Capítulo 64: Book 3: Chapter 4 – Arrival At The Mountain Range Of Magical Beasts
The following day Ace laughed as Killian struggled to get up, but his hangover was really getting the best of him. He threw up several times, and his head was pounding, but somehow, Ace got them to the top of the mountain in time. And yet, they were still the last to arrive.
"Kil," Alissa hurriedly called out, "What happened? Are you alright?"
She wasn't the only one surprised about the gargantuan teen's condition. All the other kids looked at Killian with worry.
As there were only ten disciples in the whole pavilion, over the last five years, they'd all grown very close to each other. All misgivings any of them may have had toward one another had all but disappeared.
Whilst the other children were crowding around, Ace and Killian showing their worry and concern, weird looks started appearing on the faces of the instructors.
"Killian… Does he look hungover to you guys?" Lazerim asked as he studied the youngster from afar.
"That little idiot!" Mathias cursed. "He knew he was about to go on a dangerous trip to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, and yet he chose last night to take up drinking! What was that idiot thinking?"
"I don't think it was just him," Lauriella said helplessly as she looked at Ace, who, although nowhere near as bad, still exhibited a few hangover symptoms on a lesser scale.
"Do they think this is some kind of joke?" Kimika asked as her frown deepened. "They're supposed to be two of the team leaders for the training exercise."
"I wonder where they got alcohol from anyway," Wukong voiced as an amused smile played on his face.
"I gave it to them," Aiden said as he and his wife seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"You did?" Mathias asked in shock. "Why would you do such a thing?"
"Ace asked," Aiden replied with a casual shrug as if it weren't a big deal.
"What do you mean he asked?" Mathias asked, clearly displeased by the nonchalance of his master's husband.
It wasn't just Mathias. Other than Wukong, who appeared just as carefree as ever, each of the other instructors looked at Aiden with furrowed brows.
"You really are terrible at explaining yourself," Arianna sighed helplessly at her husband before turning to her eldest disciple. "Back when little Killian first entered closed-door training with you, Ace asked Aiden for a bottle of wine so that he and Killian could swear an oath of brotherhood before they left for the training exercise.
Unfortunately, the day your disciple came out of seclusion, it was announced that they'd be leaving the next day. He probably would've preferred to have done it earlier, but there was no way he would be willing to wait till they returned."
As his master filled in all the blanks Aiden was too lazy to, Mathias was able to understand Ace's reasoning.
Though he saw Killian as a son, Mathias knew that his place in his disciple's heart would never compare to Ace's, and it was clear from how they interacted that Ace felt just as strongly.
It was horrible timing, but he didn't blame them. In fact, he was happy for his hungover disciple. He knew that his lack of family had always been a sore spot for the boy. It was a big part of the reason why his relationship with Ace and his family meant so much to him. Mathias could only imagine how happy he must've been upon hearing Ace's suggestion.
"Maybe we should postpone their departure by another day," Lauriella suggested.
Mathias and the others were inclined to agree with her, but there was one person who didn't.
"Why?" Wukong asked. "If you ask me, you should just carry on as planned."
"They're venturing into one of the most unforgiving environments on the continent. You can't seriously want to send them on their way whilst they're not at 100%." Kimika retorted.
"You know as well as I do that you're not always going to be at 100% going into every battle. The whole point of the exercise was for them to gain valuable experience that could save their lives in the future. This should just be another lesson for them," Wukong replied.
And as much as they wanted to disagree, each of the other instructors knew his words made sense.
"Little Kong's right," Arianna stated. "Anyway, the trip for each of them will take at least three hours, so they still have more time to recover. Between that, the fact that they both have strong teammates to watch their back, and that their all being dropped off at the outskirts of the mountain range, there's not much reason to worry."
Hearing that, the minds of Mathias and the others were put at ease. Now all that was left to do was set off.
"Okay, everyone, split into your three teams," Mathias announced directly. "Let's get ready to go."
