The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 255

Chapter 255

Chapter 255: Victory

My body shuddered as I let out a deep breath. Looking down at my body, I could see people mistaking me for a young noble barely in his twenties. Without a scar or blemish on me, the perfectly defined muscles that ran down my arms, torso and legs looked like they had been painted on, rather than acquired through training.

A faint aura of purple enveloped me, slowly dimming as more and more aether dissipated from my body. However, the biggest difference was something I could feel rather than see.

It was a feeling that differed from when I had enhanced my old body with mana... It was even different from how I felt after unlocking the third stage of the Sylvia’s dragon will in my fight against Nico. The strength pumping through me didn’t feel borrowed or artificially implanted—it felt like it was mine.

Approaching the nearby wall of the sanctuary, I squeezed my hand into a fist. My own eyes failed to properly see my hand as it struck the wall with a deafening explosion.

The entire room shook as water from the fountain spilled on the ground. While barely a crack had formed on the wall, I was still content; I knew that the force of my blow just now was enough to easily punch a large hole through even the thick metal gates of the Wall.

I looked down to see the wound on my fist already closing and healing itself. Turning around, I silently thanked the corpse of the giant chimera that had now been reduced to a pile of withered bones now that the aetheric essence holding it together had been absorbed.

“Ayy! You finally look a bit more like a man—at least, your body, that is,” Regis exclaimed, studying me.

“And you still look like a blob of ink,” I quipped, swatting him away.

I expected my hand to simply pass through him like it usually did, but this time I felt some resistance upon contact.

“Woah,” I said, startled.

Regis waggled his brows in an expression that I could only see as lewd. “Did you get a good feel for my muscles?”

I wiped my hand on my pants. “Gross.”

Regis laughed, zipping around the air as if he were flying for the first time.

I shook my head. “We should leave now. I can feel the aetheric essence leaving my body by the second and I need as much as possible if we’re going to kill all of those chimeras.

“You’re right,” my companion replied with confidence. “Let’s do this.”

Taking one last deep breath to calm myself, I pushed open the door.

My body tensed and my heart pounded against my ribs. Even though my mind knew I stood a much better chance against the chimeras, the fear and pain had been deeply ingrained into my body.

“Third time and this place is still creepy even without the chimeras trying to kill us,” Regis groused.

We continued walking, trying to make out any differences from the last time we came here. I hoped that the whip chimera that we had killed wouldn’t be here but its statue remained intact and looked somehow even scarier than the previous times.

“I’m curious how the party before us got through,” I wondered, my head still turning left and right as I scanned our surroundings. “How strong are those three?”

Regis shrugged. “Hopefully we’ll never have to find out.”

I must’ve reached the activation point because the room suddenly rumbled.

However, unlike the previous two times, that was the only warning—no gradual crumbling of the statues, no time spent prying themselves free from their encasings.

“So I was right,” I sighed. “They do break out faster each time.”

Regis rolled his eyes. “I’d clap slowly, applauding you for your incredible foresight but—y’know—no hands.”

All of the chimeras immediately leaped out from their podiums and let out a shrill screech in unison.

I got into a fighting stance, my trained eyes taking in the position and weapons of the twelve chimeras surrounding us.

I focused on the three chimeras wielding long-ranged weapons: a bow, a shotgun, and dual crossbows.

After making sure that the Sylvie egg was tucked tightly beneath my leather vest, I pushed the ground beneath my feet, propelling myself to the nearest chimera.

“I know the rough timing of the shotgun chimera. Keep the one with the crossbows occupied!” I ordered as I drove my fist into a chimera wielding two maces made from the skull of a giant ape-like beast.

The chimera was sent a few steps back from the force of the blow and it screeched in pain but was able to make a desperate swing with one of its maces.

I ducked under its path and released a wide hook straight into its exposed ribcage. It buckled and let out another wail but before I could capitalize on its injuries, an arrow caught me in my leg, going straight through my thigh.

Gritting through the pain, I tackled the mace chimera onto its back and focused on the other chimeras fast approaching.

Keeping the position of the shotgun and bow chimera always in mind, I dashed toward the next chimera.

Each step I took, each punch I threw, I could feel more of the aether that I had gathered being spent. Even as I consumed aether mid-battle from the various chimeras, I was expending it much faster than I could absorb it and I had only managed to barely kill three.

Making sure that my breathing remained controlled and movements sharp and unwasted, I mustered forward, using the same tactics I had used the last round. I was able to make two chimeras kill each other until the shotgun chimera quelled its forces with a gutteral warcry.

Meanwhile, Regis continued to occupy the crossbow chimera. Based on the speed at which its weapons reloaded and the power each bone bolt contained, I made the right choice in making Regis blind that one.

Still, as I killed more and more, an uneasiness spread from my stomach.

