Arc | Chapter. 63: Chimera of the Er_o_ (Patreon)

Chapter. 63: Chimera of the Er_o_

At that moment it was as if a pin had dropped, a deafening silence enveloped the room as the being stood there. Its flesh tearing, its being distorting, and its presence terrifying. Everyone seemed frozen in time looking at the wretched thing, and then I heard the Dragon of Earth scream.

“[Earth Torture Chamber of Sealment & Supression]!”

At that moment the environment itself shifted, the cave walls got darker, the ground became black sands, as I was seemingly pushed away from the monster against my will, and then it happened⁠— dozens of spikes exploded upon the monster, piercing through its broken being as malformed screeches resounded through the air. I saw flakes of corruption fly through the air and at that moment another, this time familiar, booming voice resounded⁠—

“[..nd Let My Being Be The⁠ Flames of Destruction]!”

At that moment a red beam hit the malformed beast, I saw it flicker for a moment before a grandiose explosion shook the entire chamber of sealment, I saw a bright yellow incandescent spot in the middle that seemed to distort, and at that moment a broken scream of anger resounded⁠—

The chimera swiped and all the flames disappeared, I saw the humanoid being standing there, parts of its body falling apart, its chest or whatever it was was heaving, and then it turned in my direction. At that moment another horde of spikes came, and the chimera swiped. In a single moment all of the sand on its close surroundings exploded in all directions.

I blinked and a moment later I saw the chimera dashing in my direction, the air around me distorted and my ears buzzed. I was still injured, but the surreality of the situation finally clicked for me. I didn’t know what this corrupted being was, what I was even looking at half of the time, however all my senses told me that I couldn’t defeat it.

It wasn’t unbeatable but⁠—

“[My Crown, My Reign & My Darkest Behest]!”

The whole world darkened, and the chimera was hit by a tidal wave of shadows⁠— it was thrown into the wall with a screech of pain, and then a moment later the rest of the dragons too used SS Tier skills as I stood up, this time completely sobered up. I could see the door to the Forgotten Places in the distance, and I understood what I was to do now.

What we needed to do.

It wasn’t an opponent who we needed to kill, it was an opponent who we needed to repel.

I took a deep breath as I heard the screeches of pain and I turned following my senses, I saw nothing but a small mound of rocks, and yet I called with familiarity.

“Dragon of Earth, can you re-open the door on my signal? We are sending that thing back to its home.”

There was no response aside from the ground beneath my feet slightly shifting, which was more than enough. I turned back to where the battle was happening. And I saw the chimera being swarmed with attacks, chunks of corruption flew through the air and the pained growls of the beast echoed.

It was quickly getting overwhelmed, numerous SS Tier skills flew through the air; shadows struck, flames burned, earth ruptured and the wind cut. A myriad of colors assaulted the broken being as it was thrown from one side of the room to the other, and I wasted no time as I raised my arm and prepared myself.

I didn’t know how things would go, but I had to do it.

At that moment, the monster roared and slammed, dirt billowed and erupted around, some skills were immediately interrupted by a distortion in the air and at that moment I heard something echo through the air. A broken voice, like murmurs in the air. My eyes went wide, and I immediately pushed my mana.

“T̶e̴r̶-̵_̴o̷r̴ ̷o̸f̷ ̸t̸h̵⁠—”

[Frost, Stasis, Eternity, and a Prophecy]

At that moment everything stopped, the beast froze and yet its mere presence buzzed in my ears, then it forcefully craned its head in my direction, static blaring in my head as I frowned. My heart was still rushing, my innards were still bleeding, but it didn’t matter. The chimera broke through its stasis and immediately rushed towards me.

“Open the door,” I spoke coldly.

I got no reply as the chimera headed for my life, but I didn’t care and immediately slammed my hand down⁠— in an instant a gigantic ice spear pierced it to the ground as a painful screech resounded.

I was now annoyed. Annoyed about its sneak attack. Annoyed about its unnatural existence that seemed to lower my guard. And annoyed at the fact that it dared to ignore my skill through some bullshit.

My eyes narrowed, speaking coldly.

“Before sending you off, I’m going to make you suffer.”

And I clapped my hands.

