A Message for Qian IV

What rose from the mountains were magical creatures shaped from rock into powerful flying monsters. They had the heads of sheep and the bodies of men, with steel-like hooked claws growing from all four limbs. Their wingspans exceeded seven meters, and their stone skin shimmered with a pale cyan sheen beneath the cold winter sun. Faintly glowing magical runes covered their bodies, while two ghostly green gems formed their eyes.

They did not actually belong to the most primitive kind of gargoyle. They were a type of Rune Golem—the Rune Gargoyle. Brando had wanted gargoyles, while Tania, the capable aunt that she was, had directly obtained the finest kind for him. As he had said, these things were nothing to the Buga people. Thus, the Artificer Wizards were happy to help Brando as much as possible without crossing their bottom line, so that he could reclaim the Azure Spear for them.

The griffins soaring through the skies for the Empire had never imagined they would one day face a battle like this. Dense swarms of gargoyles rose into the sky from between the towering mountains, filling the air above the range in the blink of an eye. The magical creatures' shrieks rang out one after another from all directions, as if they were surrounding the griffins. Yet the griffins let out a series of clear cries, as though pride urged these brave raptors to spread their white wings and face their enemies. They were symbols of the Empire. They launched an attack against enemies numbering dozens of times their own strength, plunging into the dark clouds like straight silver lines. But in an instant, feathers scattered and weapons broke.

The Imperial soldiers watched almost dumbly as the scene unfolded, seeing the fierce Imperial raptors they had always been proud of