Chapter 163

After Charis stepped in, the battle started to flow much more smoothly.

Even before she joined, the fight was evenly matched. The idea of being pushed back after she joined was unthinkable.

‘As expected…’

Her status window wasn’t lying.

Rekalux’s chimera, whose movements had noticeably slowed due to an intangible aura, was being torn apart by Regiratus.

Ugh!

The creature, perhaps in pain, began to howl and rampage.

Given its massive size, there was a real concern that the tunnel might collapse if this continued.

“If we let it go on like this, it’s going to be a disaster. Do something about it.”

“Are you just casually ordering me around?”

Charis grumbled as she stretched out her hand.

Immediately, crimson hands appeared in the air, grabbing the rampaging chimera and immobilizing it.

‘Charis specializes in binding and mental attacks.’

Though mental attacks would be meaningless against that chimera.

‘Does she not have any offensive abilities?’

“You doubted whether I could do more than just bind that chimera, didn’t you?”

‘…How did she know? She’s not a ghost, is she?’

I was momentarily startled.

“…Your face looks really dumbfounded.”

“Why are you picking a fight? I’m just in a hurry to finish this and move on.”

“Just watch quietly.”

Squish—

The hands Charis summoned began to squeeze the chimera.

Crunch!

The chimera started to be crushed by the hands.

“This is something…”

My chimera, living up to its name, began to devour the immobilized creature.

It seemed to be in a state of endless hunger.

‘No wonder it’s called Devourer.’

Thinking about it, both the White Devourer and Black Devourer are monsters that consume memories and senses.

After some time, the chimera’s life signs disappeared.

“It’s over. See? This is what happens when I step in.”

“…Yes, you were amazing.”

“What’s with that reaction? I helped you out!”

“Well, it’s only natural… Sorry, but that chimera was your enemy too, wasn’t it?”

“Forget it, I should’ve just left it alone.”

‘Ugh, she’s really hard to deal with.’

Her nagging made me want to grab her hair and swing her around.

“Anyway, let’s follow quickly. By now, we’ve probably met that old man Rekalux or whatever.”

After saying that, I collected the chimera in seed form.

Continuing our journey, at some point, an intense chill and heat wave began to be felt.

‘What’s this? The chill is from Ha Yu-ri’s magic, but what’s with the heat?’

A heat comparable to Ha Yu-ri’s chill.

Not only that, but the entire cave began to vibrate.

There was also a creeping, unpleasant feeling rising up.

‘…Is this the extent of that old monster Rekalux?’

Even without directly facing him, and with some distance, the sensation was unmistakable.

A sticky, unpleasant feeling.

“The old man must be going all out. Something feels off, though…”

“What do you mean?”

“The energy feels different from what I remember. It’s deeper, I guess.”

‘Does that mean he’s stronger than before?’

Suddenly, Charis started talking about something unrelated.

“Do you know what Rekalux’s original title was?”

“Title?”

“Yes, it’s different now, but he used to be called the Rising Star of Tayos.”

“What kind of childish title is that?”

This was the first I’d heard of his title.

“The old man was originally a respected professor of biology at the royal academy of Tayos.”

“Huh… A man who turns people into chimeras was a professor…”

“Rekalux wasn’t always like that. He just gradually lost his mind. As a chimera researcher, he slowly became more and more twisted.”

“People who hole up in their rooms doing research tend to go crazy, don’t they?”

“Well… Anyway, he eventually used his own apprentice for chimera experiments.”

“…He’s insane.”

Charis giggled at my comment and asked,

“What do you think the identity of the chimera we just defeated was?”

“…..”

I didn’t need to answer, as her question made it clear.

Charis continued nonchalantly.

“The interesting part is what happened next. Do you know how his title started to change after that?”

“…No idea.”

“The Fallen Star of Tayos.”

“…Let’s hurry up.”

******

The further we went, the more the unpleasant atmosphere deepened.

Upon reaching the source of the chill, heat, and oppressive air, we saw something of a horrifying shape.

“…Master!”

Ruska called out to me upon spotting me, but this wasn’t the time to respond.

Ha Yu-ri was fighting an unknown woman.

No, more accurately, she was barely managing to block the opponent’s attacks.

And then… something in front of us.

‘What… is this?’

Black masses wriggling, sometimes forming human faces, sometimes monster faces, sometimes hands and feet, constantly shifting shapes—it was bizarre, repulsive, and horrifying.

Even numerous eyes and teeth were moving around.

‘Is this… a chimera?’

At first, I thought it was another one of Rekalux’s chimeras.

Until Charis spoke.

“…Old man.”

‘What?’

Glancing at Charis, she was clearly looking at that horrifying shape.

‘Is that Rekalux?’

The monstrous shape opened multiple mouths and responded to Charis.

“Charis, it’s been a while. Has the traitor come to capture me, no, us?”

“…Old man, what have you done? That form…”

“How is it? You understand, don’t you? I’ve surpassed the limits of life. I’ve obtained an immortal body.”

“You… have touched a taboo.”

