Chapter 93: The Boss of Act 3 Chapter 1, The Imperfect Chimera
You have encountered the boss of Act 3 Chapter 1: 'Imperfect Chimera'!
The 'Chimera' inflicts 'Extreme Terror' on everyone!
All movements are slowed to the maximum due to Extreme Terror!
Your bloodline strongly rebels!
Your bloodline boils! It rages at the byproduct created by the demon race!
You cannot feel 'Fear'!
You overcome all debuffs!
The surviving search party members join the assault team. You must repel the 'Chimera' with them alone!
Assault Team (4 members): Adrian, Lien, Erhan, Reina.
You invoke your fate.
……Really.
This was exactly why I'd called it disgusting, repulsive, horrific, and a total shitshow.
In the original story, all the missing people ended up as materials for that monster.
And of course they did—because they hadn't died to monsters at all. They'd been directly used as experimental subjects by her.
The monsters straying from their habitats was just one piece of the groundwork for this gruesome experiment.
And it didn't end there. Even in death, they couldn't find peace, turned into her playthings like that.
"Why is it so……."
"Fall back."
Yeah. How could anyone not feel revolted by this?
But.
"……Adrian, fortunately, it seems Daisy von Shukros is still alive."
"Mm."
"I can't sense Daisy von Shukros's mana in that twisted, repulsive mass of magic…… Instead, I feel it from behind that monster…… Inside the cave. It looks like she's trapped in there."
That figured.
In the original, the knight faculty and magic faculty students had all been absorbed into that monster……
But Daisy von Shukros couldn't have become one with that chimera.
A chimera was a horrific beast stitched together from living people, and if the subject had mana with such a distinct signature, it was too risky to tamper with. Mess it up, and the fusing flesh could collapse entirely…… or so the setting bible said.
Her magic was unique, an inherited family trait no one else could replicate.
So the odds of Daisy von Shukros being inside that chimera were near zero.
She might've been killed by it, but luckily, she was alive.
"Lien sunbae-nim, Erhan, Adrian. Let's take down that revolting monster together."
As Reina spoke, drawing her staff, an overwhelming surge of mana churned around her, untouchable in its intensity.
Lien nodded too, and Erhan activated his Hero Sword, gripping his greatsword tight.
Yeah. With this lineup……
We'd be fine.
Erhan had grown, Lien was tier 2 but stronger than most at this point in the story, and Reina had already met the conditions close to awakening.
I'd felt it keenly when she fired that Lightning Arrow earlier. Even overinvesting mana, that level of power from mid-tier magic wasn't easy.
"Reina."
"Yes, Adrian."
"Can you all handle that chimera on your own?"
"……Just us?"
I nodded, and Reina and Erhan looked a bit hesitant.
"It's not hard. Look at that chimera. It's just a formless mass that can only smash down or swing its arms. No blind spots thanks to all those eyes and faces, but with them all clustered in one direction like that, it'll be weak to frontal assaults and ranged magic."
"……Wait, then what about you, Adrian? Leaving it to us and—what are you planning to do……."
"Nothing major. But it's something that has to be done. Obviously, I'm not running away. You'll find out what when the time comes."
"Running away? We both know you wouldn't do that, Adrian sunbae-nim. But……."
Reina glanced between me and the chimera.
────Rooooaaarrr!
The chimera shook the ground with its countless legs and arms, letting out an inhuman wail.
"……Got it. We'll handle the chimera ourselves, so Adrian, you have to—really be careful, okay?"
Worried, huh.
I reached out, ruffled Reina's hair briefly, then turned to Erhan.
"Erhan, take care of everyone."
"Yes, sir."
"Focus on the fight! It's coming! Watch the arm—left downward smash! Wolfgang, magic from the rear! Erhan sunbae-nim, follow me!"
"Yes!"
"Got it!"
As they charged into battle with the chimera, I glanced up at the cliff's edge.
Good, there it was.
I'd told them the strategy for that monster.
Leaving it to those I could trust, I ran off to do what I had to.
Alright.
First, time to meet the owner of that horrific pet.
With Adrian gone, Reina forced herself to focus more on the grotesque thing in front of her than his absence.
It was enormous. Like a giant.
A massive fist swinging from that giant, and movements with no blind spots from the faces plastered everywhere.
But.
"Adrian told us."
There was a pattern, he'd said.
That horrific, repulsive beast had low intelligence, doomed to repeat the same actions over and over.
Aim for that, and they could win.
"I won't be a burden anymore."
She'd felt it. Back in the dense woods, her Lightning Arrow wouldn't have done much without his Create Water.
He read the situation in an instant and picked the perfect spell. What had she felt watching that?
"I'm not…… someone who just follows behind. I'm a partner walking the same path!"
Magic erupted.
