System Change

The heat may not have been unbearable, but that didn’t mean Derek would come away unscathed. The breath from the wind wyvern had amplified the breaths from the other two. And he still wasn’t sure what element the black wyvern was using, and a quick Identify didn’t help. He turned around to look at the three beasts, brushing away the level up he received in his Absolute Nullify skill.

He hadn’t expected to find a monster he wouldn’t be able to Identify with it at leave 16 and him at level 171, but he found one, it was a real legendary beast. His only guess was that the black fire-like breath it shot out had some sort of weakening effect, as the heat had blistered his back, and it didn’t seem like he was healing as fast as usual.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to contemplate everything, as the wyverns were circling around, preparing for another strafing run.

Derek hurried and ushered Jasper and Tara around to the other side of his Absolute Nullify shield. Once everyone was safe, Derek focused on the three beasts, if he could even call wyverns beasts.

“Do you have regeneration, defensive, and speed buffs?” he asked Tara, who was at his side, also looking at the incoming wyvern.

“I do,” she answered.

“Cast those on the three of us. I feel like we’ll need them,” he said, and she began casting the spells.

Soon, a green light fell over them, followed by a brown, then a yellow one. Derek could feel a sort of layer around the outer part of his skin.

“I went for magical resistance instead of physical. I can cast the other, but I want to preserve some mana, just in case,” Tara answered his question before he asked.

“No, this is fine. I think they plan on hitting us with magic to test us out. Do either of you know how smart wyverns are?”

“I know that ancient dragons are as intelligent, if not more intelligent, as us. I doubt wyverns would be too far off,” Jasper answered.

“That’s what I was thinking. They are only prodding us to see how we react,” Derek said. “Get in close to my barrier. That heat is not something we want to deal with.”

Fortunately, they didn’t have to worry much about the heat from the fire wyvern. In the distance, Derek saw a flash of blue, then a screech as the red wyvern veered off to the side. Edgar had begun his assault.

With the destructiveness of the combined assault from the fire and wind wyverns lessened, his Absolute Nullify was able to block the next attack even easier. He covered the other two in the same way and only felt some light cuts appear on his back. With the regeneration spell Tara had cast on him, those minor cuts healed up without him even having to meditate. The burden was greatly lessened.

The trio moved around to the back of the shield once again, just in case the two creatures came back, but they didn’t have to worry, as a flurry of arrows pierced through the sky, landing directly on the blue wyvern. None of the attacks pierced the scales of the beast, but the attack was enough to draw its attention.

The blue beast roared and shot out like a bolt of lightning in the direction of wherever Avery had fired from. That left him and the two support to deal with the black wyvern.

“I’m not able to hold this shield up forever. It rapidly drains my mana, so I’m going to open my prison for the two of you to hide in. Be prepared to come out and heal at a moment’s notice, though. We may need you, and Avery didn’t get the buffs that I did.” Derek didn’t bother waiting for their replies. He wasn’t asking them to hide in his prison, he was telling them to.

He had more than enough confidence to take care of himself, whether he could beat the wyvern or not, but he wasn’t so sure he could do it while looking after the two non-combatants. The two others didn’t disagree with his plans, so, before the black wyvern could make its way back, he opened his prison and allowed them inside.

He closed the door behind them, making sure to adjust the time to a one-to-one ratio, including the tear in the void. It would take more mana to open the void again to bring them out that way, but it was better to keep the prison with him, rather than in a static location. He was unsure if he could move the Time Prison from one place to another without having closed the tear in the void on the first one. He made a mental note to run an experiment with that the next time he was free.

With the healer and support tucked away safely in his Time Prison, there was no need for Derek to keep his Absolute Nullify skill up and running. It was a constant drain on his mana, even with his regeneration. He canceled the skill and focused on the incoming wyvern. He planned to make this fight as quick as possible so he could go help Avery with the wind wyvern.

With a flick of his wrist, the halberd that was at least two sizes too big for him appeared in his hand. He rested the butt of the staff on the ground, the axe-end towered over his body. He switched on Greater Meditation to build up as much mana as he could before the dragonkin came in range.

