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nIt seemed that luck was on their side, as not one Teranodon appeared as they approached the Sky Altar.

nOnly monsters that were in the lv 150 range, which could be faced easily by the knights, appeared once in a while.

nHowever, there was a problem even aside from the Teranodon.

nAn incredible sandstorm blew from all directions, to the point it was impossible to keep their eyes open.

n‘They said that it was the place where the wind’s strength was the most powerful…’

nEven while grumbling, Ian kept alert in all directions.

nSince he couldn’t fixate his eyes on anything properly, there was a high chance that they could be ambushed.

nAnd one mistake would directly lead to the failure of the quest.

nJust then, a strange cry was heard ahead.

nKyaaaoooh-!

nIt was the cry of a different monster that they had never met before.

n‘Is it the monster that’s called the Teranodon or whatever?’

nAnd Hellaim’s command was rapidly made.

n“Prepare for combat! Carry out matters as carefully as possible so that you do not grab the attention of other opponents in the vicinity!”

nShortly after, the identity of the cry appeared.

nIt wasn’t the Teranodon.

n‘Pachyao?’

nThe thing that cut through the sandstorm and appeared was a monster that was named ‘Pachyao’.

nIt was a giant tiger that had a similar look and feeling to Ian’s Familiar Halli, but while Halli was a white tiger, Pachyao was a red tiger with yellow stripes.

nOn top of that, its level was also 180.

nAlthough it wasn’t a Teranodon, it was an opponent no less powerful than one.

n“Pachyaos never roam around alone. There will definitely be over four or five together nearby.”

nHellaim turned his attention towards Ian and continued his words.

n“Ian, spare your body as much as you can, while we will kill them one by one as fast as possible.”

nHellaim unsheathed his sword and raised it.

nAnd he directly faced the Pachyao that ran towards him and threw his body at it.

nKuoooh-

nAs Hellaim ran straight forward, a large vortex began to form around him.

nAnd his sword began to turn into a bright red light.

n‘What the hell, he looks super cool.’

nFor a moment, Ian watched Hellaim absentmindedly to the point that he suddenly forgot that it was such a dangerous situation.

nAnd.

nBa-Ba-Bang-!

nRed beams that exploded from his sword in multiple sections slashed through the Pachyao.

nRoaar-!

nThe Pachyao that charged at them was knocked out by that one hit and rolled along the ground.

nAnd it seemed as its Vitality had dropped by half, as its name began to blink.

n‘As expected… The true monster is Hellaim…’

nIan shook his head and got into a fighting stance.

nJust as Hellaim predicted, several Pachyaos surrounded the party and approached them.

nAnd a free fight begun.

n‘Even just by looking at it, you can tell the Pachyao is an Agility-based monster. Its movements will be much faster than me. I must be more careful.’

nIan purposely didn’t use a buff skill.

nIt would be hard to stay alive if he was targeted from using a skill in an attempt to help them in vain.

nIan focused on defense the most and hid his existence.

nShortly after, Hellaim approached Ian, who was keeping an eye on the battlefield carefully.

nIt looked as if he had killed the Pachyao he was facing before Ian realized it and returned.

nHe lifted his sword and pointed towards somewhere.

n“Ian, do you see the stairs that go up to the altar over there?”

nAt Hellaim’s question, Ian turned his head towards the direction that he was referring to.

nAs he did so, he could see the entrance of the altar that was vaguely visible within the sandstorm.

n“Yes, I see it.”

n“Once discovered by a Pachyao, we cannot last much longer. The monsters will smell the blood and flock here.”

nIan slightly glanced at the knights that were fighting five Pachyaos as their opponents.

nIt seemed they were relaxed as of yet, but if the numbers were to increase, the damage would definitely become continuous.

nHellaim’s words continued.

n“I will cover you, so go up to the altar as fast as you can. Once you hatch the Griffin, we will leave this place quickly.”

nIan nodded his head.

