Volume 1 Chapter 7: Part 3: Together

There is one miscalculation: the snake tails. They can be considered as heads as well. What's more, their senses are much keener than the actual heads!

But that's not the only thing. The two-headed chimera isn't charging at the trees without any thought.

It was luring Onyx by exposing itself!

Crap! Onyx notices it as well, as the snake tails hiss at him. But it's too late. The monster quickly turns at Onyx and swipes its paw down onto him!

Onyx has no time to guard or think, only watching the blow coming at him.

"I won't let you!" But that blow never came! Irene jumps in and blocks the paw with her broken sword. She protected Onyx.

Though, the two got blown away due to the force.

No! Onyx shifts his body, hugging Irene. That way, she wouldn't get hurt.

Although he's the one who took the brunt of the damage as they smashed onto the ground, rolling a bit as well. Realizing this, Irene looks up,

"Onyx! Are you ok?!" Instead of answering her question, Onyx shouts,

"What are you doing here?!" Shouldn't she leave while she has the chance? Why did she even come over here?!

Irene puts up a big smile, "To help you, of course!"

"I don't need your help! You should run while you can!"

"How can you fight this thing alone?!" But Irene shouts back at him, "Do you really think you can beat this thing all by yourself?!"

"..." Onyx stays quiet. Even he knows the answer to this question. Just a few seconds ago is enough to answer. Seeing him silent, Irene grabs his hands and stares into his eyes,

"Rely on me, Onyx! Don't you remember what we said to each other?! I am your rock, and you are mine. We live together and die together! Forever do us part!"

"..." Huh? Onyx makes a blank expression when he hears that. When did I ever say the last part? He remembers saying the rock thing.

But never did he say the last two sentences.

Just because we're in the heat of battle doesn't mean my mind isn't working straight! Onyx wants to tell her that she can't put random words in his mouth.

"Watch out!" But then he quickly moves Irene out of the way and ducks away too.

Boom! And behind them, the trees crashing down can be heard. The two-headed chimera charged at them, wanting to take them out. But realizing how it missed, it stares back at Onyx and Rena.

"You're not going to give us any time to rest, are you?" Looking at its posture, Onyx knows he and Rena will have to fight the next second. The monster is looking for a brawl.

Onyx stands beside Irene, "Irene, I'm sorry."

"Hmm?" Irene tilts her head.

"I've decided a little too hastily. I can't beat this monster by myself. Help me defeat it."

When Irene hears that, her expression turns bright, "Of course! Even if you said no, I will still stay here!"

"..." I know.

Not realizing Onyx's wry expression, Irene continues, "With the two of us together, nothing can stop us! We either live through this or die together!"

The chimera charges at Onyx and Rena again! But they're ready this time.

Onyx grabs onto Irene and jumps away from the charge.

"Irene, you be the rear guard and fire magic at it. I will be the vanguard and distract him!" Onyx knows this is the best formation. Irene is too weak to fight up close right now. Without a shield and a proper weapon, fighting close is too demanding.

But being a rearguard is a different case. Irene is the perfect all-rounder. With a sword and shield, she can be a vanguard. And with magic, she can be a rearguard.

"Gotcha!" Irene doesn't fight back with this. She understands the damage she took from the previous blow.

"Aim for the eyes and tails in the back." Onyx doesn't even wait as he dashes toward the monster. It's ready to charge at him again.

I need to grab its attention. Onyx looks at his surroundings, trying to find something to distract it. And his face brightens. Rocks and broken branches.

He grabs as many as possible and chucks them at the chimera! But it didn't block it at all. The beast just let Onyx attack him with it! That's not what Onyx was trying to do, though.

"Fire lance!" Irene shouts out, and a couple of flaming lances launch toward the beast!!! Onyx's only goal is to make diversions. However, it didn't matter. The monster did the same as the rocks. It took the hits using its scales from behind.

"Tsk!" Irene got angry. She felt infuriated that the monster didn't even care about her magic.

I have to follow the plan. Irene calms herself as she dashes away from her position. However, the chimera decides it's going to take Irene out first.

She was much slower than Onyx, making her easy prey. But why would Onyx let it happen?

"Don't forget about me!" Onyx rushes from the back. And then, he slices off another of its tails!

This is his aim.

