Two Knights Versus the Chimera
"What the hell?! What is this insane sight?!"
Elsid was staring at the chimera before him, tension at its peak, when the subjugation party arrived at his location, led by Lord Marienne.
"Just like before, why are there undead crawling around like cockroaches instead of bandits?!"
Elsid silently agreed with the voice from behind. He had come here to subjugate bandits, yet he never imagined he would encounter the same undead from the dungeon again. If he hadn't stumbled upon the secret passage and taken down the bandits waiting near the cave entrance, the only things he would have met here were undead.
The most striking among them was the chimera right in front of him. A scorpion's tail, a lion's head, bat wings on its back, horse legs, and a thick bovine torso... Just how many creatures had been mixed into this thing?
"Fine. Let's have some fun."
He decided to stop thinking. The chimera had already passed the zombies and was nearly upon him, ignoring everyone else and fixing its glowing blue eyes on him as its target.
"Graaaah!"
The chimera roared with its lion head and charged, whipping its scorpion tail like a lash. Elsid, standing directly in its path, met the attack with the sword in his hand, treating it as his own weapon just as the chimera used its tail.
The weapon in his grip had long since been swapped for a wooden sword after realizing the chimera was a living composite rather than a zombie. The Arming Sword hung at his waist, and Faker had been transformed into a necklace and hung around his neck once more.
Clang!
As expected, it wasn't an ordinary scorpion tail. Even clashing against his wooden sword, which possessed the hardness of steel, the chimera's tail remained unscathed. Elsid deflected the whipping tail, forcing it to veer aside, then boldly advanced.
As he moved forward, he swung his sword at the chimera's horse-like leg.
Crack.
The sound of bone breaking rang out. Elsid immediately withdrew his sword and retreated. He thought he had landed a solid hit.
Shhh.
Yet the leg bone he had clearly shattered regenerated in about ten seconds, and the chimera stood upright once more. Seeing that, it seemed a troll—the very symbol of regeneration—had been mixed in as well.
"Tibon, help that young man! We'll handle the other undead."
"Yes, understood!"
While Elsid was facing the chimera one-on-one, a voice called out from behind, and someone appeared at his side.
"Flame Bullet Qi — Crimson Flame Bullet!"
The one rushing to his side was Tibon, the senior knight with a burly, copper-skinned build. The moment he stood beside Elsid, he unleashed his unique aura technique. Only aura swordsmen of the Aura Master rank or higher could use such techniques. The title of senior knight was clearly not for show.
In the next instant, the blade of Tibon's greatsword glowed red. As he swung it, crimson flames erupted, coalescing into a spherical shape that shot forward like a bullet.
Whoosh!
Boom!
The crimson sphere struck the chimera's face at bullet-like speed and exploded. The burn on its facial skin healed in moments, and the chimera returned to its pristine state.
"It seems ordinary methods won't inflict any meaningful damage."
Even after Tibon used his signature aura technique, the chimera before them remained completely unharmed. The only difference was that, unlike when Elsid had broken its bone earlier, regeneration took about thirty seconds to complete.
"Was the technique you just showed at maximum power?"
Elsid asked Tibon beside him, his eyes fixed on the chimera.
"No. That was the spread type, so its power was lower. Switching to the concentrated type will deliver far greater force."
It was welcome news. Even the fireball from earlier had possessed power comparable to a mage's "ranked magic." If it could unleash even greater force, it would be a tremendous help in bringing down the chimera.
"If I concentrate the shot, I can unleash an attack several times more powerful than the one I just used."
"Then do it. That should be enough to make an impact..."
"Sorry, but that's impossible. Even at minimum, it requires a full minute of charging time."
At Elsid's words, Tibon shook his head, saying it was impossible.
"As long as there's time, it's fine, right?"
He had heard everything he needed. That much, he could manage somehow.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
Having heard all the details, Elsid spoke and charged toward the chimera.
