Griffons.
Majestic creatures that rules the sky. One strike, and every animal is either kneeling before its feet, or having their tails tucked between their legs.
Majesty, authority and cruelty - designed to rule over others. They are the paragons of purity, strength, bravery and benevolence.
But, right now, all of those characteristics cannot be seen right now.
Its eyes, that always looked down on others, has only one remaining. Its eyes are wobbly, and has difficulty on focusing on the enemy before him.
His feathers, that were seen as a shield for his majestic body scattered on the ground. Blood and flesh splattered across it.
His knees, weak; his beak, mangled in a weird angle; and his body, dark veins that converged to a one single point - a fang - stabbed at the center of his chest.
If Griffons represent benevolence, Cerberus represents violence - two principles that behaves like water and oil.
And the essence of Cerberus, is now slowly creeping up to his whole body. This became a poison to him, killing him like a tumor.
His body sprawled upon the floor, and his claws are still trying to move, but his breathing, now so weak, did not let him do so.
At the far end of his claw, is another corpse.
The body of the queen, being fed upon by wild beasts, but they are still too afraid to eat more.
Because someone is sitting atop the said corpse.
His body has too many wounds, but some of it are still healing.
The Holy Energy that he unlocked earlier is cleansing his body, and healing it at the same time.
The rain, pouring down, is wetting his blindfold, as well as his hair, making his figure look more murderous with all the carnage around him.
[Congratulations! You have gained a Title!]
As the nostalgic sound came to his ears, he raised up his head, only to see the king breathe out its last breath.
[Title: One on Top - Defeat an enemy that is twenty times stronger than you.]
Effect - when fighting an enemy stronger than you, raise all of your stats by 20% + 1% for every 100 points higher than your own stats.
[Title: Kingslayer - defeat a "King".]
Effect: All "King" opponents receive 10% more damage.
His eyes are mild, but not surprised. What made him shocked was the third title.
[Title: One Kingslayer - defeat a "King" alone.]
Zypher's eyes sparked, he now has a foundation.
In truth, during his stay here, he had one problem.
Everytime he fights, and finds himself backed to a corner, he has one button to press, and it becomes an insta-win - Transcend.
But, it gets his body on a constant debuff.
In the end, he is just saving himself for now, and no back-up plans for later.
And it can become a cycle.
But, what he found now, is something that he needed.
[Effect: Unlock the "King's Resolve".]
- King's Resolve - Be a King.
That's all there is to it, but Zypher knows the underlying effect of this Resolve.
As someone who lived through his life, he had a fair share of problems from these people.
In his past life, there were people who got the Resolve Title - an Emperor, a Hero, a Devil, and a Dragon.
These were the ones he saw in his past life, but, there was one that made him feel mad respect and rivalry.
The Uncrowned Queen - Risha.
He has known Risha from his past life, but, there is also this nagging feeling inside of him that he hasn't known her deep enough, until he met her here.
In his past life, it was until the revolution that he met Risha, and until then, she was busy with building up her Resolve.
And, with his research from his past life, he saw that each Resolve has different ways to be resolved.
A king is a person that is always under pressure, under scrutiny and under the watchful gaze of others, but those make him stronger, and he uses these things to rise above the others.
And King's Resolve's resolution is simple - live in constant state of debuff.
In his past life, Risha took this opportunity to always use her debuff states - Frenzy, Chaos and Berserk to fight.
And that created Risha's King's Resolve - Crazy Queen.
It takes out the debuff of Frenzy, Berserk and Chaos, and turns them to power.
This effect, is to exponentially raise her stats, and give her skills more impact on battle.
This became her crown, but because she showed up a bit late, she was considered as an Uncrowned Queen - she was never acknowledged as one, but even without the title, her power spoke for herself.
Even the ones that were acknowledged lost to her at least once.
This created a wave of disappointment and embarrassment, but they saved their face when they were able to take down Acias, and eventually, Risha.
But now, that he is holding this thing, he wants to flip the situation around.
Hw doesn't want them to be the originals, and him the Uncrowned.
Even if he can't beat them as soon as he become a "King", he can still hinder and foil their plans again and again if he wants to.
His influence will be higher, and this part is the one he wants the most.
He will clip dragon wings, and putting mitts on tiger's claws.
And he will not stop here.
As he took the second chest he got in this place - one from Blood Cerberus, and now, the Griffon - he decided to enter the mine he saw earlier.
He then started to climb down the slope, back to the valley where he fell the Cerberus, and he saw that there were monsters who started to live here.
He cleaned them up, and traversed the side of the valley, where the entrance of the mine is located.
Looking at the entrance, chains hugged the frames, making it impossible to breakthrough.
Then, he took the glowing items from inside his bag.