𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟓: 𝐕𝐒 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐚 (𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟐)

“Chains of Restraint!”

Chains of light appear out of nowhere and bind the Chimera.

It’s Meisha’s holy magic.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Asuka and I approach and begin to hack at the monster’s body with our respective weapons.

The venomous snake in its tail was my initial target.

It’s the only one not affected by the blinding attack.

I quickly sever it from the body and crush its head.

Asuka is hacking away at the goat’s neck, of course, to prevent it from using magic.

“Three more seconds!”

At Meisha’s warning, we jump away from the Chimera.

If the restraint is released, we won’t be able to handle it.

“One more time! Icicle Lance!”

The moment the chains of light disappear, Miliaria’s magic flies out again.

Even though it’s blinded, the Chimera seems to sense the attack and tries to avoid it with a large jump.

“Break!”

In response to Miliaria’s voice, the ice sphere shatters into pieces.

And those pieces become countless projectiles, striking the monster’s body.

Each one probably isn’t causing much damage, but there are so many of them, and the Chimera can’t avoid them while it’s jumping.

After being beaten down, it falls heavily to the floor.

Even so, the dragon’s head rises, trying to breathe fire.

“You’re a stubborn one, aren’t you?”

Meg’s voice can be heard from close to the Chimera.

A knife thrust up from below pierces and pins the dragon’s upper and lower jaws.

Meg’s figure appears for just that moment, then disappears again.

It seems she has to reveal herself when she attacks.

The dragon’s head, filled with breath to the point of saturation, explodes in all directions.

“Now’s our chance! Let’s press the attack!”

I saw an opportunity.

“Oooooo!”

“Uryaaaa!”

Asuka and I charge in, swinging our swords in all directions.

No need for defense or evasion.

Just attack relentlessly.

The Chimera goes berserk, and Asuka and I are scratched by its claws, our bodies accumulating wounds.

“Distant Healing!”

Healing magic rains down, but the number of wounds is increasing faster than they can be healed.

That’s why we have to finish it here.

“Magic Missile!”

This time, it’s a race against time.

Miliaria repeatedly casts the spell with the shortest casting time.

“Die.”

Meg appears on the Chimera’s back, stabs the monster’s neck with the knives in both hands, and disappears.

“Now!”

“Finish it!”

My sword from the left, Asuka’s sword from the right, we cross them and sever the last remaining battered goat’s head.

The Chimera’s body falls down.

It has lost all its heads, and its body is covered in wounds.

Of course, so are Asuka and I.

Meisha, who has rushed over, uses a powerful touch healing spell on us.

“We… we won.”

Asuka stares at the carcass as if she can’t believe what she’s seeing.

Well, it’s really amazing that we won.

There were many dangerous moments.

“Hehehe. Magic stones, magic stones. Such a big monster must have a huge magic stone.”

Meg happily begins to cut open the Chimera’s corpse.

I hate to disappoint her, but the size of the core is the same for all monsters.

I didn’t even have time to warn her.

“What the hell is this!”

Meg laments, holding the ordinary core she extracted.

Well, it can’t be helped.

When you first become an adventurer, you expect that if you hunt a big monster, the core will be big too.

And then you’re shocked to find out that all cores are worth the same.

Well, there are many good things about getting materials and such.

With a wry smile, I sit down on the floor.

I need to rest a bit, or I won’t be able to go to the eleventh floor and tell the others about our victory.

“I’ll go and tell them.”

“Ah, I’ll go too.”

Meisha and Meg, who are relatively energetic, walk towards the stairs.

Asuka and I are exhausted, and Miliaria is staggering from overusing magic.

Eventually, the adventurers come up to the great hall with words of gratitude.

About forty of them in all.

You might think that with this many people, we could have defeated the Chimera, but there’s not enough space for forty people to spread out.

If we were all pushing and shoving, we’d probably be unable to move and get roasted by a dragon’s breath all at once.

We wave and respond to words like “We won’t forget this favor” and “We’ll repay this debt someday.”

I apologize for my lack of cordiality, but I’m exhausted.

“When we get back to town, I’ll deliver something to your clan house, Nel. What would you like?”

“You made it back safely, Linus.”

I extend my right hand to the man who came up to me and started talking.

We give each other a high-five, making a lively sound.

This guy is Linus. He’s the leader of the prestigious adventurer clan in the city of Gaillia, known as the “Hard-Boiled Guys”, which is one of the top two.

To put it simply, he’s a worthy rival from the Gold-lined Butterflies era.

“If you ask me what I want, I’d say wood? I want to build a changing room.”

“Sorry, Nel. I can’t understand a single thing you’re saying.”

He’s laughing, asking why I want wood.

It’s annoying. Without a changing room, our girls will be wandering around the clan house naked.

It would be awkward to know where to look.

“It would be better to have a changing room next to the bath, right?”

But you know, it’s embarrassing to appear poor. So, I’ll be vague with my words.

“. . .”

Linus pats my shoulder.

Gently.

And then he remains silent.

・・・

『”𝕬𝖜𝖊𝖇𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖘.𝖈𝖔𝖒” – 𝕯𝖎𝖘𝖈𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖆 𝖈𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 𝖔𝖋 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊, 𝖕𝖆𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖆𝖉𝖛𝖊n𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊, 𝖜𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖈𝖆𝖓 𝖎𝖓𝖉𝖚𝖑𝖌𝖊 𝖎𝖓 𝖆 𝖈𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖘𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖓𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖑𝖘 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 “𝖉𝖆𝖎𝖑𝖞 𝖚𝖕𝖉𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖘” 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖊𝖝𝖈𝖑𝖚𝖘𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝖆𝖈𝖈𝖊𝖘𝖘 𝖙𝖔 “𝖆𝖉𝖛𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊𝖉 𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖘”.』

・・・

---