On the first level of the dungeon, a battle of magnitudes rarely seen on Axis Mundi raged in silence.

The strange chimera roared impotently as it charged at the little girl once again. It had been filled with pride and ambition after it had been transformed, excited to bring the world terror with the madness it sows. In fact, the first few people it had ran into were easily manipulated and died without putting up a fight. It enjoyed looking at their terrified faces as they uncontrollably tore out their own necks and imagined that this pleasure shall continue for many years. Just the thought of such a wonderous future gave it endless delight. Yet, on its first battle, it found itself struggling for its life.

Relestia swiftly dodged the lunge but cannot avoid a glancing wound. Searing pain erupted on her side even as boils started festering where she was cut. Gritting her teeth, Relestia aimed her weapon at the creature’s head in retaliation.

The thin long blade, forged by Kairos using dwarven technology and Siegfried’s Sixty-four Fiend Slayer Hammer Strikes, easily pierced the beast’s skull but as the metal touched flesh, the chimera exploded into dust and scattered away.

It reformed at the side, staring viciously at the princess but could not hide the speck of fear on its face. On its forehead where the weapon had punctured, blood oozed out heavily, blurring its vision. Although it could avoid being hurt when it turns itself into dust, the injuries it received before that will remain. Relestia noticed this early in the fight and left a series of wounds on the beast but nothing fatal. Only when she was fast enough could she hurt it. In return, the beast also caused a myriad of injuries with debilitating effects on her.

Every time its claws or fangs touched her, it left something painful. Something different. Be it goo that make her skin flare searing red or fluids that caused her head to spin, it sent the princess reeling back.

It was a deadly experience for a novice warrior. A moment’s distraction could let her enemies lop off her head, even with the Nemean Lion’s protection. In fact, despite that she should be invulnerable to most attacks, she is still wounded easily.

The creature does indeed have an uncanny method to resist the rules governing the mortal realms. The lion’s hide is comparable to Kairos’ physique that could match immortals – even greater in dealing with external blows but does not protect from internal shocks. Yet, the

The princess frowned as she tried to direct her Origin Energy towards her side where a gash had been left and boils had been multiplying. After cultivating with the Origin Cultivation Method customised for her by Kairos, she can command the Origin Energy. Technically, her Ki is still there, but she could use her life force as reserves. After all, Origin Energy is the source of all energies found in a person’s body and classifies as a much higher energy form than almost anything found on the mortal realms. As such it is extremely potent and could easily erase whatever dark energy that was affecting Relestia.

The monster grew even more wary than before when it saw her wounds healing and the boils fading away. It had tried a number of different negative status attacks on the girl, and nothing is effective so far.

Suddenly, footsteps approach as the band of dungeon divers returned to aid Relestia. They stopped right before they will be affected by the dangerous beast’s mind-warping powers. There is no clear indication if they are too close except for the prickly feeling on their skins that something is off.

The group looked at each other with determination in their eyes. They know that they will probably die today. Their only real chance of survival was to abandon whoever that had helped them distract the abomination that was chasing their group.

Still, there are things they can do, and things they will not.

Circi Fer’s upright morals does not allow her to shrink away. Likewise, her teammates that chose her as their leader, supports her decisions and will not back off.

They took a look at the terrible battle between Relestia and the chimera and grimaced. The girl is completely overwhelmed. Still, given that she had survived so far, they have a chance of escape.

Circi shouted urgently, “Hey stranger, we can’t deal with that thing! My team will cover your escape, go quickly!”

Without faltering, she took out a bow and fired an enchanted arrow at the creature, knowing that she could become the target next. The missile struck the beast heavily and knocked it back but did not chip even one of its scales. Despite that, it delayed her foe enough for Relestia to escape. An arrow that could affect such an unnatural monstrosity will not be a cheap one. In fact, it is worth a-tenth of all her possessions, and she only has three of it, yet Circi did not hesitate to use it. Unfortunately, she had already used the other two when she tried to help her team get away.

When Circi saw her attack creating a window of opportunity, she was exhilarated.

“Now, run!”

Relestia swiftly accepted the notion and dashed past the chimera. She too had felt that the situation was in over her head from the first time the monster turned into dust to avoid her attacks.

The band of dungeon divers heaved sighs of relief when they noticed the lass did not take the chance to attack instead. Their entire group started retreating while providing suppressive long-ranged attacks with bow and magic. At first, the great barrage of missiles overwhelmed the beast and delayed it slightly more, but it quickly recovered and started a chase.

