What a Nuisance

The closer to death, the more adrenaline surged.

Finn's body had been trained that way.

Heightened focus let her read the Chimera's breath attacks.

Fire, ice, and probably poison.

All three were bearing down on her at once.

Azu's snap kick to the goat's jaw sealed the ice breath, so she leapt and dodged the remaining two.

The fire breath scorched and toppled the surrounding trees, while the poison breath corroded the ground and soil into a small toxic swamp.

A rotting stench wafted over.

Get hit by that head-on and there might not even be bones left.

"Nice!"

"Yes!"

She called out to Azu for the assist, then turned her attention back to the Chimera.

The goat's head had frozen over instantly, but its jaws forced themselves open.

Frost scattered from it.

It didn't look damaged.

Probably just the rain-soaked parts freezing from the cold breath.

"So it's resistant to its own breath? This is why big monsters are so ridiculous."

No matter how strong a human became, they could never fully overcome their weaknesses.

But hunting such creatures was the adventurer's job.

Right now, Finn wasn't an assassin. She was an adventurer.

Alexia's fire magic launched at the Chimera.

The lion head bit down on the fire magic, and it exploded.

A powerful spell, but the explosion happened inside its mouth, minimizing the effect.

"Direct hit!"

Alexia immediately prepared to cast again.

When the smoke cleared, the lion head had been blown off among the Chimera's three heads.

But white steam rose as it rapidly regenerated from the stump.

In no time, the lion head was back.

"Ugh, gross!"

"So it has regeneration…"

"That's a pain."

Etoroki came to mind.

That one had regenerated lost limbs too.

But it could be killed by destroying its heart or head. I looked at the Chimera again.

A massive body with three heads.

No telling where the heart was, or if there was even just one.

One head lost and it regenerated.

We probably couldn't kill it without taking all three at once.

Checking the leg I'd stabbed earlier, that wound had healed too.

The goat's mouth opened, and I saw its icy breath forming.

"Here it comes!"

I threw several throwing knives. All of them stuck, but that wasn't enough to stop it.

Everyone fell back to avoid a direct hit, but the ice breath struck the ground and radiated outward.

Just touching it drained body heat instantly.

My breath turned white. It was like being trapped in ice.

Worse, the ice had snuffed out the light magic.

Darkness reclaimed the night.

All I could see were the Chimera's three pairs of eyes.

All red, burning with killing intent and hatred.

I could tell from their breathing and voices. Azu and Elza were rattled by the sudden darkness.

Alexia wasn't rattled, but she was mid-incantation and couldn't use light magic immediately.

I reached for my lighting gear, only to feel the fabric of my shirt.

I clicked my tongue.

Finn could manage, but the other three were effectively blind.

"Close one eye and let it adjust to the dark! Keep moving to distract it while you buy time!"

"Got it!"

Azu's combat instincts were the real deal.

If she stayed on the defensive, she wouldn't get caught by the Chimera even in the dark.

Luckily, the earlier breath attacks had knocked down the trees that would have been obstacles. A small stroke of fortune for our side.

"Your opponent is over here."

Still, if they got focused down, they'd be in danger before their eyes adjusted.

She needed to fix the target.

Closing in instantly, she deflected the serpent tail's interference and grabbed the Chimera's fur to climb.

The snake kept snapping at her; each time, the sharp clack of its jaws snapping shut rang right by her ear. Annoying.

Maybe fed up, the lion head twisted toward her.

A huge fireball was forming in its mouth.

But a big body meant big tells.

And the forming fire lit the area like a lighthouse.

Elza, who'd been hanging back, used that light to rush in and slammed her mace into the foreleg.

The shift in balance sent the massive fireball sailing over Finn's head.

She felt the searing heat on her back as she climbed onto the spine and closed in on the lion head.

Faster than the serpent tail could reach her, she drove both short swords into the lion's eyes.

"—!!"

A thunderous roar.

She didn't just stab. She twisted to maximize the damage.

Chimera blood splattered her arms.

Where it touched, it was scalding hot.

Not normal blood.

Eyes were vital organs, but against a Chimera that regenerated entire heads, this was just buying time. Still, pain was pain.

The serpent tail closed in. She pulled the short swords free and dropped off the Chimera's body.

Alexia's magic fired again.

At the same time, light magic spread out.

This time it caught two heads and burned them, but the remaining goat head extinguished the flames with an ice breath.

Charred flesh peeled away and new heads emerged.

"What a nuisance."

"We have to cut all three off at once."

Impossible for Finn or Elza.

Alexia's magic had the firepower, but the goat head's ice breath countered it elementally.