Chapter 52

Having reinforced my magic armor, I decided to start searching for the wyvern from the ground, having been deterred by the aerial reconnaissance. The first breath attack had a considerable range and didn't even hit me directly, yet it was still that powerful. If I were to take a direct hit at close range, I might not come out unscathed.

The magic armor reached its reinforcement limit when I poured around 10,000 mana into it, so spending more time on it would probably be meaningless. The armor is about 30 cm thick, which I suspect is related to the effective range of magic. Although my mana consumption fluctuated during the battle, it was roughly around that level.

I have enough explosion magic to destroy another square kilometer of forest and enough barrier magic for two uses. Adding a bit more now wouldn't make much of a difference, so I left it as is.

I also prepared about 3,000 mana for pressure magic. Earlier, when I was looking for a way to counter being knocked off, I realized that using pressure magic to tap the back of my magic armor caused a sudden acceleration forward. While a large acceleration causes a significant impact and isn't suitable for continuous use, the advantage is that it doesn't consume mana at the moment of activation. I spent about 10 seconds on this experiment during the 1-minute harvest, which wasn't a waste of time.

Alright, now it's just a matter of finding and killing the wyvern. From the sharpness of my magic sword, it's unlikely I can decapitate the wyvern with one strike, so ambushing it isn't particularly important. I'll just be careful of the breath attack and head straight in the direction where I think the wyvern is. I won't use magic to accelerate, just run. The acceleration magic is more efficient when used at low speeds, especially for dodging a breath attack.

It's a hassle, but if magic were effective, I would have just blown up the entire forest. The trees here are probably similar to those near Desibator, so using explosion magic just to improve visibility would be a waste. As a result, I'll have to search the old-fashioned way.

Fortunately, I found the wyvern after running for less than a minute. It was in what seemed to be its nest, a slightly sunken area in the forest where some trees were missing. It had a similar atmosphere to the tunnel when the wisp was there, giving off a similar feeling. Checking the wyvern's status, I saw that its MP was gradually recovering.

However, it's not recovering more than 1 point per second, so it won't affect the battle. The distance is about 10 meters, so it's time to strike. Just as I thought that, the wyvern turned to face me, and its displayed MP suddenly dropped by several hundred million.

This must be the prelude to a breath attack. But I came prepared for this. Without panicking, I used acceleration and pressure magic to fully accelerate to the right side of the wyvern. In less than half a second, I slipped under its feet and thrust my sword into its wing.

The breath attack, now without a target, was fired into the forest, blackening the trees in its path. The trees within a 10-meter radius of the direct hit were completely burned and disappeared. I thought the trees in the monster's territory couldn't burn.

Well, it doesn't matter. The breath attack is indeed powerful, but if I don't get hit, it's no big deal. I just need to keep attacking with the magic sword and drain its MP. While observing the breath attack's power, I continued to drive my sword into the wyvern's wing. The sword, except for the hilt, turned almost completely black, and I could feel the mana activating.

After cutting about 10 cm, the wyvern, which had been in a post-breath attack stun, started to move its wing to pull out the sword. There was no particular need to hold on, so I calmly pulled out the sword, repositioned it, and brought the wing back into my field of view. The sword gradually lost its blackness and returned to its original blue color in about 5 seconds. I remembered that the blackness was being absorbed by my hand. When I touched the wing, it didn't feel like it was being absorbed, but if I placed my hand along the blade, would it cut cleanly?

The best way to find out is to try. I attacked the wyvern again, this time slicing it rather than thrusting. I lightly pushed the blade, which had cut about 5 mm deep, with my hand.

It cut cleanly. The sword, which was about 4 cm thick, almost completely embedded itself in the wyvern.

"GAHAAAAAA!"

The wyvern let out a roar of anger. The sword's edge was truly excellent. Just pushing the blade with my dominant hand while thrusting it cut through to the bone. The fact that I only suffered a minor injury was due to my hand colliding with the wyvern's wing, preventing it from going further. I immediately used a healing spell to recover, but I almost lost my hand.

