Black Cat Chapter 128: Strategy Meeting

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　I assumed the wyvern was a large bird of prey, but I was completely wrong.

　The revised image is that of a jet fighter.

　The armor is so thick that it reminds one of a tank or an armored vehicle.

　Arrows and javelins shot at them were bounced off their hard scales.

　In just one attack, seven lives were lost, two of them taken.

　More than ten other adventurers are said to have left the front line with broken bones and other injuries.

　The second attack by the wyvern disheartened the entire relay station, but even immediately after the raid, a string of follow-on adventurers arrived, bringing new vigor to the area.

　On the side of the Viscount Lagart, adventurers from Ibouro were beginning to show up, including the faces of Bored Men led by Mr. Jill.

“What’s the matter, Serge, you look sad.” (Jill)

“It’s worse than I imagined, Jill. We’ve already lost ten men today alone.” (Serge)

“What the hell! You’re joking… Is that true?” (Jill)

　The bait cows are still tied up, but those who have been at the staging area since before the attack do not feel the need to do so.

　The wyvern will show up even if the cows are not tied up, and they are aware that they are the baits.

　Those who have come to the relay station to see how the attack is going, though they are not confident that they will be of any use, have already begun discussing the withdrawal of the wyvern.

　Even as the entire relay site is growing more and more critical, there is a group of people who seem to be in a state of great urgency.

　I picked up their conversation with a void magic microphone and found that they seemed to be adventurers from the town of Nacote.

　Nacote is the starting point on the Viscount Lagart side of the road that goes around Mount Bule.

　It is further from the top of the Mount Bule than our stopover point, but still not twice as far.

　It is unlikely that wyvern will appear, but it is not far enough to be optimistic.

　If an attack like today’s were to take place in the city, how much damage could be done?

　The adventurers from Nacote were determined to do whatever it took to kill the wyvern while they were still interested in us.

　Meanwhile, Viscount Lagart, Marquis Escalante, and the knights of both families also began to respond.

　In order to reduce the losses of the assembled adventurers as much as possible, they decided to collect the horses for the wagons and keep them in the knights’ stables.

　This was also a measure to increase the effectiveness of the bait cattle, but many doubted its effectiveness.

　Still, most of the party left their horses with the knights, as they did not want to lose their transportation.

　Chariot also entrusted our horse with us and decided to sleep in the shelter we had built under the wagon for the night.

　The shelter was simply a half-underground structure with the carriage bed as the roof.

　Gad and my older brother dug the ground using earth attribute magic, and then heaped up the dug earth to the bottom of the carriage and hardened it.

　The entrance and exit were made in the form of a wooden box lid that slid along a trench, so there was no need to worry about exposing the wagon to the elements.

　In addition, in the event of an attack by the wyvern, the wagons would act as bait and the members in the shelter would have a better chance of survival.

　In the end, the wyvern had not been seen since the pre-dawn attack, and there was a sense of tension in the encampment even after dark, as they had been attacked before dawn.

　Chariot and Bored Men decided to conduct a joint operation, as they had done with Bronze Wolf, but they were not at all sure how to go about defeating it.

　Over dinner, Laius and Serge told us about the wyvern attack, but Bored Men just shook their heads in disbelief.

“Not even Gad is going to be able to stop it?” (Jill)

　In response to Jill’s question, Gad raised his hands up in surrender.

“I saw those from Escalante being knocked off, and some of them were holding large shields. They flew through the air like rocks that had been kicked off. There’s no way a single person can stop them.” (Gad)

“Nyango, what about the magic that restrained the Bronze Wolf?” (Laius)

“It is moving so fast, I don’t know if I can catch it, and even if I could, I’m afraid it will just be torn to shreds.” (Gad)

“Laius, what are you going to do?” (Jill)

　Laius, who was asked, was unusually unable to reply.

“The attack this morning, I did not see it because I woke up after I heard the screams, but it probably took the same form as the attack before noon. A blowout, and frankly no way to beat it.” (Laius)

　A heavy silence hung in the air after hearing Laius, one of the top class adventurers in Ibouro, say that he had no moves to make.

　Then, one of the Bored Men members raised his hand in fear and made a suggestion.

