"Look at her for Godsake! How can you be so sure she is the same person?"
Adam asked, agitatedly turning to Arsh. He was being a lot annoying by now.
"...Well then what is your verdict, genius? That Miss Gelina silently disappeared to god knows where, and a beautiful red-haired woman spawned out of the sky for you to leer on."
Arsh sighed, looking at the beautiful figure of the woman sleeping peacefully on the ground. It had been a pretty eventful night, that was for sure.
Arsh was previously sitting in silence after arguing with Alan. Until lightning started crackling in the middle of the forest out of nowhere. Looking at the thundercloud Arsh paled running towards them at full speed.
It was in the same direction that Alan was meant to go. Looking at him, the adventurers also followed soon after, sensing the sudden urgency.
He ran through the forest, looking at the ocean just a few steps away from him. His eyes stopped, trembling fiercely. Only to find his dreaded mentor going against the most devastating attack he ever set his eyes on.
A barrage of thousands if not millions of arrows firing at Alan with unbelievable speed, and in the midst of all it, he looked…so out of it. Like he wasn't even present there.
Arsh ran toward him, to remove him from the trajectory of arrows. Which was also impossible, as the arrows were literally coming at him from every direction.
Before Arsh could reach him. A blob of little shadow was severed out of Alan's shadow. Standing in front of Alan and the arrows.
What happened next was just a sensation to Arsh. As he looked at the behemoth-sized shadow eating away at every light present in the vicinity, reducing it to none.
Arsh looked at the shadow in awe, as it slowly shrank and merged back with Alan's original shadow. Remembering the gravity of the situation, he quickly moved toward his mentor's body lying on the ground.
Due to Alan's last spell, he was able to survive the barrage of arrows. Also leaving Arsh with enough time to patch him up enough, to not die.
"Now this is done.... I did what I could. I just have to wait for Amanda for now."
But, then something strange happened in front of his eyes. When Arsh turned to Gelina to check on her condition too. He found nothing of it.
There was no giant body of Griffin anywhere to be found. No traces of her either. Instead, what was present there was much more confusing. A young woman barely in his twenties.
The woman had red hair with ample pale white skin, and her serene face pained a little bit, as the wound around her shoulder was visible. Her body was covered by a completely white dress, doing less than to work on hiding her breathtaking curves and lining running through her petite body.
Arsh looked at her for a few moments, mesmerized by the beauty in front of him. He had seen plenty of beautiful people in his lifetime like Leo and Edward, but no one ever was even comparable to the beauty in front of him.
"Eh-...What?"
Feeling a sudden clutch on his shoulder, Arsh turned around suddenly. Looking at Adam's leering face, gawking at the beauty on the ground without any shred of shame.
Arsh shook his head momentarily. He wasn't in the clear either after staring at her. He ever had seen a red-haired woman, neither in the town nor in the village. But he still had a pretty clear idea as to who she could be.
Arsh sighed looking at his mentor's body on the ground, then at the beautiful woman. It was time to head back and path them up.
"... Let's go back, guys. Ethan, please take care of my crazy mentor's body. I'll be carrying Miss Gelina."
"Gelina?"
Adam turned to Arsh, confusion inking through his face. Arsh could already see what was about to come out of his mouth.
"Isn't she supposed to be a giant ugly Griffin? How can you even compare her to a beauty like this?"
Arsh really hoped at that moment, for having Miss Gelina hear it. That was going to be a good punishment for the horny adventurer. But, she was far out cold to even hear a word out of it.
"She had told me and Alan before. When she reaches the next phase of hers, she will get access to her human form. Which supposedly was the most pretty in the cosmos….She probably wasn't joking about that part though."
Alan sighed, pointing a finger at Alan's injured body. It was better to just give them reasoning than let them be hanging in confusion.
"Considering my mentor's personality. My first guess will be that both Alan and Miss Gelina had taken part in a spar. Most likely due to my mentor dragging her into it. And, both of them had made breakthroughs in the battle, unlocking new phases…. That shower of arrows might be a byproduct of it too."
The adventures looked at him suspiciously. They were not very keen on the idea that sounded made up. But Arsh had almost 100 percent belief in his theory. After all, he had spent one year with that guy.
After dragging their bodies back to camp. They sighed a breath of relief finally. Luckily both of them were able to get immediate medical attention from Amanda, saving them both from the brink of death.
Just after a few hours of treatment, Miss Gelina woke up from his slumber abruptly. Her eyes were plenty confused looking at her new form.
Arsh chuckled looking at her. She looked like a chimpanzee finding itself in the human body and trying to control it. Though, it was all interrupted by the crude sudden voice.
"My lady! May I have the honor of knowing your fair name? This useless brat right here was confusing you with an ugly flying monster. I know that is quite a rude analogy. But, as a good friend, I ask for forgiveness on behalf of my companion. Could you find in your heart to forgive him? Or better we could talk more about your beauty with an afternoon tea tomorrow."
Gelina looked at him funny, before scoffing in irritation.
"...Did you eat something, wrong idiot? What are you blabbering about out of nowhere? And what was that about the flying monster? Are we under attack again? Oh! Also, Where did that bastard Alan go?"
Gelina looked around with her almond-brown eyes. Asking several questions in a single breath, which was a much more human-like approach. From her appearance and demeanor, Arsh believed no one could ever guess she was a Griffin.
"Kuuuu….Kuuuuuu. Ku...Kku"
Nidia jumped up to Gelina, talking to her in her usual language. As far as Arsh knew, she probably was explaining the situation to her. Nidia hummed her kuuuus a few times and Gelina's eyes turned dark with time. Arsh felt something was wrong again.
But before he could step up, Gelina spoke up. Her human lips curled up in a sinister smile.
"Oh ho ho ho….. I was the flying monster all along. Eh? Bastard….. I am going to teach you something very important. About how you should mince your words in different situations."
Hearing the declaration, Adam took a step back fearfully. His eyes trembled at her approaching sight.
"Can't you fuc- guys shut your mouth for a sec-. Wait! Who the hell is she? Can I sleep in peace even for one night?"
Hearing all the shouting around him. Alan opened his eyes suddenly, only to find a beautiful red-haired woman in front of him.
Alan looked taken aback for a few moments. But noticing Gelina's smirk, he quickly changed his taken-aback expression to a sly smile.
"Grandma! It's you, right? I thought you croaked using your last god-forbidden spell."
Gelina rolled her eyes, clicking her tongue in irritation.
"Says the guy who was barely alive taking one hit of mine."
"At least, I wasn't stupid enough to use an uncharted spell and fail spectacularly in it. Leaving myself in a frail state."
"Oh yeah? At least I-"
Heaving a sigh, Arsh looked at them. It was good looking at his mentor going back to his usual self. Arsh chuckled a little hearing their nonsensical argument over again.
They looked like a bickering married old couple in the town. Arsh obviously knew better than to voice his thoughts out loud. But, someone in the group didn't.
"...You two look like an old married couple."
Adam voiced, disappointment clearly dripping from his voice. He was worried about his chance slipping away from him, oblivious as to how he had just dug his own grave.
Alan and Gelina stiffened, slowly moving toward the big-mouthed adventurer. Adam turned back in hope of running away. But he was too outclassed.
Alan caught him from behind without any real effort, and both Alan and Gelina hit him on the back of his head with inhumane force, sending him flying to the tree.
""You wanna die?""