Finally, no longer able to bear the might of my attacks, the chimera collapsed, defeated.
Then I ran over to the fissure and thrust my spear into it, sealing it up and ending the fight for good.
“All right, that’s just about it!” I proclaimed.
“That boss was no problem,” Ren said.
“At this rate, the next wave of destruction should be super easy,” Itsuki said.
“I wouldn’t recommend thinking that way,” I said. “You two are mistaken about that.”
Ren turned to me. “All right, Motoyasu, time’s up—what did you want to tell us before?”
“If you have something to say, hurry up and say it already!”
And now they were mad at me. I was simply trying to warn them that the next wave was in fact a close fight. And that Ren and Itsuki, as a matter of fact, were the ones who got knocked out by the enemies.
“Now to get the ingredients!” I had to collect my gifts for Father, I say. Back in the first go-around, I took the head of the chimera that seemed like it would make for the strongest power-up and added it to my spear. After the fact, Itsuki pretended like he had known to do the same thing and chose the goat head. We had also collected the hide of the chimera, if I remembered correctly.
“Let’s split up the remains,” I said. “I’ll take the lion head and the tail.”
“Hey! Who said you get to decide?” Ren demanded.
“Should I take a different part then? If you want to give me the dragon head, then I’ll take that.”
“No, that’s not . . .” Ren trailed off. I knew he wanted the dragon head. Another instance where my knowledge of the future came in handy.
“Why do you get to choose first, anyway?” Itsuki asked.
“I was the one who landed the first attack!” Ren said.
“But I was clearly the MVP here,” I said. My attacks had obviously defeated the chimera. They couldn’t deny that. “And since Father was the one who saved me, I’m taking a piece of the prize for him too.”
“Hang on a second,” Ren said. “Naofumi was just protecting the villagers. He didn’t help us here.”
“Yes, because all you two could do was charge at the boss like a wild boar,” I remarked.
“How dare you!” exclaimed Itsuki.
“In fact, we had almost finished evacuating the villagers when that group of knights came. If Father hadn’t been there, the village would have been done for.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Those Melromarc knights came to attack me and Father. They shot a sky’s worth of fiery rain straight at us.”
Ren glanced at me. “Is that true?”
I nodded, and Ren fell into thought with a deep frown on his face. Then he spoke in a calm voice.
“Well, the snake tail isn’t worth much anyway. Since Motoyasu did protect the villagers . . . may as well give it to him.”
But Itsuki came straight up to me, his face bright red with anger.
“Melromarc would never do that in a million years! Why would you tell such vicious lies?”
“Either way, we ought to give Naofumi something too,” Ren said. “Naofumi and Motoyasu were the ones who protected the villagers. So they probably saved a lot of lives. You want that, don’t you, Itsuki?”
Itsuki clenched his teeth. “Fine. Take whatever you want.”
“Then I absolutely shall!”
I immediately slashed off the lion head and snake tail with my spear and took them.
“Now, Yuki, Kou,” I said, turning to them. “Take this head to Father at once, I say!”
“Understood.”
“All right! Let’s do it!”
I added the snake tail to my spear and gained the skill Chimera Viper Spear. It appeared to give my spear a poisoned tip. It wasn’t weak by any means, but I didn’t exactly need it at the moment. I’ll just get rid of it later.
“That was . . . fast,” Ren said.
“How did you cut off the head in one blow?” Itsuki exclaimed.
As I started to take my leave, I heard Itsuki and Ren talking about something or other. My priority was to get the ingredients to Father.
“All right! Time to go!”
And with that, we concluded our battle against our first wave of destruction without much difficulty. When I got back to Riyute, Father, Sakura, Keel, and Lazy Pig were taking out some stray monsters. The Melromarc knights also appeared to be helping. Things were pretty much wrapping up.
“Father, my present to you!”
“Oh, you beat the boss? Then we’ll have no problem from here.” Father saw Yuki and Kou pulling the enormous lion head. “What the . . . That’s enormous! A giant lion’s head?”
“It’s the head of a chimera,” I said. “Now, hurry, Father, add it to your shield!”
“Okay, okay. Thank you, Motoyasu.”
Yuki and Kou dropped off the lion’s head and Father added it to his shield. That should really help bring out the true power of Father’s shield, I say.
“Oh wow, this . . .” Father held up his shield. “Apparently, I have to use some more ingredients to be able to unlock whatever skill is attached to it.”
“Yes, I have some more right here!”
“I really appreciate it, Motoyasu. Did you get a new skill?”
“I’ve already unlocked everything I need, Father. No need to worry about me!”
Now Father would be one step closer to my level of strength. Did I get Chimera Lion Spear, maybe? I remember that I had gotten a powerful skill.
Still, it paled in comparison to the spear I had at my side today.