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Chapter 56: Nightmare Battle
Chapter 56: Nightmare Battle
When faced with an incomprehensible situation that leaves you at a loss, your intuition can guide you in the right direction. Doing something, anything, is better than sitting around waiting to die. So when the Blood Orb began to burn with a sinister Black-Red Flame, Liam took action.
He generated a Cherry Bomb in his hand, then stuffed it into a bottle filled with Sunlight Crystals. He then timed the throw, hurling the bottle directly at the monsters gathered around the Altar.
Thanks to the Assassin's Legacy, Liam's enhanced mobility allowed the bottle to land right in the center of the Mummies' clearing on the Altar, exploding immediately. The monsters didn't have a chance to react.
Suddenly, it seemed as if a sun had risen on the Altar. The monsters, bathed in the life-giving Sunlight, let out shrill, agonized cries.
After the blinding flash subsided, Liam squinted in the direction of the Altar. He saw that the Blood Orb had completely vanished, seemingly purified.
The monsters on the Altar and those dancing around it were severely injured, their bodies charred. Most of the Chimeras below the Altar suffered fatal blows, scattering into heaps of carbonized remains.
The Mummies on the Altar, being more powerful, had taken a direct hit from the Sunlight Burst but four out of the seven managed to survive. Their charred bodies looked like burnt charcoal.
Naturally, these monsters noticed Liam, the unexpected intruder. With a roar from one of the Mummies on the Altar, the Chimeras below charged towards Liam's hiding spot.
Liam turned and ran. After all, the real world wasn't a game, and standing still to unleash a barrage of attacks wasn't a viable strategy in most situations. He believed that using his mobility to gradually wear down the monsters was the best approach.
As he thought, Liam used his Grapple Hook to swing from the surrounding cliffs, moving quickly and occasionally throwing Sunlight Crystals at the Chimeras that got too close. (It was worth praising magic here; the Grapple Hook, which normally had a complex mechanism to keep the rope compact, was now enhanced with an Extension Charm, solving the issue of length and bulk.)
The Sunlight Crystals, upon impact, created Sunlight Bursts that hindered the monsters' progress and inflicted damage.
During this chase, two Chimeras that had been heavily injured earlier were repeatedly attacked. After several more hits, it seemed they reached their breaking point. Upon receiving another Sunlight Crystal, they stopped moving, and a circle of charred marks slowly spread from the impact points to cover their entire bodies. They then crumbled into piles of carbonized debris.
Encouraged by this success, Liam planned to continue using Kite Tactics to take down the remaining Chimeras. However, another scream came from the Altar, and all the Chimeras abruptly stopped their pursuit, turning to run back to their starting positions.
Liam sensed something was wrong and tried throwing Sunlight Crystals at the retreating monsters. They only attempted to dodge, not turning back to attack him.
Clearly, the monsters were up to something or preparing a powerful move. Liam wasn't the kind of protagonist who stupidly waited for the enemy to finish their preparations before taking the hit. Knowing that their retreat was a bad sign, he decided to take advantage of the situation and attack as much as possible before the Chimeras returned, weakening them as much as he could.
Liam threw Sunlight Crystals at the Chimeras as he pursued them, but the flesh on their bodies constantly shifted, dispersing the positive energy and reducing its damage. After discarding some of the more severely damaged flesh, the Chimeras ran even faster, decreasing Liam's hit rate.
Realizing this tactic wasn't working, Liam risked throwing a Grapple Hook attached to a rope to try and pull one of the Chimeras closer. However, the Chimera simply moved its flesh slightly, and the Grapple Hook missed, flying back due to Liam's forceful pull, nearly injuring him.
Liam then experimented with firing Peas, Flame, and Hallucinogenic Mushroom Spores. He awkwardly discovered that firing Peas had a recoil effect, increasing the distance between him and the monsters. Pure physical damage was also ineffective against them, and the Flame and spores lacked the necessary range.
At a corner, Liam clung to the stone wall and took a shortcut to get ahead of the Chimeras. He set up a tripwire at waist height using the Grapple Hook to try and stop the monsters. However, the remaining six Chimeras collectively charged through, breaking the rope.
Taking advantage of the brief slowdown, Liam launched several spells, but they all hit the monsters without any effect. Clearly, only the Sunlight Crystals, which contained the opposite energy of the monsters—light and life—were effective. Other magic had little to no impact.
All efforts to stop and eliminate the monsters failed. While the Chimeras were left with burn marks and forced to discard much of their flesh, not a single one was eliminated during the pursuit. Liam could only watch helplessly as they turned the final corner and successfully entered the clearing.
When Liam rounded the bend, he saw a horrifying sight: the Blood Orb, which he thought had been completely purified, was floating in the air again, releasing Blood Mist.
The monsters absorbed the Blood Mist and began to recover. The burn marks on their bodies gradually faded, revealing grotesque flesh and withered skin.
Had all his efforts been in vain? Liam thought in despair, but upon closer inspection, he realized the situation wasn't entirely hopeless.
The destroyed monsters did not resurrect, and the Chimeras did not regrow their lost flesh. The Mummies seemed to have recovered, but the strange tattoos on their bodies had vanished.
Most importantly, the Blood Orb, which had been at least the size of a soccer ball when Liam last saw it, had shrunk to the size of a baseball.
The monsters, upon noticing Liam, did not attack him. Instead, they resumed their Mysterious Ritual around the Altar.
Liam tried to intervene, but a blood-red fog rose around the Altar, blocking everything he threw. Neither Sunlight Crystals nor magic could penetrate the blood-red barrier.
Liam tested the barrier by throwing a few pebbles, which easily passed through and hit the Altar. The barrier seemed to only block energy attacks, and since Sunlight Crystals were essentially solidified energy, they couldn't pass through.
The only effective weapon was now useless, and Liam felt disheartened. Was he supposed to charge through the barrier and engage the monsters in close combat?
(End of Chapter)
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