The Extra is a Genius!? Chapter 598: The Last Percent [II]

Noel switched his strategy right away.

Pursuing a form that could vanish amid the basin and twist the fog with every shift proved useless. From the instant the chimera awoke, it had shaped the battle around confusion. Very well. He would cease battling the physical form first and begin breaking down the framework that sustained the entire combat area.

He breathed out steadily, planted his feet firmly on the dark rock, and lifted a single hand. 'Cooling Veil.' A delicate layer of ice expanded from his position and swept gently over the basin, weaving through the ghostly vapor while rapidly chilling the surroundings. The pale haze responded instantly. Rather than swirling loosely near the chimera, it grew denser, solidified, and adhered in thick layers to the actual body, as the illusory spots disintegrated and started to fray into uneven pieces. For the initial time in the confrontation, the hazy shapes encircling the monster hesitated rather than moving smoothly alongside it.

The chimera sensed the alteration without delay. Its bone-like visage whipped toward Noel, and the snake tail sliced through the vapor in a ghostly streak, emerging from behind a shattered altar-like boulder and aiming directly at his leg. This time, Noel's gaze followed the attack precisely. 'Glacialis.' A focused spike of frost shot from his palm and hit the tail close to the mouth, encasing the slender head and a section of the neck in a coating of solid ice. The tail jerked aside in abrupt defiance, its motion faltering just sufficiently to disrupt the monster's equilibrium for a mere moment.

That proved sufficient for Noir.

Darkness poured from her massive build as she altered her path across the basin, her form dropping close to the ground before the shadows enveloping her intensified and rushed more fiercely along her legs. The violet lines on her coat glowed subtly as she sped toward the chimera's vulnerable side. Then she merged into the fog for a split second and burst ahead with 'Night Pounce,' her eight-meter frame crashing against the creature's side with power that hoisted one part of it upward. The Palecrown Chimera contorted sharply from the blow, talons scraping across the ebony rock as it was compelled to rise higher than intended, its ghostly antler crown lifting directly into Noel's sight.

Noel acted in perfect sync. 'Ignition Surge.' Flames enveloped Revenant Fang in a layer of fiery orange that stuck to the dark sword and defined its shape against the whitish basin haze. The chimera countered swiftly, more so than earlier, the antlers unleashing yet another arc of ghostly mana while the snake tail, partially iced over, flailed chaotically through the sky in a frantic lethal sweep. The energy cut and the tail converged on him simultaneously from different directions.

'Shadow Rift.' A slender dark fissure ripped open next to Noel, resembling a gash in the atmosphere. He passed through it right as the mana edge sliced across the spot his torso had occupied and the snake tail whipped through the lingering illusion he abandoned. Moments later, he reappeared near the chimera's elevated head, near enough to observe the fissures already etching the pale crown.

Revenant Fang descended.

The blazing tip sank into one of the massive antlers amid a fierce explosion of embers and flames. For a fleeting moment, the ivory formation resisted. Then the crack propagated with a brittle cracking noise along the entire limb, and the chimera howled.

The whole basin transformed.

The vapor that had followed the crown's command throughout the skirmish spasmed outward in a fierce surge. Phantom forms dissolved instantly into shredded veils of pale gas. The twisted mana currents near the dark rocks trembled and shattered, revealing just one genuine figure amid the sunken valley. The Palecrown Chimera lurched to the side with its skullish expression contorted in fury, the damaged antler dropping whitish shards that evaporated before hitting the earth.

At last, Noel viewed it distinctly.

Under the neck, where the shadowy rock-hard skin joined the upper torso, a slim band of paler flesh extended between the armored muscles. There lay the vulnerability. Not the cranium. Not the side. The neck and chest junction, concealed earlier by overlapping illusions and deceptive placements.

Yet shattering the crown rendered the monster even deadlier.

Its velocity spiked. Gone was the measured restraint, gone the deliberate command of the terrain. It propelled itself across the basin with unbridled frantic aggression, form crouched and talons shredding rock with every stride. The snake tail broke loose from the remaining frost and lashed through the atmosphere in brutal, unpredictable strikes that abandoned any prior rhythm. The mana in the basin pulsed intensely enough to resonate in the bones, and far overhead, the ledge where the companions lingered would detect the shift climbing the peak.

