Erika: My Friend Is Obsessed with Me
Chapter 10
“Phew—ah—”
Looking down from the edge of a sheer cliff like this, the view was truly magnificent.
“It really is insane. Takes my breath away.”
An altitude so high it made her ears pop.
Fwhoooosh—
Her hair whipped wildly in the fierce gale.
Anyone with a fear of heights wouldn’t even dare look down, or might already have pissed themselves crying.
“Fall from here, and they won’t even find a corpse.”
Erica looked straight ahead.
Her field of vision was vast and expansive. All of Lygis unfolded in a single glance.
It was a majestic sight.
Gazing out at the grandeur of mother nature, she wanted nothing more than to stay still and watch the sun rise and set.
A vista like this was nowhere to be found in any other region.
‘Could it have been one massive, unbroken mountain range in ancient times?’
The terrain was just that unique.
The cliffs jutting up here and there like spires were bizarre.
Though varying in shape, their dizzying height was enough to give anyone goosebumps.
Perhaps the Creator God had grown bored and chopped a giant mountain range into pieces with the edge of His hand.
Come to think of it, Erica quite liked Lygis’s unusual terrain.
If there was just one thing she hated…
The stench of monsters.
“Skreeeech—!!!”
Whoosh—
A wyvern shot past right over her head.
“Holy shit, almost took my head off.”
The crown of her head ran cold.
Spacing out admiring the view almost sent her straight to the afterlife.
Erica swiftly unslung the bow from her back.
Yanking up the hem of her shirt, she used it like a rag to wipe down the bow stave a few times.
Stretching her clothes exposed her smooth, toned abs, but there was no one around to see. Not that Erica was the type to care in the first place.
Finishing the quick bow maintenance out of long habit, she securely fastened the quiver to her back and readied herself to sprint.
‘Thirty arrows.’
Wyvern commissions were originally settled by a daily wage.
There were no bonuses per wyvern killed, but Erica set a personal goal for herself anyway.
Use thirty arrows for thirty precise, one-shot kills!
‘If even one misses, no dinner tonight.’
She made the harshest vow to herself. That was the only way to keep it thrilling!
Erica scanned the sky.
Countless wyverns were flapping their wings, soaring through the air.
‘Found one!’
Target spotted ahead.
Patter-tap— Erica sprinted forward.
Gaining momentum, she leaped straight off the edge of the cliff.
Whoosh—
She flew through the sky.
Thud! She landed squarely on the wyvern’s back.
“Gurk? Skreeee—!”
Fwhoooosh—
The wyvern she mounted cut through the wind as it soared into the air.
Swaying wildly, the wyvern flew erratically to shake off whatever was clinging to its back.
Then it plummeted at breakneck speed, dropping like a rock!
“Hrrgh—!”
The battering force of the wind stole her breath away.
Just as they were about to slam into the earth, Erica whipped a cord around the wyvern’s neck and yanked hard.
Veering upward, it surged back into the sky.
“…Woohoo!”
Exhilarating.
The wind whipped violently against her cheeks!
She narrowed her eyes to a squint.
Her ears were muffled by the rushing wind; only the loud flapping of the wyvern’s wings rang clear.
Her long hair, tied high in a ponytail, streamed behind her like a tail.
Before she knew it, she had reached a dizzying altitude.
Being up in the sky made her stomach flutter, every single nerve tingling with thrilling electricity.
A spectacle on an entirely different level from the view atop the cliff unfolded before her.
She could see the people below, scattered like tiny specks on the ground.
No ordinary mind could ever pull this off.
“What…? You ride on a wyvern’s back to do what?”
Even among the Lygis Knights, half couldn’t stomach it, and not a single high-ranking mercenary was willing to risk their life jumping like this.
Fall, and you die instantly.
And dying wasn’t the end of it—they wouldn’t even be able to find your body.
That was how high up it was. Insanely high, the pressure so intense her ears ached.
Once it reached cruising altitude, the wyvern began to fly steadily.
Flap, flap.
They were right in the middle of the aerial flock.
“Griek, gurrr.”
Wyverns had low intelligence.
Enough that it quickly forgot something was even riding on its back.
‘Picked a simple-minded one, nice.’
