Phey ran.
Feeling the warm wind wrapping around her body, she felt it gradually infusing some power into her as she pushed off the ground.
An invisible system window. Though she didn’t know it, with every gesture from Aslan, the girl gradually sped up.
As divine power seeped into her body, the girl began to deviate from normalcy little by little.
One step, the ground rushed past quickly.
Two steps, she hovered in the air for over two seconds.
Three steps, with the accelerating speed, light and scenery began to warp, feeling like a long tunnel stretching ahead.
And four steps. Phey aimed her body directly toward the distant scene.
Phey’s sharp senses infused her mind with events happening far away.
Tiamat and Phey both had the same agility stat of 5.
Though their levels of detection ability were similar, their specializations differed.
Tiamat excelled in tactile sensations and intuition through her skin, while Phey was exceptional in all other senses and her sixth sense.
Thus, while running enveloped in divine power, Phey keenly perceived situations that Tiamat might not have noticed.
Aslan was fighting.
Fighting against a priest. The situation must have worsened in an instant, leaving the other companions unable to assist immediately.
Then it was Phey’s turn to step in. Enveloped in divine power, she accelerated with each step on the ground.
With each acceleration, her momentum increased, and with each increase in momentum, her airborne time extended.
As her airborne time grew longer, after ten steps, the girl’s feet barely touched the ground anymore.
She dashed forward as if flying through the sky.
Already at a speed imperceptible to humans.
Within the warping scenery, Phey adjusted minutely using only her sixth sense and vision, aiming her body toward the distant Chimera.
Like how Tiamat used her full-body sensory organs to aim and shoot arrows.
Phey utilized all her senses to launch herself like an arrow.
—”Screeeeeech!”
Acceleration. Speed like a dart. Intense pressure battered her body, but her health stat at 5 made her bones and muscles endure.
Finally reaching subsonic speed.
The distance seemed to shrink as the girl approached just before the Chimera.
Followed by a piercing strike.
An attack without slowing down, altering direction mid-motion. The redirected acceleration sliced through the air, grazing the gauntlet.
“Clang!”
Two crimson sword blades flickered. Dozens of sword marks carved new paths. Before the Chimera could react, Phey spun around, exploiting its opening, and planted her legs into its face.
“Hiss… Boom!”
The flying body. Thrust backward by the kick charged with acceleration, the body slammed into the ground, and Phey lightly landed, smiling.
There was a sense of omnipotence enveloping her body.
“Clang!”
Two swords clashing, emitting sparks. Twilight and Dawn.
Holding these two blades, Phey noticed her braided hair had unraveled, letting her hair flow freely.
Normally, the loose hair would have been bothersome, but now it was irrelevant.
Filled solely with the presence of Aslan behind her, she gazed at the enemy.
The enemy, the Chimera, screamed as it rose.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Screaming as it rose, the Chimera accelerated its thoughts in a brief moment to make a judgment.
Having served as a priest for quite some time, the Chimera was strong.
Had there been no Dragon King, it would have become a high priest long ago.
This strength came with experience.
It had killed countless monsters imbued with divine power and heroes alike.
By consuming those it had slain, it had grown stronger. Thus, it understood now.
That the elf before her eyes was dangerous.
Dangerous enough to be considered equal to Aslan.
If not dealt with first, defeat was certain.
The Chimera emitted plasma from its nozzle while accelerating, and Phey bounced around before leaping forward.
“Phe—”
Before Aslan could call out her name, the two collided.
“Clanggggg!”
A clash of red beams and golden lightning. The Chimera’s first move was a thrust.
Selected from dozens of arms, the fastest few threw plasma spears in a deadly thrust.
Approaching death sharply compressing space.
Phey swiftly rolled her eyes toward the incoming spear.
After the azure hue shifted directions, Phey’s body followed suit. The drawn trajectory was simple.
“Ching!”
Accurate stab into the joint halting movement. Taking advantage of the slight delay in the arm’s response, she tilted her head to dodge.
Swinging plasma. She struck the wrist with the hilt, deflecting it before it reached her body. It scorched the ground in a half-circle.
Hands trying to grab her ankles. Phey glanced at them and stomped hard. Before her ankle could be caught, she leaped upward, striking the Chimera’s head with her knee.
“Crack!”
Amidst scattering metal fragments, the Chimera hesitated.
Truly unexpected speed.
Still, it confidently believed this was the maximum speed.
Without running or rushing, it concluded no further acceleration was possible.
Once identified, plans were altered instantly. The target became the openings after attacks, changing the offensive strategy.
Whereas previous attacks relentlessly pressured all sides to force openings, now they focused persistently on low attacks.
As if compelling her to jump. If resisted, it would burn her to death.
