The world seemed to freeze in that one breath after the griffon's roar.
It wasn't just sound, it was presence. A wave of sheer mana pressure expanded from the beast like a shockwave, displacing air, trembling the ground, and making even the stone underfoot groan. The griffon's feathers sparked with elemental energy, its cracked beak leaking steam as if fury itself boiled within. Magic circled around its body, shaping into runes that pulsed violently. Fire, water, lightning, and wind, every element arced and flared across its wings like a living storm was contained within this single creature.
Yetsan stood his ground, shielded behind his ornate armor. His lance glinted under the volatile light. "It's boosting itself," he growled. "Mana amplification... double fold. That's not normal."
"It's mad," Jessica confirmed, eyes narrowed. "Time to get serious."
The party spread out instinctively, adjusting their formation into a semi-encirclement. The field was rocky, uneven, perfect for both cover and ambush, but dangerous with how easily footing could be lost. Thunderclouds gathered above as the griffon's magic reached critical mass. And then it moved.
It shot forward like a streak of lightning given wings.
"MOVE!" Fuhiken bellowed, just before the griffon tore through the space he had been standing. Stone shattered. The air screamed in protest. Gigih, slightly slower than the rest, was too close.
There was no time for warning, only action. The griffon's steel claws slashed once. Gigih collapsed, crumpling mid-spell, knocked unconscious with a single, merciless blow.
"Gigih, !" Sakura, without missing a beat, darted forward. Her staff glowed with pure white mana as she knelt beside him. The roar of battle couldn't drown out the clarity of her voice. "REVIVE!"
A soft bell tone rang out, clear, gentle, and strangely resonant amid the chaos, like a sacred chime untouched by battle. A radiant flash of white light enveloped Gigih's body, forming a glowing cocoon of healing mana that shimmered like morning mist in sunlight. For a heartbeat, the battlefield seemed to pause as the spell took hold. Then his body jerked suddenly, back arched as energy surged through him, knitting torn flesh and restoring broken breath. With a ragged gasp, Gigih's eyes flew open, pupils dilated, chest heaving as he blinked up at the sky, and then at Sakura, who still knelt beside him with her staff aglow and not a single snack in hand.
"Back in," Sakura said curtly. "No time for drama."
He coughed. "Ten out of ten revive. Would die again."
Fahleena, already sprinting toward the fight, shouted, "No time to perish again! We need ALL hands, even explosive ones!"
The griffon turned on Adiw next. Its eyes flared red with electrical discharge, and in the blink of an eye, it fired a searing fireball. Adiw rolled beneath the burst, flames licking at his hair, then surged upward with a roar of his own.
"Eight-strike Cross Fang!" His blade lit with red aura, mana-enhanced, and he brought it down in a flurry of slashes. Metal clanged against beast-hide, the final strike managing to gouge the griffon's flank.
But it didn't retreat. Instead, it countered. Its beak snapped forward with terrifying speed, and Adiw blocked with his sword just in time, but the force launched him back like a ragdoll, skidding along gravel and dust.
"Do NOT engage it alone!" Gaby shouted, loosing an arrow that zipped across the battlefield. It struck the griffon cleanly along the neck, but it barely flinched.
In retaliation, the creature conjured a sphere of crackling water and hurled it at her position. Gaby rolled, barely avoiding a blast that drenched the rocks and carved a small crater where she'd stood.
"That's it, elegance out the window," she muttered.
Yetsan took that moment to strike, charging from the side. His lance whistled as it pierced through the wind barrier the griffon generated. He managed a shallow thrust into the griffon's shoulder, but it responded instantly with a Thunder Counter. A flash of electricity burst from its body, arcing into Yetsan's armor. He seized, stumbled, but Jessica was there, sweeping in a blur.
Her katana danced across the griffon's back legs in a flurry of clean, precise cuts, each strike sharp and deliberate. "Back off my teammate," she hissed, eyes flashing with focused fury as she slipped away before the beast could retaliate.
Yuuna, standing atop a flat boulder, was calmly calculating. Her wand traced sigils in the air, blue light collecting in ever-complex patterns. "It's adapting to our attacks. Physical ones are less effective now. Mana barrier's shifting."
"Translation?" Fuhiken asked, slamming his shield into the ground to block a gust.
Yuuna finished her array with a flick of her wand. "We need magic-based impact. And a coordinated hit."
"Plan?" he asked.
"I have one. But I need Kyle and Gaby ready. They're our snipers."
"Let's go," Fuhiken barked. "Cover them!"
He ran to intercept the griffon again, deflecting another wind strike that would've taken Yuuna clean off her platform.
Meanwhile, Kyle had been crouching on higher terrain, charging his mana mana riffle. His usually cocky expression was now focused, serious.
"This is more than just hunting birds," he muttered, charging a gleaming mana bullet inside the riffle with his mana. The mana riffle vibrated with unstable force.
Gaby stood beside him, steady as stone, nocking a single obsidian-tipped arrow with practiced grace. Her silver hair fluttered in the highland wind, catching the light like strands of moonlight. As she drew the string back, her mana began to flow, subtle at first, then steadily surging, channeling from her core into her arms, then down through her fingertips and into the shaft of the arrow. The energy coursed along the wood like veins of light, concentrating at the arrowhead until its tip gleamed with a focused, pulsing glow. Her eyes narrowed, locking onto the griffon with calm, unwavering intent.
