Chapter 41: Surrounded
In an instant, the chimeras swarmed in.
When they closed in around him, Elton unleashed the power of his trait. Although each creature was small, their sheer numbers made them threatening.
Fwoosh—!
With his lips bitten tightly, he swung his dagger swiftly.
An assassin exposed is no longer an assassin. Elton fought against the mass of chimeras like a warrior.
Flames crackled along the blade, fierce enough to burn everything in their path. The chimeras struck by his blade were engulfed in flames, writhing in agony as they were consumed.
The acrid smell of burning flesh filled the forest.
“Huff. Huff. Huff….”
The chimeras were reduced to scorched ashes.
Lowering his dagger, Elton panted heavily. Unleashing his trait consumed a lot of stamina. Dizziness washed over him.
‘Damn bastard!’
He glared up at the trees. That guy had left him with only a signal to hold out and then disappeared. He seemed to be nearby, watching instead of helping.
‘What’s he scheming?’
Elton trusted in the eye of the blade.
The man wasn’t the type to recklessly throw someone out as bait and then act irresponsibly. It meant there was a plan, but this kind of plan was something Elton didn’t appreciate.
Thunk—!
“……!”
From atop a tree, the man fired a crossbow.
Elton turned his gaze in the direction where the bolt had landed.
It was embedded in the ground right in front of the dense forest, as if it were a warning to stay alert.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.
“……What?”
The bolt quivered as the ground trembled violently.
The forest near the bolt split open, and a massive shadow charged forward.
It was fast!
Elton quickly threw himself to the side.
Graaaahhh—!
A gigantic creature, pounding its chest and letting out a monstrous roar.
It had the form of a massive ogre, standing over five meters tall, but with a body twice as bulky and six arms—a grotesque abomination.
It was huge and hideous.
Elton dodged the oncoming arms, swinging his dagger wide, but all he left was a scorch mark on its skin; the flames didn’t ignite.
Not enough firepower.
His trait wasn’t effective.
“…Tch!”
This was not a monster he could handle.
This chimera was on the same level as the giant slime that had devoured a sword whole. Even if the man joined him, they wouldn’t have an easy time.
“Run…!”
As Elton shouted urgently, trying to pull back, arms lunged at him from all directions.
One arm eventually caught Elton with thunderous force. As soon as he was seized, he felt an overwhelming pressure. It wasn’t something he could break free from with sheer strength.
“…Damn it!”
Cursing, Elton hung in mid-air, staring into the gaping maw below him.
He was going to be eaten!
Just as his face twisted in desperation, the chimera that was about to swallow him froze. It looked up, its gaze drawn to a dazzling object approaching from above.
Wooong—!
Two bolts, glowing with light.
The bolts, charged with piercing power, shot past Elton and drilled mercilessly into the chimera’s wide-open eyes.
Graaaaah—!
The chimera shrieked in pain, flinging Elton away. Someone caught him gently before he could crash into a tree.
It was him.
“You crazy bastard!”
“Whoa, calm down. Who could’ve known such a monstrous brute would show up?”
“We’ll talk about this later.”
Elton pushed him away roughly and steadied himself. He quickly examined the chimera, which was clutching its gouged-out eyes and had collapsed.
“Is it down?”
“I’m not sure; it’s too soon to be certain.”
“Those bolts seemed to have hit its brain.”
Both bolts had pierced its eyes precisely, likely reaching deep enough to tear through the brain, just as Elton suggested.
That had been the intention, after all.
If its brain had turned to mush, it would normally die instantly, but the creature before them was a chimera pieced together from corpses.
It meant they couldn’t rely on common logic—and that proved to be true.
They watched as the creature staggered, rising to its feet again. Even with its eyes destroyed, it turned towards them, growling.
It took heavy, thunderous steps in their direction.
Elton, looking drained, gripped my shoulder tightly.
It was his signal to retreat.
But I shook my head.
If we didn’t take it down now, we’d lose the chance to hunt the giant chimera.
Watching the battle just now had given me confidence in one thing.
‘It doesn’t reveal killing intent.’
A chimera under orders for collection wouldn’t kill a test subject.
The act of swallowing was to drag the test subject outside the magic circle, not to devour it.