With its snake tails, the beast can sense things behind him, making it difficult to pull off sneak attacks. It makes it nearly impossible for Onyx and Irene to gain an advantage.

That's why he has to take them out first. Realizing how all of its heads shifted towards Irene, Onyx knew it was his chance to strike it down.

The beast shifts its attention back to Onyx. But that's when Irene took her chance now!

"Don't you dare forget about me! Lightning spears!" Eight electrical spears flew towards the chimera's back!

The chimera didn't receive much damage. But that's only the main body.

The remaining tail got paralyzed by the lightning wave.

That attack irritated the monster. And Onyx and Irene have a smile on their face. That's their plan: knowing they can't beat the beast as they are now, they will just have to play dirty. They'll keep whittling down the monster till they have a chance to finish it off."

Irene's decided to use weaker spells to deal with it. Her job wasn't to do damage. The one who could really do damage to him is Onyx.

She can use higher-level magic to deal more damage. But it would take time, making her a sitting duck.

That's why Irene's job is to annoy the monster using the quantity of lower-tier magic. Onyx will be the one to make the killing blow.

Despite the two's damage to the chimera, that doesn't mean they aren't getting by smoothly.

Onyx looks down at his sword. How much more?

The sword is banged up all over. There aren't cracks, but Onyx can tell it'll happen sooner or later.

And he looks at Irene.

Will she last? Irene's mana will deplete sooner or later with how she's firing magic off. And his sword will give in as well. This is a battle of nutrition.

"Let's go!" Onyx shakes off the doubt he has. He charges toward the monster again.

And once again, the battle continues.

If anybody witnessed this battle, they would be shocked by what they saw. It's even. Despite the chimera's superior strength, it didn't gain an advantage.

Onyx and Irene didn't get pushed back by the beast. And this is due to their synergy.

Irene would be blasting magic whenever she had the chance. While Onyx would jump in and aim for the vital areas.

It may sound easy, but the timing each one has to have must be perfect.

The two of them are fighting like a well-seasoned duo. This is all due to the time Onyx and Irene spent together.

Their whole lives, the two were together. Of course, they would know the other's habits and move accordingly.

Over time, the wounds on the chimera's body start to show. The sturdy scales it once had are now dented, displaying weakness. On the other side,

Onyx and Irene have scratches over their body. His sword looks like it'll break at any moment. However, Onyx doesn't care.

Yes, a couple more times, and we can defeat it. Onyx knows it'll only take a few more times before they can end it! The scales got destroyed. But what makes him hopeful is that the inner part of the body was battered by his consistent attacks.

"Irene! One more push!" Onyx shouts as he starts circling the monster, ready to bet everything on this final attack.

"Understood!" Irene shouts out as she begins to chant her magic. Despite her yell, her face doesn't hide her exhaustion.

She's almost out of mana.

As the two charge in, the chimera realizes it might lose. Never has it been driven to this state.

And that's when it occurred.

"!" Onyx immediately halted his charge. He quickly turns back and grabs Irene. Before Irene can be surprised by what he's doing, Onyx quickly dashes away from the beast.

It's just too abnormal. Irene quickly shouts out,

"What's the matter?!" They were about to finish it off.

"Not good! The chimera is going into a berserker state!" That's the thing Onyx overlooked.

Its body starts to glow red, and its eyes turn crimson.

Onyx picks up his speed, trying to put distance between the two. Huh? What's it doing? He thought the monster would come running straight at him. But, the beast just stood there, motionless.

He looks back at the beast, confused about what it's doing. Shouldn't the beast be chasing after them? Whatever the case may be, Onyx continues to run.

Not moving is the least of Onyx's worries.

The monster opens its mouth, and Onyx's expression drops.

"Irene! Put up a barrier right now!" Hearing how frightened he sounded, Irene quickly chanted. A small barrier forms around the two.

And as she finished making it, the chimera fired.

Flash!

A blinding wind blasts toward the two. It collides with the barrier, causing a shocking sound.

But it doesn't take a minute. Onyx and Irene can hear the barrier cracking.

Oh no!

"Duck down!" And out of instinct, Onyx quickly pushes Irene to the ground. And then,

CRACK!

The sheer power of the blast obliterates the barrier. And the blow doesn't stop there.

After the barrier, the blast continues in a straight line, wrecking everything in its path!

