Knight and Wand

Chapter 17: Lion Falls
In the gray and dark forest, Leon led the way with a dazzling spiritual lamp.

As everyone moved forward, the soul light in the wooden cage dispelled the gloom from the surrounding objects, and wherever the light shone, everything returned to its glory in the real world.

But as the range of the spiritual lamp and Leon's footsteps moved away, the original gray color once again covered the way back like a shadow.

After using the Earth Spirit Lamp, Leon gradually understood the concept of time and space confusion that the girl's voice referred to.

As they followed the light of the spirit lamp and kept moving forward impartially, the light would often suddenly dim, which meant that they had unknowingly strayed from the guidance.

Leon had to hold the spirit lamp and probe around, re-adjusting the position where the light was brightest.

Sometimes it is left, sometimes it is right. It is even behind the direction they came from in their naked eyes. This means that they must suppress their sense of direction and common sense instincts and go back the same way to get back to the correct "direction".

It is not the place where the soul in the lamp wants to go that is changing; what is constantly changing is the seemingly calm space and time under your feet.

The entire spiritual field is like a maze with no rules to follow, and time and space are like a ball of mixed paint that is constantly stirred and turned in a bucket.

No wonder it is said that no one can walk out of this so-called "cursed land", Leon sighed in his heart, standing in place looking at the spirit lamp in his hand that kept flickering. At this moment, no matter which direction it was facing, the frequency of the alternation of light and dark was difficult to stabilize.

This was not the first time they had encountered this situation. According to the advice of the girl, Leon and the others would be better off waiting where they were, so as to avoid moving forward rashly and causing the route to deviate further.

Not until the light of the spirit lamp stabilized again in the chaotic space and time did Leon and others turn to the stabilized direction.

The long sword crackled as it chopped through the thorns that blocked the way. Since taking a detour might inevitably result in going in the wrong direction, the three of them could only continue to cross all the rugged terrain in front of them.

It was a difficult journey, but fortunately, apart from the occasional encounter with a few wild beasts and human zombies, there were no other troubles. Although ordinary ghosts and ghouls were still a bit threatening, the three young men, armed with weapons and working closely together, made it not difficult to deal with them.

Especially when holding the knight's sword, Leon felt that using this sharp blade to kill ordinary zombies was as easy as cutting melons and vegetables.

No one knew how much time had passed, nor how far they had walked. Suddenly, they heard a cry of pain and grief coming from the front.

"what is that?"

Azerien and Lohak behind him immediately became alert.

The underlying tone of the voice sounded like an eagle's roar, but it was as loud and deep as a lion or tiger's. It must be a ferocious beast.

What kind of undead beast is this zombie?
Leon nervously took a few steps forward, pushed aside the dense branches and looked around quietly.

The scene before him surprised him. It was not the undead.

Not far away, a huge beast was lying on the ground in a pool of blood, howling.

This is the first truly living creature the three have encountered so far!
I saw that the huge beast had a body, limbs and tail like a lion, but it had a pair of huge wings on its shoulders. One of its wings flapped weakly at its side, creating gusts of wind, while the other was pressed to the ground, and its brown feathers were covered with blood.

When Leon glanced sideways and saw the beast's huge eagle-like head and eagle beak, a word immediately popped into his mind without anyone explaining it to him.

Whether it is the original owner's memory or Leon's own memory on Earth, they can recognize this fantasy creature.
——Griffin.

But at the moment, the huge beast is not as ferocious and elegant as described in the traditional impression. Instead, it is in a miserable state and covered with wounds.

There was a pile of broken trees under its body, and it looked like it might have been knocked down when it fell from the sky. Of course, the injuries from the fall were not the reason for the griffin's wailing. An extremely thick and large crossbow shaft tail was exposed on its chest and abdomen when it was lying on its side, and the blood flowing from the wound had formed a pool of blood on the ground.

Azerien and Lohak also poked their heads out.

"Do you want to take a detour?" Azerien turned and asked Leon. After experiencing all kinds of monsters and demons, the young man is now inevitably numb. He will no longer be surprised by anything that appears in front of him.

"It looks like it's dying." Lohak looked at the seriously injured chest and abdomen of the legendary king of beasts and felt a little sympathetic.

"I don't know who committed such a blasphemous atrocity." Azerien frowned, feeling puzzled. Those who would use large crossbows to attack griffins must be other intelligent life forms. However, the boy didn't know whether the griffin was injured in the outside world or after accidentally entering the cursed land.

The reason why he felt it was blasphemous was that in the impression of the Serrians, the griffin was a noble, pure and friendly creature. Especially in the stories sung in the scriptures of the Holy Sun Church, it was endowed with a divinity that surpassed that of wild beasts.

Although this sky overlord that nests on high cliffs and mountains is at the top of the food chain, it rarely attacks humans in the wild. Therefore, in the minds of the Serians, griffins have never been seen as man-eating beasts. There are even laws in the kingdom that explicitly prohibit harming griffins.

