Capricorn then head-b.u.t.ted the Chaos Chimera from below, snapping the jaws shut. Whatever fiery spell the skeletal monster was conjuring, it failed and blew up inside its own mouth and smoke billowed out of the holes that were meant for its nostrils. With a wail, it thrashed about wildly, forcing my three Constellation spirits to retreat.

"Ho…not bad. You're a lot better than I thought."

At the side, Henry James applauded, impressed. At least he wasn't calling me trash like some cheap, two-bit villain from a cultivation story. G.o.d, I hate the tropes that infested that genre.

I didn't pay much attention to him because the Chaos Chimera was coming back, snarling as it lunged at me. By now, it was pulling the main bulk of its body out of the dimensional rift, bony claws clacking against the ground. As I withdrew with my Constellation spirits, my gla.s.ses scanned and a.n.a.lyzed the full figure of the creature. It resembled a sauropod of old, stretching over thirty meters in length from head to tail. I was reminded of the Ultrasaurus or Seismosaurus. Or maybe Argentinosaurus (was it a genus or a specific species of sauropod? d.a.m.n it, I wish I majored in paleontology).

Not caring about the accuracy of something that was way out of my field of knowledge, despite being a fan of dinosaurs during my early childhood (who wasn't? I bet most of you in your late twenties or early thirties continue to be mesmerized by the first Jura.s.sic Park movies and Land before Time), I focused more on staying alive. As the Chaos Chimera pounced on me, my Constellation spirits unable to a.s.sist me in time, I met its charge head-on. Running forward, I flipped myself at the last moment and sailed above its skull. Twisting myself in midair, I landed atop its scalp and plunged both of my swords in. shards of bone scattered and the Chaos Chimera shrieked in rage, but I was already gone before it could throw me off.

Then Taurus tackled it once again, almost knocking its head aside. Even though the gigantic bull was still dwarfed by the sauropod-like skeleton, he had a few tricks up his sleeve. As the Chaos Chimera turned to snarl at him, he unleashed his Aldebaran spell to incinerate it. The head and most of its neck was engulfed in superheated flames, vanis.h.i.+ng from view.

"Good job!" I praised him, landing several dozen meters away. Even though I had coordinated with Taurus to launch this attack, I didn't think he would actually pull it off.

Then I suddenly sensed a spike of mana. Before I could shout out a warning, a charged mana beam lanced out from the Chaos Chimera's jaws and struck Taurus, obliterating him from existence. I watched in dread as the ma.s.sive t.i.tanosaur-like monster emerge from the flames, scorched but otherwise far from dead.

"Spread out!" I ordered Aries and Capricorn, not wanting to present too easy of a target to the rampaging Chaos Chimera. They obeyed without any hesitation, dispersing and jumping in opposite directions.

However the Chaos Chimera didn't just have that devastating spell from its main charged mana beam that it fired from its mouth. I watched in horror as spine-like protrusions s.h.i.+fted and moved along its long neck, body and tail. In a flash, over thirty yellowish beams lanced out in different directions, punching through the museum and destroying the structure. Rain of debris crashed down heavily, crus.h.i.+ng exhibitions and reducing much of the hall into ruins.

The majority of these devastating beams punctured b.l.o.o.d.y holes through Aries and Capricorn, hurling their battered bodies against the rubble. Even though they were individually not as powerful as the single charged mana beam from the Chaos Chimera's mouth, when combined they were no less deadly, and I could only see my Constellation spirits vanish from existence when the skeletal monster bombarded them once again.

"Ha ha ha ha! Incredible! This is incredible! I never thought the Chaos Chimera would be this powerful!"

Henry James had not escaped unscathed, having been forced to evade the beams as well. His clothes were singed and there were cauterized craters in his body, but he was still alive. Evidently the Chaos Chimera didn't care who summoned it to this world, and regarded us all as nothing more than ants to be stomped on.

"This makes everything worth it! Just to summon this beast of beauty! Ha ha ha! If the Sword Saint truly kills a monster of such immense power, her fame would surely rise!" he then chuckled and shook his head. "a.s.suming that she and her party have the strength to slay such a powerful creature, I mean."

"Are you not going to try and control it?" I asked as I weaved through a third hail of yellow beams that reduced more of the wrecked museum into a husk. "With the alpha monster genes injected into you surgery, and all that?"

"Ha ha ha! Are you kidding?" James guffawed. "Do you think I can control an alpha plus monster such as this? Why would it listen to me? Unfortunately, I can only control monsters that are weaker than me. Otherwise, why wouldn't I want to control a monster as majestic as this?"

"That is true." If it was so easy to tame monsters, then everybody would have done it already. No wonder only criminal guilds such as Grimaldus dealt with such forbidden powers. Of course the Global Federation wouldn't outlaw it and would be willing to take every risk if there was a way for them to control powerful monsters through genetic surgery. Who would be able to resist such temptations to elevate their strength to incredible levels with some convenient "cheat" that only involves genetic transplants? Well, of course that could prove dangerous – if the monster tamer decided to turn against the Federation, for example…that would be disastrous.

Well, at least James was going to suffer from this too. I could take slight comfort from that fact.

