Shock was written across the faces of Lloyd and the other two.
Even when its head was cut off or its heart was stabbed, it would not die…….
Was the Chimera somehow immortal……?
“No, that cannot be.”
A Chimera was a monster artificially created by humans.
He could not imagine that humans were capable of creating an immortal being, something that belonged to the domain of gods.
‘Then it must have a weakness…….’
Yet even as time passed, they could not find the Chimera’s weakness.
Even when they stabbed its heart again.
Even when they punched a hole through its stomach.
Even when they severed its limbs, the bastard repeatedly regenerated at tremendous speed and rose again.
The one fortunate thing was that its decay grew worse each time it regenerated.
If they continued damaging it like this, it would eventually destroy itself.
‘If we can hold out until then.’
Lloyd briefly turned his gaze to check on Martin and Vector.
Both looked considerably exhausted at a glance.
The physical and mental fatigue piling up from the prolonged battle against the Chimera must have been immense.
But the same was true for Lloyd.
‘This is dangerous. Damn it, if only I could use a skill at a time like this…….’
The only skill he could use right then was Mad Dragon Icarus’s Intimidation. But that skill was useless in the current situation as well.
‘Isn’t there any good way?’
As he sank into thought, a message appeared before his eyes.
[System Synchronization Complete.]
“!!”
Finally!
How long had he waited for this message!
‘I thought it would take a full day for the System synchronization to finish.’
It was not what he had expected, but it was good news regardless.
Lloyd urgently shouted to the two fighting the Chimera.
“Sir Martin, Vector! I may be able to defeat it. Buy me just a little time!”
At his words, the faces of the two who were leading the fight against the Chimera brightened.
“Is that really true!?”
“L-Leave it to me!”
While Martin and Vector faced the Chimera, Lloyd hurriedly opened his Stat Window.
He had a total of 42 pt.
He did not know what level of power a Mana stat of 42 represented in this world, but this was no time to worry over such things.
Without hesitation, Lloyd poured every point he had accumulated into his Mana stat.
[Raise Mana stat by 42 pt?]
There was nothing more to consider.
When Lloyd accepted, a warm, gentle light enveloped his body.
‘This feeling of fullness…… It’s been a long time.’
It was nothing compared to his prime, but it was enough for now.
“That is enough. Everyone, fall back!”
“Yes!”
“Y-Yes!”
As Martin and Vector retreated, Lloyd immediately cast his skill.
A magic circle appeared above the Chimera’s head.
Vector’s expression brightened when he recognized the magic circle.
“Th-That’s the Leader’s skill!”
The magic circle emitted a golden radiance, and countless swords of light began pouring down from it like rain.
It was the wide-area skill [Sword of Light: Rain], in which countless swords rained down and pierced enemies.
True to its name, the rain of shining swords instantly riddled the Chimera’s body with holes.
-RROOOAAAR!!
The bastard’s pain-filled roar rang through the forest.
But the rain of swords had not stopped yet.
THUNK, THUNK-THUNK-THUNK.
Whether it writhed in pain or not, the swords of light pouring down from the magic circle continued to pierce the Chimera’s body.
Then, at that moment.
CRACK.
A sound like something breaking rang out, and the Chimera, which had remained standing until then, collapsed!
Unable to regenerate any further, it never rose again.
“Finally, it’s dead.”
At the same time, messages announcing Lloyd’s level-up appeared before his eyes.
[An A-Rank Composite Monster Chimera has been defeated.]
[Level increased by 1.]
[You have received 2 stat points from leveling up.]
‘Can I gain levels even outside a dungeon?’
To think he could gain experience even by defeating a man-made Chimera.
‘Thanks to this, I’ve learned something new.’
Lloyd leaned against a tree, looking quite exhausted, while Vector dropped heavily to the ground and let out a sigh of relief.
Martin, however, could not do the same.
‘W-What just happened?’
With his mouth hanging open, Martin replayed the sight that had already been burned into his mind.
The enormous magic circle and the countless swords of light that had poured down like a torrential rain, piercing the Chimera.
No matter how he thought about it, it had been magic.
‘Young Master Lloyd has no mana whatsoever. How could he possibly……?’
Just as that question arose in his mind, Lloyd’s voice calling for him roused him from his thoughts.
“Sir Martin.”
“What do you need?”
“Use an emergency signal flare and have Count Bled or the knights come here.”
“Yes, understood.”
After answering, Martin took a small pouch from his clothes.
The pouch contained red, blue, and yellow orbs. He picked up a red orb and hurled it hard against the ground. As it shattered, red smoke shot high into the sky.
It was a signal requesting support in an emergency.
Meanwhile, a hooded man in a black robe had watched the entire battle from afar.
He, too, could not recover from the immense shock.
‘The Chimera I painstakingly created…….’
Although it was a failed creation, it was not something a few knights could defeat.
All the monsters in this forest had panicked in fear and fled from it.
And that was not all!
Unless its core was found and destroyed, it was an immortal being that could never be killed.
‘Yet only three people defeated my Chimera?’
But that was not the only reason the man was shocked.
He took his eyes off his dead Chimera and looked at Lloyd, who was resting against a tree.
‘And…… who in the world is that boy? He’s been showing nothing but magic I’ve never seen before!?’
Controlling dozens of swords freely was astonishing enough, but magic that could even create a rain of swords?
‘I’ve never heard or seen magic like that. Could that boy have created it himself?’
But he soon shook his head.
It was absurd from the outset to think that a child who had not even reached adulthood could create magic.
