Chapter 119. Anomaly (4)
“Keke, so confident in victory.”
Ixion laughed mockingly at his own hesitation. He raised the arm holding the disc.
“Think you can win? You couldn’t even break my chimera earlier.”
“Unfortunately.”
I stared at him expressionlessly.
“That prized chimera of yours doesn’t look in great shape.”
“What?”
Ixion flinched, turning back.
The chimera, writhing behind him, moved noticeably slower after facing the maid.
The reason was clear.
Dark red mist rose from its waist, staining the darkness like blood.
“…What a masterpiece.”
Ixion muttered behind his mask. The chimera’s flank armor was split by a sharp cut, half-destroyed.
I watched silently.
Even if the fight had continued, Lien likely would’ve gained the upper hand, but time was the issue.
Sirocco’s bleeding needed treatment before it became irreversible. Ixion tilted his head, incredulous.
“The chimera’s hide, layered with dozens of beasts, was peak hardness. Enhanced by my magic, it should’ve been even tougher.”
He turned slowly to Lien.
“Maid. Your doing.”
Her wires alone shouldn’t have damaged the chimera before.
Scanning the chimera, Ixion found the cause, repeating his earlier words with a bitter smile.
“So, the wound I couldn’t heal…”
The scar I’d left with my sword.
The torn armor became a clear weak point, and Lien had been steadily destroying its insides with her wires.
Ixion glanced at Lien behind his mask.
“Tenacious. Similar to imperial combat techniques. A survivor of a fallen noble house?”
Instead of answering, Lien swung an arm coldly, pulling a wire beside her.
Her maid dress’s skirt rippled as the wire emitted a sharp ping .
Wires surged past Ixion’s beak mask, glinting sharply.
A flying beast intercepted, shattering into pieces.
“Fine! Come on!!”
Ixion lowered his stance, mana exploding in his arms. With that signal, the battle resumed.
Leading with the chimera, Ixion charged. Simultaneously, Lien and I ran in opposite directions, rushing the enemy.
Ixion swung an arm, launching beasts.
Lien leaped, firing wires, but the chimera intervened.
Krkrrrrk.
Instinctively shielding its wound, it used its head’s armor to protect its master.
Ixion raised a hand, dodging the wires slicing the air.
“Crush them!”
He slammed a mana-wreathed palm into the ground, ordering the chimera.
The chimera stomped the wires it had caught, crushing them with its weight.
Whirl.
Lien seemed to lose balance as her wires were pinned, but she used the force to kick off a pillar, leaping sideways.
She fired wires at Ixion.
But flying beasts, molded into a massive shield, deflected the wires astray.
As Lien fell, the chimera charged, but I rushed in, spinning my sword to deflect its horn.
Kiriririk.
Before one exchange ended, the remaining flying beasts surrounded us.
Wearing dark red rings, they circled like crows crowning the doomed.
Targeting the blind spots of the white maid and black swordsman.
We stood back-to-back. Covering each other’s blind spots, I spoke quietly to Lien.
“You and that chimera. Not a great match.”
I could tell. Our battles together weren’t for nothing. I could read the fight’s flow.
Glancing at Lien behind me, deploying her wires, I said.
“I’ll handle it. You target Ixion.”
“…Understood.”
Her azure eyes peeked through silver hair, warning softly.
“Get hurt, and I won’t forgive you.”
“Do what you want.”
Used to her threats, I gripped my sword calmly, lowering my stance.
“I’ve got a score to settle with them.”
Swallowing those words, the ground shook with footsteps. The chimera charged like a tank.
As Ixion raised clenched fists, mana exploding, Lien and I charged the enemy side by side.
Whirl—
Lien extended an arm, a wire slicing the air, halting the chimera’s advance.
I didn’t miss it.
Leaping, I threw my sword upward, spinning half a turn.
Raising both arms over my shoulders, I caught the falling blade, blue-black mana glowing on the pommel and crossguard.
Whoosh—
I swung the reversed one-handed sword full force.
Thooong!
The pommel and crossguard struck, the metallic clang echoing.
White shockwaves rippled from the impact, etching the air.
Krkrrrrk!!
The chimera roared before me.
Its armor seemed undamaged, but the extreme impact inside made it stagger.
If slashing didn’t work, this sword form disrupted soft internal organs with severe impact.
But it wasn’t enough.
The enemy was still alive.
Boom!!
The chimera stomped, thrusting its horn upward in retaliation.
