Chapter 54.1: A Vast Expanse of Black, Sinister Wings
Cheng Qisheng was enjoying a pot of lamb stew with radish.
Ever since Blue Sea Safe City arrived in this world of eternal winter, she’d developed a particular fondness for hot, hearty meals like this.
Not that she was actually cold. The people of Blue Sea were out there braving the freezing wilderness, but Cheng Qisheng herself was perfectly comfortable, curled up at home.
Still, there was something special about sitting in a warm, cozy house, watching the snow-covered world outside while eating a steaming pot of lamb and radish stew.
She picked up a slice of radish that had been simmered until it was meltingly tender. It had soaked up every bit of the rich meat broth. One bite released a gentle sweetness as the savory juices filled her mouth, blending with the fragrant steam rising from the pot. The combination made her squint happily in satisfaction.
Ever since advancing to Tier 3, her sense of taste had become far sharper. She could instantly tell when takeout was packed with artificial additives and processed ingredients. But when she ate clean, additive-free food, it tasted even more delicious than before.
Absolutely heavenly!
She could personally testify that those cultivation novels claiming enhanced senses made cultivators unable to enjoy ordinary food were completely wrong.
The truth was that once your five senses became sharper, ordinary food actually tasted better. The happiness you got from eating skyrocketed—
—as long as it wasn’t loaded with artificial additives and chemical flavor enhancers.
Compared with the Great Creator God, who found bliss simply by eating a good meal, the people of Blue Sea had to work much harder for their happiness.
They found theirs in battle against the Skywing Dragons.
Strictly speaking, this fight was the first time the people of Blue Sea had truly been able to stretch their muscles and enjoy a real battle.
It couldn’t be helped. In the previous world, their enemies had been zombies. Even the slightest scratch from one could spell disaster.
So although they fought the zombies, they had always been forced to hold back, unable to fight freely or throw themselves fully into combat.
Then, after arriving on Dazzling Star, they had randomly landed in an area where snow beasts were both weak and scarce. More often than not, several people had to compete over a single snow beast.
But now?
These Skywing Dragons not only provided valuable wings when killed, they also continuously attracted even more snow beasts. And since Blue Sea’s fighters no longer had to worry about being injured, they could finally fight to their hearts’ content.
Moreover, with the temple right behind them and a large number of clergy already standing by, no one had to waste energy worrying about what would happen after the battle.
If they could win, they fought.
If they couldn’t, they retreated.
Even if someone were gravely wounded, the clergy would most likely be able to pull them off the battlefield.
After all, Blue Sea’s clergy specialized in rescuing casualties from combat. Pick any white-robed Bishop at random, and they’d have a wealth of experience snatching wounded people back from the brink.
Many newly formed hunter squads, inexperienced young fighters, and awakened ability users looking to hone their abilities eagerly joined the battle.
In theory, Skywing Dragons were troublesome opponents.
Their wings were both hard and agile, while their abdomens were covered with countless sharp spines that protected the heart deep within their body cavity.
They were a real nuisance to fight.
But the people of Blue Sea didn’t find them irritating at all. On the contrary, the more troublesome the battle became, the happier and more excited they were.
At first, everyone fought carefully, afraid of accidentally damaging the Skywing Dragons’ wings.
But as the battle went on, they finally understood why that research expert had chosen Skywing Dragon wings to make flying wings.
They were incredibly durable!
Hard was good!
Flexible was good!
The same wings that were now so tough and agile on the Skywing Dragons would one day be just as tough and agile when mounted on their own backs.
Although the Skywing Dragons they were fighting weren’t dead yet, many Blue Sea fighters had already begun studying and memorizing the creatures’ wing techniques even as they battled them.
They learned while they fought, all the while searching for the dragons’ hearts.
The people of Blue Sea knew that the Skywing Dragon’s weak point was its heart, and they’d all seen the anatomical diagrams sent by the AI. But seeing a diagram was one thing; putting that knowledge into practice was another. In the end, they could only locate the heart by stabbing around until they found it.
