Chapter 174: The Reunited Chimera
“As I thought, it was you… Mr. Ganei!”
“Exactly!”
What emerged from the collapsing building were Mr. Ganei, an undead chimera researcher we had fought before, and a giant chimera he seemingly created.
The chimeras until now were primarily based on orcs, but this chimera hardly retains any trace of an orc anymore.
Its figure, harboring the characteristics of countless creatures within its body, is a chimera in the truest sense.
“Why on earth did you do such a thing!?”
“That is obvious. To create the strongest chimera!”
As I thought, that’s the reason. But that raises a question.
“Strongest? But if that’s the case, there’s no reason to stick to orcs…”
“Hmph, true. But this too is for a grand experiment.”
“A grand experiment?”
“Indeed. Until now, I, and my former comrades, combined various monsters to create chimeras in order to subjugate the White Calamity. But despite the vast number of combinations, all the chimeras we created were no match for the White Calamity.”
Certainly, that’s the reason Mr. Ganei continued his chimera research even after becoming an undead.
“And having lost the last fragment of the White Calamity, I finally ran out of options…”
Mr. Ganei looks up at the sky and slumps his shoulders.
“It was then. I encountered a certain coincidence.”
Then, Mr. Ganei directs his gaze to the collapsed building.
“While blindly combining monsters, wondering if there was any oversight in my research until now, a miracle occurred.”
“A miracle?”
“Or perhaps it was the devil’s mischief. While synthesizing chimeras, I encountered a mutation.”
” ” ” ” “Mutation?” ” ” ” ” “
“What’s that, Big Bro?”
Jairo, not understanding the meaning of mutation, tilts his head and asks.
“A mutation refers to a special individual possessing characteristics that originally wouldn’t be born from that race. A bird with three wings, or a horse with extremely long legs, normally don’t exist, right?”
“I see, so that’s what a mutation is.”
“Indeed. Normally, a mutated chimera is a failure that didn’t yield the planned result, but I found hope in it. I thought that perhaps an unexpected mutation, rather than an answer from a predicted formula, could produce an individual capable of reaching the White Calamity!”
I see. Certainly, even among wild monsters, mutated individuals are often troublesome.
The idea of intentionally creating them might make sense in a way.
“But why orcs for that? If you’re seeking mutations, it doesn’t necessarily have to be an orc, right?”
Yeah, just as Liliera says. If the objective is to create a powerful individual through mutation, it’s better to do it with powerful individuals from the start.
“Not a bad question. Such doubts are important in research. You might be suited to be a researcher.”
“Eh? Ah, thanks.”
Liliera looking bashful after suddenly being praised is a little cute.
“Your doubts are reasonable. Because orcs are not that strong of a race even as higher species. But my objective is not to create a strong orc. My objective was to produce an intermediate material, a mutated orc!”
“Intermediate material!?”
“Certainly, as you say, it would be more efficient to use powerful individuals and wait for a mutation. However, powerful individuals have a low reproductive rate due to the strength of the organism. Therefore, I chose the highly reproductive orcs as the base body.”
“Eh? Wait a minute? You’re making chimeras, right? There’s no need to go out of your way to breed them, is there?”
Even though he said creating mutations was the objective, the word ‘breeding’ suddenly came up, bewildering us. Towards that, Mr. Ganei floated a broad smile.
“Hmph, that precisely is the other objective of this research: feralization!”
” ” ” ” “Feralization!?” ” ” ” ” “
“Exactly. An existence called a chimera, by combining with other organisms, is born as a more powerful organism than individual races. But there, what should be called feral instinct is missing. It is nothing more than strength on paper. However, wild organisms, even fragile individuals, fight frantically to live and sometimes even defeat existences of higher rank. Therefore, I decided to seek that in the chimeras I created. For mutated chimeras to be born from feralized chimeras! Named the Chimera Ranch Plan!”
“Chimera Ranch Plan!? Is that why you were letting the chimeras out of the building!?”
“Umu! Also because they increased too much and couldn’t fit inside the laboratory anymore.”
” ” ” ” ” “Too much of a nuisance!!” ” ” ” ” ” “
“Throwing them out because they increased too much, they aren’t pets, you know!”
“If you’re going to call it a ranch, at least surround it with a fence!”
