Chapter 89 - An Artificial Beast

It was a puzzle that opened if one had the key already or made the key that perfectly fitted in the key hole. It was also at a level that was possible only when the mana was arranged delicately as if to carve a pattern with a needle. But she was not hopeless or frustrated by it. It was just interesting. With a smile on her face, she began moving mana. Stars moved into places.

‘It’s pretty fun that it fits together perfectly.’

Without a single mistake, Azriel made the same constitution accurately.

“Esthera.”

Whirr.

“I did it!”

According to the colors of the mana that she poured in, the door was lit with a golden light. Then it slowly opened. At the same time, a huge unknown object popped out at a tremendous speed and bumped her.

“Eek!”

She was flown out and was thrown to the wall. The marble wall was cracked from its impact and soon, its pieces fell in great masses.

“Ouch…”

She was bounced out because of the huge impact, but her protective barrier was not broken. Rubbing her elbows, she looked up in-between the piles of stones. [Grrrr] With a low cry, she heard a noise that sounded like a piece of iron scratching against an iron plate. She saw a shadow of a beast that was as large as a house through the cloud of dust.

‘An artificial familiar spirit?’

The huge beast lowered its body and was glaring at her. Azriel arranged mana and observed the beast which was revealed through the cloud of dust. It had legs like tree logs, steel claws, yellow brown fur that covered its whole body, red eyes with vertical pupils, and long fangs that stuck out of its mouth. The end of its whip-like tail, which was sweeping the floor, looked like the poisonous stinger of a scorpion. From its neck and around its head was filled with black feathers and there were black-feathered wings on its back as well.

‘It looks like a lion with wings.’

It was a beast she had never seen before, not even in the illustrated monster book. It was natural as it was an artificial creature made by ancient wizards. While Azriel was observing it, the beast was also observing her. Its bright red eyes rolled and narrowed. Its narrowed eyes were fixated on her.

“Esthera!”

She recited the spell reflexively. After a moment, there was a loud clashing noise. The beast ran against the mana wall that rose up before Azrie

‘It’s so fast.’

In the blink of an eye, it dashed to her. If she did not build a mana wall intuitively, she would have bounced out again. The beast took a few steps backward and shook its head. Showing its teeth, it growled. Azriel thought hard as she stood up.

‘Since I don’t know how strong its body is, it’s a little tricky to use offensive magic outright… Let’s catch it for now.’

Looking at the glaring eyes of the beast, she murmured the incantation quietly. Esthera. Then, huge drops of water formed and flew to the beast. [Grrr?] The beast fluttered its wings in surprise. It flew around the air randomly, but inside the ruins was too small for flying. Esthera. Esthera. Esthera. Azriel repetitively recited the spell. Huge water drops that formed without a rest stuck to the beast and joined together. The beast cried out and struck the water drops with its front paw. However, it was impossible to tear the water apart with its claws. It flew around, but it could not get away because the space was too small.

[Grrrrr!]

The mad beast came at Azriel. Bang, bang. With its head, it hammered on the invisible wall and clawed it. Due to its struggle, the rocks and marble wall crumbled like a paper box. However, the invisible wall before her remained the same.

“This is a mana wall that replenishes with my mana as soon as it’s damaged. Give it up.”

Azriel murmured as she looked pitifully at the bleeding forehead of the beast. At last, the beast was completely locked inside the huge water drop that rolled into one. It struggled frantically and stopped moving all of a sudden. Then, it opened its mouth widely and puffed out its chest.

“Huh? No way…”

The beast breathed out fire in the water. Its temperature was so high that its flame was blue. The water evaporated in a flash and steam filled the surroundings.

“Esthera!”

Stars spread like a net. The moss that covered the wall intertwined with each other and became a vine before surging up. It wrapped the steam from all directions. The beast that popped out of the steam was caught in the net of vine. When it was about to tear up the net with its teeth and claws, Azriel put her hand on the vine.

“I’m sorry.”

With a little apology, she uttered the spell. A strong current flowed through the vine. The beast trembled.

“I guess it should be able to withstand this much…”

The red glaring eyes turned to her. She thought it would pass out, but it seemed she had just made it angrier.

“…Oh, it’s not just withstanding it.”

The beast belched out a fire again. The vine was burned in blue flames and was snapped off. The blue fire caught on the beast’s body, which was wrapped with the vine, but not a single hair of the beast was burned.

“Wow, it doesn’t get hurt by its own fire. There’s almost no damage from the current as well. Then, I guess I can go a little stronger.”

Murmuring, Azriel took off her hand of the vine. Following her hand gesture, a lighting struck inside. The beast swiftly dodged the lightning dropping on the ground and dashed toward her.

‘It’s indeed fast. It wouldn’t fall behind against Blanchet.’

The beast approached her and cleverly spit out fire below the wall instead of the mana wall. The stone floor melted down like scooped-out ice cream. Not waiting until it was completely melted, it jumped along with the fire it gushed out. After passing below the mana wall, the beast flew to Azriel who was standing still.

“You are smart.”

Admiring in a low voice, Azriel held out her hand. As soon as she let out the incantation, an invisible pressure pressed down the beast. The beast was pushed down flatly against the floor and wriggled. It trembled, stiffening its shoulders but could not stand up. It could only make small cracks on the dented floor with its claws.

“And extremely sturdy. This much pressure would’ve hurt Largo.”

Azriel approached right under the weighed down beast’s nose. It was so huge that its eye level was similar to Azriel’s despite being struck down to the floor.

“I don’t want to hurt you, so don’t move.”

As she approached it, the beast raised its front paw, showing its teeth. Azriel gestured, frowning.

“I said stay put.”

[Whimper.]

The force of the pressure became slightly stronger. The trembling paw failed to strike her and scratched the floor. Azriel placed her hand on the forehead of the beast. It was where a scar formed when it hammered its head against the mana wall.

“Esthera.”

Its scar healed in no time. Noticing that its pain had vanished, it stopped scratching the floor. It looked at Azriel with a puzzled look.