WeTried Translations

Translator: Botanica

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◈ I Became the Slit-Eyed Henchman of the Evil Boss

Chapter 36

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Chimera Hunt (4)

The current Dimedes, who traded his intelligence for an overwhelmingly reinforced body.

The Dimedes of the past, who still had his intelligence but whose physical abilities were far inferior to what they are now.

If you told me to pick one of the two and fight them, the first answer that would come to mind is, "Can't someone else do it?"

But if I absolutely had to take one, I'd choose the current Dimedes, the one who lost his intelligence, without hesitation.

Because the moment a creature has ego and reason, reading its attacks becomes drastically harder.

Fortunately, the chimeras charging at me now had no reason.

Which meant the actual difficulty of the fight was no different from when I was dealing with demon-beasts.

However, the fact that they could use magic was a bit of a problem. Starting with the camouflage magic wrapped around them right now.

I could see where the chimeras were even through magical camouflage, but what about the drones?

Unlike just now, when they identified targets with regular vision, the drones' targeting now had to rely on the thermal imaging camera.

If the chimeras and I had similar body temperatures, they might not be able to tell friend from foe and could put a bullet in the back of my head.

I know from experience, getting shot is not a pleasant experience.

First, I'd have to deal with that spell.

I slipped my hand into the inside pocket of my jacket.

***

Ortes pulled out a Magic Imprinting Drive. To Neiro, it was a difficult choice to understand.

The abbreviated spells cast through a Magic Imprinting Drive didn't have enough power to pierce the chimeras' hide and deal damage.

If they had been premium drives, that would be one thing, but every one Ortes pulled out was a basic-tier drive that anyone could easily buy.

The drives mounted on his gauntlet activated in succession. First, a lubrication spell that sprayed oil. The ground in the direction the chimeras were approaching from was plastered with oil.

The chimeras charging straight ahead didn't avoid the oil. Any sense of hygiene that would make them balk at getting oil on their bodies had long since been stripped away, and it wasn't an immediate threat to their survival either.

What activated next was an ignition spell. A spark no bigger than a lighter's flame fell onto the oil and swelled in size.

The wall of flames that blazed up with a roar wasn't enough to block the chimeras. It wasn't as if they were trapped in a burning room, flames blazing in an open field couldn't kill a chimera.

But it was more than enough to distort their camouflage magic.

The flames, flickering this way and that with every passing moment, were too complex an object for the intelligence-lost chimeras to replicate with their camouflage magic.

One by one, the camouflage spells that exceeded their limits trying to mimic the flames began to crack and break. Now the chimeras stood fully exposed in broad daylight.

Ortes looked back.

"They should be visible with a regular camera now, not just thermal imaging. Any problem with your targeting?"

Neiro nodded. So that had been the intent.

"Please provide covering fire as you did before. I need to take the one at the very rear alive, so just keep that one in mind."

Gripping his high-frequency blade, Ortes sprinted off without even waiting for Neiro's answer.

Neiro, having given the drones the order to fire, picked up his own bow. As he drew the mana-reinforced bowstring, a sound like scraping metal rang out.

Naturally, his first target was Dimedes at the head.

Thung-

The moment he loosed the string, the arrow flew with a sonic boom that shook the air. Flame sparked at the tip of the fletching.

It was a rocket-propelled arrow fitted with a buckshot warhead. Explosive acceleration that broke the sound barrier in an instant.

Dimedes's already elongated arms and hands stretched out like rubber. His ten fingers extended, ignoring joints and the limits of the human body.

They stretched over ten meters. The carapace covering his entire body extended along the segments of his arms and hands as well. But it was not armor for defense, it was a living blade honed as sharp as a sawtooth.

The fully extended arms and the blades attached to them were weapons that claimed a vast space. The chimera's two arms and fingers swung about like whips split into five strands.

The ten fingers bent at irregular angles, sweeping everything in front of him in a hemispherical arc. The venomous fangs at each fingertip sprayed a powerfully acidic fluid that dissolved the ground.

It was like the aimless frenzy of a beast. An attack devoid of any subtlety or technique.

But its sheer size and ferocity made it a single move that served as both attack and defense.

Caught in the wind pressure generated by the whip-arm, the arrow that had left the bowstring had its trajectory bent before it could even strike. A chimera behind Dimedes took the hit, its left half blown apart.

The storm of venom and saw-blades did not distinguish friend from foe. The chimeras standing near the whip-arms were sliced to pieces in an instant.

Ortes stood precisely a hair's breadth from Dimedes's whip-arm. A gap that seemed catchable, yet never was. Dimedes, growing more and more frantic, kept attacking in pursuit of Ortes's movements.

Watching that movement, Neiro recalled bullfighting, one of the old rituals. The indiscriminate attacks of an enraged bull look, at a glance, like a crisis descending upon the matador.

But to a skilled matador, every such crisis was a performance. Both the bull's attacks and his own counterattacks unfolded according to his own design.

That was exactly what Ortes looked like now, luring Dimedes's attacks right before his eyes. With a gap of a single inch, he twisted his body with such cunning that the whip-arms ended up aimed at other chimeras.

