Chapter 41
Chimera
That didn’t go as I expected. I thought Anna, would be as gullible as her father, but it seems that James taught her well. That or she just a natural skeptic. By now, she probably warn her brother about me, so I doubt I’ll be able to convince Aaron to join my side. Fine, if they don’t want to join me, then I should just kill them.
“No....no that’s not what I want.” I told myself trying to purge the malicious thoughts that was crawling in my head. How pathetic. I’m letting this power take control of me. If I’m this weak then maybe I should just leave everything to Joseph. It’ll be much easier if I just give up.
“Alexander….”
“Yes what is it?” I turn to face Miyamoto who had a concern look on him.
"….” For some reason Miyamoto stay silent like he was carefully thinking about what to say to me. I must really look terrible for a calm man like Miyamoto to be this worried.
“Do you really think it was a good idea to let her go after everything you told her? I mean wasn’t Alice your mentor?”
“…..So you overheard our conservation?”
“I apologize, I didn’t mean to pry. I just was making sure that woman wasn’t up to anything.”
“It’s fine. I brought you here because I trust you more than anyone else.” I pat Miyamoto on his shoulder to assure him I wasn’t angry.
“Anyway the reason why I let Anna go is because I actually kind of like her.”
“Huh?” I found myself chuckling at the confuse look on Miyamoto.
“You heard how upfront Anna was in our conservation. She didn’t bother trying to hide how she felt and what she wanted. It’s very rare to see people like that, most would try their hardest to hide their selfish nature, kind of like me. I always fool myself into thinking that I been doing the right thing whenever I deceive or back-stab someone. But now….. I’m not so sure. Am I…..Am I even doing the right thing?!"
I raise my voice at Miyamoto causing him to back away from me. Seeing the worried look on his face, I take a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down.
“I like to think you’re doing the right thing.” Miyamoto spoke and a calm and strangely relaxing tone. “I been around for quite some time, and I saw plenty of man preach about justice, but only a few of them ever dedicated themselves to fighting evil. And I have to say Alexander, you might be the most dedicated man I ever seen. During the time I serve you, I seen you make decisions most man would never be able to make. You’re even willing to go as far as to sacrifice your own humanity to save lives. In because of that I swear….” Miyamoto place one of his hand on his heart and knelt down on one of his knees.
“I swear that I’ll protect you no matter what! Even if I have to sacrifice my own life!” Seeing Miyamoto swear his life to me cause the corruption that slowly devouring my heart to fade away, along with the doubts that was clouded my mind.
“Ok, I think that’s enough bowing, people are watching.” I offer Miyamoto a hand while trying to ignore the painful awkward stares we were getting
“Right, sorry about that.”
“There’s no need for you to apologize, I’m the one that should be saying sorry. You shown your loyalty to me multiple times, and how do I reward it? By keeping you in the dark and making you do missions you never fully understood.”
“You had your reasons.”
“No, no I didn’t “I tightly clutch my hands thinking how cruel I was to the man who show me nothing but loyalty. "Miyamoto, as I said before, you are the most trustworthy person I know, and because of that I think it’s time I told you what were really up against….”
(Anna P.O.V)
“Miss, do you know this man?” The knight look at the hero with eyes filled with suspicion. I don’t blame him really. I mean the hero actually look like a kidnapper with that cloak on. I understand he’s trying to hide his identity, but I think he stands out more when he wears that.
“Yea I know him, unfortunately.”
“Unfortunately?” Both the knight and hero mutter to themselves confuse.
“Well if you two are working as a team, then I can freely allow you to go hunting, but I should warn you….”
“Yea, yea I know the outside world is a dangerous place. If I don’t pay attention to my surrounding then I’ll end up getting maul to death. Is that what you were going to say?”
“…..Something like that. Stay safe you two.” The knight steps out of my way, allowing me and the hero to freely leave the city.” The moment we step past the gate the hero started to laugh for some reason.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, I’m just surprise. Knowing you, I thought you would’ve said no to that knight when he asked if you knew me.”
