System Change

After loading the drake into one of the cells, Derek and Avery fell into a proficient rhythm. Avery brought in a small variety of different beasts, choosing from amphitheres, wyrms, and drakes. The amount of amphitheres outnumbered the other varieties because they tended to be a bit smaller than the others, and easier to squeeze into a cell.

Luckily, there was a nature based wyrm that Avery found. Even though it was one of the bigger beasts, Derek accepted it. He also found a lightning based drake, which wind should apparently be good against. It would work perfectly for Rayna. Thomas would have his own pick with his soul based attacks.

After all that, the Time prison had managed to hold nine of the lesser beasts inside, and he still had two cells available that would be able to take in wyverns. All in all, it to around thirty minutes to fill up the cells. It was much faster than Derek thought it would be, and that was even with Lyra resting a bit in between captures. She was already putting a Meditation skill to use. However, Derek didn’t know if it was provided to her by Avery, or if she had it to begin with.

He also commended on Jasper’s luck. There weren’t any undead monsters outside this time, but there was a drake with a darkness element. It wouldn’t be as easy to deal with for the healer as an undead creature, but his light element was still a good counter. But the same was true for the darkness element against his light abilities. At least from what Derek understood about the darkness and light elements.

So, the healer would have to be extra careful while fighting the beast. But he was adamant about giving it a try, so that’s what he was doing. At least he should have the upper hand in the battle with his ability to heal himself if needed. Hopefully, if anything went wrong, Edgar would be hanging around close enough to cut in with speed and help, while Avery and Derek were preoccupied.

Fortunately, nothing bad had happened to Jasper by the time Avery and Derek were finished with the lesser beasts, and the healer was still fighting the drake with his limited attack.

Now it was time for Derek to help Avery. He finally left his Time Prison and followed behind Avery and Lyra, heading to where Edgar and Blitz were corralling all the remaining beasts aside from the darkness drake.

“That one,” Avery nodded to one of the wyverns flying around. One of the four wyverns.

Everything clicked at that point. Each wave got increasingly harder than the previous. The first wave was three wyverns. The second was the first wave combined with a small army of lesser dragonkin. And the third wave added four more wyverns and another, slightly bigger army of beasts.

If they had just been hiding and running from fights, they would be up against seven wyverns and a bunch of lesser dragonkin. Passing the trial by surviving was looking more and more like a fool’s errand. By the tenth day, how many wyverns would be attacking? Their only choice would be huddling up in his Time Prison and waiting it out. If another team was inside, they wouldn’t have that choice.

Derek followed Avery’s gaze and saw an off yellow, almost brown, colored wyvern flying around.

“That’s the one we should get Alanah,” Avery said. “Should have great physical defense already.”

“Is that… earth based?” Derek asked, to confirm his thought.

“Yup,” Avery said. “Saw it shaping the ground earlier while trying to attack Edgar.”

Derek nodded. Alanah had, for the most part, a wisdom and intelligence-based class. At least from what Derek had guessed, so something with good physical defense would be better for her. Of course, she also probably had an insane amount of stats collected from Void Beasts. He still had no idea how old the woman was. All he knew was that she didn’t come from Cydaria.

“Can Lyra stun the wyvern for just a second?” Derek asked. Even with his currently upgraded stats, he still doubted he would be able to perfectly go in for an attack with Void Shift. However, with Lyra’s help, that problem could be solved.

Avery and Lyra traded gazes before nodding to each other. “She should be able to daze it for a few seconds, but she won’t be able to control it like she could all the other ones.”

“That should be more than enough,” Derek said. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

With that, Avery jumped on the back of Lyra and, with a flap of the winged serpent’s wings, nearly vanished from his sight. Dammit, they’re fast. He had to shift into the void to regain his ground.

Soon, they were all in the sky with the flying monsters, and Lyra stopped. Avery surveyed the surrounding area with his bow while Lyra glared at the earth-based wyvern. The man was like a swivel. Nothing would be able to approach the duo while Lyra was focusing on her skill.

Once Derek came out of Void Shift, he kept his eyes focused on Lyra, waiting for her attack. When it came, and he saw it landed on the earth wyvern, he made his move.

He shifted and moved to the wyvern. This time, when he got in front of the dragon’s head, he was able to breathe out a sigh of relief when it didn’t react to his presence. He canceled his shift and directed his void into his fist before bringing it down with Multi-Strike, along with his newly broken through strength, dexterity, and intelligence, onto the beast’s temple.

The attack had at least the same effect as his previous attacks with his now broken halberd, as the already vacant eyes of the beast glazed over when his fist connected. With Derek holding on tight to the wyvern, they plummeted to the ground like a meteor. Dammit! I should have been the one to get the dragon riding skill. I’ve ridden them just as long as the others, and I did it without them being tamed.

