The tower-like powers of the Golden Griffon were also the secret behind the quick advance of Thrud’s army and the fact that no one survived the encounter.
The titan couldn’t just move, but also cast spells and attack. A single stomp was enough to turn an army into a crater and then the students cleared the survivors on the ground and erased any trace of its passage.
Those stupid enough to take flight were massacred by the automated crystal turrets.
‘What can we do against something like that? It’s just too big!’ Theseus said.
‘Maybe, but we aren’t small either.’ Lith replied. ‘Besides, with no geyser, the academy can’t move nimbly. I say that we hammer at it from a distance and bring the Golden Griffon to its knees. Then gravity will do the rest of the work for us.’
‘Sounds like a plan. Let’s give it a go.’ Zoreth nodded while weaving her best spells and taking a deep breath of Origin Flames.
Solus jumped on Lith’s head, mirroring his movements to conjure the Blade Spell Ruin with him.
‘Do we pour everything we have, Life Maelstrom included?’ She was skeptical of Lith’s plan, but she didn’t want to run away without a fight.
‘I wish, but there are too many unknowns.’ Lith replied. ‘We have no clue about what an academy can do. If it has some kind of one-time barrier, we risk running out of steam before we can gauge its capabilities.
‘Let’s save the Life Maelstrom for a backup plan.’
The Eldritches just nodded but they actually had many objections.
Their opponent was double the size of a Guardian and its abilities were unknown. Zoreth and the others could think of several plans, but none of them could achieve more than probe the enemy’s capabilities, let alone defeat it.
Unless the academy was much weaker than it appeared, of course.
The Eldritches remained silent because they had no advice to offer. The few things that came to their mind would just demoralize Lith and make his valiant effort look foolish.
‘Now!’ Lith unleashed Ruin, a burst of Void Flames from his mouth, and another of Blight flames from his wings.
At the same time, Zoreth activated the tier five Chaos spell Devouring Blast and the tier five Decay spell Cruel Light.
Not being able to use Cursed Elements other than Chaos, Bytra, Theseus, and Nandi preferred to employ a Chaos Annihilation each. It was a modified version of Silverwing’s Annihilation that the Master had devised for the Eldritches.
They lacked Spirit Magic so they had to make up for the missing element with the destructive power of Chaos. Even though such a spell would usually require seven bright violet-cored Awakened to be cast, a single Eldritch was more than enough to conjure Chaos Annihilation.
On top of that, they all put every ounce of Life Maelstrom they had inside their respective spell and aimed for the Golden Griffon’s right knee.
‘Why did you do that?’ Lith was flabbergasted.
‘Because we have already attacked the Golden Griffon in its academy form several times in the past, little brother.’ Zoreth replied. ‘Remember that we can’t use Spirit Magic and Chaos is no different from darkness.
‘Once they spot us, a simple elemental sealing array will cripple our strength. The first shot is our best shot. After that, it will be an uphill fight. Origin Flames can be used only from up close and without the Chaos, our bodies are our best weapon.’
Lith inwardly cursed yet had to admit that she was right.
‘Solus, any chance we can turn the table with your tower?’ He asked.
‘I’m sorry, no. Even by combining the tower, the Hands, and the Sage Staff, there’s simply not enough world energy to manipulate. The Golden Griffon was here before us and it had the time to establish full control over the available energy.
‘Otheriwse Nandi would have already hijacked it.’
The barrage of spells reached their target, causing an explosion so big and powerful that it pushed the titan off balance. Trees burned for hundreds of meters and the area under the colossus’ foot turned into a crater.
The golden armored kneecap now bore a deep hole and was incapable of supporting its own weight. The Golden Griffon fell onto its knees, using its hands to break the fall and causing a shockwave that reached Lith’s group despite the distance.
Everything in the surroundings of the lost academy experienced an earthquake measuring 6 on the Richter scale.
“Well, well, well. Who do we have here?” The Griffon-shaped helmet turned in the direction the attacks had come from and the voice coming out of it belonged to Sevenus Hystar, the Headmaster.
“Lith Tiamat Verhen, his Golden Knight, and the lost sons of Arthan!” He said with a laugh while the fallen pieces of his armor flew back into place and started reattaching themselves. “That was a good shot indeed, but can you make another without a geyser?”
The lost academy readjusted its weight, raising an arm to conjure a massive light and darkness sealing array.
‘And there go our best weapons.’ Zoreth inwardly cursed. ‘Lith, you keep attacking from a distance. Bytra and I will switch to close-quarter combat. Don’t waste elemental spells since the academy can use all kinds of sealing arrays.’
The Shadow Dragon charged forward while the Raiju galloped even faster. By the time the first burst of Origin Flames hit the still-damaged knee, Solus had hammered at it dozens of times.
The Absolution in her left hand and the Fury in her right moved non-stop in a flurry while Bytra circled around the Golden Griffon’s legs too fast for the giant to follow.
‘Why are you two still here?’ Lith asked Nandi but especially Theseus who was a bulky Divine Beast.
‘For backup, kid.’ The Minotaur replied. ‘If something goes wrong, I tag in for Bytra and crybaby here for Xenagrosh. If we go all in, we are all equally screwed the moment Hystar pulls something out of his ass.’
‘I resent the crybaby but I agree on the rest.’ Theseus glared at Nandi. ‘I can take a lot of punishment which means I’m the most suited to buy time in case we need to retreat.’
‘Okay, thanks.’ Lith shared the Life Maelstrom with his equipment to help the power cores to recover quickly before joining the assault.
Nandi was doing his best to collect the thin world energy and feed it to his companions to keep their bloodline abilities working at full power. In Lith’s case, it even helped to replenish the power cores.
‘Damn, Vastor’s hybrids are always so friendly that I often forget how old and powerful they are. Compared to them, I’m just a baby. I’m glad that they listen to my “brilliant” plans instead of shoving a pacifier in my mouth.’ He thought.
Lith envied the Eldritches’ cunning that kept them at least three steps ahead of him at everything. He turned toward the academy putting aside every stray thought and focusing only on his goal.
‘A big target who’s also paralyzed. It’s time to Warp the trash out.’ No matter how sturdy a material was, dimensional magic would cut space itself.