Fortunately, while the people of Blue Sea might not have been exceptional learners in every field…
…when it came to combat, they learned with remarkable speed.
By the time the snowfield had been completely stained crimson with blood…
—The first person from Blue Sea to truly master the location of a Skywing Dragon’s heart through repeated combat and trial-and-error finally emerged.
She raised the spear in her hand.
This time, it wasn’t made of wood. In the extreme cold, the moisture inside wood froze into ice. While that made it rock-hard, it also made it brittle.
So the people of Blue Sea had recently found a new favorite: high-carbon steel spears.
Each one was a full two meters long. To ensure it could still be wielded comfortably in close combat, it was forged thick and sturdy. Aside from its sharp tip, it looked almost like a massive spiked club.
More than enough to skewer a Skywing Dragon clean through.
An ordinary person would have found it heavy just to hold.
But the people of Blue Sea were all powerfully built and immensely strong. Not only could they wield the spears with ease, they could also throw them like javelins.
The Blue Sea warrior—a woman in the prime of her life—narrowed her eyes. Protected by her teammates, she had temporarily withdrawn from the melee on the ground and stood motionless, watching the Skywing Dragons circling overhead.
Blue Sea had a thriving sports culture, and javelin throwing had been part of the physical education curriculum since elementary school. As a result, nearly every Blue Sea citizen had plenty of experience throwing spears.
This woman, in particular, had been the champion of the javelin throw at the final Dark Star Games before the apocalypse.
She had already possessed exceptional skill, and after the relentless battles of the zombie world, her throws had become even more precise.
Even so, she had to be more careful—more meticulous.
Skywing Dragons could fly. Despite their enormous bodies, their hearts were relatively small, and they moved at tremendous speed. Hitting one required calculations of the highest precision.
Her muscles tensed.
She lowered her stance slightly.
The instant the opportunity appeared, she swung her arm and hurled the spear.
The spear sliced through the frigid air like a bolt of lightning, soaring high into the sky. It skimmed precisely past the edge of a Skywing Dragon’s wing before punching straight through the heart hidden beneath its armored body.
“Screeeech—!!”
The Skywing Dragon let out a shrill cry of agony.
Its heart pierced, it could no longer keep its wings spread. Its massive body immediately plummeted from the sky.
There had originally been several Blue Sea fighters battling on the open ground below. The moment they heard something slicing through the air overhead, their bodies reacted instinctively before their minds even caught up, diving out of the way.
The next instant, an enormous Skywing Dragon slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash, sending crimson ice shards spraying in every direction.
Its razor-sharp claws twitched a few times before falling still.
“Woohoo!!!”
The teammates protecting the javelin champion erupted in cheers. One of the faster members immediately sprinted over and planted their squad’s flag beside the fallen beast.
The Skywing Dragon’s fall from such a great height was impossible to miss. Nearly everyone on the battlefield saw it.
They were envious.
One spear…
…and she’d earned herself an entire pair of flying wings.
So more people started throwing spears.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
In an instant, the sky above the battlefield was filled with the sound of projectiles cutting through the air.
Of course, not everyone could hit their target. The people of Blue Sea weren’t all master marksmen.
One heavy, razor-sharp spear after another streaked toward the sky.
Some found their mark, and Skywing Dragons cried out in agony before crashing heavily to the ground.
Many more missed for all kinds of reasons. Some spears collided because multiple people had aimed at the same target. Others flew harmlessly past the dragons and disappeared into the distance. Still others were thrown by people who knew their aim wasn’t great and were simply hoping to get lucky.
One unfortunate Skywing Dragon ended up being targeted by more than a dozen people at once.
Seven or eight heavy spears embedded themselves in its body.
If you said they had poor aim… well, at least they had managed to hit the dragon.
If you said they had good aim… not a single spear had struck its heart.
The poor creature ended up looking like a giant pincushion, riddled with seven or eight spears, yet only lightly wounded.
Still, “lightly wounded” didn’t mean unaffected.
With seven or eight massive steel spears sticking out of its body, the added weight was tremendous.
