"Huh?"
Alia, who was with Bernal, suddenly looked up toward the ritual field in puzzlement.
"Squeak squeak!"
"Squeak squeak!"
Bernal, who was learning from Kulenna, seemed to sense something as well.
He looked around and did not bother about Kulenna, who was dealing with the Explosive Flame Lion.
What's that sound?
It's nasty.
Where did it come from?
Soon, he noticed something amiss with Alia.
"What's wrong, Alia? I feel like you were acting strangely just now."
"I felt that there was something strange over there as if something was calling for me. It was praying to me, hoping to get my response."
"That direction…"
Following the direction Alia pointed, Bernal seemed to have thought of something, and his expression changed.
If he remembered correctly, that seemed to be the place where the ritual was held back then.
Did something happen there?
Bernal was deep in thought.
At the moment, Kulenna, who was still imparting knowledge, also noticed the situation on Bernal's side.
What is going on? Did something happen?
Kulenna looked at Bernal, who was deep in thought. He could not help but wonder if he had said anything profound.
Roar!
The Explosive Flame Lion saw that Kulenna got distracted and took the opportunity to release its flames.
This time, the flames did not direct at Kulenna but its entire body.
Immediately after, the Explosive Flame Lion, which wrapped itself in flames, rushed towards Kulenna like a dazzling meteor.
Kulenna seemed unfazed.
As someone who had studied the Explosive Flame Lion extensively, he knew some of its characteristics and skills like the back of his hand.
The Explosive Flame Lion, especially the alpha male, often had high self-esteem. Once it discovered that its enemy was distracted in a battle, it would become enraged.
On the other hand, the enraged Explosive Flame Lion would not let go of this opportunity to use its furious flames to let the enemy know the consequences of being distracted in battle.
Kulenna believed that the old lion would not get fooled easily.
It was because the old lion did not fall for any of the flaws at the beginning.
However, he did not expect that as the battle progressed, it still exposed its nature.
Facing the flaw that Kulenna exposed on purpose again, the Explosive Flame Lion became tricked.
Kulenna injected magic power into the staff, and vines sprung out of the ground.
The vines wrapped the Explosive Flame Lion layer by layer, leaving no gap.
At the same time, pleasant melodies came from Kulenna's mouth.
Along with the song, the trees in the surroundings began to grow swiftly. It included the vines that Kulenna had summoned.
Grass rapidly grew to the size of a knee in a few minutes, burying half of Bernal in it.
Alia bent down and carried Bernal naturally.
Sensing the commotion here, Bernal temporarily stopped thinking about the disturbance he had heard and focused on the vine cage summoned by Kulenna.
When Bernal looked over, there was no more movement from the cage.
"Is it over?"
"No, based on the strength of that Explosive Flame Lion, it won't die so easily."
The singing stopped, and Gulian Renner shook his head before answering.
"Although It's old and regressed, there's still a long time before it dies."
As soon as he finished speaking, rapid chanting came out of Kulenna's mouth.
To be safe, he had begun to prepare the magic needed for the upcoming battle.
As if it could sense Kulenna's actions, the Explosive Flame Lion, which was trapped in the vines, struggled again.
White smoke rose again. The Explosive Flame Lion was spitting fire from within.
"That's its final struggle. The Explosive Flame Lion has a fatal weakness: it is not good at fighting in confined spaces.
"In such an environment, the flames released by the lion will quickly extinguish. Its capabilities would get diminished after losing its flame power.
"However, it's not certain if this situation applies all the time because sometimes, the Explosive Flame Lion can still release flames in such environments."
Bernal fell into thought after hearing this. He felt as if he had learned this in his previous world's science class. Burning flames required oxygen.
If there was no oxygen, nothing could burn.
But isn't this the magic world? I did not expect flames in this world to apply to this theory.
It applies in some situations, with exceptions in others. Hence, there might be something in this world that could replace oxygen.
Bernal recalled the magic knowledge he had learned from Kulenna over the past few days and had a guess.
It should be the fire element.
Even without oxygen, if elements exist, the flames should still be able to ignite as normal.
While he was thinking, the quiet vine cage began burning again.
"I'm surprised it still possesses such power."
Kulenna did not hesitate to release the magic that he had just set up.
It was a water-type magic technique that could condense the surrounding water elements to attack.
It was the nemesis of flames.
However…
"Why is it so weak? Where did all the water elements in the area go?"
Kulenna was shocked as he watched the water sprout he shot evaporate under the flames of the Explosive Flame Lion.
Bernal looked at this scene thoughtfully. It seemed that something had happened in the forest.
Gulp gulp!
The black tide surged, and Bernal, who was no longer in the mood to waste any more time with the Explosive Flame Lion, decided to strike.
Boom!
When the Explosive Flame Lion finally broke out of the cage and regained its freedom, black tentacles flew out from the black tide and pounced on the Explosive Flame Lion's body.
Roar!
The lion tried to struggle, but no matter what it did, the outcome was the same.
The Explosive Flame Lion entangled by the tentacles roared angrily at the beginning. In the end, its mouth was blocked by the tentacles, and it could only whimper.
In the end, facing the countless tentacles, the Explosive Flame Lion had no means to resist as it was pulled inside directly.
He had successfully captured the Explosive Flame Lion.
Bernal said to Kulenna, "We're leaving. Follow me."
Upon hearing this, Kulenna picked up his staff and followed Bernal obediently.
Bernal would never mistake the location of the ritual.
He knew something had happened since he had modified the trees nearby the ritual site.
Now that something had happened there, Bernal had a guess.
Might it be the accomplices of those cultists from before?
It was likely. It was just that Bernal did not expect that there would be someone alive in that organization after such a grand ceremony sacrificed so many people. The organization was much larger than he had imagined.
Or is it the mastermind who instructed these cultists?