Yuuna raised her wand, amplifying her voice with magic. "Now!"
Kyle fired. The mana bullet roared like a comet across the sky, straight into the back of Gaby's arrow mid-flight.
CRACK,
The collision triggered a chain reaction. The arrow scattered into dozens of splinters, each fragment wrapped in volatile magical energy. A storm of micro-blasts bloomed like fireworks. The Explosion Arrow Barrage rained down in a wide arc, peppering the griffon from every angle.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Each detonation struck with terrifying precision. Sparks. Flame. Smoke. The griffon's shield cracked. Its armor peeled. It shrieked in fury and confusion, unable to block, unable to escape.
And then,
With a final cry that seemed both triumphant and mournful, the blue griffon crumpled to the ground. One wing twitched. The other folded inward like a defeated sail. The wind stopped. The air grew still.
Silence followed, deep and absolute, as if the mountains themselves held their breath. The wind stalled mid-whisper, and the dust in the air hung motionless, suspended in the weight of that final moment. Every heartbeat seemed louder in the hush. The party stood frozen, limbs tense, minds reeling from the sheer intensity of what they had just witnessed. Even Fahleena, so often the first to speak, to dramatize, to declare victory in florid verse, was still, her mouth slightly open, eyes wide with something between awe and disbelief. The world had paused... just long enough to acknowledge their survival.
"…Is it dead?" Adiw asked, leaning on his sword, burned and battered.
Yuuna stepped forward. Her wand glowed dimly. "Its mana... dissipated. It's alive, barely. But unconscious."
Gigih raised his hand. "May I loot it?"
"No," said seven voices at once.
Jessica exhaled slowly. "That was... intense."
"Now," Fahleena said, dramatically rising from a rocky outcrop, cape billowing from nowhere, "we must honor the slayer of skybeasts! The graceful archer who pierced the heavens and humbled the tempest!"
Gaby blinked. "Wait, "
"I name thee, Gabyola, Gryphslayer of the Celestial Roost! Conqueror of Stormwings! Archer of the Seventh Moon!"
There was a moment of silence. Gaby's mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again.
"I… refuse?" Gaby said softly, her voice poised with calm restraint. She straightened her posture, brushing dust from her skirt with a quiet sigh. "While I am grateful for the sentiment, Fahleena, I must decline such a dramatic title. I prefer actions to speak over adornments of exaggerated nomenclature."
Fahleena looked stricken, as if Gaby had just turned down knighthood from the heavens. "But, Gabyola the Gryphslayer of the Celestial Roost! It sings with heroism!"
"It screams with syllables," Yuuna muttered from the back.
Undeterred, Fahleena spun dramatically toward Kyle. "Then you, valiant marksman of the storm! I hereby bestow upon you the title of, "
Kyle immediately perked up. "Yes! Something cool, right? Like, like 'Shadow Vanguard' or 'Mana Reaper' or, wait, maybe, "
", The Thunder-Support Toad of Arcane Logistics," Fahleena declared with theatrical grandeur, raising her keyblade like a royal scepter.
Kyle's enthusiasm died on impact. His soul visibly exited stage left.
"…You know what," he said, slowly lowering his hand, "never mind. I'm good being... background character number three."
"Excellent," Fahleena beamed. "Humility becomes a hero."
Gaby smiled faintly, graceful as ever. "It seems the real victory today is surviving your titles."
"And the griffon," added Fuhiken.
"Mostly the titles," Jessica muttered.
---
With the battle behind them and the griffon lying motionless in the grass, the party gathered once more on a level stretch of the mountainside. Swords were sheathed, spellbooks closed, and exhausted limbs folded into seated forms on rocks and flattened grass. The silence now was gentler, earned, not the breathless stillness of shock, but the quiet exhale of survival.
Sakura passed out a round of biscuits and juice packs from her ever-reliable magic bag. Orchid attempted to hand out her own mysterious chocolate cubes, which were kindly accepted by no one. Adiw lay flat on his back, staring at the sky. Gigih poked at a scorch mark on his robe. Yetsan inspected his lance for stress cracks. Even Kyle and Sinryo managed to sit without hatching a plot for five whole minutes.
"Second time nearly dying today," Gigih mumbled. "Feels like progress."
Fuhiken, standing at the edge of a rocky slope, gazed into the horizon. The harsh terrain ahead softened slightly, a series of rounded hills just beyond the peak. One in particular caught his eye.
Beyond it, partially obscured by jagged rock and distance, nestled against the base of the northern cliffs, was a glint of stone and metal. A glimpse of towers. The shimmer of forge smoke. Runes carved into mountain walls, faintly glowing in the dimming light.
"The dwarf city," he said quietly.
Gaby rose to her feet beside him, her sharp gaze following his. "We're close."
"Second visit," Fuhiken murmured. "Let's not make it as chaotic as the first."
Behind them, Fahleena stretched like a cat and yawned, already resuming her narrative voice. "And so the champions, victorious and battle-worn, did descend from the skyborne arena to seek the flames of iron and stone!"
Jessica sighed. "Here we go again."
Without further ceremony, the party picked themselves up, gathered their gear, and began the slow descent toward the next chapter in their journey, toward the gates of stone, and the dwarves that awaited beyond.