Book 1 Chapter 40

[40] 39

"Leo is subtly persistent."

"It's a good thing we're in the same class."

Nella, watching the match through the magic screen from the stands, clicked her tongue, and Iliana shivered.

The summoning students, battered by Warden, were easy prey for Leo.

"Serves you right! Well done! Oppa Leo! Smash them all!"

"Go, Leo! How much did I bet on you!"

Chelsea, who had been most angry about the group lynching, jumped up and down, and Kal, who bet on Leo hoping for an upset, passionately cheered, twirling his school jacket in his hand.

"Nella."

"Yes, Professor Halind."

"Go and bring Kal Thomas to me immediately. I want to hear who told him to treat a school uniform like that."

At Professor Halind's cold summons, Nella approached Kal.

It was when the students of Class 5 burst into laughter, seeing Kal being scolded by his homeroom teacher.

"Ah! In the leading group, Warden and Eliza are finally facing off!"

The magic screen suddenly focused on the leading group.

As the aces of summoning began their full-blown fight, cheers erupted from the spectators.

***

Eliza, flying through the sky at high speed, confirmed a small flame that appeared before her and quickly swerved in mid-air.

Fwoosh-!

The momentarily fierce flame rapidly contracted, and then KABOOM-! it erupted into a huge fireball.

Seeing that, Eliza furrowed her delicate brow.

'An explosive attack utilizing fire and wind spirits.'

The principle was simple.

Create a powerful flame with a fire spirit.

Compress the fire's power with a wind spirit, preventing it from spreading in all directions.

The compressed flame became even more powerful, and when its power reached its maximum, it was unleashed.

Giving two commands to spirits of the same element requires considerable skill.

Yet Warden was commanding spirits of different elements, and furthermore, issuing commands to both increase power and control power simultaneously.

'This isn't something one can do just by being skilled at handling spirits. I haven't heard of him taking magic classes.'

The principle behind this explosion didn't solely involve pure spirit power.

He was manipulating the spirits using the principles of magic formations.

Eliza let out a "Hmph" and smiled.

'He truly lives up to his name as a monster.'

But Eliza was not to be outdone.

As a direct descendant of a hero-summoning noble family, she had placed second in the Northern Trials, with only a hair's breadth separating her and the top-ranked Chloe.

While Warden's spirit manipulation was incredible, Eliza also handled her griffin with near-divine movements.

Unlike the other students who were easily hit by Warden's attack, Eliza was evading Warden's attacks without much difficulty.

"No matter how strong an attack is, it's meaningless if it doesn't hit!"

At Eliza's cry, Warden smiled coldly.

"Then let's see if you can dodge this."

Numerous water droplets began to form around Warden.

Then, they transformed into sharp icicles and were fired at Eliza.

Eliza scoffed and unleashed her spiritual energy.

Kiiiaaaaak!

The griffin that Eliza summoned roared, and its body began to grow 1.5 times larger.

Seeing that, Warden's eyes twitched.

'Beast enhancement?'

The griffin took a deep breath and unleashed a breath attack.

The intense wind breath blew away all of Warden's attacks.

'Did she make the griffin use a breath attack? Not bad.'

Griffins are not originally beasts that use breath attacks.

Yet she manipulated the beast to achieve a similar ability.

The ability to draw out a beast's power beyond its limits.

It was a glimpse into how exceptional her talent as a beast summoner was.

As everyone marveled at the fierce battle between the summoning aces,

"Yeehaw!"

Chen Xia, who was behind, quickly drove her griffin forward to the front.

Chen Xia, who had avoided Warden's attack earlier, had been waiting for an opportunity from the rear.

Seeing Chen Xia aiming for an easy win, Eliza smiled.

"I can't allow that."

Swish!

"Hmph?"

Eliza pulled out a whip from her pouch and swung it.

The incredibly long whip, which seemed to be about 10 meters long, moved like a living snake, swishing- and then Thwack-! it tied itself around Chen Xia's neck.

At the same time, a ball of flame began to coalesce in front of Chen Xia.

Chen Xia urgently put strength into her legs and pushed her griffin forward hard.

Fwoosh-!

The griffin rapidly descended at Chen Xia's push.

Chen Xia used the recoil to escape the explosion zone and forcefully tore off the whip.

Her griffin, having narrowly avoided the explosion, flew down and caught Chen Xia, who was falling through the air.

"Phew! Cough-! This is too much, Eliza."

Even amidst the fierce battle, she didn't allow any openings to advance.

Just then.

Whoosh-!

A sound of huge wingbeats was heard.

Chen Xia's eyes widened.

"Black Wyvern?"

"Goddamn it!"

A rough curse was heard.

Turning her head, she saw Sen Liu, who she thought was completely eliminated, following behind on a small black wyvern.

"Liu! Riding a beast other than a griffin is cheating!"

"Shut up! Who cares! I kept this as my trump card! Warden! Eliza! Chen Xia! I'll crush all three of you at once! Take this!"

