..
Unfortunately for the beast, Arthur was unmoved, a giant lizard was not a threat to him. Instead, he moved himself, his body launching itself at the creatures with almost no caution whatsoever.
This was it. For three years, he had watched his master slay beast after beast, with the ease of a butcher cutting apart the limbs of a whole lamb. For three years he had been denied his fantasy, no more.
He recalled the tall lanky figure of a man half asleep weilding a long sword that seemed to cut through anything and everything, earning him the moniker of the [Sleepless Swordsman] true to that name, Arthur has never seen his mentor close his eyes for longer than fifteen minutes.
How his body functioned with such severe lack of sleep was beyond him.
He reached the creature, grin still on his face as he swung his blade, already aiming for the monster's neck.
The blade cut through the air, its path uncontested and clear, and no doubt its edge would cleave through the beast with relative ease.
Unfortunately, Arthur's blade never reached the monster's neck, instead a sudden yet powerful blow struck his side.
Like a whip, the Salamander's tail lashed at him with such speed and force that it tossed him to the side, sending his body crashing into the nearby trees.
His form colliding with hard tree bark, forced Arthur to wheeze and cough, rolling to his feet, and clutching his left ribs, he felt the pressure of the attack but his high-tier DRI spared him the pain.
However, the fact that he felt the pressure of the attack spoke volumes about the power of the Salamander, anything below a high-tier item was probably not going to be enough defense.
He felt a tension in his stomach and his muscles became taut, it wasn't fear that he felt but danger had registered in his mind.
'I should have pre–'
His eyes bulged in surprise, thoughts being cut off as the Explorer witnessed the Salamander already towering over him, having crossed the distance quicker than instant.
Its front leg lashed out and struck his shoulder and an audible crack reached his ears, pain assaulting him while his body was flung to the side.
"Argh!!"
A cry of pain escaped his lips, body tumbling on the dirt, the sharp pain of a broken shoulder assaulted his mind forcing a grit of his teeth as he made attempts to stand.
The creature gave chase, using its four limbs to clear the distance, Arthur had yet to stand however he didn't need to, the threat of the creature was greater than anticipated.
He took a deep inhale and focused the well of Od contained in him and with a sharp exhale he spat a gust of powerful wind that flung the monster back several meters, along with all the loose trees and shrubbery.
It's form crashing and toppling and uprooting trees.
With that Arthur stood on his feet, held his broken left shoulder, If he had no potions with him, his left Arm would be unusable for this battle but things weren't that dire just yet.
"Fuckin hell!!"
He cursed at himself, he had underestimated the monster and that it caught him off guard, it was much faster than anticipated and had much more power, he had guessed the creature was at least a B-class monster something that shouldn't cause him trouble but his assessment was a bit off.
If he had been without a potion and his shoulder broken, that meant he would have to rely on his magic skills, of course that wouldn't be an issue however the typical attitude towards fighting monsters is to rely more on items first before using your skills.
After all, should you run out of mana you're screwed, especially if the monster is A-class and above.
Reaching into his holding sack, he took out a healing potion, gulped it down in a single motion before tossing the vial to the side.
His broken shoulder began to mend itself, the bones cracking as they moved into place and meshing together, barely a second later it was healed and he rotated his arm, feeling no pain or any problems.
The salamander had recovered as well, its body now facing him. He felt its gaze and saw the caution in its gait, the last attack had made it afraid to step forward.
'That's good'
However, it was unfortunate that he had lost grip of his sword when the salamander sent him tumbling and the blade was now closer to the beast than it was to him.
He had underestimated the creature and suffered a broken shoulder, It had greater speed than anticipated, and worst of all it managed to disarm him intentionally or unintentionally.
It became obvious that this now demanded his full attention and strength. However just because he recognized it as a threat did not mean he was less assured of his victory.
His first Quest by himself would not be marked by failure.
"Okay, firstly I ne–"
His words were left unfinished as with the suddeness of lightning striking the ground, as fast as a bullet and as unexpected as rain in summer, a brown blur descended from above, almost like a falling star
The creature crashed on top of the Salamander with the force greater than that of a boulder and, immediately breaking every bone in its body, the shockwave of the crash sent gusts of wind that blew Arthur back several paces, forcing his back to collide with the tree behind him.
