Book 1 Chapter 40
【40】39
“Leo is quite persistent.”
“It’s a good thing he’s in the same class.”
Nella, who was watching the game through the magic screen from the stands, clicked her tongue, and Illiana shuddered.
The students of the Summoning Department, torn to shreds by Warredon, were nothing but easy prey for Leo.
“Serves you right! Do well! Brother Leo! Smash them all!”
“Go! Leo! How much money did I bet on you!”
Chelsea, who was most enraged by the group lynching, jumped up and down, and Carl, who had bet on Leo eyeing the reverse odds, swung his uniform jacket around enthusiastically.
“Nella.”
“Yes, Professor Hallind.”
“Bring Carl Thomas to me immediately. I need to hear who told him to treat his uniform like that.”
At Professor Hallind’s cold summons, Nella approached Carl.
It was then that the students of Class 5 burst into laughter watching Carl being scolded by his homeroom teacher.
-Ah! In the leading group, Player Warredon and Player Eliza are finally clashing!
The magic screen suddenly focused on the leading group.
Cheers began to pour from the audience at the full-scale battle of the Summoning aces.
***
Eliza, flying rapidly through the sky, confirmed the small flame generated in front of her and quickly maneuvered in mid-air.
Hwarreuk-!
The fiercely burning flame suddenly contracted rapidly, then KWAANG-! It created a huge explosion of fire.
Seeing that, Eliza frowned her delicate brows.
‘An explosive attack using fire and wind spirits.’
The principle was simple.
Create a powerful flame with a fire spirit.
Compress the power of the fire with a wind spirit, preventing it from spreading in all directions.
The compressed flame became even stronger, and it was released when its power reached its maximum.
Giving two commands to spirits of the same attribute also requires considerable skill.
But Warredon was giving commands to spirits of different attributes, specifically a command to increase power and a command to control power, simultaneously.
‘This isn’t a technique that can be done simply by being skilled at handling spirits. I haven’t heard that he’s taking magic classes?’
The principle of this explosion did not merely involve the pure power of spirits.
He was operating spirits using the principles of magic formulas.
Eliza let out a soft laugh.
‘He truly deserves to be called a monster.’
But Eliza was no pushover either.
As a direct descendant of a prestigious family of summoning heroes, she had placed second in the Northern examination, but she and Chloe, who placed first, were separated by a hair’s breadth.
Warredon’s spirit manipulation was tremendous, but Eliza also handled her griffon with almost divine movements.
Unlike other students who were helplessly hit by Warredon’s attacks, Eliza was evading his attacks with little difficulty.
“No matter how strong an attack is, it’s meaningless if it doesn’t hit!”
At Eliza’s shout, Warredon gave a chilling laugh.
“Then let’s see if you can avoid this too?”
Numerous water droplets began to form around Warredon.
Then they quickly transformed into sharp icicles and were fired at Eliza.
Eliza snorted and summoned spiritual power.
Kiiiaaak!
The griffon Eliza was riding roared, and its body began to grow 1.5 times larger.
Warredon’s eyes twitched at the sight.
‘Phantom Beast Enhancement?’
The griffon took a deep breath and exhaled a breath attack.
A powerful wind breath blew away all of Warredon’s attacks.
‘Did she make the griffon use a breath attack? Impressive.’
Griffons are not originally phantom beasts that use breath attacks.
Yet, she manipulated the phantom beast to implement a similar ability.
The ability to push a phantom beast’s capabilities beyond its limits.
It was a glimpse into how excellent her qualities as a phantom beast summoner were.
It was a moment when everyone was impressed by the fierce battle of the Summoning aces.
“Hoo-ah!”
Chen Xia, who was behind, quickly drove her griffon and shot to the front.
Chen Xia, who had avoided Warredon’s attack earlier, had been waiting for an opportunity from the rear.
Eliza smiled, watching Chen Xia aiming for an opportune moment.
“I can’t allow that.”
Whirrr-lick!
“Huh?”
Eliza pulled out a whip from her pocket and swung it.
The incredibly long whip, about 10 meters in length, moved like a living snake, whirring- and wrapped around Chen Xia’s neck with a thud-!
At the same time, a flame began to coalesce in front of Chen Xia.
Chen Xia hurriedly put strength into her legs and pushed her griffon hard.
Paat-!
The griffon rapidly descended due to Chen Xia.
Chen Xia used the recoil to escape the explosion range and forcefully tore off the whip.
The griffon, which had narrowly avoided the explosion, flew over and caught Chen Xia, who was falling through the air.
“Phew! Cough-! This is too much, Miss Eliza.”
Even in the midst of the fierce battle, she didn’t show any opening to move forward.
It was then.
Hwaaak-!
A sound of giant wings flapping was heard.
Chen Xia’s eyes widened.
“Black Wyvern?”
“Daaamn it!”
A rough curse was heard.
Turning her head, she saw Sen Liu, whom she thought had been completely eliminated, riding a small black wyvern and catching up from the rear.
“Liu! Riding a phantom beast other than a griffon is cheating!”
“Shut up! Who cares about that! I kept it hidden as my trump card! Warredon! Eliza! Chen Xia! I’ll smash all three of you simultaneously! Screw you all!”
Kwaaaaak!
The black wyvern Liu was riding roared.
“How did that idiot contract with a Black Wyvern?”
“That’s not a Black Wyvern, it seems to be a variant wyvern.”
