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Kim Hajun retreated backwards and withdrew a purple potion from his root bracelet. His vision was blurring, and the heaviness in his limbs made him feel as if he were underwater. He sliced off the top of the glass bottle with his flame sword, not bothering to unscrew its cap. While still moving backwards, he drank down the antidote and tossed the empty glass at the chimera once he was done. The bottle bounced off the man’s furry arm, shattering as it hit the ground.
“Damnit,” the chimera said, staring at the severed tentacle by its feet. “I didn’t even get a chance to become accustomed to it.” He raised his heads and glared at Kim Hajun. “Why’d you have to go and chop it off?”
“You’re not as dumb as you look,” Kim Hajun said with a grimace. “Tell me, what’s your problem?”
“What’s my problem?” the chimera asked and sneered, all three of its animal heads contorting from the action. “What’s your problem? You killed someone you shouldn’t have touched!”
Kim Hajun furrowed his brow. Even in this life, where he had only cleared one advancement exam, there was a lot of blood on his hands, but that was spilled before officially entering the tower. The only person he had killed with a bit of importance was the head of the Virtuous Hand. “Jackal?” Kim Hajun asked, carefully observing the chimera’s expression. Unfortunately, the name didn’t trigger any response from the creature.
“Curious, aren’t you?” the chimera asked as it stepped over the fallen tentacle to approach Kim Hajun. “But you won’t be getting any answers from me.” The swords in its hands disappeared, and they were replaced by a second set of swords that didn’t look too different from the first. The chimera twisted its hands, and a white mist leaked out of the swords, causing Kim Hajun’s eyes to widen. “So, you recognize extinguisher weapons. Let’s see what other tricks you have!”
Kim Hajun took in a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. After using his Ashley card to assassinate Jackal, he hadn’t found the chance to record another ability; after all, he went straight to the bar and celebrated, thinking it was alright to take it easy for just one day. Unfortunately, this was the tower, and the price for carelessness was steep. Now, he had to kill an extinguisher-weapon wielding chimera, and all he had were flame-based abilities. “Don’t you feel any shame for picking on a newcomer while you’re an explorer?”
“Shame?” the chimera asked. “I have no need for such shackles. Only the mentally weak cry about playing fair.” It bent its thick legs, and with a cracking sound coming from the ground, the chimera leapt forward, thrusting one sword at the well-dressed man’s body.
Kim Hajun twisted his body to the side, and the chimera slashed horizontally with another one of its swords, forcing the well-dressed man to crouch down. A scorpion tail thrust at Kim Hajun from the side. Rather than letting the chimera dictate the direction of his dodges, Kim Hajun pounced forward towards the chimera and slashed at the scorpion tail, cutting off the tail’s venomous barb. In response, a knee the size of an elephant’s smashed into Kim Hajun’s face with a sickening crack.
“Trade blows,” the chimera said and cackled as Kim Hajun rolled along the ground from the impact. “Keep trading blows with me. I have many more limbs to give up than you do.”
Kim Hajun pressed his palms against the ground and stood up. He wiped at his nose with his sleeve, a smear of blood left behind on the fabric. This situation he was in was far from good. His opponent was an explorer with weapons that countered his abilities. How had he been placed in such a bad position? Someone had targeted him, transporting him to this residence. In that case, all he had to do was find the wooden tablet within the residence, and he’d be able to leave. Since he couldn’t win, he’d escape to fight another day.
“Running away?” the chimera asked with a grin as Kim Hajun turned tail and sprinted towards the gate where the chimera had entered the arena. “The party has just begun; don’t be in such a hurry to leave.”
Kim Hajun’s eyes widened as the sound of chains rang out. The metal gate lowered, stabbing into the ground once more before the well-dressed man even had time to get there. A furrow appeared on his brow, but he didn’t stop his stride. He ran at the metal gate before jumping, using it and the wall to climb up to the spectator seats.
“Hey!” the chimera shouted before running after the well-dressed man. “You’re not supposed to do that!” Usually, the seats were full of people, and running away from the arena was impossible. Somehow, even with three brains, the chimera had forgotten there wasn’t anyone to stop his target from running away by climbing the wall—like a chess piece placed to defend a spot for so long that its purpose had been forgotten until only after it was moved and a mistake was made.
“Damn,” the chimera muttered and jumped at the wall. Its legs were thick and powerful, but they came at a cost of dexterity. The stumpy toes scraped along the wall, trying to find purchase, as the chimera’s arms carried it most of the way. On its way up, the chimera’s vision blurred, and its owl head focused on the ground behind it. There was a lot of blood that had exited its body from the tentacle and scorpion tail stumps. Why was the tentacle so massive, anyway? It was practically like a running faucet, letting all of the chimera’s blood drip out of its body. Shouldn’t the well-dressed man’s flaming sword have cauterized the tentacle? It was too resistant to being burnt for its own good!
The chimera watched as Kim Hajun ran to the top of the seating area before vaulting over the side. With how quickly it was losing blood and with how clumsy its legs were, the chimera didn’t see a way to follow after the well-dressed man. A dark expression appeared on all three of the chimera’s heads. That damned woman had called herself a professional body builder, but the body he received was on the level of an amateurs! Sure, he had been ruthlessly used as a target dummy before this fight, and he might’ve envenomated himself, but shouldn’t a well-designed body withstand such abuse? Once he got back, Jackal was definitely going to leave that woman with a bad review. Then, he was going to ask her to make him a new body because he didn’t know anyone else who could. Monopolies sucked.