"Graaaah!"
A chimera, it's scales jet black and it's eyes glinting a cruel red, glared down at them from the sky. As the party were shocked, Cassius was seen trembling in fear.
"That's the monster, the one who attacked my party!" Cassius said while covering his hands on both ears
Cassius was trembling so fiercely that he looked ready to collapse at any moment, he peed his pants in fear while he saw the monster. He was probably having flashbacks to the last time he'd been attacked.
After we position Cassius over a safer area, I glanced at the chimera and used inspect.
Chimera
Skills: Mana Boost (Level 4), Fire Spell, Health Regeneration, Second Life
Vitality:10000
Strength:37000
Defense:43000
Agility:6100
Mana:79200
Inspect unveiled the beasts stats, I can already tell that this is an peak-level beasts, the strongest beasts in the ranking system. No wonder why Cassius and his party cannot beat this creature. Out of curiosity, I used inspect on one of its skills.
Second Life- regenerates both mana and health into full when in near-death. Automatically trigger when dies
I knew it's skills very well, but the second life differs something extraordinary, it can revive itself when in near-death. I think this holds my thoughts as second chances.
The monsters stats were incredible, it's mana and agility were a whole another level above anything I'd encountered in my adventuring days, and those were the lowest stats. The others were even higher.
"Even if it can't use all of its stats, you can still take them lightly. That's a peak-level beasts you're facing off." Said by Plasma, anticipating my thoughts
"Huh? That's some great news, but? Why the information?"
"Look at Elias, he's trying to seem calm, but he's terrified. He is protecting his weak party over everything."
"Brother…"
It lend out another low roar, it shook the trees from the environment, It's overwhelming pressure it exuded was far greater than the spider queen had fought at the Karama Village. Most people considered the spider queen among the most dangerous monsters that roamed the forest, but this chimera made them feel like more than a baby spider.
"Patricia, you clear out any attacked that get too close to me and Catherine" Elias said
"Understood…"
"Roger! Close-up battle aren't my thing, so I'll keep you and Patricia buffed from a distance."
"With you two playing support. I'll take the beast head-on"
"Eirene, you protect Cassius, I can handle this!"
I removed one of my bandages from my right hand and immediately equipped my blood sword. While they were focusing on the chimera, I will protect the lost boy with all my might.
This left tactical decisions of Catherine's hands, she was a mage that can cast multiple spells. I would have my hands full with the peak-level beasts, but worrying about Cassius safety, I'd decided to protect him.
"Let's get started. If we don't get after it now, it's only going to get farther away"
Elias aimed his gun and fired a shit, making the start of battle. The black bullet that blasted his revolver was imbued with enough dark magic to bore and slay any low-level monster. Despite this, it bounced harmlessly off the thick scales of the beast.
The beast's armor wasn't merely hard, it was on another level.
Despite being a backliner, Elias has every potential to be an frontliner, since he is wielding a revolver. It's accuracy and power scaling was no match for the beasts strength. Then again, Elias had lived so long that he had more battle experience that the three of us combined, making him the most suited for the role.
The monster reacted instinctively to the attack, turning and charging directly at us, fire pluming into the hair withe every movement. I readied myself to face it.
While I was protecting Cassius from the chimera's attacks. I morphed my blood sword into a bow, casting my blood arrows and pulled the bowstring, each arrows was imbued with defense reduction, making the thick scales penetrate like paper.
"Graaaaah!"
The chimera lent out a loudful roar, the blood arrows were no match for the beast's defense. Elias saw this and was shocked, praising my marksmanship in the process
"Arrows made from my sister's blood, No way you have blood manipulation!"
"Blood manipulation" is the term of manipulating blood or someone's blood at their own will, seeing his little sister must have acquired this ability, he didn't question it, He knew little about my blood curse. Instead, Elias relied on my strength to kill the chimera.
I shot a flurry of blood arrows right straight at the chimera's body, all of them are embedded with defense reduction. While I was maintaining a farther distance between the chimera, Cassius hid behind me while I pulled the bowstring multiple times.
