Chương 149: Chase

Sieghart leaned farther through the carriage window and inhaled again, confirming that the strange mixture of blood, preservatives, animal musk, and alchemical chemicals remained somewhere behind them instead of lingering harmlessly upon their equipment. He warned Ronan immediately, and the agent's posture changed before the explanation finished. Ronan straightened upon the driver's seat, tightened both hands around the reins, and stopped complaining about Sieghart's magical experiments entirely.

"Something is following us." Ronan glanced backward while keeping the horses moving, searching the winding road and distant hills before returning his attention toward the increasingly uneven path stretching southward ahead of them.

"How sure?"

"Sure enough." Sieghart opened the cabin door while the carriage continued moving, caught the roof with one hand, then used a controlled burst of Wind Magic to lift himself upward without forcing Ronan to slow them. From the carriage roof, the road stretched between rolling hills and sparse woodland. Sieghart enhanced his vision carefully, searching every cloud, treetop, ridge, and distant shadow for anything moving unnaturally behind them.

Several dark specks drifted against the pale morning sky, maintaining enough distance that ordinary travelers would never notice anything suspicious unless they already knew exactly where to search for hidden pursuers. Sieghart narrowed his eyes and counted five separate figures. Their silhouettes changed whenever they banked, revealing wings too large, asymmetrical, and unmistakably unnatural to belong to ordinary birds or familiar flying monsters.

"We're being followed." Ronan swore and looked backward again, but the approaching figures remained too distant for his ordinary eyes to distinguish properly from the clouds and bright morning sky behind them.

"How? We weren't supposed to be found after all this time." Sieghart almost answered immediately, then remembered the Chimerian core he had carried throughout the previous night before secretly absorbing it beside the stream while Ronan prepared everything for departure. He had cleaned his clothes, washed his hands, destroyed the residue, and removed every visible trace, yet Chimerians possessed tracking senses specifically engineered around biological signatures ordinary humans could never notice.

Perhaps the core had left something behind before absorption, not ordinary blood or smell, but enough alchemical residue for a specialized sensory organ to recognize throughout several hours of patient pursuit. Staying beside the crystal throughout the entire night might have been the true mistake. Sieghart had treated the core like inert evidence despite knowing it remained part of something deliberately altered through corruption.

"It might be my fault." Ronan looked back sharply enough that one wheel nearly entered a deep rut before he corrected the horses and returned most of his attention toward keeping their carriage safely moving.

"I had the core with me overnight." Ronan's expression darkened immediately, but he postponed the obvious lecture after checking the road ahead and realizing the distant shapes were gradually becoming larger despite the carriage maintaining considerable speed.

"We're still a few hours from Seraphina."

"That's enough."

"For what?"

"I can stop them. Keep the horses running." Ronan studied the approaching shapes again, apparently calculating the distance, the horses' condition, and the consequences of dragging elite Chimerian pursuers toward populated human territory surrounding Seraphina. Sieghart understood the problem immediately. If those pursuers reached Seraphina, they could learn roads, settlements, patrol habits, defenses, and perhaps where Lunar Arc protected descendants carrying Seraphina's bloodline.

They had already crossed dangerously deep into human territory. Letting them escape afterward would transform Sieghart's possible mistake with the corrupted core into a much larger intelligence failure.

"They came this far." Sieghart gathered lightning above one palm while static curled between his fingers, already deciding that ending the pursuit here was safer than discovering what information the Chimerians wanted badly enough to chase.

"Better to dispose of them now." Ronan hesitated only briefly before snapping the reins and shouting toward both horses. The animals surged forward, sending the carriage bouncing violently while the wheels hammered across stones and deep road ruts.

"Don't fall off!" Sieghart lowered his stance upon the roof and spread Protection around the carriage, reinforcing the wooden frame enough that one stray projectile would not immediately transform their transportation into shattered debris. The distant Chimerians reacted to the acceleration by descending from the clouds, revealing bodies designed far more deliberately for aerial pursuit than anything Sieghart had seen within their settlements.

The first possessed enormous black wings growing from its back while both humanlike arms remained free, each hand carrying a short metal spear covered with narrow grooves and hooked runic fittings. Another possessed no legs whatsoever. Its lower torso merged directly into the body of an enormous feathered predator, producing something resembling a monstrous bird carrying a muscular human chest.

A third looked almost insectoid, with four transparent wings vibrating behind a narrow stitched torso while elongated arms ended in hooked claws instead of anything resembling ordinary human hands. The remaining two flew farther apart. One possessed overlapping pale scales and broad wings, while the last had leathery membranes stretching between elongated arms, flanks, and strangely narrow legs. These were clearly not ordinary scouts.

