Thanks to the support Hera and Blue were getting from the dwarves, the hunt went on without a hitch. Ganek's pinpoint weak spots spell could also affect the griffons without an issue to make things even better. Their working theory was that the cloud barrier would only appear when the dwarves would attack the monsters or get too close. Spells and skills that dealt no damage worked just fine. As they walked towards the next group of Sky Ruler's Spawn, Lija brought up a point.
"What if we paralyze them while they fly?"
"They should be paralyzed and fall down. Why?" Blue replied.
"Yeah, but will they take damage from hitting the ground? Or will the barrier stop that?"
"I have no clue, but I assume someone tried that when they first started appearing," Hera replied.
"They have. There are multiple passages about what you suggested with spells that would put one to sleep and even nets among the records. If the Sky Ruler's Spawn falls from any height that could damage them because of us, the cloud barrier will appear, and it will trigger the frenzy," Naka explained.
"And the frenzy is when where their feathers glowed with a white light, right?" Sevaris asked.
"I believe so. Although the description in the records is inconsistent. Some describe a red glow in their eyes, others that the wind picks up and creates a barrier around them. One particular passage even talks about how the cloud turns into a set of armor. I believe it would be better to avoid triggering that effect as much as possible. I don't like the idea of seeing those reactions first hand," Naka continued.
Ever since they entered the dungeon, ten griffons had perished, and not a single one of them got even close to the dwarves. With the buffs and the effects hindering the griffons, the earlier fights took less than a few attacks to end. However, things were getting harder. The remaining Sky Ruler's Spawn were grouping up, and the larger pack was circling the biggest flock of sheep inside the dungeon to make things worse. It would be one thing to fight against the griffons, but if they had to deal with the Wooly Sheep and Ram as well, things would get very complicated. Naka was there, and she could kill all the bovinae without an issue, but that could expose her and the remaining dwarfs to the Sky Ruler Spawn.
There were still a couple of smaller groups to fight, and that's where Hera and the team were heading right now. Before leaving for the guardhouse earlier that day, Blue and Hera had discussed the dungeon, and both agreed that dealing with the griffons should be the way to trigger the hard mode. Following what they knew about how to activate that, the most obvious way was to kill all the Sky Ruler Spawn. If that didn't work, they would start looking for alternatives. They were very interested in the idea since hard mode dungeons were supposed to make you level up a lot faster, not just from the quest, but also from the monsters inside. Not to mention the benefits one would gain if they were the first to complete it. If they could trigger and take part in that version of the dungeon, their leveling speed would skyrocket. Despite being comfortable inside the city, both of them missed people, and the sooner they opened the room, the better.
Finding the next group, there were only 4 griffons. It was one more than the largest number they had faced so far, but the smaller groups were all gone. The dwarves got into their position while the humans approached the monsters. Hera used her [Hide] and sent a couple of poison needles before starting their attack. If the poison took hold, it didn't take long for them to die. Since the buff Pyrrick applied increased all stats aside from charisma, her poisons also became stronger. Adding that with the bonus she got from the hunting skill, her orange needles became a force to be reckoned with.
The four griffons turned around as Blue got close and all jumped towards her. But the solid air was already in effect. Unlike what Totrack had just done, Pyrrick's debuff would only be used against a monster in the worst case scenario. It had the same cost as the buff he was applying to the humans, but it lasted only while the creature was alive. Since it took each creature, at most, one minute to be killed, it was a massive waste of mana to debuff all monsters they saw.
The Sky Ruler Spawn flocked around Blue, but she could dodge all the attacks thanks to all the effects in play. However, it was getting close. She had a very small breathing room while dealing with four of them at once. The intense battle didn't last long. Hera tossed her chakram under one monster and opened its stomach, making it fall to the ground. Even if the creature was still alive, it would bleed out in a few moments. The second to fall received several punches in its head. Blue's gauntlets were now bloodied after cracking the monster's skull. With only two remaining, they stopped worrying so much, but that was a bad move. A pair of Wooly Rams came out of nowhere and dashed towards the humans.