“Trust me, I was thinking about it.”
“Hmmm, what made you change your mind?”
“I really wanted to do this mission, but unfortunately everyone I know is busy. So I had no choice but to settle with you.”
“So what? I’m a fallback plan?”
“Actually, you’re more like an option I didn’t want to consider.”
“Ouch.” The hero clutch his chest pretending that he was in pain. “Even though your words hurt, I’m still happy.”
“Are you some sort of masochist?”
“No, I’m just happy because you accepted to work with me. Now team “Black and White” has now been officially created!” The hero pump his fist with excitement.
“Huh? Black and white? Hey, I seriously hope you didn’t name the team after our hair color.”
“Yup I did. Not only is it catchy, but sounds cool too doesn’t?”
“Seriously, for you to be that self-conscious of your hair color, just how bad were you bully as a kid?”
“Hey, would you two love birds shut up, or are you trying to alert every creature in the forest of our location?” A bald man wielding an axe shouted at the both of us. I immediately knew from the rude way he talk that he was one of the assholes that nearly ran me over earlier.
“Sorry about that, we’ll keep it down.” The bald man snorts at us before turning back around to walk alongside his team. Falling into silence I finally realize we were strolling through the forest. I was so busy paying attention to the hero antics that I didn’t even realize we enter the forest.
“Where exactly are we going?”
“I have no idea, I’m just following the team that’s ahead of us.” I look at the bald man team, I could tell from the way they was confidently walking that they knew where they was going. Although I have no idea why they’re moving so slow. Earlier they were in such a rush that they nearly ran me over, now it seems like they want me to join them seeing how slow they’re moving. Actually now that I think about it, there’s five more teams around us that’s moving exactly like them. Even though we’re all in different teams, it feels like we’re moving as one big unit.
“Hey does these types of missions reward everyone that participate in it, or does the team that completes the mission first the only one rewarded?”
“It only rewards the people that completes it.”
“Ok then, so missions like these are kind of competitive, so why does it look like everyone is working together?”
“I have no idea.” The hero shrug his shoulder at me. “If I had to guess, I’m assuming we made an unspoken agreement to work together because of how dangerous the mission is.”
“Is this mission really that dangerous?”
“Yea, didn’t you see the threat level on your card?”
“Yea I saw it, but I have no idea what an ‘S’ level is?”
“What?!” The hero suddenly stops walking, causing me to walk into him.
“Ouch!” Even though I didn’t really feel any pain I shouted out in reflex, while grabbing my face like it was bleeding.
“Why did you stop, actually better question, what the hell are you made of? It felt like I just hit a stone wall.”
“Did you really accept this mission without knowing how dangerous it was?” The hero looked at me with a serious expression, which was weird for me, since I’m so used to him having a goofy looked.
“I had no idea the letter ‘S’ was so dangerous.”
“How is that possible? That’s the first thing they teach you when you become an adventurer.”
“Yea, I might have skip out on that lesson.”
“….You really are something.”
“I get that a lot. So, do you mind explaining these ‘threat levels’ to me?”
“Looks like I have no choice.” The hero lets out a sigh. I guess he was preparing himself for his explanation.
“Since most people that becomes adventurer our just regular civilians, the adventurer guilds thought it would be a wise decision to create a threat system, so that people who do this as a hobby would know when to back down. As of right now there six threat levels, I’ll explain them all to you.
Threat level C: This level is the least threatening out of the bunch. Usually problems assign to this category our issues that happen inside the city. Like community project or a missing person cases.
Threat level B: As you would expect, this one more dangerous than ‘C’ but safer than ‘A’. Missions assign to this category are usually like subduing dangerous criminals, or wild animals like dogs.
Threat level A: All missions under this category is extremely dangerous. You’ll see organized crime or very dangerous creature under this one. Normally the adventurer guild would give these types of missions out to only experience adventurers or knights.
