Chapter 20

Who Is the Sinner~

A scroll is a document that contains magic.

It takes the form of a rolled parchment, and simply tearing it allows the user to cast the spell.

Even a seven-year-old child who has never seen magic in their life could throw a fireball, as long as they had a scroll.

The method of creating such mystical tools was highly secretive.

In fact, the Mage Tower held a monopoly over it, which made scrolls extremely expensive.

Even Zain, a squire of a hero, couldn’t afford to carry many of them.

But the appearance of a chimera was more than enough reason to use one.

With his trained arm, Zain tore the papyrus cleanly.

Rip—

The effect was extraordinary.

A burst of pure white light poured out from the torn paper, then shot straight toward the chimera.

Something astonishing happened.

The light surrounding the chimera soon faded, but then—

the chimera itself began to glow.

Somewhere between yellow and orange.

Different parts of its body shone in different colors.

Its sharp, hardened legs glowed orange, while its body emitted a yellow light.

Dazzling and radiant, the chimera flailed in confusion.

That glowing light was the Mage Tower’s appraisal magic.

A spell created by a genius mage—both intuitive and even beautiful.

“Overall, it’s yellow!”
“Level four… manageable!”

Zain and the captain both sounded relieved.

And for good reason.

The color of a glowing monster indicated its strength.

White for harmless creatures.

Then blue, green, yellow, orange, red, purple, and finally black.

One squire knight, one captain of the guard, and four elite soldiers.

Plus the trap they had prepared in advance.

They judged it was enough.

“Fire!”

At the captain’s command, the soldiers released their bowstrings.

Four arrows cut through the air and flew toward Paphnachia.

Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!

But the arrows bounced off its shell.

Grayrim’s bows were composite bows made from monster horns.

They had enough power to pierce ordinary wooden shields—

yet they only sparked and left shallow marks.

Its shell was incredibly tough.

The captain’s expression hardened as he took aim himself.

Thud!

“SKREEEE!”

The chimera roared.

The captain’s arrow struck precisely between its joints.

A shot worthy of a master archer.

The problem was—

it had eight legs.

And now, it was enraged.

The captain quickly retreated and called out:

“Sir Zain!”

In terms of raw combat strength, the knight was the strongest.

Zain was a properly appointed knight.

And he had personally trained under Gunter in the use of the halberd.

Though smaller than Gunter’s massive weapon, Zain’s halberd was still long and formidable.

“Haap!”

A straightforward battle cry.

And then—

his halberd began to glow.

The light gathered on the blade was unmistakably aura.

He swung.

Slash!

The halberd pierced the chimera’s shell and lodged into it.

Zain was startled by the powerful resistance in his grip.

“This thing is incredibly tough!”
“Inflict as much damage as possible! Cut off its legs if you can!”

Zain followed the command.

The chimera seemed shocked by the pain—something it had never experienced before.

But it did not fear.

It was simply enraged at the unfamiliar monkey breaking its shell.

Its legs were clearly different from a spider’s.

Spider legs weren’t meant for bludgeoning.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Zain barely managed to block.

As expected—

a chimera was a terrifying monster.

If Gunter were here, it would have been easily subdued.

But for Zain alone, it was overwhelming.

Still—

he wasn’t alone.

“Fall back!”

At the signal, Zain immediately retreated.

The chimera hesitated for a moment—

then moved to chase.

At that instant, the soldiers threw oil flasks.

Since the day humans made fire their ally, nothing frightened beasts more.

“Ignite it!”

The captain used fire once again.

Torches flew through the air.

Wow, this lunatic—

he’s like the reincarnation of a legendary strategist.

Even against a chimera, he uses fire tactics.

Not the Battle of Red Cliffs—

this is the Battle of the Cliff.

The chimera, once glowing yellow, was now engulfed in flames.

“SKREEEE!”

From my perch in the tree, I crunched on a cricket while watching.

The scroll the knight tore had activated an incredible spell.

It let them intuitively assess combat strength through color.

…Can’t they see status windows?

I don’t know.

Even I had limits before eating that centipede’s core.

Still, that appraisal magic seemed quite effective.

I have to rely on status windows to judge strength.

If I can’t see anything, it means the enemy is overwhelmingly strong—so I retreat.

If the level is high and the skills aren’t ordinary, I either retreat or observe.

Not very intuitive.

Sometimes something that looks weak turns out absurdly strong.

Honestly, judging by color might be easier.

“Maintain distance! Fire more arrows!”

The captain commanded.

The knight fought better, but the captain led better.

Seeing their earlier tension, I found myself liking the captain more.

That young knight felt a bit arrogant.

Talking back to an elder like that.

Maybe I still carry the spirit of proper respect in my heart.

“This thing is persistent! Hup!”

Even while burning, the chimera rampaged wildly.

Panic spread across the humans’ faces.

But to me, it was obvious.

After all—

it has high heat resistance.

“This thing has high heat resistance!”
“Isn’t it a mix of spider and mole?! Then why isn’t it affected by fire…?!”

Their confused shouts rang out.

Yeah… they really can’t see status windows.

Maybe my reincarnator trait isn’t just about translation.

Because the chimera’s status window I saw looked like this:

【Chimera Paphnachia Lv.20+++】
【Traits】
[Chimera], [Subterranean Monster], [Dragon Bloodline], [Molting]

【Skills】
[Molting: Emergency Lv.2]
[Carapace Lv.10], [Burrow Lv.9], [Heat Resistance Lv.6], [Self-Healing Lv.3],
[Mana Detection Lv.4], [Enhanced Smell Lv.7], [Luminescence Lv.20],
[Sever Lv.10], [Clone Lv.3], [Two Hearts Lv.1]

※Evolution possible
[Carapace Lv.10], [Luminescence Lv.20], [Sever Lv.10]

【Status】
[Molting Available], [Burn], [Luminescent]

This is no ordinary creature.