n“Understood.”

n“Follow me this way.”

nHellaim, who finished speaking, took the lead and moved, while Ian quickly followed behind.

nHowever, just then, a gigantic roar rang out through the sandstorm.

nIt was different from the sound of the Pachyao.

nKyaao!

nAnd Hellaim, who heard that noise, raised his sword high.

n“All knights over here!”

nAs expected of knights that were under Hellaim’s immediate control, the expedition’s knights moved at lightning speed.

nIt looked as if the Pachyaos that they were facing each only had a little bit of Vitality left, but while watching them show no reluctance to give up the battle and move quickly, Ian was astonished.

n‘They’re certainly systematic.’

nAnd shortly after, a large shadow pierced through the sandstorm and appeared.

nIt was a daunting silhouette that reminded Ian of an ancient carnivorous dinosaur.

n‘It’s even bigger than Ddukdae.’

nIt was an image that made him feel as if a dinosaur that he saw from his science books as a child would pop out.

nHowever, there was no time for him to just admire it.

n“Ian, you run up!”

n“Understood!”

nIan ran for his life before Hellaim’s words even finished.

n‘This crazy, that’s the end of a life if that monster’s tail just brushes you!’

nThe level of the Teranodon that Ian could now see was not 190, but 200.

nIan had gone up 2 levels and had become lv 102 thanks to Hellaim’s bus1, but compared to the Teranodon that boasted a level twice his, his level could be considered a joke.

nTa-Ta-Tat-

nIan even used the Assimilation skill on Ly and after raising his Agility to the maximum, he ran with all his strength.

nFortunately, the attention of the monsters was all focused on Hellaim, and none of them charged towards Ian.

nBehind him, it seemed as it was the height of the battle with the Teranodon, as a roar rang out without rest, but Ian just focused ahead and ran.

nIan, who safely arrived at the entrance of the altar, quickly ran up the stairs.

n“Huk… Huk…”

nThe altar was roughly as tall as the fifth floor of a building.

nAs Ian ran up the long staircase that wrapped around the altar at full speed, he felt it becoming harder to breathe.

n‘Hoo, just a little more…!’

nAnd thanks to running as fast as he could, Ian was able to stand at the top of the altar shortly after.

n“Finally, I’m here!”

nThe most surprising thing was that as he arrived at the top of the altar, the sandstorm that blew so violently didn’t blow up on the top at all.

nCompletely tranquil, the Sky Altar had a similar feeling to the eye of a storm.

nAnd after catching his breath for a moment, a system message rang close to Ian’s ear.

n• You are the first discoverer of the Source of Wind, the ‘Sky Altar’.

n• Your Affinity with wind-type will increase by 5%.

n• Your resistance to wind-type will increase by 10.

n• From now on, your Affinity with wind-type monsters will not drop below 30.

n• Your Fame has increased by 15,000.

nThey were a type of system messages that he had heard somewhere before.

nRather than the Fame he obtained, the other system messages caught Ian’s eye first.

n‘This, these system messages are similar to the ones that appeared when I discovered the Blazing Explosion or the Source of Lava.’

nThey weren’t just similar, but truthfully, they were almost the same.

nThe only thing that was different was the type that was involved.

n‘If that’s the case, then I may need to go to the Scorching Land when I’m hatching a fire-type Legendary-rank egg later.’

nIt was an unexpected gain.

nSince there was no information that was as precious as a clue like this.

nHowever, above all else, it was important to quickly hatch the Griffin’s egg.

nIf he moved slowly and the damage towards the knights became bigger, he may gain the king’s anger even if he succeeded the quest.

nIf that happened, it would become incredibly difficult.

n“Is that it?”

nIan’s attention turned to the platform in the middle of the altar that came up to about his waist.

nAnd he moved towards it.

n‘Let’s try putting the Griffin’s Egg on top of there.’

nIan, who quickly ran to the platform, pulled out the Griffin’s Egg with nimble fingers.