Outside the forest, I’d be reduced to mush with one punch from that thing, but here, its behavior was limited to attempts at swallowing.
This was the chance to hunt it.
It would’ve been ideal to finish it in the initial ambush, but it seemed we’d have to stick to the planned approach.
“When that thing goes down, come and pull me out.”
“What? What do you mean…!”
Before Elton could finish speaking, I gripped my dagger and charged at the giant chimera.
Explanations were pointless.
The moment he heard, he’d probably call me a mad lunatic anyway.
Hoo—
I exhaled briefly, rolled up my right sleeve, and revealed the markings on my right hand. The trembling in my heart quickly subsided.
I trusted in the power of the ancient glyph.
Gritting my teeth, I flung myself towards the chimera.
“You ugly monster bastard! It’s feeding time!”
I heard Elton’s high-pitched scream from behind. To him, I probably looked like I was on a suicide mission. But this was a rational move.
‘It’s a method that’s already been proven.’
The creature instinctively grabbed me out of mid-air and immediately gulped me down.
Damn, I was willingly entering a monster’s gaping maw.
Even knowing it was coming, my heart still sank.
As expected, it didn’t chew but swallowed me whole.
I slid down through a narrow passage.
Slimy fluids covered my body.
The unpleasant texture, the nauseating smell, and the sensation of my body gradually numbing.
Like with the giant slime, I felt my body stiffening. Was the chimera’s bodily fluid meant to paralyze test subjects this way?
Just as I passed through its writhing throat, I felt tingling in my limbs. I had to move before my body completely froze.
Gulmp—
As I tumbled into a pocket of flesh, my dagger flared with radiant light.
The power of the Enchanter.
With the dagger charged with piercing energy, I plunged it into the inner wall of flesh and gritted my teeth.
“Graaahhh!”
Flash!
A golden glow began to spread from the markings on my wrist.
***
“…Ah.”
Elton clutched his head, his mouth agape. His mind seemed paralyzed by what he had just witnessed.
A lunatic who had flung himself into a chimera’s mouth.
How was he supposed to explain this to Karl?
His confusion was short-lived. Hearing the growls of chimeras rapidly approaching, Elton flinched and swiftly climbed a nearby tree, hiding himself.
The giant chimera was more than he could handle, and now chimeras were swarming from all directions.
Not only was rescuing his ally out of the question, even his own survival seemed uncertain.
‘What do I do?’
As he agonized over his options, suddenly—
Flash—!
“……!”
A sudden burst of light.
Elton hastily crouched between the branches. Through the gaps, he saw the source of the light.
Golden light was bursting out of the gaping maw of the giant chimera.
“…What the hell!?”
Boom—!!!!!
There was no time to process the situation.
The moment the golden light erupted from the chimera’s mouth, it slumped powerlessly.
The approaching chimeras, for reasons unknown, let out shrieks and scattered.
The massive creature lay completely motionless, as if dead.
Everything had happened so suddenly.
For a moment, Elton recalled the man’s words.
[When that thing goes down, come and pull me out.]
Elton hurriedly jumped down from the tree and approached the fallen chimera. Climbing atop its massive body, he quickly started thinking.
Not much time had passed since it swallowed him before the light exploded. Pressing his ear to the chimera’s neck and chest, Elton froze.
There was a faint pounding from within.
It was him!
He drew his dagger and forcefully stabbed into the creature’s hide beneath the ribcage.
“Eeit!”
The body, over five meters tall, had thick, tough skin. But with enough time, cutting through the hide of a dead chimera was certainly possible.
Elton sliced open a hand-sized gap, and, with both hands, pried it apart with all his strength.
Inside, the chimera’s grotesque organs lay in shreds. The signs of a fierce struggle were clear; he’d torn them apart from within.
“There, there you are!”
Amidst the mass of torn flesh, Elton finally found him. He yanked him out with all his might. The man lay limp, unconscious.
Something caught Elton’s eye—clutched tightly in his hand was a purple gemstone.
Elton hoisted him onto his back and made his way to the ground. The man was drenched in the chimera’s sticky fluids, the stench unbearable. Grimacing, Elton leaned his ear to the man’s chest.
