8 What's a Simurgh?!

As the three of them were traveling on air riding a Garuda, Aranea still had her arms wrapped around Elenea's waist, and Elenea still had her arms wrapped around Vayne's waist.

The Garuda still soared on the sky, flying its way to Mystic Academy that is almost at their reach.

Suddenly, they heard a high pitched screech, making the Garuda stop in its tracks, but still flapping its wings, keeping the three students afloat.

"What's wrong?" Elenea asked, slightly panicking.

Since they are still in midair, it started freaking her out because she is afraid of heights! With the Garuda suddenly stopping, it is not a good sign either!

Another loud, high pitched screech was heard around them. As another sound of flapping wings was heard, the Garuda roared, its body vibrating below them.

The beast they're riding on seemed to be angry!

"Vayne? Is this a good sign?" Aranea worriedly asked, making him shake his head to disagree.

"It's not. Our Garuda feels threatened. The high pitched screeching is making our ride stop. We have to deal with this," he answered, Elenea's eyes widening in surprise.

"Wh-what do you mean 'deal with this'?" she asked, panic etched in her voice.

Soon after, a shadow appeared over their heads, making them instinctively lookup. Noticing that it is a different kind of beastly bird, Aranea and Elenea's eyes still had their eyes opened wide and as for Vayne, he was still sitting in place, calm.

"Erm, Vayne... what the hell is that?" Aranea asked, as they observed the bird flying above them.

The bird is not as large as the Garuda. It has a brown body covered with blackish-scarlet feathers. It had a long neck, and on its face, it had a long beak shaped like a harpoon and is a half meter long.

Seeing how unusual the beast is, the eyebrows of the two girls furrowed. Vayne mumbled, giving Aranea the answer she needed.

"That, girls... is a Simurgh."

The beastly bird screeched again and in one swift dive towards them, tried to attack.

"Aah!"

Luckily, the Garuda that they're riding on is alert enough to dodge the Simurgh's attack. The academy did well to tame the Garuda into protecting Mystic Academy's students.

"What is a Simurgh!?" Aranea eyed the flying raged bird with caution and continued speaking. "And why is it charging at us?!"

The Garuda kept successfully dodging the attacks of the Simurgh. Elenea buried her face on Vayne's back, making Aranea click her tongue, worried for her twin sister.

"We have to attack the Simurgh. Or else if its beak touches its prey, it can inflict us with temporary blindness."

"What!?"

Hearing what Vayne had said, Elenea tightened her grip around him.

"My magic focuses on healing! How can we attack that stupid bird!?"

When Aranea heard Elenea speak rather harshly, she blinked her eyes a few times, not expecting her twin sister to speak such words.

"My magic focuses on shadows... we have to hit it—"

"No choice."

Aranea interrupted him as she got her weapon that was hanging from her back.

Shaped like a horizontal version of a traditional bow, the crossbow is an impressive weapon—a weapon that is capable of taking down some of the creatures in the world. It is also a very accurate weapon, one that can kill an animal or hit a target from scores of yards away.

Vayne's eyes widened in surprise.

"Y-you can use that?"

Using a crossbow requires lots of knowledge and know-how, as well as tons of practice. Because of the way it fires, it can be tremendously dangerous in the wrong hands, which is why it is important to fully understand the crossbow and the manner in which it is meant to be used.

"I've been studying how to use this since I was young," she answered, then she looked at the Simurgh that was flying above them. "But I can't hit it if I'm riding on a Garuda. I might fall," she added, Elenea looking at Vayne's back.

"Vayne, you control shadows, right?" Vayne nodded as his answer. "Attach my sister's shadow to yours. It will prevent her from falling if she starts flailing around when she tries to attack," she suggested, making Vayne nod.

Aranea prepared her bow and arrow as her eyes focused on the Simurgh that was still midair. She took a deep breath, then exhaled, waiting for the perfect opportunity to hit the Simurgh.

'I had never tried hitting a flying animal this big before! I'll just have to wing it!'

When looking at a crossbow, the bow is attached to a stock. This enables it to remain loaded and ready to fire when not in use. The crossbow has a lever attached to the stock, which assists users in the loading of the weapon. When that lever is released, the arrow—known as a bolt—is fired from the bow.

Known for their remarkable accuracy, crossbows have a firing range that is substantially longer than a traditional bow and arrow system. They are extraordinarily easy to operate, and because of the way they are designed, they are perfect for those who lack the arm and upper body strength to pull the traditional bow.

But one of the great disadvantages of the crossbow is its loading time.

The three students looked at the Simurgh with alert eyes. Aranea lifted her crossbow and aimed properly at her target, her eyes not leaving the beast.

"You better save me when I fall, Vayne," Aranea mumbled, enough for them to hear.

"Of course!"

The moment Aranea released the arrow, it had reached her target...

But not accurately.

The Simurgh screeched in pain, as its left wing started to bleed pretty badly. Despite missing the chest, Aranea had critically hit the beast, making it stagger as it flew.

However, it can still hold itself up on air! And the moment its eyes landed on the three, it started charging up to them in an unbelievably fast speed, scaring them.

"Shit!" Aranea exclaimed. "Let's just escape!"

Elenea hid her face on Vayne's back as he rubbed the Garuda's back, signaling for them to fly away for their escape.

As Aranea was loading her crossbow, all of her arrows fell when the Garuda took a sharp turn to escape the Simurgh.

"My arrows!"

"We can't get them anymore!" Elenea shouted as she held Aranea's hand. "We'll just bet on our luck to escape this stupid bird!"

As the Garuda flew faster, almost overtaking the other students, it had gathered the attention of the other students.

"Woah, they're in trouble!" one student commented, making a red-haired male student click his tongue.

'Troublesome...'

He opened the palm of his hand. The moment he did, fire appeared, surprising the other students around him.

"Hey! You might hurt our Garuda!"

"Shut up!" the red-haired student retorted, making the other students with him go quiet.

With one accurate throw, the Simurgh that was in front of them and behind Aranea's group was struck by fire, grilling the bird like barbecue.

"The hell!"

The red-haired student sighed as he combed his hand through his hair, feeling more annoyed than usual to have started the school year with grilling a Simurgh to death with his magic.