Raging Monster

My eyes are the windows that show my inner world

In them what's reflected is anger

But as you might expect

This chapter ends in a cliffhanger.

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The group had been killing the skeletons that seemed to spawn for a while now infinitely. They didn't know where the undead came from; the only thing they knew was that everyone was advancing little by little, and once they beat the skeletons in front of them and did so, no more of those creatures spawned behind them.

"This horde of skeletons doesn't look like it has an end. Doctor, are we at least making some progress?" Mash asked Romani while bashing her shield against a spear-wielding skeleton. He was the one who could detect energy signals, after all.

"Let me check..." Dr. Roman stopped monitoring their situation to look at the enemy signals before answering. "You are, albeit not much. For every three skeletons you kill, two more appear. However, their overall number is decreasing. Keep up like that, and this will be over soon."

"Soon? We have been killing these things for almost an hour. How much is this soon?" Cu Chulainn sarcastically asked. To avoid causing much destruction, he had been used his staff as a blunt weapon and runes with not so much power in them.

'Why are you asking me as if I was to blame for this?' Romani wanted to cry out of impotence. He would ask Magi☆Mari how to deal with this later.

Others were fighting without complaining. Even if their faces told, they wanted to do just that. A great example of this was Jalter, who wanted nothing more than to blow this whole cave to pieces but refrained from doing so.

Vlad and Kiyohime were such cases too. But different from the Black Saint, they maintained their composure. Something ironic coming considering they were Berserkers.

Martha and Jeanne were on the same mind, creatures like these were as unholy as they could be, and so, the two Saint needed to put them to rest.

Meanwhile, Lancelot and Nero continued their little 'game' to decide who killed more enemies, although it was clear as day that the Emperor was getting more tired by the second.

"Huff...huff... These creatures keep multiplying like the most annoying of rats!" The human girl complained while trying to regain her breath.

"Shouldn't you rest for a bit? You seem a little tired." Fujimaru suggested with a raised voice. They were not close and coupled with the sound from fighting, communication was proving to be slightly challenging.

"Don't worry. Something like this is nothing for an Emperor!" Nero responded with an equally raised voice. Her words and actions didn't match, though. Lancelot had to save her from the arrow of a skeleton that was hiding among its kin. For him to do that, Fujimaru guessed that she reminded him of his King.

Still, when all was said and done, Berserker wouldn't help even the original King Arthur, at least not voluntarily. Maybe there was another reason he was didn't know yet.

...

Fortunately for the group, their mental torture only lasted another twenty minutes. Nevertheless, when they defeated all the undead, everyone noticed the cave wasn't just a straight path anymore. Now, it was an open space in a circular shape, similar to an arena with natural stone pillars all around it. The ceiling seemed to have expanded to at least twice its previous size.

"What's all of this? Is this the end?" Nero asked with confusion as she looked around, and no one could blame her for holding that line of thinking. Looking from her position, she wasn't able to see any kind of way to exit this place and continue walking; it was like a dead end.

"I don't see any treasure around here. Told ya that Goddess only wanted to screw us over." Cu Chulainn was lightly hitting his staff against his shoulder repeatedly while also looking around. He said so many times how Stheno only wanted to mess with them that even he was getting bored.

"We should look around first; maybe she DID leave something for us here." Mash offered, albeit with a little insecurity in her voice.

Caster sighed when he heard her words. "Really... You have a great body, but you should use your brain more. She doesn't want to help; she has proven that time and time again."

"That's sexual harassment!" Mash exclaimed with a blush on her face as she took some steps back, making him laugh.

Suddenly, something wet touched Shielder's shoulder. "Huh?" Looking up, she didn't see anything, but the other Servants sensed something.

"Get out of there!" With Caster's shout, the Servants moved quickly. Vlad grabbed Fujimaru by the collar and retreated while Jeanne did the same with Nero, albeit in a less rough manner. Mash took a moment to react but managed to follow them in their escape.

*Boom*

An enormous shadow descended from the ceiling and crashed into the ground, creating a loud sound and generating a dust cloud that enveloped its figure.

Once they were at a safe distance from the thing that appeared suddenly, the group heard a monstrous roar that created a gust of wind, which in turn, dispersed the dust that hid its form.

"W-What is that?!" Fujimaru asked with a little fear in his voice. One would think that having faced, though not directly, Wyverns, a Dragon, and even seen a gargantuan serpent, he would be immune to such things. However, this creature in front of him gave him a completely different feeling, maybe because of its sheer bizarreness.

"A Phantasmal! Be careful, it may not be as strong as a Dragon, but it's not something to take lightly!" Romani advised them with nervousness.

"This abomination...a Chimera." Martha slowly said while looking at the beast. It had the body and head of a lion. The creature also has a goat's head, rising from between its shoulder blades. The goat's head appears to be male since it had horns and a beard. To top it off, the monster's lion tail morphed into a green snake that released an equally green gas every time it breathed.

It was three and a half meters high, and about 5 meters in length without considering the tail. Of all the creatures they had faced up until now, this could be said to be the most abnormal one.

"I swear I will kill that little bitch when I get the chance," The level of annoyance she was feeling was getting higher and higher. At this point, she wished nothing more than to burn everything down.