Handling multicolored elemental magic with free abandon, Reina began dominating the battlefield with pure spellcraft.
'Weirdly, unlike before, I don't feel mana drain at all. He just shared some with me…… If anything, it feels overflowing.'
Back when she was perpetually second-best, she'd collapsed from mana exhaustion more than once using magic like this.
But now, even pushing harder, she felt she'd be fine.
Lien's shield blocked attacks, her mana-charged spear thrust froze the surroundings, sealing the monster's movements in ice.
Then Erhan, with his Hero Sword, carefully sliced flesh, hunting for the core.
"Erhan sunbae-nim, your movements have changed."
"Haha, Adrian sunbae-nim gave me some enlightenment."
Reina realized as she watched the sheepish junior advance, scratching his head.
Ah, so this junior was chasing after Adrian too.
A good way to be.
If the old Adrian had been hated by all, hated everyone, and seethed with resentment…… now…….
"Not the time to think that."
"Wolfgang! Get ready! It's yours!"
"Yes! Ready!"
Now.
Time to rescue that hopelessly idiotic rival trapped in the cave.
"Wonder how humiliated she'll be if I save her? Hehe."
She'd better not just bawl her eyes out.
With that thought, Reina squeezed out 80% of her mana, forging a massive magic sword infused with five elements.
A radiant multicolored greatsword materialized in her hand.
The spell she'd always wanted to try but never could due to mana shortage—somehow, it worked now!
"Now! Wolfgang!"
"Yes, here we go! 【Unique Magic: Elemental Sword】!"
Lien blocked, Erhan slashed, exposing the chimera's heart…… the core.
Reina thrust her hand forward, plunging the massive magic sword straight in.
"……May the sacrificed rest in peace!"
────Kieeeek!
Always.
While playing the game, one thing had bugged me.
For instance, a boss that summons trash mobs. While you're dealing with the adds, the boss just sits there doing nothing, watching from afar.
In the game, you were blocked by an invisible wall, couldn't reach it, and projectiles like arrows or daggers were invincible outside the system.
So I'd wondered.
What if.
If it wasn't me, but my allies handling the trash, and I could reach the boss.
And what if that game with its invisible walls became real life?
I leaped over brush, dashed through the woods, and a basin came into view.
I pulled my staff from my pocket, then my dagger, muttering.
"Found you."
Then.
The girl who looked up—extracting blood from a fallen human corpse, etching an inverse pentagram on parchment.
Simple.
"Because you told me every time."
In the Act 3 boss fight, you'd said you were watching us fight desperately from somewhere.
And there was only one spot with a view of the whole battlefield.
The loathing etched into my bloodline surged.
Yeah.
She looked like a porcelain doll girl.
But cracks spiderwebbed her body, sclera black as pitch, eyes blood-red.
They called it a marionette, but I knew the demon's true name.
"Bellanio."
No openings.
I swung the dagger immediately.
But she dodged nimbly, twisting her head away, then covered her mouth and sneered.
"Shut up."
I tossed the dagger and drew a new one.
She tried to pull back, but I was faster.
Basic of basics: remember the boss's dodge pattern from the first strike.
The fang-curved dagger tip tore mercilessly into the doll's body.
In that instant.
Her smug face twisted slightly, sensing something.
"Do you know basilisk venom petrifies not just the body, but the soul too?"
Before she could move, I pulled a yellow bead from my pouch, jammed it into the wound, and shattered it with another dagger thrust.
"This is a petrification crystal. Turns out, combining it with basilisk venom lets you track prey that's been poisoned."
I knew.
I couldn't kill her here anyway. This body was just a clone, playing it safe.
She didn't even have a real flesh body to begin with.
Whatever.
No body? Hit the soul directly.
"The venom will scar your soul indelibly, and the mana crystal embedded in it will reveal your true location."
"Bellanio, the worm that fled the Great War three hundred years ago instead of being sealed, now hiding in the depths of Darkness."
I leaned in close to her terrified face and whispered.
"Spend a few centuries fat and cozy underground, and even your wits atrophy, huh? Crawling out with that pathetic confidence."
I jabbed her forehead hard with my staff.
The porcelain doll shattered mercilessly.
I kicked the staggering thing, smashing its upper and lower body clean apart.
A clone, so no pain from the body breaking.
"Mark my words, you'll meet a true demon's end. Just like how I beat you to death hundreds of times with bare fists and sticks."
Irremovable debuff on the Act 3 boss, plus a mana crystal to track her position.
Go on, pitiful demon.
Run for your life.
Wherever you flee, I'll come for your neck.
I stomped the rolling head, crushing it.
And with that.
A message appeared.
You have subjugated the boss chimera of Act 3 Chapter 1!
"Mm."
Looks like they pulled it off safely too. Time to head back.