Rise of the Devourer

Book 3: Chapter 36 — Wyvern Cliffs Pt. 6

The group moved deathly silently, and only when they were a little further did Noah dare use Identify, as the description of the creature appeared.

[Adult Rock-scale Wyvern (Legendary) - ???]

One of the largest kinds of wyverns there are, what these hulking creatures lack in mobility and flight ability, they more than make up for in their sheer bulk and rock hard defenses. A rock-scale wyvern will burrow into the earn and eat rocks and minerals rich in earth mana, growing their scales with minerals that’s extremely hard to pierce.

In a particularly cruel practice, these creatures are captured and forced to feed a specific diet to grow specialized mana stones and gems which are then mined from their bodies. The practice has spread across colonies and the wyverns now have an innate distrust of humanoid creatures.

That’s you, just so we’re clear.

Noah didn’t have the time to question the description’s direct addressal of him yet again. But it was definitely a little weird. His quest window sometimes did it as well, and it kinda creeped him out.

Hundreds of wyverns continued to move across, only a few coming close to the location the group was moving through. The entire area was a maze, and according to Vion, this was far from the largest central chamber. It was a vertically spanning highway of tunnels and chambers filled with wyverns flying around, and the constant beat of wings and the rumbling of growls and shrill calls filled the air behind them.

They ducked behind a pillar, as one of the nearby wyverns sniffed, before turning in their direction. Noah kept himself ready to teleport them out of sight immediately if they were discovered. Tony sharpened his senses to let him better perceive any threats, and act immediately.

He took a breath of relief as the giant wyvern turned away, distracted by something else and let go of their location. Vion continued forward, undeterred, and Noah and Aurelia followed behind. The woman’s steps were sure as they made their way and the other two did not question her, simply following her lead.

They had to pause and wait out more than one wyvern flying near them. And in one particular area, Aurelia had almost given their position away when she’d accidentally sneezed, but they’d somehow managed to get through, finding their way to the tunnel Vion pointed out.

The activity died out quickly as they moved into one of the lower tunnels, only a couple of wyverns now present in the area, and almost all of them were juveniles. Most were sleeping at that, while others were fighting over some scrap of meat or something similar.

Noah watched with fascination, heart racing the entire time. There had been many fascinating and unreal things he had seen in his stay on Erandir so far, but this one was definitely up there with the most fascinating and bizarre of them. He continued onwards, deeper into the tunnels till barely any of the wyverns remained in the area.

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“There, that should be good,” Vion said, heading towards what was effectively a crack in the wall. The dragon woman didn’t hesitate, squeezing through instantly. Aurelia looked at Noah hesitantly, before following behind, grunting to fit into the tight space.

Noah shrugged as well, before using Arcane Step to teleport directly inside.

Aurelia grumbled as he appeared, dusting herself off.

Noah inspected the inside of the chamber. It was a small hole in the hive, with its main entrance caved in, blocking what likely was the normal entrance in here. But what gave him pause wasn’t that, but instead the different boxes and markings on the walls from words and other obvious signs of people having lived here at some point.

There was even a giant slab of rock which had been carved by someone, with little pieces of hay spread on top, serving as the world’s worst bed.

“Uh… you don’t think the wyverns suddenly wanted to use beds or learn how to write?” Noah asked, looking around.

“Wyvern hunters. Some build hideouts like this in abandoned sections and use them to set their traps and check in on them. It’s a common practice, unfortunately. Because someone is always stupid enough to take risks like that,” Vion said.

Noah remembered the trapped sky pirates, who’d been somewhere similar, trying to catch the sky serpents. The thought made him wonder about Snow and the others. He wondered what they were up to.

“There’s even some food here, though it’s some kind of jerky and hard tack, so nothing particular good. We could also always go out to hunt, and we already have some of the giant boar we caught, if we end up using it for ourselves— oh they have some mana stones too. But not much. Looks like about fifty F and E grade crystals, ” Aurelia said.