Threat level S: Missions that fall under this categories are threats that are capable destroying cities. I think the best example for this one would be the orc invasion a few weeks ago. The adventurer guilds only give out these kinds of missions to knights or me.
Threat level SS: Just as you guest, is even more dangerous than ‘S’. To be honest, I never seen an ‘SS’ mission before so I really don’t have any example. But I guess maybe a dragon can fit in this one, since they’re capable of burning down multiple cities.
Threat level SSS: I never seen this one either, but this is the most dangerous one. I’m just going to go ahead and assume that this category is save for things that threaten the entire world, like the Demon King for example. Obviously, I’m the one that’ll be task to deal with this threat.” The hero said while proudly pointing at himself
“I see, then that means we’re dealing with something on par with the orc invasion.”
“Yes and no. While I did say things that are assign to ‘S’ category are capable of destroying a city. A city doesn’t necessarily have to be danger for something to be an ‘S’ level threat.”
“….You lost me.”
“It does sound confusing doesn’t it? Don’t worry, I’ll try to explain it, as clearly as I can.” Seeing the hero clear his throat, I brace myself for another long explanation.
“Imagine a wild rabbit invades Athens, terrifying thought isn’t? Anyway, a couple of people complain to the adventurer guild that there’s a wild rabbit biting everyone. At the very least the guild will consider this threat a ‘B’. So after assigning the rabbit to category ‘B’ they then send an inexperience adventurer to subdue the rabbit. Now normally, a wild rabbit can easily be taken care of by anyone that’s capable of wielding a weapon, but what if the rabbit was somehow able to kill the adventurer that was sent after it?”
“I’m assuming its threat level would go up.”
“Correct. Even though the rabbit is small and isn’t really a threat to the city, its strong enough to kill humans that are wielding weapons. So the guild will raise the rabbit’s threat level so that more experience adventurer will go after it. Now, let’s take this weird scenario, and apply it to the situation we’re currently in. This mission we’re doing was originally an ‘A’, but it was raise to an ‘S’ the moment the team assign to this mission went missing. So even though I doubt what we’re up against is capable of destroying a city, we’re still facing a powerful enemy that can go toe to toe with knights that we’re train to deal with ‘A’ and above threats.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“So if we’re facing something that can kill knights, then why are there nothing but adventures here?” Isn’t ‘S’ missions supposed to go to knights only?”
“Yes, this should’ve been given only to knights or me.” The hero tightly balled his hands into fists. “The city probably think it’s be cheaper to sends adventurer to solve this problem instead of more knights, but if a team of knights failed to complete this mission, then there’s a huge possibility that everyone here is going to be killed.”
“Is that why you’re here, to protect everyone?”
“Of course! It’s my job as a hero to protect everyone around me. So don’t worry Anna, I promise I’ll keep you safe.” The hero proudly fist bump his chest.
“Thanks, but I’m capable of taking care of myself.” I walk past the hero who took a pose, I guess to impress me.
“Hey wait, I understand you’re confident in your skills, but we should stick together, especially since neither of us is carrying a weapon.”
“What are you talking about? My weapon is right her…” My voice trails off the moment I felt something missing on my waist.
“Oh, fuck me!” I shouted out loud in disbelief. All the teams near us gave me a weird look.
“Hey guys, she didn’t mean that literally, so everyone please keep your pants on.”
“I can’t believe I forgot to grab Lawbreaker before coming here.”
“Lawbreaker? What’s that?”
“It’s my sword...” I can’t believe I left it even more than that, I can’t believe how vulnerable I feel without it. It’s because of this stupid weak body, that I’m pretty useless without a weapon.
“I don’t have anything have anything as useful as a weapon, but these could come in handy.” The hero hands me a couple of marbles.
“Right….” Even though I figure the crystals wouldn’t be that useful against an ‘S’ class opponent, I decided to take them, since their better than nothing.
