Chapter 67: Squeezing the Connection

Zishan expected something more obvious after the way Lightning Mana had announced itself with sparks crawling across his hands, but Gravity felt completely different.

The change spread through his Mana without sparks, heat, or the movement he associated with Wind. His awareness of his own weight sharpened instead, followed by the pressure holding his feet against the ground and the force acting on everything around him.

Even the Griffin above the station felt different now. He had always understood that something flying could fall. Gravity Mana made him understand why in a way that had never mattered before.

His eyes widened. ’Oh, this is going to be useful.’

[Skill Acquired: Gravitic Anchor]

[Tier: Grandform]

[Required Mana Affinity: Gravity]

[Perfected Glimpse: ACTIVE]

[Emergency Quest Rewards: PROVISIONAL]

The understanding provided by Perfected Glimpse entered his mind along with the Skill.

Gravitic Anchor allowed him to designate a target or an area before increasing the gravitational force acting upon it. Concentrating the effect on one target required less Mana than spreading it over a large area, while stronger targets could resist through their own Mana, physical ability, defensive Skills, or whatever other means they possessed.

The Skill did not guarantee that something flying would fall.

That part interested Zishan the most. He didn’t need a guarantee. He only needed the Highland Griffin to spend more effort staying in the air.

The Captain on her back had already been pouring Mana through their Taming connection whenever the creature attacked. If he forced the Griffin to fight Gravity at the same time, the bastard would have to decide how much Mana he wanted to keep pouring into his mount.

Zishan looked upward as the Highland Griffin began turning for another pass. ’Perfect.’

He stopped near the outer section of the station and raised one hand toward her.

Gravity Mana gathered.

"GRAVITIC ANCHOR!"

The Griffin’s flight changed the moment the Skill took hold.

Her body dropped several meters before she managed to spread her wings wide enough to stop herself from losing more altitude. The Wind Mana she had been gathering scattered from the sudden disruption, while the Captain leaned forward and grabbed onto the creature as their attack completely fell apart.

Zishan stared.

The Griffin screamed above him and forced her wings downward with enough strength to begin climbing again, though the movement looked nothing like the smooth turns she had been making earlier.

’Holy shit. It actually works.’

Perfected Glimpse had already shown him exactly what Gravitic Anchor was supposed to do, but knowing that and watching a Highland Griffin suddenly lose several meters of altitude were two very different things. Zishan’s grin widened as the creature forced her wings open again and struggled against the pressure dragging her downward.

The Captain finally looked down and spotted him near the damaged barricades. His expression changed as another pulse of Gravity Mana pressed against the Griffin, and more Mana immediately flowed through their Taming connection to reinforce her.

The Griffin’s movements stabilized as the reinforcement increased, and she started gaining altitude despite the additional gravitational force pressing against her.

Zishan watched the Mana traveling between them. ’There you go.’

The Captain had solved one problem by creating another. Keeping the Griffin in the air against Gravitic Anchor forced him to pour even more Mana through their Taming connection, leaving more of his attention and Mana committed to the very bond Zishan had already planned to interfere with.

He activated Beast King’s Authority, sending his own Mana toward the Griffin until it pressed against the Captain’s existing connection. The resistance hit him almost at once and was far stronger than anything he had encountered with Larper’s already weakened beasts.

[Existing Taming Connection Detected!]

[Attempting to Establish Competing Connection...]

The Griffin’s wings twitched. That was all. There was no sudden break in control, no creature turning against its owner, and definitely no convenient notification telling Zishan that he had stolen himself another Magic Beast.

He had expected that much.

Larper had already been exhausted and dividing his attention across multiple beasts when Zishan took the Ridgefang Hounds from him. Some of those connections had been barely stable before Beast King’s Authority touched them.

This Captain was actively feeding Mana into one Griffin. Trying to steal her outright would be ridiculous, but Zishan didn’t need to steal her.

He pushed Beast King’s Authority harder against the existing connection, and the Captain noticed almost immediately. His head turned toward Zishan again as even more Mana poured into the bond, enough that the Griffin’s entire body reacted to the sudden reinforcement.

Zishan smiled.

The man had just been forced to spend even more.

The Griffin banked away from the station before changing direction toward him, and her wings gathered Wind Mana during the approach. Zishan maintained Gravitic Anchor while moving, forcing Thunderwake through his legs when the first blade of compressed Wind descended toward his position.

Rift Steps carried him beyond its path, and when Zishan appeared several meters away with Gravitic Anchor still weighing on the Griffin, the Captain’s jaw tightened.

"Release your Skill!" the Captain yelled at him.

Zishan kept moving. "Why?!"

The Captain actually hesitated. "Because she’s mine!"

Zishan looked at the Griffin and then back at him. "That’s not a reason for me to stop!"

The man shouted something after that, but the Griffin screamed at the same time, and Zishan never heard what it was.

The creature descended toward him again while fighting against Gravitic Anchor. Her speed was still enough to make every pass something Zishan had no interest in standing beneath, but the Captain was being forced to compensate for the additional gravitational force whenever the Griffin changed direction.

Zishan gathered Wind Mana around his arm, only for the Griffin to react before he could release the Skill. She had already faced Stormwing Rend once before, and the moment she recognized the gathering Mana, her body shifted while the Captain directed her away from his angle of attack.

Zishan narrowed his eyes. ’You remember this one, huh?’

He adjusted his aim as the compressed Wind finished forming around his arm.

"STORMWING REND!"

The blade of compressed Wind tore upward.

The Griffin tried to turn farther away, but Gravitic Anchor made the movement slower than the Captain expected. The crescent caught the outer portion of one wing and tore through several feathers before the creature pulled herself out of its path.

Her scream carried across the station.

She lost altitude again.

The Captain poured more Mana into the connection to stabilize her, and Beast King’s Authority pressed against the same bond while he was doing it.

For the first time since Zishan started interfering, the Captain’s connection with the Griffin fluctuated.