Chapter 251: The Civil War in the Principality (16)

“Wh-What...? Just one person?!”

At first, when the deputy commander received the report, he doubted his own ears.

“Only one person?!”

For a moment, he wondered how to punish his subordinate for spouting nonsense, but then he got to doubt his own eyes. From the sky, only one figure stood visible beneath them. In a situation where thousands of troops were advancing, what could a single individual possibly do? The terrain wasn’t a narrow gorge, and the army wasn’t made up of regular soldiers either.

“This is insane...!!”

Nevertheless, the area around the man was set ablaze, almost like a fire signal to make himself seen. Clearly, there was only one individual that could have done this.

It was Karyl.

“Roaaarr...!!!”

The soaring wyverns bared their sharp fangs as they glanced downward.

“We can’t afford to waste time on such a pointless distraction!! I don’t care if it’s a trap or bait, just go down there and incinerate that asshole!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Understood!”

The wyvern riders promptly responded to the deputy commander. As he raised his hand, ten wyverns simultaneously began to descend.

“Roar!!”

The lead rider yanked the reins of his wyvern, causing it to spew flames from its mouth, its eyes glowing red.

Whoosh...!!

Bang!! Boom!! Bang!! Bang!!!

All ten wyverns unleashed fireballs at the same time, the fiery projectiles flying like bullets.

“Haah...”

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Gazing at the flames about to rain down, Karyl slowly drew on his mana. As the mana surged through his veins, the Ein Trigger embedded in his right hand glowed red, and the serpent tattoo on his left wrist flickered.

Swoosh—!!

Karyl drew his Freezing Talon and slashed through the air. Then, with a powerful stomp, the earth surged upward, forming a smooth, massive wall as though a great slab of earth had been peeled back, leaving him at its center.

Crack... Crack...!!

The roots of trees were torn out as the ground rose, dust scattering in all directions.

Bang!! Boom—!!

The wyverns’ fireballs collided with the rising earth wall, exploding with a deafening roar.

“...!!”

The riders stared in disbelief. Never before had anyone managed to block an attack from the wyvern unit, as a single strike was capable of reducing hundreds of ordinary soldiers to ash in an instant.

“I can’t believe it...”

“Is that even possible...?!”

The wyvern unit, with power rivaling thousands—perhaps even tens of thousands—of troops, could outmatch even a Sword Master in certain situations. On open plains, the wyverns’ might was unparalleled.

As such, the riders had expected victory without question—until moments ago.

As the dust cleared, Karyl came into view, gripping a tree trunk torn from the shattered earth wall, easily three times his size.

“Haa...!!”

With all his strength, Karyl hurled the massive trunk like a spear, sending it spinning upward.

Swoosh—!!

With a whistling sound as it cut through the air, the trunk struck directly through the wing of the leading wyvern.

A shriek-like roar filled the air as the wyvern, writhing in pain, flapped its wings desperately. However, the large gash in its wing completely shattered its balance, causing the beast to spiral downward and crash into the ground.

“Ugh...! Aaagh!”

The rider screamed as the wyvern slammed into the ground, skidding across the ground.

Crash! Bang! Crash!

The beast’s head scraped across the ground as it slid forward for dozens of meters. The rider, leaping off moments before the impact, quickly drew his sword and faced Karyl.

“Hmm, you managed to escape in time. Not too shabby,” Karyl remarked.

It had been very close; had the rider been a bit slower, he could have been crushed under the falling wyvern. Karyl observed the mana blade aimed at him and made a few steps forward.

“You bastard... Identify yourself!”

The wyvern rider, having thrown off his goggles, rushed at Karyl and swung his sword. Instead of answering, Karyl swiftly struck back.

“Gah...!!”

The rider barely managed to block Karyl’ attack. He gathered all the mana he could muster into his blade and slashed, but his sword only managed to cut through air.

“Killing you would be a waste, but... I have no choice.”

Karyl clicked his tongue, slightly frustrated. The wyvern unit would certainly be a valuable asset against the Tarak in the Oracle War. He would’ve liked to keep them alive, but he knew well that he couldn’t allow the wyvern unit to interfere with his plans to subdue Tuli.

Karyl reached out, grabbed the rider's face, and shoved him backward.

Boom—!!

The rider’s legs kicked up as his head was slammed into the ground.

“Ugh... Guhh!”

Despite the rider’s attempt to protect himself with mana, he failed to withstand Karyl’s force, coughing up blood from the impact.

“Kaaargh!!”

