CHAPTER 103.

In the end, Frei decided to indulge her master’s dumbass, however she didn’t know how she felt about it or how she would act if she had to actually choose between Amber and her wishes. But ultimately, she returned back to the elf and the merchant, not wanting to leave either of them alone.

“Amber?!” Cecile asked in a panic and then paused seeing her alone. “Did something happen?”

“She told me to fuck off.” Frei crossed her arms, in all honesty she was miffed about being rejected like that, but it was what it was.

The merchant raised her hand, almost reaching out for something that wasn’t there. “That… that’s… right…”

In the end, that behavior seemed like an Amber thing to do⁠— in her companions’ eyes⁠— even the elf just sighed.

“When I was training her, she jumped into danger just for the sake of pushing her limits… she… she’ll be fine.”

Frei raised her brow. “So she’ll reach the stars or burn trying, huh?”

“Yes, but I think her chances of success are high,” Asil said.

Frei had heard of this from information she had gotten on the girl that was Amber, but it was still odd to experience it herself.

So to fulfill my dream I have to pray she doesn’t get herself killed when I’m away? Huh, I’m a fucking babysitter aren’t I?

And for the second time in a row, she was once more miffed, but in the end she at least planned to commit to the whole protect her friends thing instead for now. She had said all that shit about believing, but she was actually nervous too now.

Ridiculous.

* * *

Anyone in her position would have taken the chance to run away, after all, there was always an after if you survived, if you died however, not so much. But Amber didn’t feel ready to run, not yet, and maybe she would never feel that need. It’s not like she was stupid, but the idea of running when having invested this much into this battle was…

Her pride wouldn’t allow it, not emotionally speaking, perhaps if she felt like she was dying her survival instincts would take over but right now she was fine. Amber stumbled as the first monster arrived before her, an Ackal Zavan that was level 90. The monster resembled the Ackal Aureus, a jackal type thing, but this one was closer to a coyote instead.

It pounced towards her and Amber headbutted it. Its skull immediately split open and it ragdolled over her face as it landed dead behind her. Immediately triggering the Curse of the Vanquished, regenerating her armor and also granting her the ability to empower her next attack.

And of course, she slashed at the chimera that was about to shoot its attack, using Fulminating Slash specifically, but Amber modified it to make it smaller and more importantly lower the explosion range. In exchange, because it was smaller, it got even more cutting power.

The white slash immediately impacted the Fledgling Chimera as a small explosion of blue fire hit it. Two monsters got caught up in it and one immediately died as a notification went off, but Amber just smiled and sprinted forward towards the reeling monster⁠—

Also, I haven’t done this in a while.

Amber spun her sword and used Flamethrower, silver and blue flames consumed the monsters in the surrounding, the weaker ones immediately entered critical condition while the strongest ones immediately reeled and turned towards the nearest other monster to kill them, thinking they were responsible for the flames, but it was all part of her plan. That said, she made sure to avoid curses just in case the chimera was able to heal from them.

Her plan wasn’t anything special, in fact it was reckless to some extent, but it was one that would be the most effective in her opinion. And more than anything, it hinged on damaging the Fledgling Chimera enough.

Amber gathered her Essence and slashed with Wind Cleave, making sure to only hit a single monster with a diagonal swipe. The chimera ate the attack, and the other monster dropped to the ground, bleeding heavily and burned by the flames, then a moment later it died and Amber closed the distance on the chimera once more⁠—

She used normal Quick Dash in combination with Fulminating Slash once more, and while this time she didn’t get a kill for it, it didn’t matter because⁠—

[You have defeated a [Earthen Exen. Lvl. 87].]

A monster succumbed to her flames.

Amber dashed and alternated with her other Essence slash attack, all while monsters in her surroundings continued to stop dead, and she also gathered the Essence from her corpses merely by grazing one of them after their death. Not only aiding her in her next level but also slowly replenishing her already used Essence.

In no time, she arrived atop of the Fledgling Chimera and then with the use of her hand, she dug into the body of the monster and burned. She consumed its blood with Crimson Fuel, enhancing her own healing by using its own life-force. And she braced herself, knowing she had a mere two potions left to rely on.

