2-17: Hero Candidate Part III

"Watch out!"

Haruki cursed his carelessness, facing Raze's reddened eyes and fierce expression, rushing forward with a deadly bear's claw. His first instinct was to use Magic to protect himself, forgetting in the last moment that all of his Skills were unfortunately Sealed.

Briefly wondering if "game over" was in short order, Haruki did not notice the sudden arrival of a tall man wielding a spear with a unique spiral horn-like blade tip. The weapon parried the blow of the Chimera's feral forearm, steel clashing nail in an impact that blew out dust in the air.

Despite his visibility clouded by sand and dirt, Haruki could easily recognize the figure of a tanned man with the familiar dark blue hair. "Monad?!"

Monad grunted in response, forcing his opponent to leap out and avoid a barrage of cone-like projectiles made of hard rock. Haruki recognized it as "Stone Missiles", the Demon Hero's newest Spell after leveling up his Earth Magic to Level 2.

However, the missiles didn't even touch a single strand of hair of the Chimera Captain, even destroying those he couldn't avoid with his bare hands, both the Human and monster ones. The gap in power between Monad and Raze was great; the two were like heaven and earth with their specialties in combat and support respectively.

Though he had been struggling to cover his liege from the manic foe's surprise attack, Monad remained as cheerful and nonchalant as ever, turning to his dumbstruck liege with a lazy smile.

"It's nice to finally see you again. I've missed you, my love~"

Haruki's worries that Monad was injured after taking the brunt of the attack vanished without a single trace. "Really, you still have the leisure to flirt…"

In response, the Incubus wrapped an arm around his waist in a possessive half-hug. "Flirting or not, it's nothing but the truth, of course."

Linus was both flabbergasted and angered at the sudden turn of events, quickly pulling Haruki out of the Incubus' grasp. "Keep your hands off Addie, he belongs to our Captain!"

The Demon Hero gave the wolf-shark-man a deep frown and a scoff but chose to ignore him and set his sights on the enemy, who was effortlessly repelling the onslaught of attacks from his fellow Chimeras who had recovered their momentum by now.

"Someone who couldn't even control his instincts doesn't deserve anyone's affection."

The silver-haired Chimera gnashed his teeth and unsheathed his sharp claws in a threatening manner. "You little-"

"You two, cut it out!" Haruki was quick to intervene, putting himself between the two men. He would have liked Monad to stay away as planned, surveying from afar but keeping the relative distance to his liege as close as possible. However, the current situation called for drastic measures and Haruki did not blame the Incubus for rushing in for a rescue. Also, with more manpower meant more diversions for the manic Raze, but they needed to learn to cooperate with each other first!

"Linus, he's with me," Haruki pointed out, cutting off the other man's overblown reaction. "We can explain the rest later. Right now, he can help you divert Raze's attention."

The hesitation and suspicion were back on the Battle Corps' Vice-Captain's face, though he looked more like a dog who had been wronged. Linus glared at his new "teammate", wearing a fierce and righteous expression as if facing off against the evil man who tempted and cheated with his best friend's wife.

"Fine…" Linus spurted out the word with gritted teeth, like he was sentencing himself to a lifetime of grief helping out his Captain's love rival. "But he better listen to me!"

Haruki responded with a raised eyebrow, before turning to the "rival" in a demanding manner. "You heard."

On Monad's view, the Demon King's face that said "I won't tolerate complaints" was painfully adorable. Knowing the dire circumstances of the situation, he settled with doing as ordered, but not before stealing a kiss from his beloved.

"As you command, chu~"

"You fucker!" howled Linus in response to the scene of adultery right before his eyes. However, Monad had already rushed to the battle with spear and Earth Magic, prompting the enraged Chimera to rapidly follow, leaving a string of profanities in his wake.

The stunned and smooched Haruki only shook his head in a wry manner, bemoaning his Consort's finesse at infuriating others. Still, the Incubus' act of possessiveness made him feel a little warm inside, giving him the motivation to clean up this damn mess he found himself in.

