episode_0008

20 minutes.

Approaching Gryphon, I thought to myself that I had to finish within exactly 20 minutes.

“Hey… Hey! Run away! A chubby fellow like you can’t handle the kind of magic it possesses!”

Ignoring the words behind me,

I restrained my body, which had heated up like a blazing rock due to the potion’s effects, and slowly raised my sword towards Gryphon.

“Kkirururu-!”

Gryphon made a terrifying sound, tearing through the air as it swung its front paw.

-Shwaaah!

“Ugh-! No-!!”

At that moment,

I swiftly moved my explosively enhanced body, deftly stepping aside just as Gryphon’s front paw sliced through empty space.

“Oh, no…?!”

“Kkirururu-?!”

Aria and Gryphon were astonished by the unbelievable sight.

The potion’s effect lasts for 30 minutes.

Having exceeded the dosage limit and consumed all the potion, the subsequent side effects would be tremendous.

I had to settle this within 20 minutes and escape within 10 minutes.

“Kkirurururu!”

Gryphon slightly soared into the air, wildly flapping towards me.

-Whoosh!

“….!”

“Ugh…!”

Aria, crouching behind me, closed her eyes tightly against the fierce wind, shielding her face with her arms.

Gryphon’s strategy was to obstruct vision and attack.

‘It won’t go as planned…!’

Facing the gust of wind, I charged straight at Gryphon.

“Kkirururururu!”

As a result, Gryphon ceased flapping and descended, aiming its head towards me as if to strike with its horn.

‘Lightning Sword Technique, 2nd Form… Rotational Slash!’

The swordsmanship Iris taught me.

Dodging the incoming attack once and swiftly rotating like lightning, I executed the flashy 2nd Form of the Lightning Sword Technique, vertically slicing through the opponent’s arm in a dazzling manner.

-Schwing!

With the help of the potion, my body’s latent potential was explosively unleashed, reacting remarkably fast.

By a hair’s breadth, I evaded Gryphon’s horn strike and continued rotating in the same direction.

-Whirr!

Subsequently, a rapid succession of strikes followed.

Adding rotational force to the vertical slash, I sent the 2nd Form sword strike towards Gryphon’s horn.

-Thud!

‘…! It still didn’t work!’

Without infusing mana into the sword, could it not pierce through the high-level magical beast’s body?

The powerful strike I unleashed bounced off Gryphon’s horn, unable to withstand its strength.

-Humming!

As a result, the force I exerted for the strike transmitted fully to my wrist.

‘Damn… that hurts.’

Despite knowing Gryphon’s weakness, why couldn’t I, in this cursed body, exploit it?

Gryphon’s vulnerability lies in its horn. All its nerves are connected to the horn, so damaging it momentarily disrupts its directional sense.

Exploiting this opening to attack would guarantee subduing a quasi-boss level magical beast like Gryphon… but with my current body, I couldn’t land a blow on Gryphon’s body after impairing its horn and causing it to go berserk.

“How should I deal with this…?”

“Hey, unnamed swordsman over there!”

Muttering to myself, Aria called out from behind.

“The right leg! Look at Gryphon’s right leg!”

Look at the right leg?

Hearing Aria’s words, I, seething with anger, glanced at Gryphon’s right leg, which was flapping furiously.

‘…!’

Bleeding?

A slight bleeding was occurring at the joint of Gryphon’s right leg.

As soon as I noticed, Aria continued speaking rapidly.

“I targeted its nerves with my strike! That Gryphon fellow definitely received a hit on its nerve at the joint, so its right leg movements will be impaired!”

Bingo.

My mind began to race. Dozens of ways to overcome the situation started flooding in.

However, a question arose there.

I shouted to Aria behind me.

“I got it! But can you strike the griffin’s body?!”

“It’s possible! If I focus, just once…!”

“Then I’ll create an opportunity, so quickly recover and get up! I’ll give the signal!”

“…! Understood!”

Soon, Aria struggled to rise and seemed to concentrate. It seemed like she was drawing upon her magic power.

“Let’s have a date for a while. Griffin Nari.”

“Kkirururururu-!”

The griffin, looking furious, once again lunged towards me.

Once again, with all my might, I dodged to the right.

-Thunk! Swoosh!

The griffin’s horn stuck into a random tree.

“Kkirururururu?!”

The bewildered griffin momentarily paused in its movements.

“Now’s the time!”

I swiftly plunged towards the griffin’s lower body.

As observed, bleeding was occurring from the muscles of its right leg.

If there were any torn skin or wounds…

“I can strike too!”

Thunder Sword Technique, 3rd Form: Il Do Yang Dan.

1st form is thrusting. 2nd form is vertical slashing, and 3rd form is horizontal slashing.

As a basic sword technique, Thunder Sword Technique is based on the fundamental martial art ‘Samjae Sword Technique.’

I accurately utilize it as taught by Iris.

Normally, to fully unleash the 3rd form, one must enhance physical abilities with magic power, but…

After consuming Kanglyeon Grass and using a trick to strengthen my body, even crudely, I can mimic that move.

“Uryaaaaa!”

Furthermore, having practiced the Samjae Sword Technique 10,000 times each, the synergy makes my movements more refined.

I elegantly rotate and, with that momentum, horizontally slash through the griffin’s massive leg muscles.

-Swish! Clang!

“Kkiruk?! Kkirururururu!”

“….!”

…It was a resounding success.

Aria, who watched me unfold the 3rd form without releasing magic power, looked at me in astonishment.

