"Thank you, thank you so much. I... I don't even know how to thank you..."
With tears and snot streaming down his face, Marvin thanked the figure in the black cloak.
"You're welcome. How is the beautiful young lady feeling now?"
The voice beneath the black cloak was unexpectedly young.
Elena said she was largely unharmed. Her lower leg had been pinned for a little too long, leaving her unable to feel any pain at the moment, only numbness.
"Skree-"
Having rallied, the griffin let out an angry eagle's screech. The figure in the black cloak had thwarted it repeatedly, leaving it thoroughly enraged.
"Hero, we should retreat now. This griffin is more than we can handle!" Marvin proposed retreating to the black-cloaked figure.
"Run? Fleeing blindly now will only get you killed faster. In your current condition, do you think you can outrun a griffin?" The black-cloaked figure calmly pointed out their predicament.
"Then what should we do? Everyone I brought is here. No reinforcements are coming to help us!" Marvin said, somewhat anxiously.
"The only thing you can do now is pray that I can defeat this griffin! And tell your people not to run. The griffin won't spare a single one of you. If it sees someone fleeing and chases after them, I won't be able to stop it! Also, my name is Yavi. I'm no hero!"
With that, Yavi shed his cloak, revealing a handsome face with sharply defined features. His tousled, lightly parted golden hair shone like the sun, and his brow exuded a maturity and steadiness beyond his years. Black studded leather armor accentuated his powerful, inverted-triangle build, and every movement displayed his incomparable presence, elegant and deadly!
Looking at the handsome Yavi, who resembled a cheerful boy, Elena felt as though her gaze had become glued to him. Wasn't this precisely the scene of a prince on a white horse rescuing a princess that she had always dreamed of growing up?
Unaware of the wild thoughts running through Elena's head, Yavi kept his eyes on the griffin poised to strike. Although he had fought griffins during his apprenticeship, he had always done so alongside Kharkov and the other witcher apprentices. This was his first time facing one alone.
He gathered mana in his left hand, then slapped the ground hard. A circle of eerie, pale-purple runes appeared on the ground, enclosing Marvin and his caravan.
"If the griffin doesn't attack you, stay here and don't leave. If it does, retreat outside the circle and spread out. These trap runes on the ground can hold the griffin back for a little while!"
Without waiting to see whether Marvin understood, he drew the silver sword from his back and slowly approached the griffin.
"Griffins are magical hybrids. Once humans damage their habitats, they continually harass and attack humans, but most such incidents occur in the mountains. Griffins are rarely seen near human settlements. They're also highly intelligent. A normal adult griffin is as intelligent as an adult human, and can communicate through magic with humans who possess magical talent. Tell me why you're attacking travelers here, and then I'll decide what to do with you!"
As Yavi advanced, he recited information about griffins and expressed his willingness to settle matters peacefully. The griffin, however, reacted with extreme aversion, though it did not rashly attack him. Sharp eagle cries kept issuing from its beak, as though it were describing something to Yavi.
"So that's it! Humans stole your eggs while you were out hunting? But that is no reason for you to attack humans passing through! Leave this place immediately and never return, and I can guarantee you'll come to no harm today!" Yavi sternly rebuked the griffin.
Already harboring hatred toward humans, the griffin grew even angrier when Yavi told it to leave. It immediately beat its enormous wings and lunged through the air toward him.
Seeing negotiations break down, Yavi could only raise his silver sword and fight the griffin!
As it flew within reach, the griffin slammed its right claw down, as though intent on smashing Yavi into a meat pancake. Yavi evaded the lethal blow with a nimble spin, then used the momentum of his turn to slash hard across its right claw. Blood gushed and broken feathers flew through the air. Missing its strike and getting wounded instead only further stoked the griffin's ferocity, and its beak shot toward Yavi like lightning. Rather than dodge the peck, Yavi moved forward to meet it. Before the strike, laden with terrifying momentum, could land on him, a pale-green veil of light suddenly appeared around his body. His speed surged, bringing him directly beneath the griffin's head. At that moment, the griffin's previous force had yet to dissipate and it could not muster fresh force, leaving it unable to make any further move. Seizing the opportunity, Yavi thrust his left palm upward, bringing the Aard Impact Signs in his palm into intimate contact with the griffin's chin before unleashing them. The griffin felt a powerful shock shoot from its chin straight toward its brain. Even its brain could not stop that powerful impact, and the kinetic force overturned its entire body. Its massive frame crashed to the ground, throwing up great clouds of dust.
Yavi continued to follow his core principle: strike to kill while the enemy was down. Sword raised, he thrust straight at the griffin's neck. The dull sensation of his blade piercing flesh traveled through his hand, and he knew the blow had landed. But just as he was about to apply more force to worsen the wound, the griffin's tail whipped toward his head with a howl of wind. Forced to withdraw his sword and pull away, Yavi still accidentally took a glancing blow to his right shoulder. He instantly went flying like a whipped top, rolling over and over across the ground until a large tree finally stopped him. Rising with a hand to his head, Yavi felt the world spin, making him want to vomit. The griffin opposite him was little better off. Aard had rattled its brain so badly that even getting up was exceptionally difficult. If the stab to its neck had not made it feel a lethal threat, it would probably still have been lying on the ground, struggling.
After barely managing to rise, it shook its enormous head, but before it could make out its surroundings, the griffin felt a rush of wind heading straight for its face. With no time to think, it thrust its beak toward the gust. The clash it expected never came. Instead, intense pain erupted from its left claw and wing. Yavi had seized the opportunity to feint, anticipating that the griffin would defend itself, then turned right midway through his attack to change its trajectory, cutting away half the griffin's left wing. Having lost its left wing and the left claw upon it, the griffin let out a shrill howl of pain. Yavi had intended to press his advantage, but the griffin unexpectedly spun its body, trying to drive him back with its tail. How could Yavi pass up such a perfect opportunity to attack? He pushed off hard and leaped high, preparing to jump onto the griffin's back...