The monster immediately retaliated with its tentacles and Amber in return exploded fire with the use of Curse of the Vanquished, immediately burning them to cinders as the Fledgling Chimera shrieked and thrashed in pain. Instantly, the monster’s flesh shifted and spikes pierced into her body but Amber kept herself calm and chanted⁠—

“Flamethrower.”

Blue flames erupted into the monster, causing it to thrash once again and this time Amber dug her other hand into the monster as she stabbed the Cursewelder deep into the amalgamation she was fighting. Then she forced her skill to work overdrive to heal herself⁠— her injuries entered a constant momentum of healing and being reopened, causing curses to flow into her and more importantly rapidly building, and soon enough, the skill filled up completely.

Amber wasn’t stupid, she knew this wasn’t sustainable in the long run, but it took mere seconds⁠— even if the poison was acting in her body, she still had a lot to do, and more importantly, even her own body had adapted to the poison as much as possible and had essentially halved its effect.

She gripped her sword to get off the monster, her plan had mostly been completed, what remained to do was heal as much Essence as possible from the surrounding monsters and finish this off⁠. Amber moved and the Fledgling Chimera shrieked⁠— an ear-piercing shriek that went into her brain and that sent a notification⁠—

[You have resisted Battle Cry’s status effect due to Supernatural Nullification.]

And all of the monsters immediately turned towards her, Amber blinked and the Fledgling Chimera⁠— rolled. Amber still stuck on the spikes of her body was crushed under its massive body weight, fracturing multiple bones then, the chimera shifted the amalgamation that was its body and maws crunched onto her legs before she was whipped into a level 190 monster.

At that moment Amber took the chance to use the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash but she heard another roar coming from the chimera and red light exploded from it once more. Before it had faded considerably, but now, once more it recovered its vigor. Marking the Fledgling Chimera entering yet another frenzy.

Amber at that moment had the monster teleport atop of her and hit. This time, Amber merely had her arm broken and her brain rattled, briefly losing focus of what was happening before she was sent flying into a deer monster with huge antlers. One that charged into her and made an awful crunching sound.

Teeth went flying as her body ragdolled and Amber saw the pattern of being stuck in multiple hits again, and immediately she did something to prevent it. She turned towards the charging Fledgling Chimera and glared. It was the second time she used Inexorable Will on the chimera, but this time it was much more focused⁠—

The chimera stumbled from having one of its legs frozen, and Amber used that chance to slash with Wind Cleave and Fulminating Slash in a single moment. The leg was hit and immediately exploded as the chimera shrieked in anger, falling to the side.

Amber landed lithely and the chimera’s anger reached a new crescendo as it let out an ear piercing shriek, one that bordered on a cry as the red over its body flashed like never before. And then manifesting its frustration the Fledgling Chimera teleported yet again, seemingly ignoring its cooldown and Amber’s eyes went wide as she raised her sword to block given the cooldown of her own teleport.

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The Cursewelder took the brunt of the attack, cracking as Amber mended it with her mana immediately. The rock under her feet exploded as she was hammered into the ground, and the monster took that moment to sweep in with its shark-like head and chomp.

Amber sent a Fulminating Slash into its maw that exploded and yet⁠— through blood and flames the monster still grabbed onto her left arm and part of her shoulder. Amber grunted as she stored the Cursewelder into her storage ring and immediately made a dagger of blue flames that she intended to explode, but before that could happen the monster tumbled.

Amber immediately felt like she lost control of the fight as she was made to roll along with the monster. She didn’t want to lose a limb⁠— she wasn’t ready for that this time around⁠— so she took out the Cursewelder and stabbed it into the monster’s head. However, all the Fledgling Chimera did was let out a high pitched noise as Amber shrieked, her regeneration working hard to prevent her arm from being torn off.

She didn’t want that at all⁠—

She immediately forced the blood of the monster to burn, all while numerous monsters tried to kill her. Some were brushed off like an Earthen Exen hitting her with a charge and doing nothing more than annoy her, but some even took chunks of her armor and reached her flesh with their attacks⁠— thankfully the Curse of the Vanquished keep on regenerating it which kept her mostly protected.

