Chapter 158: Killing the Demonized Griffins II

Clank— Clank— Clang!!!

A wooden training sword flew to the air and landed on the stone ground a few distance away.

"..."

Silence permeated in the whole training hall.

Everyone halted their training and just blankly stared at the wooden platform located at the center.

On the platform were two men– one middle aged while the other was a boy.

The middle aged man was kneeling on one knee while holding his trembling right hand.

Sweat could be seen trickling on his temple as he glanced at the sword in the distance with a slight fear in his eyes.

"Ugh, this is boring..."

A lazy voice could be heard from the child on the other side.

The child had blonde hair and blue eyes that were filled with boredom.

He was balancing the wooden sword on his palm, obviously playing as he glanced at the kneeling man and asked, "Aren’t you going to keep fighting?"

The kneeling man looked at the child with his mouth agape, he couldn’t utter anything in reply.

"Haaa... I’d rather go outside than spend time on something so worthless."

The child said in a loud voice.

Everyone’s expression darkened as they could not help but glance upwards.

There was a balcony overlooking the training grounds where a blonde man with blue eyes looked below with a strict expression.

The attendant beside him gulped and spoke awkwardly, "My Lord, it seems like the Young Master has inherited some of your hot-bloodedness, hehe..."

"Did he really just call sword training worthless?" The blonde man’s deep voice sounded dignified.

The attendant couldn’t help but feel nervous, " M-My Lord, I’m sure that the Young Master was only joking. You know how kids his age only want to play..."

The man squinted his eyes, making not only the attendant, but also everyone at the training grounds gulp nervously.

"Ugh, if there’s nothing else, I’ll get going~"

The child tossed his wooden sword aside and left the training grounds while whistling.

"My Lord, should we stop the Young Master? We can’t just let him skip training, don’t we?" asked the attendant with a look of urgency.

The man shook his head, "It’s fine, let him be."

"B-But if we let him play as he wants, he’ll be left behind by the other Young Masters and Young Ladies..."

"It’s fine." The man replied adamantly before looking below and saying in a loud voice, "Resume your training! I don’t want to see any of you slacking!!"

"Yes, My Lord!!"

Everyone answered simultaneously as they continued their training.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, the man’s eyes lingered on the wooden sword that the child tossed aside earlier.

’It seems like in terms of pure swordsmanship, he’s already reaching me...’

The man closed his eyes, ’Out of all my children, Killian is the youngest and yet, he’s also the one with the most talent."

"It’s just a pity that he seems to have many distractions that are obstructing his growth..."

***

"Ugh, if only I focused more on training back then!"

Killian let out a groan of frustration as he dodged the demonized griffin’s charge.

His moments with his family started appearing in his mind like a movie reel, with each of them making the feeling of regret weighing on his heart intensify.

At this moment, he felt like he was trapped in the past.

The feeling of regret and how he should have done better back then overwhelmed his mind.

"Tsk, why now?"

Killian felt indignant at the bad timing of his panic attack.

It was not strange to him as he repeatedly relapsed even when he started living with Regis and Pandora.

On the outside, it seemed like he was growing.

However, the opposite could be said to his mentality as it continuously deteriorated.

The mistakes that he made in the past had been eating him on the inside since then.

Ba-dump— Ba-dump—

At this moment, his heartbeat started to drown the surrounding noise.

His chest also started to ache while his mind became chaotic, making it more difficult for him to concentrate.

KREEE!!!!

The demonized griffin seemed to sense Killian’s weakness as it charged once again.

Thud—

Killian unconsciously let go of his sword and clutched his chest.

"Haaa... Haaa... Haaa..."

Thud

He felt difficulty in breathing as his knee soon hit the ground.

At this moment, the demonized griffin had already arrived before him with its talons reaching towards him.

Fortunately, seven layers of translucent blue hexagon mana shields materialized in front of him.

CRACK— TINK!!!

CRACK— TINK!!!

CRACK— TINK!!!

CRACK— TINK!!!

...

One by one, the mana shields began to crack and shatter due to the demonized griffin’s sheer strength.

Fortunately, the last mana shield wasn’t broken.

