Chương 143: Apparently, They Could Use Magic Too

The poison mist continued spreading through the southern portion of the settlement until even Sieghart, who had deliberately stopped using Enhanced Smell upon himself, began feeling slightly dizzy whenever another concentrated wave drifted over the flooded road and damaged buildings.

His own spell had become annoyingly indiscriminate, although the Chimerians still suffered far worse whenever Sieghart deliberately increased their sense of smell and forced them to experience the foul magical vapor with several times their normal sensitivity. Sieghart reduced the amount of Poison Magic he maintained and looked toward the settlement center again, searching rooftops, guarded buildings, darkened alleys, and distant laboratories for anything suggesting Mira had finally begun making her move.

Nothing changed anywhere he could see. No alarm came from the northern side, no guarded building suddenly erupted into chaos, and no unusual surge of magic suggested Mira had taken advantage of the increasingly ridiculous distraction they had created. Sieghart frowned while wiping water from one sleeve and muttered.

"If Mira is being careful, she is being annoyingly careful," Ronan could not answer because he was busy ducking beneath the hooked claws of a heavily stitched Chimerian while simultaneously using mana threads to drag another attacker off balance and prevent a third from approaching his exposed back.

The agent stepped beneath one wild swing, opened the first Chimerian's throat with a knife, then shoved the dying body aside before it could collapse directly against him and interfere with his movement through the crowded street. Unfortunately, the corpse retained more momentum than expected. Its altered legs stumbled forward several steps through the poison haze before the body started falling directly toward the rocks where Sieghart remained hidden beneath Phantom Image.

Sieghart reacted instinctively and released Wind Magic, blasting the heavy corpse sideways before several hundred kilograms of modified flesh could collapse directly over his concealed position and reveal him in a far more embarrassing manner. The body flew across the area struck a rock and remained motionless there, but the abrupt change in direction had looked far too unnatural for the nearby Chimerians to dismiss as ordinary momentum.

Several enemies stopped moving and stared toward the apparently empty section behind the rocks, while Sieghart watched them from inside the distorted illusion and quietly muttered.

"Uh-oh. That probably looked suspicious." One archer reacted faster than the others. The creature possessed four narrow eyes along its temples, and those unusual angles apparently allowed it to notice the faint distortion surrounding Sieghart despite his camouflage. The Chimerian raised a long bow and fired before anyone else understood what it had seen, prompting several nearby archers to follow immediately and send a spread of arrows directly toward Sieghart's concealed position.

Sieghart abandoned stealth before the projectiles arrived, using Impulse and Wind Magic together to launch himself sideways while dismissing Phantom Image so the distortion would not reveal his real trajectory after he moved. Several arrows struck stone where he had been hiding, another buried itself inside a tree, and one sliced through the edge of his coat before Sieghart landed in the flooded street with both hands already gathering mana.

Every nearby Chimerian immediately turned toward the newly revealed mage, and Sieghart sighed before straightening and saying.

"Well, since it has come to this, I suppose there is no reason to keep pretending anymore." Ronan cut another attacker across the forearm and shouted, "What exactly are you planning to do?" while Sieghart looked toward the growing group of enemies abandoning the agent and turning their attention toward him instead. Sieghart rolled one shoulder and answered.

"Keep your neck where it belongs. Mira is taking her time, so I might as well make sure none of these freaks remove it before she finishes whatever she is doing." The Chimerians charged before Ronan could complain further, several lowering themselves onto all fours while others spread sideways, clearly intending to surround Sieghart before he could establish another large-scale spell or disappear beneath illusion magic.

Sieghart raised both hands and created Glacial Fists around himself, one after another, until several oversized hands of dense ice hovered at different heights while cold mist rolled from their reinforced knuckles. The first Chimerian reached him from the front, but Sieghart released one fist directly into its jaw, snapping its head sideways while frost spread across half its face and the impact sent it stumbling into another warrior.

A second Glacial Fist struck the same creature across the ribs and launched it completely off its feet, sending the altered body crashing into two companions before all three slid through the water covering the street. Sieghart created more fists without stopping, exploiting the spell's relatively simple structure to maintain a continuous barrage from different angles while the Chimerians struggled to determine which frozen construct would attack next.

