chapter 23

On a large scale, magical beasts are separated into two types .

One is the ‘normal type’ .

These are magical beasts that even normal humans can easily bring down, and for this reason many of them group up in order to move around .

The normal type magical beasts are further divided into species . This sea of trees is mostly inhabited by normal type magical beasts .

And the other one is the ‘dragon type’ .

As the name suggests, these are magical beasts which embody a dragon .

Their danger level varies, but usually most of them are brutal and harmful .

The Buried Dragon and the Edged Dragon that Roll and I defeated previously were dragon type magical beasts .

…… . And now, there are also exceptions which don’t fall into any of these categories .

These are ‘legendary type’ magical beasts .

Their power level varies as well .

There are many legendary type magical beasts which don’t inflict damage to people .

However, they’re all extremely dangerous magical beasts that went down in history with the name legendary . They don’t even begin to compare to the average normal type and dragon type magical beasts .

But naturally, their population is scarce .

I was quietly trembling in fear .

This overwhelmingly superior existence which suddenly appeared in front of me was a legendary type magical beast; I read about it once in a book .

The lower half of its body was that of a lion, the upper half was that of an eagle; its sharp eyeballs were seizing my entire being .

It had a pair of black wings on its back, almost indistinguishable in the darkness of the night .

Its body was five times bigger than mine .

It was a Griffon .

The Griffon waved its tail, looking into me from every possible angle .

It had an overwhelmingly intimidating aura .

I stood stock still .

From the moment it easily broke through Tameiki-san’s gravity barrier, I knew that I was no match for it .

My physical strength was close to the limit in the first place, so there’s nothing I can do against it .

The decision I came to in an instant was to seek help from Tameiki-san .

“Ta……a…… . !”

I realized it when I opened my mouth, that my words wouldn’t come out .

Was it because my physical strength was close to the limit?

No .

It was the pressure .

I was completely overwhelmed just by the fact that a Griffon was standing right in front of me .

Before I could realize it, I was plunged into silence .

I’m sure that one of the causes was also the lack of physical strength I was experiencing now .

The intimidating aura was only the trigger .

I had no power left in my body .

The Griffon slowly walked towards me .

I must escape…… . !

Contrary to my thoughts, my body wouldn’t move .

Move……!

Move!

But this intimidating feeling was also the key to my problem .

I made a sharp sound and something popped inside me; the same instant I started to run .

However, before I realized it, I was already shooting through the gravity barrier and ended up pinned down on the trunk of a big tree .

I felt the shock on my back and my head slapped onto the tree trunk .

My back was hurting from the attack just now . My vision was swaying .

‘Gyaaaaaaaaa!!’

The Griffon let out a roar and I could see far back inside its throat through its opened beak . The huge eagle head was right I front of my eyes .

The Griffon’s claws were eating through the tree trunk, pressing my body harder .

“Gu, gah…… . . ”

During those ten days of fierce survival, I managed to evade all the critical situations I fell into .

However, this time was different .

It was impossible to escape .

I have no means to survive a legendary type magical beast, not even by accident .

…… . Wait, don’t give up!

This time is the same .

There is no difference whatsoever between this and the critical situations I got over during those survival days .

I took out a knife from my holder with the only hand I had free and thrust it with all my strength into the Griffon’s arm .

However, the knife only pierced through it superficially .

The Griffon didn’t even quiver and kept pressing me down .

It hurts . I feel I’m being crushed .

I can just barely use my ability .

At most, I can produce a sound to drive this thing away .

Still, I was now outside the gravity barrier .

If I were to use up all my strength here I would definitely end up dead .

But I have nothing else to do but risk it and muster my strength… . . !

As I was continuously crushed onto the tree trunk, I somehow sucked in the air…… . and then I shouted, amplifying the sound .

“Sa-save me, Tameiki-san!!!”

My voice echoed through the sea of trees .

Apart from a little flinch, my sound attack just now didn’t have any effect on the Griffon .

I’m dead .

