Chapter 54: Griffin Slayer
"Are you alright, Princess Hildegard?" Alex's deep, magnetic voice entered Hilde's ears, pulling her back to reality from the depths of his captivating gaze.
Finding herself in the arms of another man, Hilde felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.
"A-ack, t-that—" Hilde stuttered, attempting to speak. Seeing this, Alex, who was no longer in disguise, smiled and gently placed the girl back on the ground. He noticed the griffin, which had turned around and was preparing to attack them with its powerful beak.
Instinctively, Hilde closed her eyes, but Alex remained unfazed.
"Prison!"
Alex invoked a prison spell, encompassing himself and Hilde, successfully defending against the enraged griffin's attack.
"Release!"
Alex dispelled the prison spell and swiftly retrieved his glaive from storage. Without fortifying himself, he charged towards the griffin with inhuman speed that left onlookers unable to follow.
Reaching the griffin at an incredible velocity, Alex launched himself at the massive creature and slashed his glaive horizontally, cleaving the griffin's neck and separating its head from its body. The knights who were engaged in battle with the griffin watched in dumbfounded awe as the scene unfolded.
Witnessing their companion's demise at the hands of a human, the other griffins screeched in anger. Ignoring the knights in their way, they flew up and charged towards Alex.
"Freeze!"
Recalling a spell he had once heard of from the leader of the magical knight squad, Alex invoked the spell, causing the advancing griffins to freeze in their tracks, unable to move.
Using the [Accel] spell, Alex increased his speed and charged towards the magical beasts before the effect of the freezing spell wore off.
Everyone saw a flash of blue blur past them at an incredible speed, and within a second, Alex's figure appeared atop another griffin, as if he had teleported from one to another.
'Thud' 'Thud'
The sound of something heavy falling to the ground echoed throughout the battlefield, where the clash of weapons reverberated. Nine more griffin heads, cleanly cleaved, fell simultaneously to the ground.
Alex glanced at the dumbfounded group of knights and then at the remaining two griffins currently engaged in battle with them.
Another griffin met its demise, not at the hands of Alex, but at the hands of the former king, who was bleeding profusely and critically injured during his fight against the griffin. Nevertheless, he emerged victorious.
The knight legion, led by Prince Reinhard, fought valiantly against the griffin, defending against its attacks with shields.
The griffin emitted an ear-piercing shriek as it witnessed the death of all its companions. Enraged, it tore apart Prince Reinhard's shield completely and pierced the prince's hand with its sharp claws, causing him to scream in pain and release the sword he was holding.
Without wasting a second, the griffin launched another attack at the prince, aiming to kill him.
"Bubble Bomb!"
Just as the claw was about to reach the prince, Alex invoked a water spell, sending forth a small bubble of water to protect the injured Reinhard, successfully saving his life.
"Ice Needle!"
A small magic circle formed in Alex's palm, and a long needle made of ice shot towards the griffin, piercing its eyeball and reaching its brain, instantly killing the beast in a single attack.
The battle against the Griffins came to an end at the hands of Alex, and everyone cheered for their victory against the legendary beasts.
Alex approached the prince and the former king, using his recovery spell and healing magic to save their lives. Both of them, along with Hilde, who was in tears, expressed their gratitude towards him.
In truth Alex could have acted earlier and won against all griffins by himself but he chose not to attack the griffin first and wanted to check out the strength of the knight legion especially Galen himself.
Galen in the novel was portrayed as a pervert but then also a strong individual and perhaps the strongest human who achieved the strength without any divine intervention hence Alex waited and checked out the strength of the old man by himself and was truly impressed by the strength he displayed at such an old-age.
As they talked, the backup team that Hilde had requested arrived through the gate. They were led by the King of Lestia himself, who was shocked to see the corpses of twelve Griffins.
"It appears to be a Griffin attack," the King of Lestia said, knitting his brows as he listened to Galen's account of the events. "It's strange though. Griffins, while not as intelligent as dragons, are still intelligent beasts that do not usually attack human settlements like this." He asked his subordinates to thoroughly assess the situation in the city.
The king and other members of the royalty thanked Alex for saving their lives and promised him a reward that would be truly worthwhile.
Having slain eleven Griffins himself, Alex donated one of the carcasses to the city to aid in its rebuilding. Galen, who had also slain a Griffin, followed suit and donated his kill as well.
Throughout the conversation with the royal family, Hilde occasionally stole glances at Alex, which did not go unnoticed by others in the room. They couldn't help but smile at this budding attraction.
Alex also noticed Hilde's occasional glances and understood what was going on in her mind. He wasn't oblivious like Touya and knew that she had developed a crush on him. However, he chose to ignore her glances for the time being.
In the original book, Hilde was one of Touya's harem members, a kind and lovely girl with great capabilities. She had fallen in love with Touya in a similar situation and later got engaged to him. However, Touya's dense nature had caused her to cry in later volumes due to his lack of attention.
Alex didn't mind having Hilde for himself. Who wouldn't want a beautiful and honest girl like her? Besides her physical beauty, her upright, honest, and kind character was rare to find and suited Alex perfectly.
As for Touya, well, who cares about him?
After taking care of everything, Alex and the royal family bid farewell to each other. With his successful defeat of the Griffins and the royal family's recommendation, Alex finally achieved the rank of Silver and earned the title of Griffin Slayer.
An investigation into the Griffin attack was conducted, revealing that a group of adventurers had been stealing Griffin babies and smuggling them. This caused the Griffins to attack the city. The previous stampede was due to an entirely different reason. The adventurers responsible for endangering the lives of the people were sentenced to prison.
The promised reward from the royal family was put on hold as they found it difficult to decide what to give to Alex after his extraordinary deeds. If it were a normal adventurer, they would have rewarded him with a high-ranking noble title and some territories to govern. However, Alex was the monarch of another nation, making it challenging to determine an appropriate reward.
Alex returned to Arcadia and revealed his true identity as an adventurer, causing a stir in both Lestia and Arcadia. The news of his promotion to Silver rank was celebrated by the people.
As word spread about Alex's achievement, another piece of news emerged: the emergence of a Tentacular Behemoth that attacked Retrobamba, the capital city of Egret.
Weekly Power Status
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