Also, when Monad kissed him just then, Haruki was handed a seemingly small and unnoticeable pouch made of seemingly common animal skin - his very own "Mid-Grade Merchant's Magic Bag" that held many of his precious possessions. He grinned widely, his eyes shining with the possibilities, his heart appeased at how well the Incubus knew him and his ever-changing thought patterns.

Out of the corner of his eye, Monad watched as his very own lover and liege left in a certain direction filled with determination. He knew that Haruki had his own plans and the least he could do was to pave the way for the Demon King's machinations to come into fruition.

So, even though he didn't like it one bit, the Incubus took this battle of attrition with the frenzied Chimera Captain seriously. Nevertheless, he would do it in a manner that befitted him, despite anyone else's opinions…

And right now, Linus' opinion of him was at rock-bottom.

"Shameless man! What's your relationship with Addie? Don't you dare try to steal him, he's our Captain's mate!"

Others might find the ceaseless barking an annoyance, but Monad perceived it as particularly cute. If nothing else, this subordinate was extremely loyal to his superior and could potentially be a relatively good judge of character, making use of sharp intuition to know to trust Haruki in the current set of circumstances. While the dog-shark-hybrid Chimera's mouth kept on sputtering protests, he neither tried to hurt Monad nor disrupt any of his techniques.

For instance, Monad had temporarily trapped the opponent in a Quagmire and Linus aimed a blow to the upper body to keep the target's attention from his immobilized legs and feet. Though the Spell couldn't hold the extremely powerful Raze for long, it still gave their other allies precious time to rest a bit and recover before returning to the fray.

Speaking of which, Monad really admired the Chimera's combat capabilities and seamless coordination with each other. Every attack was a precise and well-thought-out blow, opening gaps for the other allies to take advantage of, with no one person selfishly taking the glory for himself. If not for the fact that the stimulating offense was made to tire and not to slay, even the sturdiest of warriors would not survive for long. Unfortunately, their opponent was a Champion Hero with terrific Stats, not to mention under the "mania" that granted a Chimera the ability to break through the shackles of his other half and turn into an unstoppable killing machine.

Yet, for so-called "half monsters", the Chimera Battle Corps were commandeered to apply Human logic and strategy in every move, surprising the Incubus. However, their "embarrassing" bestial parts were also put into the equation; Monad watched as the Chimeras with the tentacles and other extendable appendages try to restrict the foe's movements, those with sonic powers screaming their voices hoarse to confuse and the rest attempting to punch, kick, scratch and bite their way to victory.

Monad had to admit, based on just the seamless teamwork, their leader and Captain - and possible contender to Haruki's affection - was a talented and capable man. And though he didn't know Haruki's particular tastes and criteria for choosing a Consort, he knew that a person of such caliber as Raze would never falter and sink in despair.

Otherwise, Monad would never let him even look at his Demon Lord. Only those with top tier talent were deserving of his Sovereign of Lust's love!

Thus, ignoring Linus' countless colorful words to shame and abuse, Monad shut the Chimera up with a very personal question. "You guys - what do you obsess over when you're under mania?"

As expected, the wolf-shark-man was offended, smoke almost bursting out of his ears. "You fucking damn-"

There was a shout as a Chimera was thrown out by Raze, but Monad caught the unfortunate man by manipulating the soil to act as a net. The landing was still painful as the hastily made stone wall broke into pieces, but the injury could be worse if the uncontrollable momentum continued.

As the rescued Chimera gave a grateful grin to Monad, Linus' rising temper was drenched by cold water. He settled his incomplete statement with the noisy grinding of his saw-like teeth, glaring at Monad as if he wanted to bite the other man to death.

After being tempered in his position as the insensitive and tongue-tied Captain's second-in-command, Linus had learned to control his temper at all times. "What're you asking that for?"

Monad was a bit disappointed that he couldn't rile up the other man anymore, his unique and childish reactions were particularly amusing. "Nothing much, I just think we're fighting a hopeless battle here and sooner or later we'll exhaust ourselves first before your Captain raises the white flag."

