System Made Me a Tank [LitRPG-Evolution]

Boran struggled to his feet. Every muscle in his body was burning, his armor crushed from the hard impacts. He scanned the area with his eyes and saw Noemi – the sorceress, lying motionless where she had fallen.

"Noemi!" he called out, staggering toward her.

When he reached her side, he was relieved to see her chest still rising and falling. She was alive but unconscious. He gently touched her face, but received no response.

"You'll make it," he murmured, carefully lifting her and carrying her behind a large nearby rock. There she would be relatively safe.

After carefully placing Noemi on the ground, he drank the health potions from his inventory to restore his health as much as possible. Each one restored 50 health. Then he turned his attention to where the Queen had fallen. As the dust cloud slowly dissipated, the massive scaled body lay on the ground, but was already beginning to stir.

The Queen Wyvern, was now rising amidst dust and rock fragments, injured but still deadly dangerous. Her wing was partially burned, her scale armor cracked in places, but the fire of rage in her eyes had never dimmed.

Boran, gasping for breath, gripped his shield. Each breath brought pain, his legs were trembling, and blood was seeping from beneath his armor. But he would not surrender – could not.

The Queen raised her head, finding the human before her with amber eyes. Narrowing her eyes, she let out an ear-splitting roar. The entire crater shook with the sound, small rock fragments dislodged from their places.

And then the Queen spread her magnificent wings. With a leap, she propelled herself into the air, gliding toward Boran with incredible agility despite her injuries.

An idea formed in Boran's mind – perhaps a suicidal one. But he had no other option now. He bent his knees, tensed his muscles, and decided to do what seemed impossible.

As the Queen rapidly approached, Boran jumped with all his might. He hurled himself directly into the Wyvern's flight path. As the Queen climbed toward the sky, Boran was descending toward the ground. The two met in midair, exactly in the middle.

He had no chance to escape. The Queen's sharp teeth seized his right leg, and a sharp pain spread through his body. The teeth had pierced through his armor, embedding in flesh.

[You took 140 damage]

Boran, despite the hopelessness of his situation, gripped his shield firmly and swung it with all his strength toward the Queen's nose. The metal shield made a ringing sound from the force of the impact.

[Critical hit! The Queen took 6 damage]

The Queen's head was thrown sideways, completely losing control. Spiraling rapidly toward the bottom of the crater, she was almost unconscious from the force of the impact.

Boran seemed to freeze in time for a moment, suspended in the air, then began falling toward a rocky outcrop about 60 meters high.

After a brutal impact, he rolled uncontrollably down the rocky slope, his armor scraping against the jagged surfaces with a horrible grinding sound. He clenched his jaw tightly, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out in agony as his battered body struck each protruding rock. Every collision sent fresh waves of excruciating pain through his already damaged frame, his muscles screaming in protest as he tumbled helplessly toward the bottom.

[You took 380 damage]

When he finally came to a stop, he was lying on his back, looking at the sky. His breath was gone, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He heard the thunderous crash of the Queen hitting the ground, followed by silence.

Boran tried to get up. Blood was seeping from everywhere, his broken ribs making it difficult to breathe. But still he stood up. When he reached a position where he could see the crater, he saw the Queen lying motionless on the ground.

As Boran stared at the Queen's motionless body, the world began to spin around him. His vision darkened, his legs trembled. He couldn't believe he had made it this far. As the adrenaline shock slowly faded, the pains in his body became more pronounced.

"We won..." he whispered, his voice weak and hoarse.

With one final effort, he took a few steps toward where Noemi was. But his knees refused to carry him. He fell to his knees, his head growing heavy. As his eyelids grew heavy as lead, the last thing he saw was an eagle soaring over the crater. Or so he thought.

And then, darkness.

Boran's consciousness returned first with complex sounds. Bird chirps from afar, the sound of a gentle breeze, and regular breathing nearby... Then the aches in his body reminded him of their presence, but they weren't as severe as he had expected. Then a scent — faint lavender...

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the blue sky. He was on a small flat area at the edge of the crater. There was something soft under his head and... When he turned his head slightly, he understood: he was lying on Noemi's lap.

"Finally," said Noemi, a smile mixed with relief appearing in her eyes.

Boran tried to speak, but his throat was dry. Noemi noticed this and immediately offered him the water bottle at her side. After Boran took a few sips:

"How... how many hours have passed?" he asked, his voice still cracked.

"Almost four hours," said Noemi, pushing her hair back. "The sun is about to set. It wasn't easy carrying you here, I'm still tired but... I couldn't leave you there."

Boran tried to sit up, but Noemi gently pushed him back. "Don't rush."

"The Queen..." Boran murmured, his eyes filling with concern.

"Dead." said Noemi, in a determined voice. "I went down to the bottom of the crater and checked. I don't know how you did it, but you succeeded. I also checked the quest, we've completed it."

Boran immediately checked his notifications.

[Kill the Steel-Horned Queen Wyvern]

[1/1]

[Quest Completed!]

[You earned 2000 XP, 2000 Gold]

Boran took a deep breath, and with this information, the last tension in his body dissipated. They both sat in silence for a while; the sky turned shades of orange and purple as the sun descended toward the horizon.

"When I saw you where you fell..." Noemi's voice trembled. "I was so scared. There was so much blood... I was worried about you, Boran."

Boran looked at Noemi's face. There were dried blood stains on the sorceress's cheek, probably smeared there while carrying him. Her dress was torn and covered with dust.

"Thank you," said Boran sincerely. "You saved my life."

Noemi smiled slightly. "No, you saved mine. You 2, me 1. You're still ahead."

Boran smiled too, but his smile didn't last long because of his pain.

His leg was hurting, his ribs still aching. But next to Noemi, he couldn't feel safer than he did right now. He took a deep breath and as he gazed at the sky, a sense of peace he hadn't felt in a long time filled him.

As they sat in silence, Noemi suddenly leaned toward Boran's leg. She gently pulled aside the damaged piece of armor and examined the wound.

"Here it is," said Noemi, gently indicating around the wound with her fingertips. "The mark of the Queen's teeth. Quite deep."

Boran raised his head to look. The wound on his leg truly looked terrible. The Wyvern's sharp teeth had dug deep into the flesh, leaving a distinct crescent-shaped mark. The edges were still red and swollen, but the bleeding had stopped, and the wound had closed.

"It will leave a scar," said Noemi, with slight sadness.

Boran shrugged. "It doesn't matter," he said, with no regret in his voice. "One more scar, what difference does it make?"

Noemi turned her gaze to Boran's eyes. "I've never met anyone like you before," she said, her voice almost a whisper.

Boran didn't answer. His gaze was fixed on the distance. The sun had now almost completely hidden behind the horizon line, and the sky had begun to take on a deep purple color.