As he said that, the Pavilion's head put both his index finger and thumb in his mouth and let out a loud, high-pitched whistle summoning three terrifying giant birds.
On the left was Elise, the now ninth-ranked four-winged hurricane falcon that brought word of the soon-to-be invasion of Silverlight City to Wukong and Ace.
On the right was a ninth-rank Wildthunder Stormhawk with a body full of glistening silver feathers, a crest of blue feathers atop its head, and golden eyes that made it look especially magical.
And in the centre, a saint-level Hellfire Phoenix slowly floated downwards, silently exuding an aura that seemed to command respect from all who lay eyes on it.
Five years ago, anyone of these three beasts would've inspired no small amount of fear in the youngsters. Still, after half a decade in the Pavilion, they'd all become very familiar with these particular magical beasts.
The Four-Winged Hurricane Falcon was the beast partner of Kimika, whilst the Wildthunder Stormhawk, Silver, was the familiar of Lazerim. As for the Hellfire Phoenix… Its name was Jax, and he was the partner of Arianna.
After the three avian beasts descended, the teens proceeded to say their goodbyes before following their respective instructors onto one of the three birds, preparing to set off.
"Couldn't we take Elise, or even Silver?" Ace asked helplessly as he hopped on Jax's back. "I could do with as much sleep as possible before we arrive."
"You can blame your master for that one," Lauriella smirked. "He said that as you were the one who led Killian astray, this should be your punishment."
Hearing that, Ace turned to glare daggers at the man who was supposed to be his master. "You shitty old fart! Isn't a master supposed to take care of their disciple?!"
"Who told you to take Killian and get drunk last night?" Aiden replied dismissively.
"I didn't want to do it last night, but It's not like I had much of a choice," Ace argued back.
"What does that have to do with me?" Aiden asked back as if he seriously didn't know.
Ace was about to get into a war of words with his master, but he forcibly stopped himself. He'd learnt the hard way how unreasonable the man could be. "After putting up with your shit for five years, I've more than earnt this six-month holiday."
"You? I was the one who had to forgo a lot of my normal rest time to train you, and what did I get in return? A snot-nosed disciple who still can't even fuse both states of wielding!" Aiden argued back. "These next six months are more a break for me than for you!"
"Whatever!" Ace snorted, trying his best not to get wound up, knowing that was exactly what the 'old man' wanted.
"Ooh and brat," Aiden called out as Lauriella commanded Jax to take off. "Don't die out there."
"I won't!" Ace replied, flashing a confident grin before taking off.
.
.
.
Even though Ace's group had the furthest to travel, with Jax being a genuine saint-level beast, they had spent the least time travelling.
And if that wasn't bad enough, flying at that kind of speed, the wind resistance prevented Ace from falling asleep. But it wasn't even him who had it worst in their group.
Seeing how he wasn't even a warrior of the first rank, Julius spent the whole of their flight in near-constant pain with the wind slapping against his face. If it weren't for the fact that Lauriella had held him by his brown mage's robe, he wouldn't have even been able to remain on Jax's back.
He heard Lauriella say that their taking Jax was a punishment for Ace, but whenever he looked up at the violet-haired warrior keeping him on board, he saw a mocking smirk suffusing her cherry-coloured lips.
"We're here," Lauriella stated as Jax finally came to a stop allowing the three youths to look down at the long winding expanse of forest that effectively cut the whole of the continent in two. "I know you're all strong enough to look after yourselves now, but inside the mountain range are several beings, human and magical beast alike, that are stronger than both my husband and me. So look after yourselves and, more importantly, look after each other.
I'll meet you all back here in six months. Ooh, and Julius, if at that time you're ready to start training as a warrior to increase your survivability, just know, I'll be more than happy to train you."
An almost nefarious laugh escaped the supreme warrior descendant as she and Jax took off again, leaving the trio to begin their journey.
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P.atreon.com/AceInCoilingDragon: Book 3 - Chapter 28
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