What stands out is—

even though it’s capped at level 20, it doesn’t show “Evolution Available” in the usual sense.

It seems Paphnachia hasn’t met the conditions.

If Pellelian knew, he’d probably be disappointed.

Instead—

the status Luminescent appeared.

And the level 20 Luminescence skill shone brilliantly.

At that very moment—

the chimera’s movements accelerated.

Its flaming legs swung violently—

like spinning fire, dazzling and deadly.

Clang!

The knight raised his halberd and saved a soldier who was about to die.

But in return, he was pushed back as if he’d been flung away.

“What kind of strength is this…!”

They must have thought that once it caught fire, it would quickly shrivel up and burn to death.

Well, even with heat resistance, something with its body on fire shouldn’t be fine.

And a skill like Luminescence couldn’t last forever—so it should die soon.

…Or—

[Molting: Emergency Lv.2]

That skill stood out.

It had Molting as a trait, and also a molting-related skill.

If it was anything like my Borrowed Horn…

then this fight might—

“Die!”

The knight decided to end it.

He poured all his mana into his aura.

The glow around his halberd surged, then slammed into the chimera’s body.

Crack!

The shell shattered, and the halberd buried itself deep into its torso.

Sparks flew, and blood burst out.

The blood sizzled against the flames, releasing a sharp, acrid smoke.

A clean hit.

Hope lit up on Zain and the soldiers’ faces.

But—

it was too soon to celebrate.

Molting: Emergency activated with terrifying speed.

I could see its status changing instantly.

【Status】
[Luminescent], [Burn], [Emergency Molting], [Recovery], [Skill Evolution]

…What?

Molting normally takes time.

Preparation is needed, and the process itself is slow.

During that time, the creature becomes extremely vulnerable.

But Paphnachia’s molting was different.

It was like watching a clone technique.

Its burning shell remained where it was—

and it slipped out of it, wrapped in mucus.

“No…”

Those were Hanson’s last words.

The chimera’s legs suddenly stretched.

Freed from the rigid shell, they became flexible—

like tentacles.

Thrust!

One shot past the knight—

and pierced straight through the chest of a soldier behind him.

The chimera leapt high.

Its body was still wounded, but the flames that had tormented it were gone.

Bursting into the middle of the soldiers, Paphnachia lashed its limbs in all directions—

like a berserker.

【Chimera Paphnachia Lv.20】
【Skills】
…[Berserker Lv.1], [Slash Lv.1], [Iron Armor Lv.1 (Inactive)]

Luminescence became Berserker.

Sever became Slash.

Carapace became Iron Armor.

Through molting—

it had evolved its skills.

As expected, Emergency Molting was as broken as my Borrowed Horn.

The knight and the captain still didn’t realize how much stronger it had become.

The appraisal scroll’s effect had already ended.

“Aaaaah!”

The knight swung his halberd like a madman.

His momentum was overwhelming.

But the chimera was cunning.

It targeted the weaker soldiers first.

Perhaps because of the molting, the halberd now cut into it more easily—

Slice—

—but Slash, the chimera’s new skill, tore the soldiers’ bodies apart.

Just as the knight, driven mad, was about to charge recklessly—

the captain shoved him aside.

“Run—”

I saw everything.

The captain pushed the knight away—

saving his life.

Thud!

In return—

the chimera’s limb pierced through the captain’s chest and came out the other side.

Blood gushed from his mouth like a fountain.

“Cough!”

“N-no!”

The knight failed to seize the chance the captain had given him.

A tentacle-like limb struck his chest.

Bang!

Thanks to his full plate armor, he wasn’t cut in half—

but he was sent flying.

He rolled across the ground several times and lay still.

Dead?

I don’t care.

‘Captain…!’

I felt a deep emotion at what the captain had done.

He had seemed cold and unfeeling—

yet he gave his life to save the knight.

The wounded chimera quickly swallowed a few of the fallen soldiers—

then began digging.

Scrape! Scrape!

It moved incredibly fast.

Even for it, the fight hadn’t been easy.

It fled in a hurry.

Only the smell of blood and silence remained.

I was the only one left with my eyes open.

I broke the silence.

“Shhh…”

I climbed down from the tree.

They fought well.

Their struggle was worthy of applause.

The problem was—

their opponent had been max level and holding back.

Without Emergency Molting and skill evolution—

they would have won.

Well—

thanks to that, I’ve gained a clue on how to kill it.

Hiss…

I flicked my tongue slyly.

I stopped in front of the captain.

Yes—

he was a remarkable man.

Even with my cold, Serpent’s heart—

my blood burned at what I had witnessed.

But his sacrifice would never be known.

That bravery—

saving a comrade at the cost of his own life—

he deserved a medal of honor.

But I saw it.

I will remember.

RIP, Captain.

May you find peace wherever you go.

For some reason, my chest felt hot.

The captain lay there, eyes open, dead—

Hm. Should I at least close his eyes?

As I pondered that, I raised my tail slightly.

Then—

his eyes suddenly rolled—

and locked onto me.

“U-ugh… a s-Serpent…! Cough!”

A man of fighting spirit.

The captain moved instinctively.

He swung the dagger in his hand to strike me.

And I, too, moved instinctively.

There’s no way I’d be cut by the weak swing of a dying soldier.

Snap!

I dodged lightly—

and bit his wrist instead.

…Huh?

“Cough—ggh—!”

The captain’s eyes rolled back, showing only the whites.

W-wait…

Waaait!

No, that wasn’t me!

• [You have killed Captain of the Guard Lv.24.]
• [Achievement unlocked: “Murder of the Guard Captain.”]

AAAAAAARGH!