That’s what I thought, but the Griffon let go of the hand which pinned me down and slowly turned around .

I fell down on the ground, stretching out my powerless body .

It happened the next instant .

First, I saw the Griffon being blown off outside of my field of vision .

Next, I saw Tameiki-san with her black hair fluttering, landing on the ground not too far from me .

She looked at my collapsed self and rushed over .

“Are you hurt?”

“… . . Ta-Tameiki-san, you came……As expected from my master……”

“Answer me simply . Where do you feel pain?”

“I don’t have any major… . . injury . I think…… . ”

“I see . That’s good to hear……”

She took a breath then stood up .

Then, she glared at the darkness which was the sea of trees .

“Wait here . I’ll come back soon . ”

Tameiki-san only said this, then started to run towards the darkness .

No way! Does she plan to fight that thing?

After Tameiki-san slipped into the darkness of the night, chasing after the Griffon, thunderous roars resounded here and there in the sea of trees .

When I thought I heard sounds coming from the front, the next instant they came from somewhere behind, and the next from somewhere above .

I could not even imagine what kind of an intense fight was unfolding between Tameiki-san and that Griffon .

A few big trees collapsed with creaking sounds .

Soon the thunderous roars stopped echoing about, and Tameiki-san returned from the depth of the sea of trees, looking not even one bit disturbed .

“The Griffon’s meat has an awful taste so I haven’t left any of it behind .

However, its claws are a valuable raw material . I’ll go pick them up tomorrow . ”

As I thought, she went to defeat it .

My master is amazing . I’m almost losing my heart to her .

“That Griffon played with you . I’m glad you survived . ”

That thing played with me!? Such a troublesome being .

Tameiki-san lifted me up and started to walk slowly towards the camp house .

Completely exhausted, I placed my head on Tameiki-san’s shoulder and closed my eyes . Our bodies were glued together and it felt warm .

I opened my eyes just a tiny bit and saw her hair; I couldn’t stop the urge to sniff it .

Yeah, it smelled really good .

_____________

With wounds all over my body I was forced to continue my training .

All my injuries were covered with medicines, and after one night of rest my training restarted .

My body felt heavy as always, but as soon as I recovered a tiny bit of physical strength I continued with the training .

After two days have past, I became able to more or less switch my ability on and off; all that was left to do now was to get used to it, so we entered the next stage of my training .

“The third stage will forge your dynamic vision and your reflexes to their limit . ”

Or so it appears .

It seems that the third stage will train my dynamic vision and my reflex to their limit .

“You can sense all the sounds around you, but you’re too slow to act after you sense them .

The power to think, judge and quickly act accordingly .

This is what’s you’re missing .

It has no meaning whatsoever if you can hear the sounds quicker than anybody but you can’t react in accordance to that . ”

“I see . ”

I thought that I fairly trained these reflexes during those ten days of survival, but it seems it was not sufficient .

But how does she plan to forge these reflexes?

In order to train someone’s dynamic vision, I heard that you’re usually asked to remember the number plate of passing cars in an instant .

Will she make me look at moving things?

“I’ll be very happy with training my dynamic vision by gazing at Tameiki-san’s movements .

If this is the case, since Tameiki-san is adorable, I’m also highly motivated to do it . ”

“……We’re not gonna do that . ”

She felt a little shy again . She’s too cute .

From the moment I realized this, I occasionally poked at Tameiki-san in this manner . Somehow, it looks that Tameiki-san is happier with being called cute or adorable than beautiful or pretty .

During this training, I’m always confronting with harsh situations, so doing this much should be forgivable, right?

“Then, how am I going to train?”

“You will go for another survival . ”

“…… . . You’re joking, right?”

I felt hopelessness .

“However, this time I’m coming along . ”

“Eh!?”

For real!? Awesome!

“The western region of the sea of trees you flew towards last time is inhabited by comparatively weak magical beasts .

This time we’ll go to the northern region where we can find many magical beasts with a backbone . ”

“Eeh…… . ”

Fifteen days until my training is over . There’s still a long time until then .