"Wait—"
Before Tibon could stop him, Elsid rushed ahead.
"...Looks like there's no choice."
Watching him go, Tibon smiled with what seemed like genuine delight and gripped the hilt of his greatsword tightly.
Shhh.
As Tibon clasped the greatsword with both hands and poured aura into it, the blade gradually darkened to a deep crimson.
"Your opponent is me, you grotesque hybrid!"
Elsid shouted to draw the chimera's attention as it tried to turn toward Tibon, likely due to the earlier Crimson Flame Bullet. The creature lunged at him with its entire body.
Thud!
Elsid tried to mitigate the impact with his sword, but the charge, empowered by the horse's leg strength, was tremendous. The force sent him skidding backward.
Then, astonishingly, the chimera spread its bat wings and swung them like razor-thin cutter blades.
"Damn it..."
Boom!
Elsid rolled to evade the swinging wings. Thanks to that, he dodged the attack, which instead shattered the innocent cave floor.
"Graaaah!"
Enraged at missing its strike, the chimera let out an even louder roar and continued its assault. Elsid's goal was to buy time. He parried attacks from every part of the chimera's body—horse legs, scorpion tail, bat wings, lion fangs—with his sword, barely managing to hold on. He struck its ankle to shatter the bone and momentarily immobilize it, delaying its movements. Though he knew the danger, he closed in and unleashed a rapid flurry of strikes. Each time his wooden sword, hard as steel, traced its arc, the chimera's bones shattered and regenerated in turn.
"Hraaaah!!"
Every second felt like minutes or tens of minutes. Letting out a battle cry to draw out his strength, Elsid fought tenaciously, clinging to the fight. Even if it seemed futile, he was determined to buy even a little more time...
"Thanks for holding out."
And that struggle to buy time was thankfully rewarded. Before he knew it, Tibon had appeared and driven his greatsword—now so red it looked as though it had always been that color—deep into the chimera's torso. Elsid's desperate effort to hold the chimera's attention had worked.
"Flame Bullet Qi — Compressed Crimson Flame Bullet!"
In the next moment, a massive surge of crimson aura erupted from the sword embedded in the chimera's body.
Boom!
"Graaaah!"
The chimera screamed at the explosion. Up to this point, it wasn't much different from the first Crimson Flame Bullet. But then, the moment Tibon withdrew his sword from the chimera's body and retreated—
Boom! Boom!
Crimson flames erupted again from inside the chimera, striking it with further shock. The explosions didn't end after just one or two.
"Graaaah!"
With every detonation, the chimera screamed.
"This is my finishing move—compressing multiple Crimson Flame Bullets into a single Crimson Flame Bullet before firing."
Tibon explained kindly as his aura technique took full effect and the chimera continued to scream.
"The compressed flame bullets detonate in succession ten times inside the body, turning the target into pulp."
"Better than expected."
No matter how strong the regeneration, if the shock exceeded that regenerative power, it could inflict fatal damage. It was a simple principle everyone knew, and precisely because of that, it was all the more certain.
"Are you ready, young man?"
"Of course."
Yet both Tibon and Elsid sensed it instinctively. This wasn't enough. As swordsmen who had swung their blades countless times, they knew. This level of attack couldn't bring it down.
"Graaaah!"
Their premonition proved exactly right. As expected, even after enduring ten consecutive Crimson Flame Bullets detonating inside its body, the chimera remained standing. Half the flesh on its body had been blown away, exposing bone and organs, yet it still lived. In that state, its blue glowing eyes turned red, and saliva dripped from its lion head.
Is it going berserk...?
Elsid muttered inwardly at the sight. The minotaur centaur had possessed mad red eyes from the moment they first met, but the chimera with the lion's head before him had been consumed by pain and rage, entering a berserk state where it attacked endlessly without regard for its own body. And though it was hard to say aloud, from here on, the fight would be nothing more than a brutal, straightforward brawl.