Chapter 198: Revisiting the Old Place

Soaring among the rolling clouds, listening to the cold wind blowing and the occasional flapping of the giant wings of the gryphon, Leon looked at the unchanging sea of ​​clouds.

It's much easier than flying a plane.

He could imagine how much complex knowledge and skills pilots in previous lives had to learn to control aircraft.

However, riding the Gryphon is now a pleasant experience.

After all, the "pilot" who really controls the process is not the rider, but the rider himself.

Flying, positioning, and navigation. If no further instructions are needed, all these are directly left to the griffin's own abilities, and the passengers on its back do not have to do anything.

Leon stuck the iron rein on the front saddle, stretched out quite comfortably, and maintained his posture for a while.

After informing the Deathclaw of its approximate heading, riding a griffon was even more comfortable than traveling on horseback when cruising without making large maneuvers.

Of course, the premise is that the rider is not afraid of heights and has reached the current cruising altitude of several thousand meters above sea level. The physique must be able to withstand the thin air environment and the uninterrupted temperature range from a few degrees above zero to more than ten degrees below zero. The wind blows away the temperature.

Ordinary people, even if the inner and outer layers are tightly wrapped, may not be able to control the beast to fly to such a height. Otherwise, they will either freeze to death on the back of the gryphon or suffocate to death while cruising at high altitude.

Of course, Leon doesn't have this trouble, and he doesn't need the magic tricks he has now. He has this body of a martial knight with strong magic power. Even if he is naked in the polar wind and snow, he can still activate the human body in this world under the stimulation of the environment. The functional temperature adaptability can withstand low temperatures and severe cold that ordinary people cannot resist.

but

The little brother behind him does not have such a strong body.

Looking back, Leon asked his partner in the passenger seat with concern: "Is it cold? Is it uncomfortable? Do you want me to lower the Deathclaw to a low altitude?"

Although he tried hard to listen, the howling wind still made it difficult for the blond boy to hear clearly. He could only lean forward as close as possible and asked loudly: "What did you say?! I didn't hear clearly!"

Leon raised his voice and repeated it loudly in Corvis's ear.

"I mean! Akao, are you cold?"

Corvis heard it clearly now. He shook his head and replied loudly: "It doesn't matter! I can adjust the magic element to let my body adapt! It's not cold!"

No matter what the caster's physical condition is, he will always have a way to cope with extreme environments.

Leon felt relieved, turned his head and continued to look at the heading.

Although there was nothing to see, there was no need for him to interfere during the journey anyway.

Even if the gryphon does not descend to identify the mountains and rivers on the earth, it will not fly in a wrong direction.

Leon learned from the vitality information in the magic book that most of the native flying creatures in the world have the senses and ability to feel the magic tide and the earth's spiritual veins.

The only difference is the sensitivity and accuracy. This biological positioning system is much more reliable than visual navigation.

If it weren't for the lack of accurate distance data and the inability to provide Deathclaw with the precise location of the destination town, Leon would have wanted to just stare in the saddle for a while.

Anyway, the locked straps and chains wouldn't let him be thrown off halfway.

Although the blue sky and white clouds are beautiful, it is just like driving on the highway. Looking at it for a long time will inevitably become boring. Even if you accidentally see a group of wild geese in the distance, you will be frightened and run away early because of the intimidation of the griffons. The whistling wind will make you even more nervous. He couldn't chat with Corvis to relieve his boredom, he could only stare at the unchanging sky in a daze.

Flying all the way to the southwest, the timing hourglass on Leon's waist for the last time ran out.

Timing on the move isn't quite as accurate, but it's not much of an error.

He estimated that he would arrive near his destination, so he quickly held on to the iron reins, and his consciousness gave the command to the Death Claw to lower the altitude.

The gryphon immediately lowered its head and swooped down with a roar from its huge body.

Through the gaps between layers of clouds and mist.

When Leon and Corvis once again overlooked the endless green mountains and green waters below, they suddenly felt refreshed.

Looking at the mountains and forests on the earth, Leon estimated that the Kantadar town that Queen Ines led the army to capture should be in this area.

