The Wind Stopped!

"Guild Master, calm down..."

Macao looked at the enraged Guild Master, sighed, and walked over to Makarov with a smile on his face, trying to persuade him.

"Calm down?!"

"Do you know what mission that bastard Gildarts went off to do?"

"He actually took Ywen to do that mission in the Gale Mountain Range..."

Makarov looked at Macao with a grave expression.

"The Gale Mountain Range..."

"I remember there were Wyvern sightings there, and every merchant caravan passing through ended up getting attacked!"

"That was why the Merchant Association issued a bounty. The reward was fairly high even among missions of the same rank..."

"But considering how dangerous the Gale Mountain Range itself is, along with how difficult Wyverns are to deal with, no one had taken the mission for months after it was posted..."

"Still, that mission shouldn't be a problem for Gildarts or Ywen, right? It wasn't originally an S-Class Mission. Since no one took it, the Merchant Association raised the reward and increased its difficulty rating to S-Class. Ah, what a shame! If the reward had been this high back when it was A-Class, maybe I would've gone..."

Macao muttered to himself. He had originally wanted to go too, but the Gale Mountain Range was simply too far away, so he had never set out.

"That's not the problem!"

"The real danger isn't the Wyverns! The real danger is Gildarts and Ywen!"

"If those two join forces, it wouldn't be impossible for them to destroy the entire mountain range..."

"Oh no, my heart can't take this anymore..."

Makarov clutched his chest. Life was hard! He was already so old, yet he still had to be summoned around by the Magic Council like some criminal, only to write self-criticisms to people younger than himself in the end.

At that thought, tears began rolling from Makarov's eyes...

"Guild Master! Guild Master, pull yourself together! Guild Master!"

"Quick, go get a doctor..."

For a time, rumors spread through the guild that Makarov had fainted from overwhelming grief...

The reason they were only rumors was that no one believed Makarov, one of the Saint Ten, could actually be angered into fainting by members of his own guild...

"Whoosh!!"

The gale howled without end...

This was a mountain range perpetually shrouded in violent winds throughout all four seasons. Its name was the Scrye Mountain Range, also known as the Gale Mountain Range!

Within the mountains, one large and one small figure pushed onward against the screaming wind!

Strangely, the gale—powerful enough to sweep a child straight into the sky—seemed remarkably gentle before the two figures. It was as though some mysterious power surrounded them, shielding them from the endless winds ahead.

"So, how much farther is it, Gildarts?!"

That was right. The large and small figures were Gildarts and Ywen, who had left Fairy Tail to carry out an S-Class Mission. They had now arrived at the site of the incident...

"Probably, maybe..." Gildarts looked around at the howling winds, thought for a moment, then answered, "It might be somewhere around here..."

"Probably, maybe, might. Not one of those words means anything precise..."

Ywen could tell at a glance that Gildarts was completely unreliable.

"Still, this wind is really annoying. Ever since we entered this valley, we haven't been able to tell which way is which. If only there were some way to stop the wind..."

Gildarts stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"There's nothing we can do about that."

Ywen was somewhat helpless. Due to the peculiar nature of the Gale Valley, anyone entering needed a local guide to navigate the mountains successfully. But because of the Wyverns, the guides had all stopped working. That was also the main reason this mission had gone uncompleted for so long.

"To put it simply, this gale is entirely caused by the terrain—by the unique shape of these mountains. In other words..." Gildarts paused, the corners of his lips curling upward. "In other words, as long as we make these mountains stop being unique, we can stop this wind!"

"..."

Ywen fell silent. He more or less understood what Gildarts meant.

"Ywen, let's get to work! If everything goes well, we can go home tonight!"

As Gildarts spoke, white light lit up in his hand. Then, the mountain peak hundreds of meters tall to their left instantly shattered into countless fragments.

"Whoosh..."

As the mountain vanished, the wind in the valley did indeed weaken somewhat!

"What are you waiting for, Ywen? As mages of Fairy Tail, we have to give our all no matter what mission we take!"

"As mages of Fairy Tail, we must overcome every kind of hardship! Then keep moving forward! No one can stop us! So give it everything you've got—stop the wind, find the Wyverns, and take them down!"

As Gildarts spoke, another towering peak turned into countless rocks and disappeared from the mountain range.

The wind blocking Gildarts and Ywen's advance grew weaker and weaker...

"I understand!"

Ywen nodded lightly. Then, an invisible ripple seemed to rise from his body into the sky.

Rumble!!

The next second, enormous meteors wreathed in blazing flames began falling from the sky one after another!

Boom!!

The instant the meteors struck the valley, countless peaks were leveled to the ground!

For a time, the wind in the valley weakened even further...

"That's it!"

"Remember, Ywen, as mages, we must take responsibility for our clients' missions. We must use all our strength to complete their requests as quickly and as effectively as possible!"

"Because of the Wyverns, the merchant caravans have been stalled for nearly half a year! Now that Fairy Tail has accepted this mission, we're going to reopen this route today!"

"That's what it means to be a mage of Fairy Tail!"

Gildarts shouted passionately as he watched Ywen continuously summon meteors.

As Gildarts's passion rose, the guild emblem on his body seemed to shine with a faint, mysterious light! Especially after he said those words, it was not only Gildarts's emblem that shone—even Ywen's emblem began radiating a soft white glow.

"Yeah!"

Although Ywen had no idea what was happening, he somehow became fired up as well!

He simply, simply couldn't stop!

Boom!

Boom!!!

Shot after shot, meteor after meteor, countless meteors rained from the sky and leveled every mountain surrounding the valley.

As for any uneven areas, Gildarts violently used high-level Crush Magic to reduce them to countless fragments.

An hour later, after Ywen and Gildarts had destroyed most of the mountain range, they finally spotted five Wyverns—a whole family—fleeing as if they were preparing to move away.

"Ywen! Quick, do you see the Wyverns? Don't let them escape the valley!"

Gildarts stopped moving as he stared at the Wyverns in the sky. He vaguely remembered that his mission was to eliminate the Wyverns.

"Leave it to me!"

Yasakani no Magatama!!

As Ywen spoke, his body shone with golden light. In an instant, countless lasers struck the Wyverns.

"Ah!!"

The Wyverns let out agonized cries and fell from the sky...

"Excellent!"

"Mission complete!"

Looking at the pierced-through Wyverns, Ywen and Gildarts smiled excitedly. Then, they extended their fists and lightly bumped them together...

In April of Year X774, in spring, Fairy Tail mages Ywen and Gildarts jointly completed the S-Class Mission issued by the Merchant Association: the Wyverns of the Scrye Gale Mountain Range. Along with the Wyverns, the entire Scrye Mountain Range also vanished...

The Magic Council was furious...