"What in the world is with that power?!" Irene shouts out, surprised by the destruction the monster caused. Everything in the blast's path got shredded or turned into dust by the vortex.

"Great, it can use magic as well." Onyx tries to keep his head together. But it's difficult with all the sweat coming down.

This is something he didn't expect the monster to have. Magic. It makes their situation worse as the monster knows long-range attacks.

"Thankfully, it isn't good at aiming." In all that power, there is one saving grace. The reason why the two are even alive is due to its aim.

The beast aims the shot a little too high. The blast luckily missed them. But it did take out Onyx's shoulder armor.

"Onyx, what do we do now?" Irene asks Onyx. She realizes Onyx has a good amount of experience when fighting the chimera.

"We can still fight it. With its berserker state, his moves will be much simpler to read. Watch out for its power and long-range attack."

That's the only knowledge Onyx has about the beserker state. With the power gained, its mind becomes corroded. Running away becomes less of an option.

And the only choice left was to fight.

"Understood!" Irene nods as she begins to cast her magic again.

Onyx plans to find a chance to attack. But he realizes something too late.

And that's the strength and speed the beast gained. As Onyx plans to circle around the beast, it's already in front of him! In the blink of an eye, the chimera caught up to them.

Before he can react, Onyx gets smacked flying! But that isn't the end of the assault!

The chimera quickly follows the flying Onyx and smacks him again!

Onyx was treated as a pinball! The only thing he can do is defend. And that isn't even going well. He can feel his bones cracking from every single blow.

"Stop it!" Seeing this, Irene shouts out and fires another lightning lance! But it did nothing. That attack is nothing more than a spark compared to the ones before.

She's almost out of mana. To be honest, it's already surprising that she can still stand up.

But that spark did grab the chimera's attention. It slaps Onyx away like a bug and then charges towards Irene!

Nothing needed to be said. Irene used the little magic she had left to make a barrier for herself.

But what good was it?

The chimera tears up the barrier like a piece of paper and punches her out! Her body went flying towards the boulder! As Irene smashes into the boulder, the exhaustion gets to her.

Her eyes slowly close shut, and the last thing she sees is the fangs getting closer to her.

But before the beast's mouth bites down on Irene, something stops it.

A row of shadows binds his legs and arms in position.

"Don't you even dare!" The chimera turns over to stare at Onyx. His body was beyond hurt and damaged.

It was surprising to see him not dead.

I'm sorry, teacher. But I'm going to break your rule. Onyx remembers what Vargar told him about using magic. But these are desperate times.

He isn't going to let Irene die. He will never; not over his dead body!

Without even a second, the chimera begins to howl out in pain!

The reason for this was the two shadow spears sticking out of his eyes! Onyx summons 2 spears and insta-launches them towards the beast's eyes!

It was too fast for the monster to react to it.

However, the chimera didn't give up and charged toward Onyx! And the latter does the same and charges too! He can care less if his body is howling out in pain, begging him to stop.

No! I won't! Anger consumes Onyx! Nobody is going to kill Irene.

However, if Irene saw this fight, she would be surprised. Onyx was dodging the monster's strikes! His movements are dulled, but it looks somewhat light as well.

It's so slow. Onyx can feel it. And without its eyes, it can't figure out where Onyx is.

Onyx's consistent fury of movements with his broken sword and magic continues to break down the monster's defense.

And the chimera realizes this as well.

It jumps away from Onyx, putting distance. And begins to fire a fury of wind blasts towards Onyx.

Predictable. Onyx doesn't need to dodge as the blasts miss the mark!

Now! As the chimera was about to howl again, Onyx launched another dark spear. This time at its face, making the blast explode in its mouth!

Its head turns into a wretched state.

"You had your fun toying with us. You damn monster." Remembering how the chimera laughed at the knight's death and the fear it caused the trainees, it pissed Onyx off.

"Now it's time for this all to end." As Onyx says this, fifty dark spears form on top of the beast.

And without hesitation, the spears rain down on the monster! The scales have finally broken with the endless assault.

The chimera drew its last breath as a spear went through its chest. Seeing its lifeless state, Onyx doesn't focus on it anymore as he drags his body over to Irene. He rests beside her. The only words that come out of his mouth are,

"We did it."

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