"Do you know how long it'll take until we reach the academy?" Mortis asked Valthor and Jareth.
Valthor leaned back slightly and replied, "It should take about four hours. After all, we're flying on one of the academy's airships. But, if we were heading somewhere else, we could cover this distance in two hours max, but right now, we're passing through a known danger zone."
"So we need to divert some of the ship's energy to scouting and defenses against any unexpected attacks," he added.
Mortis raised an eyebrow. "Unexpected attacks? Do those happen often?"
Jareth shrugged. "I wouldn't say they're common... but they're not exactly rare either. Still, we'll be fine. This airship is built for this, and we've got an Official Magus on board. If anything attacks, we should be able to escape without too much trouble. And if it's not too dangerous, we can kill it."
Mortis let out a quiet sigh of relief. "Alright. I guess I was just being paranoid."
A moment later, curiosity lit his eyes again. "By the way, could you guys tell me more about the academy?"
Valthor opened his mouth to answer…
BOOM!
The entire airship shook violently. Lights flickered. Chairs toppled. Plates clattered to the floor, and food splattered across the ground.
A few waiters and students who hadn't managed to grab hold of something in time were thrown to the ground.
"What was that?! Did we just get attacked?!" Mortis shouted, panic rising in his voice as he turned to Valthor and Jareth.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several cracks split open along the airship's outer hull. Wind howled through the gaps, filling the halls with an eerie, shrill whistling wind.
Valthor's face darkened as he surveyed the chaos. "Yeah... it looks like it."
At that moment, a calm but firm voice echoed through the ship, broadcast through the airship's speakers.
"This is your captain, Kircheis Beria. Students, please remain calm. While we were indeed attacked, it poses no serious threat. Professor Abbaran, Official Magus, will handle the situation personally. There is no need to panic. I repeat…everything will return to normal shortly."
The captain's voice faded.
Mortis immediately sprang to his feet and rushed to the nearest window on the side of the impact. He wasn't the only one, everyone nearby was doing the same.
After all, who wouldn't want to witness a real Official Magus in action?
He reached the fogged-up glass and wiped it quickly with his sleeve.
What he saw made his eyes widen in awe.
From the clouds, a massive winged monster burst into view.
It resembled a chimeric serpent; its elongated body covered in overlapping obsidian scales that shimmered with sickly green glow. Four vast wings stretched from its back, resembling taterred bat membranes. Its head was more draconic than serpentine, with two glowing yellow eyes and fanged maw that exhaled a miasma of corrosive fog, wherever it drifted, the clouds dissolved into nothingness.
The beast screeched, and the air itself trembled.
"What the hell is that?" Mortis muttered, the words slipping from his lips before he realized it.
Jareth's face had gone pale. "A Vraxxior Wyvern… A monster with power between a Rank 1 and Rank 2 Magus. It feeds on magical energy. Apprentices like me and Valthor don't stand a chance against something like that."
The airship shook violently again as the beast lashed its tail against the side of the ship. A low metallic groan echoed through the corridors.
Then, from above the airship, a crimson light lit up the sky.
All eyes turned upward.
Floating above the airship a figure emerged out their sight, his black robe fluttering like wings in the stormy winds, shoulder-length jet black hair messy and untamed.
It was none other than Professor Abarran.
Floating effortlessly in mid-air, he seemed almost bored, as if this encounter was just another routine task. His voice, amplified by magic, rang out across the ship.
"Stay inside. You'll all be safe there. This won't take long."
He raised his right hand.
The sky darkened instantly.
Then, like a miracle, dark tendrils snaked out from his fingertips and coiled around his entire body like a protective serpents.
The Vraxxior Wyvern shrieked and lunged.
Its jaws opened, and from its throat erupted a beam of dark green fog, pure dissolving energy aimed straight at the airship.
Abarran blurred.
One moment he floated calmly above the airship.
The next, he stood in front of the beam.
He thrust both palms forward, and a shield of writhing blood erupted before him, a semi-transparent wall covered in pulsating veins.
BOOM!
The blast collided with the shield, erupting out in all directions. The shockwave split several nearby clouds and tossed the airship slightly off course. But the shield held.
With a flick of his fingers, Abarran broke the shield and condensed the blood from it into a crimson spear. And without hesitation he threw it.
The spear tore through the sky like a meteor and struck true, impaling the wyvern's wing.
The creature shrieked in agony, blood spraying from the wound like acid rain, hissing as it fell in droplets through the air.
But it wasn't finished.
The beast thrashed, then lunged toward Abarran with a speed that didn't match his size. Its tail whipping through the air.
Whip!
Abarran twisted midair, narrowly avoiding the blow. And as he spun, his fingertips brushed the beast's scaly hide. In that split second, the wyvern suddenly shuddered, just for a moment, before regaining its balance.
It didn't show any visible injuries, but Mortis could tell that Abarran did something. The wyvern's movements slowed and its wings faltered slightly. Whatever Abarran had done, it had clearly hit from the inside.
Still staring at the battle, Mortis leaned slightly toward Valthor and asked without taking his eyes off the scene, "Did you see that? What did Professor Abarran just do? It looked like he attacked it from the inside…"
Beside him, Valthor replied in a low voice, "You're not wrong. I don't know exactly what spell he used, but I'm pretty sure it was something of blood element. When he touched the wyvern's skin, he likely manipulated its own blood and forced it to attack it against its organs from within."
He paused, then added, "If he were a poison specialist, he might've also used that moment to inject some poison into its bloodstream too. But this looks more like pure blood manipulation."
Valthor gave a small shrug. "Still… I can't say for sure. I'm only a Rank 5 Magus Apprentice, after all."
Mortis swallowed quietly and focused all his attention back on the fight.