162 – Chimera. (1)
There’s an intruder. The ecstatic and crazy wizard realized this fact belatedly. Why else would the dungeon be rumbling? It meant that the chimeras were rampaging, and that meant there was an intruder.
‘Did they find out?’
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The wizard thought. Well. He had just been lucky until now. No matter how much he had settled down in the outskirts, people were bound to notice if people started to disappear.
Even with the stroke of luck that was the outbreak of the Demonic Beasts, there had never been a better time for the wizard to operate.
Right now, the Demonic Beasts were appearing not just near the Empire, but all over the Empire…… It wasn’t that difficult for the wizard to ‘disappear’ people amidst the chaos.
In other words, the luck he had been following had just run out.
However, the wizard didn’t really care. He had already gained enough. A fusion of a Demonic Beast and a human with no side effects.
Of course, there were many prerequisites, such as needing strong mental strength and not giving up control of one’s body to the fused Demonic Beast…… but that didn’t matter.
His goal wasn’t to create the world’s greatest chimera, but to achieve immortality through the body of a Demonic Beast.
To him, who had already achieved what he had set out to do, this dungeon was nothing more than a place to be discarded.
‘How much power do they have? If the Order of Knights came, it might be better to just run away. This place isn’t that necessary to me anymore.’
He quickly activated his magic to check the intruders.
‘……What is that?’
A group of boys and girls who didn’t seem ordinary. They weren’t that many, and they weren’t knights, but…… the magician felt a strong sense of crisis.
Judging from the magic power he felt that was intense for their age…… it was highly likely that they were students from the Celus Academy.
Usually, the talented boys and girls of the empire were required to enter the Celus Academy.
‘Academy students…… Did they come for a dungeon raid? Or to find missing people? They’ve become a nuisance in many ways.’
He was sure of it.
They were academy students, and they shouldn’t be touched carelessly.
Usually, there had never been a good ending when academy students were touched. The history so far guaranteed it. Especially the students of the Celus Academy were students under the emperor’s protection.
If they were touched, they would be relentlessly pursued by the empire. He wouldn’t be able to live his life then. Especially, he had finally found a clue to immortality, and he had been able to explore deeper into the dark arts, so there was no need to throw away his precious life now.
‘Okay. Then…… It would be better to back off appropriately. Needless curiosity always comes with danger.’
The magician decided so, and he carefully prepared to get out of the dungeon. While packing the research materials he had been studying.
Finally, the magician, who had finished all his preparations, glanced at the crystal ball that showed him the situation inside the dungeon to check the situation.
But at that moment.
He stopped the steps he was taking to go outside, and his eyes widened as he looked at the crystal ball.
[W, what is that…….]
The giant chimera was devouring all the chimeras around it, and it was turning into a snake.
The magician couldn’t help but blankly stare at the crystal ball, forgetting that he had to get out right away.
However.
He didn’t know, but the black-haired girl who was looking at him through the crystal ball to check the inside of the dungeon, was sending him a precise gaze.
* * *
‘Huh. That guy is the master of the dungeon.’
Asti looked at the magician who was looking at her through the crystal ball with interesting eyes. A grotesque monster-like body. It seemed that he had made himself a chimera to challenge the realm of immortality.
The thoughts of those magician types were always obvious.
They wanted to reach the end of the dark arts, and they would do anything for it.
And usually, their end was not good. Asti, who had seen those magician types for a long time, knew very well that they always reached the same conclusion.
Complete ruin. There were a few lucky exceptions, but they were just exceptions.
If you looked at the ratio, it was one in a thousand.
Only those people could reach the end of the dark arts.
And usually, those people were blessed with overwhelming talent. For example…… Yeah. Like Diana and Aris, and like Prach over there.
Of course, Prach had started down that path because of her, a variable, but what did it matter? Taking Asti’s abilities and replacing them with her own abilities was also an ability.
Anyway, in her opinion, the magician who was watching them now didn’t have that kind of talent. That’s why he hadn’t been able to enter the path of the great magician even at his age.
Even the end was to make himself a chimera…… It was a miserable and desperate struggle.