Warredon looked puzzled, and Eliza narrowed her brows.
It was when the black wyvern breathed out black breath.
Kiiiaaak!
The roar of a griffon was heard from afar.
Hoooaaaaak-!
Leo, flying at incredible speed, stormed into the leading group.
“Young Master Leo!”
Chen Xia smiled and waved her hand.
Leo, who lightly waved back at Chen Xia, spotted Liu and his eyes twitched.
“Ha! I don’t know how you caught up, but it’s good! Leo Flob! I’ll smash you too….”
“Hey.”
Leo said in a low, flat voice.
The surrounding atmosphere was instantly overwhelmed.
“Where did you get that lizard?”
Leo’s red eyes glowed fiercely.
What Liu was riding wasn’t a wyvern.
It wasn’t even a phantom beast.
‘Fafnir.’
It was one of the ancient demon beasts used by Tartarus, which the great heroes had exterminated during the Age of Calamity long ago.
“What did you say?”
Liu flinched, having received Leo’s gaze head-on.
“I asked where you got that lizard.”
“This is a phantom beast I contracted! Are you jealous that I contracted with a good phantom beast?”
“Phantom beast?”
Leo’s face contorted.
He found it absurd that the monsters handled by Tartarus’s demon beast tamers were called phantom beasts.
Leo looked around.
The other students also didn’t show any emotions other than caution.
It was clear they also thought Fafnir was a phantom beast.
‘Indeed, Fafnir wasn’t included when we learned about demon beasts in Summoning classes.’
Fafnir was Tartarus’s main demon beast during the Age of Calamity.
That’s why Kyle and his comrades made a concerted effort to subjugate those monsters.
‘Thanks to that, by the end of the Age of Calamity, they were virtually extinct.’
Due to that influence, if they had completely disappeared, it wouldn't be strange for people of this era not to know about Fafnir.
‘But if that’s the case, there’s one strange thing.’
Leo’s expression hardened.
‘Why has a demon beast that went extinct long ago reappeared now?’
While Leo’s expression was hardening, Liu put on a triumphant look.
“Hmph! You too must be surprised to see me contracted with a high-grade phantom beast!”
“Liu. No matter how great your summoned beast is, you’ve been eliminated from the match, so please step back. If you persist further, it won’t end with just a scolding.”
“Shut up! A match with such restrictions from the start! It’s ridiculous! I have the skill to sweep all of you away! I’ll prove it now!”
Kyaaaak!
Fafnir opened its mouth wide and charged, spewing a breath of flame.
“There’s a limit to not knowing your place.”
Eliza scoffed at Liu.
“Shut up! You who happened to be born into a good family!”
Gritting her teeth, she changed her next target to Eliza.
Fafnir was a demon beast with speed and strength surpassing a griffon.
However, Liu’s skill in handling Fafnir was absolutely terrible.
Leo clicked his tongue watching Eliza avoid Fafnir with acrobatic movements.
‘That’s simply being swayed by a demon beast.’
Far from controlling Fafnir, he was rather influenced by the power of the high-grade demon beast Fafnir and unable to make proper judgments.
Just then, Chen Xia, who jumped from her griffon, landed on Fafnir’s tail.
Fafnir twitched its tail nervously, but Chen Xia didn’t fall off.
Instead, she balanced herself and charged at Liu.
Liu’s face turned pale at Chen Xia’s charge, enveloped in a blue aura.
“Huh?”
He tried to respond somehow, but there was no way Liu could handle Chen Xia in close combat.
Hwaak! Tudududuk!
“Huh?”
Fafnir’s wing bent at a strange angle.
Chen Xia, who was charging, suddenly lost her balance while avoiding the strangely bent and swinging wing and fell.
“Hahahaha! How’s that! The power of my phantom beast!”
Liu laughed gleefully, watching Chen Xia fall to the ground.
Her griffon descended to pick up its master.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
However, Liu’s interference made the griffon miss its timing.
Eliza clicked her tongue and descended to catch the falling Chen Xia.
Hwaak-!
“…!”
But Leo, who quickly overtook Eliza, instantly caught up with Chen Xia, wrapped his arm around her waist, and placed her in front of him.
“Thank you! Young Master Leo!”
“Don’t do anything reckless.”
Leo let out a chuckle and glided again.
‘He’s fast, what on earth did he do to his griffon?’
Eliza, narrowing her eyes, watched Leo.
“Leo Floooob!”
Liu expressed his rage.
‘He’s losing his reason due to the contract with the demon beast.’
Leo glanced at Liu and then put Chen Xia back on her griffon.
Warredon and Eliza flew towards the two.
“As expected, skills worthy of a student representative.”
Eliza squinted her eyes.
“You pretended not to be contracted with a phantom beast, but behind our backs, you contracted with a high-level phantom beast with a blessing skill?”
“Good observation skills, eh?”
“You can’t fool me, a member of the Hergen family. So, what kind of phantom beast did you contract with? From the looks of it, it seems to be a fire-attributed phantom beast?”
“That’s a secret.”
Leo brought his index finger to his lips and smiled.
Eliza snorted at Leo’s action.
“Hmph, anyway, Liu is handling a high-level phantom beast. Even if he can’t handle it properly, their specs are overwhelmingly superior. So, we need to combine our strength.”
“That’s not a phantom beast.”
“What?”
“That’s a demon beast.”
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