Circi and her group had noticed previously that the creature can render useless any lesser force used to push it backwards, seemingly refusing to obey the laws of physics. This time as well, the monster disregarded all the projectiles bouncing off its scales and tried to lunge at Relestia from behind.

The princess who now have command of the Soul Perception technique has no blind sides and she easily dodged and retaliated. Three long gashes were left on her left shoulder even though she is rather certain she had perfectly avoided the attack. This time, she felt a rush of blood spurt out from her wounds, an amount that is abnormal given that there are no major arteries where she was cut.

The creature turned to dust once again, then reforming with a new wound on its neck. The distance between them grew wider. Relestia repressed her wounds easily by rapid healing using the Origin Energy, and without slowing down she soon caught up with the divers. Escape became a real possibility, and everyone was optimistic for a moment.

Then, everything came crashing down when two more creatures that had been lying in wait jump out into their path of retreat. The tree and the bug stood before them, the former eerily silent and the latter making soft clicks every now and then.

Thanks to their interference, the chimera finally caught up and it roared angrily, “KILL!”

The two new creatures did not share the same sentiments. The tree man creaked quietly, “Misery,” and the insect suggested with a hiss, “Despair.”

Their god had wanted to sow chaos more than bring forth death and destruction. The chimera that had caused all its victims to suicide realised that it was indeed far too hasty and restrained its bloodlust. After becoming Nyarlathotep’s apostle, it had become immersed with the great power it received and had killed unnecessarily. Besides destruction, its god took more pleasure in bringing madness, it is indeed at fault for murdering the lambs so easily.

The three monsters eyes turned red with madness. In a moment, all of Circi’s team had been immobilised by the tree man’s entangling vines and the insect released tiny scales like a dust storm that flew into their respiratory systems, slicing them from within.

Only Circi and Relestia remained free, but it was not from any efforts of their own. They were left to watch in terror as the rest bleed painfully from all the orifice on their faces. Horrific screams and gurgling gasps for air filled the place.

The two tried futilely to free the others from the vines, only to increase the pain they suffered from the slightest movement.

The chimera enjoyed the show and decided to join in with its mind-altering effects. Madness started gripping at the unfortunate souls. They struggled to tear open their own veins as their screaming turned into raucous laughter and worship of the dark god that caused them pain. Blood flowed from the places where their nails dug into, their mouth curved into unnatural smiles, their tongue spoke of great enjoyment of torment and pain as they praised the chaos. Yet, in their eyes there no joy but an unfathomable depth of fear as their screams had turn silent. They lost control of their bodies, giggling and chuckling like everything was a joke. But the pain they felt shredding them from within only increased. They pleaded with their eyes at Circi and Relestia. Kill them and end this now.

Gritting her teeth, Circi decisively drew a dagger and tried to end the torture, but a thorny vine stopped her weapon.

Relestia chose another way. Her figure turned into a blur as she left afterimages all over the place. Her weapon flashed as she moved, turning into streaks of light that drew circles around Circi and the team.

Afterimages appeared and disappeared like shimmering dew drops. Then, a figure flickered in front of the bug. At first it was only a faint apparition, then more afterimages overlapped at the same spot until it turned solid. A sharp hiss was made from the continuous cutting of wind with a sharp blade as Relestia thrusted her weapon forward and her afterimages repeated her actions after her. A series of strikes made one after another exacted a withering cry from the insect despite having a cloud of scales to protect it. A puff of dust exploded as the insect’s wings were shredded. No, not just its wings, but its entire side had been ripped open as well with yellow goo spurting out.

The Gentleman’s Blade that emphasises on speed that could kill with a single strike combined with the Gentleman’s Steps that uses Ki to form images that could attack caused an overlap of strikes that easily broke the dust barrier and the creature’s keratin.

She had made an attempt for the head as well, but the insect’s mandible easily parried the sword Kairos forged. At the same time, the tree and the chimera were attacked by her other afterimages, but Relestia only wanted to prevent them from assisting her real target and she succeeded. With the insect wounded, it should no longer sustain the scale dust.

The bug tucked its injured wings back into its shell and the scale cloud settled for an instant relief for the guys. A smile appeared on the princess’ face. This creature cannot turn into dust like the chimera, and this makes the fight possible. Or at least, they might be able to escape with enough luck.

