Chapter 109
Chapter 109
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: Ultimate Chimera
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The Earth Goddess, Lady Nemi, governs the land.
Her priests enrich the earth, but depending on the circumstances, they can also rouse it to anger. Wherever the wrath of Goddess Nemi touches, the crops growing upon the soil wither away, and even fertile ground turns into wasteland.
The Goddess of Light, Elysia, surpasses Nemi herself when it comes to pure offensive power and destructive force. Her followers can freely manipulate light, employing it for both offense and defense.
By contrast, what about Hilai? At least when it comes to combat, she possesses no notable abilities.
Indeed, before the Triune Church came into being as an order, there were times when priests of the Hilai Faith suffered oppression at the hands of the Elysia Church or the Nemi Church.
That was ancient history, a history of humiliation, but while ordinary priests might be excused from knowing such things, an archbishop certainly could not. An organization that forgets its history has no future.
“Nemi’s Holy Knights weave the mysteries of shrinking ground into every step they take, offsetting the earth’s gravity with divine power to flit about like birds. They can even twist the surface of the ground to neutralize an entire army in one fell swoop.”
Archbishop Armata muttered as he gazed at the girl with her eyes closed inside the large glass tank. Holy Knights were the swords and iron maces of the gods, forged by each church with the utmost care and effort.
Even minor deities often failed to produce so much as saints or saintesses, let alone Holy Knights, and instead kept only priests. Holy Knights were that difficult to create, which was why there were so few of them.
The Triune Church boasted hundreds or even thousands of Holy Knights to the outside world, but among them, the true Holy Knights numbered only a scant handful.
Simply being a knight who could wield divine power did not make one a Holy Knight. That was the very essence of hiding the truth within a lie.
The Holy Knights that people imagined and the Holy Knights as defined by the Triune Church were two different things. True Holy Knights were the supreme martial forces of their churches, standing just one step below the Pope himself.
“Elysia’s Holy Knights forge weapons from light and swing beamswords, while drawing in light from all directions to materialize armor that protects themselves. And in comparison, what do we have? Nothing. The Holy Knights of our own church merely stagger back to their feet even after losing limbs.”
Priest Elwin listened to the archbishop’s soliloquy in silence. Whenever he visited this research facility, the archbishop always seemed uneasy. He would mutter to himself as if desperately trying to justify his own actions.
“Near-immortality is certainly an impressive ability, but without the power to match it, they’re nothing more than difficult targets to kill. And in truth, such incidents were frequent in the early days of our faith.”
The Hilai Faith was now resplendent, but it had not always enjoyed such prestige. There had been times when local power brokers toyed with the faith’s priestesses.
Each time that happened, a thirst for power would well up in the hearts of the faithful. The power to protect themselves—something the Goddess Hilai neither possessed nor could bestow. In search of it, her followers explored every avenue available.
“Are the adjustments to the Ultimate Chimera complete? Will there be no need for readjustment?”
And in the end, they had found it.
That power was the chimera. Sometimes chimeras of human and monster, sometimes monster and monster. At other times, they would transplant the traits of beasts into monsters or humans. In this way, they sought to merge entirely disparate beings into one body and reap only the advantages.
Of course, if it had been that easy, the Hilai Faith would have created legions of chimeras and conquered the world. Goddess Hilai would have become not one of the three gods, but the sole deity ruling the continent.
Talk was cheap, but crafting chimeras was an endless series of utter disasters. The Hilai Faith somehow forced through the biologically impossible by invoking the divine power of their goddess.
“Readjustment is impossible. The damage inflicted upon the flesh is already approaching its limit.”
“So extending its lifespan is out of the question, then. How regrettable.”
The archbishop sighed as he gazed at the girl submerged in the holy water tank, her eyes closed, her chest rising and falling with each breath. That thing breathing there was the ultimate chimera, superior to any that had come before it. It would likely remain an unbroken record for all eternity.
It was the last one. There were no more materials left, nor any vessels capable of bearing them. A Dragon Heart was something that had never fallen into human hands even back when dragons still roamed the earth.
Now that every last dragon had departed, it was little more than a treasure from legend. Naturally, a chimera possessing draconic nature probably amounted to nothing more than the girl before their eyes.
“I had hoped it would emit power surpassing even that of the Saintess herself, but while we achieved our goal, a lifespan this short makes it all for naught. If it must remain inside this holy water tank just to keep from collapsing, then what was the point of creating it?”
“For mere humans to have crafted a chimera with such abilities is already a miracle in itself. Balancing its physical form was simply beyond our power.”
Elwin offered a timid excuse. It was a Dragon Heart, after all. When had she ever handled such a thing?
No matter how wondrous the treasure, without knowing how to wield it, they had no choice but to resort to primitive methods and test candidates one by one. After acquiring the item, the Hilai Faith had gathered orphans from across the continent, seeking those compatible with the dragon’s mana.