Suddenly, he felt a strong biological signal from the Death Claw in his mind.

That signal carried vague hostility, hatred, and hunting impulse.

Leon looked sideways in confusion, following the direction of the gryphon's warning, and looked to the low-altitude area in front and to the left.

Soon, he distinguished a small black spot that looked like a bird. Suddenly, as if it had discovered danger, the black spot sped up and fled far away.

Somewhat strangely, with the advanced intelligence of Deathclaw, it is impossible for him to be unable to control his hunting instinct.

Even if he was hungry, he had already informed the gryphon in advance that he would be able to have a snack when he arrived at his destination. So why did the Deathclaw want to divert to hunt the prey in the middle of work?

"Akao, use your magic to help me see what that thing is." Leon pointed there and shouted back.

The young man in the deputy seat followed the master's instructions and immediately cast a spell to open the magic circle, magnifying the distant scene.

What caught their eyes was an extremely familiar flying creature.

Looking sideways at the picture presented within the magic light curtain, Leon was a little surprised.

Not only because the outline of its eagle head and wings was very similar to that of a griffon, but also because that creature was the "enemy" that he and Corvis had faced on their way to escape.

A Hippogriff, and not a wild Hippogriff.

Staring at the saddle carried on the Hippogriff's horse and the broken straps swinging left and right in the wind, Leon's memories from a few months ago were pushed into his mind.

I can't forget this look. The straps were torn off by the impact of Isa's Arrow.

This hippogriff was the mount on which Master Artias, who was chasing Corvis, was riding.

This bastard didn't suffer the same fate as its owner?

No wonder the Deathclaw couldn't help but feel angry and hostile. Seeing the flying mounts commonly used by Artias mages must have reminded it of its own experience of being hunted by Imperial mages.

"My Lord, the Hippogriff is a very loyal creature. Even if its master dies, it will linger around for a long time. This may not be far from the place where we fought with Eamon." Corvis speculated.

Leon couldn't help but be reminded of more memories.

At that time, he was accidentally attacked. After waking up from the coma, he couldn't figure out the situation, so he panicked and took the unconscious Corvis to escape into the nightmare forest.

It was only later that I learned from Laura that he had made an unnecessary move. The pursuer had long ago used spiritual magic indiscriminately due to his poor academic skills, and had suffered the backlash caused by the accidental casting of the spell.

etc.

Leon realized the key. Since it was no coincidence that the Hippogriff appeared here, could it be that the cursed place Inis encountered was the moth left by Master Artias?

Well, luckily he was gloating that he let the lord of Kantadar have to deal with that trouble, but in the end he came full circle and the trouble came back to him.

Taking a deep breath, Leon compared the scene he saw with the route he took during his escape in Kantadar a few months ago.

The pictures from the ground and from the sky are very different, but this guess is definitely close to ten.

Leon couldn't help but silently ask Miss Mage for confirmation: "Lola, have you guessed it earlier?"

Miss Mage responded to his guess.

"As you might think, the trouble here is probably caused by the little mage Rodok who overestimates his capabilities."

After getting the exact answer from his teacher, Leon fell into thinking.

When he escaped back to Selva through the Nightmare Forest, the tracking runes on Corvis's back were erased by the young man himself after using his magic power for a period of time.

This shows that Eamon did not die due to the backlash of magic from the spiritual world at least during that period of time.

Now it seems that that guy is still living in the cursed field caused by it, but he doesn't know what form he is alive in.

Laura had always kept a secret from him about the threatening realm called "Spirit Realm", but at least it was certain that the dangerous evil spirits there would never let go of a mage's delicious soul.

Leon thought of Rohark's distorted appearance after being possessed by the "Rage Demon".

That ferocious spiritual demon can make a strong ordinary boy possess terrifying power beyond that of an ordinary martial knight.

How dangerous would an upright mage become if he was possessed?

After such a long time, Eamon's body may have been completely transformed into the demonic body after the demon came, and I don't know if he can deal with it.

But Leon then thought about it, since Laura judged that he could deal with this hidden danger and also accompanied him, it should be within the scope of his ability to deal with it.

He is no longer the weak runaway boy he was back then.