Right in the midst of the flock spreading wide across the sky.
All around her, wyverns flapped their leathery, skeletal wings, darting swiftly through the air.
The bizarre screeches—kree, skreek, skreech—echoed all around.
Since her ears were already numb from the high altitude, the monsters’ cries weren’t particularly bothersome.
“Phew…”
Erica raised her bow.
Nocking an arrow, she aimed into the open sky.
She took a deep breath.
Slowly, she drew the bowstring. Even after it was pulled taut, she held her breath for a long moment.
The wyverns flew rapidly without rest. Ordinary dynamic vision could never track them.
Yet for the trained Erica, it was possible.
Twang!
The moment she released the string, the arrow struck a distant wyvern cleanly in the neck.
Thwack!
“Skreeeeeech—!!!”
Hearing the wyvern plummeting straight down, she immediately aimed at her next target.
Whoosh.
Thwack!
“Skreeeech—!!!”
Whoosh.
Thwack!
“Skree!! Gwark!”
She hit two more in succession.
Nailed it. Feeling pretty good today, aren’t we?
She didn’t spare a glance at the wyvern corpses tumbling limply from the sky.
Instead, she nocked another arrow and took aim.
But soon.
“…”
She relaxed the bowstring.
The wyvern she was riding was a living monster. It didn’t move to Erica’s whim.
Once a target slipped out of her sight line, catching the right timing wasn’t easy.
Swoosh—
Swooooosh—
They helplessly circled the sky a few times.
Just as she was surveying the situation again—
“…?”
In the distance, she spotted an unusually massive wyvern.
She lifted her head. It was higher up in the sky, well above Erica.
“What’s that? The king?”
It was twice as big as the other wyverns. Its coloration was subtly different, too.
King of the wyverns? King Wyvern? Holy crap, it’s gotta be a King Wyvern!
No such scientific name existed, but Erica, having christened it herself, set her sights on the King Wyvern.
‘Get closer! Just a little closer!’
If only it would close the distance a bit more!
She slowly drew the bowstring.
‘…Not gonna cut it.’
The distance felt off. Still, she couldn’t let it get away.
Thwip—!
“Ah, shit!”
It grazed past.
Having shot an arrow into empty air by a hair’s breadth, frustration flared in her chest.
She had vowed to skip dinner if she wasted a single arrow, but right now, none of that mattered.
‘I’m getting that thing. I will take it down!’
As if her inner thoughts had reached it.
The wyvern beneath her began shifting position closer toward the beast.
Before long, it took up a position directly beneath the King Wyvern.
“Griek—gurrr.”
Though the distance was still considerable, it was much closer than before.
She slowly drew the bow upward.
The biting wind stinging her skin was harsh. But Erica’s chilling expression was far more terrifying.
‘Will it pierce the belly hide?’
Wyverns had thick hides. Because the neck area was comparatively thinner, Erica usually aimed for the neck.
She had never aimed at a belly from beneath a wyvern like this.
‘What if the arrow won’t penetrate the belly?’
What if it deflects the arrow? Will it run away? Should she wait a bit longer and aim for the neck?
Under the shadow of the giant wyvern.
Just as Erica was hesitating for a brief moment—
Crunch—!
“Skreeeeeech—!!”
Spurt—!
Blood suddenly splattered.
Filling her entire field of vision, crimson rain scattered from the sky above.
“…?”
The King Wyvern unleashed a deafening shriek that threatened to tear her eardrums apart.
“Skreeeeeech—!!”
Crunch!!
Spurt—!
Crimson blood sprayed once more like seafoam.
Droplets of monster blood speckled Erica’s face down below.
“Grik, eek—kreeee…”
Flump.
The King Wyvern plummeted helplessly.
It fell straight toward the earth. Plunged deep into the crown of its head, where crimson blood sprayed, was a sword.
‘…A sword?’
As Erica stared blankly down at the sight—
Thump—!
Suddenly, someone leaped down onto Erica’s wyvern. Right behind her.
Startled, she stiffened.
“…?!”
Erica whipped her head around.
A man who had hitched a ride on the wyvern, wrapping his arms around her as if embracing her.
“…?”
“Hey.”
