Wyverns poured up into the sky like water, all erupting from a hole in the ground. The creatures swirled round, clearing a swarm that could be seen and heard for thousands of miles. None of them were particularly pleased with the surroundings they were given, while simultaneously uncertain in which direction to go. The only thing certain was that they were territorial enough to attack anything they considered infringing in their territory, especially creatures that were in the sky, such as dragons.

“Don’t worry about the creatures,” Dallion said. “Just fly towards the ruins.”

“What ruins?!” Dark snapped. As a dragon he had pretty good perception, but even so, there didn’t seem to be any structure in sight, nothing but stony wilderness, deprived even of plants.

“Go to the hole they are flying out from. The ruins are buried underneath.”

This wasn’t the way Dallion hoped he’d find Eury. Thanks to the dragon, it had taken him less than a day to reach Kereel. From there, the plan was to seek out the local hunters, and learn of the locations with a high likelihood of nesting wyverns. It had never come to that. Even before entering the city itself, Dallion had caught wind of talk of wyverns spotted in the western skies. That didn’t sound like a coincidence. After checking it out, it turned out that his suspicions were right.

In less than a few hours' flight, Dallion and the dragon spotted infant wyvern corpses on the ground. The creatures hadn’t been dead long—probably a week or two at most. They had died from hunger and exhaustion. That’s how it began.

Dark flapped his wings creating a wave of air around him. The dragon had learned a few new tricks in his absence. As impressive as they seemed they weren’t especially efficient when it came to actual combat. The force pushed the wyverns back, dazing some of them for a few moments. That was enough for Dallion to do a three-sixty line attack

Dozens severed in two creatures fell to the ground. It wasn’t a pleasant sight, sadly there was no other choice. The wyverns were too young to be reasoned with, driven purely by instinct, they attacked anything in the vicinity.

“Head down,” Dallion ordered, splitting into instances.

Aware of the difficulty of the task the dragon split as well. Dozens of instances of it headed towards the source of the wyverns. When it got relatively close, Dallion did a point attack with his hammer.

The destructive force slammed into the ascending wyverns pushing them back town. There was a loud dull thud, after which everything suddenly calmed down. No more creatures emerged from below. Only the ones already in the sky remained, dispersing in all directions.

Dark let himself glide for a few moments, before taking on the inertia to swoop back up towards the sky.

“Don’t chase them,” Dallion said. “Just land.”

“Don’t we have to finish them off?”

“They’ll die off on their own. Infants don’t last long.”

There were mixed feelings on the matter. On the one hand, the wyverns had been affected by the Star—probably by spawn that had taken them in. On the other they still were living creatures. This was one time Dallion wished he was part of the order. Maybe then he’d have the ability to somehow bless and purify the creatures to what they originally were supposed to be. A while back, he had managed to help a human transform back from a chainling. It wasn’t an easy task and mostly due to luck and assistance rather than actual skill on his part. Since then, though, he hadn’t managed to replicate the success.

“Think Eury is fine?” Dark asked, as Dallion dismounted.

“If she were here I’d have known.”

“How?”

“Her gear would have told me.” Dallion made his way to the opening. It was as dark as a tar pit. Listening carefully, Dallion could hear faint scurrying deep below. Some of the wyverns had survived, though it didn’t sound like they were a threat. “Stay here.” Dallion took out his dartblade. “The flock might have attracted the attention of something. If it’s too strong, fly away. I’ll handle it.”

The dragon flapped its wings. Taking that to be agreement, Dallion leapt down the tunnel.

Blue light surrounded the dartblade providing enough light for him to see. Soil gave way to stone, indicating, as Dallion suspected, that this was indeed a site od ruins. However, it was a quite small one. Landing with a squishing sound on a carpet of bodies, Dallion looked around. There were a total of three floors, all of them relatively small. From what he could assume this had been a mansion or garrison of some sort. The architecture looked human, so it probably was no older than a thousand years at most. Anything of importance was long gone, taken by hunters or the creatures that had taken over the ruin. Eggshells were attached to every surface Dallion could see: floor, walls, and ceiling. Similar to the last few places that the wyvern bodies had led him too, this too had been used as a hatchery, and once again there was no trace of any parent.

Only familiar with wyvern basics, Dallion couldn’t be certain if that was normal, or not. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. Although affected by Starspawn, young wyverns weren’t strong enough to survive in the wilderness for long. Lacking food and protection in its early hours after hatching, they would likely just keep on flying, attacking anything in sight, regardless of strength, until they dropped due to hunger and exhaustion.

Someone hatched them prematurely, Vihrogon said. Same as last time.

I can’t see any traces, Dallion said as he approached a wall.