"Well duh, our Captain's the most powerful here, right after the King." Linus looked torn between being smug and affronted, sighing heavily as he patted the Incubus' back in a friendly manner, forgetting that just moments ago, he held nothing but loathing for the other man.

"I know what you're thinking, but a Chimera in mania ceased to have thought processes of any kind, bound to nothing but instinct and the most primitive of impulses."

Monad hummed thoughtfully. "But if I'm not mistaken, my lord believes he's under the influence of a forced one, possibly due to drugs and such."

The Chimera gave him an odd look, though it faded out quickly for the Incubus to contemplate over. "That's true, but will there be much of a difference?"

In response to his query, Monad merely stopped to observe the rampaging Chimera Hero in action. Ever since Haruki left, the enemy turned more aggressive than ever, trying to rush into the direction the Demon King was headed. Not to mention the perilous situation when Monad just arrived, he came to the conclusion that all of Raze's attention was focused on Haruki.

Remembering what Linus said about the manic Chimeras acting on the most primal of their instincts, Monad had a wry but calculating look on his face.

"Hey, Captain!" shouted Monad, shocking Linus and his comrades, but the Incubus ignored them in favor of catching the berserk Chimera's notice.

Monad aimed his weapon's blade on the opponent's face, showing an expression full of contempt. "Do you really think you're worthy of him?"

The Chimera Hero gave the Demon a bland, unfocused stare, but Monad could pinpoint that the other's soul had been subtly stirred. If not, why did the other man stop to look at him, refusing to take advantage of the other fighters' momentary inattention.

Raze definitely had Haruki at the top of his mind; whether it was driven by instinct, reason or lust, it did not matter to Monad. What mattered was that the manic Hero was not a lost cause, whether for the sake of the Demon Lord's ambition or entirely because of Monad's selfish insistence that his fellow Consorts should at least possess the same level of obsession as his.

"Let me tell you a secret," stated Monad in a playful manner, staring straight at the other man's scarlet and unblinking eyes. "I am the first Consort of the Sovereign of Lust, Monad of the Sinful Stone."

"If you dare to get between me and my liege, you'd have to show your worth first!"

The Demon stomped his foot and then he and the Chimera Hero disappeared from sight. In their place, a huge tower sprouted from the ground, as if rapidly growing like a tree drunk on fertilizer. The shaking ground made Chimeras scatter in a fit of panic, for once breaking the standard formation they all learned from their days as a recruit.

Linus's mouth was gaped open at the familiar yet bizarre scene. "What the hell is going on here?!"

~

As he was running towards the direction Asmo telepathically sent, Haruki felt the tremors of the land shaking, complete with a rising shadow that covered him from overhead. He halted for a second to see the Labyrinth of Vorre appearing in the horizon, shaking his head at the grand entrance of his Consort's Hero Ability.

But Haruki trusted his Consort, even if the Labyrinth's sudden emergence would be seen kilometers from here. It was just as well, hoping that such a huge commotion would catch the attention of the sneaky dissidents from other nations hiding in the dark. It would be better if they were pressured to make a careless mistake, but Haruki wouldn't count on that yet.

Monad probably used his Ability to imprison Raze, running out of options to contain the manic Chimera Hero. Since the Labyrinth of Vorre had risen to Level 2, Monad could now pick which targets to imprison in its depths, even having full control of its confusing interior that make up its maze-like quality. However, the size, time limit and cooldown period remained the same, so Haruki hoped the Incubus had a concrete plan to keep the Chimera busy within three hours.

Never in his wildest imagination did Haruki think that Monad himself would confront the Chimera Hero inside his Labyrinth.

Clutching the Magic Bag on his hand like a talisman, Haruki wished his lover good luck as he finally found the carefully hidden mine entrance with traces of Magic left on it. A familiar furry ball was waiting there, looking eager for praise.

"Master, you're here!"

"Great job, Asmo," said Haruki, giving the Familiar a pat on the head. Well, to be honest, the furball needed only to follow Fleming at his orders, but nah, it wasn't like his praises were expensive or anything.

