After they had stopped, Viyetral addressed the party members:

  “We will be resting here till noon and then start to travel again. You lot better preserve your energy for the journey ahead, but before that we need to eat something as well.”

  “Landel go and grab the food rations from the carriage. Kraft, light a fire. Grantal, you should scout the area but do not go too far.” Farelen issued the commands.

  “I will go with Grantal, we are far away from the outpost, but we do not know how far the enemies might be scattered; there might even be some outlaws waiting in ambush.” Viyetral added.

  Viyetral and Grantal rode away. The horses that the pair rode were native to the great-forest. These beasts had great endurance but were slower than their counterparts found in the continent.

  Landel brought out the rations while Kraft had lit the fire. Harwin tried to help prepare the food but was abruptly stopped by Farelen:

  “No need, young blood. You just go wake up Alisa, it is better to feed ourselves whilst we have the chance. I will prepare the food myself, you boys can also rest for now.” Farelen instructed whilst getting the rations ready.

  Harwin waited for until the food was prepared before waking up Alisa, as he knew that she was tired. Alisa was not trained like Landel or even Harwin, so she did not have much physical endurance which was expected of a mage.

  Soon Viyetral and Grantal returned with nothing peculiar to report.

  Farelen prepared a feast even with their limited resource. Once everyone was gathered, they ate to their fill and complimented the chef as well. After this, aside from Harwin and Landel, everyone slept. It was long overdue for the others to rest, having been on the move since last night.

  Landel practiced swinging the sword to pass the time. Soon after, Harwin also followed his example, but of course, he could not keep up with the prodigy and got tired after an hour or two.

  When it came to resisting the urge to sleep, Harwin was already quite adapted to it. As a student, he often pulled all-nighters and while he was just a junior accountant, he had to work two to three days in a row with minimal sleep in between. In his older world, he could not afford to relax when a lot of people depended on, and the situation was also similar here as well.

  It was an hour before noon that everyone eventually woke up. Farelen ordered the two young lads to get in the carriage and rest for a while as they would be leaving shortly. It was an order which both of them were happy to comply with.

  Alisa was well rested now and asked Farelen for any tasks. To not deject her, the giant instructed Alisa to check all the luggage and the carriage for any possible wear and tear.

  The journey began again at noon. However, their speed was not as fast as last night. Now the bunch considered themselves to be out of danger now; it was already hard on the rides to travel through the entire night of yesteday so it was best to go slow when they could afford to do so.

  In the evening, they laid camp again and prepared the dinner and just like before everyone slept in shifts. It was more so to correct their travelling schedule than anything else.

  This routine continued for a week, before they finally spotted a grand mountain range — few miles ahead of them — at which point they came to a halt.

  Farelen ordered all of them to gather around and announced:

  “We have officially reached the mountains that guard the dwarven city of 'Gibert'. It is around these great mountains that we will be moving along for the next two weeks or so, before we eventually get on the route to the 'First town'. We will be travelling with caution as the terrain is harsh. Most importantly, there is a chance of rock-sliding so it will be better if everyone remains vigilant. Now then, let us begin.”

  Soon they reached near the mountains. Upon closer observation, Harwin noticed how large these rocky mountains actually were. Infact, he could not even see the top. There was no clear path to traverse through them, so it acted as a natural defensive barrier for the dwarfs. One could even say that the city was impentrable.

  It was not even the evening that the carriage abruptly came to a halt. Landel quickly made his way out, followed by Harwin, but they stood their ground once Viyetral signalled.

  What had stopped their journey was not any enemy party or any sentient being at that, but it was a wild beast. It was not a lion or a tiger but something that was only native to this world. It was a monstrous lizard.

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  Harwin was terrified at witnessing a ‘Wyvern’ in flesh which was standing about one to two hundred meters away from their party.

  This vicious lizard like creature had red scales, ferocious crimson eyes, and small wings which were etched to its legs. It was a four-legged beast walking like any other animal on land, although, it appeared to have the ability to glide as well.

  Harwin had read about them in the fantasy novels during his childhood, yet seeing it with his own eyes had left him petrified.

  The beast was very large, almost quadruple the height of Farelen whilst being astoundingly wide as well. Its mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth, two of which were overgrown outside of is mouth. Its head also had numerous small horns.

  For now the Wyvern did not appear to have noticed their presence, so they backed away to a safe spot. Eventually, they gathered to discuss their next course of action.