Naturally. This is the first time I’ve successfully executed the 3rd form like this.

Although I didn’t sever any nerves, I inflicted enough damage to significantly hinder its movements.

As expected, the griffin groaned in pain and thrashed around.

“Kkirururururu!”

“Hey! Now’s the time! Send a sword strike towards its horn!”

“…! Got it!”

Aria, holding the sword, strained to control her body and leaped forward.

“…Is that mana?”

A blue energy, matching the color of her eyes, emanated from her delicate skin and black hair to her eyes.

Like a wildfire, the energy surged. With that energy enveloping the sword, Aria, who had approached me with that energy, raised the sword above her head.

“Eyaaaaaa!”

“Kkiruru?!”

Sensing the danger, the griffin awkwardly moved its right foot, attempting to flee.

But it was too late.

-Kwaaaaah! Swoosh!

Aria fiercely swung the mana-infused sword, ruthlessly slicing through the griffin’s horn, akin to cutting through butter.

“Kki… Kkirururururu!”

“That’s it. Hey! Let’s run now!”

“What? Wait… Agh!”

As the griffin lost its sense of direction and momentarily its sight, I immediately embraced Aria, who was staggering beside me, in a princess carry position.

Then, we swiftly fled from the scene.

“What, what are you doing…! How dare you touch me!”

“Just stay still! The griffin being vulnerable is only temporary! Once it regains its senses, it will attack again!”

…!

In shock, Aria, who had been hitting my body with her fists while being carried, fell silent.

While running, I also grabbed the torso of the young Great Eagle I had killed earlier with one hand.

A headless body. I can still use its blood. Since it was recently killed, using it within a day poses no problem.

“I came here because of this creature in the first place; I must not let it go!”

Aria looked at me with a puzzled expression, wondering why I picked up such a corpse, but there was no chance for me to respond.

Soon, the effect of Kangryeoncho will end. It feels like it’s been about 20 minutes.

At that moment, while running,

“Ugh-?!”

Suddenly, every muscle and bone in my body screamed in agony.

It was an incredibly painful sensation, to the point where I felt such pain for the first time in my life.

“Ugh! This can’t be happening. Has it already been 30 minutes…?!”

“…?! What’s happening! What’s going on…! Eek!”

When I had somewhat escaped Gryphon’s domain,

I quickly slammed Aria and the baby Great Eagle’s bodies onto the lush overgrown ground.

With a sudden slam, Aria rose up, furious.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

“Hey! I can’t run anymore! You go ahead and run to the village first!”

“What…? What are you saying! If you’re alone, the surrounding monsters will swarm you! Do you want to die?!”

“After the battle with the Griffin earlier, the nearby monsters are scared and won’t come for a while! So go to the village and call for help!”

With those words as my last resort, I regained my composure amidst the overwhelming pain and adjusted my posture.

If I were to faint now, I would be out for at least two days. Then, my purpose and efforts coming here would be in vain.

I wiped the headless corpse of the baby Great Eagle on my sword, staining it with blood.

-Swish!

“Gah-!”

I lightly cut around my wound with the blood-stained sword.

The Great Eagle’s blood began to seep into the small wound.

“What are you doing right now?! Are you trying to ruin your wound?! The Great Eagle’s blood is extremely toxic to wounds!”

“I know that too! Hurry, run to the village and call for help!”

“What…!”

There’s no time. Ignoring Aria’s protests, I reached into my pocket.

What I pulled out was a mid-level Lotus Pill glowing pink.

Lotus Pill. I secretly took out about eight of them from the Duke’s medicine storage, which were in good condition.

Taking one or two pills a day strengthens the wound, but taking more than five excessively can reverse the wound and endanger your life.

I swallowed all eight pills whole.

“…Gulp.”

“Aaargh! You’ve lost your mind! You clearly want to die!”

Ignoring Aria’s complaints, I focused my mind and began meditating.

-Whoosh!

Along with the mana-infused air rushing in, the extremely toxic blood of the Great Eagle rapidly permeated the wound.

Simultaneously, the energy of the eight Lotus Pills I had swallowed whole swirled within the wound.

“Ugh…!”

Now these two energies were interacting with each other.

Have you heard of “fight poison with poison”?

One poison can be deadly, but when two compatible poisons meet, they can become a remedy.

A method widely used in Eastern medicine. It also existed in Ariel’s game world.

Perhaps a foreign story developer was a fan of Eastern dramas or something.

One of them was the “Wound Reconstruction Method” I am using now.

Melting the toxic wound with extreme toxicity, reversing it with the pill, and repeating the process to rebuild the wound normally.

It was a well-known method among knowledgeable people.

Judging by Aria’s reaction, most residents of this world seem unaware of this method.

Aria had already tired herself out and fled to the village a long time ago.

Enduring the tremendous side effects of Kangryeoncho for about an hour, I continued meditating.

“Ugh…! Urrrgh….”

It was excruciating. Originally, this method was known among experienced players to accompany severe pain and lower character conditions, but adding Kangryeoncho’s side effects on top of that…

But I couldn’t afford to lose consciousness.

Right now, this method is the only way to quickly become stronger in a short period.

I, who had previously slain a wyvern with one hand, didn’t like the idea of struggling against just a griffin!

…I will definitely become stronger. I can’t live feeling unjust like this.

With determination engulfing me, I endured the rising tide at the altar for a while.

As the tide began to calm down gradually, I sensed something approaching from the thicket.

“Kkirururururu-!”

It was a griffin, enraged and charging towards me, having lost its horn.