Every modification appeared optimized around flight, pursuit, tracking, ranged combat, and surviving whatever resistance an escaping enemy might offer along the way. Sieghart raised one hand and formed Thunder Arrow, compressing electricity into a narrow blue-white shaft while Telekinesis wrapped around the unstable spell and forced every branching arc inward.

The black-winged Chimerian noticed the growing light immediately and banked before Sieghart even released the spell, proving that its enhanced eyesight was considerably sharper than he wanted. Sieghart fired anyway, using Telekinesis to accelerate the projectile after release while maintaining enough pressure around the electrical structure to prevent stray arcs from returning toward the carriage.

Thunder Arrow crossed the distance almost instantly, but the Chimerian folded one wing and dropped several meters, allowing the blue-white projectile to pass barely above its shoulder. The lightning struck exposed stone farther behind, drilling a narrow hole before branching static scattered across the roadside and vanished harmlessly into surrounding soil within several seconds.

"Fast." Sieghart created another Thunder Arrow, this time aiming ahead of the insect-winged Chimerian while deliberately keeping enough Telekinetic control available to adjust its path after the target dodged. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The creature shifted the instant the lightning launched, but Sieghart twisted his left hand and forced the electrical projectile to curve sharply toward its new position in midflight.

Thunder Arrow clipped one transparent wing, tearing a scorched hole through the membrane while electricity crawled across stitched flesh and caused several of the Chimerian's limbs to jerk violently. The creature dropped almost twenty meters before recovering, then resumed pursuit with one wing beating unevenly and enough remaining control to preserve its place behind the carriage. That confirmed something unpleasant.

Even direct lightning would not guarantee an immediate kill against elite modifications specifically designed to remain functional after receiving serious injuries during aerial combat. The black-winged Chimerian entered effective range first and pulled one arm backward before throwing its spear with enough force that the metal weapon screamed toward Sieghart like artillery.

Sieghart shifted aside while Telekinesis caught the shaft, but the projectile possessed enough momentum to drag his invisible grip backward and nearly pull him from the moving carriage roof. Instead of stopping it, he redirected the spear. The weapon curved enough to miss the cabin and Ronan before burying itself beside the road with half its shaft underground.

Another attack followed from the bird-bodied pursuer, whose chest expanded unnaturally before its mouth released several narrow bone projectiles coated with something dark, glossy, and almost certainly unpleasant. Sieghart created an Earth Wall directly behind the moving carriage, raising thick stone from the road between the incoming projectiles and the two frightened horses pulling them southward. Bone spikes struck the wall violently.

Two shattered immediately, but three penetrated deeply enough that fractures spread throughout the barrier before the rapidly moving carriage finally escaped its protection. The pale-scaled Chimerian opened both hands and released several compressed air blades, each thin enough to distort the morning light while descending toward them from an elevated angle. Sieghart created another Earth Wall closer to the carriage.

The Wind Blades carved deep grooves through stone before slicing enough supporting material away that the entire barrier collapsed backward.

"Definitely not scouts." Ronan kept his attention on the road while stone fragments bounced behind the wheels and both horses pulled harder against their harnesses, increasingly terrified by the magical battle surrounding them.

"You only realized that now?"

"They're overqualified!" The insect-winged Chimerian accelerated despite its damaged membrane, descending until it nearly touched the roof before extending both hooked claws toward Sieghart's face and throat simultaneously. Sieghart activated Impulse sideways and vanished from the roof for several meters, then used Wind Magic to curve backward before gravity separated him completely from their moving carriage. The Chimerian overshot, and Sieghart fired Thunder Arrow from behind.

The creature twisted almost completely around in flight, allowing the projectile to graze its ribs instead of piercing centrally. Electricity flashed across stitched flesh, slowing one transparent wing briefly before the Chimerian stabilized again and climbed away while Sieghart landed heavily upon the carriage roof. He finally understood why these particular enemies had been sent.

Their modifications allowed relentless pursuit without horses, roads, favorable terrain, or the normal logistical limitations affecting trackers. One probably followed scents, another possessed exceptional eyesight, while the remaining fighters carried ranged abilities specifically designed to punish anyone attempting to solve combat by simply increasing distance.

The black-winged warrior reclaimed altitude and produced another spear from a harness across its back, but this time it waited instead of wasting the weapon against Sieghart's prepared defenses. The bird-bodied Chimerian moved toward the opposite side while the scaled caster climbed higher, forcing Sieghart to monitor several attack angles simultaneously as their formation spread wider.

"They're surrounding us."

"Can you stop them?"