  “It is extremely unusual for a wyvern to be down here. They live at top of the cliff, so either it has come down following a prey, or was escaping someone.” Viyetral hypothesized.

  It was a terrifying statment considering that even such a beast could be chased by someone.

  “How strong is it?” Harwin was the first one to raise a question.

  “It takes about one hundred soldiers to take down a wyvern or so has been told. I have never actually faced an actual one, so I am just as clueless as you are. When I was in the royal army, we often heard about great heroes taking down these monsters but those were all folktales.” Viyetral answered.

  “I remember the tales, but there were never any elfin heroes mentioned who had come face to face with this creature, either.” Farelen added.

  “First of all, we need to formulate a plan to test its strength." Harwin suggested.

  “That is true. I say, it will be better to use ranged attacks first. Kraft, now is the time to show your talents, you should try to target its eyes. Lady Alisa can cast earth spells at its legs to try to imbalance it; Harwin, you will support Lady Alisa with any spells you can cast. I will be on the front incase the range attacks fail completely while Viyetral, Landel and Grantal will protect the ones performing the ranged attacks.”

  Farelen gave the commands as he was in-charge in such cases.

  "Also do not try to be hasty. The first to strike will be Kraft then in succession, Lady Alisa and Harwin will cast the spells. Farelen, you should try to deliver the final blow.” Viyetral advised.

  All of them took their positions. Kraft was an excellent marksman. In addition, he also knew few basic spells to make his hits even more effective. Once ready, he aimed at the target, awaiting the signal of the battle-commander to shoot.

  Immediately pon confirmation, he shot the arrow. It was as fast as a bullet, piercing right through the eye of the foul creature, but that was not the end of the assault.

  “O Lord of earth, grant thy servant the power to overcome the beast. I unleash, with your glory, the spikes of hell.”

  Alisa quickly chanted a spell whilst targeting the Wyvern's legs. In just a moment, five stone spikes were shot towards the beast with a speed equivalent to that of the arrow.

  Harwin also casted the same spell but could only form two spikes. With both of their combined efforts, one of the leg of the Wyvern was taken out. The creature screamed with a screeching voice — filled with agony.

  It was confused and had lost half its vision. Seeing this opportunity, Farelen attacked with his mighty axe. When the fight was believed to have been concluded, suddenly, Farelen was thrown away mid-air against the mountain walls.

  The Wyvern had quickly calmed down its senses and used its tail to launch its assailant away. This caught everyone by surprise, but they had no time to waste, either.

  The Wyvern was already limbing so now was the time to strike. With limited magika capacity, the two mages fired away as many rock-spikes as they could muster up.

  Alisa could use this spell more than ten times, but Harwin could only use it four to five times due to his smaller capacity. Although, the lad had sticked to a more clever method: he had learned to control the shape, size and number of projectiles, so using this method he conserved maximum amount of magika — efficently casting the spell. Of course, it lowered the damage output, but it was enough if targeted at the weaker spots.

  Kraft shot arrows upon arrows but almost all of them were deflected by the Wyvern’s scaly tail.

  Farelen also did not just stay down. He was now furious and unleashed his slashes on the the great lizard, but almost none of them were effective against the scaly beast.

  Viyetral, seeing that his comrade's attacks were futile, led a charge with Grantal and Landel to corner the foul creature from all angles.

  Viyetral did not use anything special like the greatsword of Graftel or the axe of Farelen rather he wielded a shot-sword similar to Landel. However, in-addition, he also wielded a dagger in his left hand. It was sword-style common in the eastern part of the continent. Having trained under various masters, he had developed and chosen this style to follow for the rest of his life.

  The captain's style of combat and stature helped him in this fight to dodge the attacks of his opponent more effectively while also finding the weaker spots.

  Landel with his swiftness, targeted the other leg of the beast. A concentrated attack could have been enough to make the creature immovable, but the strikes did not connect, as the wyvern used its tail to throw off anyone who got in the range.

  It was now confirmed that, except for its eyes and part of it legs, the thing was completely untoucheable by the grace of its tough scales which were harder than any hide or metallic armor.

  The strike-force had to be careful not to break their weapons. It was especially tough for Farelen who was unable to do much against the beast as his strategy, in most fights, was to strike the enemy with brutish force.

  None of them gave in, but came to the realization, that they might be fighting a losing battle.

  At one moment during the fight, the striking team was all thrown away which left the mages susceptible to any incoming attacks. The beast, even though limbing, charged right at Alisa....

  New chapter comes out tomorrow.