While I fired multiple arrows at one, I felt that my mana is draining. One of Elias's original members, Catherine, decided to save the day.
"Eirene, are you alright? I sensed that your mana is low!"
So, Catherine can sense the mana inside my body. Despite she is a mage and wore a black robe, she can tell my mana is depleting every time I deployed one of my magic-imbued arrows. She decided to help
"Heal me, Catherine!"
"Roger that, Eirene!"
Catherine raised its black staff and proceeds to chant an regenerative spell. There, light poured on her staff, and beaming toward me, I can feel that my energy is rising. I checked my mana meter using Inspect.
Mana Meter: 5690/9000
"Thank you, Catherine!"
"No worries, you're Elias's sister after all!"
Catherine shows a kind of me, she healed half my mana meter full. Because of her support, I released a rain of arrows toward the chimera.
I was sure its strength couldn't compare to the spider queen I fought at the Karama Village, but it was at least as powerful as the monsters I'd found in Castle Libra.
Upon spotting me, the chimeras gaze focused on me. Then, it suddenly reared its head back and opened its jaw, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. It began focusing a tremendous amount of mana into its mouth.
"Graaaaaaah! Graaaaaaah!"
A strange keening sound echoed throughout the sunset. I suddenly remembered Cassius describing the breath that had gouged out part of the river and incinerated an adventurer on the spot.
"Eirene, watch out!"
I noticed the chimera pointing at me, ready to unleash it's soaring flames. I barely reacted in time, now I think this is the end… Suddenly…
"Dark Magic… activate!"
Elias dashed directly between the chimera's path, he formed a three-meter tall shield out of his dark magic and connected to his left arm. He started pouring mana into it, Elias thrust it into the ground as hard as he could.
"Brother… No!"
A second later, the chimera's flames cut through the air with the precision of a laser. It traveled faster than sound, smashing into Elias's shield with a thunderous roar not even a second after it had fired. The waves of heat radiation off the flames were so great that they melted the ground around him.
Elias lend out a bestial roar as he pushed back again at the breath's force. His magic held out for a while, and even pushed the breath back for a short distance, but finally the breath broke through and slammed into the shield once more.
"Shit! Shit! It's hot!" Elias muttered
And yet, his shield withstood the impact, slowly melting through it. However, every time it looked like the breath would break at any moment, Elias mended his shield with his dark magic.
Since it took the breath more than a few seconds to melt through the dark layer, the chimera had no hope of piercing Elias's shield. However, it did possess enough strength to blow him away along with his shield
Elias, with his massive stamina, his shield, and his dark magic wasn't in any real danger of taking damage, but the people behind him, including his little sister would be incinerated by the chimera's breath, leaving not even ashes behind if he was blown away
As he was fretting over what to do, he suddenly felt something soft at his back
"Brother!"
"Elias!"
He glanced back in surprise. To his utter amazement, Patricia and I were trying to support him by pushing my brother's back with all their might. It looked like they'd finally returned to their senses, saw Elias pushed back and had come to help.
Seeing those two brought Catherine back to his senses as well, With a spirited yell, he ran up to Elias, and a second later, Cassius followed suit.
"Damn, this is heavy!"
The barrage to signs of stopping. The heat had long since evaporated the river water, so the force of the impact kept sending half-melted stones flying out of the riverbed.
Finally, the chimera's breath finally stopped, the shield slowly dissipated as Elias dark magic ran out, I can tell that his mana is depleted all because of handling the shield's force.
I checked his mana meter using inspect.
Elias Rynd
Mana Meter: 43000/100000
Elias has still a lot of mana that was stored in his body. Even a single cast of dark magic nearly grazed him, all his burnt marks instantly healed. All thanks from one of Elias's skills, Burst Reduction.
There, Elias stood up, raising it's revolver up high to the chimera and chanted a singular word.
