Volume 1 Chapter 7: Part 2: Together

 

Onyx never thought there would be another one of them. What makes it worse is everything makes sense. The slaughtering of the orcs. Especially the starvation of the wolves. 

 

This scene is the same as the wyverns. And the only thing that can change it is an apex monster.

 

And the group of chimeras Vargar and he fought before. They weren't a group. They were a family. 

 

Compared to the adult Onyx and Vargar fought before, this one in front was more vicious. 

 

This one is three times bigger than the other. It has three heads; a wolf, a lizard, and a humanoid head too. What's more, there are three snakes as its tails, each dripping down poison from its mouth, melting the ground. 

 

Onyx knows just from looking at it that it's the dad. 

 

As Onyx stands in shock, one of the knights doesn't hesitate to shout, "Trainees! Escape right now! We'll act as a distraction!" He rushes at the three-headed chimera, seeing it try to eat another trainee. 

 

He slashes down at one of its heads. 

 

But it's the worst option for attack. The chimera swings its paws and, 

 

Bam!

 

The knight's body went flying in the opposite direction! The moment he smacks into the tree, his entire body explodes! 

 

What the knight did is useless. To the monster, the knight was just a bug to swat down. 

 

But for the trainees, it just makes them lifeless. There is only dead silence as they stare at the lifeless body of the knight. 

 

He got blown to bits.

 

"Hsk Hsk Hsk Hsk Hsk!" What breaks this silence is the sound coming out of one of the heads. The human head has a devilish smile as it continues to laugh at the stunned trainees' faces. 

 

Is it laughing at us? That's what everybody thought. To think the death of one of the knights is a laughing matter.

 

And that's not the end, 

 

The beast starts to move towards the trainees. As it came closer, everybody felt it. The steps of death, coming nearer and nearer to them. 

 

"Ahh! Stay away!" "Run for your lives!" "Don't eat me!" 

 

It doesn't take long before the trainees start to run and scream. Each one pushes the other away. That pride and confidence they had before are nowhere to be found. 

 

Only one thing is on their minds: to escape with their lives.  

 

But they are mice trapped in a maze. The chimera watches the trainees scrim around. 

 

The monster found it funny. Even it knows the trainees can't escape.

 

The first target it had was the stragglers in the back: the priests. Compared to the knights or the trainees, the priests are much slower than them. 

 

Some priests even fell down. And that is a fatal mistake. 

 

"Stay away! Don't come near me!" Seeing how the beast is getting closer, the priests wave their staff around, desperate to drive it away. But what good is flaying your arms around?

 

The chimera doesn't even mind it as it bites down on the priests, splitting them in half! And it doesn't stop there; the beast starts taking down the other stragglers, swiping them down like flies. 

 

As the beast continued to play with its food, that left an opening. Before the chimera could react, a large thud sound came from behind. What came next was blood!

 

A tail. One of the beast's tails got cut off! Realizing it's gone, it howls loudly, causing everybody to grasp their ears. 

 

"Oh, shut up. You aren't in pain at all." Joseph sneers at the beast. He knows the monster's howling is nothing more than a coy ploy. 

 

Joseph's right. The chimera isn't howling out of pain or agony. Instead, it's howling in anger. Anger that it let somebody lower to cut off its tail. It stares at Joseph. 

 

Its eyes say it all. Joseph became a threat now. 

 

The monster swipes toward Joseph, ready to end him. But they're prepared this time. Two knights jump forward and block the paw with their swords. 

 

The knights got blown away. But not far compared to the last one. They only took a few steps back. 

 

"We're the knights of the Espoir Kingdom! We will not run away from you, beast!" Joseph shouts out as he points his sword at the wary chimera. 

 

The other knights raise their swords towards the beast as well. They're the words of the kingdom. 

 

It's their duty to protect. The knights are prepared to lay down their lives to protect the trainees. 

 

"You two, we'll buy you all the time possible. Go bring the trainees to a safer place!" Joseph shouts out orders to two knights. The trainees are still in shambles by the monster's display of might. The two knights nod quickly, and they run toward the trainees. 

 

Seeing how the two are about to escape, the chimera dashes toward them, wanting to kill them off while it has the chance. But the knights quickly shift in front of its charging path, becoming a large wall. 

 

The monster smashes into the knights, but it's the one who got pushed back this time. 

 

"Don't even think about it. You'll be dealing with us." Joseph says as he stares the beast down. 

