Chapter 338: Wyvern Attack

I secretly wished they would let us go as we were, but I felt the height the wyverns were flying at was dropping little by little. Their figures seemed to be growing larger? Then it is better to think they will attack for sure. I can only think they found prey and are watching the timing to attack.

So I took bow and arrows from the mana bag.

"Uwah!? Lord Marie, is that a mana bag! My, amazing. First time I have seen one. An amazing thing."

He was terribly surprised, but driver, this is no time to be surprised at that.

"I have a request. If the wyverns attack I will shoot arrows without stopping. I do not think one arrow will drop them, so I will bathe them in arrows, and if it goes well shoot them down, and if I can I want to drive them off. For that, when I loose an arrow I want you to pass me an arrow. Can you?"

"Eh, ah, y-yes! I can! I will help!"

"Like this, can you hold the arrow out with the head toward me?"

"One at a time is all right?"

That would be because there are people who shoot two or three at once. I cannot do that now.

"One at a time please."

"Understood! Leave it to me!"

"Only, then the carriage will stop. Is that all right?"

"My. I will not let anyone complain about that! There is no one but Lord Marie who would try to fight a thing like that! Anyone who gets in the way of that can die!"

Is that all right? The procession will stop. I also feel it will be easy pickings for the wyverns. If they would just grab a sacrifice and go, the procession could advance.

I took one arrow, nocked it, and waited for a wyvern to come down. I thought nothing would be better than them not coming down, and I also felt come down already!

Everyone but me was stirring. Among the maids I could already hear crying voices.

Little by little the wyverns’ circle dropped. Then at last one dove. Only not that fast. Is that because if it is too fast it will hit the ground, or because it thinks it will not be attacked, or because even if it is attacked it will not hurt or itch?

Everyone in the procession watched the wyvern’s dive. They watched where the wyvern was aiming. I think they wished it was someone other than themselves.

The wyvern grew larger little by little. The face was not a pterodactyl’s. More like a crocodile? That is different too. A face like nothing.

The wyvern came down aiming at the head of the procession. Falling headfirst straight down. From the procession a gyaaa! scream rose. I aimed at that wyvern’s head. The dive speed was fast, and little by little it went slow. It flipped its body and pointed its feet down. Meaning to grab prey. I do not know if the wyvern went slow or if the processing speed inside me grew faster, but anyway it became easy to aim. The instant the wyvern’s head closed up I loosed an arrow drawn to the limit!

The arrow did not fly in an arc. It flew almost straight. I could see the arrow’s spin somehow. An all-out arrow was sucked into the wyvern’s head. Then it stuck in the middle of the head, above the eyes, the part where the brain surely is!

"Gyabo!?"

It was a shock after all, maybe. The wyvern made a strange sound. Is a wyvern’s head not that hard? Was there not something somewhere about making leather armor from wyvern hide?

"Next!"

"Y-yes!!"

I kept looking at the wyvern, put out a hand, and an arrowhead was set on my hand. I nocked it at once and shot. Aim at the neck. It stuck as if sucked there. The wyvern’s head lolled.

"Ooh!!"

A voice of surprise rose from the whole procession. The wyvern, more falling than diving, did not slacken speed and hit the ground as it was. It fell right beside the procession. A huge cloud of earth rose. The procession stopped, bathed in it. Sight was bad, but only the sky above was open. The wyverns were still circling. They do not seem to give up prey for one being dropped.

Then the second and third came down in a row. Two at once is impossible, so I aim at only one. So while thinking inside, someone please be sacrificed and eaten by the wyvern I could not aim at, I loosed an arrow at the second. The second had been aiming at me, maybe. It was looking at me, so an arrow stuck between the eyes and was sucked into the head as it was. The wyvern looked at me with eyes wide. This one did not drop its dive speed. I shot a second, a third. Right eye, left eye, they hit and went into the head as they were. Even so it came straight at me. I-is this one dead? In a flash I put the bow in the mana bag and widened the mouth of the mana bag. I widened it as far as I could and tried to suck the wyvern in. Will this go in? I thought, and if I think it will go in it will go in! I thought, pointed it at the wyvern, and n-n-what, shurushurushuruu it went in. Whether it was dead was vague, but it went in. Can I store something I recognize as dead?

"It went in..."

When I said it the driver also said,

"It went in..."

We were surprised together. Right. The mouth of the mana bag and the wyvern’s size do not match at all!

Then,

"Gyaaa!"

a scream. Looking, a knight was being lifted horse and all by a wyvern. An arrow was stuck in the wyvern, but the wyvern treated it as nothing. I took out the bow in a hurry.

"Arrow!!"

"H-hei!"

I took the arrow, nocked it, loosed. I meant to aim at the neck and it stuck at the base of the shoulder. Even so the wyvern shook. I must not rush.

"Arrow!!"

"Yes!"

I had started to get short of breath. I loosed an arrow and this time it stuck at the base of the neck!

"○※▽×────!"

The wyvern shouted something and let go of the horse it held. Horse and knight fell. They were surely hurt, but better than being eaten by a wyvern.

"One more!"

"Yes!"

I nocked and rapid-fired. The arrow flew in a straight line and stuck in the crown of the wyvern’s head. Blocked by the skull, maybe. The arrow buried about halfway and stopped. The wyvern beat its wings to fly up, but dropped little by little. Knights with spears swarmed there and stabbed the wyvern, chiku chiku. I can leave that side to them.

I looked at the sky. Wyverns were still circling. Three had been taken and they still would not give up. Then this time two dove at once. They did not aim at my place. They came down aiming at the head and the rear of the procession. Her Majesty’s carriage is in the center of the procession, and I am here, so they are aiming at places that look weak?

I had thought wyverns were short on wisdom, but maybe not so much. Sorry to everyone in the procession, but I ignored the rear and aimed at the wyvern in front. I knew a one-hit kill was impossible, so I decided to land as many as I could and deal damage. I loosed an arrow at the place the wyvern came down, guuun, and slackened speed! It hit the head, but the arrow did not sink in. I loosed the next. It hit the neck but a little off center. Did it cut a vessel? One more! It hit the base of the neck. I loosed one more arrow. It hit the center of the neck. I could tell the wyvern’s wing-beat force was fading. Arrows were being loosed from the knights. The wyvern could not fly and dropped. Knights rushed at that. When they think they have the advantage that much courage comes out. This side will work somehow!

And the other one? I looked back and the wyvern had fallen! Many arrows were stuck in its body.