Judgement From Above

It was all over for Elyse as she waited for death to take her. In a second more, her life would be over.

"Oi, Over here feather face!" A familiar voice yelled.

A voice she hadn't expected to hear ever again. Her heart leapt for a second before her anger rose again. Why had he come back? Did he think he could defeat this monstrosity himself? He'll just get killed, like countless others in the vicinity before the army could apprehend the Gryphon.

She opened her eyes in time to see Auden's sword sail through the air and embedded itself into the Gryphon's right eye. The Gryphon roared in pain and the cavern shook as it brought down claw after claw, attacking irregularly at Auden, undoubtedly enraged. Auden left with only his dagger turned around hastily and tried to retreat, dodging claws everywhere.

Fool, Elyse thought bitterly, he threw his only weapon and fighting chance at the Gryphon. A single swing of those claws was deadly enough to send even her, with her shield and armour flying. A person equipped with only a dagger and a few armour plates would be torn to shreds in a single hit.

It was a sight to behold, a winged lion clawing at a person ten times smaller than it furiously, and the person nimbly dodging each blow, sometimes just inches away from getting divided in two. They were now nearing the cave entrance, and Elyse realized with a start that if the Gryphon got outside the cave, there was a chance that it would fly away and escape, most likely towards Sefrath.

Mustering all her strength left within her, she hollered, "DON'T YOU DARE LET IT OUTSIDE THE CAVE!!"

The only response she got from Auden was a sly grin. Was that bastard ignoring her? Every second, he and the Gryphon got closer and closer to the cave's entrance, until inches away from the opening, she saw him throw his dagger, his only weapon, at the beast and miss completely.

He had to be completely out of his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~

Auden couldn't bear to stand by and watch any longer as Elyse was getting flung around. Sure, he had thought that knight was too stuck up and prideful but seeing her losing slowly against something she could never hope to win in the first place was too much. His knees quivering, he stood up and inched his way towards the back of the Gryphon without it noticing him.

He couldn't use flashy skills like Elyse, nor could he turn 10 times stronger with the power of heaven or whatever, but he had been observing the Gryphon for a while now and knew roughly what to expect of it.

Gryphons were known for their incredible physical abilities and a young one had enough power to destroy a small district. Four winged Gryphons, however, were on a whole nother level. Though it wasn't as fast as the usual two winged ones, it had insane strength and could probably go toe to toe against a Wyvern. It was incredible how long Elyse had managed to hold out by herself against a fully grown monstrosity.

However, Auden had a plan. A reckless plan in fact, which would cost the lives of Elyse, him, the unfortunate child and tens of thousands of people if it failed. But he had no other better plans. If the result was going to be the same either way, he'd at least try doing something.

"Oi, I'm over here feather face!" He yelled to get the attention of the Gryphon. It worked perfectly, the Gryphon stopped mid-attack and turned around angrily. Without hesitation, Auden chucked his sword at the Gryphon. His aim was true, and drops of blood rained down as the Gryphon thrashed in agony with a horrendous roar.

Crap. He had thrown the wrong weapon in the heat of the moment. He meant to throw the dagger while keeping his sword for the second part of his plan.

"I guess I'll just have to improvise with this for now." He muttered, before turning around and bolting away. The Gryphon, which had now totally forgotten about its former prey and was dead set on ripping Auden apart gave chase, letting out a flurry of slashes with its claws at Auden.

It might've looked amazing from a distance, to be able to dodge the attacks, but in reality, Auden was sweating buckets and had come millimetres away from imminent death a couple of times. He was getting tired quickly, and if he didn't finish the fight soon, he would no doubt slow down and be turned into strips of meat.

His plan? It was simple. From the very moment he had spotted the cave, he noticed a large unstable cluster of sharp stalactites near the entrance. Sure, there were bigger ones further down the cave, but he probably wouldn't be able to lure the Gryphon there in time before his strength failed him. And even if he did, the spikes would be too high and sturdy to bring down.

Elyse bellowed something furiously, though he didn't quite catch what she yelled.

The Gryphon was almost right under the stalactites now, and Auden hurled his last weapon at the stalactites with all his force. The dagger hit the stalactites with a resounding clang, but instead of severing the spikes off and sending them down on the beast, it embedded itself into the stone, halfway through and stuck fast.

"This has got to be some sort of stupid jest." He almost swore. He no longer had any means to defend himself, and if the Gryphon got out of the cave, who knows what it would do to Sefrath? The Gryphon opened its beak again in a mocking gesture as if saying, "Hah! What are you going to do without your metal sticks now, human?"

Auden stopped in his tracks and turned a full spin, dashing back towards the Gryphon. He had to at least try to lure it deeper into the cave and find some other means of defeating it.

The Gryphon, however, had other plans. Surprised at seeing the minuscule human rushing back towards it, it raised its claws and slapped him away.

"Aaaarghhh!" The pain was like someone had dropped an entire castle upon him. He had been flung so hard that the wall of the cavern cracked from the force, and the entire cave shook.

However, this was exactly what he had wanted, the stalactites snapped and came rushing down on the Gryphon, impaling it with huge multiple spikes through its head, wings and tail. Half of the cave's rocky floor was now a lake of dark red Gryphon blood.

"I can do plenty even without my metal sticks, feather face." He leered before the pain overtook him again.

He thought he had probably broken every bone in his body but to his astonishment, he could still manage to stand up and move his body, though his whole body felt like it had been run through with a million swords.

He staggered over to Elyse, who was still gawking at the corpse of the Gryphon as if she couldn't believe her eyes and offered her a hand to help her up.

"You okay?"

She frowned at him but accepted his hand anyway. "How the hell did you do that?"

He shrugged, pulling her up casually as if he hadn't just slain a beast the size of a house. "Just a matter of luck I guess. You seriously didn't think I could do it?" He joked and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it seems hell has frozen over." She replied curtly. "If word gets out, you'll probably be regarded as a great hero all over Ergald and summoned by the king."

Auden thought for a moment, before turning away. "I'll trust you to keep a secret then."

"What? Why? Isn't it a good thing?" Elyse bit her lip in anger and confusion. "Isn't this what you adventurers want? Fame and wealth?"

Auden gave a half-suppressed laugh, the mere notion of being rich was like a joke to him. "I'm content with living a peaceful life with my sister. Plus, I'm just a rookie adventurer. No one would believe I took down the Gryphon myself." His deep green eyes glinted, as he turned to look at Elyse.

"Well? Are you going to keep gaping at me or are you gonna help me check if the kid is okay?"