From Mayuna's account, Ruben learned the story of a man named Ryan Aersman.
Three years ago, a second-tier city in the Holy Empire was suddenly attacked by an eighth-rank magical beast, the Golden Sword Lion. Magical beasts of that level generally possessed sizable territories in the Forest of Magical Beasts and intelligence equal to that of humans. No one knew why he had come out to attack humanity, but for the people of that city, it was undoubtedly a terrifying disaster.
The golden lion stood as tall as a two-story building, and every strand of his fur could transform into a rain of golden swords. Before him, human mages were pitifully weak, unable even to scratch his hide. Just as everyone had despaired and prepared to die, heroes appeared. Yet the heroes were hardly an impressive force: merely a twenty-person mage group led by a Magister.
The timing had simply been too unfortunate. That year, the Holy Empire was facing the armies of the Griffon Empire and the Tide Empire at its borders, with war ready to break out at any moment. The Empire could not spare any extra forces to reinforce this place. It was attacked from both front and rear, and the group sent as support was an obscure little mage group.
The story naturally ended with the heroes' victory. The mages used strategy, blood, and sheer stubbornness to wear the Golden Sword Lion down until he had only a sliver of life left. The young man standing before him in the end was Ryan. Just as he gritted his teeth and prepared to draw the surrounding magic into his body, self-destruct, and perish together with the magical beast, a bolt of lightning suddenly descended from the sky and struck the Golden Sword Lion dead on target. The