The System Guide, however, was appeased. Looking proud of himself, he swelled up like a balloon filled with too much hydrogen. "That's right, Asmo is great! Even the Hero Candidate that passed by Asmo just now didn't notice Asmo!"

Haruki's thoughts spiraling around "what a cute dumb furball" did an abrupt stop. "A Hero Candidate?"

"Asmo wasn't sure where he came from, but Asmo could easily identify a Hero Candidate!"

Well, that was right, it was Asmo who detected the Chimera Hero Raze when he first surveyed the land a few months ago. So, for some reason, the Familiar had an innate ability to distinguish Heroes, Hero Candidates and maybe even Sovereigns and Leaders?

Haruki took a mental note so that he could abuse such a cheat later on. Who asked to have Asmo served on a silver platter, he would be stupid not to make full use of the System Guide.

As for the surprise revelation that the spy he'd been hunting down chose to make himself known, Haruki thought it was a matter of course. Fleming, who was wholeheartedly trusted by the Chimeras, should know where the Chimera King was imprisoned. And if he were the enemy, then he would have definitely taken the chance to follow.

Facing the dark tunnel that led to the most fearsome existence of the Chimeras, certain to be in a berserk state that rivaled a S-Ranked monster's strength, Haruki felt his nerves protesting. A Chimera in mania received several boosts in their Stats, not to mention the King of them all. It was going to be a tough battle, no doubts about that.

Haruki breathed in and out, calming himself down. His Skills were still Sealed, but that doesn't mean he was out of the game. Only in a time of adversity would an avid gamer of his nature shine.

Now bereft of hesitation, Haruki boldly rushed into the cavern, his faithful System Guide following his every action. Unlike what he expected, this specific old mining tunnel was a one-way structure, its many passages probably sealed to ensure no one would stray into this path.

As Haruki traveled deeper, his surroundings became quieter and the space a lot wider. Not a moment too soon, he reached the end of a short road, into a hollow enclosure carved from inside the mountain.

In this hollowed out area that was almost half a kilometer wide, a huge glass orb hovered in the middle, powered by several apparatuses of different shapes and sizes, revolving around the bigger sphere like planets would do to its corresponding sun. Sparks of purple electricity surged out from this arrangement of bizarre mechanisms every second or so, breaking the steady hum of machinery in regular intervals. The very conspicuous spherical transparent object contained boiling blue liquid and a well-built man in his middle age, with the head of a lion, the four-legged lower body of a stallion and a pair of coral-like horns on his back.

Nearby, a black rectangular box was arranged like a console, with various tools, buttons and a sizable lever-like switch. Standing in front of it in a defending position was Fleming, nursing a bloodied wound on his shoulder. Confronting him was a familiar blonde-haired young Human, whom Haruki easily recognized as Kashvi, the friendly slave who once took over his water fetching duty so he could find Raze.

Now that he thought about it, Haruki remembered that this particular Human slave showed more life-like expressions for a Mind Swiped and Controlled slave, and that he came from a certain territory to the north…

This time, Kashvi shed any pretense of being a kept Human in the nest, showing a face mixed with shock, anger and disgust at Haruki's surprise arrival. His tone was full of careless arrogance, shifting the six-inch silver dagger he wielded on his right hand.

"You're still alive? I figured you'd be dead by now, fucked to death by the Chimera Captain. Guess the aphrodisiac effects of my mania inducer needed more work."

Fleming's eyes were as wide as saucers, his suspicion of Haruki's approach disappearing after he realized what the enemy's words meant. "You, what did you do to Raze?!"

"Nothing he could handle," prompted Haruki, cutting off the spy from the Varuna Theocracy from spouting further bullshit. "Raze will be fine, but as for you…"

Haruki stared straight at Kashvi, his eyes and posture revealing the usually repressed aura of a Demon Sovereign standing at the top of the food chain. He took out a finely made rapier from the Magic Bag, its thin yet sharp blade pulsing with condensed dark Mana.

"Your schemes end here, 'Hero Candidate'."