163 – Chimera (2)
I swung my sword.
-Kyaaah!
As soon as I swung my sword, the faces of humans and demons… in other words, the chimera’s outer skin screamed as it was cut.
However, the chimera didn’t just stand there.
From the faces surrounding its body, acidic saliva or even the arms of a demon began to protrude.
What kind of creature did it eat to become like this?
Seriously, an arm is coming out of its mouth…!
It seemed like the faces surrounding its outer skin weren’t just acting as a defensive wall.
They also seemed capable of counterattacking or even launching proactive attacks.
In short, it meant that we could end up in a dangerous situation if we just blindly tried to cut its outer skin. Ruslan must have realized this as well because his movements began to get a lot more cautious.
If we didn’t stay calm in a situation like this, we would definitely die. No matter how skilled we were, in the end, Ruslan and I were just humans.
If we allowed even a single one of the attacks the chimera of that size swung to hit us directly, our bodies would likely end up like rags.
In short, it meant that we had to dodge all the attacks that could come pouring out from those countless faces and cut away at its outer skin.
Fortunately, the defensive barrier of its faces wasn’t immune to physical attacks, and the only confirmed resistances were to fire and divine power… so there was a good chance that other magic would work.
However, on the flip side, it was possible that it had resistance to other elements.
Right now, its fire resistance seemed to have completely absorbed the traits of the target it had devoured… a creature like that would definitely have resistance to other elements, not just fire.
It was a more difficult opponent than I had thought.
Of course, as the one who had instigated this situation, I couldn’t help but be satisfied with its strength.
I was taken aback by its ferocity and even more taken aback by its strength, which was much greater than I had anticipated… but in the end, the ultimate goal of this dungeon raid wasn’t something like a great reward.
Just looking at Ruslan and the others right now, I could feel that it had been worth it to bring them to this dungeon.
They were thinking about how to deal with a dangerous enemy and reflecting on their own abilities based on those thoughts.
I glanced at Diana. I knew that Alice would do well on her own, so what was needed now was Diana’s growth. Her potential was considerable… so she needed to grow at a time like this.
* * *
After the failure of her first spell, Diana spoke to Alice and Asti urgently.
“If fire doesn’t work, let’s try all the other attributes.”
“What should we do about its attacks while we’re preparing?”
“Well, you’ll just have to hold them off.”
“…Shouldn’t we have some kind of minimal safety measure? Who knows what might pop out of those disgusting heads?”
“Then… I’ll ask you to do it!”
Diana spoke somewhat playfully to Asti, who was asking how they were going to deal with the chimera’s attacks. She had been briefly taken aback by the sight of the monstrous creature, but she had already regained her composure.
“What if I can’t hold it back?”
“What do you mean? We’ll all die. Do you think I’d say this for no reason? Judging from what you just did, that thing probably won’t be able to penetrate us no matter what it does.”
Diana had seen it clearly. Asti’s magic that filled the gaps in their party, whether they knew it or not. The skill with which he smoothly overcame potentially fatal situations by utilizing magic in the right places.
She couldn’t help but trust Asti. As fellow mages, she knew better than anyone how exceptional his skills were.
What the colossal chimera needed right now was immense firepower. However, as is always the case with mages, using high-powered magic required considerable time.
And Diana knew well that neither she nor Aris had the ability to buy that time.
Ruslan and Prah were fighting hard at the forefront to block the attacks coming from there, but hadn’t she just seen it?
The grotesque faces covering its entire body, the arms and legs that had transformed bizarrely, or the tongues that flew out.
In a situation where they didn’t know what would happen when, there was no one but Asti who could handle all of those possibilities. That’s what Diana thought.
“Alright, fine. Then focus solely on firepower. Don’t worry about anything else. Johan!”
“Why me!?”
Johan was putting up a defensive barrier for the front line, Prah and Ruslan.
Adrian, who had charged into close combat, was casting blessings on himself and smashing the chimera’s body, so perhaps it was fortunate that they didn’t have to worry about him.
In any case, Asti called out on the off chance, though he didn’t look particularly余裕.
“I’m going to prepare a large-scale spell! Deploy the Divine Barrier!”
