72. Wyvern 3

Mitoka and Shestia returned to Shiro’s side.

“Shiro, check the wyvern’s status with Idean Skill,” Mitoka said.

Shiro activated his Idean Skill and ran an inspection.

Wyvern — Beast of Magic — Level 820

Skills: [Wind Magic], [Tornado], [Wind Wrap], [Wind Ball], [Wind Blow]

“Hmm, unusually high level. And it doesn’t have fire magic…? Then why can it cast fire magic?”

Shiro paused, thinking. This was clearly a system bug. If it could use fire magic, the skill should appear in the list. But was it just a display glitch—or was the system itself corrupted?

“…Wait. If it can use magic, that means a magic spirit is installed, right? What kind of spirit does a beast of magic have?”

“Shiro, magic beasts are governed by Miasma Spirits. The type of magic they can use varies by beast type—ranging from beginner to advanced.”

“By beast type? So that means…”

Shiro pondered. If different magic types were available depending on the beast, then each beast type likely had its own magic spirit. Perhaps a parent class of general magic spirit, with subclass instances for each beast type?

“Or… no, I don’t want to think about this too hard…”

Could it be that each individual magic user has its own magic spirit class? If so, then each wyvern would be an instance created from a prototype object—customized with species-specific methods?

"There's a stronger possibility here. It's not that all creatures of a specific type are affected—just individual cases. So… some kind of anomaly must have installed a magical method, or perhaps the magic itself was rewritten…"

As Shiro pondered,

"Shiro, this individual is also infected with a virus," Mitoka said.

"And in terms of type, it's the same as the one infecting Shestia," she reported, analyzing the data.

"Hmm, I see. So the virus is interfering with the individual's magical spirit—there's no doubt about that," Shiro thought.

"Shiro… could figuring out this virus also save Mother?" Shestia asked, her face tinged with anxious hope.

"Yeah, that's right. Saving her is already possible. My divine magic can break the seal. The virus issue… needs a bit more checking. But I think we can handle it," Shiro replied with a smile directed at Shestia.

Shestia beamed, "Thank you."

"Confirmed. Sample collected. Let's deactivate Ideia and wrap this up."

Shiro spoke, deactivating the Ideia skill. Then,

"Finally, the last two: [Divine Precision Mana Control] and [Divine Precision Surface Manifestation]," he murmured.

——『[Divine Precision Mana Control] Level 1 acquired』

——『[Divine Precision Surface Manifestation] Level 1 acquired』

Shiro advanced toward the wyvern, wielding the metal blade now enhanced by his divine magic, its precision surface manifestation refined to perfection.

"Light Sword,"

he chanted.

The blade blazed into existence—ten meters long, glowing white—and severed the wyvern’s neck cleanly.

"Alright, that’s all, then? Guess we made it through," Shiro says, smiling at the group gathered around him.

"Marvelous. Shiro, that last wyvern was quite a challenge, wasn’t it?" Aria says.

"Yeah. Level 820. Didn’t expect it to use fire magic."

"Indeed. I’ve lived a long time, but I’ve never seen a wyvern breathe fire before," Sophia adds.

"For now, let’s just stash the corpses in the inventory and head back to town."

Once Shiro had stored all the wyverns in his inventory, they turned back toward the fortress.

Back at the fortress, cheers from the adventurers echoed through the walls.

The guildmaster approached, calling out to Shiro and the others.

"Damn, that was an incredible fight. I saw it all! Well done—on behalf of the whole town, I thank you!" Greg shouted.

The cheers that rang through the fortress need not be mentioned.

"Are the other monsters all taken care of?" Aria asked.

"Yeah, not many of them. Manageable number—nothing we couldn’t handle," Greg replied.

Afterward, the entire party would return to town in triumph.

◇

The next day, Shiro and the others came to the Guild to ask Greg questions.

"Was there anything unusual before the wyvern sightings?" Shiro asked.

"Not really. There was a report—a lone adventurer claiming to have seen a white dragon… but it was so outlandish, and the man’s reputation was already questionable, so at first, no one believed it. No one’s seen one in centuries," Greg said.

Three more witnesses reported seeing it—confirmation that the first sighting was real. Judging by its flight pattern, color, and size, it was likely the same dragon. It had been heading toward Sotohaim, but veered mid-flight, presumably toward the capital.

“Huh. So that dragon’s probably behind the strange movements of the wyverns and giant boars,” Shiro said.

Push factor, he thought. That’d explain why the herds arrived in sequence.

But what about the sheer number? The abnormal strength? The strange magic? What was the cause of all that?

And what exactly was this dragon? Why had it come here? Why had it changed course?

No leads yet. Investigation would have to continue, Shiro concluded.

If you found this interesting, please consider rating, bookmarking, or leaving a comment—it really helps!