Even if he poured every scrap of knowledge he possessed into the task, there was no guarantee he could create a single spell.
Even he, who had reached the Sixth Circle at the comparatively young age of his late forties, had yet to create a new spell.
‘In any case, this is not the time to stand around.’
He had to return quickly and tell everyone about this.
‘I would like to take that failed creation back with me, but…… it cannot be helped.’
The man in the black robe soothed his regret and began to leave.
***
The battle against the monsters came to an abrupt end.
The monsters, which had been throwing themselves forward as though their lives depended on it just moments ago, all turned toward the forest before suddenly retreating.
“What in the world happened…….”
It was fortunate that they had stopped the monsters, but they could not shake the unsettling feeling.
Then, the Knight Commander approached Count Bled, dipped his head, and spoke.
“It seems we succeeded in stopping the monsters. You have worked hard, Your Excellency, Count Bled.”
“You have as well, Sir. Still……”
Count Bled looked around before continuing.
“Lloyd has not been in sight for some time. Do you know where he went?”
Although he was an incapable son without a shred of mana, he was still his son.
It was only natural for him to be worried.
The Knight Commander tilted his head and replied.
“I am not sure. Perhaps he was frightened by the battle with the monsters and returned? Still, Sir Martin and that Vector fellow are with the Young Master, so he should be safe.”
“Hmm…….”
Count Bled furrowed his brow as though displeased.
Since Lloyd had followed them all the way here, he had wanted the boy to at least watch the battle from afar until the end.
Even if he did not cross swords himself, merely witnessing real combat would be of considerable help.
‘But he already ran away. What a bitter disappointment. I had begun to expect a little from him after his personality changed…….’
As he failed to hide his disappointment in Lloyd, Count Bled spotted red smoke rising from deep within the forest.
“That is an emergency signal!”
Could Lloyd have……?
“Let us go at once!”
Uneasy at the sight of the red smoke, Count Bled hurried toward it with the knights still capable of moving.
As they ran through the forest in haste, they spotted a man in black robes in the distance who appeared to be a mage.
The man must have noticed Count Bled and the knights as well. He drew a sharp breath, swiftly turned around, and began to flee.
‘Could that man be……!?’
Count Bled instinctively realized that the man in black robes, who had tried to flee the moment he saw them, could not be unrelated to the incident.
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Count Bled shouted at the knights.
“Catch that man at once!”
At Count Bled’s booming command, the man in black robes ran desperately to avoid being captured, but it was useless.
‘Damn it, I used too much mana controlling the Chimera…….’
Most mages who could not use magic had stamina equal to—or worse than—that of ordinary people.
He was no exception.
Before long, the man in black robes was helplessly captured by the knights.
***
Thanks to their haste, Count Bled and the knights reached the source of the smoke in little time.
Their jaws dropped at the sight before them.
The corpse of an unidentified monster, its head severed and its entire body riddled with holes until it had been reduced to a shredded rag.
Count Bled approached Lloyd, who still looked as calm as ever even in this situation, and asked,
“What in the world happened here?”
“Do you know about Chimeras?”
“I know the basics. What about them?”
At Count Bled’s puzzled question, Lloyd pointed at the Chimera’s corpse and replied.
“The Chimera lying over there is the culprit behind this incident.”
His voice was calm, as though it were nothing remarkable.
But the contents of Lloyd’s words were shocking.
“A-A Chimera!? Why would a Chimera be in Grid Forest……?”
Count Bled’s expression grew serious.
Were Chimeras not powerful monsters that mages created by combining various monsters?
He had heard that it took at least five Intermediate Sword Experts to barely defeat a single Chimera.
For a Chimera to appear near the territory was no ordinary matter.
‘I must return to the castle at once and prepare measures for what comes next.’
After confirming that Lloyd was safe, Count Bled was about to turn around when a question suddenly occurred to him.
‘Who defeated that Chimera?’
As Count Bled stared at the Chimera’s corpse, which was so mangled that it was difficult to even recognize its form, someone spoke.
“There is something I would like to tell you.”
“What is it?”
When he turned around, Lloyd was holding out the Chimera’s head, though Count Bled had no idea when he had retrieved it.
“What do you think? I believe this should be enough for Vector and me to be granted knightly titles.”
At those words, Count Bled raised his eyebrows and opened his eyes wide.
He then asked in an agitated voice,
“D-Do not tell me…… You are saying that you defeated this Chimera!?”
“Yes. Of course, I did not defeat it alone. It would have been impossible without Sir Martin and Vector.”
The moment Lloyd finished answering, murmurs broke out around them.
“Young Master Lloyd defeated a Chimera?”
“Come on, he does not even have mana. How could something like that be possible? It is obviously a lie.”
Lloyd’s swordsmanship was worthy of recognition, but that alone could never defeat a Chimera.
The knights were not the only ones who thought so.
Count Bled felt the same way.
“How did you, who have no mana, defeat a Chimera?”
When the Count asked, Lloyd lifted the corner of his mouth as though he had been waiting for the question and drew his sword.
It was to show that he now possessed mana as well.
‘For now, it would be better to show a sword-related skill rather than Telekinesis.’
He could reveal Telekinesis gradually later.
No, perhaps it would not be a bad idea to keep it as a hidden card.
With that in mind, Lloyd cast a skill.
The skill he chose was [Aura].
It was a skill that wrapped weapons or the body in aura, raising attack power and defense.
When Lloyd cast [Aura], a distinct blue glow began rippling around his sword.