Chapter 919: Capture
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Looking at the gigantic beast struggling within the water cocoon, the two siblings could not help but stare dumbfounded for a moment. After that, they came back to their senses. They exchanged glances with one another, before quickly shutting their eyes to begin stretching their spiritual energy out and carry out the attempt.
Benjamin watched them, full of expectations.
He could sense two wafts of spiritual energy being slowly unleashed, spreading towards the Griffin King like tentacles. They slipped in through the gaps in the water cocoon and surrounded the head of the Griffin King. Round and round they went, coiling around it in extremely gentle motions, like a few delicate vines.
When the spiritual energy had made their fifth coil, all the tentacles suddenly tightened towards the inside, like an octopus that was exerting force abruptly. At that moment, a spasm suddenly shot through the body of the Griffin King, which had still been wrestling against the water cocoon. As though it had just been electrocuted, it immediately stopped moving in the air.
In that instant, the two siblings also experienced a spasm going through their bodies.
The tentacles of spiritual energy seemed to be under some sort of extreme pressure. They were being pulled very tightly, as though they were about to break. Beads of sweat appeared on the foreheads of the two siblings as they increased their efforts. Even more spiritual energy was released by them, surging towards the Griffin King wave after wave. They penetrated through its feathers and bones, gushing into its brain that was dense with elements.
"They are trying to draw a sign into its spiritual energy." Having entered such a level, only the System could continue observing. It spoke in a very interested manner. "If we really think about it, this situation is rather similar to when mages use runes and meditation. Only, the runes in these Magical Beasts have been drawn by others, whereas you guys are yourselves... Hehe, perhaps the runes in your spirits actually come from the will of other beings, only, you guys are unable to be aware of it!"
"..."
Benjamin had nothing to say to that.
He shook his head and continued to pay attention to the condition of the two siblings, ignoring the nihilistic conspiracy theory that the System had just suggested.
At that moment, the Griffin King was trembling in midair once more. However, its eyes were shut tightly this time, in a strange state. It was shaking continuously, as though it had been struck by epilepsy, and looked especially weird. The two siblings seemed to still be increasing their output; the pair of small faces was beginning to turn red, little by little, at a steady rate.
From a faint, pinkish color, to pink, to the redness of a pig’s liver... Finally, similar to the instant when a spring snapped abruptly, the entire bodies of both siblings shook at the same time. They opened their eyes immediately and let out a huge huff.
The Griffin King remained still for a few seconds before returning to its original wild behavior. It began to struggle within the water cocoon again.
For a moment, a feeling of disappointment rose up in Benjamin’s heart.
"...Did it fail?"
The two siblings held their heads and panted for quite a while. They even took a few Energy Regeneration Tonics out and gulped them down successively. After half a minute, they finally straightened up and looked at the Griffin King that was still struggling without ceasing. Giving each other a look, they suddenly broke into smiles and snapped their fingers at the same time.
"No, we’ve succeeded."
In an instant, the movements of the Griffin King halted. Under everyone’s observations, it first made a high-pitched cry, before slowly lowering its head.
Following that, Benjamin’s eyes, which had been dim, lighted up.
"You guys... have really succeeded?" After hesitating for a moment, he suddenly raised his hand and dispersed the great cocoon that had been created by weaving heavy flows of water. Subsequently, the Griffin King fell from within it, and suddenly flapped its wings in a mighty rush, flying into the airspace of this valley once more.
Only this time, the aggression in its eyes had completely subsided. In utmost obedience, it flew according to the directions the two siblings pointed in, looking very similar to something that would have been created through special effects.
Benjamin could not help but nod vigorously, revealing an expression of marvel and praise.
"Powerful."
He turned his head to look at the two siblings. However, at this time, he could once again see, from their expressions, that they were exerting strenuous effort.
"Director, sir. You had best tie it up again," the young lad said, taking a deep breath. "Although the state of its spiritual energy is at an extremely low level, it’s still exceedingly huge. Controlling it takes up a lot of energy, we might not be able to hold it for long."
Hearing that, Benjamin nodded. All he could do was to create numerous threads of water through condensation once more, and entrap the Griffin King again. After the water cocoon was formed, the two siblings released their control and gave a long sigh of relief. After a momentary blankness, the savage and unruly wildness of the Griffin King reappeared in its eyes.
It began to struggle again.
"Now... what shall we do?" Having observed everything from the side, the mages next to them asked doubtfully.
"You guys, bring those frozen griffins back first and find Morris. He should be done with those specially made cages for beasts." After some thought, Benjamin opened his mouth to speak. "We still have to stay here, and study the condition of this big fellow."
Hearing that, the mages nodded and used magic to heave those griffin ice sculptures up, before flying out through the tunnel.
Benjamin turned his head and began to ask about the matter of controlling the Griffin King in detail. After the two siblings answered each and every question, he came to the understanding that a mark had been forever planted in the mind of the Griffin King. Every time they wished to control it, all they had to do was to transfer the mark. They would not need to spend so much effort, as they had the first time.
However, during the process of control, every second would expend huge amounts of their spiritual energy, regardless of whether the Griffin King was fighting to the death or sleeping soundly in the same spot. According to their approximation, they could exert control for a maximum of fifteen minutes before both of them would be completely exhausted. They would not even have enough spiritual energy to release a small psychic spell.
However, Benjamin was not too disappointed. It was already enough for a Griffin King of such a size to spend fifteen minutes on the battlefield.
The question was... Where should they keep it?
"We could ride it and fly back to the camp. It’s very fast, we should be able to endure until we reach the place." The young lad shook his head, saying, "But... if we really were to ride it and fly back, everyone within a few miles would definitely be shocked to death."
Benjamin nodded. "I understand."
They could not bring it back to the camp, and they could not let it be seen by anyone else... This Griffin King needed an extremely concealed hiding place. There must not be any clues visible on the outside, and at the same time, it had to be prevented from breaking through from the inside.
After pondering for a long time, a sudden idea flashed across his mind.
"How about... we let it stay here."
Hearing that, the two siblings could not help but look stunned.
"This place is its original habitat anyway. There are various types of prey that it loves living at the bottom, so it wouldn’t run out. The two exit and entrance points in the valley are both extremely narrow as well, and this region is very remote. Unless they are intentionally looking for it, it’s practically impossible for outsiders to discover the existence of this place."
"This seems to be so..." Having heard him, the young lady frowned and said, "But when the battle is about to erupt, we’d still have to run over here first, then bring it over?"
Benjamin shrugged helplessly. "This is the only way."
If they really wanted a better idea, they would come up with it if they would only mull over it further. However, under such time constraints, they could not invest too much energy. Otherwise, they could just dig a tunnel from the inside of the mountain; little by little, they could dig until a location near the camp, before locking the Griffin King up in an underground place or somewhere like that. What else would there be to think about?
The two siblings finally nodded as well.
Thus, Benjamin released the bindings and brought the two siblings out through the tunnel before the Griffin King launched into a fury. Then, using soil, they sealed up this piece of land hidden in the belly of the mountain tightly once more.