However, it flew back and hit Killan’s face. The force was so strong that his body performed a backflip by itself from his kneeling position due to the impact.

"Ouch!!!"

Killian cried out loud as his mind recovered a little.

In mid air, he sat on top of the mana shield while clutching his head while his nose could also be seen bleeding.

KREEE—!!!

Obviously, the demonized griffin won’t be letting go of such a good opportunity as it flapped its wings.

As Killian peaked through his hand, he was met with the enraged face of the monster, "Shit!!!"

"Hold tight!!"

Pandora’s shout made him unconsciously grab the sides of the mana shield.

Looking at the ground below him, Killian’s eyes widened as he tried to brace himself for the impact.

However, something strange happened.

Before the mana shield made contact with the ground, the earth suddenly turned to ice.

"Wha—"

Killian couldn’t even react as he had no choice but to hold on for his dear life.

He looked in front of him and saw that an ice path continuously formed before him as the mana shield he was sitting on moved.

In short, it was like the mana shield had become his sled.

KREEE—!!!

"Ha... Haha!" Killian glanced at the demonized griffin that was chasing him from behind and laughed.

"What the hell are you laughing about!? I can’t maintain this magic for long, so you better compose yourself and I’ll help you get back your sword!!"

Pandora’s frustration could be heard well within her shouts.

"Yes, Ma’am!" Killian subconsciously answered as he took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down.

SHUUUUKKKKKK—

The mana shield followed the ice path and circled around, going back to where Killian had left his sword.

KREEEE!!!

The demonized griffin had visible frustration on its face as it tirelessly chased after the human sitting on the strange moving object.

Seeing the sword a few meters away, Killian readied himself and reached out his hand.

SHUUUKKKK—

Just as the mana shield arrived beside the sword, he quickly grabbed it in one smooth motion.

"Be ready!!!" Pandora’s shout resounded once again.

Killian took a deep breath once again as he saw a curved ice ramp forming in front of him.

SHUUUUK— WOOSH!!!

As the ramp was curved like a semi circle, instead of launching him forward, he went back.

Now standing upside down in mid air, Killian’s mind worked quickly.

’I’m fortunate that the demonized griffin who went after me was one of the weakest among its kind.’

’However, it’s still at the Three Star Realm.’

’Taking my remaining aura in consideration, I can still use Lightning God’s Descent for about five seconds...’

Due to his training, Killian could now maintain his strongest aura art for far longer than when he fought Viscount Orpheus along with Regis.

However, he was currently exhausted and not in his peak condition.

’I think this is a good time to test my aura art prototype.’

Killian smirked as he muttered to himself, "After all, Boss said earlier that he won’t let us die..."

Crackle... Crackle—

Yellow lightning began to appear around his body just like how lightning crackled in the sky before it strikes.

"Hooo..."

Killian’s body began to emit smoke as he fell and met the charging demonized griffin head on.

[Lightning God’s Descent Variation]

’Lightning God’s Descent uses the power of lightning continuously coursing through my veins in order to enhance my actions.’

’But it’s too impractical as it would rapidly exhaust my aura.’

’Therefore, instead of a continuous enhancement...’

’...I’ll make it an instant.’

[Lightning God’s Wrath]

RUMBLE—

At this moment, lightning aura aggressively circulated in his body.

It completed a hundred cycles in the span of a tenth of a second, ravaging Killian’s veins.

BTOOOM!!!

Killian turned into a streak of lightning that had a speed which made it invisible to the naked eye.

The next instant, his figure appeared on the ground below the demonized griffin who was still frozen in mid air.

However, it could be seen that a steel sword could be seen embedded on one of the monster’s eyes.

Like Regis, he had also targeted the weakest part of the griffin: their eye.

Thud—

Killian couldn’t even look back as his knees buckled.

However, a smile crept its way onto his lips, "I still have aura left!"

Though his happiness didn’t last for long as he noticed something strange.

"Wait, why did only one demonized griffin attack me?"

After all, he had been fighting that one for so long that it seemed strange why the other monsters hadn’t ganged up on him.

Killian then began to look around and saw something that made his eyes widen.