Ch.41Monster War

I had just devoured the lizardman and was preparing for the approaching chimera and demonic beasts. As I clenched my fist, ready to strike the approaching chimera…

The moment the tamer shouted “Monster Carnival,” the demonic beasts began swarming toward him.

The first was the wyvern carrying the tamer. The wyvern turned its head to look at the tamer, then used its long neck to tear off his head.

As the headless body fell to the ground… countless demonic beasts that had been under his control rushed toward the corpse, devouring it.

Dozens, hundreds of demonic beasts, and among them, the chimera displaying overwhelming might. Though startled by the sudden turn of events, I knew what I had to do.

*Kuuung—!!!*

Returning to my normal form, I placed my hands on the ground, deciding to use the lightning I had used earlier when chasing the lizardman.

Lightning began compressing between my horns and spreading around me. When I felt it was sufficiently compressed, I released it.

*Kwaaaaa—!!!!!*

The black lightning shot forward like a galloping black horse, striking the monsters that had formed a sphere while devouring the tamer’s body.

*Kwaaaang—!!!!*

Despite hitting the massive sphere, my lightning merely scraped the ground, blocked by some invisible barrier—like in animations where you can’t attack during a robot’s combination scene or a magical girl’s transformation.

Even approaching and throwing punches didn’t leave a scratch, and knocking on it yielded no response. As I wondered if I needed to apply more force…

“It’s probably impossible. Skills that stake one’s life are incredibly powerful. I don’t know what that thing is doing, but that defensive wall won’t break until it’s finished. Maybe a dragon could do it?”

Beside me appeared the person who had beaten me a month ago. Though this was my first time seeing her, I clearly remembered her voice.

*Moo—*

“Oh, I’m sorry, but I can’t understand you… Would you mind just listening to me or calling Fairy for me?”

*Moo—!*

When I shook my head to refuse, she looked disappointed. The woman who introduced herself as the Saintess continued.

“Anyway, I’ve only seen that sacrifice skill once before… It was incredible. The opponent was much weaker than me, but when they used a life-staking skill like that, they overwhelmed me. Of course, it was only for a moment, and they died quickly from the skill’s backlash because they were too weak.”

*Moo—.*

It seemed similar to my sealed Rage skill. Rage also gives tremendous power but damages me enough to take my life if used too long, while this skill apparently takes life immediately upon activation.

Of course, from what this Saintess said, I could tell she was also a participant, and her words might be lies…

Well, what if they were? I could just kill her later.

With that thought, I turned my attention to the sphere taking shape. Resembling an egg from which something was about to be born, it began to pulse with a *thump—* sound.

Thinking it would soon hatch, I stretched my body to prepare for battle.

*Whaaaa—*

Green energy enveloped my body, healing my wounds—perhaps Mary had come nearby. Though the World Tree’s blessing was gradually healing me, I had too many wounds for it to work quickly.

Mentally thanking her for healing me from afar, I turned my attention to the egg whose pulsing was accelerating.

“Well, I’ll be going now. It’s your prey, and I like you, so I’d prefer not to fight. Goodbye~.”

Waving her hand and picking up the girl’s head rolling on the ground, the Saintess threw herself into black flames. The flames vanished instantly.

Apparently a spatial movement skill—nothing remained where the flames had disappeared.

After briefly staring at where the Saintess had vanished, I turned my attention back to the egg about to hatch. I tried to compress lightning again, but…

Having already fired twice today, the amount of lightning circulating in my body seemed too depleted.

Though disappointed, I thought I could at least surround my body with it. As I was stretching…

*Crack—*

Rather than the sound of an egg cracking, the egg literally split in half, its upper portion disappearing.

*Meeeeeh…*

A goat’s cry came from the egg. What emerged was like a monster synthesized by a mad scientist from a fantasy world.

There was nothing on the head portion, but a goat’s head was attached to the left arm and a wyvern’s head to the right.

The legs resembled a combination of monkey and gorilla limbs—legs supporting the body with gorilla and monkey hands and feet wriggling like centipede legs.

And on the tail, a snake’s body with the tamer’s face displayed grotesqueness, while a lion’s head was attached to the middle of the torso.

As I frowned at the appearance of this monster worthy of a B-grade horror film…

The creature finally emerged completely from the egg and stood on the ground. Though startled by its massive 17-meter frame, I thought this was my chance while it had just emerged from the egg, so I charged.

