Riftan’s POV (Under the Oak Tree Side Story)

He clasped the remaining one in one hand and assessed the situation. Whenever the wyvern writhed, the net stretched tightly like it was about to break, and the rock wall shook as if it could collapse any moment.

Riftan waited for the tremors to subside, and then he went a little further down, and stuck the magic tool into the rock. The installed magical tools sensed the monster’s mana, stretching out to dozens of white chains in response.

Riftan swore and drew out a dagger just in case he got caught by the monster. As the wyvern was about to break away from the restraints, a shell flew in from a catapult with a loud noise. The heavy ironclad rock hit the monster, causing it to collapse and thump against the rock wall.

“F*ck…!”

He rushed to avoid the falling rocks but it wasn’t easy to act quickly with the strong tremors, so he thought of jumping off the cliff and rely on the wizard to catch him with magic, but he doubted the foolish man’s sanity.

By now, they must be running away for their lives, screaming to be spared.

He had already realized long ago that the only thing he could trust in the world was his own two hands, so Riftan started climbing the rock wall while the wyvern was unconscious. When he finally reached the top, he jumped over the rocks and looked down.

The momentum of the soldiers was looking plausible as they relentlessly fired 7 catapults and log-sized spears with giant crossbows. The wyvern was helpless against their constant attacks and went to hide himself in the valley, but that wasn’t a good sign.

Riftan peeked inside the dark valley through the cracks. The wyvern crouched, waiting for the attacks to subside then shot out of the valley like an arrow. The remaining chains made by the magic tools broke as it flew high and spread its wings. It would have been fortunate for them if the monster flew away and escaped, but as the wyvern soared through the clouds, he glided down at a terrifying pace towards the soldiers.

In an instant, everything went into chaos. The soldiers poured arrows towards the monster, but the wyvern’s thick skin deflected them. Two of their catapults were smashed with the blow of the wyvern’s wings and the soldiers scattered as the monster moved unpredictably.

Riftan laughed out loud. What in the hell am I supposed to do with those shambles?

The wizards were a complete sham and the army was pathetically useless. On top of that, he already did more than what he was paid for.

… The pay just doesn’t match the job, it doesn’t pay fair at all.

Riftan stroked his chin with his gloved hand. Another wyvern loitered out of the valley as he was thinking of his next actions.

As if to make it even worse… he sighed.

Suddenly, a huge fire rose from below. Riftan squinted his eyes.

“That wizard is still down there?”

He looked carefully below. The wizard was out of sight, perhaps discreetly hiding himself while using magic.

It looks like I thought too narrow of him… Riftan looked down at the huge golden flame, gauging his skill.

A fierce flame burned with such a force to turn the wyvern’s body into ashes and a hazy whirlwind vigorously surrounded the monster. However, the wyvern’s skin had great counter-magic capabilities and the flames simply scattered as the monster cried loudly and widely spread its wings.

Riftan made up his mind in that instant. Although the young wizard seemed inexperienced, he had a few tricks up his sleeve, so it could be worth trying. He looked around him and lifted a large rock, sending it to spiral downward. The wyvern looked up, searching for the wizard who poured fire at him and at that time, Riftan threw another rock. The heavy stone hit the monster’s yellow eye with accuracy, it flew towards him as it screamed angrily.

Riftan waited for the monster to get in a close enough distance and threw his heavy hook made of steel, which pierced one of the monster’s eyes. The monster vomited a high-pitched cry as it thumped and hit against the rock wall. At that moment, Riftan jumped over the monster’s body with great aim and landed on it. The wyvern struggled, flapping his wings to shake him off as he moved swiftly with his hooks and chains. When he settled between the wyvern’s wings and pulled a dagger up, the monster’s movement became intense like it sensed it was in danger. Like that, Riftan rammed the dagger through the thick wyvern’s skin, which felt like stabbing a knife with a tight log, despite the creature being made of blood and flesh.

He relentlessly stomped on the handle with his leather boot cladded feet for the dagger to sink deeper, until the wyvern screamed and soared high into the sky: the blade must had dug into a painful area. Riftan clung tightly to the wyvern’s body and pulled out another dagger. The wyvern’s thick skin was helplessly penetrated as he rammed the dagger with a tremendous force. He pushed the blade all the way and tore the wyvern’s muscle used to flap its wings, so the wyvern lost its balance, flailing with one wing as it tilted diagonally.

