[The Cursed Abomination is evolving!]
Screeech!
The chimera's entire surface writhed.
Suddenly, all of the fur on its torso and legs, as well as on the bull head, fell off from the chimera.
Dark substance emerged from the chimera's skin and coated the creature's entire surface.
In an instant, the dark substance hardened and formed into glistening black scales.
The new layer covered the chimera like an armor.
Clang!
Devisha's scimitars bounced off as they struck the scales. The same happened with Darius's arrows.
Crack!
Shanny's sword and Jonah's spear could not fully penetrate the chimera's new layer.
All their enchanted weapons could do was creating cracks along the scales, which would then regenerate and become whole once more.
Screech!
The chimera let out another terrible scream upon my comrades' failed attempt at harming it. As if the creature was mocking us.
And since we could not harm the lizard head anymore, it continued shooting out streams of monster-spawning liquid and the giant-hatching eggs.
But that was not the worst thing that the chimera did.
The bull head suddenly snorted out dark gaseous matter from its nostrils.
It continued to open its jaw and unleashed a huge stream of black fog which immediately covered the entire rise.
Whoosh!
The black fog was slightly painful to the skin.
Headache struck me and my mind became clouded the moment I inhaled the peculiar gas.
From their expressions, my comrades were feeling the same.
[All members of Party 1 have been inflicted with poison!]
This would not do.
We had to take care of this black fog immediately.
[Hampadam]
Using wind magic, I manipulated the air current and swept the dark mist away.
Our surroundings became clearer by the second and most of the black fog retreated from the rise.
Whoosh!
Having done that, I summoned an antidote vial to my palm and emptied it. My comrades did the same with the vial they already kept in their pouches.
[All members of Party 1 are no longer inflicted with poison!]
Kreeee!!!
A terrible noise suddenly echoed throughout the rise. A new terrible noise.
I turned toward the dark pools the lizard head spread throughout the rise.
The pools started acting strange once they interacted with the remnants of the black fog that the bull head unleashed.
Instead of evaporating into dark mist, the pools now simply boiled and gathered together to form man-sized mounds.
[The Dark Spawn are evolving!]
From the mounds emerged disfigured humanoid monsters covered in dark scales.
They looked stronger than the Dark Spawn we had been facing so far.
[Mutated Dark Spawn Lv.17 x???]
This Quintal Trial was getting ridiculous it made me sick.
But we had to endure anyway.
"Shanny, Jonah, keep attacking the chimera! Try breaking through its scales with your weapons!
"Darius, Devisha, defend Shanny and Jonah!
"The lizard head is no longer injured! So be wary of the Deathbringer and the mutated Dark Spawn, everyone!"
As soon as I made those orders, I grabbed an enchantment stone from my dress and activated its spell.
['Serafina (★★★★)' is casting temporary enchantment.]
[Elemental Attribute, Penetration]
[Party 1's strength, agility, and stamina have increased by 15 for the next 10 minutes.]
Shingg!!!
Bluish-white light suddenly burst through a portion of the dark clouds below the rise.
The clouds swiftly dissipated like the other parts earlier.
[Field formation is complete!]
[Master, the rearguard can now be deployed.]
[Extend a helping hand to the heroes in distress!]
Revealed underneath the clouds was a complex town section which resembled the nineteenth floor region.
[Pirate Lv.16 x156]
[Pirate Captain Lv.19 x26]
[War Hound Lv.14 x36]
A great number of enemies was scattered along the town's roads. Just like on the nineteenth floor.
Most of the enemies were concentrated at a large square situated at the center of the town.
The altar of the goddesses statue was placed right at the center of the square, which was guarded by formidable opponents.
Towering ogres wielding iron clubs the size of a building.
A masked woman carrying two crossbows.
And a tattooed man with a large battle-axe.
[Tamed War Ogre Lv.22 x3]
[Danger!]
[Olla the Death Storm Lv.26]
[Danger!]
[Mrunal the Wave Breaker Lv.26]
The battlefield for the third rearguard group was set.
Which party would Master deploy to conquer it?
[Choose the rearguard.]
[Designated Parties - Party 1 (on the field), Party 2, Party 3 (on the field), Party 4 (on the field), Party 5]
[You have selected 'Party 2'.]
[Party Composition - 'Zecht (★★★)', 'Norn (★★★)', 'Tarran (★★)', 'Jordane (★★)', 'Yuxia (★★★★)']
[Would you like to deploy them?]
[Yes (selected)/ No]
Bluish-white light manifested at one of the roads of the town section.
From the light emerged a scarred man with a heavy sword, a halberd-wielding woman, a young boy with a bow, a young man with a sword, and a long-haired man cladded in a colorful eastern dress.
Party 2 had arrived.
I immediately reached out to its party leader. My voice was broadcasted to all their members, however.
"Zecht, no time to waste! There's a goddesses altar at the center of the square near your position. Seize the site at once!"
Upon my instruction, lights flashed in the dark night sky above and descended from there Sigyn's signal.
A long slithering glowing arrow manifested before Party 2 and trailed along the town's roads till it reached the statue at the central square.
I continued to Zecht.
"Follow the route Master just marked! You'll get there quickly!"
[Understood! We're on our way there!]
An intense stream of flame suddenly emerged from Party 2's position and burst forth through the road ahead of them, devouring all the enemies standing in their way.
Yuxia had opened a path for his comrades.
With Zecht leading the charge, Party 2 began their dash toward the third altar.
Screech!
The chimera let out another terrible scream.
I turned back to the creature and found my comrades fighting hard against it.
The lion head kept launching monster-hatching thorns and swinging the chimera's claws at my comrades.
The bull head continued spewing torrents of fire.
While the lizard hard resumed creating monster-spawning pools and shooting out giant-hatching eggs.
I could not help but sigh at this frustrating sight.
It had not even been an hour since we started fighting this mutt but I was already sick of it.
I could not wait to blast this monstrosity out of existence.
Hopefully that moment would come soon.