Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 719: Escaping The Wyvern
WHOOSH
The wind was still brutal.
It cut through his robes, tore at his hair, and forced icy needles into every exposed surface. Han Yu endured it with grim focus, keeping his body rigid and his mind sharp.
He did not take the Frost Bane Guardian Pill.
Not yet.
Around halfway down the sheer drop, Han Yu twisted his body and summoned his halberd into his grip. He slammed its blade sideways into the rushing air, channeling Qi through it. The weapon screamed in protest, resistance flaring as it bit into the wind itself.
His descent slowed, momentum shifting.
Han Yu angled his body, curving around the mountain face in a wide arc. The landscape below spread out before him in blurred shapes of snow and shadow as he redirected his fall toward the southwest, exactly as he had planned.
But escape was never going to be that simple.
A massive shadow swept across the mountainside.
Han Yu's heart clenched.
He did not need his spirit sense to know what it was.
He felt it.
The pressure, the dominance, the overwhelming presence that crushed the air and bent the wind itself around it.
He looked back.
The beast had emerged fully from behind the peak, its enormous wings cutting through the sky with terrifying power.
A Frost Wing Wyvern.
But not like the one he had faced before.
This one was colossal.
Even from a distance, its size was unmistakable. Its body was longer, thicker, its wings spanning an absurd width as they beat with slow, deliberate force. Each flap displaced massive currents of air, sending shockwaves rippling through the snow clouds.
Its scales shimmered like polished ice under the moonlight, layered and jagged, reflecting pale blue and silver hues. Curving horns swept back from its skull, longer and sharper than any Han Yu had seen before. Frost gathered naturally around its body, forming a drifting halo of ice particles that followed its movements.
And its Qi.
Han Yu felt it even without focusing.
Dense. Heavy. Vast.
"This isn't a juvenile," Han Yu muttered, a chill settling deeper than the cold. "This is a full adult."
He tried to gauge its strength, but the gap was too wide.
Peak Nascent Soul realm.
Or worse.
Dao Shell realm.
Han Yu did not linger on the thought.
WHOOSH!
He poured everything he could into the halberd, using it as an anchor against the air, forcing his body forward in a desperate burst of speed. His muscles screamed in protest, Qi surging violently through his meridians as he pushed himself far past what he would normally consider safe.
The Wyvern responded instantly.
Its wings snapped downward, and the distance between them began to vanish.
Five hundred meters.
Four hundred.
Han Yu could see it clearly now.
The Wyvern's eyes burned with an icy, predatory light, locked onto him with terrifying precision. Its jaws parted slightly, revealing rows of long, serrated fangs that gleamed like frozen blades.
Han Yu shuddered despite himself.
He dropped lower, skimming barely ten meters above the ground now, terrain rushing past beneath him in a blur of white and black. Snowdrifts exploded as displaced air battered the surface, but he did not dare to land.
There was nowhere to hide.
No caves.
No forests dense enough to mask his presence.
The Wyvern's roar thundered again, closer now, filled with rage and possession. Han Yu could almost feel its breath on his back, cold and sharp.
Ninety meters.
Eighty.
Then he saw it.
A faint, silvery gleam stretched across the landscape ahead, catching the moonlight in smooth, curving lines. At first glance it looked like a patch of ice, but as Han Yu's eyes adjusted, the shape resolved itself.
It was vast.
Wide.
Flowing.
"A river," Han Yu breathed.
Not frozen solid.
A river of ice and water, winding through the mountain basin like a massive, glassy ribbon. Some sections were buried under snow, but others lay exposed, reflecting the moon in long, broken streaks.
Hope flared in Han Yu's chest.
Ice alone would not save him.
But terrain might.
The river twisted and curved, disappearing into narrow channels and jagged embankments. If he could get low enough, close enough, he might be able to break line of sight, disrupt the Wyvern's pursuit, or at least buy himself the time he needed.
Han Yu angled downward sharply, committing fully.
The Wyvern shrieked in fury and followed, its massive wings beating harder as it dove after him, claws extended, frost exploding outward in its wake.
Han Yu clenched his jaw.
"Come on," he muttered, eyes locked on the river ahead. "Just a little more."
The river was frozen below, but he knew this was only the surface. The water underneath would still be flowing.
"If I enter it, escaping the Wyvern might just be possible… But surviving the cold…" He knew it was a gamble.
ROAR!
But when the thunderous roar echoed in his ears once more, he knew he had to take the gamble. Han Yu dived towards the river's frozen surface, while throwing a large fireball to melt open a hole.
BOOM!
The explosion shattered a large area of the frozen surface but also opened a big enough hole for Han Yu to dive into.
He knew the ice was thick, as such the depth of the river would have risen over the winter. Han Yu dove straight into it, knowing the cold would be the worse he had faced other than the orchid.
With the hope that it was still less than the orchid's cold, Han Yu embraced the river.
SPLASH!
The cold first roused Han Yu, but then a few seconds later, it started to dull his mind and senses. He didn't even get to feel the full force of the cold, before his consciousness started to fade.
"I... Have to..." Before he could even activate the Dancing Flame Art or take the Frost Guardian Pill, he passed out.
The river rushed beneath the shattered ice, a dark and merciless force dragging Han Yu's limp body along its hidden path.
