The three looked up at the sky and saw a large bird with an eagle's head and a lion's body flying from afar.
"Quick, change back!" Luo Wei spoke rapidly.
"Oh right, almost forgot!"
Theodore hurriedly transformed back into human form and waved at the griffin: "Griffin, griffin, we're over here!"
On the griffin's back, Troy and Laura were looking down. When they spotted the three youngsters on the sea surface, their eyes lit up with excitement.
"Miss Luo Wei! Theodore, Hol!"
Laura lay prone on the griffin's wing and shouted to the three: "We're coming to rescue you right away!"
Troy stared intently at Luo Wei. Seeing her pale face immersed in the cold seawater, he felt deep remorse rising in his heart.
He shouldn't have left her side.
Luo Wei was right - he wasn't a good guard.
As the griffin slowly descended and the three youngsters' pale, haggard faces became clearer, Troy was about to jump down to rescue Luo Wei when his nose suddenly caught a strange stench.
This smell... why was it so similar to the manure pit he once smelled when passing through the pig village?
Moreover, the closer they got to the sea surface, the stronger the smell became. It was so pungent that Troy lost his composure and had to hold his breath as his head started spinning.
"Ugh, what's that smell!" With her keen feline sense of smell, Laura nearly fainted from the stench.
Even the griffin was flying unsteadily, twitching all over like it had drunk fake alcohol.
"Chirp chirp chirp—"
So stinky, so stinky, it's killing the griffin!
If it weren't for its long-term meal ticket down there, it would have turned tail and fled!
The griffin stared at Luo Wei with its golden eyes. The lower it flew, the stronger the stench became. When it was only about 65 feet above the sea surface, it finally discovered that the smell was emanating from its meal ticket.
"Chirp~" The griffin tried to act cute as usual for Luo Wei, but as soon as it opened its beak, the stench filled its nostrils. "Hurk—"
That retching sound was a thousand times louder than its chirp. The griffin almost vomited up its treasure chest.
Whimper whimper whimper, the cute act had failed.
Would its long-term meal ticket abandon it now?
The griffin's retch made all three people below fall silent. Theodore and Hol's smiles froze, while Luo Wei weatheredly faced the sea breeze, feeling that life held nothing more for her.
Finally, Troy jumped down and lifted them one by one onto the griffin's back.
Carrying three mobile stink bombs, the griffin's golden eyes streamed bitter tears.
What hardships a working griffin had to endure for a meal!
On the griffin's back, Laura sat covering her nose about 10 feet away from the three, looking at Theodore with a complicated expression: "Did... did any of you have an upset stomach?"
If the griffin's back wasn't just this wide, Luo Wei thought she would probably sit even further away.
"No, it's because we used the Jiji Melon," Theodore quickly explained the cause and effect of using the Jiji Melon to Laura, afraid she would think he was some slovenly male spirit who randomly defecated on himself.
"Oh my god, you encountered such terrible things!" Laura exclaimed in shock.
"Yeah, I can hardly believe we made it back alive."
Theodore awkwardly huddled at the griffin's rear, wearing only a small grass skirt. He kept nervously tugging at the hem, too embarrassed to look up.
Laura finally noticed his attire and his missing right leg, drawing in a sharp breath: "Theodore, what happened to your leg?"
"The Behemoth smashed it off. Don't know where it fell," Theodore said unhappily.
Those were five long, tender, delicious legs. Who knows which beast would get lucky with them.
But then he remembered his flesh was poisonous, and those creatures would surely die if they ate it. His mood mysteriously improved at that thought.
Troy sealed off his sense of smell with magic and walked to Luo Wei's side with a normal expression, taking out her luggage.
"Would you like a coat?"
"Yes." Luo Wei was nearly frozen solid. She immediately found two cashmere coats from her large bundle and draped them over herself.
Theodore and Hol looked at her expectantly.
When Luo Wei turned around after putting on her clothes, she saw two pairs of tearful eyes filled with envy and pleading. Her mouth twitched as she threw them two tung oil cloaks.
"My clothes wouldn't fit you anyway. Use these for now, and we'll get you new ones when we return to Magic Beast Town."
Troy hesitated: "Are we going back to Magic Beast Town?"
"What's wrong?" Luo Wei asked curiously.
"The Behemoth's emergence triggered a monster riot. A group of magic beasts broke through the magic array and escaped from the Magic Beast Mountains."
Luo Wei frowned: "And then? Has Magic Beast Town been occupied by the monsters?"
Troy: "No, the Magic Association urgently summoned fifteen senior magic instructors and ten array masters. They also issued a notice to all mages in the Western Continent, asking them to come help repair the magic array and resist the magic beasts."
"These people are all staying in Magic Beast Town now, so the inns are probably full."
"Senior magic instructors - is our headmaster among them?" Luo Wei asked.
"I don't know," Troy shook his head, "I just heard others say this. I was in such a hurry to find you that I didn't pay much attention to those people."
After pondering for a moment, Luo Wei said: "Tell me everything that's happened since we got separated."
"Alright." Troy nodded and began with how he and Laura went to pick Spiritwood branches.
It turned out that just as they found the Spiritwood, they heard a thunderous boom from the western mountains, followed by violent ground tremors. High-level magic beasts poured out of their lairs, fleeing outward.
Realizing something major had happened in the west, he quickly picked a few branches and ran back with Laura, only to find their path blocked by collapsed mountainsides and huge crevices halfway through.
It was raining heavily that day with mountain torrents everywhere, and the Behemoth's mouth was facing their direction. Troy had no choice but to take Laura on a detour toward the outer rim of the Magic Beast Mountains.
After discovering the magic beasts had broken through the magic array, Troy immediately called the griffin into the mountains to search for traces of the three in the outer areas.
The outer mountains had become ruins. Others might have assumed they were buried under the collapsed mountains, but Troy and Laura didn't believe it.
They firmly believed that Luo Wei/Theodore and Hol were still alive.
Troy knew Luo Wei could fly, and at her fastest she was nearly as quick as the griffin. The two boys might be dead, but she must have escaped.
Laura knew Theodore and Hol were spirits - how could spirits die so easily? Besides, giant spirits were famous for their thick skin, and witch spirits were known for their hard bones.
So the two searched in the Magic Beast Mountains for three or four days but couldn't find even a strand of hair from the three.
Later Laura had an idea to return to Magic Beast Town and find a mage who used tracking magic to trace their last known location, which led them to this sea.
"We've been searching the sea for five or six days now," Troy said, "I never imagined you would drift all the way near the Fog Belt."
The Fog Belt was over 1,800 miles from where they fell into the sea, wider than half the Western Continent. Troy couldn't figure out how they had drifted so far.
"We didn't just enter the Fog Belt," Theodore boasted, "We even made a trip to the Misty Plains!"
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