Its graceful flight instantly fell apart. It desperately tried to climb higher, but the extra weight dragged it downward, leaving it struggling helplessly in midair.
After only a few moments of struggling, the wounded Skywing Dragon, now flying much lower than the others, caught the attention of the Blue Sea fighters below.
It immediately became the focus of overwhelming fire.
The people of Blue Sea didn’t like bullying the weak—but that only applied when dealing with their own.
In battle?
If your enemy was wounded, you finished it off.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Skywing Dragon barely managed a few more wingbeats before several more spears came hurtling toward it.
By the time the unfortunate beast finally crashed into the ground, the impact was earth-shaking.
It was hard to tell whether the tremendous noise came from the dragon’s enormous size…
…or from the sheer number and weight of the spears embedded in it.
The people who had attacked it didn’t bother planting a team flag after it died. Too many fighters had contributed to the kill for anyone to claim sole credit.
The AI would simply divide the rewards fairly.
Still, everyone hurried over to retrieve their own spears.
These things were expensive.
Most Blue Sea fighters owned only a single spear, so they had to recover and reuse it after every throw.
They might not always recognize other people’s belongings, but their own weapons were a different story. Even if every spear looked identical, each person could instantly tell which one belonged to them.
One bloodstained spear after another was pulled free.
The anti-freeze cloth wrapped around each shaft had been soaked with blood and frozen stiff in the bitter cold, but the Blue Sea fighters had already anticipated that. Wearing thick gloves, they simply gripped the spears again and hurled them back into the sky.
Of course, the falling spears could also come crashing down on their own allies.
But the people throwing them didn’t think that was a problem.
Neither did the people who had to dodge them.
If something heavy was falling…
…you just got out of the way.
This wasn’t a formal army at war. Even on a real battlefield, there were always stray bullets. Dodging falling spears simply counted as practice for improving one’s reflexes and evasive skills.
Some squads lacked the accuracy to score reliable hits with thrown spears, but the barrage gave them an idea instead.
They firmly fastened long chains to the ends of their spears…
As long as a spear pierced any part of a Skywing Dragon’s body—whether it struck a leg, the abdomen, or even became lodged in a bone—the entire squad could grab the chain attached to the spear and haul on the other end, forcibly dragging the dragon out of the sky.
And once a Skywing Dragon hit the ground…
…it wasn’t getting airborne again.
If the Skywing Dragons had possessed intelligence, they would have realized that the humans fighting them were improving at an astonishing rate.
At the beginning, they had struggled to understand how to fight these aerial predators. They were wounded by the dragons’ teeth, claws, and wings. They didn’t know how to evade diving attacks from above, nor could they reliably locate the creatures’ hearts.
But after an entire day of battle, the people of Blue Sea had come to understand the Skywing Dragons better and better.
They discovered that the dragons excelled only in aerial combat, while their effectiveness plummeted once they were forced onto the ground.
More importantly, through repeated combat, they had developed muscle memory for locating the dragons’ hearts.
What had initially seemed like an even, fifty-fifty battle quickly swung decisively in Blue Sea’s favor.
Unfortunately for the Skywing Dragons, they possessed no intelligence.
They never realized that the death rate among their own kind was climbing ever faster, nor that they themselves were becoming utterly exhausted.
They simply continued hurling themselves into frenzied attacks against the humans below.
Which was exactly what the people of Blue Sea wanted.
“Screeeech!!”
“SKREEEECH!!!”
At first, the sky above the battlefield had been packed with circling Skywing Dragons. No matter which direction you looked, the heavens had been a solid mass of black wings.
But from a high vantage point, it was easy to see what was happening.
One after another, the once-dominant Skywing Dragons were being forced from the sky.
The vast black blanket that had covered the heavens rapidly developed gap after gap as dragons fell from every direction.
Their long, piercing cries no longer sounded like triumphant hunting calls.
They had become the screams of creatures dying.
One shriek after another echoed across the frozen landscape, carrying for miles, standing in stark contrast to the silent determination of the people of Blue Sea.
