Chapter 38: Formidable Opponent

After my Clairvoyance took a screenshot of the spot for our teleportation, I held Sister's hand and cast Warp to the location. Just as I said before, we are standing in the plain within the dense forest.

"You're right. There really is a plain. A grassland to be exact."

We are standing at the boundary of the forest and the grassland. The tall trees behind us clearly show the abnormality of the plain. There are areas in the forest where plains occur, but they are not as vast as what we are facing right now.

It stretched for several kilometers; my Omnidirectional Perception cannot cover its vastness. From the grassy soil where we are standing, our vision is filled with grass and only grass.

"The vegetation here is not as rich as the forest. It really is like any other ordinary plain in the world, not enhanced with magic. It's like it's not located inside the Great Forest of Darkness."

"Nice observation, Sis. The grass does not overgrow, and the concentration of mana is not as thick as that of the forest. There's barely a tall tree standing, just thickets of average trees. But before we get answers to our questions, let's take care of that one…"

We raised our heads, looking at the blue sky, and saw a fast object flying towards our position. We took a big step back to avoid the approaching opponent. The momentum was so strong that it created a big crater.

As the dust settles, the silhouette of the opponent takes form. Using its massive wings, it blows away the remaining dust and reveals its majestic appearance.

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Race: Griffon

Title: Dragon Slayer, Sky Queen of the Plains

Condition: Normal

LV: 624

MP: 6260

STR: 16898

DEF: 5882

MAG: 5478

MDEF: 6512

AGI: 19654

Unique Skill: Hypersonic

Extra Skill: Intimidation, Auto-Recovery, Telescopic Eye

Skill: Magic Sense, Martial Art: 3, Enhanced Senses, Danger Detection, Weakness Finder, Detection, Thought Acceleration, Parallel Thinking, Wing Blast, Steel Wing, Bullet Plume, Claw Attack, Screech, Feint Attack, Sky Dive

Magic Skill: [Elemental: Wind: 5, Fire: 3, Lightning: 2, Earth: 2] [Non-Elemental: Force: 3]

Resistance: Exhaustion Resistance, Pain Resistance, Fear Resistance, Mental Attack Resistance, Physical Attack Resistance, Magic Attack Resistance, Blast Resistance, Impact Resistance

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"We stepped on its domain, and it's attacking us."

"So this plain is the territory of the legendary Griffon. Can I have this one?"

"Sure. After all, I'm not good at aerial combat."

After getting permission from my sister, I charged myself to the Griffon and unsheathed my blade. The Griffon raised one of its talons and slashed at me as I entered its range. I did a quick side step and barely avoided its sharp claws.

(Its agility and strength were in the five digits. I cannot let my guard down.)

A strong slash combined with speed creates a high momentum attack. With its sharp talons, the thin surface area only increases the attack output.

The Griffon's attack is enough to slice a boulder like butter. If I had been hit by its attack before, my body would have been seriously injured.

Griffon could move freely in the sky faster than the speed of sound. The odds are against me if I stay on the ground while my opponent is flying through the air. That's why I have to fight it evenly.

"Aerial Maneuver."

Using a Level 4 Force Magic spell, I launched my body thirty meters above the ground. It is a spell for flying that is faster than Level 3 Flight.

Seeing me floating in the air, the Griffon flapped its majestic pair of wings, with a wingspan of around thirty feet, and charged at me.

The sharp talons of its front limbs glowed; the Griffon used a Claw Attack and tried to grab me. I flew upward to avoid the attack and shoot a Level 4 Wind magic spell at the same time.

"Wind Blade!"

I waved my empty left hand, and a crescent-shaped blade of air released from my swing. The magic flew at high speed and was aimed at the Griffon's back.

"?!"

The Griffon sensed the danger of the incoming attack. It rotated its body to avoid my magic spell. The spell did not hit its back, but it scraped its left torso, leaving a trail of red line along the way.

"…"

The Griffon didn't even flinch at having a wound, though it was shallow. The wound slowly closed and healed after a while. The Griffon's body turned back and faced me again.

Without a warning, the Griffon charged at me again, way faster than before. It directed its glowing talons against me and used Claw Attack again.

I caught the claws with my sword and was knocked back while trying to stop the momentum of its charge. We stop in midair as we are pushing each other.

"Parry!"

I deflected the talons by using a Sword Art technique. I swiped my katana upwards and knocked back the Griffon. The screeching sound of clashing metals vibrated in the air. The Griffon looked at its left talon just to see that one of its nails was missing.

I clipped its nail as I parried its claws. Even though its claws were harder and sharper than iron, they were nothing compared to my crimson sword.

