Fwoosh!

A strong wind swept through the white fog above Akira's head, clearing the sky above.

Boom!

“Skreeeee!” “Kreeeee!”

Akira crouched down deeper into the misty fog near the ground and held his shield over his head as he watched two large flying creatures far above him repeatedly slam into each other.

[Bryer lvl 151] [Stone Wyvern lvl 150]

Akira watched the two wyverns, one dead and one still alive, furiously smack each other with their wings as they continued to claw and grapple with each other while falling towards the ground at a quick speed.

Boom!

Fwoosh!

The two kicked each other away at the last moment and flapped their large wings with full strength only a few hundred yards above the ground where Akira, Fluffball, and Nox were crouching.

The white misty fog was pushed completely to the side as the two flying creatures shot back up into the air trying to get the upper hand over the other.

“Skreeeee!” “Kreeeee!”

Akira slowly walked backwards towards the tunnel exit as he kept an eye on the fight. There was no point in staying out in the open and risking being discovered by these creatures. It was best to let them fight between themselves.

He didn't know how long their battle had been going on for but they both looked to be full of deep cuts and cracks.

The [Stone Wyvern] was faster in reaching a height that allowed it to get above the [Bryer]. It did not waste any time and slammed into the [Bryer] once again trying to force it back down towards the foggy ground.

The [Bryers] stony beak shot up and pierced into the [Stone Wyvern's] chest. The blood from its chest rained down on Akira.

“Fluffball,” said Akira, warning him of the danger.

Akira hurriedly tried to get out of the way using his shield over his head to try and block the blood that had been infected with the Molten onyx infection.

Thud! Clunk! Bang!

The warm blood raining down on Akira... had already turned into large frozen chunks that bounced off his shield causing Akira to let out a sigh of relief.

“Skreeeee!” The [Stone Wyvern] in its pain and anger, used its strong stone beak to bite into the already heavily injured neck of the [Bryer].

The two continued to smack and scratch at each other while the [Stone Wyvern] continued to gnaw on the [Bryers] neck.

A muffled 'Crack!' rang out as the [Stone Wyvern] broke the neck of the [Bryer] separating the head from its body.

With its last bit of strength, the [Stone Wyvern] kicked the [Bryer's] stony bone body away from it. The beak of the [Bryer] was still embedded deep in its chest as it continued to fall unable to flap its wings.

Boom! Boom!

Two large shock waves expanded out from the two bodies as they slammed into the ground far apart from each other. The wind from the shock waves cleared a large portion of the foggy ground allowing Akira to see the area better.

The area outside of the tunnel was a vast frozen pine forest. Now, there was only a little bit of fog swirling around at the base of the frozen trees.

Inside the forest, there were now two large craters with the large birds in the center.

Akira, Fluffball, and Nox all stayed still as they inspected the two from a distance, not daring to get any closer just yet.

The fog continued to swirl around the two bodies in each of the craters but there was no movement.

“Let's check it out,” said Akira quietly.

The three of them slowly walked over to the nearest body which was the [Stone Wyvern].

Standing next to the body Akira poked it with his armored foot before jumping back to see if it would move.

Nothing happened.

He once again walked up to the dead creature and took a closer look at the severed head of the [Bryer] that was still stuck in the gray scaly chest of the [Stone Wyvern]. The stony chest of the wyvern was now showing signs of a black infection even in its death.

To his surprise, he found a fully intact gem on the [Bryers] forehead and it was still glowing with a milky green light.

Akira took out his warhammer and smashed the gem after a few heavy attacks. The milky green light escaped out of the gem but... instead of dissipating, it flew deeper into the misty Ice forest.

Akira took note of this before continuing his inspection of the [Stone Wyvern].

Ding!

You have found two pieces of Wyvern equipment!

A pair of Unique armored claws and a Unique armored beak.

Akira looked at the pieces of bony metal that he had pulled off the dead [Stone Wyvern] with shock.

Equipment?

“What the? I thought these were just part of the wyvern's body... to think it actually had equipment for fighting... was it someone's companion or a wild beast?”

Fluffball was curiously sniffing the bone metal as Akira inspected it.

“It might be a bit too big for Pii'per right now but if she has a growth spurt in the future she might be able to fit these better,” said Akira as he placed them in a large thick leather bag and then stuffed it into his bag. The wyvern armor took up a large amount of the space inside.

“Yap!?” asked Fluffball.

“You want some equipment as well?”

Fluffball nodded his furry head.

“I'll have to talk to Delgar about how to make something for you when we get back. It's a good thing we found a lot of rare ores in those chests back in that maze. Who knows, if it works well for you we might even create larger versions en masse for the rest of the gargs,” said Akira as he pat an excited Fluffball.

'Hmph... needing to rely on equipment. How weak,' said Nox.

“Yap!” said Fluffball in defiance.

'I am not jealous! Even if I could use such equipment I wouldn't!' said Nox.

Akira ignored the two and finished his inspection of the dead [Stone Wyvern] but found nothing else of interest.

Akira only looked at the body of the [Bryer] from a distance before deciding that it had nothing he could take.

“Alright you two, let's go find a path out of here,” said Akira heading deeper into the misty frozen forest.

Only a half-hour of running had passed before Akira stopped at the edge of a clearing. He and Fluffball both hid behind the frozen trees and peek out from behind them.

In the foggy opening in front of them, an eerie sight could be seen, there were thousands of ancient stone markers shoved into mounds of dirt and snow.

Each had unrecognizable lettering carved into them with what Akira guessed were the names of the dead that lay under the stone markers.

All across the large graveyard where thousands of ancient rusted weapons stabbed into the ground or lay discarded covered in snow and ice.

This was not what had sent a chill down Akira's neck.

It was the large humanoid bull creature in the middle of the graveyard that was covered in swirling green lights as it sat there with its eyes closed.

Behind Akira a silent invisible figure watched him wanting to see what they would do.

***

Vussia, Capital city Vania.

The winter moon did not reach the dark back alley where a ragged man ran along a frozen street carrying a small leather bag.

“Halt criminal!” shouted a city guard captain chasing after the man.

Ten other city guards appeared from several side streets and surrounded the skinny ragged man.

“I've done nothing wrong! I just went to buy some food for my family!”

“You should have been prepared beforehand! The queen gave everyone a warning!”

“We did prepare! But she said it would only last for 2 weeks and now it's been several months!”

“Quit making excuses! You know that anyone not authorized to be outside their home will be treated as an infected,” shouted the captain.

“Please have mercy I just needed food,” cried the man as he kneeled and slammed his head into the frozen ground begging the guard captain.

The captain ignored the man and let his hand fall sharply.

The surrounding guards all stepped forward and as one thrust out their long spears.