“Gaaaaaaaah!” The four-legged beast roared. The Chimera that appeared before Sara and Neigass was clearly more agile than the other individual Chimera, running around, jumping around, making a fool of and toying with Sara and Neigass with its three-dimensional movements. Neigass thrust her right hand forward and released a sphere of wind that followed the Chimera’s movements.
“What is this thing?! It is definitely not a normal Chimera!” However, Neigass’s attack missed the Chimera and landed somewhere slightly off target. Then the Chimera closed the distance between itself and them little by little and attacked with its claws. Neigass gently floated herself up on the spot to avoid the charging attack, then launched a blade of wind above the enemy’s head. Normally, she would’ve wanted to fight while flying in the air, but there were a large number of medium- and large-sized Chimera flying around. If she used too many attacks from the area, there was a chance that she would attract the flock. The Chimera dodged the wind blade by jumping to the side, kicking off of a building, and somersaulting backward into the air.
“You’re challenging a demon to an aerial battle? Do not take me lightly! Tornado!”
“You’re wide open! Judgment!” Neigass and Sara, spotting an opening to attack in the big jump that the Chimera made, simultaneously attacked with a tornado and a sword of light, but…
“Garaaaaaaaaa!” With a roar from the Chimera, blood spouted from its body, and it used that as a propulsive force to change direction. Avoiding the magic, it charged forward, gliding across the surface of the tornado summoned by Neigass.
“This thing can even pull off tricks like that?!” Neigass tried to avoid the attack, but the blood ended up getting on her upper arm, which had the effect of melting physical objects. When Neigass fell to the ground, Sara rushed over to her and used Healing on her without even a second’s delay. Meanwhile, the Chimera landed atop another structure and looked down at Neigass and Sara. Though it was a hideous monster, there was something dignified and stately about its appearance.
“Unlike the other Chimera, it only shows stuff I can’t read when I Scan it.”
“It’s not a complete Chimera. That’s a characteristic of a failure running amok. Considering its strength, the human that it was based on must have been extraordinarily powerful. What’s more, it excels at fighting using blood.”
“Blood… Do you mean Genocide Arts? In that case, it’s Ottilie’s beloved, Henriette!”
“They say that Henriette has strength comparable to the heroes. If that’s true, then we might not have the wherewithal to be able to save her.”
“That’s just my own selfishness. The most important thing is that you’re safe, Neigass.” Sara tightly squeezed Neigass’s arm, which had been injured earlier.
When you say something like that, Sara, it makes me feel even more motivated! Neigass’s heart throbbed with love, and she felt her fighting spirit well up like a storm. At that moment, Henriette kicked off the structure and landed on the ground.
“It’s on the move again!”
“Sara, be prepared to use Divine Wall at any moment.”
“O…okay!” Henriette quickly approached in a flash, using zigzagging motions. Neigass carried Sara in her arms and dodged the first attack by gently floating on the winds.
“You’re too fast. So I’m going to crush you with something huge.” Henriette dug her claws into the ground with her front and rear legs and slowed down, while sliding. Taking advantage of that opportunity, Neigass clutched Sara tightly with her left arm and raised her right toward the sky.
“Aero Meteorite!” She hadn’t used Illegal Formula, because she activated this ability immediately. An inflated sphere of wind measuring about ten meters, bulging so much that it looked like it was about to explode, was thrown toward Henriette. When the sphere of wind hit the ground, it exploded, scattering storm-like gales and a large number of wind blades. At the same time, Sara chanted a spell, shouting, “Divine Wall!” and a wall of light protected the two of them. Neigass’s spell, named Meteorite, was incredibly powerful and covered an extremely wide area, so it was something that she normally used at a certain distance from her opponent.
However, this time, the attack landed close by, so it was necessary for her to protect herself using a barrier to avoid being caught up in the blast. Neigass’s powerful magic hit directly, sending debris flying and causing several buildings to collapse. Due to the effects of the Reversal core, not even a Chimera would stand a chance if it were to get hit. However…
“It’s not there…!” When the winds stopped, Henriette was nowhere to be seen. Immediately afterward, Neigass felt a chill run up her spine.
