Chapter 6 – Half Evil

Part 1

“Hah… hah…!”

After returning to the surface, Lexia ran along the deserted night road to the royal palace.

“I think it’s around here…!”

Reaching the outer wall, she carefully searched the area.

Then, among the traps set by Luna, there was a single string of a slightly different color. Luna had prepared an emergency string among the anti-assassin traps.

“There it is! As expected of Luna!”

As she climbed the outer wall, she looked down and saw five or six men in black folded over and passed out in a nearby thicket. They appeared to be assassins who had been repelled by the traps.

“Luna’s strings are very effective. Thanks for your good work.”

With that in mind, Lexia climbed over the wall. She ran through the quiet garden.

“Laila-sama!”

“! Lexia-sama!”

It was late at night, but Laila was still in her dress, looking around anxiously in the garden.

“I was so worried; where have you been until this late…?”

Lexia was grateful for Laila’s kindness in caring for her but felt she had to tell her as soon as possible, so she told her while out of breath.

“The man behind the assassination is the prime minister!”

“! Prime Minister Najum…!?”

“Yes, the prime minister was the one who sent assassins to Laila-sama! But when the assassination didn’t work, he tried to unleash the chimera sealed in the underground… he’s going to use the chimera to kill Laila-sama, destroy the royal capital, and take over the country!”

“What did you say?”

Laila lost her color at the shocking news.

Lexia took her hand.

“We should get the help of King Braha, but we don’t know where the prime minister’s men are lurking. If we intervene badly, we will be crushed… First, let’s contact Orghis-sama and ask him to talk to King Braha. I will also contact my father──”

At that moment. A persistent voice crawled into the garden at night.

“Well, well, at this late hour of the night, what is it that you and your friend are discussing?”

“!”

They turned around as if they had received a jolt.

There stood Najum with a faint smile on his face.

Laila stares with strong eyes at Najum, who stands there as if blending into the darkness with no subordinates.

“…It was you who was trying to kill me, wasn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

“W-why in the world…!”

Najum admitted without a hint of apology and smiled wickedly.

“Why, you ask? Haha, hahaha. Of course, it’s because you were in my way.”

He dismisses even the most superficial respect and reveals his true nature as an animal.

“If that imbecile─Prince Zazu, were to enter into a marriage with the magical powerhouse of Regal, the kingdom’s power would be strengthened, and it would be more difficult to overthrow it. Moreover, if the chimera is discovered and crushed before it awakens, it would be a disaster. In order to prevent that from happening, I have plotted to assassinate you. You should have been killed without trouble, but instead, you have been wandering around… but now the time has come. Now that you know of my ambitions, I will let you disappear into the dust.”

“…..!”

Laila bites her lip.

Then Lexia interrupted Najum’s line of sight as if to protect Laila.

She stared at Najum with her jade-green eyes.

“Excessive power will only destroy you. You are not qualified to stand at the top of the world.”

“Fumu, you little girl, you know nothing of the world. I have already acquired great power and am about to become the ruler of this country. Don’t you dare talk to the king that way!”

Najum snarled at Lexia and Laila with his serpentine gaze and took out the whistle.

“You annoying lass… you should regret that it was only you who should have died. Your foolishness has brought terror and misery and killed many people. Witness the chaos that will consume this country and the world!”

“! Stop!”

Before Lexia could stop him, Najum sharply blew his whistle.

Immediately after the high-pitched sound echoed through the night sky, a rumbling sound like the rumbling of the earth rumbled beneath their feet.

A muffled howl echoed through the air, followed by an earth tremor that was unlike any that had come before.

“! This is… No way…!”

Najum ferociously bared his teeth at Lexia, who shuddered at the cold premonition.

“Now is the time to destroy. Kneel before my ambition!”

＊＊＊

At that time, in the underground temple.

The sound of a whistle echoed from the ground, and Tito’s ears perked up.

The whistle sounded… It’s from the direction of the royal palace…!”

“Vuvu, vu…?”

The sleeping [Desert Chimera] opened its eyelids with a roar that seemed to crawl on the ground.

Four monsters slowly raised their heads and let out a thunderous roar.

“Gugyaaaaa-aaaaaahhhh───!”

“H-hyiiiiii! The [Desert Chimera] has awakened!”

“Wha? Did His Excellency Najum blow the whistle? That’s a big problem; why are we still here now?”

The soldiers were shaken.

The monsters, freed from their seals, tore off their chains with a terrifying roar.

“Gugyaaaaaaaaahhh!”

“Oh no!”

Before Luna could jump out of the way, a chimera attacked a soldier near the pillar.

“Gigyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

“U-uwaaaaaahhh!”

“Kuh! [Avoidance]!”

Luna wrapped a string around the soldier and pulled him in with all her might.

The chimera’s forelimbs immediately delivered a tremendous blow that cleaved the space where the soldier had been, along with the entire pillar.

“Hyii… Y-you are…!?”

“I’ll explain later! Hurry up and get out of here!”

“This way! Don’t turn around. Run!”

The two soldiers, blindsided by the sudden appearance of Luna and Tito, were driven toward the exit.