Riftan then stabbed the blade on the other side of the monster’s wings: there was no need to cut its bones, breaking off its vital muscles would cause the wyvern to fall since it couldn’t bear its immense weight. He prepared for the impact by firmly digging a hook into its body, falling at a terrifying speed. The pace of the fall was faster than he expected.

Isn’t this falling too fast?

To reduce the impact of the fall as much as possible, he leaned flat against the wyvern’s thickest part of the body, but just before reaching the ground, the wyvern’s body floated in the air. Riftan raised his head and looked down. In a not so far away distance, the wizard muttered something with a half-spirited face.

I guess he really can lift a thousand rants after all.

Riftan immediately stood up, not wasting a moment of time. He was planning to break the legs of the wyvern with the fall’s impact but that was eliminated when the wizard lifted them. If he didn’t take the opportunity to kill the monster while it couldn’t control its body, he would soon have a hard time. Riftan agilely jumped over the bumpy black body of the monster and pulled his sword.

The blade gleamed against the sun’s light. He immediately rammed the sword deeply into the wyvern’s thick skull, which writhed and raised his head in protest. He slid the sword with his arm and tore the flesh down to the monster’s spine. The wyvern opened its mouth, vomiting guts and blood, then fell weakly against the ground. Riftan retrieved his sword only after confirming that the monster was completely immobilized. The blood spurted out like a fountain, soiling all his new clothes.

…I’ll have to pay the price of this too.

He retrieved all of his remaining weapons and jumped off the wyvern. The wizard shuddered and shrugged. Riftan shook his head over his shoulder, ignoring the wizard who looked at him as if he were looking at a monster.

“Get your head together. There are still plenty of these monsters left in the valley.”

Only then that the wizard turned his head toward the valley like he was snapped back to reality. Wyverns woke up and wandered out of the valley, but that wasn’t the only problem. The wyvern which was causing a riot in the sky had not been dealt with yet.

Riftan grabbed the chains firmly in both hands and racked his head for ideas. The entrance to the valley was narrow, its structure provided no choice for the wyverns but to come out one at a time. Given this, the best option for them was to guard the entrance and get rid of the wyvern while they attempted to come out. If all the wyverns escaped the valley and spread out in the sky, there would be no chance of victory for the expedition team. Riftan looked at the soldiers of Lord Nebron who were still scrambling and the mercenaries who were relatively skillful, then turned to the wizard.

“I’ll act by myself and you should provide cover for me. I will get rid of the wyverns one by one. If it seems like I will crash on the ground, use your magic to float me like you did just now.”

The wizard’s jaw dropped open.

“Get rid of them…How many wyverns are you planning to catch on your own? Don’t be ridiculous, you have to take refuge at once…!”

“Shut your mouth and follow what I say. Once these monsters get angry, they become incredibly tenacious. If we run away, they’ll soar in the sky and vent their anger.”

Riftan stopped the wizard before he could argue more, dragging him along his plan. He left the wizard on one side of the rock wall, climbed straight up and swung his sword at the wyvern who had just stuck his head out of the valley.

It wasn’t a fight nor a war. It was a hunt. Riftan rapidly severed the wyvern’s spine, then screamed at the wizard whose head protruded behind a rock where he hid.

“What are you doing, not removing the monster’s body out of the way?!”

The wizard who was trembling with a blue face, moved the wyvern’s body. Riftan immediately jumped into the valley and rammed a hook against another monster’s leg. The wyvern struggled and pounded its leg. Riftan jumped up the wall agilely like a goat and settled on top of the monster’s body. Then, while the monster was trapped in the narrow valley, and could not spread its wings wide, he amputated its artery.

He repeated similar operations over and over again. After killing a wyvern, the wizard would lift the body aside, and Riftan immediately faced the next one. There was one who flew up and tried to escape from the valley, but he did not miss a single one. In an instant, Riftan jumped up the wall and wrapped chains around the monster’s body, cutting off its wings.

Finally, a total of eight wyverns bled and dropped on the ground. He glanced down the darkness, checking if there were any wyverns left hiding. He didn’t see anything unusual.

The fates sided with me today.

He had braced himself in case the worst-case scenario happened and twenty monsters of the same kind gathered, in fact nine wyverns were considered only a few. Somehow, these wyverns seem to have been separated from their original nest.

