Ch.95Chimera (2)

When one speaks of a chimera, the original comes from Greek and Roman mythology. I remember it as the name of a “monster mixed with various animals” that was vanquished by the hero Bellerophon riding Pegasus.

From this characteristic of being “mixed with various animals,” the term chimera came to mean “hybrid species” or “something mixed with various features” in media from my previous life.

In this world, where many creatures seem strangely familiar from memories of my previous life, chimeras are generally divided into two categories.

One refers to special unique species created by mixing various life forms using means such as magic, and the other refers to a specific mid-level magical beast that has characteristics mixed from various creatures.

And the chimera that Hannah is explaining now seems to be the latter.

“Miss Hannah, is the chimera you’re talking about that lion-based beast with three heads?”

“Yes! That’s the one!”

The “magical beast chimera” was originally a “magical beast” created for military purposes by the Ancient Empire using mysterious magical techniques and breeding knowledge. Unlike the crude creatures being made today, it is properly classified as a “magical beast” and is a complete living being.

It’s based on a lion about 4-5 meters in length, and including the lion, it has characteristics mixed from a total of four creatures.

On either side of the lion’s head protrude the heads of a Red Dragon and a goat.

The parts below what would be elbows in humans are like Red Dragon legs, and a pair of Red Dragon wings grow from its back, enabling flight.

Also, the lower body… the hind legs mostly take the form of a goat, and from the tail grows a huge venomous snake with green scales and a head.

While its combat power is nothing special compared to a real dragon, it’s still not a magical beast that can be taken lightly by any means.

The Red Dragon head, lacking a dragon heart, breathes flames with relatively less endurance, or wraps its teeth and front claws in flames, drastically increasing difficulty for those without countermeasures against high heat.

The goat head can activate sound-based special abilities like panic-inducing screams or sonic projectiles, and though of lower quality, it possesses the “Eye of Madness” capable of casting mild curses of insanity.

Additionally, the kicks from the goat’s hind legs are powerful enough to crack the skull of even a mid-level knight with a direct hit, and the snake-beast tail possesses lethal neurotoxin that it can spray from its mouth.

Furthermore, even the lion part boasts upper mid-tier physical abilities as its base magical beast is a manticore, and though it looks like a lion on the outside, it’s actually closer to a completely assembled life form.

Unlike other chimeras, the technology used is so advanced that this chimera is complete as a living being capable of reproduction…

‘…This might be better than facing a dragon, but isn’t it still dangerous?’

While it’s relatively less dangerous compared to dragons with their high intelligence, magic use, and top-tier combat power, objectively speaking, this chimera is still quite a dangerous magical beast.

Beyond the combat capabilities mentioned earlier, what further increases this beast’s danger level is none other than the chimera’s method of reproduction.

“Um… don’t chimeras reproduce through eggs…?”

“…That’s right. They lay eggs all by themselves.”

Despite appearing to be closer to mammals, chimeras are oviparous creatures that reproduce through eggs. The problem is that this chimera is a hermaphrodite without gender… that lays fertilized eggs without a mate.

The fact that it can reproduce and increase its numbers without pairing means that species propagation isn’t particularly difficult.

In other words, if there’s one chimera, it wouldn’t be strange if there were at least a few more in the vicinity…

“…But why is a chimera here?”

“Right…? This area isn’t a chimera habitat, is it?”

The problem is that this forest is absolutely not a chimera habitat.

Chimera habitats are in the southern part of the Western Continent, which was once the territory of the Ancient Empire.

Surprisingly sensitive to environment, chimera eggs don’t easily hatch even in early winter cold, and chimeras don’t particularly manage their eggs after laying them.

And for these naturally abandoned chimera eggs to hatch, it takes at least over 400 days, so generally chimera reproduction is nearly impossible even just north of the central Western Continent…

“Do you think someone deliberately hatched it?”

“…That’s highly likely.”

