The first wyvern reached me, charging towards me with the others not far behind. I loaded my legs with aura, shooting forward, side stepping it's maw as I slid underneath its rib cage, slamming a shard into its solar plexus.
BOOM
The shockwave of the ensuing explosion boosting me forward, as I broke into a sprint.
The other wyverns quickly locked onto my escaping figure, two taking flight while the remaining one charged at me on foot, it's talons digging through the soil, uprooting the vegetation in its path.
I made a mad dash towards the spare stakes, reaching into my soul and pulling out the skeletal chain. I bobbed and weaved, evading the malicious swipes of the wyverns above while zigzagging around the pursing wyvern on the ground.
'3 shards, 3 wyverns.' I thought, tilting my body to avoid the desperate swipe of one of the flying undead.
I loaded another shard with pure force, the shard humming to life, as I broke into a straight dash. The wyverns above coordinating a pincer maneveur while the wyvern on the ground charged at me, jaws wide open.
I pivoted, the side of my foot digging into the dirt as suddenly turned to my left. As I turned, I rotated my body to face the charging wyverns, using the momentum from my turn to launch the sword shard in my hand at the grounded wyvern, the shard burying itself in its rotting neck.
BOOM
The shard detonated, blasting a massive cavity in the wyverns neck, killing it instantly. Runes glowed to life once more.
I pumped aura into my legs, a faint whispy purple smoke eminating off of them, as I propelled myself forward, closing the distance with the stakes while the wyverns reoriented themselves, locking onto me again.
I was nearly there, but the wyverns were fast approaching.
Starting to cook the bona fide aura grenades in my hand, the two shards lighting up with power, I waited for an opening. I was unwilling to trade blows, my body too fragile to withstand even the slightest graze. The undead swiped furiously, their jaws snapping, their talons ripping apart the air. The wyverns held the high ground, abusing their aerial mobility while closing in, trapping me in their formation. They continued their brutal assault, but I quickly found a weak point in the storm of claws and fangs.
Capitalizing on the gap I had discovered, I shot aura through my body, covering it in a thin barrier to protect my body from any stray blows I hadn't accounted for. Loading my legs, I flew forward like an arrow, leaving behind a nasty surprise for the unsuspecting undead.
BOOM
I was now without shards, the explosion had blown the head off one wyverns while ripping a leg off the other.
It was now a one on one.
My body sprang into motion. I made a mad dash for the stakes, the wooden needles being just a few meters away.
The lone wyvern, screeching in what I assumed to be pain, locked it's glassy lifeless eyes on my retreating figure and flew, accelerating towards me at a breakneck speed.
I wasn't gonna reach the stakes in time, my mind racing for a solution, the rancid undead rapidly closing the distance.
Pulling out the Skeletal Chain Memory, I pivoted my foot, rotating my body and whipping the long chain forward, the slack slipping from my hands as the chain flew. The tip of the skeletal chain closed the few meter distance between me and one of the stakes, the length of the chain quickly wrapping around the stakes wooden shaft, the interlocking bone links digging into the wood.
Pumping aura into my arms, I tugged on the chain hard, accelerating while simultaneously liberating the wooden stake from the ground. I dismissed the memory once more, the momentum carrying the wooden stake towards me.
The wyvern was nearly in front of me, it's jaws open as it closed in.
The stakes was right in front of me, the wyverns was behind me.
I grasped the stakes wooden shaft, the crude wood work leaving splinters in my palm, as stomped on the ground hard.
Pushing off, I avoided the wyverns jaws just as it clamped close, it's glassy eye fixed on my new position.
I grinned
My body spurred into action. Lathering my body in aura, I pulled my arm back, my shoulder blade locking as I reached my maximum range of motion. I pivoted my feet, twisting my legs while my waist rotated with force. The rotation of my waist gave power to my core, my abdomen twisting forward as I brought my shoulders forward, my elbow pointed forwards, my forearm rotating as I snapped my wrist.
I released the stake, it's pointed, barbed tip pierced the space between me and the wyvern. It's single glassy eye locked onto the stake, the wooden needle like object quickly covering the space. In not even a fraction of a second, the wooden tip pierced through the wyverns eye, pulverizing it's brain before getting stuck in it's skull.
The lobotomized wannabe dragon fell to the destroyed forest floor not even a second later, now a corpse. It's tongue hanging out of it's open maw, a mystery liquid leaking from its eyes and nose.
'I don't think Neurosurgery is the right path for me.' I mused
I walked towards the sword I had dropped earlier. Picking it and the last wooden stake up, I made my way back to the center of the clearing, towards the towering tree.
During my fight with the wyverns, the ground had been destroyed, the sea of flowers rotting, the entire field covered in craters and jagged claw marks.
That tree was unaffected, it still shined with the same kaleidoscopic light, the same metallic sheen present on its ivory branches.
I was running nearly on empty, left with about a tenth of my total aura.
Relying on only aura throughout the fight, I was able to preserve my star light as a backup, my stars platinum light serving as a plan B just in case.
I was only a few meters from the base of the tree, my sword in hand, a new makeshift chainstake adorning my waist, when the ground shook, a deep heavy thump resounding in the clearing.
The sound of a heartbeat.
The tree started to shrink, it's ivory branches turning into arms, it's brilliantly colored leaves turning into long silky hair, the trunk and roots turning into a torso and legs respectively.
A eerily flawless androgynous face revealed itself to me, dull gray pupils with dark red sclera locking onto my tattered figure.
"Ah Fuck"
The wyverns melted into the ground as dark blood red lillies bloomed across the ruined battlefield.
'Good news: I found the boss!'
'Bad news: I was royally screwed...'
The expressionless face of the being before me contorted into a malicious sneer.
Round 1 was over, Round 2 was just about to begin.