Noah sat on the bed, feeing the hard surface against his back. He wasn’t particularly picky, and in his journey he and Aurelia had slept in the forest often enough, but with the month long trip on the airship and even before that, mostly staying in taverns and guilds, he’d gotten used to having the comfort of civilization again. “Man, it’s gonna suck not having decent food, or a bed, or being able to take a shower for so long.”

“Don’t be a baby Noah,” Aurelia said. “Though I have to agree about the shower at least. I once had to head out to clear a monster infestation with a team in a desert area and none of us could take a shower as all of had to preserve our water, and I think I’d lost my sense of smell during that period. It didn’t return back till like a week after I was back,” Aurelia said, shuddering.

“Yeah… I’m not looking forward to that. I’m just glad I no longer have to use the bathroom or whatever. Imagine that,” Noah said.

“Perks of D rank. You go through all the food you intake, and your body can take out the impurities through your aura and breath,” Aurelia said. “I still remember when you started just vomiting back when you’d gotten your lifeblood ability, and then become covered in gunk all over your body before passing out. I’d been so shocked.”

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“When? I don’t remember that,” Noah said.

“It was right after our fight with flesh horror, back when we’d first met. Hellion’s breath, it feels like that was years ago. Has it only really been six months? So much has changed since then,” Aurelia said.

“Um, so, I don’t want to interrupt the reminiscing, but… I have a dimensional chamber. We can just use that,” Vion said.

Aurelia gasped, while Noah just stared at Vion in confusion.

“A what?” He asked.

“It’s easier to just show it to you. Step back for a second,” Vion said, looking around the chamber, as if assessing it, before she found a location that seemed to roughly be in the middle, and took out a crystal.

Vion set the crystal on the ground, as it began to glow, and runes flashed onto its body, before being projected onto the chamber. The runes shifted, rapidly, almost like a machine scanning the chamber, and then, a second later, the crystal rose in the air, shining rapidly, before Noah felt the world around him change.

He blinked, finding himself standing in the middle of what looked like a luxurious living room, filled with little tidbits, pictures and what not.

Vion blushed as she swept aside a pile of clothes and other stuff scattered around. “Sorry, I haven’t been here in a while. It’s a little messy.”

“What in the… where are we?” Noah asked, still taken aback at the sudden teleportation.

He paused. No… no they hadn’t teleported out. He would’ve been able to tell. His astral abilities were attuned to space firmly now, if they’d moved, he would’ve been able to tell and even resist it.

No, this entire room was teleported in instead. He looked around in surprise.

“A dimensional chamber, it basically is a portable home that exists in a pocket dimension and with enough space, you can anchor it and get access. The main gate there will lead us back out into the chamber we had just been,” Vion said.

Aurelia still seemed taken back, just looking around herself in disbelief. “I had forgotten for a second that you are an honest to god princess… no, not just that, but the heir to one of the oldest kingdoms on Erandir. This is… I can’t even begin to imagine what this must cost. I’ve never seen one this big.”

“Are these rare?” Noah asked, looking around himself.

“Very. Only lords and nobles or very rich adventurers have these typically. It’s stupidly costly to create a pocket dimension of this size, especially a variable, mappable one, that can carry structure- there’s like a ton of things working here that take so much work. I couldn’t even begin to explain it,” Aurelia said.

Noah hummed to himself. Functionally this seemed similar to his Astral Vault, except he could travel with it anywhere. Though he did admit, he didn’t have any walls or a roof, and staying for too long in a swirling void of colors made his stomach queazy.

“Let’s head out for now, the extra mana in the air means the chamber will last for longer, but it does need to be recharged, so it’s best if we only use this when we want to sleep or something important,” Vion said.

The group nodded, and they followed the woman out of the door in the room, teleporting back to the chamber they had just been a second earlier.

