Don’t Run Away My Lord

9 – Dragon Hunting Dragon (5)

Blood flowed into my mouth, spreading a bitter iron taste. Damn it…!

Wiping my face and looking up, I saw two glowing eyes above me, staring down at me.

The bastard had the human arm he had caught earlier sticking out of its mouth, blood dripping from it.

“Hey, you son of a b*tch! Do you think it’s okay to do sh*t like this!?”

But the creature didn’t react at all.

Was this brat ignoring human, no, dragon words? I thought,

What…? It’s not a dragon…?

A thin neck and a small head, too thin to be called a dragon.

Instead of standing on four legs, the creature stood on its hind legs and the hooks at the end of its hind legs and wings…

It’s an adult wyvern.

The creature that was having a staring contest with me suddenly opened its mouth wide and let out a strange cry.

“Kerrr!”

With the chilling (from a human’s perspective) cry, the wyvern swiftly crawled through the gaps between the humans.

“aaah!”

Like a centipede catching its prey, the wyvern snapped its head and caught the humans, tearing them apart.

Limbs flew in all directions and blood spurted like a fountain.

Mercenaries were struck and slashed by its tail, turning into minced meat and raising a mist of blood, while their bodies were impaled by the hook-like toes that pounded the ground.

In just a brief moment, the mercenaries on the hill were completely wiped out by a few struggles.

The wyvern looked at me, the only one left, and its eyes gleamed.

That, that creature definitely looks like it’s about to attack me.

Wyverns usually fall from the sky to catch their prey and immediately return to their nest.

But this creature is deliberately landing on the ground and turning the surroundings into scorched earth.

Perhaps realizing that there are no natural enemies in this area, it seems to be enjoying this behavior itself.

What an arrogant creature.

Since it has come to this, it’s a good opportunity to see how far its polymorphic body can exert its strength by engaging in a fight.

“Come on. Pull out your wings and turn into a dragon for me.”

Whether it understood my provocation or was simply angry, the wyvern roared loudly at me.

“Kerrr!!”

And then, with its hind legs and wings, it came quickly towards me.

In the blink of an eye, I rolled my body to avoid the jaws that fell above my head.

For now, moving quickly isn’t a big problem.

The wyvern, which had been digging up the ground recklessly, suddenly turned its body and swung its tail towards me.

I’ve verified my evasion ability, so this time, let’s test its strength.

I raised my arm and blocked the tail that was coming at me while flying.

The tremendous impact that struck my elbow and side shook my bones.

The impact penetrated deep into my body, making it hard to breathe, but thankfully nothing was broken.

I didn’t think I would be this sturdy.

Alright. With this level of strength, I won’t be in a difficult situation even in most circumstances.

Next is momentum.

Without the power to attack, I will just be a punching bag.

I rotated my sore arm and waited for the wyvern’s next attack.

The wyvern, whose attack was blocked, glared at me with anger and flapped its wings.

The creature, which had been flapping slowly, suddenly struck its wings forcefully and charged forward, as if it was bounced back by the recoil.

Just before its teeth could sink into my abdomen, I twisted my body sideways and grabbed its foreleg with both arms.

In that state, as I rolled my body forward, the wyvern clung to my neck and followed me, forming a semicircle.

The wyvern, which fell heavily to the ground from its back, started thrashing around to get up again.

Its wings and tail thrashed wildly, and the thick dust rose, obscuring the moon in the sky.

I held onto the bastard’s collar until the end,

And swung my fist, indiscriminately hitting his jaw and face.

“eeek!!”

Teeth shattered and pieces of his skull crumbled as Wyvern let out a painful scream.

Regardless, I continued to throw punches, and soon a part of his skull completely shattered, sinking inward.

As I struck again, suddenly the skin tore apart and brain matter spilled out.

At the same time, Wyvern’s body convulsed violently before collapsing.

“Phew…”

Wiping the brain matter off my face, I slowly stood up.

The mighty Wyvern was now nothing more than a lifeless mass covered in scales.

Oh well. The Black Dragon Erghaduk, ruler of the world, wrestling with a Wyvern like this.

Well, anyway, with a body like this, there shouldn’t be any problem traveling in the human world.

Compared to its true form, it’s only at the level of a bird’s blood, but there shouldn’t be any major crisis to use its original power here.

If I can use a little magic, it would be the icing on the cake, but there’s no need to be greedy from the start.

As the Wyvern died, the clouds dispersed as if by magic, revealing the moon.

The hilltop illuminated by the moonlight was incredibly gruesome.

The extinguished torches flickered, casting a crimson glow on the scattered, mutilated bodies around.

Severed, trampled, crushed, shattered…

Humans are so weak, dying so mercilessly with just one act of aggression from a Wyvern.

As I looked down at the corpses, I heard the sound of hooves from behind.

“What the hell! Unbelievable! The dragon is dead!”

Baphelt and the other shepherds looked at the dead wyvern and me in shock, shouting in surprise.

It seemed like they were more surprised that I was alive than the wyvern being dead.

“Hyung! What the hell happened? Why are you alive?”