Besides, even if we can't solve the cause of the rift in the spirit world and completely eliminate the spirit-like field caused by Eamon, it seems that we can set up a warning area around the cursed land to prevent accidental entry like the nightmare forest in the past, and just leave it alone. Bar?

Leon shrugged and took a look inside. If he could help Inis find Alade, he would give it a try. If the risk was too high, give up the mission and run away.

Patting the body in front of the gryphon's saddle, Leon calmed down the deathclaw's anger towards the hippogriff and continued to search for Inis's location.

Rutansan town.

On the not-so-high city wall, a veteran sergeant wearing a blue and white robe yawned.

But he felt suddenly being patted hard by a comrade on the side.

"Oh! Look, something is flying over here. It has limbs. It doesn't seem to be an eagle. Is it the eagle that Luoman said?" A young sergeant also wore a blue and white quartered uniform. asked pointing to the sky.

"That thing is sneaking around again? Doesn't it like to come at night?" The veteran looked up at what he pointed out and squinted his eyes: "It's a bit similar, but didn't Luoman say that the Hippogriff is the predecessor of the Eagle? The hindquarters of a horse? Why is this tail so long? It doesn’t look like a horse’s tail to me.”

However, it wasn't until the outline of wings spread from the horizon got closer and closer that the veteran realized something was wrong.

With his long-term sense of distance when shooting bows and arrows, he immediately judged the body shape corresponding to the silhouette at the relative distance. He couldn't help but feel a chill in his back. This was too fucking big! ?

Romano said that the hippogriff was only slightly bigger than a war horse, but this giant flying thing in the sky was probably bigger than the war elephant of the Urians!

"Griffin!!!"

The knight's roar sounded from the other side of the city, and at the same time, there was a sharp and harsh military whistle.

The more knowledgeable Xiwan knight on the wall recognized the legendary beast and hurriedly shouted at the crossbowman on the tower without grace: "Cring all the crossbows——!"

Although the knights guarding the city wall knew that a noble from the Thorn Flower family might arrive in the near future, either on horseback or on a griffon.

However, the identity of the visitor had not yet been confirmed. He was afraid of mistaking the enemy for a friendly force and did not dare to let down his guard at all. He still asked the soldiers to prepare to meet the enemy. After all, Her Royal Highness the Queen was in the city.

In the town, the alarmed soldiers poured out of the military camp and gathered.

On the tower, the ballista rack was raised, and the base plate was rotated to aim at the approaching beast. Rows of long archers lined up neatly on the wall raised their bows and prepared to shoot.

Fortunately, the griffin did not directly cross the city wall and rush into the town, but only landed on the outskirts of the city not far away.

Without continuing to provoke the defenders in front, Leon had already seen the flag of the Sea Eagle Knights in the town while circling in the sky. He knew that even if this was not the destination, he could still find out the whereabouts of Ines.

However, he turned back and asked Corvis to prepare the barrier magic in case of accidents.

After comforting the restless Death Claw and telling it not to worry about the ordinary crossbow, which was far less dangerous to it than the enchanted siege crossbow of the Atias Empire, Leon asked the big guy under him to walk closer to the town.

Looking at the terrible black-armored beast, it moved its ferocious claws and ran towards the city gate. Its heavy body shook the earth and the West Bay soldiers on the top of the city swallowed their saliva in fear.

Even if the armored monster could not fly into the sky, with such a low height of the city wall, its lion-like body, which was like a lion-tiger magnified many times, could jump onto the top of the city wall with just one leap and start slaughtering the soldiers.

But when all the soldiers saw the rider in plate armor on the back of the monster, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Compared to the unrestrained beast, the life controlled by the same kind is always a little more reassuring.

Besides, since it took the initiative to land, at least it means that it is not an enemy.

The Knight of Xiwan held his spear tightly, saw the sword-wing emblem carvings on the griffin armor, and felt relieved. He leaned out and shouted to the knight sitting on the back of the beast: "Is the person coming here Lord Pendragon of Avalon?"

"It's me." Leon responded to the wall.

