Chapter 47: Griffon

The Argentavis birds ascended back to the ceiling of the giant hall and continued flying around as they observed them.

"I'm guessing they're giving us permission to pass..." Said Serena.

"Yeah, let's not waste this chance," John said as he headed towards the giant door.

Ariel and Serena followed behind as they kept their guards up. However, to their surprise, the birds didn't do anything.

"If only every other monster were like you guys..." John muttered.

They reached the door, and John looked back at them.

"Sorry we hurt your family!" He shouted at the bird which gave the signal to fall back.

The bird looked at him as it continued to fly around and didn't say anything. But It didn't look like it harboured any hate within its look.

"Thanks..." John muttered as he opened the door.

The three of them all took a look inside the room without carelessly walking in like before. It was a giant room, just like the one they were in. But unlike this one, the middle of the boss's room was empty.

It was two rock edges connected by a bridge, John couldn't tell from where he stood what was under the bridge, but he could tell falling in there would be a bad idea.

There was nothing in the middle of the room like there normally is. But in the air, they could see a single giant bird flying around.

"Boss room again... What happened to all of the mazes?" muttered Serena as she walked in.

'She just casually walked in. Does this girl not know fear? Even when we were fighting the Spider queen... does that have something to do with her race, or is she just fearless? Ah wait, she got scared when we fought the death knight' John thought.

But she still kept fighting, so John was guessing the word isn't fearless but brave.

"What are you waiting for? Aren't you coming?" Asked Serena.

"You're quite brave" John said as he and Ariel followed behind her.

"O-Obviously." Said Serena.

"Hehe..." John unintentionally let out.

"Why are you laughing?" Serena asked with an embarrassed expression.

"Nothing," John replied.

"Guys, not now. Let's go." Said Ariel.

"Fine..." They Replied.

They walked inside and like always the doors closed on their own.

The giant flying bird in the ceiling stopped flying around and looked at them. It wasn't an Argentavis. It was another monster type of bird John was familiar with from a game he used to play.

"A Griffin..." He said.

"Yeah, you know quite a bit about these monsters despite having lost your memories, did your master teach you that too?" Asked Serena.

"Yeah. More importantly, that thing is strong." John said out loud.

"Yeah..." Said Ariel.

Each time it flapped its wing, a gust of wind would hit them. It remained in the air without doing anything and just watched them.

Its body, tail, and back legs resembled that of a lion. Its head and wings resembled that of an eagle, and its front feet resembled an eagle's talon. It had an intimidating aura around it, and it seemed fairly intelligent.

As John thought about that, 10 Wind Arrows were formed in front of the Griffin. He called them arrows but they really just looked like long sharp wind poles.

The door to the previous room had closed, and they had limited space to dodge as the edge they stood on had little room. The edge on the other side however had more space and these two would be able to move around freely there.

It probably wanted them to try crossing the bridge, and then it'll deal with them when they have no room to move. A strategy which would work against most adventurers, but...

"Levite, Velox." John muttered as he grabbed on to both Ariel and Serena's hands.

'I don't usually pay attention to it since I usually do this in emergencies, but their hands are really soft…' John thought.

"Wait, why am I thinking about this now...?" John said as he shook his head.

The Griffin propelled the Arrows at them and flapped its wings at the same time. Thanks to the boost its wings gave, the arrows were travelling super-fast. But from this distance...

"It'll never hit." John said as he propelled them over to the other side with Velox.

As they flew over the bridge, John looked down to see what was underneath it. There were earth spikes everywhere.

Made of rock, but even with magic strengthening, unless they completely reinforced their whole body... It would be a miracle to survive from this fall.

After they flew over, the griffin let off a screech as if it was angry that things didn't go as it planned. It then began flapping its wings, faster and faster.

John put Ariel and Serena on the ground and looked over at the griffin.

"Something's coming. I'll stop it before it finishes it."

As John said that, he cast 'Velox Dupilici' and propelled himself upwards, at two-fold his current speed.

'Nearly there…'

Just as John thought that, a tornado was formed. Slightly underneath the griffin, the wind began visible wind began gathering and rotating in a manner similar to that of tornado. Its shape also resembled one

The tornado grew bigger and bigger as it descended. Since he was close to the griffin, it reached him in seconds. However, John wasn't worried about that. He had no problems dealing with the rotation of the tornado.

John easily flew out of the radius of the tornado by moving away before it could sweep him in. What he was worried about was Serena and Ariel.

"Damn it... From here I won't make it!" John shouted.

'Will they be able to handle it?' He wondered.

As John thought that, the tornado reached where Serena and Ariel were and engulfed them.

"Ariel!! Serena!!" John shouted as he propelled himself straight into the tornado.

There aren't any debris or objects around which can hit them after they're caught in the wind's rotation. The problem is the rotation might cause them to fall under the bridge and land in the spikes.

"Damn it!! Let me make it in time!"