Chapter 535: Dangerous

The increase in power he felt coming from the chimera wasn’t the main thing that disturbed him. No, it was the transformation the creature was currently undergoing.

A sphere of crimson red light appeared around the chimera. Julius immediately sent several ruinflame-powered spikes at this barrier. However, to his astonishment, it was much stronger than the one he had broken through just moments ago.

This one unraveled his technique, and before it could impact the shield. It felt like it was actually using its Authority properly and tearing through his own constructs. It was like the monster was changing before his very eyes, evolving into something different.

Something dangerous.

He needed to stop it before it could complete its transformation. He was sure of that.

So he dashed forward, his limbs already regenerated during the short period. He loaded up his kinetic energy and gathered more destructive flames. Once he got close to the barrier, he used [Void Step]. If he couldn’t break the barrier, then he could just bypass it.

Or rather, that was what he had been planning on. Instead, he found himself inside the chaotic void, and the spatial energies were already trying to tear his body apart. Unlike usual, he wasn’t able to locate the spot he wanted to teleport to, and before he could try to cancel the skill, he felt his body get squeezed by the collapsing space.

He was spat out of the void and groaned in pain. His body, which had received the backlash of the interrupted skill, was more of a mess than before. His limbs, which had already been destroyed twice, were a mess once again—only this time around they looked like someone had wrung them like an old dishrag.

It wasn’t just his limbs either. It was his body as well. He was barely able to protect his heart and brain, but the rest of his chest was a broken disaster.

He lost control of his wings, and they faded as he plummeted from the sky. His healing skill and Drasil were going into overdrive, trying to heal him.

However, void damage was always a bit of a pain in the ass. The same aspect that he enjoyed using with [Void Strike] was now preventing him from healing as quickly as usual. He supercharged his Phoenix Concept and his Emblem to make up for this.

The strain on his soul was intense, but he needed to heal before the chimera finished whatever transformation it was undergoing.

He choked out one last groan, and to his relief, he felt the impedance from the void damage finally get overwhelmed. His body started to heal, and he took a deep breath when his lungs were regenerated.

As he healed the rest of his body, he looked at the chimera hiding in its little cocoon.

He was still befuddled as to why he was unable to teleport through the barrier. From what he could tell, there hadn’t been any anti-spatial aspects to it. However, even if there were, it wouldn’t have mattered. His skill was meant to go through enchantments or similar techniques.

The only thing he could compare it to was the feeling he got when he had tried to teleport a spike into a living creature. Not too long ago, he had thought about teleporting an explosion-rigged construct into his opponent’s head—a nasty idea with great potential.

However, there was an unbreakable barrier that prevented him from doing that. Freya mentioned that there was some natural defense in one’s soul that protected against such techniques.

Of course, if one were powerful enough to ignore these defenses, then it didn’t matter. But since Julius was already a tier lower than the chimera, it clearly didn’t apply to him.

He started to believe that this cocoon was an extension of the chimera’s soul.

He didn’t give up, though; he kept on sending more attacks against the barrier. He wanted to see if he could disrupt it somewhat. Unfortunately, it became apparent that his efforts were in vain, so he stopped his attacks and instead focused on building another salvo of spikes to throw at the creature.

He would wait until whatever it was doing finished, then throw everything he had at it.

Thankfully, that time came soon, and when the cocoon shattered into small shards of red light, he sent all of the spikes he created at the creature.

The chimera didn’t have any time to react. The ruinous enhanced spikes immediately bombarded it. Consecutive explosions rang out in the surrounding area as each of his spikes slammed into the chimera.

However, Julius felt something was off. His instincts were screaming at him, and he saw the reason why.

The chimera, whom the constructs had heavily injured before, was standing there looking no worse for wear. There were no gaping holes or wounds on its body.

Not only that, but the creature’s transformation had been much more dramatic than he expected; instead of getting larger, as he thought. The chimera had shrunk a lot. Instead of being the size of a bus, it was now the size of a large truck and much sleeker.

Its previously black scales now had an ominous crimson glow to them, and the spikes running down its spine now covered most of its body.

However, what was more concerning was the amount of heat he felt in the chimera’s body. It wasn’t just the heat, either; it was the source of heat. It was the same heat that came from his ruinous flames.

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This little shit had somehow absorbed his ruinous flames. He knew this because he saw small flickers of the ruinous flames being distributed along the spikes on the chimera’s body. Of course, they were nothing but a weak imitation, but it was still annoying to see.

He was about to say something in protest, but he was forced to blast himself to the side to avoid the piercing beam heading straight for his face. The stinging heat from his ruinous flames burned his cheeks.

However, he wasn’t to focus on that particular aspect because the chimera had moved with a speed he hadn’t seen so far. It disappeared, and he was barely able to sense an incoming object coming right behind him.

He used a barrier to deflect it, but the chimera shattered right through it, as if it were made of glass. Julius was forced to use [Void Step] to avoid the charging monster. Even then, he was almost too slow and got clipped by one of its claws.