 

"Knights! Now!" On Joseph's signal: he and the rest push the chimera with all their might, further the distance between it and the trainees.

 

...

"Hero Onyx! We need to get out of here now!" One of the knights shouts at Onyx. He knows the people who need to escape from this mess are Onyx and Irene. 

 

However, Onyx just stands there. The distance between the two groups is enough to only see blurs. But it's enough for Onyx. He can see more than enough to know;

 

They're going to lose. It's a losing battle for the knights. When Vargar and he fought with those chimeras, it was a battle to the death. 

 

Either side could have won. 

 

And right now, the monster in front of the knights is much stronger than its family combined. 

 

And he can see it. As the knights try to guard against the chimera's blow, they get blown away. 

 

Their lifeless bodies fall onto the ground. 

 

The beast isn't holding back against the knights. Realizing the knights are different from the trainees, the monster sees it as an opportunity. 

 

An opportunity for him to go all out and play. 

 

"Quickly! We need to get away before they get wiped out!" The knight continues to shout at Onyx, trying to get his attention. He knows it as well. That's why he wants Onyx to run as fast as possible. 

 

Onyx continues to ignore the knight's words and looks over at the trainees, who are running away. 

 

"Get out of the way!" "I'm a noble! I have to live!" "You guys haven't done anything! We should be the ones to survive!"

 

The confident look the trainees had before was nowhere to be found. The moment one died, the trainees realized they would die if they stayed here. 

 

And that can be said the same for the priests. Instead of helping the knights, they're running away without looking back. Even the grand priest disappeared.

 

But the person who's ahead of everybody is none other than Gregory. He wants to shout coward. How can he make everybody follow him and then be the first one to escape?

 

"Hero Onyx! We need to leave!" The knight grips Onyx's hand, ready to carry him if he has to.

 

The latter clenches his fist tightly. He remembers what Vargar told him before, 

 

If there is anything dangerous, run away.  

 

"I understand." Running away is the best option. Before Onyx can do any of that, he looks around. His expression turns pale as he shakes his head even faster, scanning the entire area.

 

He quickly shouts out, "Irene! Where are you?!" Irene isn't with him or the group. More like she isn't there at all! He looks at the knight, "Where is Irene?!"

 

"!" The knight's expression changes when he hears that. He has Onyx, but Irene is nowhere to be found. The knight looks toward the other knight, and he doesn't know where she is either. 

 

Onyx doesn't know what to say to that. But the next second, the knight's grip on his arm got blown away!

 

"No! Don't go back there!" The knight screams out. His voice can't go through to Onyx as he continues to rush back.

 

She has to be there. If Irene isn't with the fleeing party, there is only one place she has to be now. 

...

"Hero Irene, you need to escape now!" Joseph says. It's only been a few minutes, but he's riddled with wounds and scratches left and right. 

 

And what makes it worse is the knights are at their limit. They're dropping by the second. The strength of the animal is just too strong to fend off. 

 

"No! I won't be running away!" While everybody else ran away, Irene stayed behind and followed after Joseph and the rest. Realizing her existence: the knights were surprised. But they couldn't take her away as they focused on the beast. 

 

"You need to le- Watch out!" Before Joseph can force her to flee, he quickly pushes her away instead! The reason for this is the chimera swiping down at her. 

 

His body took the brunt of it as he got crushed. The ground shattered from the beast's force. 

 

Cough! Joseph coughs up blood! And that isn't the worst as the rest of the knights drop too.

 

What's left is only these two. Remembering how Joseph cut off his tail, the beast places more pressure on his body, making him spit more blood out!

 

Seeing this, Irene shouts, 

 

"Get off of him!" She waves her sword, aiming it at the beast's paw wanting to slice it off. But when the sword made contact with the arm, the blade snapped in two!

 

The entire outer part of the beast's body is plated with thick scales. Ordinary iron swords won't be able to put a dent into the beast. 

 

"Hsk Hsk Hsk!" It laughs at Irene's attempt to damage his body. As a retaliation, the beast slaps her away!

 

Irene raises her shield to try and block it, but it doesn't stop her from getting blown away. The shield shattered into pieces from the sheer force. Luckily, she lands on the ground, skitting a bit before stopping. 

 

Irene's hands shake. Her eyes turn wide. How? How can she be done like this? No! I can't give up! She refuses to be defeated here!

 

Picking herself, she holds up her broken sword, "I will not give up!"

 

Despite the knights' defeat and the mountainous disadvantages, the light in Irene's eyes didn't dim. And the beast notices the determination too. 

