Chapter 17

Allen and Linbelle raced to where Julius was.

As they continued running, they gradually encountered less and less strange decorations, contorted corpses, and chimeras. However, the air around them felt more and more ominous. 

“This is…”

Following behind Allen, Linbelle was confused by the déjà vu she’d experienced while going deeper into the cave.

It was clearly a place she’d never been to before. She only came because her mother was supposed to be there.

Her head became even more jumbled as they headed deeper in and witnessed more unfamiliar scenes.

‘What on earth is this…?’

Allen was confused, as he often was.

About halfway through, the cave had begun to show evidence of artifacts.

That was when the issue arose.

The deeper they went, the more traps that he had never before experienced they encountered.

At best, a trap would only drop bars on them or blow up the floor.

“Sir, be carefu—Ack!”

Allen stopped the ice pick falling from the ceiling, pulling Linbelle aside right before she could get impaled.

Crunch.

Allen quickly shattered the tool with a shockwave. Fortunately, Linbelle was able to move out of the way.

“Phew…”

The traditional ice picks and fireballs would descend automatically, while venomous insects would suddenly jump out from below their feet if they made the wrong move.

Then, a series of tricky traps that Allen had never experienced before tormented them.

“Sir, there’s another venomous bug right under your foot…!”

“Thank you.”

Allen squished the venomous bug that had affixed itself to his skin.

Although numerous traps blocked their path, there were still no chimeras in sight.

Well, not exactly.

‘Has it been like this since I heard that vibration?’

They had heard it when they first entered the cave, and since then, the number of chimeras had gradually decreased. And before they knew it, they entirely disappeared.

Rumble, wham.

Once again, the space around them began to vibrate.

As they moved closer to the explosive sound, Allen glanced at Linbelle’s face.

“It seems as though there’s a fight taking place. It’s probably…”

It had to be Inellia. 

“Mom…”

Allen’s words weren’t spoken very clearly, but Linbelle could easily guess who it was that was participating in that fight.

Regnor. 

If excluding that chimera, then the ones who’d be fighting in this cave would have to be Inellia and the chimera sorcerer.

Could there be more candidates apart from those two?

The only remaining option would have to be a monster that the sorcerer controlled.

She clenched her teeth and quickened her pace. Allen silently also increased his speed, still trudging through the traps.

They were only a short distance from the sound’s source.

* * *

Translator – Aine

Proofreader – yukitokata

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* * * 

Inellia could feel her body creaking more and more.

It was human in the first place. However, the remains of different sprites were implanted into that body. 

Maybe it was because a new species had been born or because of some sort of bizarre adaptability that had been conceived within the body that she was miraculously able to survive the experiment.

Regardless…

‘How much longer can I last?’

More than that…

‘Is it even possible to reach that monster?’

She glared at the old man in front of her with disgust.

The old man continued watching the battle, as if it were entertaining.

‘No, I must do it.’

For Linbelle’s sake.

Each component of her patched-together body that aided in maximizing her adaptability formed into a single body.

She took out a small needle with the left hand that came from an unknown sprite. The needle grew in size and stabbed the approaching chimeras.

Stab.

She punched giant holes into the bodies of the chimeras surrounding her from all directions.

“Oooh. Could that be Spriggan’s left hand? This is my first time seeing it in person.”

Her second eye glowed golden as she swung her opposite arm like a bear.

“I didn’t know that the more difficult-to-identify aspects during the experimentation phase would change like that…”

She smashed in a chimera’s head as she swung her fist backwards.

“That… is that Púca’s transformation skill? I guess that’s how you passed as a human being. How much can you do with that? Is there a time limit?”

Inellia grew angry with his gaze, looking at her as if she weren’t a threat.

‘How long can I last?’

Impatient at the lack of progress being made, Inellia unleashed a burst of explosive power. She grabbed an ax and split open the face of a dumb-looking monster.

She had long since recovered from the previous smaller attacks. And once again, she sliced through an approaching chimera’s head.

“Whose blood was it? I don’t remember which one I used… I can’t even guess. That strength is Nixie’s? And then that regeneration… Maybe that’s from one of the trolls?”

The chimera sorcerer, Deverre, comfortably analyzed her as if he were just solving a simple puzzle.

There was no fear in his movements. Each time she would reveal an ability, he’d do nothing but admire it, as if he felt no danger in her attacks.

Inellia bit her lip and forced her body to merge into one.

It wasn’t that she was a patched-together chimera or a series of transplanted parts; she really just one being.

It was as if it were the same whole body she’d had from birth. Her incredible adaptability as an ability helped bring all of the parts together.

It negated the side effects of rejection and other reactions.

Yet it still wasn’t enough.

The number of chimeras decreased. However, did that create any sense of danger for Deverre? She looked at his expression. The expression that showed great interest.

Countless chimeras had been killed, yet why couldn’t she even get close to him? Why wouldn’t the number of chimeras decrease already? Could he even be injured at all in this fight? What’s even the difference?

What about Linbelle?

‘Can I even protect her?’

Inellia had already built a mountain of chimera corpses.

She had to choose: give her life or continue the war?

‘Of course.’

A spell composed of colorful sprite script appeared and floated atop her fair skin.

“That’s…”

Inellia’s twelve pairs of wings glowed in iridescent colors.

They were the only remnants of the sprite queen.

