Chapter 124: A Problem

Hiss...!

The emerald viper hissed in anger, the eagle soaring above, shrieking in tandem. Their target had vanished before their eyes when their combined attack detonated.

Furious and unabated, the viper slithered around, searching for the second one. There was no way it would forget the second one. The eagle above suddenly let out another sharp cry.

It followed the direction the eagle pointed and slithered forward at incredible speeds, blitzing through flames and burning trees. When it spotted the other invader sleeping against a tree, it hissed again and furiously lunged forward with greater ferocity.

The emerald viper opened its maws wide, intending to tear the second invader to pieces. But the unexpected happened.

Just as its fangs were about to tear into the intruder, a translucent green bubble manifested around the target. The viper crashed into it with enough force to bring down an entire building.

Hiss...!

The viper hissed in confusion and agony. It shook its head and hissed angrily, purple lightning building up with its maws.

Boom!

The lightning struck the bubble with tyrannical force, tearing a large crater in the surrounding dirt. But the barrier remained steady. Furious, the viper unleashed a few more strikes. But the bubble would not budge.

Hiss...!

From above, the eagle screeched, its flames building up for an attack of its own. A torrent of howling hot flames descended with wicked force, engulfing everything in a twelve-meter radius with ease.

Boom!

The viper had distanced itself, observing while letting out intermittent hisses. The flames slowly died down, but the barrier still held.

Unwilling to leave without tearing the intruder apart, the two beasts continued unleashing attack after attack, eventually turning the surrounding area around the green bubble into molten earth.

Everything within the vicinity had been reduced to a sea of flaming hot earth, the heat waves distorting the surrounding air like a warning. The bubble began to waver and grow dimmer, showing signs of collapse.

As the two beasts built up another attack, something fast and powerful suddenly fell from the sky, raising a splash of lava and wind.

Boom...!

The shockwaves and lava splashed on the emerald viper, making the beast jerk about and cry in agony. It hissed and slitted back, fury beyond measure. But then, something blurred past its head. Before it could even register what it was, its head slid off its body, falling to the ground with a heavy thud.

Before the confused viper lost consciousness, it heard the agonising shriek of the eagle and saw it falling from the sky. Everything went dark soon after. They had failed to kill the intruders who had wanted to claim their master.

***

"Eish. This would have been really bad for the Young Lord." A young man muttered, inhaling sharply. "Another second or two of that, and he would have been toast!"

Thud.

"Get him out of there, Henry. The bubble won’t hold for long." The second man who had just landed after killing the eagle said, staring at the decapitated viper.

"Yeah, yeah." Henry scoffed as he walked through the tiny pools of lava towards the bubble Aurelius was trapped in.

His partner, Derek, looked at him for a moment before looking around. They were a part of the Spencer Family private forces, belonging to a division whose sole duty was to protect the direct line from life-threatening dangers should their pendants ever come online.

"Seriously, why would the academy send him on a mission like this?" Henry asked as he carried a passed-out and injured Aurelius in his arms. The young man looked around with a curious expression, not sure what the mission was about.

"It’s not our place to question what our Lords do, Henry. You should know that." Derek reproached with a stern gaze.

"Tsk. You’re no fun." Henry looked away, seemingly searching for something. "Shouldn’t there be other students? You... you don’t think they died, do you?"

Henry looked at the Young Lord in his arms and then at his partner, the look in his eyes that of mild shock. Before Derek could answer, Aurelius stirred in Henry’s arms.

"He’s waking up!"

Henry looked around and found a relatively cool area at the base of a tree and rushed over, gently lowering the Young Lord to the ground. The two men crouched in front of him as they patiently waited for him to open his eyes.

"Young Lord, are you alright?" Henry asked as soon as Aurelius opened his eyes.

The beast master first groaned and shifted in place, his expression showing the pain he was in. He recognised them the moment he laid eyes on them.

"Here."

Derek offered, passing a vial of the same serum Aurelius had used during the day. The beast master took the vial and emptied it in one gulp.

"Whe...where’s my partner?" Aurelius asked with some difficulty, looking around as though searching for Adam.

"You’re the only one we found, Young Lord," Henry replied, looking back at the remnants of the burning ground. "I hate to say this, but..."

He didn’t need to finish the sentence. Aurelius already knew what he meant. He closed his eyes, the guilt of his actions crushing down on him like a physical weight.

’No.’

"Keep searching." Aurelius’ eyes snapped open as he ordered.

He refused to believe Adam died so easily. That monstrous boy had to have had something up his sleeve. Adam wouldn’t have sacrificed himself for him. They weren’t that close.

"As you wish, Young Lord." Henry nodded and straightened, retracing his steps.

As Aurelius watched him go, his eyes naturally drifted to the mountain in the distance, the very one that had been collapsing from within. The gryphon had to have survived, right? After all, the black panther did not come after them.

"Is there a problem, Young Lord?" Derek asked as he too looked in the same direction, wondering what was on Aurelius’ mind.

"No, it’s nothing."

Aurelius shook his head as he slowly sat up. The serum was already doing its job. But that wasn’t enough.

"I’ll be cultivating a bit." He said, sitting cross-legged and closing his eyes.

"Of course, Young Lord."

While Aurelius tried to recover, deep beneath the ground of the attack that caused their separation, Adam was passed out with burnt marks all over his body, shielded in a tough earth chamber he had created from the last of his Spark.

But there was a problem.