After running after the King Manticore for nearly six hours, Cedric and his team were at their wits’ end.
All of them were not only tired and exhausted, but some of them were even injured.
The chase went on and off. Whenever the Monster could no longer fly, it would land on the ground and attack them with poisonous Spikes it shot out of its scorpion-like tail.
This hunt had simply become a battle of attrition between the teenagers and the King Manticore.
Neither wanted to give up, but all of them were reaching their limits.
Even Cedric was already physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted.
Although the King Manticore was seriously injured, they were still unable to deal a crippling blow, one that would allow them to subjugate it and finally give them time to rest as they waited for reinforcements.
“Cedric, this can’t go on,” a Second Year Wizard spoke up. “If we keep this up, we might really die fighting this beast.”
The other five Wizards and Witches, who had accompanied Cedric to pursue the Monster, were in agreement. They were truly at their wits’ end, and neither side was able to break the stalemate.
The handsome teenager knew that if the Monster chose to escape now, none of them would have the strength to chase it.
Fortunately, it seemed that the monster was just as exhausted as them and was simply stalling for time in order to recover their strength.
The face-off between men and beast lasted for half an hour.
It was at that moment when the King Manticore recovered enough strength to open its wings and started to lift itself into the air to fly towards Janga Valley.
Cedric gritted his teeth, but he didn’t give the order to pursue.
None of them could continue the battle, and he understood that pushing everyone to their limits would be suicide.
However, just as the Manticore was just gaining altitude, a lightning bolt struck its body, causing it to roar in pain.
The unexpected attack that came out of nowhere caught it by surprise, and it directly crashed to the ground after losing its strength to fly.
Streaks of electricity ran amok through its body like live snakes, making the creature finally succumb to its injuries and lose consciousness.
Cedric and his group noticed that a dark blue trident was embedded in the side of the King Manticore’s body.
Although the others didn’t recognize it right away, Cedric did.
How could he possibly forget the weapon that his rival had wielded in his battle against him?
As if waiting for that moment, several Wizards and Witches, riding flying brooms, appeared in their sight and hovered dozens of meters above the fallen King Manticore.
The handsome teenager’s gaze automatically locked on Ethan, who was riding on the same flying broom as the angelic beauty whom he planned to pursue.
Swallowing his pride, Cedric propped himself up from the ground and looked at the fallen Monster to make sure that it was really unconscious.
After he had confirmed that it was no longer a threat, he once again shifted his attention to Ethan.
“Thank you for the help,” Cedric stated. “Nightfall Academy will not forget this favor.”
Ethan nodded to acknowledge Cedric’s words. He then whispered something in Luna’s ear, making the angelic beauty nod her head.
This scene caused an ache to pass through the handsome teenager’s chest as their intimate gesture filled him with jealousy.
A second later, Luna maneuvered her flying broom to fly back in the direction of Janga Valley.
Ethan’s entourage followed suit, and soon, they disappeared from Cedric’s vision.
The handsome teenager took a few deep breaths before looking at the least injured member of his party, which was the Second Year who talked to him a while ago.
“Go back and inform the others that the King Manticore has been subjugated,” Cedric ordered. “If possible, bring Lady Clara as soon as possible, so she can put this creature in a cage.”
The Second Year nodded his head and flew Northwest in order to share the good news with his teammates.
Seeing him go, Cedric then took out some magical chains from his storage ring and used their magic to bind the Manticore’s legs, and wings, preventing it from escaping.
Only after the Monster was restrained completely did he and the rest of his team breathe a sigh of relief.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, he felt inferior to his rival, who had easily dealt with the creature whom they had a hard time catching.
Of course, Cedric could have done the same if he was at his peak strength. But, right now, he was truly and utterly exhausted.
He was even thankful that they would not go back to Nightfall Academy empty-handed, especially after getting the second-best Boss Monster that was inside the Legacy Domain.
‘I swear that I’ll become stronger than you,’ Cedric vowed in his heart as he looked in the direction where Ethan and his group had disappeared. ‘I will prove to Luna that I’m better than you.’
After making that vow in his heart, Cedric laid on the ground and closed his eyes to rest.
He was simply too tired, and all he wanted to do was rest for a few minutes to recover.
The handsome teenager didn’t care that he had to sleep on the ground and dirty his clothes.
That was how tired he was. Not much could bother him anymore.
——————————
“Master, why didn’t you kill that King Manticore?” Bridget asked. “I thought that you were on bad terms with Nightfall Academy?”
Ethan smiled. “Letting them owe me a favor isn’t a bad thing. Since I helped them this time, they will less likely look for trouble for Brynhildr Academy.”
“As expected of Master,” Sefarina praised. “You are looking at the bigger picture.”
Ethan chuckled after hearing the beautiful Elf’s praise.
Truth be told, when Selene told them that there was an evil creature that was headed towards Janga Valley, Ethan decided to investigate.
That was when they saw the heavily injured King Manticore, who seemed to be on its last legs.
Behind it, they also noticed Cedric’s group and connected the dots.
If Ethan saw the seriously injured King Manticore alone, he would not have hesitated to subjugate and maybe capture the creature alive.
But since Cedric’s group had been hunting it first, he felt that it would be distasteful to steal their target from them for the second time.
He already had the Ancient Wendigo in his hands.
Getting the King Manticore was simply asking for trouble, for it would make one of the neutral academies in Grandshire their enemy.
In the end, the trade-off wasn’t worth it, so Ethan decided to lend a hand this time and make Cedric and his academy indebted to him.