An unavoidable scheme. If dodging meant retreating, it would be pursued with spears. Confident, the Chimera swung its dozens of arms even faster.
“Aaaaaaah—!”
Targeting the floating state where her feet didn’t touch the ground. It would pierce and incinerate her in that fleeting gap. No matter how fast she was, acceleration in mid-air was impossible.
Phey fell for the trap.
“Whoosh!”
Avoiding the spear aimed at her ankle, she jumped off the Chimera’s body.
As Phey’s hair fluttered in the air, the Chimera thrust its spear, and Aslan shouted as he charged forward.
“No!”
Both Aslan and the Chimera misjudged, thinking Phey had fallen into a bad position, but she moved gracefully alone.
“Whoosh!”
Agility at 16.
Not supersonic, but reaching the sound barrier.
Achieving subsonic speed, the empty air beneath her became a wall to step on.
Stationary, yet generating acceleration through rotational force and residual momentum.
Having already reached top speed, Phey stepped through the air. In mid-air, she changed direction, spinning to avoid.
“Boom!”
A horizontal slash cutting through the air. Opening. Phey twisted her waist and delivered a roundhouse kick to the face.
“Bang!”
With the sound of machinery breaking, the Chimera was pushed down and crashed onto the ground. Rising unsteadily, the Chimera faced another assault from Phey.
“Aaaaaaah!”
Amid screams, only metallic sounds filled the air.
When Phey slashed with her wrist, the part of the armor that could be called a cheek split open.
The spear wielded in response by the Chimera. Phey avoided it by stepping on the air and spinning, using the momentum generated by her sword swing.
“Squeak!”
Another kick. Kicking the face flattened it, and Phey used the resulting force to swing her sword.
“Creak!”
It looked as though red beams were eating away at the Chimera.
A sight utterly unbelievable to behold.
It wasn’t something an ordinary human, even one with agility reaching 16, could achieve.
It was a technique possible only for an elf who had reached the ultimate level 20 in both combat skills and swordsmanship, surpassing the semi-divine threshold of 15 in agility.
It was a completely new technique created solely by Phey’s genius.
Realizing this spectacle, both the Chimera and Aslan understood.
There was no way for the Chimera to turn the tide in this situation.
Thus, the options for the Chimera were limited.
As Aslan grabbed the beast on his back and charged in, the Chimera began emitting plasma from beneath its nozzle.
“Kaaaaaah!”
Victory in ground combat was impossible. So it would take to the skies. It would use the ranged plasma attack used earlier to incinerate them.
Aslan held the unrevealed beast in his left hand and purity in his right as he charged in, while Phey rotated mid-air to deliver a fatal blow.
Trying to block them by throwing spears, the Chimera found someone approaching even faster.
“Huff!”
The young man’s shout. A method of approach that precisely infiltrated the consciousness. Only advanced martial arts could produce such subtle infiltration.
As Richard grabbed the heating nozzle, the Chimera finally noticed him.
Attention diverted by fighting Phey and keeping an eye on Aslan. That brief gap. Richard had exploited that gap.
The action was simple, just one move. A basic technique in martial arts.
“Hah!”
The shout erupted. As Richard grabbed the nozzle and leaned back, the Chimera’s body flipped upside down like heaven and earth reversing, slamming into the ground with the booster’s acceleration.
“Kaaaaaang!”
“Aaaaah—”
“Squeeeek!”
Before the Chimera could regain its posture, Richard kicked its head.
Kicking the head pressed into the ground like playing soccer, shattering the visual module and sending its body flying.
A brief blackout. Although recovery wasn’t difficult, inevitably, a few seconds of blank time occurred. During that interval, the veterans charged in.
“Thud, Clang, Bang!”
Chasing the flying Chimera, Phey stepped on the ground, leaped up, and delivered a dropkick.
With the momentum-stopping attack, Angie quickly followed up.
“Hryaaaa!”
The greatsword. The beloved sword of war and victory, the ultimate weapon for brute strength, Victory.
As the trajectory drawn by the woman descended, the greatsword collided with the Chimera’s body, pinning it to the ground.
The left half of its body split off, and amidst falling scrap metal, the body sprang up again.
A short flight. Aslan, waiting for the opportunity, swung his beast unleashed horizontally.
“Kaaaaaang!”
A sweeping slash. It flew sideways, hitting the precise spot.
As the Chimera tried to rise using its dozens of arms, it was Ereta’s turn.
The screeching sound of hot metal scraping the ground.
Before the Chimera could notice the sound, Ereta slashed upward, severing more than half of its dozens of arms.
Naturally, its balance tilted. Toward the tilting body, an axe plunged downward.