Four chimeras attack the fleeing soldiers in a frenzy.

“Aaaaahhhh!”

“W-why are they attacking us? His Excellency Najum said that as long as we had this brooch, we wouldn’t be attacked…!”

“N-n-no way… we’ve been tricked…!”

The faces of the soldiers are stained with despair. For Najum, his men here were nothing more than disposable pawns to be used until the monsters awakened.

“Gugyaaaaaaah!”

Another pillar was broken, and the ceiling, having lost its support, collapsed with a rumbling sound.

“Hyiiiiiiiiiii!?”

“Look out!”

Tito leaped in a straight line toward the huge debris that was collapsing toward the soldiers.

“Huh!”

A single swing of her claws shattered a huge chunk of rock the size of a house.

“Aah! That huge rock was shattered with a single blow…?”

“A-amazing…! Who in the world are you…?”

“Get out of here while you still can, quickly!”

Soldiers stumble to their deaths and flee through the pebbles that fall like rain.

In the midst of the cloud of dust in the temple, moonlight shone through the missing ceiling.

“Gugyaaaaahhh!”

Two chimeras spread their bat wings and leaped out of their holes to the surface.

The other two leaped into the passageway through which the three had come before.

“Oh, crap! We’re splitting up, Tito!”

“Yes!”

Chasing after the rampaging chimera, Luna releases a string through a hole in the ceiling and lands on the ground, while Tito jumps into an exit that leads to the outskirts of the royal capital.

＊＊＊

Once on the ground, Luna ran down the main street like the wind.

The four chimeras seemed to have already scattered and moved on, and the nighttime royal capital was in a state of panic. People were running away screaming, and children who had been separated from their parents were crying out.

“Over here!”

Luna rushed to the square in a whirlwind of screams against the fleeing crowds.

As the chimera loomed, a derailed carriage blocked the passageway, stranding many people.

“Vuvuvuvuw…”

“Aaah, ah…”

In front of the despair-stained crowd, some soldiers, probably those who were guarding the ruins, were cowering with spears in their hands.

The chimera lowered itself to leap at them──

“I won’t let you! [Boisterous Dance]!”

“Gugyaaaaaaaaaah!”

Luna launched a string at the chimera.

The slashes from the strings, which danced wildly in all directions, caused countless wounds to the chimera’s tough body.

“Wha!? What was that attack?”

“From where in the world did it come from…?”

The soldiers opened their eyes in astonishment.

“Vuvu, vu, vuvuvu…!”

The chimera looked angrily back at Luna, who had rushed to the scene.

“Ah, dangerous!”

“Gugyahhhh!”

The chimera lunged at Luna and swung its claws down.

Luna dodged the blow, which had the power to shatter even cobblestone pavement, by fluttering in the air.

She landed lightly on a string in the air.

“Hey, she’s floating in the air!　 What’s going on?”

“What’s with that body movement…?”

The chimera spread its wings as it stared up at Luna, who was standing in midair.

“Gugyahhhh!”

The bat’s wings beat the wind, and its huge body soared.

But Luna calmly held up her hands and whispered sharply.

“[Spiral]!”

In an instant, the strings around Luna gathered and spun like a drill, piercing through the chimera’s wings. Then, all at once, they unraveled and tore it to shreds.

“Gah, gaaaahhhh…!”

The chimera was slammed to the ground with countless wind holes drilled into its wings.

“I-it tore at the chimera’s wings as if they were paper…!?”

“Who the hell is she? And I’ve never seen a weapon like that!”

“Guvuvu… Vugaaaaahhh…”

The chimera rises to its feet; both eyes tinged with rage.

Luna kicked the string and descended straight toward the chimera.

“W-what the hell is she doing?”

“Does she want to die?”

“Gugyaaahhhh!”

The chimera looked up at Luna and opened its fang-lined mouth.

“Haaah!”

Luna cleaves both arms in the air.

A strong string is stretched around the chimera like a cage.

“Vuvuvugaaaaaah!”

Before the thick arms could reap the strings, Luna clenched her fist as if to crush something.

“This is the end──[Prison]!”

The strings that had been stretched out gathered in the center in an instant.

The chimera was shredded by the sharpness that even sent the orc’s head flying.

“Gugyaaa…”

The mighty monster vanishes, leaving behind a decisive scream.

Luna landed where the chimera had been. With the disappearing particles of light at her side, she muttered quietly.

“You guys are not to blame.”

“S-she beat… it…?”

“S-strong… S-she killed that monster alone…”

Luna cut off the carriage that was blocking the passageway with a piece of string, left the people in the hands of the soldiers, and began to search for the other chimera.

In the process, she noticed claw marks carved into the cobblestones. The claw marks were heading toward the royal palace.

“! I defeated one of them, but could the other one possibly be headed for the royal palace…!? I have to take it down fast…!”

At that moment, another chimera roared from the opposite direction──from the outskirts of the royal capital.

“! Tito must be headed for the outskirts, but… I have a bad feeling about this…──Tito!”

Driven by a stirring in her chest, Luna ran to the outskirts of the city.