(June 19)

Yesterday, I saw a huge flying monster in the sky...

It was a B ranked Hippogriff.

Normally C ranks like me would stand little to no chance against a B rank, however, I’ve trained a lot and have gained dragon essence since my rank was last evaluated.

Everyone in the village panicked and ran, most of them were normal E - F ranked villagers and would be able to do nothing against it so them running was the best thing they could've done.

I rushed out of the inn I was staying at after grabbing my equipment and weapons and looked up at the flying Hippogriff; it was a large half eagle, half horse like creature. It was the size of a normal horse but had massive wings and an eagle like face.

What's dangerous about it was its mobility, how it could fly and run on land fast as well. Its destructive power wasn't too deadly but in a one on one it had the advantage. It's kicks and its power of diving from the sky can be deadly.

As a solder, I had lots of free time, so I read stories about lots of monster and Hippogriff was one of them. They were known to be quite friendly, yet now it is mad and rampaging in the sky.

Originally this mission was supposed to be D rank, but it seems the difficulty just jumped up to C or B.

The Hippogriff wasn't attacking, it was just flying around screeching and scaring the villagers. It would occasionally swoop down and rip out parts of the houses for no reason.

Why was it acting this way?

I created a fireball and chucked it at the Hippogriff, but it easily dodged my attack. It looked at me and directed attention towards me.

It screeched again and was so loud that I instinctively dropped my sword to cover my ears, but that was a mistake as it dove straight at me from the sky.

I barely reacted and reflexively turned my body to dodge as the Hippogriff slashed at my side and flew past me.

Three scratches were engraved onto the side of my stomach and blood slightly dripped.

I grabbed my sword again, with my other hand on my wound. I focused and gathered dragon essence on the wound and my flesh suddenly healed itself rapidly until it was back to normal.

Hm, dragon essence sure is useful, it has great healing abilities.

I glared at the Hippogriff, and it glared back at me. It almost looked as if it was smiling... though I doubt it.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

It landed on the ground a couple meters away from me, preparing itself to lunge at me while I bent my knees into position, preparing myself as well.

For a moment it was silence, neither of us moved, watching each other for who would attack first, until we both jumped at each other at the same time.

I raised my sword; it raised its beak and claws.

We clashed.

With both hands I swung diagonally upward, resulting in a clash with its claws. After my attack got blocked, I quickly jumped back, bent my knees and leapt forward again after gaining momentum.

I thrust my blade straight forward and plunged my blade right into the neck of the Hippogriff. It’s thick feathers and furs was able to block some of the damage my sword inflicted, but it still hurt as the Hippogriff screeched and pushed me away before flying back into the air.

From the air, it screeched again. Damn this thing screeches a lot, geez. My ears might burst.

It spread and flapped its wings in an instant, causing a blast of air to shoot out of its wings along with feather bullets.

Its feathers flew at me like arrows. I focused and tried to dodge but several of the feathers still hit me and pierced into me.

I jumped back and continued trying to dodge. The feathers were quick and I prioritized protecting my head as I would probably die if it pierced my skull.

It continued to shoot feathers at me like a machine gun, and I was starting to get tired of blocking and dodging as the damage was starting to build up and accumulate.

Wounds started appearing all over me and my clothing started to get ripped.

Then suddenly arrows started flying towards the Hippogriff and the bombardment of feathers stopped.

The villagers were shooting arrows at the Hippogriff and were helping me! Although they're quite weak, even normal villagers given the right tools and enough of them could be a good distraction or inflict minor wounds!

Dozens of men shot arrows while others threw torches and rocks at the Hippogriff which caused it to fly around in the air dodging.

Now that it was distracted, I put my hands together with a little space between them as heat started building up. I used all my energy and focused into this tiny ball of fire.

My new spell.

Fire spear.

Lame name, but it was cool to me when I first thought of it.

A rod of hot air appeared in my hand and the air itself exploded into fire.

As I streamed more dragon essence into it, the bigger and hotter it got.

I bent my knees, twisted my arm back and with all my might, I threw my fire spear at the distracted Hippogriff.

The burning flame spear tore through the sky, creating ripples in the air and this was my first time, so the accuracy was a bit off, but it was still enough to hit one of the Hippogriff’s wings.

The flame spread across body and slowly engulfed the Hippogriff in flames.

The Hippogriff roared and flew up into the air, like a rocket, straight into the clouds.

Eventually it disappeared from sight, but it's still probably alive. The cold air and speed at which it was flying at probably caused the fire to extinguish.

That night the villagers thanked me for helping and defending them, so I felt a bit happy. Although I couldn't beat the Hippogriff and it escaped, I did protect the villagers, and their praises made me feel proud.

But I know I can't be too arrogant; I need to get stronger. I could barely fight against a mere B ranked Hippogriff, there's no way I can stand against a dragon any time soon.

The villagers, my family, my friends, I want to protect them. I'm not some hero, I'm scared, but I don't want them to ever experience what I did.

I will make sure they don't.

And I need to get even stronger to achieve that.

Geez, this little rant of mine is kind of embarrassing I'm starting to sound like some determined hero in a fantasy story…