Riftan looked up at the rock wall, thinking that maybe there were wyvern eggs. Although, he didn’t have the will to find it and deal with it. He roughly wiped the sticky blood of the monsters off his sword against his soiled clothes and sheathed it into the scabbard. As he trudged out of the valley, the wizard who peeked with his head, moved his eyes anxiously and quickly moved away with a strange sound.

Riftan ignored him and assessed the situation. Fortunately, all the wyverns seem to have been dealt with but the damage they inflicted was great. Nearly half of the expedition force was sprawled on the floor, many of whom seem to have lost their lives. Riftan turned his head towards the wizard.

“What are you doing not applying healing magic?”

The wizard crouched and ran to the place where the swarming squad gathered. Riftan sat down on a rock and sighed wearily.

***

Unfortunately, their client was alive. The pig-like man initially promised that he would pay twelve dirhams for each wyvern and insisted on the same price, but Riftan wanted to get paid properly. He expected the client to try avoiding paying fairly in such a stingy way, so he fiddled with his sword’s handle with a grunt and growled furiously.

“Then I will terminate the contract. I will return one denar and seven dirhams. I caught those eight wyverns by myself, so I will make my own conditions. Your catapults and magic tools were useless.”

At his threat, the nobleman’s grim face turned purple in anger. “Who are you to dare terminate the contract!”

“Don’t be mistaken. I do not serve you; I am not your servant. You are just someone I accomplished a specific task for. If I find your contract unfairly judged, then I can cancel it as much as I can.”

The knights who could not stand his insolent attitude, drew out their sword at once. Riftan shot them a chilling glance. The middle-aged sorcerer leaned against the carriage with a tired blue face from mana exhaustion, there were only twenty surviving Nebron soldiers and eleven knights left.

Riftan glanced at the mercenaries who were weighing the situation. There was no way they were going to join the argument, nor will they be paid more. The only chance for them to take his side is if he offers them money.

Riftan’s lips pulled at the side. There was no need for that. Only about thirty-five men have managed to save themselves somehow. As he scanned the terrain and the ranks with keen eyes, thinking of the most efficient ways to defeat them, the noble man raised his hand.

“Alright, I am accepting your terms. I’ve already lost a lot of men. If you were able to deal with eight wyverns by yourself, then it’s not impossible for you to defeat the remaining of my forces.” The nobleman said, as if to be patronizing. “I’ll give you five denars per head, a total of forty denars.”

“Eight denars per head.”

“Don’t be greedy. In any case, you can’t take all of these monsters apart and move them by yourself.”

Riftan shed a loud laugh. Who is telling who not to be greedy?

“I don’t even have to take all of them. Just selling their mana stones can earn me more than 60 denars. Tearing their skin and selling them as leather will earn further money. I want you to know that I’m being very generous right now. It will be more beneficial for me to just terminate the contract. I’m just negotiating because it will be annoying for me to fight with your men.”

The nobleman turned red and came up with a final deal. “Fine, I’ll give you 60 denars. I can’t give you any more than that.”

Riftan glared at him coldly and sighed, realizing that there was no point in negotiating further.

“Fine, I’ll take it, 60 denars. But you must give the payment to me right here, right now.”

The nobleman, who looked displeased with his frank mistrusting attitude, glanced at the knight standing behind him. The knight immediately brought a heavy leather bag filled with gold coins. Riftan inspected it and quickly counted the gold coins. It was exactly 60 coins.

He pulled out a coin, checked its authenticity, and threw it at the soldiers. “Good, that’s yours now.”

Riftan turned his back like he was done with his business and saw the wizard who helped him sat a little far away with a miserable expression. It seemed like he did not receive any pay for failing with the sleeping enchantment and the failure of installing magic tools. Riftan lightly clicked his tongue and pulled out fifteen gold coins from the pouch in his pocket.

“Here, that’s your share.”

The man gazed down at the gold coins, then slowly raised his head with an ecstatic expression. Riftan added in a subtle tone.

“As a rule, wizards usually receive a quarter of the expedition’s pay. Take it.”

The wizard opened his mouth blankly.

This guy probably has something lacking in his head.

Riftan looked at his stupid face that didn’t look an ounce threatening, then he forced the gold coins into the young wizard’s robe and turned away.

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Note – Nymeria: In OAK it was often mentioned how Riftan is reckless and powerful, but this chapter was so impressive. Like, what? You can do that? Ruth was so relatable lmao