One scaled warrior crossed both armored forearms before its face, successfully blocking the first strike, but a second fist hammered those arms into its chest before the third smashed directly against the damaged scales. The armor cracked beneath repeated blunt force, and frost immediately entered every fracture, turning the damaged defensive layer brittle enough that the following Glacial Fist shattered several scales completely and exposed the flesh underneath.

Another Chimerian attempted approaching from Sieghart's blind side, but Ronan intercepted it with mana threads around one ankle before cutting deeply across the creature's throat as it twisted helplessly toward him. Two more enemies tried circling around Sieghart from opposite directions, yet Ronan threw one knife into the first creature's eye and pulled it back using a mana thread before cutting the second Chimerian across the wrist.

Sieghart continued bombarding the enemies ahead with Glacial Fists, forcing them backward whenever they approached too quickly and breaking exposed bones whenever repeated impacts landed against the same section of their altered bodies. A broad Chimerian protected its head behind enormous forearms and charged through the barrage, but three consecutive fists struck the same elbow until something cracked and the entire arm bent at an unnatural angle.

The creature roared through the injury and kept advancing, only for another Glacial Fist to strike beneath the chin and lift its feet from the street before sending it backward through a wooden wall. Sieghart smirked and admitted.

"That spell is far more satisfying than I expected," Five Chimerians charged together, using the largest warrior as cover while two spear users remained behind it and another pair attempted spreading around both sides to prevent Sieghart from retreating. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Sieghart responded with seven Glacial Fists, sending the first two into the shielded warrior's shoulders before directing another pair toward the spear users and reserving the remaining constructs for whichever enemies continued advancing. The larger creature blocked one strike and endured another, but the accumulated impacts drove it backward until its heels lost traction in the flooded street and forced the entire formation to slow.

Ronan exploited the hesitation immediately, rushing the left side and wrapping mana threads around one spear before pulling the weapon across its owner's body and opening the creature's guard for a knife strike. The remaining Chimerians began hesitating, finally realizing that Sieghart's frozen projectiles were not single attacks they could simply block before rushing the caster, because another fist always appeared immediately afterward from some inconvenient angle.

Unfortunately, a new group emerged from deeper within the settlement before Sieghart could exploit that hesitation, and their bodies looked noticeably different from the close-range fighters surrounding the street. These newcomers were leaner, their throats were thicker, and several possessed gill-like openings along the neck and upper ribs that expanded rhythmically whenever they inhaled. Sieghart narrowed his eyes while watching them stop nearly fifty meters away instead of charging with the others and muttered.

"Those ones look like the kind of problem that prefers staying at range." One of the creatures inhaled deeply until its chest and throat expanded, then opened its mouth and released a compact sphere of water traveling fast enough to produce a sharp, high-pitched whistle. Ronan twisted aside just before the projectile reached him, and the Water Bullet struck the stone wall behind him hard enough to punch a fist-sized hole completely through the reinforced masonry.

Sieghart's expression changed immediately because the attack possessed considerably more penetration than ordinary Water Magic should have produced from something that looked almost casual. Four additional Chimerians inhaled together and opened their mouths, launching another volley of compressed Water Bullets toward Ronan before he had completely recovered from avoiding the first projectile.

Ronan crossed both knives and deflected one shot enough to redirect it toward a storefront, but the impact still forced his arms backward and left both wrists visibly trembling. A second projectile struck his shoulder and tore through clothing and flesh before spinning him sideways, while another hit his thigh and made him stumble hard enough that one knee touched the flooded street. Ronan groaned through clenched teeth and muttered.

"Those hurt considerably more than they look," Another volley began forming inside the swollen throats of the distant Chimerians. Sieghart slammed both hands toward the ground and used Earth Creation to raise a thick stone wall between Ronan and the ranged attackers before they could release another coordinated barrage. The first Water Bullet struck the barrier and carved a deep crater into the stone, while the second penetrated halfway through before losing enough pressure to collapse into ordinary water.

Three more impacts followed almost immediately, each tearing serious holes through the wall and scattering stone fragments backward across the flooded road behind Ronan and Sieghart. Sieghart stared at the damage.

"They can use actual magic," Sieghart was already feeding more mana into Earth Creation and repairing the weakened sections before another volley could arrive. Ronan pressed one hand against his bleeding shoulder,"You sound strangely surprised by that," Sieghart reinforced the wall and replied, "They already replace half their bodies with monsters. I assumed mutilating themselves was their preferred solution instead of bothering to learn spells properly." Ronan glared toward the distant casters.