The shell fragments had been smashed to bits making it impossible for him to determine the cause. That didn’t prove anything, though. An alarming amount of creatures in the wilderness were released as a result of travelers, often awakened, stumbling onto something and attempting to make a tidy profit. Most often the people in question would escape and leave the mess for the imperial army or the local Archduke patrols to deal with. The Academy had that rather nasty habit, as Dallion had experienced first-hand. In this case, though, he didn’t see any such evidence.

Looks natural to me, he thought. The hatcher must have gone through here, then moved to another layer, leaving the last batch of eggs behind.

You’re right about that part, but not the hatching. Look at the shell fragments. The ones furthest from the opening were the first to hatch. If it was natural, they would have hatched at the same time.

Dallion used his layer vision. In his mind lines formed, showing how the hirst wyverns had crashed into the eggs of those in front, creating a wave culminating in the eruption he had seen. Someone had planned this—someone who had only a vague idea what they were doing. If Dallion were to guess, it looked like a patrol of local troops “cleaning” the familiar dungeons. If that were the case, they hadn’t left any tracks.

A few wyverns coiled out of the shells, and screeched their way towards Dallion. Splitting into a dozen instances, just in case, he drew his whip blade and slashed at them. Sensing a chance to level up, Gleam extended the blade, twisting it so it stretched throughout the floor, piercing through five of the creatures. Once all of them stopped breathing, the blade contracted to its normal size again.

“Any luck?” Dallion asked, slashing in the air, to get the blood off.

No, Gleam said in a disappointing voice. I’ll need to kill something more substantial.

If we get to the hatcher, you might have the chance.

The other floors were no different to the one Dallion had seen. Nothing but shells remained, following the same pattern as before. Whoever had done the cleanup, relied on the infant wyverns dying on their own. It was a lazy and reckless approach, since there as no way of knowing who would be passing through the area.

With a series of leaps along the walls of the hole, Dallion made his way back outside. The dragon was still there, looking at the sky in three instances, each of them as bored as the last.

“Anything?” It asked.

“Another cleaned nest,” Dallion said as he made his way to mount Dark again. “We go on west.”

“How many of these do we need to go through until we find the right one?”

“Probably a few more,” Dallion replied. “There usually aren’t that many nests. I doubt the wyvern could hold a large area of the wilderness.”

With a short dash, the dragon leapt into the air, then flapped its wings to gain height. Once it did, he turned, continuing west. Meanwhile, Dallion concentrated, reaching out to any guardians he could. Other than all his items and gears, though, there was nothing else. Apparently, Eury was still a long way away.

Are you sur that she’s on this side of the city, dear boy? Nil asked. If the wyverns are plaguing the area, they could have occupied all ruins in the province.

It’s a good point to start, Dallion replied. For the money they’re paying her I doubt there’d be other teams messing about with wyverns.

Don’t underestimate politics and stupidity, dear boy.

After about ten minutes another flock of creatures became visible in the distance. Focusing in the direction, Dallion saw that they were wyvern infants, yet again. As he moved closer, though, he saw that there was that they were in far greater numbers.

“Go towards them,” Dallion said. “Only fight those you have to.”

I can take care of them, Gleam insisted.

Dallion hesitated. He had no doubt that the whip blade could slaughter them without issue. At their weakened state, they were no different than grass. Even so, he preferred having her close at hand, in case something else attacked. A good hunter never let his guard down. At the same time, those who knew when to take a chance were the ones gaining the big rewards.

“Go for it,” he said. “Stay close.”

The whip blade shot out, flying towards the thick of the swarm. While she did, the dragon swooped closer to the ground.

Seeing two enemies slightly confused the wyverns. For a few moments they screeched, uncertain which direction to go. The hesitation quickly ended when Gleam slashed at the, with the extended whip blade, slicing up several of them.

Anyone there? Dallion asked using his empathy trait to its limits. At its current value, he was supposed to be able to sense a guardian in tens of miles. Since leaving the city, there had been no response. To his surprise, this time, he finally got an answer.

Dal? a voice asked. Dallion instantly recognized the voice of Eury’s left gauntlet. What are you doing here?

What do you think? Dallion could barely contain his joy. Where are you?

Bad timing, the gorgon’s other gauntlet said. We’re surrounded by wyverns.

I see them. Are you underground somewhere?

We’re in a maze complex of some sort. Be careful, there are a lot of them here.

Eury’s having trouble against infants? Dallion asked, surprised. How many are there?

A lot, and they aren’t infants. The place is crawling with the real thing. The stupid noble irked them and now they’re attacking from all sides.

That was bad on several levels. That was why one of the golden rules for hunters was never to take clients along—they always caused problems and expected the hunters to deal with them. The more alarming part was that there were full grown wyverns, as in more than one. Fighting infants was one thing; they were stupid, confused, with scales soft enough to be pierced by pretty much anything. The older species were covered in natural armor, not to mention they had a few special skills of their own, including the ability to breathe poison.