He slathered his white vomit on the parasite's leaf and stem before walking back closer to the edge of the steel door.

As the temperature of the substance increased, it began to burn away the fluids of Ferris's stomach, leaving only the white dust exposed.

In a flash, the sprout wilted before being unable to withstand the strange effects of a dragon's ash-like remains.

It burned a brilliant golden flame before completely dying off and turning into ash itself.

Ferris pressed a hand to where the parasite had been. Beneath his fingers, he felt a small but deep wound near his tailbone, faintly warm to the touch.

...It worked. I can't thank the dragons enough.

Ferris became disappointed, being unable to thank the cremated remains.

I'm sorry, Sagittarius, but I didn't expect to eat your kind this way... Ferris covered his mouth, wanting to vomit once again, just to make sure there were no longer any remains inside his stomach.

But now was not the time.

Ferris landed his gaze at the wyvern. He knew he did something incredibly disrespectful, and it showed when Artemis's form began to emit a high-temperature aura around her body.

She spoke with a cold but flaming roar. "Since when?"

. . .

Ferris stared at her. She deserved to know the truth at least. "I ate some of the dragon remains in the vial I gave you when you weren't looking," he answered without a hint of falsehood.

"I see, then. What's your name?"

Ferris squared his shoulders as he drew the unused dagger he kept hidden.

"Ferris."

The wyvern inhaled, and a deathly heat rolled out of its maw. "Today," she rasped, "Ferris will be slain by Artemis."

Now, the fight is fair. Ferris focused his gaze as he adjusted his body back to its usual state.

For a parasite, it didn't suck a lot of essence from me, he thought, thankful that he wasn't a husk when he regained control of his essence layer.

Once he was ready, he coated the dagger with his sword essence to artificially extend its length.

There was now a slight shift in the atmosphere, and Ferris could feel that Artemis could tell that he was now a completely different being.

"I'll beat you at your own game for the sake of it," the wyvern growled, standing on her hind legs.

She breathed in, building up essence within her chest. It was definitely a fire breath, but it wasn't aimed at Ferris.

A clumpy yet thick fire covered her right wing, completely burning her own membrane that made up the majority of her wing's surface area.

Only her arm remained, but even then, it was as solid as pillars and as powerful as a raging storm.

Ferris patiently waited for the lady to finish grooming herself, curious about the end result. What is she?..

Using the wreckage of shattered shelves and twisted metal, she melted them down in seconds, grafting a massive weapon suited to her size.

Artemis readied her strange stance in her wyvern form, but thanks to her long arms and legs, it was actually quite stable and balanced.

With her left wing, she covered half her body like a shield.

Now this was something he did not expect— for her to use such human tactics instead of relying on her sheer firepower or brute strength.

A sword and shield, huh. Ferris silently applauded. It felt like watching your own child do something strangely impressive.

After all, because of the early death of the king of dragons, Ferris spent quite a lot of time with the uninfected hatchlings, so this was strangely a personal experience for him.

Ferris eyeballed her power level. She's quite different now.

This level of essence is something I didn't account for, he thought, then smiled.

I don't know if Artemis is even one of your blood, or how you're tied to this world at all.

But if you really are...

Then allow this knight to teach your child a good lesson about which sides to be in.

Flash!

Ferris was the first to move in, but his first swing wasn't an attack

.

In the first exchange, the two fighters must always have a clash to test each other's strength before the true battle.

And surprisingly for Ferris, Artemis was also keen on doing the same thing.

Removing all of his restrictions, Ferris swung his blade and met with the still burning-hot wyvern sword.

I guess this is what an ogre-level villain is like? We're evenly matched.

The knight held his own against the massive arms of a wyvern, but he could not overpower Artemis, and neither could Artemis overpower Ferris.

Once they were both satisfied with each other, the two backed off a few paces away.

"You're a swordsman?" Ferris questioned.

