Episode 175: The Giant Chimeras Appear

The giant chimeras opened fire on Yujun and his companions the instant they appeared. Boom! Boom! Dense clumps of concentrated energy blasted from their mouths like cannon shells.

Paranet threw himself flat in a panic, but the attack was far too fast. A shot still raked the back of his skull.

"Ghk!"

It had only seemed to graze him, yet half his head was simply gone. The energy round that had already blown past then slammed into him where he lay.

"Thousand-Pound—!"

BOOOOM!

The blast struck his body before he could even finish activating Thousand-Pound Drop, and Paranet was forcibly unsummoned.

Honestly. He should have used Thousand-Pound Drop sooner.

Paranet was strong enough, but he was a little lacking when it came to actually making use of his skills and traits. No combat sense, you might say.

Yujun met the incoming masses of energy with a swing of his sword and split them clean in half. Boom! Boom! Boom! This time dozens of them came at once. He cast not a single spell. He only swung, and the countless energy rounds scattered in every direction and vanished before they could so much as touch him.

"S-Rank enemy detected."

"Commencing concentrated bombardment."

The smaller chimeras raised shockwaves while the larger ones kept firing energy rounds. A sword could not disperse those waves, so he had no choice but to dodge. For the first time in a while, Yujun moved his feet.

In that single flash, two chimera heads tumbled across the ground. Yujun had already plunged into the heart of their formation, and his hands never stopped. Shhk! Shhk!

The closer he drew to level 600, the slower his experience climbed, yet the chimeras were of such a high caliber that his level kept rising all the same. The moment a shockwave or an energy round came flying, he used Flash at once. The skill carried an automatic stealth effect, and not even the chimeras could see through it. Shhk! Slice! Six of them collapsed in the space of a breath.

Leaving the level-up message behind him, Yujun slid his sword back into its sheath. Nothing remained around him. Every chimera in sight was dead.

"Yujun. The experience from these things is ridiculous."

"You leveled up too?"

"Obviously. We're in the same party."

"Good."

Manuela's curse had made a few of them easier to put down, but the chimeras were anything but pushovers. Had he run into them before reaching level 500, it might well have been dangerous.

"They're on a completely different level from the chimeras Paranet made."

"Master! That is far too cruel! My level was low back then. You really must take that into account."

"...When did you come back out?"

"Pardon? Just now."

"No. You died and got unsummoned."

"I did not die, though?"

"I never unsummoned you. What are you talking about?"

"So I walked back in on my own two feet."

"..."

Yujun tilted his head. What kind of nonsense ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was this?

"How ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠did you go back in?"

"I simply went in, did I not?"

"Went where?"

"To the place where I always wait before I am summoned. It is dark... yet comfortable."

"You can enter that place whenever you feel like it?"

"Yes!"

"...How is that even possible?"

"I, too, believed it to be impossible, but when I yearned for it with all my heart, it became possible."

He had never heard of a summon coming and going as it pleased. The last time Paranet had popped out unannounced, Yujun had let it slide. He had not expected the man to be capable of unsummoning himself as well.

"And the unsummon cooldown?"

"If I enter of my own accord, there does not seem to be one. I believe I could have come right back out, had I wished."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Th-that is..."

Paranet flailed his hands in a fluster.

"I must have been mistaken. There is a waiting period—"

"You were too scared to come out, weren't you? Afraid the chimeras' attacks would shatter your mind?"

"...That is correct. I apologize."

"I'm deeply disappointed."

"From now on, I shall appear at once without fail."

"No. You don't have to appear anymore."

"...Hhk."

Paranet sank to his knees, utterly devastated. Teasing him really never got old.

"Tapagol. Can you come and go as you please, too?"

"I do not believe I am capable of it."

"That so?"

He could not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠begin to guess why Paranet alone could manage it. It surely had nothing to do with being a growth-type summon. By then Paranet, who had already recovered his spirits, spoke up again.

"Master. I have given it some thought, and I suspect it may be a miracle born of my loyalty to you."

"What is?"

"The fact that I may emerge, summoned, even when you do not call me."

"And that's thanks to your loyalty?"

"Yes!"

"Tsk."

Yujun decided to ignore him from here on out. Even in the middle of all this, the Egg of Unknown Identity was vibrating furiously, and the farther they went, the more violent that vibration became.

"This is getting creepy. This thing really is an egg that can hatch, right?"

Shaken that hard, whatever lived inside seemed likely to pass out cold, or simply die.

"We need to move."

Yujun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠broke into a run. With so much of his senses sealed off, sprinting was dangerous, but this was no time to be particular. He clutched the egg to his chest and tore ahead at speed, feeling for all the world as if he were running with a time bomb in his arms.

