— Time to end this...
Samael tightened his grip on Folly.
Then he charged.
His body shot toward the chimera like a projectile.
The spider-woman merely raised her pale hand, still stained with the blood of both of them.
The next instant...
Thousands of silvery threads wrapped around Samael.
His charge came to an abrupt halt.
So did his strike.
It was as though the air itself had become a prison.
The threads tightened around his body from every direction.
He couldn't move.
The chimera slowly walked toward him.
Then...
Her hand pierced straight through his abdomen.
PLOFT!
Blood splattered directly across the creature's face.
Samael's eyes widened.
He felt the inside of his stomach burning.
Worse...
He could feel that hand moving inside his body.
— AAAAHHHHH!!
His scream echoed throughout the forest.
The chimera watched his expression with curiosity.
Then she slowly raised her other hand.
Her fingers touched Samael's cheek.
For a brief moment...
The gesture resembled a caress.
A display of tenderness.
The very next second...
Her fingers pierced through his flesh.
— GHHH...!
Samael's face twisted in agony.
Folly slipped from his hand.
Before it could hit the ground, he dismissed it.
The small amount of essence required to keep it manifested returned to his Soul Core.
At that moment...
Every drop mattered.
Breathing with difficulty, Samael slowly raised his head.
His golden eyes met the chimera's.
If not for her torn cheek...
If the lower half of her body were not that of a monstrous spider...
She might even have been considered beautiful.
Suddenly...
A sword wrapped in frost tore through the air.
CRACK!
The blade pierced the chimera's shoulder.
At the same instant, a rain of arrows severed the threads restraining Samael.
He didn't even look back.
He didn't have to.
The moment he regained his freedom, he grabbed the hilt of the icy sword with both hands.
And pushed.
He poured every ounce of his strength into that single strike.
The blade began to descend.
The chimera's two arms were still impaling his body.
Even so, she released Samael and desperately tried to stop the sword.
Both hands clamped onto the blade.
It stopped.
Not even a single inch.
Samael poured the remainder of his essence into his arms.
His muscles swelled.
Veins bulged beneath his skin.
Even so...
The sword remained motionless.
Damn it...
Then, a memory surfaced.
"Mix your spirit with your soul essence to reach the first stage."
The words echoed in his mind.
Samael closed his eyes for a single instant.
Essence.
Spirit.
Focus.
Will.
Everything converged into his arms.
For one second...
Nothing happened.
Then...
The sword began to move again.
Centimeter by centimeter.
Slowly overcoming the chimera's monstrous strength.
For the first time...
The creature's expression changed.
She panicked.
Thousands of threads burst from her body.
They coiled around her arms.
They pulled the sword backward.
And they succeeded.
The blade stopped once more.
— HAAAAAA!!
Samael roared.
He tried to force strength from a body that had nothing left to give.
His entire body trembled.
His muscles tore apart.
Even so...
It was useless.
Then...
A deafening explosion echoed through the forest.
BOOOOM!!
The next instant...
A blade streaked across the battlefield.
The threads were severed.
The chimera's arms were sliced off.
Her remaining six legs were cut away almost simultaneously.
Without any resistance...
The sword Samael had been pushing came crashing down all at once.
It cleaved straight through the creature's torso.
Splitting her in two.
The world seemed to fall silent.
Then...
The Spell's voice echoed within his mind.
[Congratulations.]
[You have slain a Fallen Tyrant: Chimera Spider.]
A weary smile appeared on Samael's face.
Thank goodness...
At last, the weight of his body overcame him.
His legs gave out.
His consciousness began to fade.
Just before everything went completely dark...
The Spell spoke once more.
[You have received an Echo.]
Samael couldn't even manage a smile.
Darkness finally embraced him.
And he lost consciousness.
Soft footsteps echoed through the ruined forest.
A woman with long purple hair calmly approached the battlefield.
Her gaze swept across the devastation surrounding her.
Frozen trees.
Craters scattered across the ground.
The corpses of dozens of spiders.
The remains of a Corrupted Creature.
And at the center of it all...
Samael.
Acheron stared at her unconscious disciple for several seconds.
Then she sighed.
— Seriously...
She grabbed him by the collar without the slightest bit of gentleness.
— You're a seriously troublesome disciple.
At that moment, Elizabeth, Vanitas, Liu, and Bel finally arrived.
All four froze at the sight of the battlefield.
But before Elizabeth could see Samael's countless wounds...
Acheron simply tossed him backward.
Enkidu, who had been standing silently nearby, caught Samael effortlessly in midair.
— Heal him.
His voice was calm.
But it left no room for argument.
Enkidu simply nodded and immediately began treating him.
A few minutes earlier, Acheron had encountered Elizabeth and Vanitas desperately running through the forest.
Shortly afterward, Liu and Bel had appeared as well, returning from who knew where.
The only sentence she needed to hear was:
— Samael is in danger!
Without asking a single question...
She immediately set off.
Now, looking at the destruction around her, she understood perfectly why they had been so desperate.
Her gaze returned to Samael.
Truthfully...
She still didn't know him well enough to say she genuinely cared about him.
But the boy seemed likable.
And for Acheron...
That alone was reason enough to act.
She then turned her eyes toward the few monsters that still remained alive.
For the first time since she had arrived...
Her smile disappeared.
The air grew heavy.
As though the forest itself had stopped breathing.