“Do you really think I’m easy prey?”

Liam scoffed lightly, squinting his eyes as he watched the wyvern coming closer. Instead of running away he directed Drasky to advance. A moment later the two enemies crossed. The wyvern opened her maw wide, its sharp teeth aiming at Liam’s shoulder. Just as it was about to taste the sweet blood of its prey, the latter suddenly made a nimble jump, closely dodging the attack.

[Stance -16!]

Having just dodged the enemy, Liam couldn’t instantly perform a normal attack. But skills were not restricted like that. [Cross of Light and Dark] activated instantly.

Just like other mounts, flying mounts could use skills in their master’s stead. Thus, Drasky’s front legs shone in black and white, creating a mysterious contrast. The fluffy fox conjured a cross of light and shot it at the wyvern.

[-4517!]

Screee!

The monster cried in rage as its prey had turned the tables.

“Sorry, Mirage. My bad. Let me secure the aggro!”

Radiant Shield shouted hastily, clearly embarrassed by his mistake. But Liam only shook his head, telling his friend that he would take care of it. It was a good chance to show his friends what aerial combat could be like.

However, the other wyverns wouldn’t sit still. Focused on Silver Blade and Radiant Shield they tilted their bodies, drawing a large curve, before shooting at the tanks like massive arrows. Radiant Shield and Silver Blade both narrowed their eyes, placing their shields in front of their bodies.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

It was a sound like hail striking the roof as the wyverns collided with the tanks. Radiant Shield and Silver Blade were immediately overwhelmed. At the moment of the collision, they focused only on themselves and forgot to control their mounts. Thus, the silver phoenix and the dignified griffon didn’t resist the incoming force and were thrown backwards by the wyverns. The consequence of this was an enormous loss of stance on Radiant Shield’s side. Even the weakest blow cost Radiant Shield 38 points of stance.

Silver Blade was even worse off. She relied on her [Luring Barrier] to block the first wyvern. But the skill could only shield against the damage and not the impact force. She lost control, her body spinning in the air, and the second wyvern attacked her back where the [Luring Barrier] didn’t reach, directly wounding the tank.

[-2563!]

Fortunately, Silver Blade realised her mistake. Showing the skills of a seasoned player, she communicated mentally with her silver phoenix. The bird flapped its gorgeous wings and Silver Blade managed to stabilize her flight just in time to defend against the next attack. With the wyvern just about to ram its claw against Silver Blade’s shield, her phoenix advanced instead of retreating, meeting the blow head-on. Silver Blade swung her shield, slanting it lightly.

Boom!

Claw and shield met. Silver Blade was pushed back somewhat as the claw crashed into her barrier, which flared up with golden light, before the claw screeched along her shield, which diverted most of its power.

“Well done!”

Liam was observing his friends and couldn’t help but praise Silver Blade as she managed to adjust quickly.

Meanwhile the rest of the friends also began to move. While Bloody Edge entered stealth and waited for the right moment to attack, Quickstep and Watchful Eye targeted one of the wyverns which had just attacked Silver Blade. The two melee fighters hovered in the air, sitting on their catastrophic peng and dragon carp. Quickstep glanced at her fellow warrior and felt somewhat strange. Was it a coincidence that both of them had a half-fish-type flying mount?

Quickstep put her stray thoughts away and focused on the wyvern which was tracing a large curve in the sky to rush at Silver Blade again. A second later it was right below Quickstep and Watchful Eye, ignoring them since its aggro was focused on the tank. The two warriors dove down simultaneously. Their flying mounts slammed their bodies into the wyvern, causing it to tumble.

[-3216!]

[-3604!]

With his Qi filled, Watchful Eye dealt more damage than Quickstep despite the latter’s new sword. However, this was set to change quickly as Watchful Eye began to unleash his skills. The dragon carp shone in beautiful purple light which gathered in front of its face and turned into fiercely burning purple flames.

With a nudge from its head the flames fell on the wyvern, ferociously burning its back. A moment later a seemingly small water drop gathered in its mouth. As Qi flowed into the drop it condensed more and more, becoming incredibly heavy. After only a second, the carp was already slowed down by the weight. Watchful Eye didn’t continue to charge the attack and directed his mount to slam the wyvern.