At that moment two gigantic hands crushed the weird and twisted being, its body was not one I could describe, but I didn’t care as a gigantic Overlord emerged before me. I cracked my hands and immediately gave another command.

And this was just the beginning.

* * * * *

Regis’karr had thought this was a bad idea, he had a bad feeling since reaching the entrance to the Forgotten Places, but he did not dare to speak of it. Choosing to trust Arc over everything, Regis’karr had seen her talent, he had seen her potential and everything she had done in the past.

But after that door opened, he realized the terrible mistake that had been made. The remnants of the era of oblivion should have been untouched, but instead that thing, that chimera of error, had made it out into the world and now an unbeatable plague had been unleashed upon the entirety of Arlas.

Or so he thought⁠—

Regis’karr paused as the world became enveloped in blue hues, he could feel the mana itself on the air pausing, stopping mid movement. Even though it was the first time it happened for him, he immediately recognized what had just happened.

Arc had used her skill⁠—

And the chimera moved, against all natural odds, immediately leaping towards Arc. Regis’karr winced only for the chimera to be hit against the ground with a gigantic ice spear. It screeched, buzzing through his ears, his eyes went wide and he heard Arc say something that sent shivers down his spine.

“Before sending you off, I’m going to make you suffer.”

Two hands pressed on the chimera of error, a gigantic being emerged gripping the monster, and that’s when the onslaught truly began⁠— at the hands of a giant, the chimera was slammed against the ground, roughly as if it had been just a toy to play with⁠—

Stones exploded, the air ruptured, and Regis’karr winced in pain as a harrowing screech resounded through the air. Then, he watched the lumbering giant flex its knees and jump⁠— it immediately slammed upon the chimera as the ground beneath its feet seemed to be tainted by blotches of corruption.

At that moment something else happened⁠— a primal beast emerged from the ground, one of ice that had a flowing mane and resembled felines of old. Then as the chimera was getting up, it pounced. Corruption flakes flew, the distorted screeches of pain echoed and soon, other monsters joined.

In just a few moments Regis’karr watched with his mouth agape as the chimera of error was manhandled, constantly being thrown around as if it was nothing but a ragdoll by the different beasts. Regis’karr couldn’t believe what he was seeing⁠— no one could. Malz, or the rest of the dragons just watched in awe.

Even the Dragon of Earth who had become one of his skill had been stunned, the door to the Forgotten Places was now beginning to open, and Arc immediately made a spear of ice as she began to mutter skills under her breath. The assault of the numerous beasts continued, pummeling the wretched monster of corruption over and over again as everyone watched.

For a moment Regis’karr began to believe that Arc had the chance to kill the beast, but the drop of sweat on her forehead told him otherwise, her mouth was still dripping with fresh blood too, but somehow her expression remained stone cold, still just as terrifying as it began.

Finally, the Overlord grabbed the chimera of error and flung it into the air, the monster screeched its corruption getting worse as it seemed to taint the air and then Arc drew back the spear, tensing her body like a spring.

“Consider this payback⁠—”

And the spear left her hand, a burst of blue enveloped the room with a white line. The chimera was impaled and thrown at supersonic speeds through the open door to the Forgotten Places, the seeping corruption was frozen as was the entire room by the blue light. In just a moment, the chamber became a crystallized hell, and then the doors slammed closed.

The blue hue around the room disappeared as everyone left out sighs of relief. The skill from the Dragon of Earth ended as he reformed, and yet Arc still had her hand extended in that direction.

“Better hope you survive this.”

Arc took a deep breath and clenched her fist.

“Die.”

At that moment the entire chamber shook as something from beyond the door was hit⁠— a series of screeches echoed before they died down.

“Not enough…” Arc frowned and⁠—

Twisted.

Another trembling echo resounded, but this time accompanied by a much less pained screech of corruption. Everyone looked at Arc in disbelief and finally she shook her head and spoke up with pure annoyance.

“I said to die!”

And she brought her hand towards her body, her knuckles cracking with force as another much more powerful quake shook the room.

Then there was silence.

Arc let out a sigh. “Huh, it’s quite unkillable…”

After that she spat out a mouthful of blood and shook her head in annoyance as she began to ascend the ramp inside the chamber, heading towards the outside world. Nothing was said as all the dragons simply looked at each other. Then without words, Malz departed, following after Arc, but everyone else remained.

