I brought my wizard buddies to the mountains where we killed the rocs. Marcy and Shraaizar too. It will be a good earth magic practice for them.

Zahariel asks to confirm, "And you want us to dig a tunnel down here into the mountain's core, right?"

"Yes. We are digging down at a forty-five degrees slope. Just make deep shallow and wide cuts in the rock and I'll store it in the item box to dump elsewhere. Make a staircase. When we get about some two hundred feet of rock all around us, we are going to make a killing chamber."

I am making a chamber where the wyverns will be trapped with a funnel on a side where it will be too small for them to enter and attack the smaller creatures, but impossible for them to take cover against ranged attacks. I'll go to their camp, fetch some wyverns, teleport them here and kill them. Once we are done, rinse repeat. In the optimal scenario, I can take out all twelve of them in two round trips.

I'm glad to have Marcy here with us. She knows all about wyverns. Their measurements, size, wingspan, tail length, recorded abilities, etc. We will need quite the big chamber. The funnel will have seventy feet of length where we will stay to fire upon them. The funnel will be this long because some wyverns can squirt venom. The chamber proper will be a square hall two hundred feet across and forty feet tall. The only way out will be through the side of our room, or via teleport. I am also digging a vertical shaft about four feet in diameter straight up from the far corner of the killing chamber. This way the air flow will be down from the staircase, into the chamber and out from this chimney. Any fumes will be sucked out away from us. The final touch is a side chamber for a single wyvern, where I'll store the strongest one. I'm not killing it.

We finished the whole work in one day. I'm sure the demons are already on the way, and I hope they made a forced march. Tired enemies are easier to pick on.

"And now, the range test. Everyone must have some attack that hits the targets at the far wall." I've brought everyone here. It is a very drafty chamber as the chimney opens far above the entrance of the staircase. Marcy doesn't even need to try. She can put an arrow in each corner of the far wall with her eyes blindfolded. Light magic has a pretty decent range too and Zahariel also passes. Shraaizar and Helen will have to resort to wind magic. It seems the draft causes good compatibility. Mittens, on the other hand, will be just baggage. But we will have him and the rat squad present so they can leech half of Helen's Exp. Me? I don't need ranged attacks. I am going to fight with claw, teeth, and totem.

Zahariel is filled with excitement. "Only someone as absurd as you could come up with such a plan. Now go, rout those demons, and get us some Exp bags."

"Wyvern leather makes good armor and gear," Points out Marcy. "The soft underbelly hide can make bags or even dresses."

"As you wish, ma'am." After waving goodbye I teleport back to the anchor near their camp. It is late at night already, and I expect them to be traveling. Flying invisible in the sky, I can see the place they camped at already abandoned. And in a hurry too. There are several signs, like trash and some forgotten stuff. I've seen even a military bag near a log. I need to track them, but it is easy even during the night. They could make a road after they passed. After two hours I've found them. They are marching forward, with the wyverns circling around them, doing an air patrol. Let's get my first victim.

Using shadow stealth to glide next to the nearest wyvern, I see a demon with plate armor and a long spear riding on the back of the wyvern. Probably the tamer as I doubt the vicious dragon would let anyone else ride it. I can't appraise demons, so it is just an educated guess.

I get the closer I dare and ready a troll-nail goblin javelin. Special syrup series.

"Power Javelin!"

The spear hits the upper back of the rider, just between the helmet and the back of the breastplate. It punctures the chainmail and sinks deep into its chest. The wyvern senses the death of its tamer right away, as it lets out a pained roar, alerting the others. I dive into the wyvern and aim at the spot right next to the saddle. The rider is strapped to the saddle so the body only dangles lifelessly on it. Now I only need to touch the wyvern's scales or anywhere for the matter.

Contact and possession! The other wyverns are coming near me. What is this guy's status?

Name: Kuldryss Race: [5] Demonfang Wyvern (lv: 49) Monster Rank: A Prowess: 151+20 (HP: 7814) Agility: 66+20 (Stamina: 1016) Magic: 46+20 (MP: N/A)

Holy sh... this beast has more HP than me even though it has less Prowess. I don't even want to think about the specs of the sixteen-wheeler dragon back at the orc village. I'd be dead if I hadn't hightailed out of there. But the +20 means the tamer is still alive. Let's charm the other overgrown lizards. It is weird how they can fly easily. They weight almost a hundred times more than me, but with the same maneuverability. The first client is coming. Now it is not the time to envy the wyvern's specs.

"Easy, Kuldryss! What happened to Kart'nazekk? Did he fall down? Hey, don't be so agitated!" The demon rider of the next wyvern is trying to handle my host.

"Gyaooo!" I try to make a pained cry. And for your ride, mister, have a {Bewitch} spell. Compared with these demons, the wyverns are easy to dominate.

There are two things I learned in this world that contradict the common sense of classic RPG games. One trick ponies are lame and dump stats are a liability.

I fly a little above and to the side of the charmed wyvern and sting its rider. The feeling of injecting venom in the prey is exhilarating. It is a pleasant rush. I wonder if Shraaizar feels the same. I won't ask though. Killing the rider snapped the other wyvern from the charm. What a bother. It does a barrel roll and bites my host's neck. I don't fight back, just cast the charm spell on it again. Two down, ten to go.

The other wyvern riders are coming. I can't speak, so I can't give the charmed dragon orders. Breakaway and attack the others, I guess. Now that I know that I can only charm them once the rider is dead, I will need to fight.