"Metamorphosis… Sniper"
Suddenly, Elias's revolver began to change, parts of his dark magic were flowing through his revolver, it's menacing aura began to revolve. It's shape began to deform, creating a shape that I known before, a sniper rifle.
"Ladies…Let the party started!"
As Elias formed a sniper rifle in his very own hands. One of his members, Patricia suddenly charged at the chimera's body and instantly sliced it's legs off, the sharp blade of her rapier was imbued with magic. And yet, the chimera stood up like it was nothing
Seeing that the chimera was about to unleash it's strike. I morphed my blood bow into a shape of a sword. This time, I will play offense from now.
"I'm counting on you, Roxy!" Plasma said
"I won't let you down." I replied
Elias raised it's sniper up high, pointed toward his scope and fired a black bullet between the chimera's legs. The bullet was so powerful that it penetrated through it's thick scales, more stronger than the revolver he used earlier.
He fired a volley of shots at the beasts legs. While I dove above the chimera as I looked for another opportunity to strike. Raising my blood sword with a glinting blade, I dove through it's thick scales.
"Roxy, based from my data, the weak points of the chimera are the lion's head" Plasma, anticipating my thoughts
Paired with defense reduction and Plasma's hypothesis, I pushed my blood sword from the chimera's head, it was jutting in pain. I managed to hold the chimera's off, losing a lot of blood in the process.
As it continued, the chimera's head rotated in a continuous motion. There, I lost control and fell towards the ground. While I was falling mid-air, I shouted to Elias
"Brother… Now's the chance!"
I fell to the ground, because of the blood sword's attributes, I managed to recover quickly. Little does it know that, I made an opening on one of Elias shots to the chimera's head,
"Here's the finisher!"
A barrage of bullets slammed into the dragon, leaving a trail of red streaks in the wake. It was Elias sniper, it was five times powerful than the revolver. He shot the chimera's head, it's eyes were popped out, the lion's face were skinned off and the once sharp fangs suddenly became a crumbled mess
While the chimera had some time to regenerate it's face. Patricia suddenly attacked from behind, raising it's rapier high and shining a glinting light. Ready to launch an heavy attack on the chimera's head.
"Celestial Light!" Patricia says loudly
As her rapier shines a golden light, it sliced cleanly onto the chimera's head, it didn't react quickly. Instead, its head fell off onto the floor. The remaining body collapses to the ground and Patricia lands on the ground in perfect accuracy.
Now, the chimera has died
Despite being a gold-ranked adventurer, Patricia holds her swordsmanship to its fullest, its shining rapier sliced its head off, unable to regenerate its wounds completely. I was appraised by Patricia's talent
I stood up and approached Cassius, who was hiding between the rocks.
"Cassius, it's okay. You can come in now."
I lend out a hand for Cassius, he contributed well enough for the party, he assists pushing Elias to safety while risking his life of becoming an adventurer. I guess Elias' message does affect him overall.
I saw one of the party members, Patricia, go to the chimera's body and slice through the stomach, revealing a heart that she would collect in order to get paid. Since the chimera is a peak-level beast. They will be rewarded exactly five gold, equivalent to nearly five hundred silver.
As she made an incision, Patricia saw that the chimera's heart was still beating rapidly. Normally, when a beast dies, the heart instantly stops and solidifies easily. But something seems off, the chimera heart is beating normally.
As the party investigates the cause, the chimera's heart was beating. Upon seeing this myself, suddenly, Plasma jolted me through my thoughts.
"Roxy, You didn't want to believe at first but… this monster is alive. I've seen it's skills before, it triggered it's last resort, The Second Life"
"Alive?!"
While the party was confused, we didn't notice that the chimera was slowly closing its wound up. And in an instant, it's tail charged at us and knocked us out.
"Ugh… What the actual fuck?"
The attack threw us into the nearby rock. We noticed that its head grew back, and its original form turned back to the chimera we first fought.
"What monstrosity is this…?" Elias said
"The monster isn't dead. He has a second life"