The giant creature that intruded the area immediately caught everyone’s attention.
It was a strange-looking monster with a pair of thick, reddish-brown wings with a wingspan of over ten meters. It also grew a gray head that looked like a falcon’s head, a pair of crimson eyes, and a red curved beak that was undeniably a deadly weapon.
But the rest of its body looked like a lion’s body. There was a mane around its neck, which slowly turned from gray to brown as it blended in with the color of the creature’s body.
A falcon’s head and wings, a lion’s body and claws, a whipping tail that was glowing as it burned in bright flames... these otherwise incompatible features combined into the monster everyone was looking at.
The monster flapped its large wings and cruised around in the air. It was a lot smaller compared to Jebra’s horned whale, but people were still surprised when they noticed that the whale did not react when the strange monster approached its territory.
This only told them that the strange eagle-lion was something of the same level as the blue whale.
Next, someone noticed several people sitting on the monster’s back.
“Woah, that’s some good luck. Hey, do you guys know who they are?”
They couldn’t see the faces of the new visitors against the sunlight above them.
“To hell with them. Someone will soon tell them not to fly above us in the hard way.”
But no one moved.
A moment later, the monster approached where Sinehowze was floating.
No one knew much about these apprentices who occupied an advantageous spot in the sky. Yet the others believed that they were strong since Jebra allowed them to stay there.
People expected something fun to watch when they saw the strange monster heading toward Sinehowze and Carveline.
Despite their thirst for drama, Carveline and Sinehowze carefully moved out of the monster’s way to let it join them.
“Ohh, congratulations on hitting the last ride,” said Carveline.
Sinehowze didn’t say anything. She rested her head on Carveline’s shoulder while inspecting a certain apprentice sitting on the monster with a cunning look.
While they casually greeted each other, the others could no longer sit tight.
Who the f*ck is that?! Those two women actually knew them?
Next, the monster approached Hermes’ position, who did the same by inviting the creature to him.
People’s doubts grew bigger and bigger.
The monster kept moving toward the center of the sky. When it moved past the flower-treading witch, she considered and did not move—she would not start a fight with someone who was approved by both Hermes and Sinehowze.
Not everyone would agree with her.
As the monster approached the area above the silver zone, a slim-looking apprentice in silver uniform moved into its way.
“Oh, look at that, Dira is going to do something when neither Jebra and the other elites did. This will be fun!” someone commented.
In fact, those sitting on the strange monster weren’t expecting an enemy either. They saw Dira blocking their way with a cold look.
“Level-1s who made it here with pure luck but no strength? Get down there and wait for your share, that’s where you weaklings belong!”
Dira lifted a hand and created the shadow of a giant hand around him.
“Hand of Spell? No... that’s Freezing Grip!”
When the giant hand made of ice slammed at the monster, the “passengers” finally realized that Dira was fighting them. Even so, they sat still without doing anything.
The monster howled ferociously and swiped the air with one claw, shattering the incoming ice hand as well as knocking Dira toward the distance.
Dira struggled a little and managed to regain balance in the air.
“YOU DARE!!” He lifted his hand again and create a puddle of white liquid. “Bow down before my Eternal Freeze!”
He threw the puddle at the monster in rage.
“Water.”
People heard someone chanting in a small, plain voice.
Instead of creating the freezing effect Dira was expecting, the puddle suddenly became transparent and dropped to the ground.
Those standing below believed that Dira’s “Eternal Freeze” was diverted to their way and scattered in panic.
A woman failed to move away in time and had her face drenched by the liquid. For a brief moment, she trembled and waited for Dira’s spell to turn her into ice.
But nothing happened.
She rubbed her face and took a sniff at the liquid that hit her.
“This is... pretty sweet?”
Her simple words caused a series of heated discussions among the onlooking apprentices while Dira froze up in the air.
Sweet? What sweet? That wasn’t sugar water! That’s a special medium I brought from my organization called “Tears of Eternal Freeze”! Something I need to cast a deadly spell!
“Um, I mean, it tasted good. Like spring water you find in the mountains,” the wet woman said and added some salt to Dira’s wounded ego.
