Flynn, still shocked, asked Takechi in a loud voice.
"What did you do to Infori?!"
Takechi simply smirked. Then, Takechi suddenly burst out laughing. He lowered his head for a moment, as if holding back something, before bursting out laughing.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
His laughter silenced Flynn, Lilith, and Iris once again. They could only watch Takechi's laughter echo around them. His laughter could possibly be heard all the way to the plaza.
Flynn, finally fed up with Takechi's constant laughter, spoke—
"What are you really planning!"
Takechi's laughter stopped abruptly, and he stared at Flynn's face. He saw that Flynn's face seemed filled with resentment and hatred, especially after seeing that Infori was in the dark dimension as he had planned—and that was why he made his decision.
Takechi spoke with his smirk lingering.
"Your face is filled with resentment and hatred. Is his death enough to make you feel despair?"
"What...?"
"The death of a loved one might be a more deadly means than simply killing those with whom one has no ties," he said, then continued. "The bonds people have built can become overwhelming resentment and hatred."
"What are you talking about? Who are you, really?"
"I'm nobody, and I don't even want to be," he said, his tone slightly flat, causing Flynn to frown slightly.
"..."
"Honestly, I didn't really think about involving him, who's just an artifact shopkeeper," he said, then sighed. "Unfortunately, he's your friend."
Flynn could only surrender to Infori's predicament. Only Infori could save himself now. He couldn't help him at all; interdimensional interaction wouldn't be possible without something causing it to happen.
"Damn...!"
⟨⟩ ⟨⟩ ⟨⟩
On the other hand, in a dimension unknown to Infori, he was now face to face with the Dark Chimera. Infori simply stared at it silently, sword still in hand.
(What should I do?! Fighting it is impossible...! The Dark Chimera is a legendary creature... Usually, when I hear the term legendary, my eyes always light up—but that only applies to artifacts... This is a different case...!)
The Dark Chimera suddenly moved, roaring loudly, drawing Infori's attention. The Dark Chimera then flapped its wings, propelling its body upwards rapidly.
The surrounding winds picked up, and Infori raised his hands to shield his eyes from the dust.
".....!"
He opened his eyes slightly, looked up, and saw the floating Dark Chimera staring at him. Its dragon head was about to do something, its mouth open, glowing red like fire.
Infori gasped, its body stumbling back slightly.
"...!?"
In a preparatory position, its dragon head moved up and then down, releasing a fiery red flame from its mouth. The flames aimed at Infori, and his body reacted swiftly. He quickly moved to the left, the flames nearly burning him to ash. Fortunately, he possessed powerful Nephilim instincts, so Infori dodged it in a split second.
"Whoa!!"
Infori then stared at the direction the flames had been emitted. It turned out that the impact of the Dark Chimera's fire burst was enough to ignite the barren ground and create a sea of flames that consumed everything nearby.
"........"
He was grateful to have escaped danger.
Because of this, Infori immediately ran in an uncertain direction. Meanwhile, the Dark Chimera flapped its wings, causing its body to dart rapidly toward Infori. The Dark Chimera raised its left leg, which had a sharp claw.
Infori, seeing this, immediately ran at full speed, the Dark Chimera attacked with all its might.
".....!"