Chapter 39 39: First Companion

After seeing its opponent, a mere human boy, still unharmed despite all the attacks that it made, the Griffon reached to a certain conclusion. The Griffon steeled its resolve and made its final move.

With the Steel Wing still activated, the Griffon stopped making afterimages and flapped its lustrous majestically wing using the Wing Blast skill. The Griffon soared to the sky surpassing the supersonic speed.

Its launch was so intense that it creates a shockwave that curved a shallow crater on the earth below it. The shockwave reached for hundreds of meters from the crater and even billowed the long lustrous black hair of the girl who was standing a hundred meters afar and watched the entire fight.

The Griffon continued to soar through the atmosphere until it reached the altitude of ten thousand meters above the ground in just five seconds.

The Griffon slowed its speed and stayed in the altitude. It turned its body and fixed its gaze to the plains inside the dangerous forest. The plains had few vegetation despite being in the very fertile Great Forest of Darkness.

After surveying the area, the Griffon turned its sharp eagle eyes to a certain spot. The Griffon used the Extra Skill Telescopic Eye and confirmed that its target staying still, levitating in the air.

The boy looked directly at its eye, like he could see the Griffon clearly despite the unreachable distance. Which made the Griffon think that its chance of success were getting lower.

Even knowing that, the Griffon never felt insecure and steeled its resolve firmer. Along with the cold winds, the Griffon continued to flapped its wings, making itself constant with the altitude.

With the blazing sun and thin clouds above the Griffon, the half lion half eagle monster opened its metallic wings and pointed its sharp beak to its target.

The wings glowed upon the activation of the Wing Blast skill. The monster then waved its wings backwards in an unimaginable speed.

Wing Blast was supposed to be an offense skill. The user would flapped its wings forward to create intense air pressure and hit its target. But if the wings were flapped backwards, it could be used as a force to propel oneself and increase its flight speed.

The wave of its wings cause the clouds behind to scatter and form a void in the sky. From the surface, it looked like a blue hole within the forest of clouds.

As the Griffon dove from the atmosphere, it activated some skills midair. Hypersonic to increase its diving speed surpassing Mach 10.

The Griffon then used a skill that it rarely use, the Sky Dive. It is a skill that ignore the air resistance and increase the gravity acceleration. The Griffon rarely used it because it's a double edged skill.

Every two thousand meters, the Griffon used Wing Blast to speed itself. The Griffon repeat the process every two kilometer like the shifting of gears of a sports car.

From the boy's point of view, the Griffon's dive was like the gliding of a peregrine falcon preying its food. The difference was that its dive is faster than a jet and the prey was him.

As the Griffon dove faster as it closed the distance between the monster and the boy, the Griffon suddenly hear a mechanical voice.

<Proficiency fulfilled. The Skill Sky Dive successfully evolve to Extra Skill Meteor Dive.>

It just a split second but the Griffon do not take heed of it as the Griffon don't understand human language. Instead, it just activated its newly acquired skill.

The Extra Skill Meteor Dive does not only increase the acceleration and ignore air resistance, but also increase the momentum of the dive for greater output and more destructive power. Not only that, it also penetrate some defenses and disrupt magic circles and cancelled its casting.

From six thousand meters, the Griffon's diving speed increased significantly and it seem like a meteor. As the velocity goes up, the compressed air will heat up the falling object.

But that's not what happened to the Griffon. Because the Meteor Dive ignored the air resistance, there were no air being compressed. Making the Griffon unharmed during the dive.

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(This is bad!)

Sensing the significant change in speed, I startled a split second but regain the composure afterwards. I know it wouldn't work but I still deployed barriers along its trajectory.

"Windshield. Mud Wall. Barrier. Light Barrier. Stone Wall. Ice Barrier. Iron Wall. Void Barrier. Anti-Physical Barrier."

I deployed barriers of different attributes to at least slow down the Griffon's falcon dive. Each barriers were rounded and had a diameter of 15 meters. The order were varied with the toughness in the given situation.

The first barrier were deployed three kilometers from me. All the barriers had a interval of a hundred meter from each other. But despite that, the Griffon still broke all of the defenses in just split seconds.

The Windshield blown, the Mud and Stone Walls crumbled, the Barriers were shattered, the Iron Wall became a donut.

Seeing all the barricades shattered into pieces, I immediately envelope myself with my last line of defense, also served as my trump card, once more. I stepped on my newly deployed Foothold created by my Space Magic.

