That place was a paradise for wyverns.
Alpha Mountain, located in the southern mountain range, was home to no monsters stronger than the wyverns.
If one went to other mountains like Beta Mountain or Gamma Mountain, there were monsters of a similar caliber, but as long as you didn't invade their territory, it wouldn't lead to a fight.
As long as they remained on this mountain, the wyverns could unilaterally hunt and devour their prey.
"Grr?"
"Gaa?"
But… that day, the wyverns saw it.
The sight of a foreign object audaciously intruding into their territory.
'……' It was huge. Roughly twice the size of a wyvern.
A colossal brown body. Four wings spreading wide from two pairs. A massive, gaping maw.
A monstrosity with a terrifying appearance closely resembling a dragon flew leisurely from the north, approaching the summit of Alpha Mountain.
Without making a sound, the monstrosity drifted as if swayed by the wind, its form strangely eerie. The wyverns were on maximum alert.
"Gaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Grrowl! Gow gow!"
Several wyverns took flight, encircling the unknown intruder.
They surrounded the monstrosity, larger than themselves, from a distance and barked at it.
'……' But… the monstrosity just drifted unsteadily. It didn't react to the wyverns' threats.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
"GYAAAH! GYAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Finally, the wyverns couldn't hold back any longer and attacked the monstrosity.
They sank their fangs into its wings and slammed it with their tails, trying to knock it out of the sky.
'…………' But… the monstrosity didn't budge.
It didn't even counterattack; it just floated there, eerily unmoved.
"Did it work?"
"Oh… looks like they haven't noticed us."
Looking up at the battle, Rest and Yuri began to move as well.
The two of them were hidden inside a dome made of earth. Constructed by magic, it moved silently according to Rest's will, gradually drawing closer to the wyverns' nest.
This was the plan Rest had devised.
Use a decoy to draw the wyverns' attention, then approach the nest hidden inside a magic-borne earthen dome.
The monstrosity floating through the sky on the wind was, of course, also a fake created by Rest's magic.
It was just a dummy shaped from earth and wood, lifted into the air with the [Floating] magic, allowed to drift downwind like a balloon.
Normally, the [Floating] magic would deactivate if not continuously cast.
But… Rest poured enough mana into the dummy monstrosity to cast the magic and coated it with a barrier, solving the problem.
And then, what do you know?
The barrier suppressed the dissipation of mana and the cancellation of the spell, creating a "monstrosity balloon" that would keep floating until the infused mana completely ran out.
"Truly a master's work… just kidding."
Still speaking in a joking tone, Rest infiltrated the wyverns' nest.
Taking advantage of the moment their attention was on the monstrosity floating in the sky, he set his sights on a wyvern that had strayed from the others.
"As quietly as possible. A single blow, without giving it a chance to escape..."
And... he timed it with that very moment.
"GYAAAAAAAH!"
Several wyverns bit into the decoy monstrosity, tearing its body apart.
At that moment... the decoy burst, emitting an intense light and sound from within.
"「「「「「GYAAAAH!?」」」」」
The wyverns' shrieks mingled with the explosive bang, like a firecracker going off.
The decoy monstrosity... inside its softly floating, balloon-like form, a magic spell of light and fire had been planted. The destruction of the monstrosity caused the magic within to detonate.
"Now...!"
At that moment, Rest unleashed his magic.
[Amaterasu]... The fired beam pierced the head of a wyvern on the fringe of the flock, killing it instantly with a single blow.
Masked by the light and sound, the attack didn't register in the wyverns' minds. The wyvern that had been killed probably didn't even realize what had happened to it.
"Alright, hurry up, hurry!"
Yuri came over, dragging the fallen wyvern, and hauled it into the earthen dome.
Subjugation complete. Material collection complete. All that was left was to retreat.
"GISHAAA! GISHAAA!"
"SHAAAAAAH!"
"Alright... let's retreat!"
Above them, the wyvern flapped its wings in confusion.
It hadn't even noticed that one of its own had been shot down and carried off by Rest's group.
Rest and the others quickly withdrew from the scene, making off with the wyvern's carcass.