At that moment, another wyvern, circling in the sky, swooped down like a raptor, aiming its sharp fangs at Karyl’s back. Karyl narrowly dodged, his hand brushing the ground as the wyvern’s jaws snapped shut on the empty air.

A massive shadow loomed over Karyl as the wyvern flapped its wings, trying to gain altitude again. Karyl, however, grabbed the collar of the downed rider and yanked him off the ground. The rider was powerless to resist as Karyl, with a single arm, hoisted him into the air and hurled him at the oncoming beast.

“Aaagh!!”

With a scream, the rider was swallowed whole by the wyvern’s gaping maw.

Crunch—! Crack!!

His screams were abruptly silenced, replaced by the sickening sound of bones cracking, echoing through the air as flesh spilled from the beast’s jaws.

The other riders watched in horror as their comrade became food for the very wyvern he had trained.

“Carth!!” one of the riders shouted, his voice filled with anguish. But before his fury could take hold, he saw Karyl standing on the wyvern, his feet firmly planted on the beast’s bloodied head.

“You...!!”

The rider gritted his teeth, ready to avenge his fallen comrade. However, that was where his futile resistance ended. Before he could even draw his sword, Karyl’s Freezing Talon cleaved through his neck, ending his life in an instant.

“Krk...!! Krrrr...!!”

Kicking the dead rider off, Karyl grabbed the wyvern’s reins as the creature thrashed in protest. The more it struggled, the more Karyl tightened his grip on its head. His hand was now glowing with a fiery heat, the Ein Trigger embedded in his hand gleaming brightly.

Ssshhh...!!!

Loud sizzling filled the air as the wyvern’s tough scales melted under the intense heat.

“Kaaargh―!!”

The wyvern roared in agony.

“...Impossible.”

The remaining riders were stunned. It took years of effort to tame just one wyvern, and the 1st Wyvern Squadron were not ordinary beasts—they were ferocious hybrids born from the blood of flame dragons. From the moment they hatched, they were imprinted with their master's presence, and only through this bond could they be tamed.

But now... the wyvern, having lost its master, submitted to Karyl like it was the most natural thing in the world.

With a firm tug on the reins, Karyl directed the wyvern to spread its wings and change direction.

“That’s it.” He nodded in satisfaction and then, to the shock of the watching riders, let go of the reins entirely.

“...!!!!”

“Wha...?!?”

The riders couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

No one could control a wyvern without reins and a whip, not even after years of training. These creatures could turn on their masters in an instant if they sensed weakness, no matter how long they had been together. After all, the wyvern captured by Karyl had devoured its own master.

For those who tamed and rode these beasts, the reins and whip were their lifeline, their only form of protection. To let go of them was akin to suicide.

Not even Terix, the commander of the 1st Wyvern Squadron, could manage a wyvern in this manner. Yet here was this young man, calmly doing the impossible.

With a light tap of his foot on the wyvern’s head, Karyl signaled it to roar.

“Kaaargh―!!”

The beast’s piercing roar sent shivers through the other wyverns. The wyvern Karyl rode wasn’t ranked particularly high, yet the other beasts trembled in fear as though they had suddenly turned into prey.

“Wh-What the hell is happening?!”

“Why are they acting like this?!”

The riders, bewildered by the sudden change in their mounts, tried desperately to calm them down by pulling on the reins. But the wyverns, now beyond control, thrashed about wildly, as if trying to throw their riders off.

“What the...?!”

“Aaah―!!”

Despite their best efforts, the riders couldn’t maintain their hold on the reins. The wyverns not only tried to throw them off but also began snapping at the other riders, trying to devour them.

“Get out of the way!!”

“Help!!”

The panicked cries echoed in the sky as the riders, with no escape route, fell one by one. They didn’t realize that Karyl had instilled fear into their mounts with his power. The roar of his wyvern had been a warning, recognized by the other beasts as an absolute command.

The wyverns had sensed the overwhelming power flowing through Karyl’s body—the power of the Flame Dragon Riseria. Recognizing this primal force, they could do nothing but submit.

Flap...! Flap...!

Swoosh...!!

One by one, the wyverns began to circle around Karyl, their wings beating in unison. They formed a protective ring around him, as though to acknowledge him as their true master.

It was only natural. The 1st Wyvern Squadron, born from the blood of the Flame Dragon, were instinctively compelled to obey the source of that power.

“How is this possible...?”

The deputy commander, who had been observing from high above, was left speechless by the scene unfolding below.

“Hmph.”

The wyverns circled above Karyl’s head, forming a crown-like formation to welcome their true king.