Chapter 10: Wyvern Legion

A massive ancient dragon soared through the sky with powerful wingbeats.

The metal basket provided by the United States was tethered to the dragon’s hind legs with thick steel cables.

Inside were nearly thirty elite hunters.

“Sungho, how much longer?”

“About 30 more minutes! We’re almost there!”

“This volcanic area is scorching!”

“Damn, me too!”

The air hitting their faces was blisteringly hot.

It was expected in a volcanic region.

However, their spirits were lifting, indicating that their destination was near.

After a bit more flying, I was finally able to announce to everyone that we had arrived at our destination with joy.

“It’s the wyvern den! Look down!!”

Red wyverns, immune to fire damage, were seen bathing in the lava below.

These creatures would hunt around when they got hungry after their lava baths.

Sometimes, if they couldn’t find prey nearby, they’d fly tens of kilometres to hunt, and we had hunted them a few times back at the Korean base.

The wyverns, enjoying their lava bath, were startled and scattered when the overwhelming presence of the dragon appeared in the sky.

Some of them even hastily took to the air.

I quickly changed our flight direction to target one of the wyverns that had taken off.

“Catch it!”

Despite its desperate attempt to escape, the wyvern couldn’t match the dragon’s overwhelming speed.

It wasn’t long before the dragon easily caught up with the wyvern.

“Subdue it!”

At my command, the dragon grabbed the wyvern roughly with its mouth.

The wyvern, overwhelmed with fear, trembled and couldn’t even resist, completely subdued by the dragon’s aura.

“Good. Hold on a moment.”

I reached out toward the wyvern caught in the dragon’s mouth.

The skill “Chains of Obedience” was activated.

[The target’s mental resistance is lowered due to extreme fear.]

[The success rate of the Chains of Obedience skill is significantly increased due to the contract with the dragon!]

The wyvern, struggling for a moment, soon succumbed to me without much resistance.

Its health was nearly 100%, and this happened without causing any damage.

“Wow, already?”

“Amazing! The dragon is the best!”

I ordered the dragon to release the tamed wyvern, and it opened its mouth.

The wyvern, now following my command, slowly descended and approached the basket with the hunters.

“One of you, get on!”

“I’ll do it!”

One hunter mounted the wyvern, grabbed its protruding horn, and began to control it.

“This is awesome!!!”

Watching the hunter controlling the wyvern, the other hunters eagerly urged me.

“That’s crazy! Boss! Me too!”

“I want a wyvern too!”

I burst out laughing.

“Wait! We’re going for the next one right now!”

The hunt continued.

I subdued the wyverns that took off by grabbing them with the dragon’s mouth and taming them with my Chains of Obedience skill.

Then, I had one of the hunters ride and control each wyvern.

As time passed, the number of wyverns flying near the dragon began to increase.

“This is insane. This is why I wanted to join the Air Force!”

“Then why are you a hunter!”

“Don’t you know? They forced me in because of my high mana affinity!”

“Do you enjoy being in the Air Force now?”

“It’s awesome, boss!”

It was a spectacular sight.

The red wyverns, monstrous creatures with an average level between the high 800s and low 900s, were effortlessly being turned to our side just because we had a dragon.

Before long, there were no more hunters in the basket.

Each one had their own wyvern and was flying in the sky.

But we didn’t stop there.

“Now we’ll start herding them!”

A group of 30 wyverns flew around the den, scaring and driving the other wyverns towards us.

The key was to herd them towards me.

When they gathered, I gave the command.

“Use Dragon Fear.”

The dragon let out a powerful roar.

This method, developed after taming about 30 wyverns, was quite effective.

Anywhere from three to ten or more wyverns, paralyzed by fear, would fall from the sky.

The wyvern riders quickly captured the falling wyverns and brought them to me.

I would then easily tame the paralyzed wyverns with my Chains of Obedience skill.

Each herding session significantly increased the number of wyverns in our squad.

With the growing number of tamed wyverns, we expanded our herding range, which in turn increased our numbers even more.

Time passed.

“Damn, Sungho, we’re an army.”

“Indeed, we are. Hahaha!”

