The sound of the bell ringing stopped.
And then came the screams…
"Are you alright?!"
"Wake up, hey… open your eyes!!!"
"Why won't you wake up?"
The voices of the elves trying to wake up their peers who fell unconscious after hearing the sound of the bell began to echo around the forest.
That was until they saw it.
The giant flaming bird, standing opposite the traveler, who was still seated on the ground, his back rested against the tree.
"T..The god bird… has awakened." Orland muttered under his breath, his eyes widened in shock.
Every elf began to rise to their feets, the raw magic energy leaving the body of the god bird was enough to make them panic, the air was thick with tension.
"No…not yet, The witches of Adonais…please…help us." Another elf uttered, clearly driven by fear.
"This is no time to start staring! Quick! Take the injured and run!" The blonde elf altered, carrying one of the injured before fleeing from the scene.
The rest followed suit, one of them even carrying Alpha who was also a victim of the bell, Isla on the other hand was still up, her eyes fixed on Luminis.
"Young lady, we have to move now… the god bird…"
"Go! I still have to get that idiot away!" Isla yelled, charging forward, her spear now in her hand.
Even though she was terrified, she knew what she wanted to do, get Luminis out of there and avoid battling a god at all cost.
Or so she thought,
"It's… a Phoenix?" Isla muttered under her breath, before taking a quick halt, "I thought they were extinct… it's a… it's a divine beast." She grunted, feeling a bit frustrated.
Meanwhile….
'Aril… how about now… I should be able to communicate with it right? It's no longer sealed.' Luminis asked.
[Affirmative, I have linked knowledge on language, you may proceed]
'Thank you once again.'
Taking a deep breath, Luminis slowly began to stand at his feet, his eyes fixed on the Phoenix, who seemed to be doing the same thing.
"Yo birdy, how about you and I have a little chat?"
Grrrrrrrr!
The phoenix shrieked, the wind from its mouth blowing against Luminis's face.
° "A mere mortal, speaking the tongue of a divine beast is unheard of, what is your name child?" °
Although he expected it, Luminis was still a bit taken aback at the fact that he was able to understand the words coming out of a Phoenix bird.
He smiled.
'It's working.'
"Traveler! Get away from there! I cannot protect you against a Divine beast… it goes against our contract, can you hear me?!" Yelled Isla from the sidelines.
But Luminis ignored her, he was wholeheartedly focused on the divine beast in front of him.
"Hey, Phoenix bird, I understand you are a god and need sacrifice and whatnot, but why subject your people to kidnapping just so you won't destroy them? If so, I ask you to please reconsider, spare your people and let them be…" Luminis laid it down for the Phoenix without breaking a sweat.
"What nonsense do you utter, human?"
The phoenix spoke,
"A god such as myself has no need of such services from mare creatures… time and time and time again, I have been forced to deal with their Thanksgiving, I do not recall ever asking them for such…"
"Uhn?" Luminis utterred.
"A few years ago, I saved them from the invasion of a long extinguished dragon. Once my task was done, I decided to rest here, never to be woken again until my dying breath had neared its reaching.
But these lowly creatures were hell bent on disturbing my slumber, despite my warning to destroy them all, they continued to bring me fruits of which I could not indulge in, my patience has reached its peak!!!" The phoenix screeched.
It then whooshed to the sky, leaving aches of its flames, burning the ground and trees around it, even the little thing that was left of Luminis's clothes was getting burned away.
'This was just a misunderstanding? A god is angered and a civilization is about to get wiped out, because of a misunderstanding?!' Luminis thought to himself,
Looking up, he could see the phoenix charging down towards him from the sky, like a falling arrow.
Its wings spread wide with its flames and its body falling to the ground at an alarming speed.
'I have no choice then,... Since it has come to this… I'll take it head on… devour it before it even gets the chance to attack me….'
Luminis spoke, his eyes filled with determination, his legs balanced and his hand behind his back, black mist already forming around his fingers.
As soon as the phoenix was close enough, and had gave out a powerful shriek,
Luminis yelled at the top of his voice, his arm stretched towards the falling bird.
"『Devour』!!!"
Immediately, a huge rush of dark mist rushed from his hand, speeding towards the phoenix who also didn't stop its advance.
The mist covered most of the phoenix's body, Luminis could also feel the huge pour of magic energy entering his body, but even after all this, he was still unable to completely drain the mana from the phoenix, or suck it inside his void.
Seeing as the phoenix was still falling, Luminis took it head on, the force of the bird's impact shattering the ground.
A huge explosion occurred, the ground split in two, trees went flying and smoke covered the whole place.
"Traveler!" Isla called out, her grip on her spear tightening, fighting the urge to go help him.
Baaaaaam!
Luminis launched out of the smoke almost immediately, blood covering the side of his face, while his body was covered in some kind of defensive liquid barrier.
But following right after was the Phoenix, its mouth opened as fire began to build inside, ready to be launched.
'I wasn't able to completely devour it, but still, I should have been able to copy its skills… right Aril?' Luminis asked, his body still in mid air.
[Negative… The phoenix is a rank SS+ monster, a lot more mana is needed for a successful copy]
'For real… in that case, I'll get as much mana as possible!!!'
Fire rushed out of the mouth of the phoenix, charging towards Luminis,
"DEVOUR!!!".
.....
A/N
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