Chapter 54: Chimera

That heavy, powerful blow fell, and even though everyone reacted, it was already too late.

“Damn it! Can’t dodge!”

Kanna knelt weakly on the ground, staring at the monster’s ferocious face, her own filled with despair.

The other three stood in front of her, trembling all over.

With a crisp clashing sound, they instinctively shielded their heads.

“…What are you spacing out for!”

Man En, holding two Divine Light Daggers, barely blocked in front of everyone.

Realizing they weren’t dead, everyone turned to look at Man En, their shock evident.

“Lei Guang…you?…”

Man En ignored the shocked Zuo Erte, increasingly feeling that the whole thing reeked of strangeness.

‘Need to find the quest giver quickly… maybe that’ll lead somewhere.’

He made up his mind; he didn’t want to waste time here.

Man En’s figure abruptly vanished, and when he reappeared, he was already behind the chimera. The Divine Light Dagger stabbed rapidly towards its nape.

But as the dagger sank in, there was no feel of piercing flesh; instead, it was as if something was eroding it. The divine light began to fluctuate wildly and soon dissipated into particles.

“How is that possible?”

‘Was the divine light’s operation disrupted?’

Just as Man En was stunned, a massive claw was already right before his eyes.

Although Zuo Erte and the others reacted in time, sending several fireballs and arrows, it was useless; their attacks were deflected.

The next moment, a tremendous force slammed into Man En’s torso. Immediately, a liquid with a sickly sweet taste flowed back into his mouth.

“This is bad…”

A crisp sound of bones breaking rang out, and then, like a kite with a broken string, he was sent flying backward at great speed, crashing heavily into the space barrier.

“Hey! Lei Guang!”

Seeing Man En lying motionless on the ground, Zuo Erte was frantic because he knew better than anyone that their group had no chance against this monster, and now the only one who could turn the tables was probably Lei Guang.

Though overall, the chance of survival was still slim.

The chimera no longer paid attention to the others, perhaps not seeing them as a threat; it turned and sprinted toward Man En.

This gave Zuo Erte’s group a chance to catch their breath.

“Kai En!”

“In a moment, you go treat Lei Guang; we’ll hold the line here!”

“But…”

“If you want to get out alive, do as I say! Go now!”

Zuo Erte turned his head and looked at the others.

“Everyone, let’s attract the monster’s attention and buy time for Lei Guang and Kai En!”

With that, he raised his staff and aimed it at the monster ahead.

“Mana Property Conversion: Explosive Flame!”

As the mana gathered more and more, the burden on Zuo Erte’s body grew heavier. Sweat poured out constantly, and his face even turned pale.

The advancing monster seemed to sense something; it suddenly stopped moving and turned its head to look at Zuo Erte, who was charging up.

“Take this! You freak!”

A massive fireball struck the monster’s body, followed immediately by Kanna’s arrows.

Duo Si also took advantage of the opening created by the others’ attacks and charged forward, slashing with all his might at the chimera’s ankle.

“Great, got it! At least this way we can…”

Before Zuo Erte finished, he felt a gust of wind brush past him. He looked back and felt a chill down his spine.

“Duo Si…”

His limbs were twisted, his whole body pressed against the barrier behind, head tilted to one side, motionless.

Just then, the ground suddenly shook violently. The smell of blood mixed with a hint of rotting stench invaded his nostrils.

A chilling low growl sounded like the whisper of death.

“Kanna…sorry.”

He slowly turned his head, staring directly into those demonic eyes. His legs were trembling, and even the hand holding his staff shook; the terrifying pressure almost made him forget to breathe.

The massive claw came crashing down on him.

But this attack didn’t hit him; instead, it landed beside him and sent him flying.

Immediately after, the chimera let out a piercing shriek.

“Lei Guang?”

Zuo Erte came to his senses and realized that Man En, holding Duo Si’s giant sword, had cut off the chimera’s foot.

It struggled frantically, spraying a large amount of foul blood.

Man En’s condition wasn’t much better, so he didn’t plan to give it a chance to recover; he continued to attack it madly.

After a long while, the giant sword in Man En’s hand had broken into pieces; he was covered in blood, sitting on the ground panting heavily, and the chimera gradually stopped moving.

“Kai En, go check Duo Si’s injuries…”

Zuo Erte, who was slumped nearby, said weakly to the priest.

But Kai En seemed frightened by the bloody scene just now, staring blankly at Man En.

“Kai En?”

Only when Zuo Erte called his name again did he snap out of it.

“Oh… okay, I’ll go right away.”

Zuo Erte struggled to stand up and came to Man En’s side.

“Thanks, Lei Guang. If it weren’t for you… we would have really been done for today…”

“I should be the one thanking you. If not for Mr. Kai En’s emergency healing, we would all have died here.”

“And your injuries?…”

“Still won’t die…”

Zuo Erte extended his hand and pulled Man En up.

“But we’re still trapped in this place; we need to find a way out quickly.”

On this point, the two were thinking alike. That Heretic God Sect guy couldn’t have been guarding nearby the whole time. If they thought along those lines, there was only one possibility: the monster had been placed there in advance, so the key to getting out should also be on it.

Having made up his mind, sensing the chaotic mana fluctuations from the monster, Man En suppressed his disgust and reached into its abdominal cavity. After some groping, he pulled out a bizarre object made of several stones of different colors fused together.

“Is this… a magic stone?”

“But these things should be incompatible…”

Man En didn’t say anything; he carefully sensed it and indeed found some traces of space power remaining on the stone.

‘It seems that guy forcibly fused different magic stones together using space ability. If that’s the case, then this is most likely the core of this space.’

“Keep it for the guild to look at; that way we’ll have an excuse to investigate the person who posted the quest.”

Zuo Erte patted Man En’s shoulder.

“Yeah, you’re right. We need to keep this thing, but…”

Man En weighed the strange stone in his hand, readying to throw it.

“We need to use this to get out first.”

“Wait, are you really sure this will work?”

“Who knows?”

He didn’t answer, just threw the object away from the group. The expected blockage by the barrier didn’t happen; instead, accompanied by a deafening cracking sound, the object passed straight through the barrier. Immediately after, the barrier surrounding them began to slowly disintegrate.

“It worked! But how did you figure that out?”

“If that thing was the core here, then after moving it out, this space would naturally collapse, right?”

“Hey… are you really a newbie adventurer? You seem more experienced than me.”

Man En said nothing, just stared intently at the location of the strange stone. This made Zuo Erte feel a bit awkward.

“Forget it, I’ll go retrieve that thing first.”

Just as Zuo Erte was about to move, Man En firmly held him in place.

“Everyone, get down!”