Falling into silence again, me and everyone in the area followed the bald man and his team for some reason. As we walk deeper in the forest I notice that we haven’t encounter any form of monsters, even though we’re moving in such a huge group. The forest for some reason was dead silent. An uneasy feeling grew in my heart, the moment I notice the eerie silence. Why the hell is it so quiet? And where are all the creatures?! I found myself questioning every little thing that was off in this situation, until my thoughts were interrupted by a foul smell.
The revolting stench was powerful enough to stop all of us dead in our track. While everyone was standing around questioning what was causing the smell, I knew the moment it struck my nose what it was.
Death, well to be exact corpses, a lot of them too. For some reason I felt like this was our final warning. The ‘S’ threat and the unusual silence in the forest were all warnings telling us to stay away. I feel like if we ignore this final warning and follow the stench, then we’re going to see something that we shouldn’t see, and it looks like I’m not the only thinking this.
Everyone around me started to back away, even the bald guy who was leading us the entire time was slowly retreating. You may called them cowards, but I think it’s a wise decision to leave. There’s no reason for us to get killed over something we barely care about. The knights that came here has been missing for three days, there’s no way in hell they’re still alive, so we’re not saving any lives even if we complete this mission. We’re better off going home and pretend we never came here.
“Man, I’m not sure what’s ahead. But it doesn’t smell pretty, I wish I can just turn back around and ignore this.”
“But you won’t will you?” The hero looks at me gives me a small smile.
“I can’t turn back, it’s not in my job description to ignore people that are in danger, but you should head back to town Anna things are probably going to get dangerous.”
“Don’t worry, I was planning on leaving before you said anything.”
“Good, take care of yourself.” Lightly tap me on my shoulder as he head off to the place where the smell was coming from.
“Hey, what are you doing?” The bald man quickly grab the hero’s hand before he could go any deeper in the forest.
“What does it look like? I’m going to go investigate the smell. There’s a high possibility that it might lead me to the missing knights.
“You plan on going by yourself?”
“Yea, I think it’s safer if go alone, so can you tell everyone to go home, I’m you sure you all realize this isn’t worth risking your lives over.” The hero shook his arm free from the bald man in continue moving forward leaving everyone behind.
“You… You think I’m stupid?! You plan on going alone so you can get all the glory right?!” The bald man shouted at the hero who was long gone. The bald man stare at the spot where the hero vanish, like he was waiting for him to response back.
“Damn it, like hell I’m going to leave and let a kid handle this by himself. C’mon guys, let’s get in there!” I’m pretty sure the bald man was talking only to his team, but it seem like everyone was motivated by his words. The fear that was plastered on everyone was gone, and replace with confidence. Letting out a war cry, every team ran into the place where the hero went, leaving me behind. After contemplating what I just witness for few seconds, I decided to follow after them.
Seeing everyone run off like a madman, I thought it would take me awhile to catch up to them, but surprisingly it only took me a couple of seconds to reach them. The group stood near and what look like an open field staring at something. I couldn’t see what they were looking at since they was blocking my view, but I knew it wasn’t anything good. Fear that they manage to rid themselves of, once again struck them, some of them even look like they were about to vomit at whatever horrifying thing they was looking at. Even though my nose was telling me to turn back, I sped my pace up so I could see what was so terrifying that cause everyone to lose their motivation so quickly. Pushing my way past branches and everyone that was taller than me, I was finally able to see the thing that cause everyone to piss their pants.
A grotesque scene unfolded in front of me. Human body parts were scattered all across the field painted the grass red with their blood. At least I think they’re human parts. The bodies were torn the point it was impossible to identify them. If these are knights we’re looking for, then I’m afraid we’ll never complete our mission because the bodies are damage beyond recognition.
Who… Who the hell did this?!” Standing in the middle of the bloody field, the hero tightly clench his fist and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“I’m not sure who did this, but I’m confident it wasn’t human.”
“Anna…” The hero’s rage quickly subsided the moment he looked at me.