The chimera charged at Noir initially, seeking to eliminate the greater burden from its flank, and Noel seized that opportunity to slash across its trajectory with renewed swiftness, compelling it to divide its focus once more. The beast swiveled back toward him with lethal intent in its amber gaze, neck bared for barely an instant before it shielded the spot behind a lunging limb.

Sufficient.

He had spotted the breach.

Now he merely had to keep it revealed.

The gap appeared for under a second whenever the chimera adjusted its stance, obscured below the savage swing of its limb and the persistent tug of its snake tail, but Noel had glimpsed plenty. He required no further hunt for the flaw. Just one precise opportunity.

The Palecrown Chimera assaulted him anew in a rush that pulverized the dark stone under its talons. Its snake tail flung broad across the basin, fangs ripping through the vapor at midsection level while the fractured crown over its skull emitted another warped surge across the glen. The force expanded in a severe ripple.

Noel extended his arm.

'Gravity Collapse.' The atmosphere encircling the chimera warped fiercely and plunged downward in a single merciless blow. The monster's frame smashed against the basin base with force that split the rock underneath, its appendages folding as the abrupt burden anchored it down. The snake tail convulsed right away, attempting to break away, but the vulnerability had already emerged.

Noir struck the side moments afterward.

Her enormous shadow-wolf shape rammed into the chimera's flank with devastating power, talons piercing the shadowy skin while her mass pulled the form even further askew. The creature writhed in rage and strained to stand against the crushing gravity, but the motion unveiled the cleft under its neck once more.

That sufficed for Noel.

Lightning erupted around his figure.

'Stormpiercer.' Bolts of raw electricity coiled about him and condensed into a dazzling bolt that tore through the basin in a direct path, swifter than vision could track. In one blink he was paces distant, in the next he pressed against the chimera's neck, Revenant Fang plunging ahead in a precise stab that bored into the revealed essence below the torso edge. The collision unleashed a savage jolt across the beast's whole being. Its limbs spasmed, the snake tail thrashing madly as amber radiance flared from the injury.

Noel pressed onward.

'Eclipse Rend.' Obscurity flooded from Revenant Fang in a broad dark curve that sliced through the bared core and ripped upward through the lingering crown power like a edge cleaving the final glow of twilight. The shattered antlers quivered. The ivory energy coursing within them splintered noticeably, then exploded in snapping pale veins that raced from tine to tine before the full crown started to disintegrate.

The chimera wailed once.

Then the cry faded as it perished.

The ghostly vapor filling the basin folded inward as though the valley had sighed deeply. The antlers fragmented into soot-like particles that floated through the breeze and vanished ere they landed. The snake tail twitched twice more, maw clashing at void, then stilled.

Quietness reclaimed the sunken valley.

For an instant Noel stayed rooted, Revenant Fang embedded in the lifeless beast, his breaths labored, the final sparks of electricity vanishing from his form. Then the system panel materialized in his vision.

[You have slain Palecrown Chimera (Archmage – Elite). You have received 1% Core Progress. Current Core Progress: 100.00% — Mana Core: Archmage]

A subsequent message appeared promptly.

[Limit reached. Manacode unlocked.]

Followed by another.

[Transforming core into Manacode...]

Noel's gaze tightened a touch.

The force overwhelmed him suddenly.

It transcended typical agony. It delved further, as if an inner part of his torso and thoughts had started inverting. Mana roared through his veins with savage intensity, excessively thick, excessively weighty, excessively abundant for regular channels to hold. His legs signaled a keen alert that endured shorter than a second.

Then reality spun.

Aloft on the crest, the group perceived the valley's shift the moment it occurred.

Daemar reacted first when Noel's aura suddenly fluctuated. Marcus swore quietly and dashed after him, Garron trailing near, Laziel pushing himself despite the icy fear already gripping his back. Selene outpaced them all.

When they arrived at the basin, Noel was collapsing.

Revenant Fang fell from his hold as his form struck the dark rock forcefully, senseless prior to impact. Noir had advanced two paces toward him before the identical power affected her too. Her frame stumbled in stride, her violet orbs blurring briefly before all vigor deserted her instantly. She dissolved into shadow rather than solidity, her shape unwinding into dark threads that glided over the stone and merged straight into Noel's silhouette below.

No words escaped for the initial moment.

They couldn't comprehend the scene.

The slain chimera rested torn apart behind him, its crown dwindled to floating cinders, the haze over the basin fading into oblivion.

And Noel—

Noel failed to rouse.