‘Please, Solus, save the fancy words for later and tell why Hystar’s energy signature weakening matters now.’ Lith thought while activating Full Guard. Not even Solus could follow so many targets at the same time and he couldn’t afford to be taken by surprise.
Stray spells flew throughout the room, limiting his space of maneuver, and the moment one of the Golden Griffon’s inmates spotted Lith, they would chase him with haunted eyes as if he was a juicy prime rib on a barbeque.
‘It matters because, unlike what happened when we tried to take the Davross Forge or when Jakra the Dragon used Origin Flames, the building is not coming to life. My guess is that Arthan didn’t trust Hystar enough to give him full control of the academy.
‘He admitted that Huryole has rules that even he has to follow. As long as you don’t break any of them, he has to consume his own power.’ Solus said.
The Living Legacy didn’t lie about the academy offering the possibility to train endlessly, about how those trapped inside the Golden Griffon could sharpen and polish their skill to the utmost limit.
Each one of them was a fierce opponent with hundreds of years of battle experience and no care for their survival. They had fought the whole time while being famished, wounded, and sometimes even maimed.
Hystar’s ‘students’ had learned how to mess their own spells up on purpose, to detonate along with the enemy and turn themselves into living bombs. Lith cursed his bad luck when an explosion sent him crashing on the ground.
He had sustained no damage, but the constructs had finally the opportunity to pile up on him and unleash their best spells in unison. Lith let them form a small mound that covered him from sight and from the ensuing chaos so that the students would turn against each other.
The Spirit Barrier ring required a lot of mana to sustain such weight and block the spells that were raining down on it, but Lith could afford it thanks to Invigoration. Once Life Vision showed him that the coast was clear, Lith expanded the barrier and sent the golems flying.
He used his wings and air magic to fly faster than a bullet, reaching the Gardens of Madness in two flaps. The route Solus had traced for him required to cut through the middle of the park, offering him no cover.
The golems from the canteen followed him and new ones emerged from the Gardens’ walls. To make matters worse, those skilled enough to become the landlords of the green area were well fed and rested. Some even had followers.
They were a much greater threat than their starving peers.
‘Time to trigger the detonator.’ A snap of Lith’s finger made all the small bags he had hidden inside the bushes open, releasing their delicious smell.
The “bombs” he had prepared were actually steaming delicacies that he conserved inside his pocket dimension. The bags were something he had devised for places like Belius or Huryole, where dimensional items didn’t work.
They would keep the food warm and fragrant.
Even the Gardens’ landlords didn’t have a hot meal in decades, let alone those who found the canteen’s disgusting gruel tasty. The food frenzy made everyone go insane, fighting with their life on the line just to get one bite.
The students ignored Lith, who kept away from the bags, and ground the golems into dust simply because the constructs were on their path. Lith kept flapping his wings, moving as fast as he could toward the exit.
He didn’t really have ten hours left, but barely a few minutes. It was the time it would take Hystar to gather his troops and beat Lith with sheer numbers and power.
“Damn it all!” Lith yelled when he found the surveillance canvas room jam-packed with golems.
They stood one on top of the other, those above fusing their legs with the flat head of those below, forming a living barricade capable of grabbing, hitting, and using magic. A hail of stones filled the entirety of the corridor, forcing Lith to a halt.
He activated the tier five magic holding ring, unleashing both the Final Sunsets stored within. Lith focused the two spells into a single pillar of black flames that vaporized the enemies’ spells and pierced through their ranks, creating a path.
‘I take back what I said in the past about tier five magic holding rings. I need more of these babies.’ Lith thought.
He entered the kitchen, finding that it was even more packed than the corridor, but this time Lith was ready. Until that moment, Lith had been forced to hold back to not damage the academy with stray spells and trigger its defenses.
He hadn’t forgotten how the Golden Griffon was so powerful to stop even Jakra the Emerald Dragon. The last time they had met, the ancient creature had failed to escape because his Origin Flames damaged the walls.
Lith had learned from Jakra’s mistake and Solus’s earlier words confirmed his theory. The golems, the food, everything was just a ruse to make him go all-out and break the academy’s rules so that Hystar could become all-powerful.
Now, however, the exit was in sight, so he could safely unleash all the spells he had at the ready. The entire kitchen blew up, opening a hole in the Golden Griffon walls. By the time the safety protocols triggered, however, Lith was already outside, using his amulet to open the array.
“No, you don’t!” Hystar Warped in front of Lith while focusing all of his might into a gravity spell that sucked him back into the lost academy.
A jet stream of bright blue Origin Flames burned the Headmaster to a crisp while an emerald creature so fast that it was barely a blur pushed Lith through the fissure in the energy barrier before it reached for the sky.
< "Freedom, at last!"> (AN: translated from draconic).
Jakra rejoiced as he could finally breathe fresh air for the first time in centuries. He had remained trapped inside Huryole a long time ago, back when he was young and stupid enough to believe himself invincible.
Little did he know that even though the Golden Griffon gave him plenty of experience and made him immortal, it also stopped his aging. It was the reason why he was still stuck with a bright blue core despite having mastered Origin Flames and true magic to the point of almost self-Awaken.
Dragons only grew stronger with time, so eternal youth was a curse to them
< "Thanks, little brother! Now I need a proper meal, a year-long nap, and a month-long bath. After that, I'll learn your language and thank you properly."> Jakra knew that, as long as Lith didn’t understand his words, any attempt to communicate would turn into a pointless fight.
Having nothing to offer but his promise, the Dragon spat on the Golden Griffon before Warping away.
‘He must have followed you the whole time, hiding behind the golems.’ Solus thought. ‘I failed to notice his presence as well. There were too many enemies and dangers to care about a quiet dot in the backlines.’
‘Yeah. Hystar opened all the rooms leading to my position, so Jakra had a clear path to follow. The Headmaster didn’t even consider the idea that someone might be still sane and exploit his call to arms to escape.’ Lith thought.
