Chapter 4: Level Up
No POV:
[New Objective unlocked]
[Hunt and Kill the Crimson Griffin]
[Rewards: +1000 Exp, 1500pts]
"Damn." He wasn’t seeing things.
Come to think of it, he’s heard stories of a devil that’s been terrorizing a local church for a while.
A winged monstrosity capable of tearing down buildings and impervious to modern weapons.
"Rumor has it that it could smell prey from two blocks away, metal wings and body as tough as rock..." He mumbled.
Apparently it hadn’t been hunted yet because the Hunters hadn’t deemed it much of a threat for it to be worth attacking.
"From what I know, it always laid in the spire of the cathedral only attacking those who dared come too close."
Standing up, he prepared to leave, ready to face his true first devil.
But he didn’t how strong the devil would be.
"Wait..."
He didn’t even know where to find it.
If anything, he needed to find the location of the cathedral first...
[Ding!]
He glanced at the screen. On it was a map—the kind you see in war games, showing the direction and mapping out the shape of the landscape.
There was a white dot on one side and a red dot on the other.
"Ohh I see..."
The system was showing him the way.
"Appreciated." Saying that, he jumped down from the rooftop and ran towards the direction of the red dot.
~~~~~
Jean walked into class, briefly scanning the room. His eyes drifted at a particular seat at the back—the place Axel liked to sit.
Seeing as he wasn’t there, he grew worried.
Most of the school day had already past and Axel hadn’t showed up.
’Was he skipping school now?’ He wondered before walking to his seat...
Then from behind him, Ivan snickered.
"It seems your little buddy isn’t coming today," he said, "you think maybe he ran off?"
Then, in a low taunting voice he spoke again: "Or maybe a devil got to him."
Jean clenched his fist. "We don’t know what happened to him and it’s better if we don’t jump into conclusions."
"Conclusions? Bro, no one’s been able to reach his parents and I’m sure you haven’t been able to reach him as well."
Jean, pressed his lips together. It was true he had been trying to call him. He’s called him 6 times already.
Unfortunately, none of his calls were going through.
But still...
"I’m sure that wherever he is, he’s doing fine." He spoke with a confident smile.
"Tch..." Ivan was about to say something but was cut off when the teacher came into the class.
Jean tried to focus on class but his mind constantly drifted, thinking about Axel’s whereabouts...
"Hope you’re safe, bud."
~~~~~
"Hmmm."
Axel glanced at the map. He had arrived at the destination not too long ago...
The cathedral loomed ahead, the road leading to its entrance cracked and uprooted.
Its spire clawed at the sky like a broken finger — stone cracked, mortar gone, the upper sections barely holding together.
The iron gates at the entrance had collapsed inward, half-swallowed by the earth, their rust the color of old blood. Axel stepped through them, the smell of cement filling his nostrils.
The cathedral doors were gone entirely — the archway stood open like a throat, an entrance to a dark room that looked like a completely different world.
He paused.
Somewhere above, deep in the spire, something shifted. A sound too deliberate for wind. The air itself feeling too dense...
A soft growl resonated from within. The air suddenly felt damp.
It felt his presence.
**WHOOSH**
The air blew toward him, his hair blowing violently.
"What the..."
Grrrrr...
It growled again, this time it sounded like it was above him...
He slowly looked up, his vision adapting to the darkness.
"Holy shit—"
[You have encountered the Crimson Griffin.]
Just as the name suggested, the Crimson Griffin was a monstrous entity. It’s tough hide coated in a shade of crimson with humanoid form standing at least 10 feet tall with viens budging from it’s body.
Jagged horns jutted from both it’s eyes. A mouth filled with jagged rows of teeth stretched across its face with a wingspan of almost 12 feet.
Without wasting a second, Axel activated [Hunter’s Eye.]
[You have used the skill Hunter’s Eye.]
[Displaying entity information...]
[Name: Crimson Griffin]
[Class: Beast Class]
[Rank: B]
[Survival probability: 52%]
"Okay, I think I could make this work..."
"ROOOAARRR!!!"
It’s voice shook the cathedral—stones falling off as it trembled.
Axel staggered, trying to gather his bearings.
**WHOOSH**
**BANG**
"Ack—!"
A wing flew and slammed him in his sides, shooting him through the wall on the other side.
Axel, stepped out, coughing up blood as he held his ribcage in pain.
[Warning: Host had taken serious injuries.]
[Survival probability has dropped to 37%]
"Shit."
The Griffin swung again..
This time Axel rolled to the side causing it to collide with the wall.
**BOOM**
The wall shattered as Axel stumbled to his feet.
"Okay, okay think..."
His eyes scanned the body of the Griffin, looking for possible weaknesses he could exploit.
**WHOOSH**
It swung again aimed directly at his injured side again.
Left without room to dodge, Axel brought his arms up, aiming to block the blow.
**BANG**
The attack hit but this time he was only sent skidding backwards.
He brought his hands down as pain flooded his senses.
"I know that if I have to kill this thing I need to bring it to the ground."
Axel watched as the Griffin soared through the air then dove directly towards him.
Axel turned to his heels and ran towards a crumbled archway.
The Griffin crashed into the doorway, too big to pass through—its head mere inches from Axel’s face.
It wriggled and writhed, trying to break free but it couldn’t.
It was trapped.
Axel used this chance to get onto the entity’s back with the sole purpose of rendering its wings useless.
He scaled the wall, vaulted the archway and landed on the creature’s back.
Immediately, he brandished his blade and sank it into the beast’s back, right at the intersection of both its wings, damaging the joint.
"ROOOAARRR!!!"
The beast roared in pain. The archway exploded by the sheer might of the way it moved.
Axel held, his blade sinking deeper and deeper into its back.
"RAAAAAHHH!"
In one swift motion, the beast twisted, flinging Axel from it’s back.
"Whoa!"
He hit the wall and fell. Dragging himself to his feet.
The best fell to the ground, blood pooling from its body. It tried to flap its wings again but it shivered as it rose in the air, then went limp.
The wings were completely useless.
Seizing this opportunity, Axel ran and delivered a jaw shattering kick, violently twisting it’s jaw to the side.
The beast screamed in pain and tried to pound Axel.
Axel pivoted, using his feet to parry the blow and switching immediately to strike it’s leg.
"RAHHH!!"
The beast fell on one knee and swung its arm, hitting Axel and slamming him into a pillar.
Axel used the pillar to pivot himself upwards before launching himself, hurdling toward the nape of the beast.
**SQUELCH**
His blade stabbed through the nape busting the neck and impaling the beast and tearing through it’s chest..
Blood sprayed everywhere across his face as the beast moved in scattered patterns, slamming Axel into walls and pillars as it choked on its own blood.
But still Axel held on, refusing to be thrown off.
The beast swayed madly for some time before finally falling limp, succumbing to its death.
Axel rolled off the beast, falling to the floor as a wave of exhaustion flooded his body.
[Ding!]
[You have slain the Crimson Griffin]
[You have obtained obtained 1000Exp]
[You have obtained 1500pts]
[Congratulations! You have Leveled Up!]
[Updating Profile window...]
[You have unlocked and a new skill!]
As the notification pooled in, he felt the healing warmth envelope him again as his wounds healed and his fatigue disappeared.
Staring at the string of notifications, he smiled.
"I did it..."
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