A faint breath. Feeling the weak heartbeat, Elton began performing chest compressions, pounding down hard.
“…Kuhgh!”
Finally, a response.
The man coughed violently, spitting out bits of flesh lodged in his throat.
“Feeling any better?”
“Hah, hah… Shit, I almost died in there.”
I spat out a chunk of meat caught in my throat, swearing. The plan had gone as intended—slay the chimera and obtain the mana stone. But there was an unexpected complication. As soon as the chimera died, I’d suddenly found myself unable to breathe.
The creature’s airway had collapsed, causing me to nearly suffocate. If Elton had arrived even a second later, I would’ve become the first man to die of suffocation inside a monster’s stomach.
“You saved my life.”
“We’ll talk later. For now, we need to move. More are coming.”
Elton propped me up and raised his dagger.
Grrrraaaaar—!
The light had faded, and shortly after, the chimeras lingering nearby, drawn by the scent of blood, began swarming toward us again. It seemed we’d spent too much time retrieving me, as we were now completely surrounded by chimeras on all sides.
We were trapped.
“Looks like it’s one hurdle after another.”
“Carry me and just run straight through them.”
“Through them?”
“Trust me.”
Perhaps recalling the burst of golden light from earlier, Elton didn’t argue. Without a word, he hoisted me onto his back and charged straight into the chimera horde.
I met his expectations.
Paaaaaa—!
As light exploded from me, the chimeras parted like the sea before Moses. They flinched back instinctively, repelled by the mere exposure to the light.
Seeing their reaction, I was certain of it.
‘My ability works perfectly against chimeras.’
Taking down the giant chimera and witnessing the current situation had proven that much.
There was no longer any need to fear Dominic’s chimeras.
‘Now I might just have a shot at the relic of the Successor.’
The Heart of the Immortal—Retonicalus, the power source fueling Arena Huaton. I had thought about stealing that heart when I’d first fallen into the experimental prison, but back then, attempting such a feat was unthinkable.
But now things were different.
I’d gained a countermeasure capable of neutralizing Dominic’s strongest weapon: his chimeras.
What once seemed like an impossible gamble had turned into a risk worth taking.
‘The Heart of the Immortal is worth risking my life for.’
With its extraordinary poison resistance, endless stamina, and unparalleled regenerative power that allowed it to survive as long as the head was intact—Retonicalus’s Heart was known as the "Heart of a Hundred Lives."
If I obtained its abilities, my chances of survival would skyrocket.
‘As a snowball grows as it rolls, the speed of my growth will increase as time passes.’
To face not only assassins but also future disasters, I needed the relic of the Successor. Securing it would dramatically alter the odds of survival.
However, one obstacle remained.
‘I have no way to handle her.’
Arena Huaton.
She was the problem.
With the giant chimera, I’d managed to kill it by detonating light from within, but Arena Huaton was a human-shaped biological weapon. A chimera in human form, her size was smaller than mine, and she could easily evade the light if she chose to.
If I tried to approach her, one swing of her fist could end me in an instant.
Her monstrous strength was enough to tear through a knight’s armor with ease.
To eliminate Dominic, I’d have to find a way to deal with her first, but I currently had no solution.
‘If only I could solve this puzzle, everything would fall into place. This is the highest mountain I need to climb.’
“Hey!”
“Ah…!”
Lost in thought, the light around us had started to dim, and the chimeras were immediately upon us, baring their fangs as they lunged like a swarm of ants. I quickly steadied myself, concentrating to restore the light.
Now was not the time for distractions.
The scent of blood had drawn an overwhelming number of chimeras, filling every corner of the forest. We couldn’t afford to lose focus even for a second, or we’d be overwhelmed.
The fleeing humans around us had likely all been caught, and now every chimera’s gaze was fixed solely on Elton and me. It was like a scene from hell, hungry demons closing in from every direction.
A thought suddenly crossed my mind.
“Elton, shouldn’t the chimeras be retreating by now?”
“They should’ve already pulled back!”
“Then….”
I looked around from my vantage point on Elton’s back, murmuring in a low voice.
“Why does it feel like more of them are gathering?”
Something was wrong.