I dive to the next target, but he blows a horn and shouts, "Kuldryss has gone rogue and Kart'nazekk is down! Kill the beast!" There is an undertone of fear in his shout. Like wyverns are so vicious that even a tame one can go rogue and it is not that rare. But he spent too much time using his mouth and too little setting his spear. My outstretched neck bites his head off. I swallow it with helmet and everything else. My host crashes into the third wyvern and it stings me several times in the back. I can't even feel the venom, my host has level 6 of poison immunity. It is the higher tier of Poison Resistance and gives a whopping 99,968% damage reduction from poison damage and divides duration by 12. By the way, Mr. Stingers, {Bewitch} you too.

The first one I charmed is just following me around. I thought it would join me in combat, but it seems to be considering this a quarrel between his friends. He is not taking any sides. This new guy does the same. I need three more to teleport the first batch. The next one is bigger than my host and its rider also looks strong. Change of tactics. I'll bewitch my current host and let them come at me. The bigger wyvern comes and claws with its hind legs my host's tail. I use possession to jump bodies. This fella is strong, it resisted the first attempt. The host's tail was almost severed before I could jump. In my new body, I let go of the tail and sting my rider. Four.

The other riders are getting away from my dragon posse. However, my new host is stronger and faster. I cast gravity magic on it and take a higher stance easily. Like an eagle, I fold my wings and dive on the back of my fifth victim. The sword-long talons crack the demon rider like a fortune cookie. Too bad shamans can't read entrails. Bewitched my fifth wyvern.

Arrows fly from below, but the wyverns I dominated are just taking evasive action. We are some two hundred feet over them, gravity does wonders to weaken the arrows. One rider decides to attack Kuldryss and I circle around to intercept.

Coming from behind and below I realize the wyvern has a blind spot right there. This could be useful. It is so focused on Kuldryss that I'll have an easy mark. Bewitch my current host, swap bodies and sting the rider. Six.

I roar at the charmed wyverns and break away toward the mountains. They follow me with roars and shouts of their own. I thought for a while that I would pick the dragon language, but no cookie. Are wyverns capable of using language? This requires further investigation.

I land on a large plateau and the others land too. The remaining riders are watching from afar. That is fine. Let me move the anchor from the other place here. Now I'll just make sure my host is touching every other icecream-van-sized lizard (neck and tails not included) here and teleport to the chamber.

"Damn, he did pull it off!" Cursed Marcy. She is giving some gold coins to Zahariel.

"Grawrowlror" I shout 'have more faith at your bridegroom' at her, but I'm an overgrown cross between a pterodactyl a crocodile and a scorpion right now. It is better this way, don't sweat the small stuff. Knowing Marcy, she would give the coins to him one way or another just to tease me.

Time to slaughter them. I jump with claw and teeth in the cramped room at the huge beasts. Soon the barrage of arrows, light beams, and wind spells join the carnage. One huge serving of wyvern chunky salsa, ready to go. I realized one more advantage of the long funnel and the ventilation setup: blood splattered everywhere. Poor Kuldryss was one of the first to go. And I was so enraptured in the thrill of killing that I forgot to spare the strongest one.

Before combat ended I left my host. "Let him sting me, I want to check something!" I shout at the people in the safe room. "Hey, dumb lizard, I used you to kill your tamer! [Taunt]!"

It surely stings first. I've been in your shoes, scales, and felt how nice it is to make things go green. Come! And just like that I finally get stung by a wyvern. I'm not happy. It feels like I've got all psyched out for nothing, the venom the succubus was using was almost as fresh as the real thing. The beast roars and comes to bite me.

But it takes a glowing arrow on the eye and flinches. I use the opportunity to get my horn spear and stab below its chin.

Helen (4-Wizard) +7 levels (56 > 63) Marcy (5-Guild Master) +8 levels (52 > 60) Zahariel (4-Wizard) +3 / +4 levels (racial: 65 > 68 / job: 64 > 68) Beowulf (4-Wizard) +8 / +8 levels (racial: 51 > 59 / job: 51 > 59) +140 SP

"Oh boy! I can't believe it!" Zahariel shout echoes in the chamber while I go around storing the bodies in the item box. There is no time to skin or loot them. I need to strike while the iron is hot. His shout came out of nowhere, it is hard to know if he is happy or troubled.

"What is the matter, Zahariel?" Asks a concerned Helen.

"I am a level and half from my racial level cap!" He jumps and pumps his fist up in the air like some association football player from the seventies.

Marcy slaps his back, "Congratulations!"

I store the wyvern bodies and return to the safe room, "Who'd have thunk these wyverns would be worth so much Exp."

"Even being a sub-type of the dragon kind, they still give exp as dragons. It was rumored that slaying a true dragon can bring the killer straight to the level cap. It is a wet dream of many a stupid adventurer. To have it easy into the level cap by killing a dragon," says professor Marcy.

"But I bet it happens because the adventurers that are able to kill a dragon are already near their level caps," honor student Helen completes the lecture. She then looks somewhere at her side and adds, "Emory and Mittens hit their level caps already. I think the other pups will do so in the next batch."

"Then I think I'll hurry up and go get them. Just let me meditate here a little. But we should've thought about installing a drain for the blood. Marcy, is there any use for wyvern blood?"

"No. It is poisonous to people. And don't even think of cleaning it with fire. The fumes will spread out in the mountain."

"It would be nice if we could use some monster to clean it, like slimes. This room is too convenient to not use again."

"You could try bringing sssome ssslimes from the pit here," Shraaizar suggests.

"It is no use to try to do that now. I am fully recovered, it is time to go and get the other six wyverns. Once we finish this threat, I'll put some slimes here. And we are going to have a big evolution party."