‘A taboo?’

“What’s a taboo?”

“…When combining species or lives, no matter how many, it’s usually limited to four or five.”

That fact was…





I know it too. When I first studied chimera synthesis, it was written that the limit was mixing up to four or five entities at most.

“Do you know why? The reason is that, on average, once you exceed five entities, whether it’s due to genetic issues or something else, the chimera’s body can’t maintain itself. And its ego can’t be sustained either.”

“Then…”

“That’s why mixing more than that is called a taboo. The more you mix, the more the result fails, and you end up with a horrific outcome.”

“So, the author messed with the taboo and ended up like that?”

In response to my question, Charis shook her head and answered.

“No, simply messing with the taboo doesn’t mean you’ll turn out like that. But that lunatic experimented on his own body, breaking the taboo.”

I couldn’t help but be shocked by Charis’s words.

‘Damn, did he turn his own body into a chimera?’

I couldn’t understand what kind of mindset would lead someone to do that.

“Charis, why don’t you understand? Taboo? It’s just something humans made up. It’s a limit humans set for themselves, a fence they built to confine themselves.”

I ignored Rekalux’s words for now and looked towards where Ha Yu-ri was.

“Yul! Please! Please…!”

“…..”

It didn’t seem like Ha Yu-ri’s situation was good.

‘First of all, my unique traits don’t work on that guy.’

I don’t know why.

But I guess it’s because that thing is no longer human, nor is it a monster.

I urgently needed to check the woman Ha Yu-ri was facing.

[Name: Ha Yul]

[Age: 22]

[Job: Blazing Witch (Legend Grade)]

[Title: None]

[Unique Traits]

Hot Mana (Legend Grade) – Your mana is optimized for learning fire magic. The learning speed for fire magic is greatly increased. Additionally, your mana stat is permanently increased by 10, and your stamina stat is permanently decreased by 2.

Late Bloomer (Legend Grade) – You have immense talent. However, it takes a long time and effort for that talent to bloom.

[Traits]

Archmage (Legend Grade) – Your understanding of magic is greatly increased.

[Stats]

Strength – 40 Agility – 45

Stamina – 51 Luck – 10

Mana – 90 Resistance – 41

[Special Notes]

[Due to external factors, the grade of your mana and traits has been forcibly greatly increased. Also, due to psychological shock, your ego is deeply asleep.]

‘Ha Yul? Ha Yu-ri’s younger sister?’

I was puzzled by Ha Yu-ri only defending against that woman’s attacks, but now I understand.

I didn’t think she was Ha Yu-ri’s sister because her hair was dyed red.

‘Artificially strengthened state…’

It seems Rekalux modified Ha Yu-ri’s sister’s body.

‘If her ego is asleep due to psychological shock… does that mean she can be awakened?’

While I was checking Ha Yul’s status window, Rekalux spoke up.

“Hmm… but I smell something similar. Though insignificant, are you someone walking the same path as me?”

The guy seemed to be talking about me.

“Same path? I don’t want to turn my body into a monster.”

“…Do my eyes see my body as just a monster? How foolish.”

“Enough, what happened to Ha Yu-ri’s sister? If you made her like that, there must be a way to revert her.”

“Well, I don’t know. If you defeat me, the connection will be severed, but I’m not sure if she’ll return to normal. But can you even hurt me?”

I almost laughed at his confident answer.

“Charis.”

“Yes?”

“Can you buy time against Ha Yu-ri’s sister alone?”

“…Buying time means not hurting her at all, right?”

I didn’t intend to make such an unreasonable request to Charis.

“No. Some injuries are fine. Just make sure her life isn’t in danger.”

“Then it’s possible. But I can’t keep buying time forever.”

Charis glanced at Ha Yu-ri and continued.

“…The opponent doesn’t seem to be at a low level.”

That was good enough.

‘Then it’s time for a player switch.’

Currently, Ha Yu-ri isn’t able to fully exert her strength.

It would be better to have Charis handle Ha Yu-ri’s sister while using her wide-area skills to mentally attack Rekalux, and have Ha Yu-ri and Ruska deal with that old monster.

I immediately shouted at Ha Yu-ri.

“Ha Yu-ri, we’ll handle your sister here, so you fall back for now!”

“What, what are you talking about?! She’s my sister! I…!”

‘Sigh… this stupid woman.’

“Listen to me. If you want to save your sister, you need to kill that old monster, not call out her name.”

‘I don’t have time to argue with her now.’

Without waiting for Ha Yu-ri’s answer, I signaled to Charis.

Charis seemed to understand and immediately began binding Ha Yul.

The chains and hands that appeared out of nowhere binding Ha Yul were a sight to behold.

‘She won’t last long anyway.’

Binding her like that is only temporary.

Ha Yu-ri looked at her sister with trembling eyes, then closed her eyes tightly and ran towards me.

“Yul, your sister will save you. Just wait a little longer…”

‘Good, the player switch is complete.’

Now it’s time to erase that thing that’s neither human nor monster.