“But that would put Ruslan and Prah in too much danger! And neither the Saintess nor I are in a position to expose ourselves recklessly!”
The Divine Barrier was also a high-level divine spell that took considerable time to cast. Naturally, they couldn’t afford such余裕 in the midst of the intense battle at the front lines.
Asti sighed at the sight of them, who seemed quite busy.
“Looks like I’ll have to block it for now.”
“Did you hear that, Aris?”
“Yeah.”
“So, which element should we start with?”
“It’s certain that it has resistance to fire. So let’s use magic that utilizes other elements.”
“Earth magic or wind magic?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright.”
Immediately, immense magical power began to surge from their hands. Aris manipulated the ground, and Diana gathered the swirling wind and condensed it.
Perhaps sensing that they were doing something ominous, dozens of grotesquely transformed arms began to pour out of the creature’s grotesque faces towards them, just as Diana had expected.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Numerous arms slammed into the ground. However, Diana and Aris didn’t lose their focus, and with their eyes closed, they concentrated on controlling the flow of magical power.
After all, they had Asti, a sturdy wall, behind them.
The grotesque spectacle of the absurdly long arms, which were somehow still attached, crashing down on Asti’s deployed magical barrier failed to penetrate it.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The grotesque arms were so strong that the sound of them pounding on the magical barrier wasn’t like something soft hitting something, but rather like metal chunks colliding.
Speaking of metal chunks, even an iron wall probably wouldn’t be able to withstand those arms for very long.
If a person were to be hit by that, their feeble flesh would probably be crushed in an instant.
However, regardless, Aris and Diana had already completed their spell.
Would it be effective, or would it not? They didn’t know, but for now, they figured they’d just give it a shot and see what happened.
“Watch out at the front!”
From Noble mtl dot com
Along with Diana’s sharp cry, the sphere of wind that had been condensed as much as possible spun and flew towards the chimera.
Goooooooo―――!
A fissure formed in the ground where the wind sphere passed by.
Kwaaang!
The faces covering the monster’s outer skin began to literally peel off as the wind sphere collided with its body, creating a whirlwind.
-Kieeek!
It seemed to be quite effective, as screams erupted from the faces covering the monster’s mouth and skin. However, the magical attack didn’t end there.
Countless earth spears pierced the monster’s body as it staggered from the whirlwind.
Kwa jijijijik!
The sound of flesh being crushed echoed as the monster’s legs and abdomen were impaled by the earth spears.
The magic that the two mages had poured all their magical power into was certainly effective. However.
“……It’s regenerating?”
The words of Lina and Nea, who had nothing to do since most of the demon’s body had been taken by the chimera, rang in their ears.
“What a pain.”
At Asti’s words, the expressions of the two changed for the worse.
“Well, is there anything we can do?”
“Well. What are you two doing?”
“For now, we’re trying to possess the chimera with a ghost, but it’s not working. It seems to have some kind of resistance.”
“Fire resistance and regeneration…… This is a pain in the neck.”
“But is it okay to be chatting like this? Isn’t this a bit of an urgent situation……?”
“What can we do? Our options are limited, and it’s clear that it’s too tough an opponent for mages. For now, it’s better to attack it with an attribute that it doesn’t resist. It doesn’t seem to have any resistance to earth or wind attributes…… The problem is that it regenerates quickly, so it’s not efficient for mages.”
“Then it’s better to just assist.”
“Correct. All we can do is assist.”
Asti concluded as Lina asked, and was about to cast an appropriate support spell on Prah when.
“Oh. I got it.”
Nea’s voice rang out at that moment.
“What?”
“Instead of the main body, if I possess the demon and human faces on its outer skin, it works.”
“Can you control them?”
“I’ll give it a try.”
With that, Nea moved the ghost and took control of the faces attached to the monster’s outer skin.
Pak!
Then, an arm protruding from the face swung at another face.
“……What the hell is the principle behind that?”
“Well. It seems that each of those faces is treated as a separate entity. However, their self-awareness has been taken by the chimera…… That’s the feeling I get.”
“Ah.”
“Maybe we can reduce the burden on the vanguard a little. Please assist me. I think I’ll need to stay focused. Lina, try to put a ghost in each face like I did.”
“Oh, yes!”