Boom!

The two collided in the air. The condensed water drop fused with the dragon carp, making its body incredibly heavy, and causing an explosion of water upon impact. This time the crash was noticeably stronger as the wyvern rolled and tumbled, almost unable to regain control.

[-4280!]

[-2297!]

[-4162!]

[-1684!]

Quickstep witnessed the attacks from Watchful Eye and gave him a thumbs up with a broad grin. She herself couldn’t yet unleash her full power. She controlled her mount to fly next to the wyvern, charging up her Storm.

Simultaneously a light laughter could be heard from behind. It came from the ranged fighters who couldn’t stop themselves as they watched Silver Blade and Radiant Shield being thrown around by the wyverns. Compared to others the ranged attackers had an easier job. They flourished their weapons, raining down projectiles on the wyverns.

However, perhaps they had laughed too early as they realised that it was not that easy hitting the wyverns in full flight. The first attack of all three, Fortune, Cyclone, and Silent Acacia, missed unexpectedly.

“Damn, how could I guess that Watchful Eye pushes that stupid wannabe dragon so fiercely?”

Cyclone grumbled as she swung her wand again. She felt as if she had returned to the beginning of the game. But back then there was at least some aiming assistance from the game. Over time this assistance had lessened as the players got more proficient. Now top players like the friends usually wouldn’t miss their attacks as long as the enemy didn’t actively dodge. But fighting in the air added another layer of difficulty and the players had to get used to it.

Thus, everyone focused on the wyvern, estimating its path. It received another attack from Quickstep, slowing it down slightly. And right at that moment two magic spheres and one arrow landed squarely on its body, stealing another 10.000 points of HP.

The wyvern let out an angry screech. At this point it had finally managed to fly a curve and shot straight at Silver Blade, trying to vent its anger on the tank.

Boom!

Wyvern and tank collided again. While the valiant warrior had not suffered any damage yet due to her [Luring Barrier], the wyvern’s HP had almost been reduced below half during this short time. And the friends wouldn’t relent. Purple flames suddenly flared up on its back, painfully scalding her skin as Watchful Eye’s [Heavenly Purple Fire] had the effect of striking thrice after the initial activation.

Suddenly a black arrow flashed past. A deep wound appeared at the wyvern’s head. It turned its eyes and spotted a small, winged tiger shooting through the air. Silent Acacia had summoned Korn. The pet benefited from the same movement speed bonus as his master, allowing it to catch up to the temporarily slowed wyvern.

A crackling noise spread through the air and all the wyverns became alert. Cyclone unleashed a bolt of lightning which struck the weakened wyvern, jumping to its friends, delivering frightening lightning damage to all of them. Three wyverns had sparks playing on their body as they were hit with a paralysis, freezing in midair. Cyclone complained that the wyverns didn’t drop to the ground but there was nothing she could do. This was the game’s decision to balance things. If all stuns would cause flying monsters to fall it would be way overpowered.

Although she was annoyed, Cyclone didn’t slow down. Her [Chained Lightning] was followed by a [Lightning Barrage]. Thanks to her passive the paralysed enemies kept attracting lightning, taking more and more damage.

The others were just as fierce. Quickstep had gathered enough Storm. She didn’t wait until she would enter [Hurricane Mode] and instead began to dish out attacks right away. Fierce storms filled the sky, the wind slashing at the enemies like fierce blades, accompanying Quickstep as she attacked the wyvern. Next to her was Watchful Eye. Under their combined strength it didn’t take long for the first wannabe dragon to fall.

Radiant Shield was watching everyone from the side. He had a smirk on his face as three wyverns attacked him. By now he had calculated that their damage was simply too weak. A single attack could deal at most a hundred points of damage. Thus, Radiant Shield didn’t even bother defending. He only stabilized his flight and allowed the wyverns to strike him.

This was also very much to the joy of Balm who felt like she had at least something to do. She applied a [Regeneration] to Radiant Shield, and the skill alone was more than strong enough to negate all the damage.