Those without aptitude were sent to orphanages to be cared for, while those who showed promise were quietly brought to this laboratory. The lab’s location in Grantera rather than the theocracy was to avoid the prying eyes of the other two churches.
And this was the capital city of Grantera. Every resource on the continent converged here—there was nothing that could not be obtained. With enough money, anything could be procured, making it ideal for sourcing experimental materials.
“To think that all our evil-god-like deeds and even running slave markets yielded only this! It doesn’t even balance the books. It’ll collapse completely after just one or two uses.”
Experiments on criminals had all failed, and so had those on orphans. No human could withstand so much as a fragment of the mana contained within a dragon’s heart.
That was only natural. The Hilai Faith was unaware of it, but humans and dragons were far too different.
All creatures in the world, beasts included, originated from the primordial form. Even chimeras made from creatures sharing the same ancestor suffered from short lifespans, their bodies rotting while still alive, and physical imbalances that led to sudden death at the slightest provocation.
“Elwin. Is this truly the best you could do? I granted you all the additional time and budget you requested, but what’s the result? We wanted an Ultimate Chimera, not a mayfly!”
“Dragons are creatures that transcend all common sense! We’re the aggrieved ones here! Everyone truly gave their all, but what can be done when the results simply won’t come...”
Yet dragons as a species were beings from an entirely different world—not derived from the primordial form in the slightest. Their kinship with humans was distant beyond measure.
From a biological standpoint, humans and pine trees were far closer relatives than humans and dragons.
Attempting to craft a chimera from the remains of such a creature guaranteed failure after failure after catastrophic failure. None of the accumulated knowledge or conventional wisdom applied to creating a dragon chimera.
Frankly speaking, there wasn’t even precedent for a human-plant chimera. And the gulf between human and dragon was so vast that plants seemed close by comparison.
Dragons were alien beings who did not share the common sense of earthly life.
Unaware of this, they repeated their futile challenges. Without understanding the reason for their failures, those failures simply piled up.
There was nothing to learn from the failures. Unable to pinpoint the root cause, they were trapped in a hellish cycle of repetition, and the Ultimate Chimera project had once teetered on the brink of cancellation.
‘What if we used those who carry dragon bloodlines as our vessels?’
Until the day a certain genius came up with that idea.
In truth, many had already considered that the most promising vessels would be descendants who had inherited dragon blood.
But by then, there were no other options. Considering how much money and time they had already poured into this hopeless project, there was no turning back.
Who carried dragon blood? The likes of Mage Empress Harma El or the imperial family.
If the Hilai Faith had the power to seize such figures at will and use them as vivisection subjects, why would they go to such desperate lengths to create an Ultimate Chimera? It would be no different from already having the continent at their feet.
Precisely because they lacked such power, they were forced into these desperate gambles in hopes of surpassing Nemi and Elysia. They had no choice but to seek alternatives elsewhere.
If no humans bearing dragon blood could be found, then they simply needed to look among the non-humans.
“At the very least, if that half-elf hadn’t carried dragon blood, we wouldn’t have achieved even this much. If it can fulfill its role just once at a critical moment, won’t that be enough?”
There had been no need to infiltrate Elvenhome and kidnap an elf. Elves regarded half-elves not as kin, but as mere byproducts. Byproducts of romance, or of a pleasurable night.
They had sought out an elf whose ancestry included a dragon and offered a vast sum of money. Without the slightest hesitation, the mother handed over the child she had borne in her own womb.
She didn’t even ask where they intended to take it or why. It was convenient for the Hilai Faith, but even they found it unsettling. The true madness of those southern long-ears was enough to unnerve even fanatics.
Elves seemed utterly unconcerned with the future, living only for the present moment. Raising a child was a bother, so they were glad to be rid of it—they handed it over immediately. The child became an experimental subject, passed the compatibility test, and in the end, became the Ultimate Chimera.
For perhaps three days, it might be the strongest being on the face of the earth. After that? Not even ripping open its chest to recycle the heart would be possible. The heart had already fused into one with the body, so when the body collapsed, the heart would collapse along with it.
When they realized that all those vast expenditures, all that effort, and even a Dragon Heart had yielded only a three-day chimera, even the archbishop’s spirit had crumbled. And to make matters worse, simply keeping it submerged in this holy water tank offered no guarantee of eternal preservation.
A pair of horns began to bud atop the head of the girl, who had been lying still inside the holy water tank. Wings sprouted bit by bit until they were fully unfurled, and a tail grew above her hips. Meanwhile, cracks were visibly forming all across her body.
They had forcibly merged two utterly incompatible lifeforms, and even divine power could not suppress the resulting disharmony—hence its current state. Even submerged in holy water, it progressed like this, so deploying it in battle even once would mean they would never see it again.
And yet, leaving it unused and simply letting it fester changed nothing—it would die all the same. In any case, the time to use this thing had finally arrived.
“Rise.”
The archbishop placed his hand atop the glass tank, stimulating the seal imprinted with divine power.
“You have work that requires your intervention.”
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