"Apparently they are capable of doing both, which should make you considerably less interested in collecting whatever those things have inside their bodies." Sieghart ignored that last comment because the new attacks were already forcing him to reconsider the battlefield. These Chimerians did not merely possess modified organs that produced physical effects resembling magic.

The projectiles carried genuine Water Magic, compressed through specialized biological structures until every sphere behaved more like a short-range Water Jet than a normal elemental attack. Sieghart could hear the pressure building inside their throats before each shot, followed by the same sharp whistle whenever the projectile crossed the distance toward the stone barriers.

That discovery was interesting enough that he nearly forgot Ronan was bleeding beside him, although another Water Bullet striking the wall reminded him that this was not a controlled demonstration. Sieghart created a second Earth Wall several meters ahead of the first, forcing the ranged Chimerians to penetrate two separate defensive layers before their attacks could threaten either human directly. Another volley arrived almost immediately.

Water Bullets hammered the first wall, punched several partial holes through it, and scattered stone fragments before losing enough power against the second barrier to stop. The protection bought them several seconds, but more melee Chimerians were already approaching from both sides while the ranged group continued preparing shots from beyond Glacial Fist's comfortable distance. Ronan forced himself upright despite the wounds and wrapped mana threads tightly around his injured shoulder and thigh.

"We are getting surrounded, in case your magical curiosity somehow failed to notice." Sieghart created several Glacial Fists above the wall and sent them curving toward the nearest melee attackers while answering.

"I noticed. I am simply trying to keep your neck attached while studying the problem." Two Chimerians blocked the frozen projectiles, but another failed to react quickly enough and received a fist directly against the side of its skull before dropping into the water. Ronan moved left and intercepted another group near the wall, deliberately using the narrow gap between buildings to prevent more than two modified warriors from reaching him simultaneously.

His knives flashed repeatedly between claws, blades, and stitched limbs, opening one throat before severing several fingers from another attacker and forcing a third backward with mana threads around its neck. Sieghart supported him with Earth Bullets whenever openings appeared, striking knees, wrists, eyes, and exposed joints while maintaining enough concentration to repair the walls under continued bombardment.

Then one Water Bullet penetrated the first wall completely, tore through a weakened section of the second, and passed between Ronan and Sieghart before burying itself inside another building. Sieghart turned toward the narrow hole left through both barriers and watched water drip from fractured stone while the distant Chimerians prepared another coordinated volley.

Their throats expanded together, and the high-pressure sound building inside them made Sieghart's expression become considerably more serious than before. The following volley struck almost simultaneously, producing a rapid series of violent impacts that shook the walls and widened several existing holes despite Sieghart's continuous repairs.

One projectile tore through the first layer, another penetrated the second, and a third finally stopped halfway inside the last wall after losing enough compression to collapse. Sieghart stared at the trapped water and realized the Chimerians were not merely producing stronger projectiles through greater mana output. Their entire technique depended upon extreme compression.

If those Chimerians could transform Water Magic into compact bullets through pressure alone, Sieghart suspected Water Jet already contained most of the principles required to reproduce the effect. Ronan noticed the water compressing above Sieghart's hand and immediately said, "No. Whatever you are about to copy from the stitched monsters, wait until we are somewhere that is not surrounded."

Sieghart smiled while the distant Chimerians inhaled again and another volley began forming inside their altered throats, making waiting considerably less attractive than experimentation. The settlement had become far more dangerous than expected. If these ranged warriors existed, others might possess Fire Magic, Poison Magic, Lightning Magic, healing abilities, or stranger techniques grown directly into modified bodies.

Suddenly, several hundred Chimerians sounded far less manageable, especially when every new group might carry a completely different supernatural ability that required its own counter. Sieghart compressed the water above his palm anyway while the ranged enemies prepared their next attack, deciding that the fastest way to understand their technique was probably to fire something similar back at them.

The Chimerians opened their mouths, the high-pitched pressure rose again, and Sieghart narrowed his eyes while adjusting the water until its shape became smaller, denser, and increasingly unstable. The next exchange was about to become considerably less one-sided.