ROTLE- Chapter 232- To Inspire You (Patreon)

Aiden stood, worried but not showing it as his interface hovered in front of him.

[You are within attacking distance of a natural or unnatural predator of your kind]

..

[Title Unnatural Hunter is in effect]

[You have gained 20% temporary increase in damage.]

[You have gained 30% temporary increase in damage resistance.]

[You have gained 10% temporary increase in all physical stats.]

For all the buffs he was receiving Aiden couldn’t help but feel like it would not be enough to save him from the current situation he was finding himself in.

Beside him, saying that Rometo was ready for action was an understatement. The man looked like he was ready to fight against the [Demon King], ready to go to war to save his life. Aiden was not surprised. Even with all the man’s ability to conceal his emotions behind his anger, he could not hide his fear.

In Aiden’s past life, he knew about the [Chimera]s, abominations of the [Enemy of the Order]’s doing. It was believed in the Order that it was the enemy’s attempt at creating a powerful army of some kind for purposes nobody knew. Some even speculated that he was trying to go to war with the Order.

Knowing what he knew now, Aiden had a feeling that they were nothing but failures in the man’s reach for eternity. The real problem here, however, was the very nature of the chimera in front of them.

“Ever heard one speak before?” Aiden asked, doing nothing to control the volume of his voice.

Rometo shook his head slowly. Aiden could just feel the man fighting the urge to ask him how he knew of chimeras. Certainly, it would not be knowledge that Bandiv would’ve given him. The only person in that kingdom that was aware of the creatures was the [Sage], and Aiden was fairly certain that the man had not told the king. The chimeras, after all, were not their problem.

The chimera cocked its human head to the side. Ignoring Rometo, it looked at Aiden, specifically at his blackened hand.

“Do you wish to become the [Demon King]?” it asked curiously.

Aiden had a complex response to that that was not an answer. “Do I get any benefit in becoming the [Demon King]?”

Rometo’s shoulders stiffened a little in that way a person’s did when they stopped themselves from performing a reflex action. The man had probably wanted to speak to him.

Aiden reached for his enchantments. Ted and Valdan were still standing at where they had stood, most likely at the edge of something. That was good.

The creature looked at Rometo, seemed to think about something before ignoring him again. “The [Demon King] is a powerful being capable of a great many things.”

“If you aim is to lure me with power, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

Rometo’s shoulders were as stiff as ever. “This is not a time for conversations,” he bit out.

The chimera looked at him again.

For all of Aiden’s worry at a talking chimera, there was a part of him that left him slightly comfortable, but only slightly, because of the notification still hovering over the creature’s head. If the system considered the creature a [Prey] when it came to him, then he was arguably safe. What he did find interesting was that from where it was, it could reach him. There wasn’t the greatest distance between them, but it was still great enough.

“Then tell us,” it said, “what would motivate you to become the [Demon King]?”

A chimera interested in the [Demon King]. Aiden would’ve laughed if he didn’t think that a fight right now was inevitable.

It took a step forward and Rometo took a step back. It looked at him again. Again, it ignored him as if he was not important.

“Aiden Lacheart,” it said, pronouncing his name as if it had always known it. “What will motivate you?”

Aiden latched onto two things. The first was that the creature knew his name and pronounced it properly. The second was that he had not felt anything like [Detect] being used on him. His eyes moved over to Rometo.

What was the possibility that the thing they had thought was following them before the enemy had vanished him away was the creature in front of them?

“Why are you here?” Rometo asked suddenly. “Your kind do not come to the mountains.”

That much was true. Aiden had never figured out why the chimeras never came to the two mountains, and in his past life, while the Order had investigated them, they had come up with nothing.

“Do not lump me in with things that do not think,” it answered, then looked at Aiden. “Would you like me to inspire you to become the [Demon King]?”

Aiden would not like the creature to do anything. In fact, he would very much like the creature to roll over and die. But knowing that it would not do that, he would be more than happy with it simply turning around and leaving them alone. They already had a more than capable [Mage] to deal with, even if the [Mage] was not currently chasing after them. He just hoped that—

He paused, froze a little. Ted and Valdan’s presences had started to move. And they were coming back.