"Watch out!" Totrak cried, but it was a moment too late.
The rams slammed against Blue and pushed her towards the griffons that took advantage of the situation and started clawing at her. Some small air blades flowed around the monster, trying to rip the human apart, but were blocked by Lerynn’s barrier. Hera dove towards the monsters while Naka broke the formation, aiming for the rams. Blue pushed one griffon away and slammed her fist against one of its claws, smashing it against the ground. The Sky Ruler Spawn cried and moved back. It landed right in the range of Hera's handaxe, which chopped off its hind legs. Naka impaled the ram with her long sword and spun around, but an unbreakable wall stopped her in her tracks. Her sword had just hit the cloud barrier of the last griffon. The monster roared as red smoke came out of its body. Naka also saw that the creature had red, glowing eyes.
The captain braced herself for an attack, but the Sky Ruler Spawn jumped and flew high in the air and cried once more. However, the sound it made differed from anything else the group had heard. The griffons spread around the plains. All made a similar cry and converged towards the cry for help, right above the team. Naka swiftly killed the ram to avoid dealing with it.
"Run back to the tunnel!" Hera yelled.
If the dwarves weren't around, her idea would be to kite the monsters and let her poison spells deal with them. Then again, this would only be applied if she still had the buff. Blue rushed over to the dwarves, not wanting to leave them unprotected. The sparks of electricity moved violently through her body. This wasn't simply the effects of the buff, but Blue's own progress. Her static energy spell had a low cost to maintain, thanks to her control skill, and her total mana also had improved a lot during the past months. During this fight, she focused on dodging and increasing the spell's effects. This violent blue lightning resulted from keeping the same spell up for almost twenty minutes without using it to raise her attack power.
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"Try to make them form a line!" Blue yelled.
"If we do that, someone might get caught. It's better if we keep a tight formation," Naka yelled back. The noise coming from the griffons was too loud and made communication more difficult.
"Not you, the monsters. Make them form a line," Blue replied as she got closer.
Hera never saw Blue stay with that spell up for such a long time, but she remembered a couple of times where her friend tried to push her limits. The resulting attack was like throwing a spear made of electricity. The spell could already kill a Dragon Kin Kobold after a minute of charging. Hera could only imagine how powerful it would be right now.
The dwarves moved much faster than the humans. Despite their shorter legs, most of them had more agility than Hera or Blue, and that was already counting with the buffs. Only Lerynn moved at the same pace as Hera or Blue. This meant that it was even easier for them to run away from the griffons. To help make the monsters stay in a single file line, Lija created a few walls that could work as a funnel for the Sky Ruler Spawn moving close to the ground. There wasn't much anyone could do about the ones flying high in the sky, but the rock path helped a lot. Hera was still running by the side of the group, while Blue took up the rear. The controller prepared an electrically charged punch. She waited for one griffon to get closer before attacking. The spear effect would only trigger if she hit something first. It was a risky maneuver, but there were already fewer griffons than last time she came here with Hera.
When the fastest Sky Ruler Spawn reached Blue, she punched its face with all her might. The sparks around her body coalesced in her hand and shot out with a massive thunder. The sound was so loud that the stone walls created by Lija shook. Hera could hear her ears ringing, and she wasn't the only one. Even the dwarves seemed disoriented because of the blast. The lightning pierced through the first four monsters and spread out to the rest behind them, killing them and the next two and heavily wounding the last three. The five in the air spread out in cries of pain, shaking their heads while trying to keep their height. Despite not being hit by the electricity directly, the sound was enough to disrupt their flight.
"Holy crap!" Blue gasped, seeing the four griffons with gaping holes in their bodies.
"Now that's a spell! Well done," the ringing muffled Lija's voice, but they were all still able to understand it.
"Keep moving! There will be another wave of griffons after this one," Hera yelled.
"Why are you all yelling?" Blue asked.
"What?" Sevaris turned back.
"Why are you all yelling?"
"What are we selling?" Lija asked.
"Keep moving!" Hera commanded as the group started to lag.
