492 Chapter 492: Chaos Chimera (1/2)
Before the skull-like head of the Chaos Chimera could reach me, Taurus slammed into it from the side, knocking it off its origina trajectory. The Chaos Chimera snarled and twisted around to face the gigantic bull, an ethereal flame within its jaws glowing as it prepared to fire off a deadly spell. But Aries then rammed into it from the opposite side, knocking it off course.
Capricorn then head-butted the Chaos Chimera from below, snapping the jaws shut. Whatever fiery spell the skeletal monster was conjuring, it failed and blew up inside its own mouth and smoke billowed out of the holes that were meant for its nostrils. With a wail, it thrashed about wildly, forcing my three Constellation spirits to retreat.
”Ho…not bad. You're a lot better than I thought.”
At the side, Henry James applauded, impressed. At least he wasn't calling me trash like some cheap, two-bit villain from a cultivation story. God, I hate the tropes that infested that genre.
I didn't pay much attention to him because the Chaos Chimera was coming back, snarling as it lunged at me. By now, it was pulling the main bulk of its body out of the dimensional rift, bony claws clacking against the ground. As I withdrew with my Constellation spirits, my glasses scanned and analyzed the full figure of the creature. It resembled a sauropod of old, stretching over thirty meters in length from head to tail. I was reminded of the Ultrasaurus or Seismosaurus. Or maybe Argentinosaurus (was it a genus or a specific species of sauropod? Damn it, I wish I majored in paleontology).
Not caring about the accuracy of something that was way out of my field of knowledge, despite being a fan of dinosaurs during my early childhood (who wasn't? I bet most of you in your late twenties or early thirties continue to be mesmerized by the first Jurassic Park movies and Land before Time), I focused more on staying alive. As the Chaos Chimera pounced on me, my Constellation spirits unable to assist me in time, I met its charge head-on. Running forward, I flipped myself at the last moment and sailed above its skull. Twisting myself in midair, I landed atop its scalp and plunged both of my swords in. shards of bone scattered and the Chaos Chimera shrieked in rage, but I was already gone before it could throw me off.
Then Taurus tackled it once again, almost knocking its head aside. Even though the gigantic bull was still dwarfed by the sauropod-like skeleton, he had a few tricks up his sleeve. As the Chaos Chimera turned to snarl at him, he unleashed his Aldebaran spell to incinerate it. The head and most of its neck was engulfed in superheated flames, vanishing from view.
”Good job!” I praised him, landing several dozen meters away. Even though I had coordinated with Taurus to launch this attack, I didn't think he would actually pull it off.
Then I suddenly sensed a spike of mana. Before I could shout out a warning, a charged mana beam lanced out from the Chaos Chimera's jaws and struck Taurus, obliterating him from existence. I watched in dread as the massive titanosaur-like monster emerge from the flames, scorched but otherwise far from dead.
”Spread out!” I ordered Aries and Capricorn, not wanting to present too easy of a target to the rampaging Chaos Chimera. They obeyed without any hesitation, dispersing and jumping in opposite directions.
However the Chaos Chimera didn't just have that devastating spell from its main charged mana beam that it fired from its mouth. I watched in horror as spine-like protrusions shifted and moved along its long neck, body and tail. In a flash, over thirty yellowish beams lanced out in different directions, punching through the museum and destroying the structure. Rain of debris crashed down heavily, crushing exhibitions and reducing much of the hall into ruins.
The majority of these devastating beams punctured bloody holes through Aries and Capricorn, hurling their battered bodies against the rubble. Even though they were individually not as powerful as the single charged mana beam from the Chaos Chimera's mouth, when combined they were no less deadly, and I could only see my Constellation spirits vanish from existence when the skeletal monster bombarded them once again.
”Ha ha ha ha! Incredible! This is incredible! I never thought the Chaos Chimera would be this powerful!”
Henry James had not escaped unscathed, having been forced to evade the beams as well. His clothes were singed and there were cauterized craters in his body, but he was still alive. Evidently the Chaos Chimera didn't care who summoned it to this world, and regarded us all as nothing more than ants to be stomped on.
”This makes everything worth it! Just to summon this beast of beauty! Ha ha ha! If the Sword Saint truly kills a monster of such immense power, her fame would surely rise!” he then chuckled and shook his head. ”Assuming that she and her party have the strength to slay such a powerful creature, I mean.”
”Are you not going to try and control it?” I asked as I weaved through a third hail of yellow beams that reduced more of the wrecked museum into a husk. ”With the alpha monster genes injected into you surgery, and all that?”
”Ha ha ha! Are you kidding?” James guffawed. ”Do you think I can control an alpha plus monster such as this? Why would it listen to me? Unfortunately, I can only control monsters that are weaker than me. Otherwise, why wouldn't I want to control a monster as majestic as this?”
”That is true.” If it was so easy to tame monsters, then everybody would have done it already. No wonder only criminal guilds such as Grimaldus dealt with such forbidden powers. Of course the Global Federation wouldn't outlaw it and would be willing to take every risk if there was a way for them to control powerful monsters through genetic surgery. Who would be able to resist such temptations to elevate their strength to incredible levels with some convenient ”cheat” that only involves genetic transplants? Well, of course that could prove dangerous – if the monster tamer decided to turn against the Federation, for example…that would be disastrous.
Well, at least James was going to suffer from this too. I could take slight comfort from that fact.
The Chaos Chimera pursued me, its tail whipping over. I jumped over it, but James was too slow. The skeletal tail caught him and sent him flying across the demolished building before he vanished in an explosion of dust and debris. I didn't pay much attention to him because I was too busily trying to avoid the next barrage of beams that followed after the tail whip.
”Isn't a tail whip attack only supposed to lower the defense of the target, not do so much damage?” I demanded as I ducked under another beam. Sheathing my swords, I summoned Orion and let loose a few azure arrows. They chipped at the whitish bone of the Chaos Chimera, but otherwise didn't do much. Given the large size of the damned monster, I wasn't surprised. I was going to need a bigger, much more powerful arrow.
Perhaps Rigel would blow the damned thing to bits. I just needed a bit of time to cast the spell, though. An arrow that powerful would obviously require a longer casting time than my other arrows or spells.
”Leo, Leo Minor!”