After driving back all the guards surrounding it, the griffin prepared to attack. Its golden-brown wings spread abruptly, whipping up a gale. Its keen eagle eyes fixed on the guards retreating ahead of it, and a low battle cry rumbled from deep in its throat as it advanced with slow, heavy steps.
"My lord! It's too dangerous here. Let's fall back first!" Kirk said weakly.
The surviving guards supported the gravely wounded Kirk back to Marvin's side and settled him on a carriage behind them.
"Quick! Elena's still trapped! Find a way to hold that beast back. We'll retreat once we get Elena out!"
Marvin hurriedly ordered the guards to hold off the griffin while he joined the others in rescuing Elena.
In fact, Marvin had gathered people to find a way to lift the carriage pinning Elena down as soon as the battle began. Unfortunately, the carriage was laden with lavish decorations, greatly increasing its weight, and Marvin and the others had failed to lift it.
The few surviving guards raised their weapons and trembled as they approached the griffin, but their courage had long since run dry. Had Lord Marvin not always treated them well, they would probably have already fled miles away.
The griffin watched the trembling guards and Marvin struggling to lift the carriage with a hint of mockery. One beat of its enormous wings sent powerful currents of air buffeting them off balance. Marvin was even blown backward outright, tumbling several times across the ground in a sorry state. Then the griffin lashed its tail, sweeping away the guards blocking its path. These rank-and-file soldiers were not its target, and as it advanced, the surrounding guards kept retreating.
Dazed by his fall, Marvin struggled to his feet. When he saw the griffin approach the spot where Elena lay pinned, his eyes nearly split with fury. As a father, he instinctively wanted to rush forward, but before he could move, a guard who had been swept back beside him wrapped his arms around him. "You can't go, my lord! You'll only throw your life away. Let's retreat first!"
"F-Father, save me..."
Unable to move, Elena looked desperately at her father, Marvin, and strained to extend her left hand, as though his broad palm would close around it the next instant and pull her out of danger. But reality went against her wishes. Only the griffin drew closer and closer.
The griffin lowered its head to look at Elena, who was trembling with fear. A flicker of almost human hesitation passed through its eyes, but viciousness soon replaced it. It raised its sharp eagle beak high; one gentle drop would be enough to crush the beautiful girl beneath it. Seeing Elena on the verge of death, Marvin struggled ceaselessly against those restraining him and let out a heart-rending roar.
"No! No-!"
Lying on the ground and gazing up at the griffin, Elena seemed to have given up struggling. In the sunlight, the griffin's figure looked so immense, while she, quietly awaiting death, was so very small...
"I... I can't accept this... Anyone... Can anyone save me!"
Elena prayed to the gods, but the only answer was the sharp eagle beak hurtling toward her.
Goodbye, Father, Mother. You must live well. I love you...
Just as Elena prepared to accept her fate, a sudden series of cracks came from the forest to her right, sounding like branches snapping under something moving swiftly through them. Clearly, the griffin noticed it too, and its attack gradually slowed.
Suddenly, a black figure shot toward the griffin's eagle head as fast as lightning. The griffin had not expected the dark figure to come straight for its head, and turned its head to attack. But the figure was far too fast, reaching the griffin in the blink of an eye. All its wide, round eagle eyes saw was a palm bearing a concentrated blue triangle drawing ever closer.
The next second, the blue triangle unleashed an enormous impact. Instantly, the griffin felt as though its entire head had taken a heavy blow, and its body toppled stiffly backward. Its fall sent dust billowing into the air. The cloaked figure landed and immediately changed direction, rushing toward Elena. Everything had happened so quickly that Elena was at a loss.
Seeing Elena pinned down, the figure in the black cloak prepared to lift the carriage and free her without a word.
"This carriage is too heavy for you to lift on your own..."
Before Elena could finish, a faint red glow spread over the black-cloaked figure's body, and he hurled the carriage, which weighed several hundred jin, away outright. Having witnessed it all at close range, Elena was dumbfounded. Before she could react, the black-cloaked figure scooped her up, ready to retreat to the rear. But he had only just lifted her when a tail came whistling out of the billowing dust-the griffin had swiftly regained its feet and launched another attack.
The griffin's tail whip tore through the air with a piercing shriek, like a bolt of tawny lightning about to rip the two of them apart. The black-cloaked figure did not panic before the terrifying blow. Instead, he timed his movement and leaped sharply upward, twisting in midair to barely evade it. Seeing its attack miss, the griffin charged forward in humiliated fury, thrusting its blade-sharp eagle beak out again and again, so fast there was scarcely time to dodge. Yet the black-cloaked figure moved like a phantom through the gaps between its strikes, each dodge so precise and fluid that he seemed to know the path of the griffin's attacks in advance.
Elena's heart was in her throat. Every peck from the griffin carried fierce gusts that scraped painfully against her skin, along with an unbearably foul stench of decay. Whenever she felt they could not escape and she was about to die on the spot, the black-cloaked figure holding her would suddenly accelerate, nimbly evading the terrifying blow.
Although he could easily evade every peck, the black-cloaked figure could not shake the griffin off, and he was carrying a woman in his arms. Though she was not much of a burden, he could not counterattack now and was forced to keep dodging. At this rate, he would lose sooner or later. After evading another attack, the black-cloaked figure suddenly stood still, no longer dodging, and gazed at the incoming strike as though he had given up.
Am I still not going to survive?
Elena stared wide-eyed at the eagle beak mere inches away. Her freshly rekindled hope of survival was about to be shattered once more.
Yet the next second, a transparent yellow barrier suddenly appeared, blocking the rapidly descending beak. Then the yellow barrier abruptly shattered and exploded, its powerful impact forcing the griffin back two steps. Seizing the opportunity, the black-cloaked figure swiftly leaped backward and reached the convoy where everyone had gathered in a few quick strides. He then gently set the girl in his arms on the ground. Elena's mother, Noelle, ran to her side and pulled her into an embrace, repeatedly stroking her smooth cheeks and kissing her hair. Marvin arrived as well. He examined the lower leg that had been pinned down, then checked her limbs for other wounds. Once he confirmed she was not seriously hurt, the family of three embraced and wept bitterly.