Chapter 74 - Platinum Tyrant

Species: Grim Shrieker

Affinities: Mystic/Wind

Trait(s): Undead, Soul Seal, Glacial Armor

Description: The horrible amalgamation between an owl and a lynx, this monster is a terror of the night sky. It is believed that if someone hear its distinctive cry in the dead of night, it is a sign that someone has died or is going to die.

Voxea's Note: Grim Shriekers were created by an old maji coven known as the Tormented Souls Sisterhood. This horrid creature has a special technique that allows it to literally scream out the souls of its victims and steal them away. Normally it would serve as a means to store away the souls of their prisoners or soon-to-be executed. Evidently, it had evolved or mutated over time to become something of an apex predator.

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"Gaaaah! Who cares how big it is?! We outnumber ten to one! ATTACK"!

"Wait, don't! We don't know how strong it is"!

The monsters that were still standing after the initial attack immediately sprang into action at the behest of their binders, surrounding the Grim Shrieker and launching all manner of techniques. Even Voxea launched off another [Gatling Hailstorm] at it. Meanwhile, the monsters that returned to their respective binder's drajules were immediately swapped out with secondary or primary majimonsters.

One after the other, technique after technique was used on the Grim Shrieker. A huge amount of dust, snow and smoke was kicked up as a result of all of the techniques, obscuring the vision of all of us here. The worst part was I couldn't even tell if it was still breathing because that scream earlier shot my hearing.

"Did we get it?", someone asked aloud.

A deep and strange growl served as a reply to the binder's question. As the dust clear, a strange ice white light shimmered in the moonlight for an instance before disappearing. The monster's wings began to glow with a green light and a spell circle formed around it, covering the ground where all the other monsters were standing!

[Oh crap], Voxea and I thought at the same time.

" Typhoon technique! Get your monsters out of the blast zone, now!", someone cried out, but it was too late.

"BAAAAABAAAAAAAAA!", the Grim Shrieker shouted before releasing a powerful aether surge that even I could feel despite being outside of the range of that spell circle. A moment after the surge, the spell circle began to spin at a high speed and a powerful wind funnel began to form.

A majority of the monsters got caught up in the wind funnel and were tossed into the air, with the weaker monsters immediately getting aethered by the powerful winds. Surprisingly, Voxea was also caught by the technique, but she managed to get away before being sent flying up into the air like the others. Disturbingly however, I felt through the bond that Voxea got injured by the technique!

[Voxea, what happened? I thought most monsters would be considered small fry compared to you], I asked in shock.

[Ouch], she responded while rubbing her wounds, [Normally yes, most monsters matching my grade or below it should be nothing to me. But "Typhoon" is a grade 4 technique, which means that monster is at least-]

"That Grim Shrieker is Platinum grade", I said aloud. The other binders around me heard what I had said and looked aghast.

"Platinum grade?! Here"?!

"No way, no way, no freaking way"!

"There hasn't been a platinum grade here in years, why did it show up now"?

"Sir Agiros, is she right"?

I turned to the source of that last question to see one of the Imperial binders asking Agiros this question. The old bear of a binder looked to the ground for a bit and took a deep breath before nodding in the affirmative. The other binders began to pale at Agiros' confirmation.

As the swept-up monsters began to gather at the top of the wind funnel, the Grim Shrieker began to glow with purple light as its neck began to swell up. The Grim Shrieker then released a powerful scream, purple rings of energy emitting from its awful beak and colliding with the monsters at the top. Every time a ring reached the top, another monster was reduced to aether and flowed back to their respective drajules.

As the monsters were being defeated one by one, Agiros walked over to my position and tapped my shoulder. I looked at him.

"Tell me Miss Vex", he said while taking out a strange looking stone in the shape of a flower. He took the drajule that was holding his Wooly Rammoth from earlier and placed it into a slot in the stone. The stone began to glow for a few seconds and then stopped. He then removed the drajule and re-summoned the Wooly Rammoth, which looked remarkably healthier than when I first saw it.

"Do you think that if the two of us work together, we can beat?", he asked.

As the last of the swept-up monsters was defeated, the wind funnel died. Voxea had retreated back to the area where the Wooly Rammoth was standing and took up a fighting pose. The Wooly Rammoth just let out a growl and shook a little, ready for a fight.

"To be honest", I replied with what Voxea told me to say, "we have about fifty percent chance".

Agiros nodded at my answer.

"Well then...LET'S GIVE THIS MONSTER ONE HELL OF A FIGHT"!