Kuaaaaaaaah!

The black wyvern ridden by Liu roared.

"How did that imbecile manage to contract with a Black Wyvern?"

"That's not a Black Wyvern; it seems to be a mutated wyvern."

Warden looked puzzled, and Eliza narrowed her eyes.

It was when the black wyvern exhaled black breath.

Kiiiaaak!

From afar, the roar of a griffin was heard.

Whoooosh-!

Leo, flying at incredible speed, broke into the leading group.

"Young Master Leo!"

Chen Xia waved her hand with a smile.

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 Flov! I'll crush you too…"

"Hey."

Leo said in a low, suppressed voice.

The atmosphere around them instantly became oppressive.

"Where did you get that lizard?"

Leo's red eyes shone fiercely.

What Liu was riding wasn't a wyvern.

It wasn't even a summoned beast.

'Phafnir.'

It was one of the ancient beasts from Tartarus, exterminated by the great heroes during the Age of Calamity.

"What did you say?"

Liu flinched as he met Leo's gaze directly.

"I asked where you got that lizard."

"This is the beast I contracted with! Are you jealous because I contracted with a good beast?"

"Summoned beast?"

Leo's face contorted.

He found it absurd that they called the monsters handled by Tartarus beast masters 'summoned beasts.'

Leo looked around.

The other students also showed no emotion other than caution.

They clearly thought the P hafa was a summoned beast.

'Certainly, P hafa wasn't mentioned when we learned about monsters in the summoning class.'

Phafnir was the main monster of Tartarus during the Age of Calamity.

Therefore, Kyle and his comrades had made it their mission to hunt down those monsters.

'As a result, by the end of the Age of Calamity, they were nearly extinct.'

If they had disappeared completely, it wouldn't be strange for people of this era not to know about P hafa.

'But then there's something strange.'

Leo's expression hardened.

'Why has a monster that went extinct long ago reappeared now?'

While Leo's expression hardened, Liu wore a triumphant expression.

"Hmph! You're also surprised to see me who contracted with a high-level beast!"

"Young Master Liu, no matter how great your summoned beast is, you've been eliminated from the match, so please step down. If you insist further, it won't end with just a scolding."

"Shut up! A match with restrictions in the first place! It's ridiculous! I have the power to crush you all! I'll prove it now!"

Kyaaaaaaak!

Phafnir opened its mouth wide and charged, unleashing a flame breath.

"There are limits to being unable to gauge your own abilities."

Eliza taunted Liu.

"Shut up! You just got lucky and were born into a good family!"

Gritting his teeth, he changed his next target to Eliza.

Phafnir was a monster with speed and power superior to a griffin.

However, Liu's skill in handling P hafa was terrible.

Seeing Eliza evading P hafa with near-acrobatic movements, Leo clicked his tongue.

'That's just being tossed around by a monster.'

Instead of controlling P hafa, he was being influenced by the power of the high-level monster P hafa and couldn't make proper judgments.

Just then, Chen Xia jumped from her griffin and landed on P hafa's tail.

P hafa twitched its tail irritably, 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.

"Gasp?"

He tried to react somehow, but in close combat, Liu was no match for Chen Xia.

Fwoosh! Thud thud thud!

"What?"

Phafnir's wing bent at a strange angle.

Chen Xia, who was charging, lost her balance and fell as she evaded the wing, which bent and swung in an odd direction.

"Hahaha! How do you like that! The power of my summoned beast!"

Liu laughed contemptuously as he watched Chen Xia fall to the ground.

Her griffin descended to pick up its owner.

"Where do you think you're going!"

However, due to Liu's interference, the griffin missed its timing.

Eliza clicked her tongue and descended to catch Chen Xia, who was falling.

Whoosh-!

"……!"

However, Leo, who quickly overtook Eliza, instantly caught up to Chen Xia and wrapped his arm around her waist, placing her in front of him.

"Thank you! Young Master Leo!"

"Don't do anything reckless."

Leo chuckled and glided down again.

'Fast. What on earth did you do to the griffin?'

Eliza, narrowing her eyes, watched Leo's figure.

"Leo Flov!"

Liu roared in anger.

'He's losing his reason by contracting with a monster.'

Leo glanced at Liu and then put Chen Xia back on her griffin.

Warden and Eliza flew towards the two of them.

"As expected, you have the skills of a student representative."

Eliza opened her eyes slightly.

"You pretended not to have contracted with a beast, but you secretly contracted with a high-level beast that possesses a divine skill?"

"You have sharp eyes."

"As someone from the Hergen family, you can't fool me. So, what kind of beast did you contract with? From what I see, it seems to be a fire-attribute beast?"

"That's a secret."

Leo brought his index finger to his lips and smiled.

Eliza scoffed at Leo's actions.

"Hmph, anyway, Liu is handling a high-level beast. Even though he can't handle it properly, his specs are overwhelmingly superior. Therefore, we need to join forces."

"That's not a summoned beast."

"What did you say?"

"That's a monster."

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