The Chaos Chimera pursued me, its tail whipping over. I jumped over it, but James was too slow. The skeletal tail caught him and sent him flying across the demolished building before he vanished in an explosion of dust and debris. I didn't pay much attention to him because I was too busily trying to avoid the next barrage of beams that followed after the tail whip.

"Isn't a tail whip attack only supposed to lower the defense of the target, not do so much damage?" I demanded as I ducked under another beam. Sheathing my swords, I summoned Orion and let loose a few azure arrows. They chipped at the whitish bone of the Chaos Chimera, but otherwise didn't do much. Given the large size of the d.a.m.ned monster, I wasn't surprised. I was going to need a bigger, much more powerful arrow.

Perhaps Rigel would blow the d.a.m.ned thing to bits. I just needed a bit of time to cast the spell, though. An arrow that powerful would obviously require a longer casting time than my other arrows or spells.

"Leo, Leo Minor!"

Fortunately, I had learned how to buy myself the time that I needed. Leo materialized, along with the pride of Leo Minor, and they pounced on the Chaos Chimera, who flailed about frantically. The bony apertures lined along its neck, body and tail fired over thirty beams, but my Constellation lions were more agile and flexible than my three horned spirits from earlier. They weaved through the devastating array of beams and slashed with their claws. As I expected, though, their claws didn't do much to the tough bones of the Chaos Chimera.

"Leo, Regulus!"

The golden blast of mana seared from Leo's body and slammed into the Chaos Chimera's midriff, causing it to stagger. It didn't leave so much as a scorch, though, but I had already antic.i.p.ated that. While Leo's Regulus was powerful, it still wasn't enough to disintegrate a monster the size of the Chaos Chimera.

Growling, the skeletal creature swiped at Leo, who deftly evaded its claws. Several bony cannons along its neck whirled about to fire at him, but Leo was already catapulting over the beams, and jumping about in a zigzag manner to weave through them. While the Chaos Chimera was distracted by the leader of the pride, the smaller Leo Minor crept in closer and pounced on it, slas.h.i.+ng at its flanks and legs. With a snarl, the Chaos Chimera shook them off, its tail whipping out and sending them flying. It stomped on one unfortunate Leo Minor, causing him to vanish, and then the beam cannons along its tailed flared up, ripping into several of the slower Constellation lions scrambling to get away.

With a vengeful roar, Leo mauled the Chaos Chimera's head and gouged out several shards of bones. The Chaos Chimera retaliated by opening its mouth and attempting to blast him with its charged mana beam at pointblank range, but Leo let go and allowed himself to fall. Landing gracefully on the ground, he unleashed another golden pillar of Regulus, which knocked the Chaos Chimera's jaws to the side and engulfed its skull-like head. Once again, the beam went awry and lanced harmlessly toward the heavens.

"Phew…"

I exhaled in relief when I saw that my remaining Constellation spirits were okay. Leo retreated, just in time to avoid another deadly stomp as the Chaos Chimera's head emerged from the smoke with a screech.

"Rigel."

With the word on my lips, I summoned the blazing arrow into existence. The air around me rippled violently from the potent maelstrom of power that now surrounded me, the atmosphere actually distorting from the sheer amount of mana that suffused me. Taking aim, I then released the blue and gold arrow at Chaos Chimera.

At the same time, my Leo and pride of Leo Minor chose that instant to vanish, to seek shelter from what was coming.

"!!!"

Digging himself out of the rubble, the battered Henry James emerged just in time to see the spiraling arrow strike the writhing Chaos Chimera and explode. His jaw dropped as he tried to s.h.i.+eld himself, and the entire area vanished in a blinding flash of light, an enormous explosion that consumed most of the half-demolished museum and wrecking the rest of the beleaguered structure. A mushroom cloud blossomed into the air.

"What the f.u.c.k is this bulls.h.i.+t?!" he howled. "n.o.body told me anything about this?!"

Those were the last words that left his mouth before the shockwaves buffeted him and he was sent flying several dozen meters away, his body almost incinerated from the sheer, h.e.l.lish force of the fiery explosion.

Miraculously, he was still alive. Laughing hysterically as he landed amidst the disintegrating rubble, most of his body burned into ash. Crawling up with his remaining hand – the other arm having been burned off – he pulled his remaining half of his body above the pile of debris to watch the dispersing explosion. Glaring down, he scoffed.

"Not bad, not bad at all, kid! But that won't be enough! This is the Chaos Chimera we're talking about here! Unless you're more powerful than the Sword Saint herself, you can't destroy it!"

The flames had died down by now, and the currently blackened frame of the Chaos Chimera staggered out, smoldering. There were thousands of cracks that lined its skeleton, and it looked as if it was going to fall apart any moment now, but against all odds it had survived.

And it was angry.

The ghostly flames burned furiously in those empty sockets and it whirled around to glare at me. Its maw yawned, and a new charged mana beam coalesced within, getting ready to surge out with a vengeance and obliterate me.

"Honestly, you did great, kid! You have surpa.s.sed all expectations! But too bad your nuke spell isn't enough! Not against a monster of this caliber!"

"Well, I kind of expected it," I admitted with an indifferent shrug as I finished casting my next big spell. "Which is why…Draco, it's your turn."

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