“Gah, what are you saying! If I surround them with a fence, the wildness won’t be nurtured! Wildness is nurtured precisely by leaving them in harsh nature! And by crossbreeding the mutated chimeras born among those that feralized, eventually I will reach the strongest chimera! For that too, the highly reproductive orcs are optimal as test subjects!”
“Uwaa… the worst.”
“Not considering the nuisance to people at all, it’s too clean-cut…”
“But considering an undead has no lifespan, it might be somewhat reasonable?”
“As one who serves God, acts that toy with life are unacceptable…”
“As I thought, it’s better to make this undead pass on.”
“Oh, are we fighting?”
Even though he looked bored until just now, Jairo suddenly gets excited upon hearing we’re fighting.
I guess he didn’t understand the content of the conversation.
“Alriight! If we’re gonna do it, let’s do it quickly! Big Bro, leave this guy to us!”
“Fuhahahahaha! Do you intend to challenge my chimera orcs? True, these chimeras are still plain chimeras that haven’t even become intermediate materials. But setting aside that troublesome brat over there, they’re no match for the likes of you!”
“Heh, I wonder about that? Don’t underestimate us!”
“Very well. I shall make you fodder for this Mutation No. 1, nicknamed Giga Orc-chan! Devour those brats, my good Giga Orc-chan!”
When Mr. Ganei orders, the nicknamed Giga Orc-chan below raises a roar.
“For now, that’s an orc too, huh.”
“Alriight! I’ll lightly slice it in tw…”
“Kyu kyuuuu!”
Just when Jairo was about to attack Giga Orc-chan, Mofumofu dashed out, drooling, eager to be the first.
Even though he ate that much, he still hasn’t eaten enough!?
“Gabu kyuu!”
And the moment I thought Mofumofu bit into Giga Orc-chan.
“Gue kyuuuu!?”
To my surprise, Mofumofu released his mouth from Giga Orc-chan and spat out the gnawed meat of Giga Orc-chan, going peppe.
“Fuhahahahaha! Are you surprised! The meat of this Giga Orc-chan has been adjusted to taste very awful as a countermeasure against you!”
“Wh-What did you say!?”
“With this, no matter how gluttonous you are, you cannot devour Giga Orc-chan! Too bad! Fuhahahahahahahaha!!”
“To make meat taste awful, what a terrifying thing!”
“That’s right, you bastard! We can’t eat it if it tastes awful!”
“No, that’s not the problem.”
“Fuhahahahaha! Be frustrated, be frustrated! I will not let you devour my cute chimeras anymore!”
As we were shocked by the completely unexpected countermeasure, Mr. Ganei raised a truly joyful laugh.
Mr. Ganei, even if it’s a countermeasure against Mofumofu, to take such a drastic measure…!?
“Tch, this got troublesome. What’ll you do, Big Bro?”
“Hmm, that’s right. If the taste of the material itself is awful, there’s a limit even if we cook it.”
“Kyu kyuuuu.”
Normally, if you artificially alter an organism, it’s common sense to make it taste better; I never thought he’d make it taste awful.
Especially the shock of Mofumofu, who had been looking forward to it after eating the chimeras up to now, is immense.
He seems thoroughly disappointed, looking more dejected than I’ve ever seen him.
“Now, do it, Giga Orc-chan! It is the beginning of my era!”
“This is bad! Everyone scatter!”
” ” ” ” “Roger!” ” ” ” ” “
The countless arms and tentacles possessed by Giga Orc-chan assault us.
But what should I do? Jairo told me not to interfere, so should I stay quiet and watch since this is the Dragon Slayers’ fight?
Even in adventurer rules, interfering with a prey another party is fighting is apparently bad manners.
“AIR SLASHER!”
When Mina intercepts with a wind area-of-effect attack magic, a massive amount of vacuum waves cleave Giga Orc-chan’s body, and thin arms and tentacles fall to the ground.
“Naive, little girl! Regeneration ability is a basic function of chimeras meant for the White Calamity!”
As if responding to Mr. Ganei’s words, Giga Orc-chan’s arms and tentacles instantly regenerate from the cross-sections.
“Another one with a bothersome ability.”
“It doesn’t matter! MELT SWORD!”
Jairo burns off Giga Orc-chan’s tentacles with his flaming magic sword.
“Heh, no matter how many there are, it doesn’t matter if I burn them all off!”
The basics against an opponent with regeneration ability is to burn the wounds.
Jairo, flying around at high speed, burns off Giga Orc-chan’s body.
