Dragon Poor

“Steady. Steady.”

Goldrake immediately tried to respond to the wyvern’s roar, but Seon-Hyeok quickly restrained the beast. The drake extended the protrusions on its neck, but was not able to resist its master’s orders and held back.

“Just wait. I’ll let you loose soon.”

Growl.

At his words, Goldrake let out a low growl as it stared at the sky.

“So that’s a wyvern?”

The wyvern was rapidly approaching as he spoke. It seemed to have heard the pigs’ squeals even at a distance.

Seon-Hyeok squinted at the monster in the sky. It was too far to identify specifics, but he was able to get a general idea of what the wyvern looked like.

The wyvern’s snout was excessively pointed and long, resembling an arrowhead, and the long, slender neck and tail looked like the shaft of a spear. Compared to the large Goldrake or even Bluegon, the wyvern looked relatively light and streamlined.

Nonetheless, the wyvern’s muscles and purple scales were more than threatening enough, and its red wings, which were at least twice as large as its body, added to its appearance. It looked functional and elegant, rather than frail.

I want that.

He had already successfully tamed two of the dragon subspecies, but the wyvern had a unique charm. Seon-Hyeok was immediately enamored by the monster and coveted it.

As a result, he was more careful than ever as he waited for the wyvern to fall into his trap.

Shriek!

By now, Seon-Hyeok could see the wyvern’s amber colored eyes. The monster stopped momentarily in the air before folding its wings and diving towards the ground like a bolt of lightning.

Squeal! Squeal!

The blood-covered pigs squealed and went into a panic. However, their legs were far too short and slow to evade the descending wyvern.

Squeal!

The wyvern’s powerful claws pierced through the pig’s thick skin, and it tried to ascend once again with a flap of its wings. It was at that moment that Seon-Hyeok stopped watching the monster hunt and shouted.

“Throw the net!”

The archers, holding their breaths near the wyvern, dropped their bows and cast their nets.

Shriek!

Surprised, the wyvern let out a sharp roar and flapped its wings to free itself of the net. It then quickly rose into the air. Despite holding onto a large pig, its movements were quick and agile.

However, avoiding the net did not mean the wyvern had completely escaped Seon-Hyeok’s trap. He shouted even before the nets fell onto the ground.

“Atiya! Get on it!”

Before he even finished speaking, Atiya materialized in the air and pressed down on the wyvern. A fierce wind restricted the monster’s wings and weighed it down.

Shriek!

The wyvern struggled to beat its wings, but Atiya, now a mid-tier wind spirit, did not let the beast go easily. In the meantime, the soldiers quickly regained their focus and cast their nets a second time.

The hurriedly thrown nets missed their target, but Atiya used the wind to redirect the projectiles onto the wyvern.

Shriek!

Its wings tangled in the net, the wyvern shrieked and thrashed about. At that moment, the riders waiting out of sight charged forward and stabbed at the monster with their spears.

“Don’t worry and stab it! They won’t be effective anyways!”

The riders were half-hearted in their attacks, perhaps because they knew that their lord wanted to capture the wyvern alive. Seeing this, Hansen and Jonasson stepped forward to set an example and encourage their comrades.

Enraged by the riders’ stacks, the wyvern tore through the tough nets in an instant. However, Atiya flung additional nets on top of the monster.

“Stab it!”

Worried that the wyvern would rip through the nets once again, the cavalry rushed in to attack the beast and distract it. Completely bewildered by the humans shouting and stabbing from all directions, the wyvern shrieked ferociously and raised its tail.

“Be careful! There’s a deadly poison contained in its tail!” The monster hunters watching the scene shouted urgently.

Hiss.

As the surprised cavalry retreated, the ground where the tail passed by burned with an unpleasant sound. The wyvern’s poison was terrifyingly powerful.

“Move aside!”

At that moment, Seon-Hyeok and Goldrake entered the fray.

Roar!

Goldrake had been raring to go from the beginning, and the drake immediately trampled over the thrashing wyvern. Stomped on by a giant monster, the wyvern shrieked briefly before mindlessly stabbing with its poisonous tail.

However, Goldrake’s scales were, by now, tough enough to withstand a knight’s sword energy, and they endured the wyvern’s attacks. All the wyvern’s desperate strikes accomplished was dyeing a few golden scales black.

Nonetheless, the wyvern did not stop thrashing about. It bit into Goldrake’s leg and struggled violently in an effort to get up once again.

Chomp.

Angered, Goldrake bit into the wyvern between its chest and neck. The wyvern resisted even more desperately, and the poison from its tail splashed everywhere.

“Back off!”

The riders attempting to hold their ground at an awkward distance to protect their lord scattered to avoid the poison. Likewise, Seon-Hyeok leaped off of Goldrake’s saddle to create some distance.

Roar!

Still biting down on the wyvern, Goldrake smashed its prey into the ground before lifting it up and shaking its head violently. The wyvern shrieked and struggled to get free.

Crack.

“Stop!”

At this rate, the precious wyvern could end up being torn in half, and Seon-Hyeok hurriedly stopped his drake’s rampage. Though on the verge of penetrating the wyvern’s chest, Goldrake immediately stopped upon hearing its master’s command.

“Good. Now stay still.”

Growl.

Goldrake gave a low growl as it looked directly at Seon-Hyeok. The drake simultaneously showed off its power while making a threat to the wyvern that it could be torn apart at any moment.

The wyvern looked to interpret the drake’s growl as the latter, as it lay limp and motionless.

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought. To think the wyvern would actually head straight for the pigs.”

All of these measures had been improvised based on the suggestions provided by the monster hunter. Seon-Hyeok doubted the wyvern would be caught in such a simple trap, but the hunter had assured him that capturing the monster would be possible if they could restrict its aerial movements.

