Chapter 130: Attack of a Giant Owl

Laughter, playful taunting words, and the slashing of swords filled the training ground as eight maids playing with a child made the place lively.

Seeing the strange scene, even the ones working in the garden stopped trimming the hedges, cutting overgrown branches, and tending to the flower beds, turning toward the training area to see what was happening.

Meanwhile, even more maids began looking out from the mansion windows, leaving their work aside to watch the unusual sight, something they didn’t see every day at the Winterborne estate.

They weren’t the only ones watching.

High in the clear sky above, a giant blue owl was flapping its wings, its big bright yellow eyes locked onto the ground below.

There was also a figure sitting on top of it, looking down with emerald eyes, interest written across her dark-skinned face.

"What an interesting child." She murmured, her voice blending with the soft air that rippled her dark blue robe.

It was apparent from the pointy dark blue hat on her head that she was a Witch, but a single golden line running horizontally across it meant she wasn’t just any Witch.

There was also a single insignia on the chest of her robe, a drawing of a tower, clearly showing where she belonged.

"Barn." She called to her owl in a calm voice, and the next moment the owl suddenly stopped flapping its wings and began falling rapidly downward.

Magna, who had so far been fully occupied with cutting the fruits, was starting to run out of breath from exhaustion and was drenched in sweat when he suddenly stopped.

"Wait." He said to the maids, right after cutting the last fruit that came flying at his face.

At first the maids thought he was tired and wanted to take a break, but when they saw him looking at the sky so intently, they looked up too, curious.

"What happened?" one of them asked, since the sky was very clear and, apart from the shining sun, there was nothing they could see.

Then, not far away, they heard a loud bang, as if some huge object had fallen, suddenly kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

"Run to the mansion!" Magna suddenly shouted, shielding his eyes with his arm against the dust.

Even he was surprised, since all he had felt was a presence rapidly approaching. He hadn’t been able to see or hear anything until it hit the ground.

While the maids collected themselves and started to run, he also began backing away, never breaking eye contact with whatever had just dropped into the garden.

He was sure his instincts were warning him that the moment he turned his back, the thing would attack him from behind.

While he kept backing away with his guard up, waiting for Celeste and Titus to appear because of the commotion, his eyes caught a sudden movement inside the cloud of dust.

A giant yellow object suddenly shot out of the dust like a missile, followed by a huge oval-shaped head behind it.

’An owl?’ The moment Magna saw the giant eyes on that huge oval head, he instantly realized what the creature was.

He immediately raised his short swords in front of him, crossing them to block the deadly-looking beak rushing toward him.

BANG!

The instant the beak struck the blades, a loud sound echoed through the area, making the hearts of everyone watching the training ground drop.

"Young Lord!" The running maids suddenly stopped and turned to look, only to find an unimaginable sight in front of them.

As unbelievable as it was, there stood a giant owl with feathers as blue as the night, and at the very tip of its beak was Magna, his small body braced, his swords crossed, holding the beak in place.

Looking at his feet, it was clear that the force of the impact had dragged him back several meters. However, he currently seemed to be holding his ground, pressing his weapons so hard that he didn’t look like he was losing the battle of strength at all.

Magna was gritting his teeth, his arm muscles all tensed, veins looking like they were about to burst as he pushed against his weapons.

’Where the hell did this thing come from?’ He was already feeling tired from all his training. Still, he pushed with all his strength, knowing that if he gave the giant monster even a second, its huge beak would be more than enough to swallow him whole.

Not wanting to give it any opening, he pushed even harder, stepping his legs forward one after another.

One step, two steps, he slowly started pushing its huge body back.

The owl’s sharp talons, which had been driven into the ground like stakes, began to slide across the soil.

His training from yesterday and today was showing its results, his newly raised stats proving their worth.

He kept pushing and pushing until the owl was driven to the edge of the training area.

Magna was only trying to buy time for Celeste and Titus to arrive, but they were still nowhere around.

As he kept pushing, he soon forced the owl completely out of the training area until it touched the garden walls.

He had the owl stuck between his weapons and the wall, finally able to take a relieved sigh while continuing to push hard with all his strength.

If possible, he wanted to crush its head, but unfortunately, the bird wasn’t that weak.

While they stayed in what looked like a stalemate, only passing the time, he finally began to hear chanting words coming from behind him.

"O Vein of the Living World, River that has flowed since before the First Dawn, Silent Mother of Rain and Sea."

But it didn’t make Magna feel relieved in the slightest, since the voice didn’t belong to Celeste.

A sudden cold began rising along his back as his instincts screamed at him to dodge.

"Form the water, hurl the ice."

A bunch of ice spears began launching toward his defenseless back.