nAnd he placed it on top of the platform carefully.

n‘Alright, now hatch!’

nCould you say that someone had heard Ian’s desperate wish?

nSurrounding the platform, rays of yellow light began to get sucked in like a tornado.

n“It worked, it’s working!”

nIan, who was staring at the Griffin’s Egg with a nervous expression, let out a shout before he realized.

nAnd he checked the information of the Griffin’s Egg.

n• Hatching… 11%

nThe hatching percentage that was stuck at 0% was slowly going up.

nHopefully, the Griffin would hatch without mistake once the hatching percentage reached 100%.

nAnd once the Griffin’s Egg hatched, he just needed to escape this altar quickly.

nFinally, it seemed as if he could see the end of this Empire Quest in front of his eyes.

n‘Hurry… Hurry…!’

nIan’s gaze was completely fixed on the hatching percentage of the egg, which went up little by little.

nHowever, just then, something began to wriggle within Ian’s chest.

nAs soon as Ian felt it, he turned his head and looked down.

n“What’s this?”

nA fist-sized object that wriggled little by little and shone a yellow light was within his chest.

nIan pulled that out.

n‘What the hell? I had something like this?’

nIan carefully went through his memory.

nAnd shortly after, he was able to remember the identity of the rock-like item.

n‘This, this is the hot pack that the Chief Priest PK bums dropped!’

nAs it always gave off a warm energy, it was an item that Ian kept within his chest whenever he hunted in the northern continent.

nIt was an item with an identity he had absolutely no idea of, but because of that, he was unable to throw it out and had just kept it.

n“But why is this right now…?”

nWith a puzzled expression, Ian blankly stared at the stone.

nHowever, at that moment, the stone that was held in Ian’s hand floated in the air.

n“Huh, Uh?”

nAnd before Ian could use his hands, rays of white light wrapped around the stone, and just like that, it was sucked into the Griffin’s Egg.

nAn unexpected system message also popped up.

n• You have used the ‘Essence of Wind’ item.

n“Exactly what kind of situation is this?”

nIan approached the Griffin’s Egg with widened eyes.

n‘I never said that I’d use it!’

nAnd the moment he opened the information window to check the hatching percentage of the Egg, along with the sound of a cracking noise, a yellow light exploded out in all directions.

nAnd along with that, a powerful energy spread out in every direction, and it was so powerful to the point that Ian was pushed back and thrown onto the ground.

nFrom the centre of the altar, that unknown energy continued to gush out, and Ian grasped onto a groove on the end of the altar and barely supported his body.

n‘Hoo… That was a close one.’

nIf he was pushed back even a little further, he would have almost fallen off the altar.

n‘If that happened, I would have become the Teranodon’s food.’

nAnd shortly after.

nWhile Ian was calming his surprised heart, the system message that he looked most forward to finally popped up.

n• You have hatched the mystical ‘Griffin’.

n• You have hatched a Legendary-rank Familiar for the first time.

n• Your ‘Leadership’ stat has increased by 100.

n• Your ‘Affinity’ stat has increased by 50.

nIan, who checked the system message, felt as if all his sufferings disappeared in that moment.

n‘For my Leadership to go up by 100!’

nThe Leadership stat was the hardest stat amongst Ian’s class stats to raise, but once he saw that it had gone up by 100 at once, his happiness was immeasurable.

nHowever, more than the happiness from the stat increase, the safety of the Griffin that just hatched was more important.

nAs the rays of white light died down and the force that pushed Ian back disappeared, he hurriedly ran to the centre of the altar.

nAnd the form of the Griffin, which was born after breaking through its egg, leaving pieces of the shell here and there, caught Ian’s eyes.

n“It’s a success!”

nHowever, at that moment, Ian’s expression became confused.

n‘Huh, what the hell? It’s twins?’

nIn front of Ian, two Griffins sat with their heads drooped, their eyes not yet open.

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