Regis’karr knew what they wanted to talk about, but no one dared to say it.

However he knew that everyone in the room was upset with her and that potentially meant something troublesome for her.

Disloyalty.

* * * * *

I found myself feeling something weird, perhaps it was disappointment that I hadn’t killed the wretched thing, perhaps it was annoyance instead⁠— however, it was like a feeling of emptiness. I was tired, and using the [Frost, Stasis, Eternity, and a Prophecy] in such a rash manner consumed more mana than I ever expected.

In the end, perhaps it was the overwhelming disappointment that if I went into the Forgotten Places I’d die within minutes, perhaps I could kill something if I fought for my life. But I seriously doubted the chimera was the only thing in there.

If anything, everything made me ponder long and hard about what happened during the era of oblivion for things to end up in such a fucked up manner. But I didn’t really have an answer, so in the end I simply continued to walk, leaving the cave and finally reaching the sea, where I just stood there watching the vast blue body of water.

I didn’t know how long passed, but eventually Malz reached me and joined me to watch the view.

“You know, the elders are unhappy.”

“I know.”

There was silence, before she asked me a question.

“Are you disappointed?”

“I am.”

“What will you do about it?”

This time, it was my turn to be silent for a few moments. There really weren’t many thoughts in my mind, so I just shook my head.

“Nothing, I’ll do nothing.”

I turned to Malz who looked at me weirdly.

“This was a large disappointment, and perhaps it’s because I’ve committed most of my energy towards ways of getting stronger, but I don’t really feel like anything right now.”

A sigh left me.

“So I guess that’s that, I’ll return to Rivas, back in Draliz and relax before dealing with whatever I need to deal with on Ceylon’s side.”

“Ceylon is…?”

“My companion,” I said somewhat exasperatedly.

“Right…” Malz nodded. “Would you mind if I come along?”

I blinked remembering what we had spoken about in the Maw of Dragons, or rather what Malz had requested. It took me about a second of deliberation before I nodded.

“You can come, but do not lash out or create trouble for me.”

Malz nodded with a small smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

And then, I felt the presence of the elders arriving. I watched as each and every single one of the dragons came out of the cave and turned to face me, all while my back was looking towards the ocean.

The Dragon of Earth spoke to me.

“Arc, this behavior is unacceptable. You could have endangered the world.”

I sighed. “Look, it is as much of my fault as it is for all of you to listen. Perhaps you could say I forced you, but not a single dragon tried to object and tell me that perhaps this could be a catastrophic idea.”

There was a silence, before the dragon of wind hissed.

“You dare blame us for your mistake?!”

I shook my head. “I’m saying that while the majority of responsibility falls on me, you all should also take this as a lesson to learn.”

The Dragon of Nature frowned, his claws digging into the ground.

“You dare to say that to us?!”

Regis’karr turned to me.

“Arc, listen to us, what you’ve done is⁠—”

“No, you should even be more responsible because you are the closest dragon to me,” I interrupted glaring. “You could have said, hey Arc, I think this is a bad idea⁠— and if I dismissed it then I would have been the one to blame. Instead what you did was; oh I’ll let all the other elders decide.”

Regis’karr flinched, and the Dragon of Earth spoke once more.

“Arc you seem to not be understanding something here…” Bloodlust rose in the air, his eyes meeting mine. “This is all of the dragon elders against you.”

“So?” I raised my brow. “Am I supposed to bend over or something?”

At that moment, the tension became palpable as Malz got ready to fight, the elders that is, for a moment we all met each other’s gazes with hostility, but then a notification came.

[ You have successfully protected the E̴͕̻̔̿̊̑͜r̸͉͍̅̒͑̍ŗ̶̗̭̬̮̦̇̈̓͜ǫ̸͈̽́̽͑̂͋̋̕r and purged the Ư̸̖̦̥͑̌͋̀͘n̷̳̼̙̐̎͌͐̈́̈͜ḵ̶̢̥̬̘̪̯͐͊ͅṇ̶̢̲̌͆͝o̷͇̓̅͐͌̐̄̽̈́w̵͚̤̮̖̋̀͛̂n̸̨͈̜̦̼̙͙̿̏ bonus experience has been awarded. ]

And soon, more came.