The air seemed to freeze, punctuated only by the dripping of slime from the Dark Chimera’s wounds and its heavy, ragged breathing.
Camilla took a deep breath, suppressing all stray thoughts. Memories of the game flipped through her mind at high speed.
In the original work, the Dark Chimera encountered by players was also in a heavily injured state. Weakened by seals and further exhausted by the academy guards, its strength was far from its peak. As long as one played their cards right, a player in a “powering up” state had a chance to solo it.
And now, although the one they faced had been severely wounded by Victoria, its ferocity was even greater. However… it was two against one on our side. The advantage is mine!
“Sister, coordinate with me.” Camilla whispered, her voice carrying an unprecedented level of calm.
Ophelia did not look back, but her ice-blue eyes glanced at her from the corner of her vision as she gave a soft grunt of affirmation.
Although she was somewhat confused by the aura Camilla was currently radiating—which was like a completely different person from her usual self—her long-standing, almost blind trust in her younger sister made her suppress all doubts and choose to stand by her side.
Now is the time!
With a thought from Camilla, her ink-black hair was instantly replaced by cherry-pink, and her golden pupils lit up with a demonic glow in the gloom. Her figure stretched within the faint light, tracing mature and graceful curves.
Simultaneously, a pure white radiance erupted from the surface of her body. The Celestial Armor instantly covered her entire form, and the massive two-handed sword in her hand hummed loudly. The two diametrically opposed auras—light and dark, holy and charm—achieved a strange harmony upon her.
“This is…” Ophelia’s ice-blue pupils suddenly constricted. Her hand gripping the sword hilt tightened involuntarily. The sister before her was both strange and familiar, powerful enough to make her heart skip a beat. But in the next second, she forced herself to push down the doubts in her heart.
Now is not the time for questions! Fight!
The Dark Chimera seemed to sense a powerful threat from the current Camilla. It let out a sharp hiss, its massive body lunging forward. Several intact tentacles smashed down like battering rams while its giant maw opened, brewing the next wave of corrosive breath.
“Let’s go!” Camilla moved first, her figure as fast as a phantom as she charged straight toward the tentacles. The holy sword in her hand carved a blazing white arc of light. Holy power and the dark energy on the tentacles collided violently, producing a piercing scorching sound that severed a section of one tentacle’s tip.
At the same time, she waved her left hand. Several threads of pink-gold Charm Magic power silently wrapped around another tentacle, attempting to interfere with its movements.
Ophelia cut in from the flank almost at the same instant. The Ice Sword Aura from her left-hand sword condensed into a solid form. Taking advantage of the moment the Dark Chimera’s attention was drawn by Camilla, she plunged her sword into the massive wound on its flank!
“Roar—!!!” The Dark Chimera let out a roar of agony. Frost spread from the wound, further tearing its flesh. It thrashed its body frantically, unleashing more tentacles and a barrage of dark-purple energy orbs indiscriminately in all directions.
“Use that move!”
Camilla hesitated for a moment upon hearing those words, then quickly realized what Ophelia meant. She immediately moved to her sister’s side, adopting the same sword-wielding stance.
“Sword of Dawn!”
The two shouted simultaneously. Their magic power suddenly resonated, unleashing a sword technique combination taught to them by their father.
The ice-blue sword qi and the pink-gold radiance intertwined, transforming into a brilliant spiral pillar of light that blasted forward. Everywhere it passed, the dark tentacles disintegrated, and the energy orbs were completely annihilated. It slammed hard into the Dark Chimera’s massive body, exploding into a dazzling burst of light mixed with ice crystals and holy flames.
“Abominable—!”
“Great, just like that!” Camilla cried out in pleasant surprise upon hearing the Dark Chimera’s scream. Together with her sister, she weaved through and countered the storm-like attacks.
Camilla’s Celestial Armor had an extremely high resistance to dark energy, while her Charm Magic constantly disrupted the monster’s attack rhythm. Ophelia’s Ice Sword Aura precisely expanded the wounds left by Victoria, with every strike causing the Dark Chimera to bleed profusely.
“We have a chance!” Camilla felt certain in her heart. It seemed that in its heavily injured state, the Dark Chimera could indeed be suppressed by them. As long as they just… Wait, why hasn’t sister “powered up” yet? According to the tropes, doesn’t the protagonist always awaken a stronger power in a desperate situation and then turn the tables in one go?
Just as she was distracted by thoughts of why this damn Protagonist Mechanism hadn’t triggered yet, the Dark Chimera’s movements suddenly changed.
It stopped obsessing over frantic close-quarters attacks with its main body. Instead, it backed away slightly, its remaining compound eyes flickering strangely.
From the cracks in its ruptured carapace, dark purple slime oozed out like a fountain. Upon hitting the ground, it didn’t corrode anything; instead, it rapidly wriggled, expanded, and deformed.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of distorted low-level magical beasts were born from the slime: hounds covered in bone spikes, flying insects with hideous mouthparts, humanoid monsters wielding crude stone hammers…
Most of their auras were only at the second or third rank, but their numbers were staggering. As soon as they appeared, they let out frenzied roars and surged toward Camilla and Ophelia from all directions like a tide.
“Oh no!” Camilla’s expression changed. She realized this wasn’t summoning, but the Dark Chimera’s ability to “create” kin using its own flesh and energy!
The “Summoning Obstruction Field” scrolls and interference tools she had prepared specifically for summoning spells were completely useless against this kind of “creation.”
The tide of magical beasts instantly swallowed the two of them, forcing them to divert their attention to deal with these annoying and fearless “cannon fodder.”
Camilla swung her holy sword, the holy light sweeping across a wide area, but even more magical beasts rushed to fill the gap. Ophelia’s frozen zone could freeze a batch, but the speed of creation seemed faster than they could clear them.
The Dark Chimera’s main body prowled on the periphery, occasionally spitting a corrosive beam or lashing out with a tentacle for a sneak attack, keeping them exhausted and on the run.
The situation took a sudden turn for the worse. Ophelia’s sword speed remained sharp, but her breathing had become noticeably labored. Under the intense consumption, her magic power was nearly exhausted. The light of Camilla’s Celestial Armor was also dimming; maintaining both the armor and her succubus form was no small burden.
Sister! Hurry up and power up!
Camilla complained wildly in her mind, her forehead becoming drenched in cold sweat. In the original work, the condition for triggering the power-up state was for all teammates to lose their ability to fight, but here there were only the two of them… Wait, could it be that sister has to wait for me to fall first before she can power up?
Just as she was slightly distracted by this absurd thought, a sinister and cunning aura, like a venomous snake, suddenly erupted from the shadows behind them!
The timing was precise and vicious, and the target was Camilla’s completely undefended back.
“Watch out!” Ophelia’s scream was heart-wrenching. She didn’t even think; her body reacted before her consciousness did.
Puchi!
A hideously shaped short blade sank deep into Ophelia’s right rear shoulder. The tip of the blade emerged from below her collarbone. The assassin twisted their wrist, and terrifying magic power exploded inside her body.
“Ugh!” Ophelia let out a muffled groan. Her ice-blue pupils instantly lost focus, and a spray of fresh blood erupted from her mouth. The long sword in her hand fell to the ground with a clang, and her entire body collapsed backward.
“No!” Camilla’s eyes nearly burst from their sockets. Regardless of everything, she rushed over and caught Ophelia’s falling body.
The attacker—an Executive of the Dark Monster Legion, the Beast Tamer—licked the blood from the short blade, a cruel and triumphant sneer appearing on his face.