The orb pulsed, and all of a sudden the air ripped apart. A portal of shadow and purple light opened up, and something huge stepped through.
It was a chimera, but not like the ones you read about in stories. This was a nightmare that came true.
Three heads emerged from a powerful, muscular body: a lion with a mane of black flames, a dragon with acid dripping from its fangs, and a goat with eyes that glowed a sickly green.
Its scorpion tail was tipped with a stinger the size of a sword.
[Shadow Chimera Detected!]
[Level: 35]
[Rank: SSR]
[Element: Shadow - Counters Ice]
[Warning: Major type disadvantage!]
For the first time, Glacielle's stoic face broke, showing real concern. "Master... this is bad...!"
"The shadow element melts ice when it touches it. My main offensive abilities are greatly weakened against it!"
Lucian's face looked shocked hearing that. "There's a type of fucking advantage here!? And since when is Ice weak to Shadow!? Holy shit... this world is fucking weird!" he said in his mind.
"Are you still able to fight it?" Lucian asked to make sure that they can at least try.
"I can fight anything, Master... but winning this battle is... a whole other story."
Corvus put his hands together. "Wow, I love that confidence~!"
"Let's put it to the test, shall we?" He pointed at them in a dramatic way. "Shadow Chimera, Obsidian Wyvern, get to work now!!!"
"Show them what an SSS-rank summon is and what an SSS-rank collection is!"
The chimera leaped forward with frightening speed. All three of its heads let out a simultaneous roar, unleashing a wave of shadow energy from its body.
Glacielle built an ice wall, but the shadow breath melted right through it. She barely got out of the way, but the edge of the blast hit her arm.
Her ice armor hissed and steamed, and pieces of it melted away. She made a face like she was in pain.
[Glacielle HP: 60%]
[Master HP: 50% - Shared damage activated]
Lucian could feel the burning in his own arm and almost dropped his sword. "Glacielle! A-Are you okay...?!"
"I'm... fine!" she said, but she wasn't. The type disadvantage was real, and the chimera took advantage of it.
At the same time, the Obsidian Wyvern flew down from above with its claws out. Lucian tried to hit it with ice bolts, but the creature's scales were too thick.
They broke when they hit.
The wyvern's claws ripped through his leather armor and into his chest. Blood sprayed, and Lucian screamed in pain.
[Critical Hit! Master HP: 40%]
[WARNING: Bleeding status applied - HP drain 1% per 10 seconds]
[SYNCHRONIZATION UNSTABLE - SHARED DAMAGE REACHING CRITICAL LEVELS]
Lucian fell hard to the ground, and his vision got blurry. He could feel warm blood soaking through his shirt.
"F-Fuck...! This is bad! This was really, really fucking bad!" Lucian panicked in his mind.
"I'm going to get cooked here!"
The smell of blood drove the other drakes crazy. Ten of them broke away from the group and rushed toward him, thinking he would be easy prey.
"MASTER!" Glacielle's voice was full of emotion that he had never heard from her before.
She turned her back on the chimera, that left her open, and ran toward Lucian. The dragon head of the chimera hit her, and its acid breath hit her in the back.
She kept going even though her armor was cracking and sizzling.
"Leave him alone!"
Her pale blue eyes turned almost white with anger. Frost formed on everything within a hundred feet because the temperature dropped so quickly.
"ABSOLUTE ZERO!"
A huge nova of ice came out of Glacielle's body, sending power everywhere. In a flash, the ten drakes flying around turned into frozen solid ice sculptures.
The ice got into their cells, and when Glacielle squeezed her fist, they broke into a million pieces.
[Ten drakes eliminated!]
[Glacielle has used Limit Break ability!]
[INT stat temporarily reduced by 50% - Mana exhaustion]
She fell to her knees next to Lucian and started to breathe heavily. Her ice armor was barely holding together; pieces were missing, showing burned skin underneath.
"Hah...! Hah... hah...!" Glacielle starts breathing hard, even though she's trying to control it.