However, they are indeed no longer in the territory of the Kingdom of Serrian, so who knows what the people of Kantadar and Orland think of the griffins? Thinking of this, Azerien could only withdraw his gaze from the griffin with regret and sadness.

"Let's stay away. It looks like it can't even stand up. It shouldn't be a threat." Leon didn't have the same sentimental thoughts as his two companions. He just felt that the poor dying beast in front of them could not hurt the three of them.

Slightly avoiding the route, Leon took the lead and tiptoed around the griffin blocking the way from the side, continuing to move forward with the lantern.

Azerien and Lohak followed in turn.

The griffin in the pool of blood was still wailing and gasping weakly, its huge, sharp claws like barbs painfully leaving terrible claw marks on the ground again and again, grabbing the soil in vain. The heavy injuries were slowly taking away its last bit of strength, but its keen hearing and sense of smell allowed the beast to be aware of all the movements around it, and it smelled the scent of humans nearby.

The griffin struggled instinctively, trying to get up, fearing that the hateful humans who hunted it would track it down to this strange land again.

However, even if he just wanted to stand up, the endless pain when his muscles were pulled and the exhaustion forced him to fall heavily back to the ground.

——Bang!

Leon and the other two were startled by the sudden noise of the griffin rising up, but when they saw the beast half-turn over and then fall to the ground with a thud, they realized it was a false alarm.

"Hurry up, hurry up." Leon hurriedly urged his companions behind him.

Just as he was trying to get away from the dying griffin, he heard the existence in his heart suddenly say: ".You'd better go help it."

Leon almost thought he had heard it wrong.

"Help it? You mean... the griffin?" He stopped in confusion and looked back at the beast behind him whose cry was gradually becoming weaker.

"Do you want me to kill it quickly?" Leon hesitated, raised the sword in his hand, and gestured to cut its throat.

"? Haha, great, then after you take action, you will have to face an undead griffin seeking revenge on you~" The girl couldn't help but laugh.

"!"

Only then did Leon realize what the other party meant.

Yes, if this beast died in the spirit-like field, then soon there would be a giant beast-level zombie roaming around that was far more powerful and terrifying than the previous corpse knight.

And it might even fly!

Leon suddenly became anxious. The three of them had a hard time dealing with the zombies of ordinary humans and wild beasts, so of course there was no way they could fight against the zombie-like griffins.

"Then how can we save it? I'm not a veterinarian. It's seriously injured. Do you have any way to save it?" Leon asked hurriedly.

"Don't be nervous, it's not that troublesome. Go and help it pull out the crossbow arrow, and leave the rest to its self-healing power. As long as it doesn't die before you get out, that's enough, isn't it?" The girl said at the end, with some emotion: "I hope that Master Holemond's creations will be as tenacious as in the past."

"Holemund what?" Leon couldn't hear the girl's whisper behind her.

"Do you want to listen to a story? Or do you want to quickly eliminate the hidden danger in front of you?" The girl reminded in a rather nonchalant voice.

Leon immediately threw away his unnecessary curiosity.

He told his companions to wait on the side, and then quickly ran towards the griffin.

Azerien and Lohak looked at each other as usual and did not raise any objections. Although they did not know what Leon was going to do, he was always right.

As Leon approached carefully, suppressing his instinctive fear of the beast's huge body, the seriously injured griffin could hardly make any additional reactions except flapping its wings slowly and in vain.

Feeling a little relieved, he walked around to the other side of the griffin's body and observed the thick crossbow shaft tail on its chest and abdomen from a distance.

The size of this crossbow arrow is too large, and it is obviously not something that can be fired by an ordinary crossbow. Even if it is not at the level of a siege crossbow, it is a weapon specially used to shoot large wild beasts.

To be honest, according to common sense, the location and depth of the wound would be fatal to an ordinary beast. Leon even felt it was a miracle that the griffin was not dead yet.

Leon followed the griffin's body and glanced at the huge and ferocious claws, still feeling a little creepy in his heart.

He approached the griffin's chest and abdomen without any protection to help it remove the crossbow arrow. It would be fine if the beast appreciated it. Otherwise, its hooked and razor-like claws would suddenly attack him and he would be ripped open in an instant.

Leon took a tentative step forward nervously.

The griffin's sharp and vigilant eagle eyes stared at the approaching human, and its sharp claws dug deeper into the ground.

Leon looked at the griffin's taut claws and immediately retracted his steps and returned to his original position.
It really doesn’t work. It’s still too dangerous.

Inadvertently looking at the eagle head of the griffin that turned to look at him, Leon stared at the beast with some distress.

"Relax, big guy, I just want to save you, can you not be so nervous? If you cause a doctor-patient conflict and kill me, you will die here too." He was so helpless that he began to try to talk to the beast.

Just when Leon felt at a loss, he seemed to be able to read some complex emotions from the beast's eyes. Maybe it was an illusion?
"I'm telling you, you're coming towards me with a sword that's shining with cold light. Even a human would be scared of you." The girl's voice sounded as if she was amused by Leon's stupidity.

(End of this chapter)