She knew that after killing all the griffons, more would come down from the mountain. There was no way to tell if a set amount of Sky Ruler Spawn would appear or how many waves they had to face. She didn't like the idea of being in an open space while the monsters first appeared. It took a little while for the remaining griffons to go back to their chase. The wounded ones couldn't even fly anymore, leaving the creatures to run on the ground.
Hera waited until everyone was out of the stone path created by Lija and activated a flaming poison rain to block off the exit. The three wounded griffons could be slow, but they were still getting close to the group, close enough to be engulfed in the flaming orange projectiles that covered the exit. Not a single one of them was able to exit the rock path.
The ones flying around were having trouble hitting the dwarves while they traveled between the stone walls. The space was too small to allow the griffons to get close, and Naka and the other guards blocked their spells. However, now that they were out of that area, the monsters had a clear shot.
Hera intercepted one of the five Sky Ruler Spawn that dove towards the dwarves. She blocked it with her handaxe and slashed the creature's neck with her chakram. With a follow-up, she aimed a fire arrow straight at the beast's eyes, making it screech in pain. Things seemed to be going well until the other griffons started diving. Blue blocked two of them, but the guards blocked the remaining two. Each time the dwarven weapons were about to hit, the cloud barrier appeared once more, which triggered some sort of effect on the monsters. From increasing their strength to making their spells more powerful. That made the combat much harder, but thankfully, even with the frenzy, the griffons were unable to hit the dwarves. Naka and the other guards were able to push the monsters away, even if they couldn't damage them. It was a type of standoff where no side could defeat the other.
Before they reached the tunnel, Hera and Blue managed to kill all the griffons but one, "Blue, don't kill that one."
"Why? And are you done being angry with me?"
"If we kill all of them, the next wave comes down, and I wasn't angry," Hera was confused by the angry comment, but she tossed a paralyze spell into the monster, hoping to stop it on its tracks.
"You were yelling at me!" Blue gasped as the spell hit. The griffon was still moving around, and Hera sent the spell once more.
"I couldn't hear anyone. Your lightning made us all go deaf!" Hera sent a third paralyze spell. This time it finally took hold of the griffon.
"What? It barely made any sound. You guys are weak," Blue scoffed.
"Less talking and more running!" Naka commanded.
A few minutes later, they all arrived at the tunnel. The paralyze spell had lasted only one minute, but that was more than enough to allow them to reach their destination with a lot of time to spare.
"I think we should leave now and regroup," Hera suggested.
"But why? There is only one left," Totrack said.
"That was just the first wave. There is at least one more, but we don't know how many in total there will be," Blue explained.
"Well, let's finish that one. You said that there were fewer Sky Ruler Spawn last time you were here. We need to confirm if there is another wave or not," Naka said.
"Ok," Hera walked outside and saw the monster heading towards them. She gathered a quarter of her remaining mana in a poison needle and sent it flying to the creature. The griffon didn't stop running, but her [Observe] confirmed that it was poisoned. Using the rest of her mana, she triggered the poison control to make it several times more powerful. The monster instantly tumbled forward and started spewing out blood and its innards. It convulsed so hard that it coughed out its lungs. The entire team watched that happen in awe, and when the monster finally stopped moving, they all slowly turned to Hera.
"You're a psycho," Blue said.
"I wasn't expecting that much. I wanted just to push its blood out, not its organs," Hera replied in shock.
"That… isn't better," Lija kept staring at the monster.
"It is excessive, but it did its job. And where is the second wave you mentioned?" Naka asked. As if they were waiting for her call, another cry came from the mountain, and the second wave of griffons started coming down, "Very well. Let's follow our temporary commander and exit the dungeon. We will be locked out for an hour, but we can return after that."
The team left with an almost empty basket. They weren't that worried about gathering the drops. Despite everything, everyone was happy with the situation. Naka and the others were the first living dwarves to ever defeat the griffons. Hera thought it could be hard to convince the captain to return here, but seeing how excited they all were, she realized she wouldn't be the only one asking to come back.