Mana fluctuated endlessly around her while something resembling a giant, faintly gray, vaguely shaped eye rose behind her.

Right here, right now.

Until her strength ran out entirely. 

It was safe to say that she was on par with the true sprite queen, who had only appeared in legends.

Even if only with half her body, it possessed substantial power, deserving of many sprites’ respect.

She gained incredible adaptability from the countless sprites that had been combined into that body.

Moreover…

‘Vengeful spirits.’

The power generated through the combination of countless vengeful spirits attached to one soul.

Although it could only be used for a moment, it was surely an option.

‘It’s possible.’

It was.

If she failed after using it… No, even if she were to succeed, it would be impossible to restore the energy she’d already consumed.

However, it could release her from her shackles. It could kill the enemy.

Her wings trembled from the enormous pressure emanating from her still-closed eyes.

“You fucking crazy—!”

Deverre’s expression changed as soon as a massive eye arose behind Inellia’s back.

He quickly commanded all the chimeras to rush towards her as he pulled out a strange stone blade from his arms. 

Red veins pulsed on the surface of the stone blade and an eyeball was embedded in its center.

He didn’t care too much about its appearance.

“You can even use that too… How unexpected.”

His senile face didn’t smile as if he weren’t embarrassed, unlike his urgent actions suggested. 

“Let me ask you this again. Are you sure you… don’t want to let me go?”

“Well, why would you do the same for me?”

With madness-stained eyes, he looked at the eye behind her.

“They’re not of any sprite royalty. They’re yours, and yours alone. So how?! How is this possible?”

His eyes were flooded with greed and desire as well as doubt and madness.

“The Glare. How did you get it? It’s a power only ever afforded to sprite royalty!”

“Seems like it, huh.”

“Inellia. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, yet you’re making me so, so curious. Can’t you cooperate like you always used to? Please, I’m begging you.”

He didn’t give up until the very end, making Inellia laugh in ridicule. 

The eye behind her began to open. She felt a burning sensation all over her body. However, she could bear it.

She had to.

Screeeeeee—

“Gack! Hrrrrk—!”

It was ridiculously effective.

The eye wasn’t even completely open. Yet nearby beings evaporated into nothingness only by the light leaking from that tiny, little gap.

Regardless if they were living or dead.

She could give her life if it meant she could kill him in the process.

She closed her eyes, feeling as if life itself had begun to burn away.

She heard Linbelle’s voice off in the distance.

‘I miss you.’

Inellia made her decision, giving Deverre a chance to plunge the stone blade into his heart without hesitation.

Stab.

The skin around his heart began to swell up colorfully, and his appearance began to change.

His skin turned black, and his eyes began to turn red. His hair and nails fell out, and his wrinkly skin began to melt.

“It’s still… too early… to…”

His voice became exceedingly bizarre, a composition of various noises.

At the same time, his veins stretched out from under his feet, attacking the surrounding chimeras, absorbing their flesh and blood into his own body.

However, Inellia destroyed all living organisms around her faster than he could regenerate himself.

By then, the chimera sorcerer realized that things hadn’t gone according to plan and quickly screamed, “You, you, you! Inellia, please, let’s talk this through! Just this once! Just this once! If you let me talk this through, I’ll let you go! Please… Please!”

He shouted with eyes full of both madness and sincerity. But at the same time, the veins siphoned more and more from the chimeras.

Seeing this, Inellia smiled wistfully.

“Just as I thought… I made the right choice.”

Even with death right around the corner, he couldn’t give up his greed. How could she believe the words of someone like that?

Yet some regret remained.

‘But…’

Regret or not, it didn’t make any difference.

At that moment, the massive eye was almost fully opened.

“No, it doesn’t seem like a very good choice.”

The chimera sorcerer’s scream rang out.

* * *

Allen briefly contemplated if the situation in front of him was real. 

On one side stood a sprite straight out of a legend, and on the other, a chimera sorcerer devouring dozens of chimeras.

Even for him, who had been studying magic all his life, it seemed unrealistic.

However—

‘I’ll be seeing this sort of thing much more often in the future.’

Had the Julius from before the regression ever seen something like this? Faced an enemy like this?

Unraveling ancient secrets, driving off monsters, calming emerging disasters. 

The situations talked about in the rumors that sounded like it came from a heroic fairy tale turned out to be entirely unbelievable when encountered in reality.

Allen saw Inellia first.

Her appearance had changed a lot since the first time he’d seen her.

She no longer had fair skin, and now had twelve pairs of wings and pointed ears. 

However, Allen saw something else.

The giant eye floating behind her back.

It was attached to her, yet burning through her soul. 

It instilled an incredible feeling of intimidation with its existence alone.

‘It’s dangerous. But if the eye were all the way open…’

She would die. 

That was for certain.

That careless method of wasting life.

That was the method he had often used.

“S-Sir…? What are you doing here…?”

Inellia asked with a surprised look as Allen approached, admiring the scene in a relaxed manner.

“I’m here to take back what’s mine.”

“No, what are you…?”

“You’re an employee of my household, aren’t you?”

Her eyes asked what he was talking about, and she began to speak.

“Did you take care of Regnor already…?”

“Do you mean that big chimera? Is that Regnor? No, not quite. I’ll tell you the details later. First of all, stop that.”

Allen’s calm eyes turned towards the eye behind her.

Even now, her life force was burning away.