As Dimedes slaughtered the chimeras that were once his subordinates, their blood splattered into one of his eyes. A splash of blood like that could hardly obscure the vision of Dimedes, who had already sprouted several extra eyes.

Yet the scent and color of the blood were more than enough to drive Dimedes further into savagery. The nature of a demon-beast, with no intelligence left to control it, ran rampant.

Dimedes rampaged more and more violently and zealously, trying to tear apart Ortes, or perhaps his own subordinates. Watching this, Neiro marveled.

'Was dispelling the camouflage magic not simply for the sake of attacking, but to engineer this very situation?!'

Indeed. Considering the puppet master who must be controlling these chimeras, mana and bullets were worth conserving.

The best outcome with the least resource expenditure. It was far too rational a strategy to be an impromptu improvisation.

By luring Dimedes, Ortes had wiped out most of the chimeras. Only a handful lingering at the rear barely survived.

This made capture far easier as well. Neiro nocked an arrow onto the string and glanced toward Ortes.

The relaxed smile on his face was as serene as ever. Rather than joining the fray and risking tangling up the luring of Dimedes, focusing on the task entrusted to him was the right call.

Neiro called his drones back and aimed them at the chimeras remaining in the rear. Their vitality was strong, so even if he tore off their limbs, they wouldn't die.

***

What is that old man doing instead of helping me?

Can't he see that the thing that used to be Dimedes is doing a sword dance trying to kill me?

No. He definitely looked this way. He even went so far as to give me a thumbs-up.

Is he trying to capture the chimeras by exploiting the moment Dimedes's rage is focused on me?

That old man has been bizarrely misinterpreting my intentions since earlier.

He seems to think I deliberately provoked Dimedes to create this situation, but that's not it.

I didn't set all this up to make it easier for you to catch chimeras, so give me some help over here.

I thought this would be about the same difficulty as fighting demon-beasts.

I could roughly read all the attacks that swung those arms.

The problem was the venom.

It wasn't as if Dimedes was intending where to spray the venom. It just flew everywhere along the inertia of the swinging arms.

The venom could melt skin with a mere graze, so all I could do was avoid it.

If the drones' gunfire could divert its attention, I might be able to exploit an opening.

The drone that had been aimed at Dimedes moved slowly. Was it finally going to open fire?

It moved.

To the rear.

I lamented Neiro's cold-hearted nature.

A blue line heralding an attack traced itself before my eyes. I stepped one more pace back.

The venomous fang at the tip of Dimedes's finger grazed past the spot where my shoulder had been just a moment ago.

Venom sprayed through the air. A Water Bullet fired from the Magic Imprinting Drive I had loaded in advance wrapped around the venom and deflected it away.

Even diluted in water, the ground where it landed could be seen corroding rapidly. Just what kind of demon-beast factor had been mixed in to produce venom that strong?

Gradually, the momentum of the attacks slowed.

Naturally. Synthesizing and discharging venom is a process that inherently consumes a great deal of energy. Mana could substitute for that energy expenditure, sure.

But Dimedes had overused the venom far too much. Not just the venom, the grotesquely stretched arms were also a magical effect. The amount of mana being consumed was too great.

Once again, a sharp whip-arm came flying. But its speed was not what it had been before.

I can close the distance now.

I stepped one pace forward. Thanks to the reduced speed, I could evade the attacks even from a closer distance.

One more step forward.

***

Neiro saw the moment Ortes shifted from defense to offense.

Ortes, who until now had only been evading Dimedes's attacks, advanced for the first time. With his first step, he closed the distance; with his second, his sword swung.

Ortes was no longer satisfied with mere evasion. One of Dimedes's fingers, which had transformed into a serpent head, was torn away. It was the one that had been targeting Ortes from a diagonal angle.

And then another step. With every step forward, one serpent head was beheaded.

The pattern of Dimedes's attacks gradually transformed as well. It no longer looked like the frenzy of a predator, but the desperate thrashing of prey.

Each of Ortes's approaching footsteps resembled the countdown to a death sentence.

At last, Dimedes, having lost every finger on both arms, charged forward, swinging his two carapace-bladed arms in a wild frenzy.

Ortes instantly chopped through the connective joints between the carapace segments. Thud- the sound of both arms dropping to the ground.

Dimedes continued his charge, as if trying to crush Ortes beneath his remaining body. Ortes naturally raised his blade.

The raised blade pierced through Dimedes's jaw and skewered his brain.

That sight called to Neiro's mind not the finale of a bullfight, but a different scene.

A serpent constricting its prey. Surely it had been Dimedes who wore the form of a serpent, yet he looked like one being slowly hunted down by a coiled snake.

"Former Director Dimedes. Rest in peace."

It was too indifferent a farewell to be called a eulogy. Ortes, pulling out his high-frequency blade, looked at Neiro.

At that subtle show of force, Neiro hurriedly opened his mouth.

"I've captured the chimera safe and sound. It's right over there."

***

I glare at Neiro, who captured the chimera and still refused to help me to the very end.

'So you only do what you're told, is that it?'

Jealousy and rage bubbled up toward Neiro, who was putting into practice the exact work policy I dreamed of.

If only I had a subordinate I could push my work onto…!

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