The hunt proved as easy as the monster hunter claimed it would be.

“It was so easy…”

On the other hand, the hunter himself looked at the scene with a dumbfounded expression. It seemed that despite proposing the plans, he did not actually think the capture would go as expected.

He could not understand. When the nets first missed their mark, he naturally expected the hunt to end in failure. However, the wyvern suddenly dropped into the ground as though pushed by an invisible force, and the nets moved by themselves to tie down its wings.

He had no idea what had caused these events.

No, that hadn’t been all. The issue with hunting monsters was that their vocalizations and scent were all naturally terrifying to humans.

Even strong men would typically freeze in place at the sound of a wyvern’s roar, and once that happened, they were destined to be the monster’s next meal.

But what about these soldiers? 

Instead of being frightened by the wyvern’s shrieks, the infantry threw their nets, and the cavalry attacked bravely with their spears. It was not normal.

Moreover, the residents of this territory were likewise abnormal. It would not be strange for the common people to hide in their homes and cower when attacked by a ferocious monster, but the Rheinperle citizens boldly opened their windows and watched the hunt unfold.

The monster hunter was used to seeing entire villages be devastated by a low-tier monster. The current situation felt ridiculous.

“What the hell is going on? The monster’s odor is as debilitating as poison, and its roars are no different from immobilizing curses. How can you all be fine?”

“The lord’s drake comes and goes several times each day, and the monster can roar at seemingly random times. What’s the big deal about it? Compared to Goldrake, the wyvern’s cries are closer to a bad mannered bird.”

Hansen’s words did not sound like a bluff, considering the soldiers all showed no signs of fear in front of the beast.

“So this is a wyvern.”

“It’s not much compared to the lord’s drake?”

“Isn’t it dead?”

The infantry came down from the rooftops. They and the cavalry stood a short distance away, watching the wyvern with interest.

This is crazy.

The monster hunter had overcome a natural fear of monsters by repeatedly surviving close encounters with them. The Rheinperle residents were not normal.

“You’ve all done well. Today’s hunt ends here. Go back and attend to your business.”

The lord casually disbanded his soldiers, as if they had just finished hunting rabbits. The lord’s golden drake remained standing there, biting down on the vicious wyvern like it was a pheasant.

Whimper.

The hunter was bewildered as he stood there, watching the wyvern sadly cry out.

“Ah. You shouldn’t leave right away. Find a place to stay and unpack your belongings.”

He wanted to leave the village right away, thinking he would go insane if he remained much longer, but he had to acquiesce to the lord’s command.

***

Seon-Hyeok wanted to tame the wyvern as soon as it had been overpowered, but there were too many people watching. As such, he ordered his soldiers to return to their posts and the monster hunters to find a place for the time being. After all, since the hunters had both successfully brought the wyvern to him and had failed to secure it for the entire trip, he needed time to decide on an appropriate response.

Having finished his business in the village, he dragged the wyvern back to his estate.

Asha Trail had been standing by with the soldiers, but having heard of the wyvern’s capture, she had already disbanded those assigned to her.

“To think that such a large monster can fly through the skies like a bird. It’s amazing.”

The typically emotionless knight showed interest at the sight of the monster capable of flight. When Seon-Hyeok gave her a quick rundown of the wyvern’s capture, she briefly gave her thoughts.

“Hm. The wyvern’s pretty slow-witted, unlike how it looks.”

Indeed, just as Asha Trail had said, the monster hunters had also suggested that the wyvern’s intelligence was not particularly high. They had also taken advantage of the monster’s simplemindedness to capture it in the first place, so it was likely that their evaluations were correct.

“You’ve done well.”

“What about Sir Eisen?”

“I haven’t seen her.”

It seemed as though Aria Eisen remained holed up in her laboratory despite the commotion in the territory. Seon-Hyeok thought she would show herself given the appearance of a rare monster, but the mage’s single-minded focus on her research was greater than he imagined.

“In any case, well done. I’ll hear the full story some other time.”

Asha Trail showed her respects to her lord before disappearing towards the barracks.

Seon-Hyeok could not help but smile at how unchanging her behavior was, even after she had arrived at Rheinperle. He belatedly noticed Julian and spoke with pride.

“I got the wyvern.”

“Yes, I can see that. But.”

Instead of congratulating him, Julian looked behind him and asked in confusion.

“Didn’t you say you’d capture it alive?”

“Of course I captured it alive.”

“But the wyvern looks like it’s dead.”

Taken aback at her words, Seon-Hyeok turned around to see Goldrake moving its jaw like it was chewing on a stick of gum. Every time the powerful jaws moved, the wyvern shuddered and let out a labored breath – it would not have been strange to see the wyvern die at any moment.

“Stop! No! That’s not food!”

Goldrake only stopped after being explicitly commanded by its master.

“That could’ve been bad.”

Fortunately, the wyvern seemed to regain some of its strength once the drake’s jaw loosened. It had been badly bitten and hunted, but it nonetheless showed its persistence and vitality.

Seon-Hyeok summoned Antoine Montaigne to reward the participants of the hunt with meat and alcohol, and he also ordered him to provide meals to the Rheinperle citizens surprised by the sudden attack.

With that, he immediately led the wyvern to the massive warehouse where Goldrake usually stayed.

“So. Should we begin?”

-          The dragon taming skill has been activated.

-          You are now able to interact with the wyvern for a short while.

The moment Seon-Hyeok decided to communicate with the wyvern, his Dragon Taming skill activated. The wyvern’s current condition was transmitted to him upon activation of his ability.

-          Resignation