I simply direct my [Domination] at them, forcing their wings to succumb and move toward us.

HOOT...

''It's nothing, really.''

My owl friend seems quite impressed.

Nevertheless, we soon have the wyverns in front of us. Even though their faces aren't very expressive, they still appear frightened. It's interesting. 

Now then, how should I go about extracting information from these guys...

For one, I should have a definitive method instead of trying to luck it out this time. If we are going to hunt them down drastically, this is the efficient way. One will lead us to another horde or two, and they will then lead us to others.

''...''

What about... Blob?

As I look at Blob, Blob also looks at me. Without me uttering a single word, the creature seems to have already understood my intention.

After that, it proudly steps forward—in a not-so-deer-like manner—toward the wyverns. Although Blob is nominally a deer in appearance, which means it is significantly smaller than these lizards, its presence is quite bold. 

H-HOOT—!?

''Ooh...''

Still, Blob's next move is perhaps the most shocking thing. Accompanied by some dormant ripples inside the deer's flesh and bone, a sudden piece of bloodied muscle pops out of its right eye, writhing as though a tentacle. The tips of that thing are fused into a sharp, scythe-looking blade, extending like tree roots.

Then, when the wyverns still have not yet recovered from the shock, the blade violently stabs into one's head, spurting more blood and brain matter onto the remaining one.

The stabbed one stops moving right after, its eyes turning cloudy as the blade pumps blood out in gulps—like drinking it. All of it is absorbed by Blob, of course. Its level is already skyrocketing.

The other one seems too scared, though, shrieking and trying to run away. It can't.

''This is amazing. Don't you think so?''

HOOT...

Ah... but my big friend is scared. It is currently hiding behind me, even though I am much, much smaller in size.

Still, after sucking up the blood a bit more, Blob mercilessly flings the lifeless corpse of the wyvern aside, its intact eye gazing at me, asking for some sort of permission.

Of course, I nod right away, ''Go ahead. It's yours.''

And then... well, the creature brutally murders the last wyvern and comes back to me in its slightly odd deer face. Without much thought, I jump onto its back, tug at my owl's feather, and head toward the nest of the other lizards in the area.

Tonight might be long.

''Phew...''

I mean, I suppose my prediction is quite accurate. We spent the whole night breezing through wyvern nests and exterminating most of them, only leaving the eggs and a few weaker ones to tend to them.

Blob did the most, by the way. It was quite enjoyable seeing all the progressively elaborate and eldritch-y forms it turned into, and the owls' rejoicing was also cute.

However, it is already a few hours past dawn, and I probably need to sleep soon.

''Yeah, it's been quite fun. Let's go back for now, Blob.''

The Not Deer nods to my words, and we swiftly leave using [Teleportation] after waving goodbye to the owls.