Observing the wyvern, I noticed it was different from before. The wound wasn't healing. Either the resources for healing were depleted or it was conserving them, but it was clear it was cornered.

I decided to finish it quickly. Based on the sword remaining blue even when only the hilt was touched, I deduced that touching any part of the blade would work. I placed my hand on the side and cut. The wyvern, as expected, was cut cleanly. A straight cut managed to sever about half of its wing. This was promising. I used acceleration magic to jump up and attempt to sever its neck—successfully.

The neck was almost completely severed, but a small part remained connected, though it was no longer functional. The wyvern's body went limp and fell to the ground. In the end, it was surprisingly quick.

I couldn't just stand there. I needed to cut the corpse to ensure the fire power. When I cut into the wyvern with my hand on the side of the blade, it didn't feel like it was absorbing as much as when it was alive. After making about three cuts, the effect was almost gone, so I gave up and stored the wyvern. Testing with a rock spear, it seemed I could use about 200 mana per second, and my maximum mana had increased to about 1.2 billion. It didn't change the fact that I couldn't use it all, but it was nice to know.

It was still not even noon. With the explosion magic prepared, I could proceed with the planned destruction today. I cut the sugarcane and munched on it as I headed back.

Flying slowly, at about the speed of a bullet train,

the sugarcane was sweet, but to fully utilize it, it needed to be refined. If I were to do it, I wanted to do it on a large scale. That meant cultivation. However, I lacked the space. Starting agriculture near Desibator would likely get me in trouble. I needed a place where I wouldn't bother anyone...

There it is. The place I was just in is perfect. On an island, I wouldn't bother anyone. Despite the size difference, sugarcane was cultivated on islands like Hawaii in the past, so it's feasible.

I also had a method for cultivation. A very smart method. In ancient times, humans obtained fire, and its benefits greatly contributed to human development. Additionally, the blessings of Mother Earth and the forest are indispensable to humans. Combining these two, a truly human method of cultivation—slash-and-burn agriculture.

Afterward, as usual, I finished the explosion and extermination and went to report to the guild. I missed the timing to report the wyvern, but I could do it now. The person at the reception was not the usual mayor but a regular receptionist.

"Hello, I'm here to report on the logging and extermination requests. Oh, and there was a wyvern."

It would be nice if they could take it casually.

"Wow, the usual incredible number of trees... Wait, did I just hear 'wyvern'?"

"Yes, it's called Wyvern Ignis."

"Ignis! I'll call the mayor! We need to prepare for evacuation!"

This is a strange turn of events. ...Oh, I forgot to mention that I killed it.

"Ah, it's fine, I've already taken care of it."

"What?!"

"I've already defeated it, so there's no need to evacuate."

"...Well, it's you, Kaede. Regardless, I need to call the mayor."

The receptionist went to call the mayor, who soon appeared.

"I heard you defeated the wyvern."

"Yes, here's my guild card."

"...It seems to be true. There's no set reward for sub-dragons, so we'll decide it later."

"Okay, and what about my rank?"

Not at all surprised...

"I've long abandoned common sense. Your combat power is likely to be rated as A-class, but your rank will probably be C, at best B."

A two-rank promotion.

"Does A-rank mean you have to defeat a lot of sub-dragons?"

"That's not the case. If sub-dragons appeared that often, humans would have been extinct long ago. It's about leadership."

"Leadership?"

"Yes. A-rank adventurers are required not only to have combat power but also leadership. They must be capable of leading large-scale extermination requests."

That's a far cry from my solo status.

"I understand. I'll wait for the results. By the way, due to various circumstances, the logging pace will increase to about 20 times from tomorrow."

"...Understood. Then, can we start preparing for the reclamation of Broken now?"

Indeed, I'll reach that area soon. Since I'm logging for that purpose, there's no reason to stop.

"Of course."

"Good, it's going to be busy."

"Yes. Then I'll be on my way."

The report ended surprisingly quickly, so I decided to go to bed. As usual, it was a healthy bedtime. By the way, I easily obtained the sub-dragon materials, but what should I do with them? The battle is finally over. It didn't turn out as compact as I thought.