Chapter 347 - Episode 339: Wyvern Subjugation ②
The moment the giant golem fell, Noein felt a vibration throughout his entire body.
When striking an enemy with a golem, the sensation is transmitted to the caster, but it is normally unheard of for a golem to be overpowered and pushed over. A small click of the tongue escaped him at the unpleasant shock.
The wyvern, having pulled down the giant golem, immediately began trying to destroy it. Although it had howled in pain the moment it was hit by the ballista bolt, it seemed not to care about the wound itself.
"Hey, you've gotta be kidding me!"
"It's fine after taking a direct hit from a ballista?!"
The startled shouts of several people echoed. Noein felt the same.
The bolt had pierced the side of the abdomen, so likely no vital organs were damaged. The depth of penetration was only about half the length of the bolt; that alone would be far from a fatal wound. As of now, there were no signs of the paralyzing effect from the undiluted Angel's Honey.
"Tch! Damn it!"
Noein tried to make the golem stand, but in a situation where he was pinned by a wyvern superior in physique, it was a futile resistance. He swung a fist to flinch the wyvern, but a strike without the weight of the body behind it could not deal significant damage.
The wyvern, which had its face struck by the golem's right arm, did not seem particularly pained; it simply pinned that right arm down with one leg as if it were a nuisance. Then, it clamped its massive maw over the swinging left arm—and ripped it out with brute force.
"~~~!"
In that instant, an eerie shock ran through Noein's left arm. There was no pain, but it was an intense sense of wrongness, as if the sensation in a part of his body had suddenly vanished. Goosebumps rose at the unknown sensation.
Then, Noein temporarily cut off the magic supply to the giant golem. Part of it was surprise at the oncoming sensation, but the primary reason was his judgment that the golem would otherwise be destroyed needlessly.
Having lost its magic, the golem lost its strength in an instant, and the limbs that had been resisting flopped limply onto the ground. It is uncertain whether the wyvern judged that it had killed the golem, but it raised its head and cast its gaze once more upon the swarm of small enemies surrounding it—upon Noein and the others.
"Gogaaaa! Gaaaaaa!"
Perhaps seeing the golem as something to be somewhat wary of after the recent exchange, the wyvern showed signs of being conscious of the twelve golems standing particularly in the front line of the subjugation force.
Against the wyvern circling the area while swinging its tail and wings, the Claymores could not easily approach. Noein also hesitated as to when he should reactivate the giant golem. A strong sense of wrongness still remained in his left hand.
The puppet mages concentrated on their control so they could launch an attack on the wyvern whenever an opening appeared, and the soldiers held their shields so they could protect the puppet mages at any time. Matilda and the Guard surrounding Noein also sharpened their vigilance.
Then, having circled the area once, the wyvern finally looked toward the front of the encirclement, toward Noein.
Their eyes met. The moment he thought that—the wyvern spread its wings wide, raised its head high, and a ring of green light emerged around its neck.
"Everyone retreat! Get some distance—"
"Fall back! Get away from that thing—"
While Yuri and Pence shouted, a wave of wind was born radially, centered on the wyvern.
To dance through the sky with its massive body, it is said that wyverns can create wind with magic. It seemed they possessed enough intelligence to apply that ability as a deterrent in all directions.
"!"
"Uwaaaa!"
Due to the tremendous gust, everyone in the subjugation force surrounding the wyvern was blown back several meters. Noein, while being held by Matilda, was blown backward along with her and rolled across the ground.
Even the heavy golems, more than half of them, were unable to maintain their posture and tumbled backward. Even the golems that did not fall were not in a position to move properly, as the casters operating them had been blown away.
"Noein-sama, are you injured?!"
"I'm okay... what about the others?"
Since Matilda had rolled while supporting Noein and taking a clean breakfall, neither of them had any injuries to speak of. Looking around, it seemed that at least no one had died. Just as Noein felt a momentary relief at that—
"Your Excellency!"
Yuri shouted, his face pale. When Noein looked forward in surprise, the wyvern was closing in right before his eyes.
"!!"
Matilda instinctively tried to grab Noein and flee, but there was no way to match the agile movements of a wyvern exceeding ten meters. Before either could even find the time to stand, they allowed it to approach to a distance where they had to look up at the wyvern's head above them.
Noein and the wyvern's eyes met again. Now, the wyvern was clearly targeting Noein, approaching while staring only at him. Likely, from the way the formation was arranged to protect Noein most heavily and the reaction when he moved the giant golem, it had seen through that Noein was the most important person.
So you are the leader of these insects. Sharp double pupils that seemed to ask that pierced through Noein.
"GOGAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
Then, a roar of unimaginable power assaulted Noein.