“What I want to know is what benefit comes with being the [Demon King],” he said, knowing now that the only way to end this quickly was to finish the conversation before Ted and or Valdan got here or to fight and kill the creature.

The creature tilted its head to the side once more.

“Do not believe anything it says,” Rometo interrupted. “Chimeras are not natural things. Things like it are things that you stay away from. You would not trust the words of a monster if it started speaking to you, would you?”

This was interesting. Rometo was trying to talk his way out of this instead of trying to kill the creature. Was there something he knew about how strong the creature was or was he simply being cautious?

“A [Demon King] has control over space but not time,” the chimera said, ignoring Rometo.

Aiden couldn’t help but pay attention to that. His mind went to Ted in his past life. “When you say space, how much space are we talking about?”

“Lord Lacheart!” Rometo snapped.

At some point Aiden would have to ask Rometo why sometimes he called him by the title of Lord and sometimes he addressed him by his first name. There had to be some psychological intentionality to it.

The chimera spread its claw for arms as wide as it could to the side. “Space as far as space can reach. They are the king of space, after all.”

“And this isn’t a ploy by your master?” Aiden asked with honest curiosity. For all he knew, the enemy had set it up to the task of fishing out his intentions.

The chimera hesitated. This time, Rometo did in fact look at Aiden. A frown split through his fears and worry. It stood on his face like a tyrant king, ready to slay all that stood in its path to getting an answer out of Aiden.

Then the chimera smiled. It leaned forward, its smile becoming a grin. “So this is what you seek, Aiden Lacheart.”

Aiden held his silence, giving it no answer. While he did, light fractured at Rometo’s hands, cracking the world and taking form. Aiden the man was summoning weapons from his storage space. But he was more interested in the chimera’s continued lack of interest in Rometo.

“Then I shall tell you,” it said as two greatswords settled into Rometo’s hands. “The [Demon King] has the ability to move between worl—”

The words were barely done coming out of its mouth when Rometo moved. He disappeared from Aiden’s sight. Vanished as if his very existence had been nothing but a magic trick.

Aiden reached into his storage space and summoned a weapon of his own, knowing exactly what the chimera had been about to say at the end before Rometo attacked. The moment the sword settled into his palm, his interface popped up as Rometo popped into existence beside the chimera and it swung its claw casually to deflect his attack. The sound of bone and metal meeting somehow ringing through the pathway.

[You have equipped Dull Grey]

[Dull Grey has granted enchantment related buffs]

[Effect: 50% decrease in cost of mana for enchantments used]

Dull Grey was a boring name but the Order was rarely concerned with beautiful names. It only cared about usefulness.

Aiden twirled the sword once and [Dash] carried him forward.

The chimera turned at the last moment and one of its hooves kicked out. Aiden brought dull grey up, taking the kick on the flat of its blade. The blow was enough to send him flying back as Rometo disappeared once more, appearing behind the chimera. It turned, raised its claw for another deflection only for Rometo to disappear before completing its attack.

The chimera rounded immediately, refusing to lose track of Rometo. He appeared beneath it, stabbing upward with his sword. The creature moved its body slightly so that the strike only grazed it without enough force to break its skin. Then its claw shot out, straight for his neck. Rometo stepped out of himself as the claw wrapped itself around his neck and leapt back. The version of him left behind lost its head in the blink of an eye.

“ENOUGH!” Aiden barked.

The living Rometo and the chimera stopped. Rometo’s chest was heaving from the reality of dying while the chimera did not seem to care for what was going on.

“You attacked us,” it said simply. “We are only defending ourselves.”

“Conversations about the [Demon King] is forbidden,” Aiden said, knowing that if this fight was to happen, he would only be able to play support and, from the brief exchange, he didn’t think Rometo could win. “You know this.”

“Forbidden by who?” the chimera paused, frowned a little. “Forbidden by whom?”

Aiden had no answer to that. But Rometo did.

“By the gods,” he spat.