“That too has been countered, brat. Giga Orc-chan, bite off the wounds!”
“Gumooooooon!!”
“What!?”
To our surprise, Giga Orc-chan began to bite and tear off its own burned wounds.
And the bitten-off wounds regenerated, and arms and tentacles grew back again.
“Uwah, gross.”
“How’s that! As long as the burned wounds are gone, it’s possible to regenerate again! This is the countermeasure against the countermeasure for regeneration!”
“Hmm, it’s an unflashy but effective method.”
It’s a primitive and violent method, but certainly this serves as a countermeasure against burning.
The idea of countering the countermeasure without using the latest technology is splendid.
“But if that’s the case, there’s no problem if we burn it entirely! FLAME INFERNO!”
Mina unleashes a wide-area fire magic and burns Giga Orc-chan’s body.
“One more FLAME INFERNO!”
Because she can’t burn it completely with one shot, Mina unleashes FLAME INFERNO multiple times.
Since that magic was used for weed control, its range is long vertically, but the horizontal range isn’t that much.
“Phew, how’s that, I’m growing too. Now the orc’s own fat will induce spreading fire… wait, huh!?”
The fat inside the orc’s body catches fire, and the spreading fire won’t stop until it’s completely burned; she seemed about to say that, but contrary to expectations, the flames that spread on Giga Orc-chan’s body vanished rapidly.
“What’s the meaning of this!?”
“Fuhahahahaha! Naive, little girl! Didn’t I say the countermeasures are perfect! The fat in this Giga Orc-chan’s body has been reduced to the absolute limit as a countermeasure against umami components!”
“Wh-What did you say!?”
“Moreover, by synthesizing jellyfish-type aquatic monsters instead, I made it taste watery, reduced the umami, and used the massive amount of moisture as a countermeasure against large-scale fire magic! Know that setting aside the peripheral tentacles, it is impossible to burn the main body completely!”
“Ugh!”
At Mr. Ganei’s perfect countermeasures, Mina raises a voice sounding thoroughly frustrated.
“The reason is incredibly trivial, but it’s an accurate countermeasure in terms of results.”
“Yeah, an awful-tasting monster being pointlessly formidable is a truth.”
Norb, Meguri, and the others raise voices of admiration at Mr. Ganei’s countermeasure against Mofumofu.
“But it’s troublesome when it comes to this. If it regenerates and powerful fire magic doesn’t work either, aren’t we out of options?”
“Since it regenerates, we can’t use the tactic of a prolonged battle either. Challenging it with numbers is also…”
“Besides, against this opponent, my wind attribute enhancement and Norb‘s defensive tactics have little effect…”
“To add to that, the moisture in Giga Orc-chan’s body is compressed, so there’s more moisture than it looks. Furthermore, the numerous roots extending from this body are connected to underground water veins, and it’s constantly replenishing moisture!”
Roots mean it has incorporated elements of plant-type monsters too.
With chimeras, the more types of organisms synthesized, the harder the adjustment, but Mr. Ganei’s technique that makes it possible is quite something.
As expected of someone who advanced his research even after becoming an undead.
“Nuo-! Then there’s nothing we can do! Isn’t there any good method, Big Bro-!”
Saying they’ve exhausted all options, Jairo cries to me for help.
Is it okay if I join the battle now?
“Let’s see. If it’s impossible with fire-system magic that emits momentary flames, how about magic that continuously emits high heat and burns it completely?”
“Continuously burns completely? What kind of magic is that?”
Ah, so Mina hasn’t learned continuous-type magic. Come to think of it, the magic textbook for children I left in my hometown didn’t have that type of magic in it either.
Maybe I’ll make one and bring it next time.
“Explaining is fine too, but first let’s actually try using it. VOLCANO LAKE!”
Concentrating magic power, I unleash the magic at the feet of Giga Orc-chan below Mr. Ganei, and the ground intensely emits heat and begins to boil.
“Nuo!? What is this!?”
And the ground dyes red and begins to melt into a sludge.
“Th-This is bad!”
Sensing danger, Mr. Ganei flies up into the sky, and a flight-type chimera picks him up.
However, the giant-bodied Giga Orc-chan couldn’t do the same.
“Bumooooooo!”
Giga Orc-chan, while sinking into the boiling, red-hot melted ground, begins to have its body burned.
“What is that!? It’s like the ground has become a bottomless swamp!?”