“Well, why don’t we use a net?” (Adventurer)

“The net will only be torn apart.” (Laius)

“No, we don’t catch them with a net, we entangle them in it.” (Sabbath)

“Entangle them…?” (Laius)

　A bearkin adventurer named Sabbath is said to be from a mountain village west of Ibouro.

　There, he said, they use nets woven from strong ropes to catch wild boars.

　They chase the boar, and several nets are set up in the direction of the boar’s escape, waiting for the boar to run into them, and when it does, they let go of the nets.

　Naturally, the boar continues to flee, but eventually the nets become entangled in its legs and it becomes unable to move.

“What makes wild boars dangerous is, above all, their charge, but if they can’t move, they are less than half as scary. I don’t know how strong a wyvern is, but if you put several layers of netting over it, it will get stuck, won’t it?” (Sabbath)

“I see… it’s an interesting idea, but what will be used for net?” (Laius)

“That’s …… an interesting idea, but will it be ready in time even if we make it starting now…” (Jill)

　It’s certainly an interesting idea, but it’s a messy network.

　In the meantime, it is not impossible that the knighthood might own it, so a member of the Bored Man went for the suggestion.

　The chances of getting the net are slim, but this conversation has been very helpful to me.

　So far, I had been trying to use [Shield] and [Wall] to stop the entire body, but just doing something about one wing should make the wyvern unable to fly.

　Weapons made with void attributes are light, but fortunately, the wyvern would come at me with great force.

　If I could reverse that momentum and make it ram into an object fixed with the void magic, perhaps I could take away its ability to fly.

“Laius…” (Nyango)

“What is it, Nyango?” (Laius)

“Just an idea…” (Nyango)

　I thought of a strategy to create an obstacle with void magic in front of one of the wyvern’s wings.

　The image is that it is a further enhancement of the way I covered Mr. Zeol in the battle with the orc general.

　At that time, by fixing a thick blade that resembled a buster sword, the Orc General’s arm was crushed and broken by the weight of the battle axe and the weight of the Orc General’s body.

　If that thing were further strengthened, it might be able to crush and break one of the wyvern’s wings.

　Even if we could get it to the ground, the wyvern would still be a dangerous monster, but at least I should be able to hit it.

“All right, Nyango, concentrate on that plan. Shure will stay close by and provide cover. We’ll drag the wyvern down to the ground at all costs.” (Laius)

　At one point, both Chariot and Bored Men were to work around my plan, but we couldn’t decide on personnel allocation.

　After all, the previous attacks had all come from unexpected directions.

　We had no way to set up a formation if we did not know from which direction the wyvern would attack.

　Even if we were to place a shield like Gad in the front, we would not know which direction that front would be.

“The knights prepared baits for us, so we can only assume that the direction of the baits is the front, and then we will have to move flexibly.” (Serge)

　In the end. Serge’s opinion was adopted, Chariot and Bored Men decided to be in position before dawn, and the meeting was dismissed.

　Back in the shelter we had built under the carriage, I was excused from the guard rotation because I was the key to tomorrow’s operation.

　While the Laius continued to discuss how they were going to attack, I curled up in the corner under a thick blanket I had brought with me.

　I need to get enough rest for tomorrow’s mission, but when I close my eyes, I remember the daytime attack.

　The wyvern looked more like a so-called pterosaur, but its face was closer to that of a crocodile and it had a long tail.

　The wyvern’s way of hunting is similar to that of a bird of prey, flapping its front legs, which also serve as giant wings, to soar through the air, and then swooping in at speed by swooping down, but it has a different speed and, above all, a harder body.

　It would take a great deal of penetration to get an attack through to the bottom of their scales, which repel attack magic and spears.

　The magic gun magic circle penetrated the target of the guild’s shooting range might work.

　However, that is only if I aim and hit the target, and my focus should be on bringing the wyvern to the ground.

　Even if the wyvern’s wings are not broken, its forward momentum will surely be reduced, so if its movement is slowed down, I will drag it to the ground even if I have to use all the magic I have.

　As I repeated the simulation over and over… what shape, at what angle, and where to hit the onrushing wyvern, I fell asleep.

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