The minotaur’s fatal technique with horns at the forefront—horn thrust.

Charging forward and shaking the earth, I drove my horns into the creature’s monkey leg.

*Poooook-!!!*

*Aaaaaaack-!!!!*

The chimera, screaming with the tamer’s voice, spotted me at its waist and roared, swinging its goat head.

*Meeeeeh—!!!!*

The goat, which I was certain I had killed by breaking its neck, had been perfectly revived. It spat green liquid at me and thrust its horns forward.

*Buuuung—!!!*

Taking the green liquid head-on, I dodged the incoming goat head and delivered an uppercut to the groin.

*Puuuuuk—!!!!*

Since it had taken human form, I thought this would be a weak point.

Apparently, such weaknesses had disappeared as it transformed into a complete monster. Instead of the extreme pain any man would feel, it seemed to only register the pain of being hit, as it swung the wyvern head at me.

I jumped back to retreat, but… its legs were those of a monkey. It skillfully grabbed my torso, and the wyvern head bit into me.

“Mooooooo—!!!!”

I involuntarily screamed at the pain, dimensions beyond what the original chimera had inflicted, and as the wyvern head spewed fire, I felt my body burning.

Its strength seemed to have surpassed my normal form, making it difficult to break free from the wyvern head’s grip.

With my torso bound by the wyvern and monkey legs, unable to escape completely, I decided to abandon reason and surrender to instinct. If it was a battle of pure strength, my instinct would do better.

With the feeling of consciousness slowly sinking below the surface, I saw what looked like a movie screen showing my body and the chimera restraining me.

*Mooooooo—!!!!*

And the instinct that had taken over my body expressed intense anger as my body gradually grew larger.

* * * * *

“My, he’s actually fighting that thing. He could have just run away and it would have died on its own.”

The Saintess who had disappeared hadn’t gone far, apparently watching the battle between the two monsters.

The minotaur bravely led with its horns, pressuring an opponent twice its size, but the difference in physique was too great—it couldn’t inflict significant damage and was caught by the wyvern.

“Is it over already? I thought he was quite decent, what a shame.”

She stood up, seeing the minotaur caught in the wyvern’s mouth, unable to resist and continuously hit by the flames from the wyvern’s mouth. If he was being pushed back this much by a chimera using only one arm, there was nothing more to see.

*Mooooooo—!!!!*

As she was about to leave, the minotaur’s roar echoed. Not a scream of pain, but a roar filled with intense killing intent.

Feeling something had changed, she turned to see the minotaur’s body growing larger, forcing the wyvern head to release it.

And the minotaur’s fist, filled with rage, struck the chimera.

*Kwaaaang—!!!!*

Though it was merely a fist colliding with flesh, the shockwave reached even the Saintess at a considerable distance.

“Now it begins?”

Two monsters composed purely of instinct were about to begin a bestial battle.

* * * * *

The raw battle between the 15-meter chimera and Khan, who now exceeded 12 meters. Their fight was neither flashy nor refined. Only their overwhelming violence, swung with the sole intention of killing each other, dominated the space.

Though Khan, having only grown in size, was at a disadvantage in terms of strength, he stubbornly held his ground and continued the slugfest with the chimera.

Each time Khan’s fist struck the chimera’s body, a drum-like sound echoed through the space, and the chimera used the horns on its goat head to strike the minotaur.

*Mooooooo—!!!!!*

*Kieeeeek—!!!!*

A battle of pride between two monsters with no retreat. Their fight to determine who would dominate this space splattered blood with each collision’s shockwave.

Khan’s fists now wrapped in lightning as he struck the chimera, while the chimera used its monkey legs to check the minotaur, its wyvern head spewing fire, its goat head striking with solid horns, and its lion head occasionally biting the minotaur’s arms—using everything at its disposal.

The chimera had the upper hand in this clash. Born from a skill activated at the cost of the tamer’s life, it was an entity that Khan, who had merely increased his size and relied on monster instinct, could not easily defeat.

Khan’s arm, pierced by the wyvern’s teeth, was clearly visible, and despite being covered in dark red fur, the areas struck by the goat head were visibly bruised.

*Kwaang—!!*

*Muuuu…*

Finally, Khan’s massive body fell backward, unable to withstand the impact from the chimera’s left arm.