With a quick split second decision, I held my crimson sword with both hands and post a thrusting stance as I waited for the Griffon.

I didn't blink my eyes and focus my attention entirely to the Griffon. I have my ultra fast Though Acceleration enhanced with Concentration technique to perceive the meteor-like dive.

I waited for the right moment to strike my sword. When the Griffon reached my range, I thrust my crimson katana right at its chest and did a Sword Art technique.

"Impaler!"

My sword launched at imperceivable speed passed the Griffon's feathers. The tip penetrated its flesh, so did the rest.

Even though the guard already hit its feathered chest, the momentum were still too powerful that I was pushed back. My Foothold cannot withstand the force and shattered like a mirror.

The Griffon's massive steel wings collide with my upper body. I let go of my sword and wrapped my arms against the wings. The Griffon dragged me until we hit the ground, creating a big crater on the surface.

"Raphael!"

I heard the cry of the sister, who was watching from afar, but cannot see her because my vision were obstructed by the thick concentration of dust. Though I can still sense her running to my location with Detection.

"Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine."

I said, lifting the massive body of the unconscious Griffon then flipped it over. I stand up then brushed the dust off of my clothes and shoes.

"I though you won't left unscathed."

"The Griffon made me use Impregnable Fortress twice. I give it my respect."

Even though I was hit by a meteor-like force, I am still unharmed due to my Ultimate Art: Impregnable Fortress. If not, my body would have been a Swiss cheese from the plumes before.

I approached the Griffon and pulled out my katana from its chest, like a pulling a sword in the stone, then sheathed it back to the scabbard. I looked at the Griffon and found its condition.

Unlike me, the Griffon suffered serious injuries like dislocated wings, broken bones and internal hemorrhage. Blood coming out from the crest and its mouth. In spite of that, the Griffon is still breathing and alive.

(Looks like I didn't stabbed its heart.)

"It depleted all of its mana and used it to perform its last resort. Even knowing that it cost its own life."

"Aren't you going to finish it?"

"I'll do the opposite."

"Huh?"

Ignoring my confused sister, I open both of my palms in front of the dying Griffon. I am this to demonstrate my token of respect.

"Area High Heal."

Upon chanting the name of the Level 6 Light Magic spell, a huge white with a tint of aquamarine, magic circle appeared above the Griffon. Big enough that it covered the whole Griffon.

Then the magic circle emit pale white light and enveloped the Griffon below. Bathe with warm and soothing light, the Griffon's wounds closed up and healed. The fractured bones connected and restored. The dislocated joints fixed to its original position.

"Done." I said after I did my job.

"Why are you healing it?"

"Maybe because I saw potential in it? I want it to get stronger then fight it someday."

"Are you certain it will not attack again?"

"Its mana and stamina had depleted already. So it would take some time before it could get move. Let's investigate this unusual plain before it regain its consciousness."

"Yeah."

As we turned our way to the center of the plains, a familiar female voice rang in my head.

<Requirement fulfilled. Skill Taming has acquired. Griffon has successfully tamed.>

"…"

"? What's the matter?" she called me out noticing I halted my feet from walking.

"Ahh… looks like I tamed the Griffon just now…"

"What?"

When we looked back at the Griffon, it is now stating at us, still on the ground. It still has no strength to move and rendered immobile.

"To think that you tamed a S-ranked Griffon. You are really something, Raphael. Even Mom could only tame monsters of A-rank and below."

"I do not have a thought of taming a monster, though, what's more of the legendary Griffon."

Mom had a Taming skill and she was able to summon them using the Summoning Skill. When we asked her to show us her tamed monster, she summoned a jet-black A-ranked Thunderbird that was soaring thunderously in the sky.

"What are you going to do with it?"

"I'll make a use of it." then I conjured a small bottle from my Inventory.

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Elixir - a potion made from the mixture of Moon Mushroom extract and other herbs. If consumed directly, it will partially restore the consumer's stamina.

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I took off the lid and splashed its aquamarine content to the laying Griffon. The liquid submerged into its lustrous coffee-brown feathers then absorbed under its skin.

The Griffon stood up in place post-restoration and spread its wings wide. There's no word I could explain but majestic.

"There you have it. Aerial transportation, acquired."

"Well, air is definitely faster than we have on land. Let's go now and find the answers of this irregularity."