Then the atmosphere around the Griffon suddenly changed. It means that it will take this battle seriously from now on. I have fought a Hippogriff before, so I knew some of its patterns.

The body of the Griffon glowed several times, indicating that it had cast several skills and spells. Its wings change its hue to metallic gray. The plumes become sharper and more durable.

The Griffon flapped its lustrous wings at once, and then its plumes flew towards me like bullets. It's not just soft feathers, but sharp and durable steel plumes.

I then instantly raised my katana and successfully blocked the first plume. Move my sword again to block the second one. I repeatedly moved my sword and blocked and deflected the upcoming steel plumes. The clashing of metals rang in the plains again.

Seconds after the steel plumes were stopped by my sword, the steel plumes turned back into feathers again and slowly and gently fell to the ground.

The Griffon flapped its wings again and shot another round of steel plume bullets. I can see every plume approaching me. I readied my katana and waited for the right timing.

"Hundred Slice!"

I used the meat grinding technique of Mother. I concentrated my focus and slashed my katana a hundred times in a split second.

Each strike parries one of the flying steels. The collision of my blade and the plumes creates sparks of light and noise from clanging metal.

The steel plumes flew in all directions and turned back into feathers. Sister avoided some of the flying plumes but caught one with her bare fingers and watched as it turned into a brown feather.

(How can you catch something that flew that exceeded supersonic speed? Well, she has higher agility than mine after all.)

Seeing that I repelled all of its steel feathers, the Griffon flapped its wings so fast and lunged at me at Mach 5. Its flap even caused a blast behind it, causing the ground to crumble, even though we were fighting twenty meters above the surface.

As I was about to swing my sword to meet the Griffon, it suddenly flew upwards, and my sword hit nothing but air. Then the Griffon charged at me with the same speed. I slashed my katana again, but the Griffon instantly vanished.

(Feint Attack!) I exclaimed internally then—

Clank! 

I reflexively turned my body around and instinctively slashed my sword upwards to parry the incoming Claw Attack. The Griffon flew back again, and without me noticing it, there are now several flickering Griffons surrounding me in all directions.

(Afterimages!)

I shouted the name of the technique inwardly. It is a Level 9 Martial Art technique where the user moves between two places at incredible speed, creating motion pictures.

It's a Level 9 Technique even though the Griffon's stats show it had Level 3 proficiency in Martial Arts. The numbers beside Arts and Magic do not mean the highest level of techniques and spells the person can do. It is the number of levels of techniques and spells a person has learned.

For example, a few years ago, Mother finally acquired the Ultra Skill World Magic: 1. Even though the number shows one, the spell that Mother learned was a Level 5 World Magic spell.

Another example was my blacksmithing tutor. He has Fire Magic: 3 but could use Smelting Heat, which is Level 6 Fire Magic.

With its Unique Skill Hypersonic, the Griffon reached a speed of Mach 9, creating six afterimages. The images simultaneously attack me from all directions with their claws.

The real attack was mixed in with the feints. I ignore the feints and only block, deflect, or parry the real claw. The barrage finally stopped after I repelled all of its dozens of attacks. Then green magic circles manifest in front of each image.

"Those magic circles… Level 5 Wind Spear."

After a second, six spears made out of compressed air are coming at me all at once. The speed of each spear exceeded sonic speed.

It's hard to deflect it all at once. I can just Warp myself to somewhere safe, but facing a formidable opponent with a Unique Skill like this Griffon is a rare opportunity. I want to overcome this situation and improve myself.

My katana will just pass through the air and be rendered useless. For me to repel it, I have to use magic.

"Mirror Attack Reflection."

Six rectangular ice panels with a mirror-like surface surrounded me in the area where the spears will hit. The spell that I used was a Level 7 Water Magic spell that reflects magic projectile attacks to the shooter.

As the Wind Spears hit the mirrors, the mirrors just absorbed the spears. A second later, the spears from before were released from the mirrors and shot directly at the afterimages with the same velocity. The spears flew towards the Griffons, but they just passed through them.

Then the images flapped their shining steel wings and shot their steel plumes again, but this time from all directions. The plumes flew at supersonic speed and easily shattered all of my mirrors. The plumes weren't magic attacks, so the mirrors caught them and broke them.

But before the plumes hit me, I had already activated one of my trump cards the moment the Griffon fired its plumes. I just float in the air, do nothing, and let my body be hit by hundreds of fast and sharp steel plumes.

Clank, clank, clank, clank.

As if stopped by an invincible wall, the plumes halted a centimeter from my skin. It transformed back to feathers in midair as it gracefully fell to the earth.

"What will you do now?"