By now, nearly 200 wyverns were flying around the dragon, following my commands.

These wyverns were all healthy and ready for action.

With this many, it was time to test their power.

“We’re done hunting wyverns. Change target!! To the ground, at those pangolins!”

Crystal Pangolins.

These level 900 monsters had extremely hard, crystallized skin.

Although slow, they had once tried to open a rift near the Korean territory, and we had hunted them before.

I knew their characteristics well.

Physically eliminating them was nearly impossible.

Their crystal skin resisted physical attacks, electricity, and magic.

Living in volcanic regions, they also had high resistance to heat.

The only thing that could destroy their skin was an extraordinary level of heat.

A wyvern that used to wield high-level extreme heat magic was tamed, turning into a weakling that could easily be captured.

The flame breath of the red wyverns living in the volcanic area was hot enough to melt the skin of a pangolin.

“Attack!”

A squadron of wyverns, accompanied by an ancient dragon, swooped down vertically from the sky.

The wyverns and the dragon, which plummeted from the sky to the ground in an instant, started attacking the crystal pangolins that were clustered together and moving in a group on the ground with relentless flame breaths.

The pangolins screamed.

Their skin, which could never be easily destroyed, melted instantly upon contact with the dragon flames.

The ones that melted so quickly were left trembling, with only their skeletal remains, looking up at us.

“Ha ha ha! Look at those bastards!”

“They aren’t usually this easy to catch!”

“Sungho hyung! Keep commanding the wyverns! We’ll go down and take care of those guys and collect the magic stones!”

“Alright! Go ahead!”

The hunters dismounted from the wyverns and approached the pangolins, easily dealing with those reduced to mere bones.

Soon, the hunters were holding the magnificent red magic stones of the 900-level monsters.

“Well done! Put them in the basket!”

In no time, a massive quantity of magic stones was loaded into the iron basket carried by the ancient dragon.

The magic stones of 700-level monsters were already highly prized by the United States.

How valuable would the magic stones of 900-level monsters be?

Just imagining it made us laugh.

We collected and collected the magic stones frantically.

Even though the crystal pangolins in the area were slaughtered en masse, it didn’t matter.

Monsters in the vicinity would respawn periodically.

Back when we were guarding the base in Korea, this respawning phenomenon was really annoying because it meant more fights.

But now, it looked like an endless duplication of money.

“This is money! Money!!! Ha ha ha!”

“How much do you think all this will be worth?”

The basket was filled with magic stones.

We wandered various areas of the wyvern den, hunting a large number of pangolins and other high-level monsters, securing a huge amount of magic stones.

When I judged that we had caught enough.

“This should be enough! Let’s head back!”

“Yes, hyung!”

I judged that it was time to end the operation here.

We had secured more magic stones and wyverns than expected.

This would earn us enough credit at the Korean base to bring back more hunters easily.

Even if Volkov, the association president, was furious, he would have no choice but to smile like Buddha when he saw the magic stones.

The United States would surely see us as an indispensable asset.

“Good job! Let’s sell these and rest when we get back!”

“This is crazy. With wyverns, our combat efficiency is unbelievable! Hyung!”

“That’s why we came to tame them. Let’s hurry back. Younghak hyung must be waiting.”

Since it was just about bringing back the re-recruited hunters, it was obvious that they would return much faster than us.

I hurried back to the U.S. base number 32, anticipating the reactions of the hunters Younghak hyung would bring when they saw these magic stones.

But as soon as I arrived at base 32, I realized my expectations were wrong.

“Younghak hyung? He hasn’t come back yet?”

“He hasn’t returned?”

“No. I was starting to think he’s been unusually delayed.”

I felt uneasy.

Instinctively, I knew something had gone wrong.

***

“Ha ha ha! Long time no see! You bastards! How have you b……”

Younghak, who landed at the base with three wyverns, stopped laughing as he sensed the tense atmosphere.

Officers in military uniforms clutching their broken fingers, trembling.

Hunters holding their weapons in anger.

It was obvious that something had gone wrong, even without an explanation.

“What’s going on? Explain it to me, quickly.”