Yet, her hope was crushed when the next moment the bug moulted right before her eyes, shedding the old torn wings for new pristine ones. Even the damage it received to its thorax had healed.

Still, there was no time to be surprised. The princess gathered all of her speed and unleashed a whirlwind of slashes at the moment the insect’s old shell fell off. A freshly moulted bug has a soft exterior and is completely vulnerable. Plus, there is no more dust cloud surrounding it, giving her a prime opportunity. Unfortunately, just as a dozen slashes was about to land, an explosion of soil covered everything as thorny tendrils shot out from the ground and deflected all her blows. Not only so, any of the damage she did to the vines are healed in an instant and in the time that the tree man fended off the blows, the insect had already hardened its shells and spread its wings.

A dust cloud greater than before blew forth, shredding the skin of those who were unlucky enough to be caught by it.

Fear and despair gripped everyone, including Relestia. Everything is hopeless. There is no escape with three neigh-immortal monsters toying with them.

Blood drained from their faces as realisation that they will all face a fate worse than death.

Just as all seemed lost, a terrible boom shook the place. Clumps of soil fell onto them as a loud groan came from the dungeon itself. Those that had been fighting were all tossed about like leaves in the wind. The dungeon wailed and whimpered like it was alive, then the crystal lights of the dwarven city sparkled down gently on Relestia and the rest as the ceiling itself was removed. Torn out like a cat had swiped it off angrily.

A large hole appeared above. The outline of a man could be seen standing at the edge of the opening. In his hand is the remains of the roof that was ripped out. He easily held a good block of soil and rocks that is comparable to three houses stacked together and stared at them motionlessly.

Kairos Astroire.

There was no indication of any emotions, in fact none could see his face beyond the sparkle of the city lights behind him. Yet, they all felt an oppression like an executioner holding the axe to their necks. Not just Circi, her team, and Relestia, but also the three abominable monsters.

Still, the princess Relestia will never fail to recognise this person before her eyes.

The chimera snapped out of its fear and roared angrily. As the apostle of Nyarlathotep, it did not understand why it would be afraid of this man, nor can it accept such a thing.

The power of Nyarlathotep coursed through its body as it unleashed the madness that its god represents. Darkness engulfed the place. People close by screamed in horror or laughed uncontrollably at the abyss.

Within a kilometre radius, the citizens of Blackened Soot Mountain felt nausea all at once. Be it children, adults or grandparents, they vomited like they had eaten something left outside for a week. Some scooped up the filth around to consume, even if what they grabbed came from another person. Some tore at their own clothes and bare their chests. Quite a few of them started worshipping, chanting praises to the Old Ones. There are dwarven officials, soldiers, innkeepers, even children, and these worshippers are inclusive of almost all the people from the dungeon town.

Dungeon divers had went missing before, but in the recent months the numbers had shot up exponentially. Because of the career’s natural risks, there will never be many officials that are bothered to investigate missing divers, but after the numbers exceeded a hundred, even a pig would have realised something is wrong. Unfortunately, there are too many involved, from the residents of the dungeon town to the government officials were involved in the sacrifice of dungeon divers to Nyarlathotep. The worshipping grew louder and more fervent. Praises were made to unknown gods, and many were writhing on their bellies in prayer. The city has fallen into chaos.

“Eternal Empyrean: Burst!”

In an instant, the figure staring down at them disappeared and when they finally reacted, he is already face-to-face with the chimera. The movement technique that has one of the fastest accelerations was something that the people of Axis Mundi have never faced against before. The abomination that made darkness befell the city gave off the deadliest aura and became a prime target to be neutralised. The creature reacted instinctively and turned into a cloud of dust to render any attacks impotent. Kairos squinted his eyes.

Alarms are blaring in his vision. His Heavenly Eyes Spell immediately suggested to him the technique needed. His body turned into a gleaming flash of light as he burst through the dust cloud with a second boost of acceleration.

The Lightning Flicker Body! It is a movement technique that made him as dangerous as a fully armoured calvary in full charge while clad in lightning.

As he rammed through, the chimera howled in pain as dust turn into ashes. Electric snakes flickered and dissipated as smoke swirled around him.

The other two monsters stared in fright as a soft thud was made where the chimera hit the floor after reforming into a broken form.

The creature that no one could deal with is defeated just like that.

No one could believe their eyes.

Then, all the vines that were entangling the divers broke and at the same time, the insect and the tree man escaped with the chimera in their arms.