Chapter 711 - 655: h.e.l.l Griffin
"Knowing your nature and Race, I do understand how you"re able to create the isolated small worlds for the trials but I"m still confused…"
Isadore crossed his arms and pondered for close to a minute before turning his head to the quiet parasite.
Arthur was watching the wide screen hanging in the air, allowing every spectator to see what"s happening.
"Did you catch some monsters in the past or what?"
It didn"t make sense for the young King, after all, storage rings can"t store living beings, and although Arthur is a parasite, he can"t simply bring the corpses back to life.
True, Necromancy exists and can be used by the parasite, but the monsters on the wheel are not undead, only two of them are, therefore, Isadore Malfront was perplexed and consumed by his unending curiosity.
"It"s temporary reanimation." Perfunctorily replied Lucy, her eyes still fixated on the MoonStar team. Although she didn"t outwardly show it, she was still a bit worried for the youngsters. She only trained them for a week but she got attached to them… they are a lively bunch, sometimes annoying, but hard-working nonetheless.
The term temporary reanimation sums up this trial, or at least the summoned monsters. Initially, they were fresh corpses stored in Arthur"s ring, countless monsters he possessed in the past.
Through Arthur"s left hand, which can use Life Energy, he was able to achieve this thanks to a useful skill called [Short Life]. When used on a corpse, it will bring it back to life for a limited amount of time, but its stats will be 80% of the original and some of the monster"s skills will not be available, especially the soul-related ones.
"Interesting… would you be willing to offer more details, Madam Lucy."
Contrary to the way he speaks to Arthur, Isadore was much more respectful to Lucy. They barely spoke to each other but what made him act like that was her constantly cold att.i.tude and chilling eyes, which restrained him from acting overly-friendly or in a joking manner.
After he politely asked the silver-haired woman, Isadore instinctively jerked his body backwards, a bit startled as Lucy turned her head and stared back at him. She maintained a brief silence before giving a satisfactory explanation about [Short Life].
It wasn"t only Isadore who was listening to this, the Kang Clan, sitting relatively nearby, also perked their ears and listened, clearly interested in this topic.
Kang Amidel, his two children, and the old man accompanying him, were pretending to be focusing on the screen but their whole attention was diverted to Lucy.
When the White Specter finished her explanation, which was fast but to the point, the old man softly chuckled.
"Such an ability could prove useful in waging wars."
Lucy did not comment on this, however, Isadore shook his head and corrected the elder.
"It is useful but not better than summoning Undead. Necromancy is unrivaled in reanimation."
"Wise words, your majesty."
…
"Spin the wheel, please."
No one from the MoonStar team discussed who"ll spin the wheel. The bold Cristina stepped forward and, with a serious and determined expression, spun the large wheel. She didn"t use any force but the wheel spun at a rapid pace for twenty seconds before progressively slowing down, at last stopping. The short white arrow pointed at one particular monster, named "h.e.l.l Griffon".
As luck would have it, the monster which will be facing the MoonStar team is one of the two undead displayed on the wheel. It"s also the griffin Arthur usually used in the past.
After the wheel stopped, Gutcha picked it up and teleported away, taking the other team with him. They were brought to the back, outside of a large formation protecting them from anything that might happen in the square-shaped arena.
Time crept by, the members of the MoonStar Team spread out, their eyes focusing on the middle of the arena, from which an immense black hole appeared, and from within, a ferocious beast made of bones crawled forth.
"Well, s.h.i.+t!"
Cristina couldn"t help but curse as the h.e.l.l Griffin appeared, two winged bones flapping slowly, causing the wind to rage. This, however, was but the beginning as black and red flames started covering the entirety of the monster, making it look more demonic and terrifying.
The h.e.l.l Griffin didn"t wait for them to attack, its enormous body pounced on the closest human, Shu Ru.
The G.o.ddess of Green Leaf, the fairy, as people called her, retaliated before she was struck. Her two raised were raised, her G.o.dspirit materializing in front of her, blocking the incoming monster.
Shu Ru"s G.o.dspirit looked like a blinding pillar of white light, almost as big as the enemy. It floated in front of its caster, immovable, resisting the full blunt cras.h.i.+ng of the Griffin.
Ardor and Bora were the next to act, the latter shooting two successive arrows, each embedded with a swirling green light. As for sword-wielding youth, he jumped in the air and stabbed his sword to the front, shooting a burst of concentrated Sword Essence at one of the griffin"s bony and flaming wings.