After exchanging names and confirming each other's identities, the blue-robed knight on the wall did not dare to delay the princess's important business, and hurriedly asked the soldiers to pull up the heavy gate as usual. Seeing this, Leon waved his hand at the other party.

"No need to open the city gate, I'll just go in directly."

Although the death claw tightened its wings and lowered its head, it could squeeze through the city gate of this town with a rub.

But that was like drilling a dog hole, which was too unfair to an adult griffin of this size.

He patted the death claws under him, and the giant beast immediately spread its wings and leaped, rolling up the wind, and soared into the air amid the curious and awed exclamations of the soldiers on the top of the city.

".My dear mother, the gods are above"

The old soldier on the city wall instinctively shrank his neck in fear under the huge shadow that passed by.

When he heard the rumbling sound of landing behind him, he looked back again, with some fear and some relief in his eyes

Fortunately, it was not the enemy of Her Highness the Princess, but the knights on their side.

The old soldier was also a brave soldier who crawled out of the mountain of corpses. He held a sharp weapon and would not be afraid even if he faced a tiger or a leopard.

But standing in front of the armored giant, his legs were still weak from the bottom of his heart. Even if there were comrades standing around him, he could not give himself a sense of security at all.

The West Bay Knight stationed on the city wall walked down the stairs and wanted to ride his warhorse, but when he saw the mount tied to the stake, neighing and jumping in fear, he gave up the idea and ran to the front of the griffin.

"Lord Pendragon, Her Highness Ines has been waiting in the military camp for a long time." The knight stroked his chest and said.

Seeing that the other party could not ride a horse, Leon untied the straps, took Corvis and jumped off the high saddle, patted the griffin and ordered it to follow, and came to the knight: "Please lead the way as soon as possible."

"Uh, okay." The young West Bay Knight was stunned and was somewhat touched by the other party's actions.

He did not think it was dignified to lead the way for a baron on foot, but he felt the respect given by the other party, and still had a good impression, and bowed again: "Follow me."

With the cool armored war beast behind him, Leon swaggered through the city, ignoring the surprised eyes of the soldiers on the road, and followed the knight who led the way, he hurried all the way to the military camp.

He raised his eyebrows and found that Princess Ines, who was wearing armor, had arrived outside the camp early. She stood in front of the tall knights with one hand on her sword and the other on her waist to greet him.

"You came so fast, Lord Leon. My messenger just came back yesterday." Ines winked at him playfully.

Even though she had never doubted the authenticity of the other party's griffin companion.

But seeing this knight really riding the giant beast, she couldn't help but have a strong desire in her heart.

Squinting her eyes, Ines envied the good luck of the Count of Thorn Flower.

"I am honored to be summoned by Your Highness. I set off as fast as I could."

Being welcomed with such a grand ceremony, Leon was flattered. He was about to kneel down to salute, but Ines suddenly reached out and held his arm armor.

"You don't need to be so respectful when wearing armor. I'm not my father or my brother. Besides, I asked you to help me this time." Ines smiled, raised her blue eyes, and looked at the majestic armored beast behind her. Her eyes suddenly burst into sincere love.

"That's rude." Hearing this, Leon felt relieved, without being pretentious, and stood up to bow instead.

"It is worthy of being a noble creature as famous as a dragon, and even its speed is not inferior. I just don't know who is smarter, your partner or the one of Earl North. Next time there is a chance, why don't I help them match up and compare chess skills?" Ines looked at the black-armored griffin and sighed.

Leon smiled helplessly and said, "This is difficult. My friend used to live freely in the mountains and wilderness. I'm afraid he doesn't know how to play chess."

As he said, he asked the griffin partner behind him in his heart for safety.

Deathclaw was sitting, shaking its wings and looking back to groom its fur with its huge beak. When Leon asked, it couldn't help but raise its head and tilt its head.

Chess? What? Food?

Feeling the clear mind that had not been polluted by knowledge, Leon was speechless and did not embarrass his simple fat chick.

"That's a pity. Come in and talk to me. I'll talk to you about the troubles you've encountered." Ines shook her head and turned to invite the other party to join the camp.

I forgot to post it after writing it. I just woke up and saw the comments and found it