But still, Amber fought spamming her Essence skills as much as she could⁠— unfortunately, she couldn’t hold her concentration enough for Advanced Blue Fire Creation to turn into something more but she still fought with screams and even began to bite into the stupid monster.

The chimera had clearly given up any sort of dignity as it fought like a feral beast, and as it realized it wasn’t enough to truly kill her, its lion head began to immediately charge a beam of death.

Fucking hell⁠—

Amber cursed in a panic as she slashed with Fulminating Slash this time adding in part of her rage hoping to disrupt the monster and even using Inexorable Will. The exploding slash hit the monster with a loud bang, burning it and the monster also froze but in spite of that the danger remained and the monster⁠— fired.

Amber blacked out as an explosion shook the surroundings.

And when she regained consciousness a few seconds later her ears were ringing, flesh was raining, and a barrage of notifications were going off saying kill assists. Amber tried to stand up using her left arm given her right arm was broken and unresponsive, yet she felt nothing there. And that’s when she paled.

Amber immediately grunted, her bones had been snapping back into place and it didn’t take long for her to get back mobility in her arm and she immediately used that mobility to use the last remaining curse potions on herself. The response was instant as the healing considerably sped up and her arm ⁠— thankfully ⁠— began to be remade out of nothing calming herself.

Yet Amber only heard an odd shriek coming from behind her, all the monsters were dead at this point and her Essence was maxed. So, she had no qualms about using it to heal herself, making the bone and flesh of her arm, and when she finally got sight of what she was seeing it was the chimera.

It looked tired and messed up and yet it was gloating as if in victory, shrieking to itself perhaps it was due to the fact that it was a new monster, or just a monster ⁠— a being that didn’t have the intelligence to confirm kills ⁠— but at that moment Amber grinned and slowly stood up, catching the attention of the chimera. It was out of its frenzy state, and it was wobbling clearly tired from the entire thing. It was still alive but tired.

So I won.

And finally, her arm finally came back and with it she made a bow of blue flames, an arrow was immediately nocked as it began to shine and the monster panicked. It cried in anger as it rushed towards her but it was too late.

The Fledgling Chimera rushed in desperation as Amber grinned. It probably had one last trick or attempt up its sleeve but it didn’t matter.

The monster with a last effort teleported atop of her but Amber ⁠— having already been hit by the same thing multiple times ⁠— threw herself to the side as the chimera barely missed. It turned in desperation preparing a beam attack, but it didn’t matter because the arrow was charged.

She didn’t even need the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash for this. She had all she needed. The Curse of the Vanquished and a lot of pent up rage from all the abuse she had taken. And now it was time for fucking payback.

For a moment, Amber could’ve sworn the monster’s eyes showed fear as it jolted and shrieked, but she didn’t care as she loosed the arrow.

Primordial Blazing Bolt⁠—

And a torrent of fire exploded at point-blank range with the Fledgling Chimera at the very center of it.

* * *

Frei was observing the battle with a shadow clone, all while the purple haired merchant looked like an anxious mess as she kept muttering that Amber would be alright. The elf, Asil, on the other hand seemed to be doing some kind of meditation, which Frei noted seemed to be affecting the Arcane Council ring he wore, strangely enough.

However, she didn’t pay attention to that, instead she solely focused on Amber’s fight, and how it had been going. She couldn’t lie, the Fledgling Chimera, she had underestimated it. Amber, on the other hand, was performing much better than she had expected. Even after Amber went on a whole speech about killing it herself. It was just somehow hard to believe, yet she had done it.

In fact, while she found it odd to admit, Amber was way beyond her expectations. Which put her in a great mood. Even now when she was getting ragdolled around⁠— she survived all of that shit and having her arm ripped off. She was still standing and she was resolute.

Frei observed as Amber made an arrow of blue fire and it seemed weak, certainly not enough for the monster to die, but her instincts were telling her a fact:

Amber won.

