“Leo is surprisingly relentless.”
“I’m just glad we’re in the same class.”
Nella clicked her tongue while watching the match through the magical screen in the stands, and Iliana shuddered.
The Summoning students, already battered by Warren, were nothing more than easy prey for Leo.
“Serves them right! Keep going, Leo! Crush them all!”
“Go, Leo! Do you know how much money I bet on you?!”
Chelsea, who had been the angriest about the ambush, jumped up and down, while Karl twirled his school jacket in excitement, having placed a risky bet on Leo.
“Nella.”
“Yes, Professor Halind?”
“Bring Karl Thomas to me immediately. I’d like to know who told him he could treat his uniform like that.”
At Professor Halind’s cold command, Nella walked toward Karl.
The students of Class 5 chuckled at the sight of Karl getting scolded.
-Oh! At last, Warren and Eliza are clashing in the lead group!
The magical screen suddenly shifted focus to the front of the race.
The audience erupted in cheers at the battle between the ace summoners.
***
Eliza, soaring at high speed, spotted a small flame appearing ahead and quickly maneuvered in midair.
FWOOOOSH-!
The fierce flames suddenly compressed and then—BOOM!—exploded into a massive fireball.
Eliza frowned.
‘A combustion attack using fire and wind spirits.’
The principle was simple.
A fire spirit generated powerful flames.
A wind spirit compressed them, preventing the fire from spreading outward.
Once compressed, the fire became even stronger, and at its peak, it was released.
Issuing two commands to a spirit of the same element already required great skill.
But Warren was commanding two different elemental spirits—one to increase power and the other to control it—simultaneously.
‘This isn’t just skilled spirit control. He’s incorporating magical principles into it. But I never heard of him taking magic classes…’
This explosion wasn’t purely spirit-based.
It was utilizing magical formulas to enhance spirit control.
Eliza chuckled.
‘He’s definitely worthy of being called a monster.’
But Eliza was no pushover either.
As a direct descendant of a renowned hero summoner family, she had barely missed the top spot in the Northern Exam, coming in just behind Chloe.
While Warren’s spirit manipulation was impressive, Eliza’s control over her griffon was nearly supernatural.
Unlike the other students who had been eliminated outright, she was skillfully avoiding Warren’s attacks with little difficulty.
“No matter how strong the attack is, it’s meaningless if it doesn’t land!”
At Eliza’s taunt, Warren smirked coldly.
“Let’s see if you can dodge this too.”
Droplets of water formed around Warren.
They quickly hardened into sharp spikes and launched toward Eliza.
Eliza scoffed and channeled her mana.
Screeeeech!
Her griffon let out a powerful roar as its body swelled to 1.5 times its size.
Warren’s eyes twitched.
‘Beast enhancement?’
The griffon took a deep breath and unleashed a breath attack.
A powerful gust of wind swept away all of Warren’s projectiles.
‘She made the griffon use a breath attack? Impressive.’
Griffons weren’t originally capable of breath attacks.
Yet she had manipulated her beast to mimic such an ability.
The skill to push a summoned beast beyond its limits.
It was clear evidence of her exceptional talent as a summoner.
As the audience marveled at the fierce battle between the ace summoners—
“Let’s go!”
Chen Xia suddenly surged ahead on her griffon.
Having dodged Warren’s earlier attack, she had been waiting for the perfect moment to seize an advantage.
Eliza smirked at the opportunistic move.
“I won’t allow that.”
CRACK!
“Hup?!”
Eliza pulled out a whip from her side and lashed it.
The long, ten-meter whip slithered like a snake before wrapping tightly around Chen Xia’s neck.
At the same time, fire started gathering in front of her.
Chen Xia reacted quickly, pushing off the griffon with her legs.
WHOOSH!
The griffon, propelled downward, avoided the blast.
Using the momentum, Chen Xia tore off the whip with sheer force.
As she plummeted through the air, her griffon swooped down just in time to catch her.
“Phew! *Cough!* That was a bit much, Lady Eliza.”
Even in the midst of battle, she hadn’t been given an opening.
Then—
FWOOOSH!
A massive wingbeat echoed.
Chen Xia’s eyes widened.
“A Black Wyvern?”
“Damn it!”
A rough curse rang out.
Turning, she saw Liu, who had been thought eliminated, now riding a small black wyvern, catching up from the rear.
“Liu! Using a beast other than a griffon is against the rules!”
“Shut up! Like I care! I kept this as my secret weapon! Warren! Eliza! Chen Xia! I’m taking all three of you down at once! Wipe them out!”
ROOOOAR!
The black wyvern let out a fearsome cry.
“How did that idiot form a contract with a Black Wyvern?”
“That’s not a Black Wyvern. It’s some kind of mutated variant.”
Warren looked puzzled, while Eliza narrowed her eyes.
As the dark wyvern unleashed its black breath—
Screeeeech!
A griffon’s roar echoed from a distance.