“Yea it’s me, why do you look so surprise?”
“I thought you said you were going back to the city.”
“I was planning on it, but seeing everyone rush here like an idiot, I thought I be safer staying with the crowd, instead of trying to go back alone. Now, let’s hurry up and solve this case, so I can leave.”
“R-Right.” The both of us turn our attention to the dismember carcass in front of us. “Just like you said, I doubt a human did this. There’s no way a human have enough strength to tear limbs apart even with the assistance of magic. So this was definitely done by a monster.”
“I doubt a monster did this too.”
“Huh? Why you said that? this clearly looks like the work of a monster.”
“Yea, at first, but look more closely.” I pick up what appears to be an arm that was missing all its fingers. “Tell me, why does monsters attack human, actually why do they attack anything?”
“To eat right?”
“Correct. Monsters attacks humans because there hungry, but look at this scene, there’s body apart everywhere, doesn’t that seem wasteful to you? Monsters leaving piles of body parts, is like a starving kid throwing away a plate full of food.”
“So then who do you think did this?”
“I don’t know.” I want to say orcs so badly, since they’re the only creatures smart enough to set up ambushes and strong enough to tear people limbs off. But this is overkill even for orc. I just can’t imagine an orc would take the time to tear every limb off, hell I can’t imagine anybody doing that. Whoever did this must harbor an extreme hatred towards humans.
“!!!!!” I quickly turn my attention to where the roar came from. Everyone around me points their weapon at a tree that stood at the edge of the field.
“Who’s there? Show yourself!” Someone from our group shouted. Answering the person call, a large scaly hand appears from behind the tree. Cracks form on the bark of the tree as the scaly hand tightly grip it. The creature slowly move from behind the tree until it was completely visible.
We stood in shock at the creature in front of us. In all my years I live on this planet, I never a seen monster like it before. The creature body was cover in black scales making it look like a weird humanoid alligator that happen to have horns on its head.
“What the hell is that? A demon?!”
“Like hell it is!” I shouted at the man that asked the question. I can handle being blame for things I haven’t done, but I refuse to let someone compare my creations to this abomination.
(And they’ll keep evolving, until a successor to the Demon King is created.)
Are you serious? Is this what Alexander was talking about?!
“Everyone move!” I suddenly find myself lifted up the air. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the hero was one that pick me up.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“…..” The hero had strain expression on him, as he look at the ground. I follow his eyesight, to see what made him lose his cool. Somehow, the thing that was standing at the edge of the field, was now standing in spot where I originally was. The creature had what seem to be a piece of the hero’s cloak in his hand. For it the close the distance between us that fast…..
“What…. What the fuck are you?!!”
"We call them Chimeras..."
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.
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(Alexander P.O.V)
“Well at least that’s what Alice calls them.”
“Oh my goodness, I never a creature like this before.” Miyamoto, walks up to the chain chimera I have hidden in my house. The creature eye gave off a dim yellowish glow as Miyamoto approach it.
“Of course you never seen them. These creatures are extremely clever, and are good at hiding themselves. So familiarize yourself with them, because something tells me they’re going to reveal themselves to the world soon.”
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A/N: Hey guys, Just a pro here. I would like to talk about the manga poll I created a week ago. Seeing so many people say this story would make a good manga really, really, Really made me happy. (Although does people who pick the last option.... i'm just going to assume you pick that for the 'lols')
Anyway I always admire manga artists to the point where I took lesson on how to draw, but being the half-ass person I am. I didn't get that far. Anyway to make this potentially long story short, I saw a royal story on a manga site. That's right a royal road story was somehow able to get a manga adaption. It's called 'Spectral Regalia."
Even though my story isn't anywhere near as popular as Spectral it still gave me hope that maybe, just maybe I can get an manga adaption to my story, or just some pretty cool drawings of Anna. I swear i'll freak out if ever see a picture of Anna.
Anyway, that's all I have say thanks for reading.