"I'm trying." The five pursuers attacked together. A spear, bone spikes, compressed wind, and two unfamiliar magical projectiles converged toward the moving carriage from different directions during the same heartbeat. Sieghart slammed both palms together and raised an Earth Wall behind them, then expanded the structure sideways and upward until it resembled a curved stone shell protecting their rear. The first spear penetrated completely and shattered stone around the entry point.

Bone spikes followed immediately, widening those fractures while compressed air sliced through the weakened outer edges. A glowing green projectile struck last and exploded inside the compromised barrier. The entire wall burst apart, scattering fragments around the carriage while Protection flashed across humans, horses, and wood. Sieghart ducked behind one arm as broken stone hammered his barrier.

Several pieces still struck the carriage, cracking boards and making the horses scream while Ronan fought desperately against their panic. The agent tightened the reins and shouted until the animals remained on the road, transforming their terrified sprint into something barely controlled instead of allowing them to bolt across uneven terrain. Sieghart stared backward through falling dust and understood the true danger.

These Chimerians had deliberately synchronized their abilities so one attack weakened defenses before another delivered the decisive strike. Elite Chimerians did not merely possess superior grafts. They understood how their different modifications interacted, transforming biological variety from chaotic individual power into carefully coordinated combinations.

That made five of them more troublesome than dozens of ordinary settlement warriors, because eliminating one could disrupt a combat formation designed around every member compensating for another weakness. Sieghart raised both hands and formed three Thunder Arrows simultaneously, each electrical shaft vibrating violently beneath its own separate layer of Telekinetic control and directional pressure.

Maintaining all three strained his Mentality, but independent guidance offered a solution against targets capable of avoiding straightforward Lightning Magic through speed, enhanced eyesight, and aerial maneuverability. He released the entire volley at once. The black-winged warrior banked left, the bird-bodied creature climbed sharply, and the insect-winged Chimerian dropped before the lightning reached them.

Sieghart moved his fingers and redirected every projectile through Telekinesis, forcing the Thunder Arrows to curve after their targets rather than continuing harmlessly along their original trajectories. The first missed again, but the second struck the bird-bodied Chimerian across one wing while the third pierced directly through the insect-winged creature's abdomen beneath its ribs. Lightning erupted through both enemies.

The insect-winged Chimerian convulsed violently and dropped, spiraling toward the hills until the thick forest swallowed its falling body completely. The bird-bodied enemy remained airborne despite losing several feathers and smoking badly, although its altitude decreased enough that matching the carriage's speed became noticeably more difficult afterward.

"Four." Sieghart prepared additional lightning, but the survivors immediately recognized the danger and changed their formation before he could repeat the same guided barrage against their remaining numbers. Instead of approaching together, they spread farther apart and increased altitude, forcing Sieghart to divide his attention across a much larger section of sky while defending the carriage.

The scaled caster attacked first, releasing compressed Wind Blades diagonally toward the horses rather than wasting another attack upon the mage already watching every movement above them. Sieghart's expression hardened. He created an Earth Wall beside the road and shoved it sideways with Telekinesis, sliding the massive stone slab directly into the descending blades.

The wall disintegrated beneath several deep cuts, but every Wind Blade lost enough force inside the stone that only harmless gusts and scattered dust eventually reached the horses. Another spear arrived from the opposite direction. Sieghart countered with Glacial Fist, allowing the frozen construct to intercept the spinning weapon before both shattered into fragments above the carriage.

The bird-bodied Chimerian released another spread of bone spikes, forcing Sieghart to create another angled wall while still monitoring the remaining aerial enemies for their next coordinated attack. Too many attacks were arriving from too many directions, and Sieghart could stop them only by sacrificing the offensive pressure necessary to remove the Chimerians permanently. Their strategy had changed completely.

They no longer needed to defeat Sieghart directly if one successful projectile killed a horse, shattered a wheel, or destroyed the carriage beneath him. The black-winged warrior dove low along the road, disappeared briefly below the roof, then rose beside Ronan with a hooked blade already aimed directly toward his throat. Ronan released one hand from the reins and threw mana threads sideways, catching the Chimerian's attacking wrist barely before the weapon reached vulnerable flesh beneath his jaw.

The flying warrior pulled upward immediately, nearly dragging Ronan from his seat. Ronan anchored another mana thread around the carriage and became the uncomfortable connection between both forces.

"Little help!" Sieghart used Earth Bullet instead of Lightning Magic because Ronan remained connected through mana threads, hammering the Chimerian's face repeatedly until blood erupted from its nose and mouth. The warrior finally released Ronan and climbed away. Ronan severed the threads immediately, while Sieghart realized that one successful grapple could remove their driver and destroy everything afterward. Simply trading ranged attacks was no longer enough.

The Chimerians had identified their priority targets, adapted their formation, and begun attacking transportation instead of challenging Sieghart's endless mana directly.