The new arrival squawked like an eagle letting out a deafening scream that threatened to burst Arthur's eardrums and nearly force him to his knees.
With a swift motion, the Griffon struck the Salamander's head, its beak breaking through its skull without protest. Its golden beak bathed in the creature's red blood, staining itself as it began to peck at the felled monster, biting off chunks of its head and swallowed.
"We are so not on Go!"
A Griffon, an A-class monster, with a heavy affinity for wind, beak and claws tougher than Iron, a monster that bested even the Wyvern in terms of flight speed. The Wyverm was an S-class monster and it was no slouch in flight speed either.
The Griffon's greatest weapon was not its tougher than iron claws and beak, but its great affinity for the wind, giving it the special ability [Air sickle]
A magic skill that allows the monster to launch wind sickles from its wings that can cut through even the toughest of armour and thanks to its naturally superior sight, the creature's attacks held a deadly accuracy
The threat of the Salamander was nothing to the threat of a Griffon and the danger he felt was now replaced by fear. He held no delusions that he could defeat such a monster by himself.
Gazing upon such a powerful monster had forced his body to halt, any thoughts of moving were tossed aside.
Despite the monster being several meters away, it felt as though it was looming over him, ready to devour him whole.
A shiver ran up his spine and the hairs on his body stood on end, as the prospect of being eaten whole came to his mind.
'I need to move'
Unfortunately, regardless of his thoughts, his limbs refused to listen, his body believed it lacked the speed necessary to outrun the Griffon, yet his mind sought ways to do just that.
His brain raced synapses firing at record speed, running through various scenarios that would allow him to survive.
Using fire or wind to propel himself high into the air was a solid idea however, the air was the Griffon's domain, not only that but Arthur lacked enough control of his flame to do anything more than a fireball.
To launch himself into the air using fire would need highly concentrated flames, with enough power behind them to not just lift him but to toss him in the sky like a rocket booster but again out flying a Griffon was nearly impossible.
'If I can't fly away th-'
His thoughts stalled, and everything seemed to click into place as his mind suddenly reached an epiphany.
'The Salamander wasn't the monster I was supposed to face'
It made sense, the lack of details regarding the quest was not just intentional, but they were so the Griffon would catch him off guard. Sometimes monsters just appear before you, and you have to deal with them without prep.
However, it still didn't make sense how the villages he'd seen on his way were completely unharmed. In fact, there were no signs of any monster attacks at all.
If the Griffon was already in the area, a few of them would have suffered an attack from the monster at least once.
Essentially he understood why the guild kept information from him however it made no sense why Griffon wouldn't attack any of the nearby villages.
'No matter it here now and I have to–'
His next thought was to get away however his mind paused at that, He knew if he stayed, he was next on the menu, he held no delusions that the creature was not going to attack him after it finished eating the salamander.
'Can I do it?'
That was the question, Is he capable of felling a monster of such power? No, rather, did he have the balls to even try? For a creature like a Griffon a small village was child's play, it could probably even take some of its prey back to its nest.
It was an Explorer's duty to slay monsters, the reasoning behind doing that didn't matter. That is what his mentor taught him, and that is what the guild emphasized the most.
If you wish to save lives by slaying monsters, that was acceptable, if you wish to slay monsters for your own enjoyment or monetary gain that was acceptable.
The point was simply to kill monsters, whatever rationalization you made to justify that was your own and no one would question you for it.
Arthur for his part was concerned with his own fantasy, facing off against monsters was a common dream for most people like him, that's why there were so many games about it in his past life, and now he gets to live and experience that fantasy firsthand.
The monster before him needed to be slain, and he would try his hardest to do just that.
His lips threatened to break into a grin, however, his eyes carried an obvious hint of hesitation. Slay the Griffon, could he do it?
Did he possess the power and skill necessary to do it? There would be no answer to that question however one can't win if they do not try.
'Nothing ventured, nothing gained'
With a sharp inhale, Arthur stood straight before quickly shifting into a battle-ready stance, steadying his breathing, and letting the fear slowly settle
Having steadied his breathing, he let his Od come to life as he activated his magic skill.
.....
A/N: Next chapter should be the end of this flashback.
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