Dira felt short of breath all of a sudden. He pointed a trembling finger at the group sitting on the strange monster but without saying anything.
And since Dira didn’t make any further moves, the eagle-lion ignored him and kept flying forward.
Nobody followed Dira’s example to cause trouble again, which allowed the monster to reach its final destination—the golden zone, where Jebra was waiting.
Again, the other apprentices thought Jebra would get furious about this and summon water tides or something to attack the intruders. Yet Jebra didn’t move.
To the onlookers, Jebra appeared calm and relaxed. However, Feshie was the only one who could see the man’s thighs shaking madly in fear.
There was no fight breaking out. Instead, everyone heard someone talking loud and clear.
“Hey, you! Give us some space, will you?”
It was someone on top of the strange monster who just spoke. Obviously, he meant to direct those words at Jebra.
“Whoa, sh*t, which b*stard dares to talk to Jebra like that?” Falca, who had been staying with Loki, scoffed. He had completely forgotten about how he was humiliated by Jebra’s whale not long ago.
Loki glimpsed at Falca and didn’t say anything.
It was Alan who picked up the topic, “Well, I don’t think Jebra can defeat those guys. Didn’t you see that Dira’s attack was destroyed in one hit?”
Falca sneered, “That’s Jebra, THE Jebra, ‘Child of Ocean’! The number one student of ‘God of Seas’!”
“Aren’t you from Silent Hill and the kinsman of Mister Taurus? Why are you afraid of Song of the Deep so much?” Alan looked at Falca up and down doubtfully. “Oh, I get it, you have one of those fish scale tattoos somewhere on your body, so you secretly want to join them?”
Falca’s eyes literally glowed in rage. Did this level-1 damn fat boy just insult me??
Falca summoned a Blood Bat to teach Alan a lesson, while Loki quickly stopped them. “Chill. I agree with this black dude. Jebra will not lose. A draw, at best.”
“Oh, really?” Alan chuckled. He said that because he already recognized the familiar voice that came from the eagle-lion.
Everyone was still waiting to see how Jebra would react when someone told him to “make way”.
Ten seconds later, Jebra clenched his fists and glanced at a certain woman on the monster’s back. She was giving him those hungry looks again.
He then ordered his whale to slowly move away from the eagle-lion.
More discussions and quarrels rose among the apprentices. Whoever forced THE arrogant Jebra to stand down?!
Similarly, the valley area outside the purification garden was also filled with doubts and questions from all the wizards. Even some of the most seasoned wizards failed to recognize the bizarre-looking monster that just arrived at the altar.
In the end, they all looked at Muse and hoped for an answer.
Despite his title, “The Fool” Muse was commonly believed to be the most cultured wizard at the scene. Even a first-class truth-finder wizard like Kanter would pay great respect to Muse in all situations.
Muse’s Research Department created many revolutionary skills and inventions for the entire wizarding world, and everyone believed that Muse was second to none when it came to knowledge and extensive expertise.
“... According to an illustrated book I found from Origin World, that creature is called a ‘griffin’. There are different types of griffins such as the Grim Griffin that can control mist and shadows, the Ice Griffin that commands freezing air. From the looks of it, what we are looking at right now is a Flame Griffin.”
While talking, Muse whispered to Lawson in a small voice, “But there are no records about griffins showing up at Fey Continent... Did that one accidentally come here from Origin World?”
Lawson shook his head. “The teleport arrays toward Origin World are already destroyed. I don’t think so.”
“I heard that Isabelle returned to the southern wizarding region. Perhaps...?” Muse made sure both he and Lawson understood the situation and ended the subject here.
Lawson looked back at the screen again and checked who was riding on the creature.
And he immediately saw Angor, who found a comfortable spot on the griffin’s neck.
Heh, he actually made it to the end. How did he get past those wizard-level illusions? More importantly... where did that monster come from?
They had been looking at the Altar of Demise, so they failed to understand what happened inside Erdus.
He killed Erdus and brought his whole team to the altar?
“This boy sure knows how to create miracles,” Lawson muttered to himself.