In response to Lee Younghak’s words, Go Jaewan hurriedly approached him to say something.

But before he could, a tremendous shout from a leading officer, as if he had swallowed a train whistle, rang out.

“Lee Younghak!!! Why are you here?! This is a violation of international law!!!”

And Younghak’s response to that was very cool.

“Yeah. I committed a crime. You sons of bitches.”

He draws his sword.

A blazing aura surrounds the blade.

The three wyverns also growl, baring their killing intent toward the officers.

“So, what can you do?”

“You!……”

“Shut your mouth. Just seeing your faces pisses me off.”

After easily subduing the officers, Younghak looked at Jaewan.

“It’s been a while, Go Jaewan. I didn’t expect to see you again here after being discharged, but things turned out shitty, didn’t they? Tell me. What happened?”

As soon as Jaewan saw Younghak, all the pent-up grievances burst out as he tearfully explained his situation.

He was forcibly re-enlisted.

He was promised to make a fortune with magic stones, but they outright scammed him.

He saw Seo Youngchul being carried away and was just told that he died.

After hearing everything calmly, Younghak strode toward the officers.

“Died from heatstroke while doing drills?”

Younghak began to laugh.

“Let’s not kid ourselves. Expecting common sense in this shitty country was the mistake.”

Younghak swings his sword.

In an instant, all the officers except the leading one were cut to pieces.

The bloody smell and sticky blood splattered on the face of the lone surviving officer.

“Officer, what should we do? Your comrades just died from ‘underlying conditions.’”

Younghak chuckled, his words freezing the officer in complete fear.

The officer, who had never seen someone killed with a sword up close, could not withstand Younghak’s murderous aura.

Shivering violently, the officer finally broke under the fear.

“The, the, the military discipline camp, a, a female officer…”

Younghak, who had been a Hunter under Korean command until a few days ago, knew exactly who the female officer the officer mentioned was.

“The discipline camp officer… She’s an Awakener, isn’t she? Why isn’t she at the base?”

“By higher-ups’ orders… If Hunters rebel, female officers might get hurt… Only male officers were assigned…”

“Unbelievable. And so is your headlessness.”

With a thud, the officer’s head flew off.

After shaking off the blood, Younghak threw his long sword to Jaewan.

“Let me ask you one thing.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Is there anyone who wants to stay here? To risk their lives dealing with the rifts for peanuts for Korea?”

No one raised their hand.

There was no way anyone would.

Younghak laughed.

“Then I ask two things. Feed these ‘underlying condition’ deceased officers to Yongduri and Yongsam and destroy this base with them.”

“Destroy the base?”

“Yes. These bastards treated Hunters like shit, right? We should return the favour.”

Jaewan looked at his colleagues.

All 133 of them seemed ready to follow Younghak without resistance.

Jaewan had no intention of going against this mood.

“Then what about you, sir?”

“I need to catch that female officer. She should get what she deserves, shouldn’t she?”

“How are you going to do that? She’s outside the gate.”

Younghak silently tore the dead officer’s shirt to make a hood and covered his face.

Then he called Yongil.

“Jaewan.”

“Yes.”

“Now I’ll tell you what to say to others.”

Younghak took out a mana potion from his pocket.

He poured it into Yong-l’s mouth, and Yongil drank the potion in the can.

Now Yongil wouldn’t be unsummoned due to mana shortage even outside the gate for a while.

“A few mutated wyverns burned down the base, and one of them crossed the gate and caused havoc. Got it? These unusual mutants could survive outside the gate without a rift or mana supply.”

Jaewan alternately looked at the dead officers and Younghak.

Younghak grinned at him.

“It’s a country that’s busy covering up deaths, right? No reason we shouldn’t do the same.”

“Right. No reason we shouldn’t.”

“I’ll catch that female officer. Take care of things here.”

Younghak hid between Yongil’s front paws, the most inconspicuous spot.

Then he and Yongil crossed the gate.

And that day.

“What, what’s that!!! A wyvern!!”

“How can a wyvern be active outside the gate without a rift…… Argh!!!”

The military unit guarding the main gate in Daejeon became a sea of fire.