When the wyvern opened its massive maw to launch another one of its breath attacks, he began. He instantly entered Void Shift and pushed Void Sense to its limits. His surroundings paused and the ripples in the void became even more apparent.

Time to get to work, he thought as he pulled himself through one ripple, then out of the next. He continued this process a few times before he was floating directly in front of the black wyvern. His next move was to get to the back of the wyvern before releasing his skill. From there, he would put everything he had into his halberd and attack the wyvern.

That was his plan, at least. That did not end up happening. No, what happened was the wyvern’s eyes glared directly at him when he appeared in front of the beast, just as Alanah’s had when she broke him out of his shift. Then, the next thing he knew, he was sent flying into the ground by a wing. He had finally met the second thing that could break his skill, and this time, it was an enemy.

Derek crashed into the ground with enough force to cause a mini crater around him. Both the initial hit and the landing had taken the air out of him. His health even dropped by fifteen percent, which was a lot considering the amount of health he had and his Endurance stat. Plus, it was all from blunt damage, which was his least favorite type of damage to receive.

Somehow, through all of that, he managed to keep his grip on his oversized halberd. It lay in the crater along with him. Derek laid on his back, dust surrounding him, as he stared up at the dragonkin hovering in the sky above, preparing to unleash another attack. Did I just get punched by a fucking dragon? With all the thoughts flowing rapidly throughout his head, that’s the thought that made its way to the front.

Okay… he pushed the random thought out. Void Shift isn’t going to work for a one hit KO this time, it seems. Which means I’ll have to… I’ll have to… fuck… what the hell am I supposed to do? His go to strategy was to survive a lot of hits, then Void Shift into a good position for a void enforced Multi-Strike.

He had to admit; he was pretty much a one-trick pony at this point, but his one trick had always worked, until now. Before, he wanted to take care of his own wyvern, then go help Avery. Now he was hoping Avery would take care of his, then come help him.

Still, he couldn’t just lay in the crater and wait to be ravaged by the wyvern. He kipped up to his feet and began to move. He still wasn’t sure of the exact nature of the beast above. It’s got to be darkness, or death, or something. Death would be my best guess, based on the weakness I felt with the combined attack.

Derek took to the air with Void Steps and charged at the dragonkin. The beast’s maw was open wide and energy gathered inside. Derek stopped a few thousand feet away from the wyvern and waited for the attack.

The dark beam of fire exploded from the mouth of the beast and was on him almost instantly. In that short time, Derek void shifted and moved away. He only stayed shifted for a second, but it was enough to see that the attack hadn’t been stopped, only slowed by a factor. Still, it was slow enough that it allowed him to dodge through a void rift.

He needed to see how the beast attacked. Was the wyvern able to control the breath while it released it, or was it like Edgar’s beam? He soon got his answer, as the wyvern turned its head and the dark beam followed.

Derek kicked the void below him and tried to close the distance between them while circling to avoid the beam. Luckily, after ten seconds or so, the energy in the beam lessened before disappearing.

Alright! Hoping that the dragonkin would be tired after using its breath attack, Derek shifted into the void once more for another attempt. This time, instead of appearing directly in front of the wyvern, he pulled himself through the void tear connected to another behind the dragon. If he couldn’t approach it from the front, he would try from the back.

Derek pulled himself forward. All I need to do is grab hold of the tail. He moved as fast as he could while shifted. However, it wasn’t to be. As soon as he closed in on the beast, it broke through the Void Shift once again with a roar.

This time, unlike with the dragon’s wing, he saw the tail. He saw it as it directly crashed against him. He moved the halberd in front of his chest to block, and he was glad he did. The tail packed much more of a punch than the wings did.

Derek was sent flying once again. This time, he skidded against the ground, smashing through multiple building remnants as he did so, leaving a Derek shaped trail along the ground. That was another twenty percent of his HP gone, and that was after blocking. Damn. Now I’m wishing I would have pushed Tara for the physical buff as well.

Mentally, he moved dragons to third on his list of things not to fuck with. The list now included Natalie Savannah, Alanah Swan, and dragons. But, as of right now, he didn’t have a choice. He only hoped the other two were faring better than he was.

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