“Why am I alive? I killed it. It wasn’t as strong of a monster as it seemed.”

“What…? What nonsense are you talking about? Stop talking nonsense. Most likely you accidentally hit your head on the ground when you landed.”

“You didn’t see anything?”

“I don’t have eyes as good as yours, Hyung. When the dragon went crazy, I couldn’t get close and only came over when it calmed down.”

I shrugged as if to say, “Think what you want.”

“And this is not a dragon, it’s a wyvern.”

“A wyvern? This… is a monster called a wyvern?”

The shepherds gathered around the wyvern’s corpse, looking around as if they were seeing it for the first time.

“Hmm… now that I hear it, you’re right… it definitely makes more sense that it’s a wyvern rather than a dragon.”

“Erga-nim!”

Liana jumped off her horse and ran towards me, her chest heaving.

“Are you okay? You’re completely covered in blood!”

Baphelt suddenly remembered something and smirked at the other shepherds.

“Hey you guys. Bring all the betting money. hahahaha!”

“I bet on the side that survives, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. That’s how gambling works. Here, I’ll give you a little bit of Hyung’s share. It’s all thanks to Hyung for surviving.”

Bafelt held out a few silver coins to me.

“Thank you.”

Finally, I had money in my hands.

I had only thought about earning through work, but it seemed that gambling could also make money so easily.

Of course, it would require a crazy determination to survive facing a wyvern.

Riana watched with shining eyes as I put the silver coins in my pocket.

She used to be a priestess, so it was strange to see her interested in money.

I wondered if it was not because of her big heart, but because she was kicked out due to her materialistic nature.

“Anyway… what’s going on with these people?”

Bafelt sighed heavily as he looked around at the corpses scattered around.

“When we get to Yeongjuseong, we should report it right away. We need to take care of the bodies and send them back to their hometowns. Um… I don’t know if I can do it properly, though.”

Riana also said with a grim expression.

* * * * *

We came down from the hill and returned to the thicket.

The shepherds who didn’t come down the hill were catching the scattered sheep with the dogs and returning.

“Wyvern causing a ruckus has to be quite noisy. The scared ones run away anywhere on their own. Geez. There are even dead ones.”

Bafelt sighed as he looked at a few sheep being dragged out by the shepherds.

“They died from being scared. This year’s nomadic life will be a big loss. Damn it. It’s time to go back to the ranch soon. And right at the end…”

The shepherds made a large bonfire in an open space outside the thicket.

“The sheep are already dead anyway. Since guests have come, let’s just eat the meat.”

At Baphelt’s command, the shepherds slaughtered the dead sheep on the spot.

They removed the wool, extracted the blood, and scraped out the organs.

In an instant, the skinned and butchered meat was cut into appropriate sizes, then coated with a strong-smelling powder.

“What are you applying? The smell is incredibly strong.”

“Spices. Sheep meat can’t be eaten as is because of its unpleasant smell. It’s less pungent this way.”

“You’re learning good things.”

“What kind of person are you, really? What do you know, anyway?”

“hahahaha.”

They placed racks over two bonfires and piled the chunks of marinated sheep meat on top.

While waiting for the meat to cook, Baphelt told me about the life of a shepherd.

He said that the sheep flock continuously roams in search of green pastures for a year, and returns to their original place when winter comes.

During that time, the shepherds have the role of ensuring that the number of sheep doesn’t decrease as much as possible.

“But this year, because of that wyvern, we had to move from the pasture early. It’s the first time in almost three years that we’ve encountered such a disaster.”

“It must be disheartening.”

“What can I do? It must be fate. If I worry too much about things like this, I won’t be able to do this job for long.”

Although he spoke like that, Baphelt’s face was filled with regret.

“Damn it, just my luck… and to run into a wyvern of all things… sigh…”

In the meantime, the sheep meat cooked well, dripping with oil and emitting a strong aroma.

The dogs gathered around, drooling as they stared at the meat.

Riana, with her unwavering focus, watched the rotating meat with equal intensity.

As if turning my gaze elsewhere would make the meat disappear.

The shepherds took out the cooked chunks and distributed them among themselves.

Although there were nearly thirty shepherds, there was enough meat since they had slaughtered two big sheep.

The taste of the cooked sheep meat was quite impressive.

Although it had a distinct gamey smell, it was somewhat balanced by the intense spices and not too uncomfortable.

The outer part was quickly grilled over a strong open flame, so every bite burst with trapped juices, increasing my satisfaction.

“It’s delicious, really.” “Mmm… It’s so tasty…”

“Eat a lot. Opportunities like this don’t come often. We don’t catch healthy sheep without going mad.”

“That’s true. Each sheep is worth a lot of money.”

Baphelt tossed the stripped rib bones to the dog.

“But, Eruga-nim…”

Liana, who was happily tearing apart the meat next to me, suddenly called me with a lowered voice.

“Why?”

“Do you think… there might be a nest nearby…?”

“Yeah. I saw a valley over there earlier. There might be a nest there.”

“Wow… really…?”

Liana’s eyes lit up greedily once again.