The wyvern heard it, but she responded by blowing out a stream of flames.

Essence blade.

Essence blade.

Ferris shot out two projectiles in a cross pattern, which easily cut through the flame wave, dispersing it.

The two essence blades continued their trajectory, but they were swiftly shattered by her molten greatsword.

She saw through them? Ferris acted surprised on the outside but not much inside his mind.

While his essence blades were in the middle of their destruction, Ferris was already rushing toward her position, front and center.

For Artemis, it looked like Ferris had no regard for his defense, as he was preparing for an obvious attack from the left.

She spread her left wing away, leaving her body free to move around but also exposing her left,

but it did allow her to meet with Ferris more easily. She planned to feint her first strike, then deliver a fatal blow the moment Ferris took the bait.

She dropped her defense? Ferris was surprised that Artemis removed herself from the best position in this scenario.

It would've been better for her to play defensive and allow Ferris to die from his mistake. This was what Ferris expected.

But that was fine.

This is better.

Ferris charged his essence just as he was recklessly charging for the wyvern.

Seeing her go for a slash, Ferris prepared his essence-coated dagger.

If she dropped her shield so easily, then...

Ferris carefully watched Artemis's blade and body, trying to predict mid-swing what she'd do.

It's definitely a horizontal slash to my left abdomen, but I don't think that's the case.

Regardless, Ferris played into her swing as he prepared to block his left side. This was to keep her confident and go through whatever she was gonna pull off.

Twist!

"Oh?" Ferris exclaimed. So it's a feint.

Using her unique wyvern biology, she twisted her flexible arms in a split second and changed the slash into a downward strike.

But of course, that feint would only work if the enemy didn't see it coming.

Already prepared for the sneak attack, Ferris twirled sideways, using his foot as the pivot.

Crash!

The greatsword slammed onto the floor, almost melting into it like glue.

Not wasting his momentum, Ferris leaped onto the burning-hot sword and ran on top of the edge.

As long as you reduce the amount of time spent in contact with the heat, you wouldn't burn! So Ferris ran as fast as his body allowed him to.

When he got close enough, he launched himself from her sword again, hurling his whole body toward her face.

This time, he showed her what a real feint looked like.

"You're too big!" Ferris extended the length of his sword essence, making it very clear what he was about to do in the next split second.

If a wyvern could exhibit facial expression, then it was exactly now.

Punch!

The wyvern's head, which was around the size of his own torso, buckled under the kinetic energy that was delivered into a small area of her cheeks.

Still finding extra time in the air, Ferris took his chance to kick her on the jaw, the force enough to knock both of them away from each other—especially Ferris, with his obviously lighter body.

That was harder than I expected. Ferris checked his knuckles, which showed signs of skin tearing.

He looked at Artemis, who was visibly in pain.

The impact must've knocked her brains out like a pinball, judging by how she dropped her weapon and grasped her head as if she had a headache.

"Did your teacher tell you to underestimate your enemies? I'd say that's a terrible lesson." Ferris shouted.

But his words did not bother her one bit.

Rather, they strengthened her resolve as she picked up her sword again and assumed the same defensive stance from the start.

Surprisingly, her mind was difficult to push around, contrary to his first experience with her.

She's a tough woman...

Well, I should also take this seriously.

Ferris sharpened his essence to the max. He was now ready to cut her down.

But he wasn't afraid of killing her, because knowing how she burned her own wing membrane, he assumed there was a limit to how much her wyvern form could take damage before reverting back to her dragonoid form.

The question is, how much?

Step.

Step.

Step.

Instead of matching with the heat of the battle, Ferris slowed his pace down to a walk.

He raised his arm laterally while extending his dagger's sword essence bit by bit, opting for a thinner blade rather than a balanced one.

Switching to a different fighting style could throw anyone off, and Ferris planned to fight with surgical precision this time.

There's a bit more time till midnight.

Should I play with her more?

Or should I end it now?

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