I stepped back, swinging my sword vertically downward.
Thooong!!
The devastating strike shattered the horn, exploding.
The chimera’s massive body crashed, scattering armor fragments.
“How!!”
Ixion’s scream echoed, unable to believe the chimera’s peak-hardness armor was so easily broken.
But it wasn’t over.
This attack was merely the foundation for the finisher.
As the chimera struggled to rise, I raised the reversed sword, deploying mana.
[Explosive Sword]
With bursts of mana, I unleashed a strike at instantaneous speed.
The chimera’s dark red eyes, sensing defeat, flashed past.
[Lethal Strike]
Thooong!!
The sword crashed like a mace into the chimera’s crown. The ground quaked, collapsing in an explosion.
The triple mana burst’s energy sent the chimera flying like a leaf, slamming into the ground with a roar.
The impact cracked pillars and the floor within meters, collapsing.
Only after the tremors subsided did the noise fade.
At the epicenter, the chimera, its legs and horn broken, turned to black ash, rising silently.
The fused, tortured creature, manipulated like a puppet, ended its brief life.
I slowly turned the sword to hold it normally.
The surroundings were devastated.
[Explosive Sword], accelerating the body, and [Lethal Strike], effective against armored foes’ insides.
The two contrasting sword forms I’d instinctively linked showed destructive potential in combination.
It’d take practice to master.
I turned slowly.
Ping!!
Beyond my vision, another battle was nearing its climax.
Ixion retreated, launching beasts at Lien, but her wires shredded them every time.
No matter how fast, the beasts were sliced by her wires, using their own speed against them.
“Annoying!!”
Ixion, perhaps planning to fuse more beasts, gripped the disc and thrust it forward.
But Lien extended an arm, her wire glowing.
Ping.
With a sharp sound, she yanked her arm, the wire binding the disc in his hand.
“I see your skill in direct combat, maid. What’s your deal?”
He glanced at the wires, muttering.
“Stronger than I imagined. Without my beast-controlling artifact, I’d have lost instantly.”
“…”
“Maybe if you weren’t so focused on protecting the direct descendant, it’d be trickier. What’s your goal?”
Lien, holding the binding wire, looked down coldly.
“Why didn’t you subdue me from the start? Were you after something from the beginning?”
“One thing.”
Lien opened her mouth, her gaze icy.
“I have a question for you, black mage.”
Gripping the wire, she asked coldly.
“Do you know anything about black magic related to souls?”
“…Souls? The lost black magic of the past?”
Ixion glanced at her behind his mask.
“I’ve never heard of such magic.”
“…Never?”
“Keke, if the creatures I mold had souls, I’d want to learn it myself.”
He cackled, shouting.
“I’d love to hear what souls scream when their bodies are twisted and fused!”
Whoosh!
The disc in his hand glowed dark red, and beasts from multiple directions intercepted the wires.
Using the loosened wires, he spun and fled.
He’d made an opening. He could escape.
His mask’s glass reflected light, gleaming with hope.
If he reached the exit, there might be guards, but no issue. He could take hostages, threaten the direct descendant, and escape—
Splatter!!
Blood sprayed. A blue-black sword pierced his side in one strike.
“Huh?”
“Going somewhere?”
Trembling, Ixion turned to see me behind him, eyes glinting.
“You’ll pay for touching my follower family.”
“Grrk!! Direct descendant, how dare…!”
Blood dripped from his chin behind the mask, as if he’d bitten his lip. I twisted the sword.
As I pulled back for the finishing blow, he screamed.
“Get off!”
Raising the disc, the last hidden flying beasts from the ceiling charged me.
I kicked his back, retreating and slashing the beasts.
In that gap, he staggered, clutching his waist, spilling blood, and vanished from the sector.
I cut down the distraction beasts and pursued, but found only faint bloodstains in the underground passage, soon fading.
Perhaps he’d used his magic to staunch the bleeding. A pathetic escape for a Vendetta Annihilation Officer.
Click.
I sheathed my sword, staring at the passage where he’d fled.
Then, noisy footsteps echoed.
“—Enoch-nim, are you okay?!”
“The sound came from there, hurry!”
“Shut up and call for medical support! That noise means there was a fight, I’ve got a bad feeling!”
Guards’ footsteps echoed chaotically from the mine’s far end.
I glanced at Sirocco, watching me from the broken elevator, and exhaled softly.
“Phew.”
Relief slowly spread in my chest.
Thankfully, I wasn’t too late.
For everything.