The arrows struck first, momentarily distracting the griffin, whereas Ardor"s attack managed to push the griffin a bit to the side, allowing the remaining members to follow-up with equally devastating attacks.
Cristina, though still injured and slower than usual, grabbed her spear with both hands and spun around, sweeping the spear horizontally and transforming into a black tornado made of an eerie black aura.
The tornado shot at the griffin"s back, clas.h.i.+ng with the black and red flames and even extinguis.h.i.+ng them for a couple of breaths. Cristina"s spinning sweeping spear hit the griffin"s bones, shattering two and cracking a third one, causing the beast to angrily roar and turn its body to face her.
It was then that a phoenix" cry was heard, coupled with a cascading wave of flames cras.h.i.+ng into the h.e.l.l Griffin, engulfing it whole and making its roars louder than ever before.
…
"That"s some unsightly abomination, alright."
Isadore threw a remark, both fascinated and surprised by the Griffin"s appearance and power. The members of the MoonStar steam were at the G.o.d Realm yet they couldn"t take it down, at least not easily. It required joint effort and flawless cooperation, which means that the h.e.l.l Griffin is at least a G.o.d Monarch Beast.
If the rest of the monsters in the wheel were as strong as this one then, as the Kang"s elder had previously said, it"ll be easy for Arthur to create an army of monsters using only the temporary reanimation.
"It still hasn"t done anything." Calmly said Arthur, an evil grin forming on his usually expressionless face.
"So they can"t defeat it? Isn"t that unfair?"
"It"s not. They have to attack it for five minutes then they"ll be given a score. The prerequisite for success is not to kill it but to survive."- Arthur
"Aren"t you afraid they"ll get fatally injured?"
"Not really. Gutcha is there to keep a close watch."
Isadore nodded his head once, diverting his eyes back to the screen.
"Cristina"s arm is heavily injured. Her bones are broken and if she over-exerts herself, it"ll be harder to heal it."
The powerhouses present here, including Arthur and Lucy, were able to see more than the normal cultivators. They didn"t miss any details, so it wasn"t difficult to notice Cristina"s injury. She was trying her best to persist but it seems the injury is more serious than expected.
Before trying anything, Lucy first talked to her husband, who didn"t give an immediate reply.
"I can still heal her but if you"re that worried then I don"t mind."
Hearing this, Lucy frowned for a second and telepathically spoke again,
"Are you acting non-sympathetic because of what happened with Fariya? She and Cristina are not the same. The girl is our apprentice, are you really not worried about her?"
"It"s not that I"m not worried, but I"m hoping that she uses this hards.h.i.+p to improve or perhaps even achieve a breakthrough."
"It"s still not worth it."
"Alright then, I"ll get her out."
"No, wait. It"ll be better if I do it."
Lucy abruptly stood up, much to everyone"s surprise. No one questioned her but the look on their faces indicated how curious they were, especially Kang Amidel and Isadore Malfront. Even Fariya, who was standing at the back, flinched, thinking that Lucy was about to do something to her.
Fortunately for the succubus, the silver-haired woman didn"t even spare her a glance, she vanished from her spot and reappeared barely five seconds later.
In the screen hanging in the sky, above the plateau, the spectators saw how Cristina, who was enveloped by the black tornado, suddenly disappeared.
The black-haired, rebellious girl was, at first, confused and dazed, staring at the woman before her. She was panting heavily and even her arm was trembling, incapable of holding the spear for any longer.
Seconds later, the pigolo"s voice resounded across the plateau, informing everyone of what just happened.
"The partic.i.p.ant Cristina from the MoonStar team was pulled from the Trial and is now disqualified."
"I can still fight. I can-"
Cristina was cut off by the White Specter, who pulled her toward Arthur. From head to toe, the girl was covered in white light, which belonged to Life"s Energy.
By the time Arthur dropped his left hand, Cristina"s body was fully healed. The wounds she sustained in the brief clash against the h.e.l.l Griffin were nowhere to be seen, her outfit now clean and her spear repaired, back to its original state.
"Sit here and watch, we"ll talk later."
Hearing Lucy"s voice, which was softer than usual, the girl, although still displeased and feeling wronged, dropped her head and obediently sat down.