 

Her determination amused it, and it wanted to take its time to defeat her. 

 

"No, stop," Joseph says sluggishly, watching the beast getting closer to her. Its mouth opened, ready to bite down on her. 

 

"Don't you dare!" While all its eyes are focused on Irene, Onyx comes rushing in and slices the human head off!

 

It's a clean cut. The chimera was too focused on Irene to notice Onyx rushing forward like a madman. 

 

His aim is the vital area. Despite the outer section of its body being covered by hard scales, its vitals are wide open and clean. 

 

This time it isn't out of shame. The chimera begins to scream out in agony. Somebody has actually done real damage to it.

 

But Onyx doesn't care about what the beast is feeling right now. He jumps over to Irene and quickly picks her up. He quickly takes her the opposite way of the monster and to Joseph. 

 

"Mr. Joseph, how are your wounds?" If it's light, then they'll be at a better advantage.

 

"He broke my right leg and shattered most of my ribs," Joseph says as he coughs up blood. But then he shouts, "Forget about me; why are you still here?" Even if Irene stayed there, shouldn't Onyx have left with the knight? 

 

Onyx sighs, "Because a certain someone decided to stay back and fight. So, of course, I have to come back too." His eyes glance at Irene as he says his sentence. 

 

hehe." Irene gives a wry smile. She knows she will get it from him later.

 

"You two need to get out of here before he recovers," He can't believe how calm the two are. 

 

"Yeah, no can do on that. It's already too late for us to run away." Onyx says as he turns around. The two-headed chimera glares viciously at them. While they talked, the beast regained its composure. 

 

No, rather than regaining composure, the rage formed. It felt humiliation from the wounds on its body. 

 

"Even if we run away now, it's going to chase after us to the ends of the world." That's the feeling Onyx gets as the chimera stares at them. 

 

If Onyx escaped before, it might've worked. But with the pure rage behind the monster's speed, there is no way he could do it now. 

 

"If I'm going to do anything, I'm fighting." That's what Onyx decides as he stares down at the rage-filled chimera. 

 

"Then I'll help- ughhh." Irene wanted to help as well. But the pain from the blow before made her buckle down. 

 

"Look at your condition. You'll just be in the way." A broken sword. That's the only equipment Irene has. Not to mention the broken bones from that blow too. 

 

"When I grab its attention, grab Joseph and get out of here."

 

"What do you mean?!"

 

"Just do it!" Onyx doesn't say anything else as he steps away from Joseph and Irene, trying his best to grab the monster's attention.

 

It's a gamble. Onyx knows if the beast doesn't come towards him, then Irene and Joseph are goners. But it's a chance he has to take. 

 

This way: the two would be free and could make it to the fleeing group. 

 

Luckily, the beast is prioritizing him. Compared to everybody else, it locked onto Onyx. Like there's a big red target on his back. It wasn't just because the foe in front cut down its head. It's something else. 

 

Something more personal. 

 

I see. So that's how it is. Even Onyx feels something off. The rage the monster is shooting off its body is not ordinary. But he understood. After all, he's the person who took out his family. 

 

"Come at me." "Ragghh!" The chimera charges toward Onyx, and he does the same too. But Onyx isn't aiming for a head-on collision. As Onyx gets close, he immediately slides under the monster's body.

 

Onyx begins to slice all the inner parts of its body. He knew it would be impossible to take down the chimera if he attacked from the top. 

 

That's why; he has to take it by surprise and aim for the interior parts. It quickly jumps away, stopping the attacks. The beast stares at Onyx. 

 

It becomes warier on what Onyx does next, feeling the injuries on his legs and chest. 

 

"Tsk, I didn't get a deep cut." Onyx quickly gets back up. But he jumps into the trees the next second. Frontal attacks are just a disadvantage for him. 

 

The only option he has is to surprise attack the monsters. 

 

The chimera can't tell where Onyx went. The leaves create a screen for Onyx, hiding him. 

 

"Rawwwr!" The chimera screams out in anger. Not knowing where Onyx will come down from, it smashes its body on the trees, causing them to go down. 

 

Seeing this, Onyx realizes something.

 

Its attacks are simple. That's what Onyx found out. Was it because of rage, or was it just relying on strength?

 

Either way, he isn't going to let this chance go. 

 

Onyx's aim this time was the tail. When the chimera left an opening, Onyx jumped at the change.

 

And he got it...not.

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