"I-it... it’s charging towards us!" Fear flashed in Dangross’s eyes as it jumped and quickly hid behind Angel.
"Watch out!" Jack also shouted, and his slender stem abruptly extended and wrapped around all the elemental sprites on the ship, including Arnott, shielding them like a protective barrier.
The tornado drew ever closer, its immense suction making it difficult for the gondola to retreat.
The eyes of all the elemental creatures on the ship were filled with trepidation. Even Arnott, a Wind Spirit, shivered in fear in the face of such a terrifying whirlwind.
Just as everyone felt the powerful pull, with the tornado about to engulf the gondola, a sharp cry pierced through the howling wind.
Dangross looked up in confusion.
Toby, who had been perched on Angel’s shoulder, suddenly flew out of the ship. As Toby crossed the Wind Force Field and was exposed to the onslaught of the tornado, it let out a cry to the sky. In an instant, it transformed into an enormous Flame Gryphon, fanning its flaming wings, with Flame Power and Gravity Meridian swirling around it like a cloud-piercing arrow, charging straight at the tornado!
The terrifying whirlwind, which seemed to blot out the sky, was pierced through the center by a fiery hole created by Toby.
As Toby passed through the whirlwind, the fire light illuminated the world, dispersing the clouds, turning midnight to day.
The once tumultuous tornado, which had been spinning at high speed, began to slow down. The pierced opening started to crack with numerous fissures, dispelling the surrounding fierce wind’s force.
Seconds later, the horrifying whirlwind, which Dangross thought could tear it apart countless times, completely dissipated.
With just one strike.
The fear in Dangross’s eyes vanished, replaced by ecstasy and admiration.
"This is the power of the ancestral lineage!" Dangross gazed obsessively at the stream of fire burning the sky, his respect soaring endlessly. With visions of one day transforming into the ancestral form and possessing such power, he couldn’t help but dream.
As Dangross was lost in aspiration, the bean vine Jack behind him also flashed a smile. But within Jack’s joy was a trace of puzzlement.
Toby’s transformed appearance seemed familiar?
The Sage might have mentioned a similar shape once?
As Jack tried to recall, the massive shadow on the opposite side voiced a curious sound, seemingly also surprised by Toby’s form.
However, Toby gave no time for reflection. After breaking free from the tornado’s constraints, flames and ash swirled around him once more.
The shadow, attentive to Toby’s movements, observed the soaring flames. It protected itself in secret, sensing the surrounding wind’s direction to predict Toby’s actions. Except, it was completely unprepared for what came next; Toby’s body suddenly vanished.
It couldn’t capture the wind’s direction nor see how Toby disappeared.
As it pondered, it suddenly felt the wind around it become a bit more tumultuous.
It sharply lowered its head, a raging flame already appeared before it.
"How is this possible? How did you appear here?" the shadow spoke for the first time, disbelief in its tone as it had felt nothing—neither the wind nor any movement.
Toby didn’t answer, his wings like blades of flowing fire, spiraled and pierced directly into the shadow’s body.
The speed was again too fast to catch, leaving the shadow no time to react before a hole was made in its body.
However, this hole, unlike the previous tornado, did not remain unhealed. Instead, the shadow absorbed a vast amount of surrounding wind elements, swiftly closing it.
Seeing the rapidly healing shadow, Toby was stunned, not knowing what had transpired.
The shadow offered no explanation. Since a conflict had commenced, it had no choice but to give its all.
The shadow’s wind and Toby’s fire swiftly clashed.
During their skirmish, everyone on the gondola finally saw the shadow’s true form.
It was a whirlwind resembling Arnott, a "big head, thin body, and slender legs" inverted triangular spiral. However, this whirlwind was many times larger than Arnott, akin to a real mountain, rendering Arnott akin to an ant or dust in its presence.
Despite their similar shapes, the color of the large whirlwind was entirely different from Arnott’s.
Arnott was overall a pale cyan while the large whirlwind was entirely dark.
Though winds are typically shapeless and colorless, wind elemental creatures differ from pure wind. The color of wind creatures sometimes reflects the unique attributes, inherent properties, and structure of wind elements.
Arnott tends toward pure wind, while the large whirlwind perhaps inclined towards turbulent qualities, such as tempestuous winds.
In mere seconds, the clash between Toby and the large whirlwind reached more than ten encounters. Observing now, even though Toby was much smaller, his power was overwhelming, pressing down on the large whirlwind entirely. However, despite being breached several times, the large whirlwind quickly healed each time.
Watching this, Jack couldn’t help but say, "That... flaming one..."
"Don’t be rude, that’s Lord Toby!" Dangross objected.
Jack: "I just wanted to say, can Lord Toby defeat that large whirlwind? It looks like the whirlwind remains unscathed."
Dangross confidently replied, "Of course he can; Lord Toby belongs to my ancestral kin. He is invincible."
Angel thought to himself: although he believed Toby could win, labeling him invincible was an exaggeration.
Jack also noticed Dangross’s blind praise, so he turned his bean vine towards Angel, hoping for answers from him. However, Angel remained silent, only instructing Jack to keep watching.
Jack suppressed his impatience and continued to observe the distant battle, growing more suspicious. Although Toby’s strength was undeniable, the constantly healing large whirlwind was problematic and made victory difficult.
Angel surveyed the battlefield clearly. Though he wasn’t participating, he perceived the situation more comprehensively than Toby. The current scenario stemmed from the adversary being a wind creature capable of turning entirely into wind, rendering physical damage ineffective, leaving only elemental energy confrontations.
In elemental duels, the one with stronger energy levels can swiftly disrupt the opponent’s energy balance, leading to victory.
Though Toby wielded flame power, his flames weren’t pure. Elemental energy levels between him and the whirlwind were likely similar, making it challenging to disrupt energy balance quickly. Moreover, the whirlwind, enveloped in abundant Gale from the Cloud Sea, could rapidly replenish burned internal energy, showcasing the saying, "You can never defeat wind within wind." This explained why its body constantly healed.
Despite the apparent advantages held by the whirlwind, Angel remained confident that Toby could prevail. Even if Toby hadn’t uncovered the secrets of the whirlwind’s healing, he believed Toby could still rely on his intrinsic strength to utterly defeat the whirlwind.
The reason for such certainty lay in Toby’s composite strength, which was not limited to fire alone.
Many seeing Toby’s gryphon form for the first time mistakenly dubbed him a "Flame Gryphon." However, this wasn’t accurate. For Toby, flame power was the least significant attribute. The true name of his gryphon form was "Berserker Gryphon."