The entire hallway was littered with fragments of stone from the crumbled statues and the divots dug up from the battle ensuing.

I could tell that I had used over half of the aether I had gathered from the whip chimera, and the ones left were stronger than the ones I had killed.

“It’s never easy, is it,” I muttered under my breath, my eyes focused on the chimera with serrated daggers for hands.

Another idea began to form as my gaze shifted from the dagger chimera to the sword chimera.

Dodging the arrows of the bow chimera and picking two of them up, I locked onto the one wielding twin daggers.

Before I engaged, I hurled the arrow like a javelin, letting its tip bury itself into the arm of the sword chimera.

With no time to relax, I dipped and weaved through the flurry of swings from the lanky dagger chimera. My mind brought up scenes from almost ten years ago when I had sparred against Jasmine on a daily basis while starting my time as an adventurer.

However, unlike the way Jasmine seemed to almost dance with her daggers in hand, this chimera’s techniques were crude and relied on its long reach and ridiculous strength and speed.

Whoever made these things might have imbued the physical prowess of an S class mana beast, but it’s intellect and technique were subpar.

I continued skirting just out of reach from the dagger-wielding chimera, leading it around the palm of its hands now that I was fast enough to easily dodge its swings. I couldn’t make them kill each other while the shotgun chimera continued keeping its distance from me and shooting every so often. However, I was able to use wild swings made by the dagger chimera to give injuries to the other chimeras trying to kill me as well.

Growing more and more frustrated by its inability to even touch me, the dagger chimera let out sharp screeches, swinging its two daggers until a rather desperate overhead swing dug one of its blades a bit too deeply into the ground.

Finally with an opportunity in place, I jumped up, using its arm as a platform to reach its head in a roundhouse kick that snapped the arm stuck on the ground.

Just in time, the sword chimera found the perfect opportunity to kill me with its giant sword—regardless of whether its attack would also kill the dagger chimera as well.

Gotcha.

Immediately taking the other arrow I had picked up earlier, I defended the overhead strike of the giant sword and redirected its path straight onto the broken arm of the dagger chimera.

I felt my left shoulder pop out of its socket from the sheer impact, but it worked. The dagger had been cut cleanly off from the rest of the chimera’s arm.

The dagger chimera let out a loud wail of pain, distracting the sword chimera just long enough for me to free the severed dagger from the ground.

The dagger in my hand looked more like a longsword, but the all-too-familiar sensation of a sword in my hand filled me with a newfound confidence.

Pissed off by the fact that I was using one of its hands as my own weapon, the dagger chimera ignored its injuries and scuttled toward me using all three of its remaining limbs.

Quickly popping the dislocated shoulder back in place, I gripped my new sword with both hands and smirked. “I finally got a weapon.”

“Oh bite me!” Regis snapped, his speed noticeably slower as he continued buzzing around the enraged crossbow chimera.

All it took was one step to avoid the desperate strike of the dagger chimera and a pivot to dodge the arrow of the bow chimera before I swung my new sword. And with that single swing, the severed bug-like head of the dagger chimera rolled on the floor.

The soft glow of purple surrounding the chimera’s dagger in my hand dimmed with that one swing and I knew that this weapon wouldn’t last much longer.

Cutting the other dagger off the headless chimera’s arm, I left it close by as I started my onslaught.

The sword chimera was next, its legs cut first before I stabbed my decaying dagger into its throat.

Four more seconds until the shotgun chimera is finished reloading.

I dashed past a chimera wielding a lance and shield as I knew it was one of the stronger ones, and I aimed my sword at an old friend of mine.

The whip chimera let out a shrill cry as I stabbed my sword into its gut and carved a line straight through its torso.

Discarding the dagger that had begun to crumble apart, I ran for the other dagger, dodging a barrage of arrows. Picking up the dagger on the ground, I prepared to rush the archer first when an earth-shattering roar resounded from behind.

I whirled around, prepared to dodge or block whatever was coming—except nothing was. It was the shotgun chimera that let out the thundering cry, but it wasn’t pointing its shotgun at me. It was standing tall with its arms spread wide.

It let out another roar, even louder this time, and the remaining seven chimeras that were still alive began barreling toward its leader.

Even the crossbow chimera ignored Regis and rushed toward the sound of its leader’s cry, leaving the two of us confused and wary.

“What in Hell’s name is going on now,” Regis groaned, floating by my side now.

Every fiber of my body screamed at me to run away. Unfortunately, the shotgun chimera was just in front of the door to the sanctuary and the rest had almost gathered together.

Spinning on my heels, I rushed to the metal door leading to the next level of this godforsaken dungeon and yanked at the rune-covered handle.

It didn’t budge.

Cursing internally, I scanned every inch of the door, looking for any familiar aetheric runes that I could alter like the door to the sanctuary.