Embedding the axe into its abdomen, the Chimera desperately gathered energy.
Even if the Chimera took some damage, it could endure. Escaping the current situation was more important.
However, before its resistance could bear fruit, Lumel intervened.
“Haaaat!”
With a shout, a spear wrapped in lightning shot out like actual lightning—an indestructible weapon. It pierced accurately into the chest core.
Though an ordinary weapon could destroy itself and explode, the lightning wrapped around the verdict prevented that.
Between the surging lightning, the plasma scattered, unable to gather properly. The Chimera couldn’t explode the energy and merely released it.
“Guh…!”
Recoiling and colliding with Angie, Lumel stopped, and Ereta was pushed back, carving a trench in the ground. In the brief moment they were pushed back, the Chimera barely restored its visual module.
Plasma immediately spewed from beneath the nozzle. The Chimera, expressionless, revealed its malevolence while bowing its head.
“Block it!”
At Aslan’s shout, something flew and struck the visual module directly.
High-speed, short length, not an arrow, and low power.
A sowbrain dart.
Ordinarily used by common humans, a common item.
With this common item, it lost its sight again.
Unable to fly.
The sound that penetrated the Chimera’s auditory module was singular.
“First time using sowbrains, but they’re surprisingly useful.”
A mocking-like voice. As the Chimera turned its head toward the direction the voice came from, Phey appeared behind it.
“Screeeeeetch, bang!”
Then the two short swords held in reverse grip pierced into the Chimera’s gauntlets.
Precisely embedded at the connection between the head and neck, the two small swords. If they were just a bit longer, it would have been an instant kill.
Naturally, the Chimera panicked and invested the energy intended for restoring its visual module into strength.
Twisting its enhanced body, Phey, who had mounted it, was thrown off.
The twilight blade broke, and dawn was pulled out. Phey’s body floated in the air. For an ordinary human, retaliation wouldn’t even cross their mind in such a fleeting moment. But Phey could.
“Whoosh, crack!”
In that brief moment of falling, Phey gained acceleration through rotation and swung her blade, cleanly severing the arm creating plasma. Along with the arm, dawn shattered and scattered.
“Kawooooo!”
Exploding plasma upon hitting the ground. Amid rising dust and intense heat, Phey stepped on the air again and leaped.
Aiming for a mid-air back kick. Twisting her burning skin and melting flesh, she delivered the strike.
The precisely aimed kick struck the handle of the twilight blade embedded in the neck.
“Aaah— Ah!”
As the Chimera’s scream cut off, Phey gained momentum.
Catching the airborne dawn blade and gathering enough momentum to embed it into the core.
Phey accurately stabbed the retrieved blade into the heart and somersaulted backward.
“Kooowww!”
The flames that arose consumed the surroundings, and when the brief silence returned, the Chimera saw.
Confirming the damage situation was slower than Aslan’s rapid approach.
The fist of the Dragon King, enveloped in a pale aura-like substance.
It was too late to defend. Core pierced, fatal wound. Not enough energy to push back.
Realizing this, the Chimera let out a scream filled with panic, shock, obsession, and resentment.
‘Call Thunder.’
“Rrrrrraaarrrr!”
Thunder summoned down to the ground empowered that fist.
Unstoppable. No method. Even as the Chimera attempted to resist, the fist was faster than any thought or action.
A fist accumulated over a thousand years, showcased without reservation to some noble being, and eventually inherited.
Much like the executioner’s decapitation, not a special trait but a highly developed skill.
Falcon Drop.
The punch capable of downing a diving falcon, empowered by thunder, struck the Chimera’s chest directly.
“Ka-drrrrk, Zzzzzz!”
The heart where dawn was embedded exploded into a circular cavity, transforming into scrap metal flying backward.
The metallic thud of falling debris. The broken sword blade rebounding and embedding into the ground. Accompanied by that sound, the Chimera trembled slightly.
Looking at Aslan’s face with the barely restored visual module, the malfunctioning vocal module opened its mouth. Aslan’s face distorted.
“A—Sl, Laan…”
Stretching out an arm still connected, muttering a pitiful voice. As if trying to touch Aslan’s face, the hand approached.
Just as Aslan was about to swat the hand away, what blocked the extending arm was a red beam.
“Crack!”
The arm swinging wildly was severed and tumbled across the ground.
The Chimera’s obsessive visual module briefly glanced at the girl, and the elf, the source of the beam, spoke.
“Don’t touch my Aslan with your dirty hands.”
Rarely displayed emotion from the elf. Unreserved hostility. The growling mutter of the girl then promptly swung her storm sword.
“Crack!”
The sword blade containing a grayish-white storm effortlessly severed the high priest’s head.