“Moreover, this heat is beyond compare to normal fire attribute magic. What on earth is this magic!?”
“This magic is VOLCANO LAKE. It’s an Area Alteration type continuous attack magic that turns the specified range into a lava lake.”
” ” ” ” “Area Alteration type?” ” ” ” ” “
“Yes. Like this, by turning the terrain itself into an environment with attack power, it can inflict continuous damage to enemies within that range. This time it’s heat damage from lava, but by recreating a sub-zero zone, you can freeze opponents to death, or by recreating the water pressure of the deep sea floor, you can crush them to death. The drawback is that it consumes a lot of magic power upon activation, but since it tampers with the environment itself, its strength is that the effect continues for a while even after finishing the magic activation. Also, due to the characteristic of the continuing effect, an advantage is that it’s easy to use to induce magic power depletion in defensive magic tools.”
“Well-, I don’t think there are many opportunities to fight enemies who use such things.”
“Or rather, if you activate it over such a wide area, it seems enemies other than those holding magic tools would suffer damage too, though…”
While we were talking about such things, Giga Orc-chan’s body steadily caught fire and spread, and its body was already buried up to its neck in the lava lake.
It tries to escape somehow, but its arms and tentacles burn immediately, and above all, it can’t float up due to its own weight.
Thus, without taking much time, Giga Orc-chan sank into the lava lake.
“Therefore, continuous-type magic is effective as a countermeasure against those with regeneration abilities.”
“Isn’t this something that can’t be used unless it’s in a deserted place?”
“It’s too dangerous to use even along highways.”
“If you use it in a forest, the forest goes up in a massive blaze.”
“Besides, it seems I wouldn’t be able to use it with my magic power.”
“I don’t think we can use it since we’re warriors either.”
However, everyone felt they absolutely couldn’t use it, so the specifications of VOLCANO LAKE were unpopular.
“Hmm, if we have to consider damage to the surroundings, then how about magic that deprives the surroundings of oxygen, making the target unable to breathe and suffocating them to death?”
” ” ” ” “You have a convenient magic like that!” ” ” ” ” “
“No, I thought showing an easy-to-understand continuous-type magic would convey it better.”
“I thought you used a magic that creates hell…”
“W-Well, like that, even if they have regeneration abilities, there are ways to counter them. Besides the ones explained this time, there are various other countermeasures against regeneration, you see.”
“Oh, what. We panicked for nothing.”
“If it’s magic to suffocate, even I seem able to use it. Teach me later.”
“Well, anyway, it’s certain that the troublesome chimera was exterminated. As expected of Rex.”
“Kyukkyu!!”
While everyone was relieved, for some reason only Mofumofu was smacking my leg with his front paws as if he were angry.
“What’s wrong, Mofumofu? What are you angry about?”
What on earth happened? That Giga Orc-chan tasted awful and Mofumofu couldn’t eat it, so I thought it wouldn’t be a problem even if I burned it completely?
“Could it be that’s the cause?”
“That?”
Prompted by Norb‘s words, I look at the ground, and there were the figures of the chimera orcs, scorched black by the shores of the lava lake.
“Ah.”
“Kyu gyuuu!”
I see, the reason Mofumofu was angry was because I burned the edible orcs too. That was a bad thing to do.
“Sorry, sorry. I’ll share the subjugated chimera orcs with you later as an apology.”
“Kyu kyu!? Kyuuu!”
For now, when I took out some chimera orc meat and shared it, Mofumofu seemed to have recovered his good mood, and briskly carried the chimera meat to a rock near the lava lake and began to grill it.
“That Mofumofu is grilling the meat properly…!?”
“Is that really just a normal monster?”
Everyone watches with a heartwarming smile as Mofumofu grills meat by the shore of the lava.
Yeah, it’s a peaceful sight.
“Y-You wretch…”
Oops, that’s bad. I forgot about that person.
I lock onto the figure of Mr. Ganei floating in the sky riding on a chimera.
“Ugh!”
Meeting my eyes, Mr. Ganei backs away as if frightened.
“As expected, you were too much of a nuisance this time. I cannot leave you be.”
Last time I let him go because I didn’t know the monsters had escaped, but this time he was intentionally releasing the chimeras.
If so, I cannot let him escape anymore.
“Mr. Ganei, I will capture you!”
With determination, I declare to Mr. Ganei.
