A Touch of Sentimentality

The rain and ice were steadily draining body heat.

If it was going to take this long, I should have drunk a warming potion beforehand.

I couldn't ask Alexia to warm me with magic mid-battle.

She needed that mana for the kill.

"Heal me quick."

"Yeah. Hey, doesn't the regeneration seem slower now?"

While getting my blood-burned skin treated, I looked at the Chimera's face as Elza suggested.

When the lion head had first been blown off, it had recovered in an instant, but now the skin was still regenerating.

A relief to know it didn't have infinite vitality.

Still, a war of attrition wasn't an option.

Our body heat would give out first.

Times like this, we had to rely on Azu's one big strike again.

Depending on the same tactic every time bred complacency, and if an enemy learned it beforehand, it became a liability.

We really should think about other methods and refine our teamwork.

But right now, there was no time for that.

"Azu, charge up a big one."

"Already on it! I can go anytime!"

"Oh?"

As expected, I supposed.

Her talent for reading the flow of battle was first-rate.

And she had the physical ability to back it up.

Someday, she'd be stronger than anyone.

Rainbow light shimmered from Azu's right eye.

I could feel the tremendous power.

"Then, hit all three necks at once and lop them off when the timing's right. Can you do it?"

"That's… I'll try."

The answer was shaky, but her face was serious.

With the right setup from our side, she'd definitely pull it off.

While we talked, the Chimera's Dragon mouth opened.

Poison breath aimed straight at us.

That might be the most troublesome of all.

Just being near it was dangerous, let alone touching it.

The air it contaminated was probably lethal too.

Elza's antidote miracle could cure it, but not instantly.

The ground corroded, and stepping in would sink you like quicksand.

I put distance between us and readied my short swords again.

The Chimera's gaze held a hint of fear now.

Gouging out its eyes must have really hurt.

It reared back, extending its claws, and swung down.

I bent backward and dodged by a hair.

The wind pressure blew past me, stealing my warmth.

"It's cold!"

All I had was a shirt over my underwear.

The others were dressed about the same.

I wanted this over with.

I kicked off and climbed up its leg, hacking away at the foreleg with my short swords.

This way, I wouldn't get drenched in its blood.

By the time I reached the shoulder, the whole leg was soaked red.

In sync, Elza swept the other foreleg aside.

Unable to support its weight on the blood-soaked leg, the Chimera's heads drooped into an easy cutting angle.

Azu moved to swing her sword down.

Timing wasn't bad.

The sword alone would only take one head, but Azu's blade was special.

With its power, the other two were well within range.

But just before the strike landed, the Chimera cub that had been tossed aside body-slammed Azu.

"Ah!"

Even as her stance broke, Azu followed through on the swing.

Proof of her resolve as a warrior.

But the trajectory had shifted. It took two heads, but missed the third.

I felt a chill at the back of my neck and flattened myself immediately.

An invisible blade passed overhead.

That was close. A full-power strike from Azu would have split me in half.

At the same time, I was thrown from the Chimera's back.

Azu had said before that she couldn't spam that attack.

And the Chimera had seen it now. The same move might not work again.

Just as I started thinking about how to finish it, a blazing battle-axe plunged into the Chimera's belly.

"If it doesn't regenerate forever, how about this?"

Alexia had stopped casting and charged in with her battle-axe wreathed in flames.

I didn't need an explanation to know what she was planning.

I bolted from the spot.

Seeing me, Azu and Elza fell back too.

Magic poured into the axe embedded in the belly. What had been a dim glow from the light magic now bathed everything in red.

The axe head's fire magic swelled.

"—!"

The goat head spat ice breath at the expanding fireball, but the Chimera's own hide blocked it.

The cold should have reached Alexia too, but the heat radiating from the axe and from herself seemed to overpower it. She looked unfazed.

"This ends now!"

The Chimera's belly bulged, and in the next instant, fire consumed it whole.

This way, all three heads would be dealt with at once.

And the heart would take a fatal blow too.

Alexia swung the red-hot battle-axe, shaking off the burnt-on blood residue.

Steam hissed every time rain touched the blade.

The Chimera's corpse showed no sign of moving. Confirmed kill.

The materials were probably unsalvageable, but we hadn't been at full strength. Nothing to be done.

The Chimera cub was watching us.

Even knowing it couldn't win, it lunged anyway.

… At least I'd end it without suffering.

"The rain stopped."

"Yeah."

The aftertaste was a little bitter.

If we hadn't set foot here, would the monsters have lived peacefully together?

Uncharacteristic sentimentality. They were monsters.

Left alive, they'd attack and kill humans.

The pack assault was proof of that.

"What a drag. Honestly."

I looked down at my shirt. Filthy with dirt from the fight, and torn.

A small sigh escaped me as I headed back to the makeshift hut.

At this rate, I was going to catch a cold.