"There is nothing to fear! Although that creature is ugly, I have strangled a lion before. This will be easy!" Nero said, causing weird looks to come her way.

Seemingly able to understand her, the beast released a roar higher than the previous one. Like a predator nearing his prey, the Chimera advanced with slow steps toward them.

The Chaldeans didn't take long to put themselves in formation, with Jeanne and Mash in front to receive the attacks. Vlad, Jalter, and Lancelot have positioned themselves to the sides, and the rest were in the backline.

Although Nero said she was going to beat the creature 'easily,' they knew she didn't stand a chance against this beast, so they put her at the backline in case the Chimera got past them for some reason. Of course, the blond-haired girl protested without much success.

The Chimera let them do whatever they wanted as it kept advancing. "We have more space now; if we work together this will not take much." Everyone agreed with Vlad's words. Phantasmal Beast or not, they were a group of Heroic Spirits, after all.

However, to their surprise, the monster stopped suddenly. Everyone was confused by this, but the anomalous creature didn't pay the group any mind.

The goat and lion head started looking around; even the serpent tail was doing the same. Both lion and goat heads sniffed a bit as if they were trying to find something.

This weird behaviour didn't long, though. Still, it wasn't a situation to celebrate. The reason was, the moment the beast returned its sight to them, it looked completely furious.

The Chimera dug its claws into the ground as veins were becoming visible throughout his whole body, starting from its legs. Every pair of eyes turned red in a clear sign of anger.

Out of nowhere, the lion head roared, the goat head bleated, and the snake hissed. The roar was so loud, it made the cave tremble like it was about to collapse.

The group had to cover their ears in fear their eardrums will explode. "What is happening with that stupid thing?!" Jalter asked in a loud voice, that sounded almost silent with the noises the creature was making.

"Hell if I know!" Caster replied with disconcertment. He thought the beast was trying to break Nero's record for the most horrible sound or something.

Luckily for them, the Chimera didn't produce that sound for long. "Whew, thank God it is over. I could hear that sound from all the way here. Fortunately, we have an option to mute." Romani's words didn't sit well with them. Was he trying to make fun of them or something?

"If you don't have anything useful to say, please keep it to yourself, Doctor," Mash said with furrowed brows, causing him to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that. Still, the records we have about the Chimera don't mention anything about it suddenly going crazy. They may be destructive creatures but they don't just go mad without any warning!" After apologizing, Dr. Roman offered his insight on the matter.

"Great, now we have fo fight an enraged beast out of nowhere." The number of sarcastic remarks Avenger was making was increasing with every little situation they faced.

"For now, you will have to be even more careful than before. I doubt it will care for any injury it may suffer at this point." Romani gave a last piece of advice and then cut communication in the meantime.

"He is preparing to attack!" Jeanne alerted everyone; she never left her gaze from the beast for even a second. That way, she could be ready for any situation that could arise.

True to her words, the serpent head extended itself toward the front before releasing a venom cloud. "Don't use fire, that thing is combustible!" Cu Chulainn knew some things about the creature, so he didn't waste time in advising the others.

'Reading when you are bored sure proves to be useful sometimes.' Caster thought with a smirk on his face. To pass the time, apart from talking to ladies, he has been reading about a lot of things in case something like this ever happened.

As they couldn't take that head-on, nor they could just let the gaseous venom scattered around, Mash did a spin to gain momentum and then created a gust of wind with her shield. Jeanne did the same but using her flag.

The venom cloud changed direction and now headed back to the Chimera. However, the monster simply raised one of its paws and slammed it onto the ground, dispersing it completely.

"It wouldn't be that easy, would it?" Mash released a self-deprecating chuckle seeing as the creature wasn't even bothered by their attempt to damage him with his attack.

The Chimera decided to take things to a melee range this time. Flexing its hind legs, it did a big jump toward them. When it landed back on the ground, the monster was already in front of Jeanne and Mash.

With a powerful swipe from its paws, the Chimera struck Mash's shield, throwing the lilac-haired girl into a wall. "Guh!" Shielder released a sound of pain, making the 'good' Servants worry, and Fujimaru to almost have a heart attack. "Mash, are you okay?!" He worriedly asked.

The girl wanted to answer, but couldn't due to the beastly roar coming from the monster, who didn't stop after hitting her.

The lion head tried to bite Jeanne. However, she used her flag to keep its mouth open. Sadly, the lion head was not the most dangerous one. While she was busy trying to avoid being eaten, the goat head opened its mouth and prepared to release flames from it.

"Lancelot!" Fujimaru didn't know if his intentions would be conveyed to the Berserker Servant. He didn't have time to properly make a command, after all. Fortunately, it seemed his intentions really got through as the Black Knight moved very fast and moved Jeanne to the side before the goat head could attack.

The Master cleaned some sweat off his forehead, seeing as they could avoid an accident. Despite that, they couldn't rejoice as the Chimera seemed to get even angrier when it noticed its prey got away.

"Change of plans, we will have to attack it from all sides. That creature is strong enough to make that girl's shield useless. Our first priority is to get rid of the snake head. Most of us use fire to attack, so it is the most troublesome one." Vlad informed them of their new plan as everyone moved, trying to surround the creature in a circle.

Even in its maddened state, the Chimera didn't do anything to stop them. Always keeping its sight on the same people.