Therefore, I cautiously suggested that this chimera’s appearance was likely due to some artificial intervention rather than a natural phenomenon.

One could forcibly argue that it took over the vacant position left by the basilisk, the original master of this otherworld… but wouldn’t that be an overly convenient interpretation?

Moreover, chimeras were originally life forms developed by the Ancient Empire for military use. If some unknown method exists, there’s no guarantee that there isn’t a way to tame and handle them.

In other words, there’s a high probability that some artificial intervention was involved in this chimera’s appearance…

“Should I have our werewolves maintain a state of alert?”

“…Please do. While you’re at it, Pierre, gather the former adventurers. Gretel… may I ask Miss Hannah?”

“Yes. I’ll bring her…”

“Jäger, have the hunters release the hounds. We need to send out a search party.”

“As you command, I will obey.”

We then spent some time preparing various countermeasures in case of a possible attack by humans.

※ ※ ※

To prepare for a potential attack by human groups (suspected) behind the chimera’s appearance, we first wanted to establish anti-personnel measures.

Until now, our facilities had only been adequate for dealing with local wildlife intrusions, but we quickly wanted to improve and repair them, not knowing when those humans might extend their reach.

A prime example was reinforcing the watchtower, which until now had been little more than a tall tower.

Most hostile creatures in this area distant from the otherworld, such as low-level magical beasts or wild animals, mostly lack ranged attack capabilities, and even if they had them, they couldn’t reach humans standing on towers at least 2 meters high.

Therefore, until now we hadn’t needed to waste labor or materials and had simply installed something like a table, but once the enemy becomes human—experts in ranged attacks—the story changes.

We installed walls that could shield the body beyond the existing fence railings, and additionally reinforced the first floor to prevent the watchtower from being easily destroyed.

In addition, instead of the fixed ballista for large monsters, we deployed 3-shot crossbows for anti-personnel use, actively utilizing the “Goblin Craftsmanship” trait.

Although calling it “3-shot” is a bit of an exaggeration—it’s more like three bolts firing in quick succession when the trigger is pulled—nevertheless, the fact that it’s a ranged weapon capable of continuous fire… burst fire, makes it impossible to ignore.

Unless one is an enormous wealthy person who can outfit all soldiers with full body armor, there will inevitably be lightly armored infantry vulnerable to these firing weapons among the group dragging around the chimera for whatever reason.

To be frank, except in a few exceptional situations, it’s almost impossible for human groups not to include soldiers vulnerable to this kind of ranged projectile weapon…

‘…I wonder if this will buy us enough time.’

Having finished modifying the village to provide some (minimal) defensive capability, I now devised methods to deal with the “chimera.”

The chimera’s core weapons are four: physical combat, flames, sound waves, and poison.

Assuming I’d skip physical combat since I’m not confident in that area, the three elements for which I actually needed to establish countermeasures were, when considered separately, not particularly difficult to respond to.

Magical special abilities based on sound can be easily detected with my magical abilities. Sound wave attacks travel at the speed of sound making them difficult to dodge, but they’re likely not very powerful.

Also, the neurotoxin in the tail isn’t powerful enough to be effective against mid-level beings, so that’s excluded as well.

Looking at it this way, the weapon I judged to be most dangerous right now was, naturally, the high-temperature flames capable of melting large metal chunks.

Though magical flames, they’re not “magic,” so the magic resistance effect of “Ogre Skin” doesn’t work properly, and armor surrounded by aura might not be effective and could melt, but…

“Miss Gretel. How far along is the ‘cloak’?”

“Th-thanks to Priestess Joanna’s help… it’s already c-completed…”

“Excellent!”

A cloak blessed with fire protection, made from the fur of a magical beast with excellent heat resistance properties, soaked in a witch’s potion.

With this specialized flame-blocking item, we essentially have methods to counter the chimera’s flames.

Thus, all that remains is to uncover and analyze the likely mastermind behind this incident and their plot, to prevent it in advance.