Before either of them could get their bearing, the entire group paused, as they all collectively sensed a presence outside. A wyvern sat outside, growling, and clawing at the wall, as it tried to peer inside, having clearly noticed their presence.

“Shit, did it sense the mana from the device or something? I thought we’d managed to sneak in,” Aurelia whispered, looking around.

The wyvern let out another growl, as Vion froze in place.

Noah quickly used Analyze.

[Juveline Acid Wyverns (Legendary) - lvl 172]

The acid wyvern. It is a common misconception that wyverns only have base elements, some, such as this particular one, do not have a lot of magic, but instead have some really messed up racial abilities, like the ability to burn your face off by spewing a lot of acid. Which this one seems like it would do if you don’t do something quick.

“It’s a juvenile, acid wyvern. We can take it, and end it quick if we’re fast, and once it’s dead I can pull its body in our inventory,” Noah said, summoning his spear. “I’ll teleport out there and distract it, join me and we’ll take it down rapidly.”

Aurelia said, channeling her mana, ready to jump into action. Noah challenged his mana, as Arcane Step activated and he rushed out.

The Wyvern turned around, surprised at seeing Noah there. A moment later, as it was about to let out a roar, Noah rushed in, Tony reinforcing his arm as he punched the wyvern’s jaw strongly. He didn’t waste any time, activating metamorphosis, as his body transformed.

Noah rushed in, chains forming around his arms as he wrapped them around the creature, shutting its jaw close as Noah jumped onto its head, pulling the wyvern’s neck back up.

Aurelia appeared out of the area the next instant, fire blazing around her fist, as the wyvern thrashed. The two didn’t need to talk at all as Aurelia struck the wyvern with a flaming fist, tumbling it to the side, and Noah’s chains tightened around him. His shadow formed next to him, spear in hand, ready to plunge the blade into the wyvern’s eye socket, and directly into its brain when Vion appeared, shouting.

“Wait!” She shouted, as the shadow stopped, the blade an inch away from the wyvern’s eye.

“Please… wait,” she said, looking hesitant, as she walked closer.

“What are you doing?” Aurelia asked, looking at the woman, her voice clipped.

“You can let her go, she… she won’t do anything,” Vion said, before putting a hand on the wyvern Noah had trapped.

Noah looked at Vion as if she’d gone insane. He looked at Aurelia and the woman had a similar expression, but gave him a nod. Noah loosened his grip on the chains, as the wyvern collapsed on the ground, letting out a low guttural growl.

“Sorry, I… I’ve not been telling you guys something. I actually know this hive. I come here, every now and then. This wyvern is one I know as well,” Vion said, petting the wyvern who grumbled, before shoving Noah off of her, she she raised herself up, and then snorted heavily.

“I didn’t want you guys to know because I was afraid you’d tell Draxi- that you’d tell the king,” Vion said, glancing away.

Noah looked at the woman in surprise. “That we would… what?”

“Sorry,” Vion said. “It’s just. It’s a secret I’ve kept for so long. I didn’t want anyone to know. But… Zax clearly knew. Somehow. And I had a feeling he wanted me to come here, which is why I led you guys here, but I still didn’t feel sure if I could tell you. I’m sorry for hiding this,” Vion said, petting the wyvern.

“Alright. Okay,” Aurelia took a deep breath. “So… you’re friends with this wyvern hive? Does that mean… what? We need an adult wyvern’s heart. I don’t know about dragons, but we typically don’t go into a friend’s home to rip out one of their family member’s hearts.” Aurelia said.

The juvenile wyvern growled at Aurelia but Vion patted her again.

“Sorry. It’s a little bit more complicated. I had been trying to come up with a plan but… alright. Well, if you’ve found out anyway, you might as well,” Vion said, as the wyvern next to her snorted, before the dragon climbed on top of the creature.

“Meet who?” Noah asked.

Vion looked down at Noah, who stood staring at her in surprise. After a moment of hesitation, she replied.

“Quazithril. My foster mother. And the queen of this hive.”