He was a pitiful existence, but she couldn’t just leave him alone. Those magician types always thought about saving their own skin first, so he would probably try to sneak out.
And that kind of guy would definitely bring all kinds of chaos for the sake of the path of the dark arts.
Originally, she would have killed him immediately without even looking at him, but Asti changed her mind a little.
-Prach.
-……Why?
-I know it’s a bit urgent, but just one thing. I just saw the guy who seems to be the master of the dungeon trying to sneak out. Should we just leave him alone?
At Asti’s words, Prach came to a conclusion right away. Anyway, there were many of those guys, and it was better to just make them into experience points right here.
-No. Let’s just dispose of it here. I already know all the places where Ruslan could gain experience. Just tie him up so he can’t go out.
-Got it~
Asti moved her magic as soon as Prah’s words were finished. Soon, her magic barrier completely blocked off the place where the wizard was staying from the outside.
Of course, since the wizard was currently looking at the appearance of the mutant chimera he had created, he didn’t even feel the subtle magic that was imprisoning him.
‘Now then, the chimera in front of my eyes is a problem… Let’s just watch it for now.’
Asti thought so and leisurely looked at the appearance of the monster.
* * *
The monster that emerged from the cocoon was the most hideous of all the extraordinary demons I had ever met in this world. What the hell is that monstrosity?
The group was speechless at the sight of the terrible hybrid. It was because no one in the world had ever seen such a monster.
Even Behemoth is a terribly hideous hellish beast, but that was a step above it.
Numerous chimera and human limbs densely attached to a giant lizard-like body. And their faces.
There weren’t any faces of hideous demons or humans on what was presumed to be the guy’s head, but his face itself didn’t show any eyes or noses, and only a multi-branched mouth was visible.
It was a creature that existed solely to devour something. It looked exactly like that.
-aaah!
A mournful scream continued to ring out from that face.
“What the hell… is that?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s horrible.”
Each uttering a word, the group raised their magic power or repositioned themselves. Even I don’t know how to attack the guy. If so, I have no choice but to just clash with it.
If it really gets dangerous, Asti will help… For now, there wasn’t much to worry about.
However, you never know when a variable will pop up. I have to be at least a little vigilant.
I carefully looked around the group. My purpose now is to protect the group. Asti’s purpose is also in line with that.
Just in case, I had also finished preparing to take out Salus.
I’m a little nervous.
Still, I believed. My group now is full of guys who have enough potential to become monsters.
It’s hard to imagine them dying to just that monster.
A storm of magic power and divine power began to swirl towards the chimera’s mouth, which was stained with sorrow and screams.
Kwaaang!
Flames and divine power. It is usually a fatal attack method for demons with an evil nature… As I checked earlier, the guy clearly had some resistance to flames and divine power.
Perhaps even the current attack won’t be that effective.
And as expected, there wasn’t even a scratch on the guy’s body.
“Huh…”
Yohan, Diana, and Aris let out a sigh of disappointment.
“It seems like that thing is resistant to magic and divine power?”
“Then let’s try it with physical force for now…!”
Along with those words, Adrian slammed all of his divine power into his body, converting it to physical strength, and swung Deus’ Judgment at the chimera.
Of course, the chimera didn’t just stay still for the attack. The guy swung his tail violently, and soon the hammer and the tail collided.
Kwaaang!
A loud noise rang out, and a shockwave exploded. However, it seemed that this blow wasn’t very effective on the guy either.
“…He’s fine.”
The faces of humans and demons on the skin at the end of its tail were crushed, but that was all.
No matter how I looked at it, those heads seemed to act as a kind of defensive wall protecting its body.
Judging from the sight of it just drooling from its many split mouths… it meant that the attacks I inflicted on it were completely ineffective.
This was going to be a tougher fight than I expected.
“It doesn’t seem like physical force is working… For now, it seems like those faces covering its body are acting as a kind of defensive barrier.”
“…Then what should we do?”
“First, we need to destroy all those faces. Ruslan!”
“Got it.”
I called out to Ruslan, holding my sword. He got into position as if he was ready, and I ran towards the chimera with Ruslan.