The arrow was loosed and an inferno similar to the last one consumed it all except much stronger, a laugh left her as her clone almost got caught up in it. The attack was fucking strong for sure, and Amber was a monster for her level which was an amazing surprise.

Maybe I can take her to a few deadly dungeons to level her~ Frei mused.

Finally, she opened her eyes and Cecile seemed to be gaping at the pillar of flames in the distance, while Asil just smiled.

“I knew she could do it,” he said.

“Bullshit, ya sat cross-legged and closed your eyes from nervousness,” Frei retorted.

Even then, she was happy, now all that was left to do was deal with the second chimera that her mission mentioned and they would be done. She shook her head and⁠ danger came. Frei flicked her hand and a barrier was erected.

A moment later a beam hit the barrier, except it cracked. She frowned at that as Cecile shrieked, and Asil the elf jolted. They all turned towards the point of origin, the valley behind them, and there Frei saw the shadow of the chimera, however what Appraisal was telling her was…

[Juvenile Chimera [Legacy Branch of Abyssal Destruction]. Lvl. 362]

It was a whole fucking advancement above her, almost thirty levels above her too.

A sigh left her. “The council and their shit information networks, I swear this is above my paygrade.”

She turned and saw Amber’s two terrified companions. Normally, in this situation she would run⁠— she didn’t feel like fighting seriously just because of some shitty information gathering, but this time she had to, she had given Amber her word and Amber herself was safe.

That said the chimeras should’ve been way deeper into the valleys.

Frei shook her head, she couldn’t think about it instead she extended her hand and a scythe of darkness was formed. Finally, she began to walk forward as the Juvenile Chimera looked at her with increased hostility.

“Welp, time for me to level up I guess.”

* * *

Amber finally saw the outpour of notifications, both from her kills and assists. Turns out enemy attack also counted as assisted.

[You have defeated a [Zauvan Agil. Lvl. 182].]

For defeating an enemy 25 levels above your own, you have received bonus experience!

[You have defeated a [Ackal Zauvan. Lvl. 92].]

Less experience for defeating an enemy as a group.

[You have defeated a [Grand Earthen Exen. Lvl. 112].]

Less experience for defeating an enemy as a group.

…

She got skill level ups too, and she leveled up a few times too.

[You have reached level 165. 10 stat points awarded.]

+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

…

[You have reached level 169. 10 stat points awarded.]

+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

And her core too was on the brink of leveling up.

However, there was a notification that was missing, and that was the chimera.

She rose from her spot, smoking and burned from her own attack, but very much alive and in the same crater, a few meters away from her she saw a piece of darkness with a sword embedded. It was immobile, almost like a carbonized corpse, but as soon as she took a step forward a few eyes on its being opened.

They looked at her and a moment later the Fledgling Chimera stood up, before falling on its legs.

It was on the brink of death, its durability was higher than the Abyssal Briroar, but it was clearly not a tank monster⁠— and solely because of that, she had won.

Amber smiled, and teleported atop of the monster. Sure she had like no Essence whatsoever now, but she was fine. Very much alive and energetic enough to celebrate, even if her body was throbbing all over.

She gripped the Cursewelder and took it out as the monster let out a pathetic shriek, she also took the chance to burn its blood to heal herself as she loomed the monster over the chimera.

It was amongst her hardest battles, and this time, unlike other times, she had willingly chosen to carry it out. The other fights she had had, she hadn’t been able to run, but this time it was different. She had insisted to stay, and she had triumphed.

This is great.

Perhaps she felt like throwing up, and perhaps she hardly had any Essence to her disposition, but she had won.

Amber prepared herself to savor her victory and at that moment she heard two deep roars that screamed power. Shivers were sent down her spine and she used the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash to get out of the crater as debris exploded from the crater.

She looked down at the charred hole in the ground only to see two deformed abominations of nature, ones that immediately gave her pause as she stumbled from the poison that was still roaming her system.

[Newling Chimera. Lvl. ???]

[Newling Chimera. Lvl. ???]

Two new chimeras…

I might have to call Frei…

But as she heard a loud explosion and felt curses being used in the distance, she had a feeling that that may not be possible.