As the chimera jumped toward the fallen Khan, pinning his arms with both legs and bringing the lion’s head close to Khan’s head to devour it…

“No—!!!”

Mary, who had been far away, flew in and emitted a bright light that blinded both the chimera and Khan.

*Kieeeeek—!!!*

The chimera released Khan due to the bright light Mary emitted, and Mary seized the opportunity to heal Khan’s wounds.

The healing power of the evolved Mary quickly restored the wounds of Khan’s massive body exceeding 10 meters.

His upper body, once full of blue bruises and burns, gradually regained its original flesh color, and when Khan’s consciousness returned…

“Khan! What are you doing?! Why are you trying to overpower an opponent you can’t beat with strength?! Didn’t you learn anything after getting beaten by Lady Lassis?! Your rage-enhancing trait is sealed, and this isn’t the time for physical combat! You need to use the techniques you’ve learned! If you’re going to fight so stupidly, you might as well run away!”

Hearing those words, Khan’s red eyes began to regain reason. The light of intelligence returned to his eyes, which had been filled only with killing intent, and he looked at Mary and nodded.

“Muu—! (Thank you.)”

“Yes! You can win, Khan. Don’t fight stupidly, fight intelligently. Lady Lassis didn’t tell you to surrender to instinct, but to blend instinct and intelligence well.”

Khan nodded and advanced toward the chimera again, while Mary retreated from the battlefield. The creature’s eyes seemed to have been burned by Mary’s light, as smoke was rising from each of its heads.

*Kwaang—!!*

And I didn’t miss that opportunity, grabbing a tree that had been uprooted nearby, wrapping it in lightning, and hurling it at the creature. As the creature let out a pain-filled scream from the impact of the massive tree enhanced by my strength and lightning…

I began throwing everything around me. Rocks from the shattered ground, trees. The stones and trees, wrapped in lightning, continuously struck the chimera’s body.

Blinded by Mary’s light, the creature defended against the continuous attacks by spewing poison and fire in the direction they came from.

*Hwrrrrk—!!*

*Chiiiiik—!!!*

But the poison gradually poisoned the goat’s head, and the wyvern was drying up from continuously spewing fire.

Apparently, this was the self-destruction the Saintess had mentioned. Seeing the creature gradually collapsing, unable to withstand its own power, I reduced my size to minimize the target area and continued throwing nearby objects at the chimera.

Honestly, if I just kept running away, it would self-destruct on its own. But my instinct, my heart, was shouting not to flee from it.

The goat head, which had been defending against my projectiles, finally succumbed to the poison, sticking out its tongue and ceasing to move, while the wyvern’s head lost its vitality and cracked like something completely drained of moisture.

Seeing this as an opportunity, I picked up a huge tree and created an axe blade with lightning. The lightning axe, sized to my height, was made using all the lightning remaining in my body.

The chimera spewed fire from the wyvern’s head, hearing only my approaching footsteps, but I ignored my burning flesh and pushed through the fire, swinging my axe at the wyvern’s head.

*Seoguk—!!!*

*Pajijijik—!!!*

The dehydrated wyvern’s head was instantly severed, and as the chimera writhed in pain, I continued swinging my lightning axe.

The dehydrated right arm and the poisoned, limp left arm were instantly cut off, leaving only the lion’s head, the tamer’s tail, and the monkey legs, when…

The axe sank deep into the chimera’s torso, as the parts that hadn’t self-destructed were still solid. The creature seized the opportunity to tightly embrace me with its two legs and bit my head with its lion head.

As I tried to remove the chimera embracing me…

*Kiiiing—*

The mana circulating inside the chimera gathered in the lion’s head.

*Tukwaaaang—!!!!*

A mana bombardment from zero distance.

My scalp withstood the mana bombardment to some extent, but taking it at point-blank range left wounds that exposed bone. Fortunately, only my eyelids were burned while my eyeballs remained intact.

Enduring the pain, I pulled the axe out of the chimera’s torso and continued swinging it at its side.

Perhaps because the chimera had expelled all its internal mana, my axe could easily cut through its body like a knife through cheese.

*Kuuung—!!!*

The chimera, with its upper and lower body separated, no longer moved.

*Mooooooo—!!!!*

Placing my foot on its corpse, I could let out a victorious roar.