WHOOSH!
Leo suddenly shot forward at an incredible speed, breaking into the lead group.
“Leo!”
Chen Xia smiled and waved.
Leo casually waved back, then noticed Liu and narrowed his eyes.
“Ha! I don’t know how you caught up, but fine! Leo Plov! I’ll crush you along with the others—”
“Hey.”
Leo’s voice dropped to a low growl.
The atmosphere instantly grew tense.
“Where did you get that lizard?”
Leo’s crimson eyes glowed fiercely.
The creature Liu was riding wasn’t a wyvern.
It wasn’t even a summoned beast.
‘Fafnir.’
One of the ancient calamity beasts once eradicated by the great heroes of the Age of Catastrophe, a monster under Tartarus’ control.
“What…?”
Liu flinched as he met Leo’s piercing gaze.
“I asked where you got that lizard.”
“This is my contracted summoned beast! Jealous that I got a good one?”
“Summoned beast?”
Leo’s expression darkened.
Calling a monster handled by Tartarus’ beast tamers a “summoned beast” was beyond ridiculous.
Leo looked around.
The other students showed only wariness but no other reactions.
They clearly believed Fafnir to be a summoned beast.
‘In the summoning class, we never studied Fafnir as a beast type.’
Fafnir was one of Tartarus’ main warbeasts during the Age of Catastrophe.
That was why Kyle and his comrades had hunted them down relentlessly.
‘By the end of that era, they were nearly extinct.’
If they had been completely wiped out, it wouldn’t be surprising that modern summoners didn’t recognize them.
‘But then there’s one thing that doesn’t make sense.’
Leo’s expression stiffened.
‘Why is a supposedly extinct warbeast appearing now?’
As Leo pondered, Liu smirked confidently.
“Hah! I see you’re shocked to witness my contract with a high-rank summoned beast!”
“Liu, no matter how powerful your summoned beast is, you’ve already been disqualified. Step aside. If you continue resisting, you won’t get off with just a warning.”
“Shut up! A competition with restrictions? That’s ridiculous! I have the power to wipe you all out! I’ll prove it right now!”
SCREEEEECH!
Fafnir opened its jaws wide and charged forward, unleashing a torrent of flames.
“There’s a limit to how much one can overestimate themselves.”
Eliza scoffed at Liu.
“Shut up! You’re just lucky you were born into a good family!”
Grinding his teeth, he changed his target to Eliza.
Fafnir was faster and stronger than a griffon.
But Liu’s control over Fafnir was abysmal.
Watching Eliza evade Fafnir’s attacks with almost acrobatic movements, Leo clicked his tongue.
‘He’s just being dragged along by the beast.’
Far from controlling Fafnir, Liu was being overwhelmed by its strength, unable to make sound decisions.
At that moment, Chen Xia leapt from her griffon and landed on Fafnir’s tail.
Fafnir flailed its tail furiously, but Chen Xia held on tight.
Instead of losing balance, she used the momentum to charge straight toward Liu.
Encased in blue aura, Chen Xia lunged, making Liu’s face turn pale.
“H-Huh?”
He tried to react, but there was no way he could handle Chen Xia in close combat.
FWOOSH! CRACK!
“Wha—?”
Fafnir’s wings suddenly twisted at a bizarre angle.
Chen Xia, mid-charge, barely dodged the unnatural movement but lost her balance and fell.
“Hahaha! How’s that?! The power of my summoned beast!”
Liu cackled as Chen Xia plummeted toward the ground.
Her griffon dove down to catch her.
“Not so fast!”
But Liu interfered, making the griffon miss its timing.
Eliza clicked her tongue and dove after Chen Xia.
FWOOOSH!
“…!”
But before Eliza could reach her, Leo sped past, swiftly catching Chen Xia and pulling her onto his griffon.
“Thanks, Leo!”
“Don’t do anything reckless.”
Leo smirked as he resumed his flight.
‘Fast… What the hell did he do to his griffon?’
Eliza narrowed her eyes, observing Leo.
“LEO PLOOOOOOOV!”
Liu roared in fury.
‘He’s losing his mind due to the beast contract.’
Glancing at Liu, Leo placed Chen Xia back onto her griffon.
Warren and Eliza flew toward them.
“As expected of the student representative.”
Eliza smirked.
“Acting like you don’t have a summoned beast, but you secretly contracted a high-tier one with a blessing skill?”
“Sharp eyes.”
“You can’t fool a member of the Hergin family. So, what beast did you contract? Judging by the flames, it must be fire-attributed.”
“That’s a secret.”
Leo placed a finger to his lips playfully.
Eliza scoffed.
“Hmph, either way, Liu is controlling a high-rank summoned beast. He’s not handling it well, but stat-wise, he’s overwhelmingly superior. We need to work together.”
“That’s not a summoned beast.”
“…What?”
“That’s a warbeast.”
End Of Chapter