The chimera looked at him. “Is that why you attacked us?” it asked, genuine curiosity staining its voice.

“I attacked you because you lie,” he answered, grip on both swords still strong.

“But we do not.”

“Then why have you—”

Rometo disappeared once more.

For fuck sake, Aiden spat as Rometo popped into existence once more and the chimera reacted to his swinging swords. Rometo’s speed stats were not the highest. His speed was not what made him seem so fast to Aiden, although he was faster than Aiden was. No. What gave him his current speed was one of two things. He had a skill that slowed everything around him down, slowing even their sense of perception while leaving him at his normal speed. The second was a skill that increased his reaction speed, making his burst of movements—not his overall movement—faster than what was normal.

And, despite the possibility of both skills, the chimera was reacting to him as if it had no interest in the fight.

“Choose, Aiden Lacheart,” it said as a blue orb dropped from Rometo and hit the ground in front of it. “Will you come with me for the future you wish for, or—”

A string of blue mana shot out of the orb and stuck to its face, silencing it. It looked down curiously and Rometo appeared above its head, both swords held high over his head, and came down hard.

Aiden moved at the same time. [Dash] carried him once more, and he came to a screeching halt just beneath the chimera.

With Rometo descending from above it, the orb with properties it did not know linked to its face by a blue length of what looked like mana, and Aiden about to strike from beneath it, the chimera made its decision.

It ignored Rometo and the orb and looked down at Aiden.

When it spoke, it sounded bored as it said, “You have no idea, the infinity of demonic mana.”

One claw slipped out. Its movement was a blur as it slapped Rometo out of the air before his descent could come to an end and he could bring his swords down.

Aiden took that moment to re-strategize. His hands came together, weaving a sign.

“Slow,” the chimera said absently.

Its hoof shot out, slamming straight into his chest and sending him flying back before his weavings were even halfway done.

Aiden struck the wall with a force so brutal he almost lost hold of his sword. He heard something crack and smelled the blood as he bounced off the wall and hit the ground. In the distance, he heard Rometo let out a wet cough. It was too wet, wet enough to tell Aiden what he didn’t want to know.

He raised his head and found the ground in front of Rometo stained with blood. His mouth carried enough stains to confirm what Aiden knew. The man had just coughed up blood.

Not new to combat, Rometo was already uncorking a vial of deep blue green liquid. He downed it, and the chimera let him.

Anger flared in Rometo’s eyes when he was done, then the creature reached up to the thing on its face and clipped it with its claw, severing its link to the orb on the ground.

“You are hasty and hesitant,” it said, “because you do not know what you can become. You do not know what demonic mana can do.”

A new limb morphed, growing from its side. It was grotesque thing to watch as the limb protruded. It was short and stubby, that of a child. At first, there was confusion. It was written even on Rometo’s face. The man had clearly not known that dimensional mana—demonic mana—could grow limbs. Aiden definitely hadn’t known either.

Then the hand of the infant limb erupted in black mana and everything happened immediately.

Aiden’s interface popped up in front of him as the mana in the air grew heavy, Rometo rushing at the chimera.

[Ally Rometo Arad-Ea has used Class skill Patient World]

…

[You have been designated as an ally.]

[Time debuff Time Dilation does not take effect.]

Aiden knew the skill. It was what slowed Rometo’s enemies down.

[Ally Rometo Arad-Ea has used Class skill Chronometric Sense]

[You have been designated as an ally.]

[Chronometric Sense takes effect]

This one didn’t bother him. All it did was give Rometo knowledge of the cooldown countdown of any skill used around him.

“This,” the chimera declared, “is the power of Dimensional mana.”

Aiden froze.

The creature had not called it demonic mana. And Nastild did not have a mana type called dimensional mana.

The creature was calling demonic mana by the name Aiden’s interface knew it as.

What happened next loosened Aiden’s feet and had him sprinting as Rometo continued his charge at the chimera.

It pointed the infant hand at Rometo while its eyes remained on Aiden and the black mana that had wrapped the hand disappeared. In its place was something else pointed at Rometo. An old weapon, a familiar weapon.

A gun.