Derek took a moment to glance to his left and see Avery and Lyra keeping pace with him, Avery with a wide grin plastered on his face. Soon, they hit the ground with a crash, and Lyra and Avery were on top of them.

This was as far as Derek had thought about the plan. He had no clue how they were going to get a limp dragon the size of the wyvern to his Time Prison while keeping it stunned. He would have to stay on it and keep pounding away with his void covered fists just to keep it dazed.

He soon found his answer as the end of Lyra’s tail wrapped around the wyvern’s leg, tipping it over to the side and allowing Derek an even better perch close to its temple. Then the amphithere began the arduous task of dragging the wyvern away.

So… a tow truck… Derek thought, and let another fist fly into the wyvern’s skull. The ride was bumpy, but it didn’t take too long. Lyra wasn’t as fast on the ground as she was in the air, especially with a massive wyvern in tow, but she was still pretty quick.

Finally, they arrived at his Time Prison and got the wyvern squared away. Derek shrunk the cell as much as he could and allowed the remaining cell to widen as much as possible.

“One left,” Derek said. “Let’s get the one that looks like it has the best magic abilities.” It was time to get Brandi’s beast.

“Hop on,” Avery said, as he nodded.

Surprised at the offer, Derek jumped onto Lyra’s back and the trio flew back over to the battle. It was exhilarating, and he was even more jealous of Edgar and Avery… and everyone else who was about to get a flying dragon mount.

The next wyvern fell the same as the previous. It was ice based with a beautiful blue color. With Brandi’s class, it shouldn’t evolve into her element. What would that be, anyway? Crafting? Is crafting an element?

Finally, forty-five minutes into the battle, Derek closed the Time Prison and canceled the skill. They had fifteen minutes left to mop up. They could allow the remaining wyverns to escape and see what came next, but they were pretty much finished with everything. They were all pretty much tapped out on room for materials.

Three wyverns’ worth of materials were already going to allow for a ton of equipment made. But really, they all wanted to finish the trial and see what rewards they would get. There was always the possibility of getting better rewards for completing it faster, though that was never specifically said.

Derek and Avery branched out and began the cleanup. Derek also gave Edgar and Blitz the go ahead via telepathy. Edgar and Blitz went after one wyvern while Avery and Lyra took on the other. Derek thinned out the remaining smaller beasts with his newfound stats.

The fighting only lasted ten minutes before Avery felled the last wyvern. There were still a few drakes and other lesser dragonkin left, but when the light in the final wyvern’s eyes went out, a dungeon orb, or rather, a trial orb, popped up close to them.

The remaining lesser dragonkin all retreated, all except for the one Jasper was contending against. It tried to leave, but that had given Jasper an opportunity to cripple the drake’s leg with a blast of light. Then the healer was on top of its injury.

Avery, Derek, Edgar, and Tara all looked at each other and shrugged. They promised him a companion if one was available, and one was. They would wait until the fight was over.

Jasper’s usual pristine white robe was currently dyed a crimson red, as he had been able to fight the beast without taking much damage like Avery had, and he was nowhere as fast as Edgar was to be able to dodge all the attacks.

In fact, this was the first time Derek had looked at their battle, and it had apparently been pretty even, maybe even being in the drake’s favor, until it tried to flee, leaving itself open for a critical attack.

“Have you been watching that fight?” Derek asked Edgar.

“I’ve kept an eye on it. Wasn’t about to lose our best healer. That’s why I kept the battle relatively close to theirs. I wouldn’t have been able to keep him alive from any critical attacks, but anything else, and I would have been able to get there in time… I think. It’s what he wanted,” Edgar explained. “Plus, Tara stayed pretty close to him the whole time, within cast range. She could have done something to help if it was needed.”

That was reassuring. The risk of death had still been there for the healer, but it was limited by Edgar and Tara’s actions. Edgar really was a good leader, at least for a dungeon group. Now, the fight was a battle of will between the healer and the beast.

The battle raged on for two whole hours before Jasper made a contract with the beast. The healer definitely had some stamina and strong willpower. He also got a small amount of help from Avery when his second beast contract failed and he had no more. The archer came in with the assist by tossing him one of his extra beast contract scrolls.

Jasper opted to wait to evolve the drake until they were back in the main dungeon. He didn’t want the rest of the group to wait even longer for him after they waited so long already. After that, they all went around and gathered as much of the remaining monster material that would fit inside Derek’s Time Prison lobby, then set the time in the prison to move as slowly as possible to keep the materials as fresh as possible.

Of course, the wyvern materials went in the group’s storage containers where it would all stay fresh as long as it was inside.

Finally, it was all over. Edgar stepped forward and touched the glowing orb. It was time to collect their rewards.

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