“Oh no! Behind—”
When she turned to look behind her, there was a huge mouth opening beneath a mass of swirling flesh; the strange creature was attacking. Just before Neigass’s spell had hit, Henriette had melted the ground with her blood that she had secreted and dove down. Then by melting the surrounding area, she moved rapidly inside the ground and took Neigass and Sara by surprise from behind. However, she had made one big mistake. Henriette’s target was not Neigass, but Sara, who was in Neigass’s arms. Neigass reflexively moved to protect Sara. The twisted, sharp fangs of the beast sank into an area near the joint of Neigass’s right arm.
“G-guhh… Y-you…went after Sara just now, didn’t you?” Crunch. Crack. Henriette crushed Neigass’s bones with the strength of her jaw. The flesh was crushed too, with a squelching sound, and everything up to her shoulder was too gruesomely mangled to even look at. What’s more, the blood dripping from Henriette’s teeth not only melted her flesh but also caused Neigass’s body to become increasingly numb, like the effect of Genocide Arts.
“My little Sara!” Even so, no matter the pain or numbness, Neigass’s anger surpassed those things. Sara wanted to stop the fighting immediately and start treating Neigass, but Neigass’s determination would not allow it. “Air…Pressure!”
Air pressure crushed Henriette’s body from above like a heavy weight. An irritated Henriette broke away and tried to create some distance.
“Illegal Formula!” Neigass immediately applied more magical power. The pressure increased even more, slowing down Henriette’s movements still further. With Henriette off-balance, Neigass raised her fist in the air to strike.
“Crimson Disaster!” The swirling mass of wind above her fist was only black for the time being, not crimson. But soon, it would be stained red with the enemy’s blood.
“Be cut to ribbons!” Neigass slammed her fist down. She made the wind explode. Although the range wasn’t as wide as the meteorite, the compressibility of the air was higher. Therefore, the initial explosive power and the power within the range of the attack were both tremendous. Due to the binding caused by Air Pressure, Henriette should have suffered a head-on strike, but…she had somehow managed to escape the wind’s hold on her with her strength and avoided a totally direct hit. Even so, roughly half of her body had been caught in the raging black winds and had been torn to shreds. As the name of the spell suggested, the wind itself was stained crimson with blood.
“Gu, gaaah… Oooo… Gaaaa!” Letting out a cry that sounded like she was in total agony, Henriette turned her back and ran as fast she could.
“I won’t let you get away!” Neigass tried to follow after her, her eyes bloodshot, but Sara grabbed hold of her clothes and stopped her.
“Wait, Neigass! Let me heal you first!”
“But!”
“Neigass, you were angry on my behalf, because it went after me, but…don’t you know that I was worried about you, Neigass?” Sara had tears in her eyes. Words spilled out of Neigass’s mouth reflexively in response.
“I love you, Sara.”
“I know.” Then Sara immediately began treating Neigass. Due to the severity of her injuries, she had to use Recover several times, which consumed a lot of magical power. Considering that the battle with the Chimera was going to continue, this expenditure of power was a significant setback.
“I wonder if my little Sara might be surprisingly fond of me,” Neigass muttered quietly as she was being treated.
“Is that okay to say that right in front of the person you’re talking about?” Sara was exasperated by Neigass’s words, which only served to make her sound more lustful. Despite that, she didn’t seem truly upset, based on the look on her face.
“Well…I think you are, personally. Enough to make me really happy when you say you love me.”
“Neigass!” Sara blocked Neigass with one hand as she tried to hug her. “We’re in the middle of battle right now.”
“Ugghh, waiting is torture!”
“What were you planning to do?” Sara really didn’t know what was going to happen then, but she suddenly couldn’t help but wonder if…they weren’t in the middle of a battle right now, if she would have accepted whatever it was. Then she felt overwhelmingly embarrassed, her cheeks turning red. However, just as she’d said herself—this was a battlefield.
“Guooooooo!” A cry issued from somewhere, warning them that this was no time to be fooling around.
“That sound… It’s close.”
“I ended up getting a bit too into the fight. Looks like I’ve called a big one.”
When they looked up, they saw a strange dragon-like figure gradually descending. Sara tried scanning it.
Chimera Wyvern
Affinity: Wind
Strength: 12,412
Magic: 10,972
Endurance: 10,367
Agility: 8,915
Perception: 9,976
Its stats exceeded 50,000 when added up. The values were unbelievable.
“It’s literally a monster.”
“No matter what comes, I don’t feel like I can lose right now.” Even in such a situation, Neigass still had a smile on her face.