It was time for their daily scavenge. In this white world, the most the griffons could find to eat were some large seeds or leaves. None of them had any sort of meat in a very long time. Hell, most of them didn't even know what meat was. It was a steep price to pay, but this was the only way the Sky Ruler had to protect its family. When the small pink skins appeared, they quickly destroyed part of the forest and drove the soft furs to extinction. But they were not done. The pink skins went after the griffons and killed most of the young and strong ones. Using the power it had ever since it was born, the Sky Ruler protected all its children and its children's children. It took most of the power it had to make this, but it worked. When the small pink skins got closer, the clouds themselves would stop them from harming any of the griffons. This weakened the Sky Ruler, making it dangle between life and death. Some time passed while it recovered, but the pink skins became a problem yet again. They found a way to the nest and stole some eggs.
Using the last of its strength, the Sky Ruler created one last layer of protection surrounding the nest. An eternal spinning cloud that would ward off any of the small pink skins. Unfortunately, this happened too late. The soft furs that lived in the plains were long gone, entire generations had been lost, and now the Sky Ruler was crippled. It took several years before the remaining griffons could replenish their numbers. To make this worse, they only could eat the leaves from trees or any other vegetation they found. The Sky Ruler was already old and weary, and this type of food wasn't enough to keep it active. So it just spent most of its days sleeping and hoping its children would find something more nutritious for a meal. Every few years, one of its children would grow old and tired, too tired to hunt and too weak to keep going. So they would offer themselves to the Sky Ruler, hoping their bodies would be enough to keep their ancestor alive for a few more years. As much as it pained the Sky Ruler, he accepted their offer, knowing they only did that to protect the rest of the flock.
A long time ago, some taller pink skins somehow passed through the barrier. That was the first time in centuries the Sky Ruler had some meat. Then, it took only one body to itself while letting the other griffons feast on the other. But now, it was so hungry that even two wouldn't be enough. It wanted more, more food, more meat. It was that, or it would eventually starve to death.
Years went by as the Sky Ruler accepted its fate. It had lived for millennia, but now, most of its time was spent sitting around waiting for the day where it wouldn't be able to move anymore. Yet, a few months ago, a new hope appeared. Two new tall pink skins appeared. They invaded the nest and attacked its descendants in the middle of the night. The Sky Ruler flew for the first time in decades and tried to catch them, calling thunder from the clouds to cut off their path. Unfortunately, the creatures were fast, and the Sky Ruler's reflexes weren't as sharp as they once were. The first pink skin was able to run back to its hole before it was hit, but when its eyes saw the second, the Sky Ruler saw it was carrying one egg that was in the process of receiving its protection.
It did its best to stop the thief from leaving, but without harming the egg, it seemed impossible. To add insult to injury, the pink skin even tripped before reaching the hole and broke the egg the Sky Ruler worked so hard to retrieve. Seeing them there made it so mad that it forgot to call for the help of the other griffons, and by the time they had woken up, it was already too late.
Some time passed when they returned, again in the middle of the night. But this time, the Sky Ruler only became aware of the invasion after they were gone. It seemed like the pink skins didn't come to attack or steal anything. They just walked around until one of the griffons saw them. They returned a third time, killing one of Sky Ruler's children and stealing the body. This angered the entire flock. Not only had they come inside their nest and killed one of their own, but they even dared to steal the small amount of food that could nourish their ancestor.
When the pink skins came yet another time, the griffons were ready. They attacked the invaders with everything they had, trying to chase them away. Unfortunately, the pink skins proved to be more resilient than expected. Their weapons killed several griffons before the Sky Ruler joined the fight. It called upon a storm to attack the thieves, but one of them had a power similar to the one protecting the griffons. It used that power to destroy the storm cloud before running away. At that moment, The Sky Ruler realized that these pink skins were stealing what protected its children. In a moment of rage, it roared for the first time in centuries, calling its children to kill the pink skins.
Among the flock, the firstborn of every generation receives an increased amount of power from the protection that was created by the Sky Ruler so long ago. The firstborn of the last generation was among the most powerful that ever had been born. It was so strong that it received the title of Sky Ruler's Heir. That griffon chased the pink skins through the hole they used to reach the nest, but its power vanished in the moments that followed.
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A month passed, with the entire nest still in disarray, and now the pink skins had returned. The Sky Ruler saw its children already attacking the invaders, but the murdering thieves didn't seem to run this time. Instead, they fought. Killing the first two griffons that got close and pushing one towards the nests. It was clear that they wanted to finish this once and for all, and the Sky Ruler was happy to oblige.