More chimeras appeared. Swift. Decisive. Yujun took their necks in a single clean pass, and three of them fell at once. The same scene played out again and again. Manuela, Paranet, and Tapagol could barely keep up; following his trail, all they found were chimera corpses missing their heads.

"Why is he so fast?"

Manuela muttered it under her breath. She had pushed her flight magic to its limit, and still she could not catch him.

"I don't think he's even going all out. Why is he that fast?"

"Because he is Master, of course."

"What kind of answer is that?"

Paranet's physical stats were high enough that he was keeping pace with her.

"Hey, Paranet. Didn't you used to talk down to me at first?"

"Heh heh. I, too, possess a sense of discretion... or rather, I did, as one of the undead. I could hardly speak down to one who may yet become the lady of the house."

Paranet delivered it with a sly smile, and Manuela flushed and turned her head away.

"Wh-what is that supposed to mean..."

"Ah, youth. How pleasant, to catch the fragrance of young love."

"Excuse me? What are you talking about? I've lived dozens of times longer than you have."

"...Ah?"

Yujun came to a stop. The path had ended.

"I was wondering why the chimeras all looked so alike..."

In a broad cavern, the corpses of the monsters used as chimera materials were heaped into mountains. The number he had cut down on the way here was nothing by comparison. Those bodies looked as though they could furnish several times as many chimeras again. Something else, though, seized his eye at a glance.

A capsule? A tube?

He was not sure what to call it, but a thing like an enormous capsule sat at the exact center of the cavern. His companions arrived a moment later.

"...What is all this?"

"Manuela. Do you know what that is?"

Yujun pointed at the capsule.

Manuela shook her head.

"First time I've seen one."

Dozens of mana stones were linked to the capsule. It looked crude, but it was unmistakably running.

"Let's have a look inside."

Yujun walked up to it without hesitation. If the thing suddenly exploded, so be it. He trusted his defense. Fortunately, nothing happened.

"There's no separate lid. Looks like it's all one piece."

The moment his hand touched the capsule—

"What is this?"

"An event."

"Yujun. What are you going to do?"

"We do it. Looks like participation is mandatory anyway."

Their opinions had never mattered. They were warped away before they even had the chance to refuse.

That single line hung in the air before their eyes and would not fade.

"But what even is an Extreme Ice Stone?"

It seemed to be an item, yet he had never once seen one.

"It's cold, though..."

Cold enough that even Yujun felt it. The temperature was brutally low. A ceaseless cold snap and a driving snowstorm stung the skin. The whole space was a single shade of white, flat ground with scarcely a steep hill anywhere, though the snow lay so deep that merely walking was a burden.

"Ugh..."

Manuela suffered the cold worst of all. Her stats sat far below Yujun's, and the gear she wore was cut from thin material.

"You that cold?"

"Yeah."

Yujun opened his inventory. War of the Gods was a simple game, and yet, in its own way, a fussy one. Characters felt cold and heat, of course, and hunger as well; go too long without sleep, and stamina drained at a vicious rate. There were, accordingly, no small number of consumables meant to help one endure an environment like this.

Essence of Fire was a Legendary item, but the sort of thing one could obtain without limit so long as one paid. He had hundreds of them. There was no need to be stingy. Yujun handed one to Manuela and swallowed one himself. He was nowhere near freezing to death, but even the slightest discomfort was unacceptable. Maintaining peak condition—that was both a habit and a discipline a veteran player was expected to keep.

I wasted plenty of potions keeping the No-Pay Casual Gamer at full health, too.

Yujun's obsession with a full health bar was enough to make even fellow veterans recoil.

"Essence of Fire...? Isn't this rare?"

Manuela stared at it, startled.

"Rare?"

"Of course it is! I really needed this item..."

"That's why I gave it to you. Eat it. You'll warm up."

"That's not what I mean. It's a material you need when making a dungeon. No matter how hard I tried, I could never get any..."

"Essence of Fire?"

"Yeah."

He hadn't known that. He had never made a dungeon, and had never meant to, so of course he wouldn't have.

Nobody ever imagined a player could create a dungeon.

And no one who had actually tried had succeeded.

"Then I'll give you another."

Essence of Fire was piled all through his inventory. Handing over two out of hundreds, and leaving Manuela owing him for it, was hardly a losing trade.

"Thank you..."

Moved, Manuela accepted the Essence of Fire carefully in both hands. There was no need to receive it quite so reverently. In any case, the extreme cold was dealt with.

The Egg of Unknown Identity shuddered once more.

"What? It's vibrating here too?"

They had been warped to the event site. Had this been where the egg meant to go all along? It was shaking harder than it ever had.

"Guess they'll tell us the next stage later."

"If it says to survive, something else is probably coming, Yujun."

"Yeah. Get ready."

The monsters caught by his senses numbered in the thousands.