It was not something as mild as his body freezing. It was not something as simple as being terrified. The grade of their existence as living beings was different. It was a war cry that forced him to understand that instinctively.
As a Grand Duke, he could not afford to fall. With that single thought, he maintained his consciousness, but his body would not move, as if frozen. Even if he did move, he likely could no longer escape this situation.
The others, even Matilda, were frozen just like Noein. It was only natural. In the face of that roar, there was no way any human could remain undaunted.
Before Noein, who could do nothing but look up, the wyvern's jaw opened. A mouth lined with teeth, each thicker than Noein's arm and sharp as a spear at the tips, approached Noein.
"Noein-sama!"
Matilda, who came to her senses faster than Noein, threw herself over him to protect her beloved master with her own body, but considering the size of the wyvern's mouth, they would likely both be bitten off together.
Others besides Matilda, who had recovered from the shock of the roar, moved to stop their lord from being eaten. Golems approached the wyvern from the surroundings, and Yuri, Pence, Radley, and other soldiers rushed toward Noein. However, it was already too late.
It's over. The moment he thought that,
From Noein's perspective to the right, several arrows flew, targeting the wyvern's left eye. One of them pierced right into the center of the eyeball.
It was a simultaneous Crossbow volley by a sniping unit of several people, including Rick, who had been lurking in the forest as a separate detachment.
"Goaaa!"
It seemed that even the wyvern's eyeballs were not sturdy. It raised its head as if jumping up from surprise and pain, taking a step back.
It seems I didn't die. While Noein was dazed thinking this, Matilda grabbed him and retreated to the rear.
Furthermore, Pence and the Guard surrounded them, and Noein was finally in a somewhat safe situation.
Yuri and Radley turned to command the others, attempting to encircle the wyvern again. Noein also entered a state of mental concentration to make the giant golem stand once more. His left arm was still numb from the first shock, and it seemed it would take a slightly longer time than usual to concentrate.
"It's planning to fly!"
"Stop it!"
Hearing the voices of Yuri and Radley, Noein shifted his gaze from the giant golem to the wyvern. Just as the two said, the wyvern, having lost one eye, was spreading its wings to take flight.
If it attacked from the air, they would be overwhelmingly disadvantaged. Or perhaps it intended to flee for a moment, but they could not let it escape in a situation where it had shown such clear hostility. There was a possibility that human settlements would be attacked in retaliation next.
The wyvern used wind magic again to lift its body into the air, but since it was the exercise of magic for flight rather than a deterrent, the wind was weaker than before. This time, Noein and the others had anticipated the wyvern's action, so they instinctively pressed themselves against the ground and braced themselves, avoiding being blown away pathetically.
However, the wyvern attempted to fly away. It tried to soar into the sky by flapping its wings powerfully.
"I won't let you!"
Aiming for its tail, the golem operated by Gustav leaped. Making a heavy golem jump high was not that simple even for a Claymore, but as expected of a captain holding an honorary baronetcy, Gustav's golem leaped to a surprising height and grabbed the tip of the wyvern's tail.
Having a heavy golem suddenly cling to it, the wyvern's altitude dropped sharply. Then, other golems leaped on as well. Several golems clung to its tail and legs, dragging the wyvern down to the ground just like that.
"Guoa! Gogaooo!"
The fallen wyvern raged on the spot, shaking off the golems. Or trampling them. The golems that had been clinging rolled across the ground. Or they were stepped on, their limbs breaking and necks snapping, falling silent.
"The wyvern's movements are slowing down!"
Yuri shouted while the fallen golems stood up and hurriedly reconstructed the encirclement.
Whether the undiluted Angel's Honey coated on the ballista bolts had finally taken effect, or whether its resistance to the undiluted liquid had dropped due to consuming magic with two magic exercises, the wyvern's movements were indeed somewhat sluggish.
When it tried to take flight again, the flapping was weaker than before and it couldn't take off, or it hesitated slightly when changing the direction of its body; it was clearly acting strange. It remained a dangerous opponent, but at the very least, it didn't have the vigor it had at the start.
"...Finally, huh."
"I wondered what we'd do if it didn't work, but with this, we have a chance of winning,"
Noein replied to Pence's mutter, breaking into a cold sweat while making the giant golem stand up.
When he had traded blows with the wyvern earlier, the giant golem's left arm had been ripped out, and the modified ballista was broken to the extent that a next shot was clearly impossible. If the Angel's Honey had not worked on the wyvern, they would have been forced into an extremely grueling battle.
But if that reckless attack power could be suppressed, a chance of victory became visible.
From here, it was their turn to counterattack. Noein braced himself and stared down the wyvern.