The first two griffons that charged at Hera and Blue were quickly killed off. Hera dodged their tackle to the side and used the grease fire spell. Being creatures that were used to cold places, they had a lot of trouble dealing with the heat. Actual fire was much worse, and a single spell was enough to neutralize the two attackers. The spell also hit one of the orbiting rocks that was now engulfed in flames.
Not wanting to lag behind, Blue focused on the next group of griffons. Unlike her usual grapple tactics, she created what she was calling a storm sandwich. It was made of two heavy rain clouds that would rain into one another. After creating the cloud, her legacy allowed her to move it around with ease and even attach to something. That was exactly what she did after splitting it into smaller versions of the cloud. Each piece flew towards the head of a different griffon and attached itself to their beak. This would make it harder for the monster to breathe, and eventually, it would kill them. It wasn't a way to quickly get rid of the monsters, but it was effective.
"Tell me if you see anything that can help," Blue said.
"Will do!" Hera replied as she threw a few poison needles at the monsters that were still far away.
"I was talking to Stormcloud, but yeah, you too," Blue turned around, punching the air. That created a cloud fist that went flying towards a juvenile sky ruler. The impact tossed it off the plateau. It was unlikely that it would be enough to kill the creature, but it was one less to worry about for the moment.
Hera, on the other hand, was focusing on getting in the way of the creatures. She raised pillars of rock and stone from the ground to make flying around the area more problematic, using her poison to kill the monsters at range and her fear spell to stop them in their tracks before they could connect with an attack.
The Sky Ruler watched from the peak. It had lost one of its children due to anger, and it wasn't going to let its feelings get in the way of its better judgment again. Now it had become clear that if nothing changed, the pink skins would do the one thing it had dedicated its life to avoid, kill all the griffons of Boothudurn. So, with a mighty cry, the Sky Ruler took to the skies. Every flap of its wings created small whirlwinds, and the sky itself seemed to tremble in fear.
Hera and Blue saw the massive griffon take off and come down from the sky. It was a small flight when considering only the time it took, but considering the distance was a different thing entirely. The creature must have flown a few hundred meters up in the air before gliding down to the middle of the plateau. The monster touched the ground with a heavy drop, sending waves of snow flying in the wind.
The creature was massive. Even the giant snapping turtles Hera once saw in the rampage were small in comparison. It easily was 10 meters tall even when it was on all fours, and its wings could barely fit in the area when they were open. The Sky Ruler's head was covered in red feathers that turned green as they reached the neck. However, it was hard to distinguish the colors on the rest of its body. Even the color on its head was mostly faded and could only be seen because of the bright sunlight. Despite all that, its hooked beak still had an ominous blood-red tint, and a pair of piercing grey eyes stared at the humans.
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Sky Ruler - Level 15 - 65% (Cloud Affinity)
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Hera saw the monster for the first time, and the bonus she got from her [Hunt] surprised her. During the last months, she learned a lot about the different types of griffons in the dungeon and in the nest, but she never expected that to translate to the actual Sky Ruler. It was supposed to be a creature akin to a dungeon boss and not another version of the same monster.
When the Sky Ruler came down, the other griffons retreated and flew around their ancestor. It didn't look like they were only obeying it, but also protecting, despite being much weaker than the elderly beast.
"What? Where?" Blue asked Stormcloud, "I see it! What do I do now?"
Hera tried not to make any loud noises or sudden movements that would start the fight as she got closer to Blue, "What are you talking about?"
Blue didn't look away from the Sky Ruler. She hid one hand behind her back and pointed to somewhere on the right, "Stormcloud just told me, I might be able to cancel that barrier. The one wrapping around the nest."
"If you can do that, we might have backup. I'm guessing not even the big one can survive an attack from Naka," Hera replied, trying not to look too excited by the idea.
"Yeah, but I need to find the right place. This thing is kind of like the magic circle we saw in the Arcanist Lookout. I need to find the point where the mana is concentrated," Blue explained.
"Any ideas where that is?"
"Not a clue, and Stormcloud can't tell me either. They are not strong enough to read the spell."
"I guess we are going to need to keep running around, then," Hera replied.
"Or we skip any weird plans and focus on killing that thing," Blue stared at the Sky Ruler.
"True, it's a shame we didn't get a chance to retreat and regroup," Hera looked at the griffons. They were all staring at the two, waiting for something.
"Well, it's not like we got hit. Even if we went back to the tunnel, it would be just to recover some mana and maybe drink something," Blue shrugged.
"That's true. I guess we only have one thing to do now," Hera glanced at Blue with a smile before the two ran towards the griffons. The warm-up was done. It was time for the real deal.