[Glacielle HP: 45%]
But at least... she had saved him.
Lucian fought to get up, holding his bleeding chest with one hand, feeling useless and bad that Glacielle did that. "Glacielle, you didn't need to sacrifice yourself like that..."
"You should have kept fighting the chimera."
"You're my master," Glacielle said simply, and she helped him get up. "I won't let you die... Never in a million years!"
Lucian felt it through their synchronization link. Their bond grew stronger as they fought. This was not merely a function of the system, but a manifestation of genuine emotions.
[Bond Resonance Detected!]
[Emotional breakthrough approaching threshold]
[Current Bond: 3.0 → 3.8 Hearts]
Corvus slowly clapped from the back of his wyvern. "Oh, how sweet~!"
"The power of love! I'm... almost... crying...! Hwahahaha... just kidding..." His face hardened. "But feelings don't win wars, you know!? Power DOES!"
He took out another crystal orb, and this one shone even more brightly than the first.
"The fuck!?" Lucian's blood turned cold. "He has TWO systems?!"
Corvus could tell by his face that he wasn't quite right. "Same system, different functions!"
"One orb for combat control, one for active summoning. And I've been saving up for something special!"
He raised both orbs high, and at the same time, ten purple gacha windows appeared in the sky.
"THE MASS SUMMON PROTOCOL IS ON!" Corvus's eyes were wild with joy. "Come forth, my COLLECTION OF MASTERPIECES...!"
The portals ripped apart, and five huge figures came through. The power that came from each one made the drakes look like toys.
[Thunder Behemoth - Level 40 - SSR]
[Flame Colossus - Level 38 - SSR]
[Venom Hydra - Level 36 - SSR]
[Storm Griffin - Level 35 - SSR]
[Ice Golem - Level 33 - SSR]
Five SSR-rank monsters, each with a control seal from Corvus. They stood in a half-circle, blocking any way to get away.
Corvus said, "The Ice Golem is just for your little girlfriend there, just because it's not affected by ice damage and can absorb and redirect ice magic."
"Ohh~! I fucking bet all of my gacha currency that this... should be fun!"
Lucian felt despair coming on. They had already fought one SSR chimera and lost.
There were now six, plus the wyvern and twenty-eight drakes still waiting.
He said to himself, "This is fucking insane..."
"How does he have so many high-ranking summons?!"
Corvus leaned in and said, "You want to know my secret...? Fine, I'll tell ya~!"
"Do you think one SSS-rank bikini warrior is enough to match my whole collection?!"
"I've been farming Summon Orbs for THREE YEARS!"
"Every quest, every dungeon, and every possible source of gacha currency!"
His laugh echoed across the valley. "You're not fighting me at full power, hero!"
"This is maybe thirty percent of what I've got! HAHAHAHAHA!!! IN THE END...! I'm just PLAYING with you!"
The other twenty-eight drakes soared into the sky, organizing themselves into a precise aerial bombardment formation. Meanwhile, the SSR monsters advanced from the ground.
The wyvern and chimera prepared to strike their prey. They were surrounded and utterly outmatched.
Lucian turned to Glacielle. She was hurt, burned, and exhausted.
At this point, her ice armor had more cracks than solid ice. What's worse is that she could hardly stand.
But she still had her frost fans ready.
"Do you regret following a virgin gacha addict into this...?" Lucian asked, forcing a smile through the pain.
For the first time, Glacielle's stoic mask fell away completely when she looked at him. She smiled, and it was a small but genuine smile that made her feel positive.
"None," she said in a soft voice. "You gave me a reason to live again, Master..."
"I would follow you into a hundred impossible battles right by your side..."
"Even certain death?"
"Especially certain death. That's what it means to have a bond worth fighting for."
Something in Lucian's chest got tight. Not pain from his wounds, but something else.
Even though the cold ice magic was flowing through him, he felt warm.
"Okay then," he said, raising his sword again. "Let's make this last stand one hell of a thing."
"Yes... my master. Let's do this... together!"