Chapter 64: The Gluttonous Chimera’s Arrival

#64

“Isn’t that an Agor?!”

Someone exclaimed, pointing at the monster. At their words, all the surrounding hunters furrowed their brows in confusion.

Of course, it was only natural.

Agors were remarkably docile monsters. They posed no threat, even if approached, so long as they weren’t provoked first.

Among hunters, they were considered quite friendly creatures. Even during a Gate Break, they were known to remain within their own territory, never venturing out. For these reasons, Agors were categorized as one of the lowest-risk monsters.

Yet, these very monsters were now spewing forth from the sinkhole, like a beehive that had been violently disturbed. Only then did the hunters begin to notice peculiar aspects of the monsters’ behavior.

They weren’t charging at people; rather, they were scrambling out, desperate to escape.

Their panicked flight evoked the image of a pride of lions fleeing from an elephant. Just as the hunters realized this and were about to speak, an interruption occurred.

Someone suddenly landed with a thud on a nearby car. It was a wild NewTuber hunter, who had rappelled down from a building with a wire around his waist.

The man, who had been filming the monsters with his camera, immediately widened his eyes in disbelief.

“No way, seriously, aren’t these Agors?! Wait, wait! Weren’t those Agors a hybrid breed? They used to come when you cooed at them, ‘Oo-choo-choo’!”

“No, my subscribers, I’m telling you, it’s true! They’re so incredibly stupid that if you reach out your hand and coo ‘Oo-choo-choo,’ they’d wag their tails like stray dogs and come right to you, I swear!”

‘My thoughts exactly!’

Every hunter silently echoed the sentiment. Indeed, the monsters were all frantically fleeing from the humans, desperate to escape the area like scurrying rats.

Hunters in the rear were systematically capturing and killing them. Yet, despite being caught, the Agors roared fiercely and thrashed desperately, clearly terrified of something.

Consequently, amidst the chaos, the hunters found themselves in an unexpected pandemonium, solely focused on subduing the monsters.

Dokyeom immediately glanced back towards where Taeseongyeon had been. In that instant, his eyes blinked involuntarily.

Taeseongyeon had already vanished from the spot.

The area where Taeseongyeon had stood was now filled only with figures clad in black armor, blazing like infernal flames. These were the Hell Legion, every single one of them ‘General-class’ undead.

While the Hell Legion cut down the swarming monsters, Dokyeom shifted his gaze, searching for any trace of Taeseongyeon.

‘Where did that bastard go?’

Normally, Taeseongyeon would have been caught in a predicament while subduing the Agors alongside the Hell Legion. By now, he should have been recklessly rampaging, relying solely on his abilities.

Yet, not a single strand of Taeseongyeon’s hair was anywhere to be seen.

He scanned everywhere, but Taeseongyeon’s shadow was nowhere to be found. Dokyeom exhaled a warm breath, his gaze fixed on the sinkhole with a desperate hope that his fears were unfounded.

A dangerous thought flashed through his mind.

‘He couldn’t have fallen into the sinkhole, could he?’

Just then, Agon let out a metallic screech, looking towards something. Dokyeom’s gaze swiftly followed to where Agon’s sight reached: the exterior of a five-story building’s emergency exit.

Taeseongyeon was precariously balanced there, his feet on the railing. The collar of his shirt fluttered dangerously in the fierce wind.

For a fleeting moment, Dokyeom witnessed a brilliant golden light emanating from Taeseongyeon.

“…Light?”

As soon as he frowned and narrowed his vision, the light rapidly vanished. It seemed certain that Taeseongyeon’s eyes had glowed golden, as if their color had momentarily changed. However, the heavy rainfall obscured his view, preventing him from being entirely sure.

Before he knew it, the scattered raindrops had intensified, now falling in heavy sheets that made his shoulders feel weighed down.

*Whoosh—*

“Alright, just stay right there. Don’t you dare come down, understood?”

Dokyeom glared at Taeseongyeon, his gaze unwavering. Unlike his reckless portrayal in the original story, Taeseongyeon had chosen to observe from a distance, leaving the task to his Hell Legion.

It was fine.

In fact, Taeseongyeon stepping back was precisely what Dokyeom had hoped for.

*Screech! Squeak-squeak!!*

The sheer number of Agors swarming out gradually began to dwindle after a certain point. Hunters, enraged from wrestling with the rampaging monsters, now snatched every Agor they could lay their hands on and hurled them back down into the sinkhole.

And it wasn’t just one or two individuals acting this way.

“Then, I suppose it’s about time…”

‘Time to find Ju Uiryeong.’

Dokyeom rolled up the sleeves of his rain-soaked, cumbersome clothes and sharply surveyed his surroundings. After standing like a statue amidst the bustling crowd for a long moment, he spotted Ju Uiryeong, hidden among the people, his face pale with fear.

Ju Uiryeong shrieked repeatedly, dodging the hordes of monsters, seemingly disgusted by the charging, monkey-faced creatures.

‘Around this time… it should be emerging now.’

This was precisely when the monster numbers were decreasing, and the rain was intensifying.

As if reading Dokyeom’s thoughts, a thunderous crash echoed from within the sinkhole, accompanied by a peal of thunder. All the hunters tensed, their attention fixed on the sinkhole.

*Crash! Bang!*

The surrounding ground cracked open like parched earth, resembling a network of veins. The raucous clamor of the rampaging Agors mingled hideously with the sound of the rain. Every hunter instinctively sensed impending doom.

Something was coming.

Something impossibly vast and beyond their control.

“Everyone, fall back!”

Someone’s voice, raspy as metal, pierced through the downpour. The hunters instinctively retreated, their eyes locked on the sinkhole.

Any Agors that hadn’t managed to flee chattered their teeth, lowered their bodies to the ground, and whimpered.

Dokyeom cut through the tension-laden air, moving towards Ju Uiryeong. The sounds echoing from within the sinkhole steadily grew in volume and regularity.

They sounded precisely like something was clawing its way up the pit walls.

And that, indeed, was an accurate description.

“What… what is that?”

When the sounds ceased, people beheld a colossal form in the rain, vast enough to blot out the sky. Something immense, filling the entire sinkhole, had finally revealed itself. The first thing visible was an eagle’s head, an incredibly massive one.

“Th-the boss has finally appeared, hasn’t it? My video’s shaky? Subscribers, don’t be too hard on me; I’m literally risking my life to film this!”

“I bet I’m closer than anyone else, filming this… But… first, get me out of here! Hey, pull the rope! Damn it, it’s a Chimera!!”

The NewTuber hunter, still filming from the car’s hood, tugged on his wire, signaling his colleague. As soon as the pale, swiftly fleeing hunter vanished, the remaining combatants cursed loudly.

The NewTuber’s words were true.

Its wild, bloodthirsty eyes, rolling ominously, were those of an eagle. Its body, clawing its way out of the sinkhole with talons dug into the earth, was that of a leopard, more than ten times the size of an elephant. Its tail was a repulsive, gaping snake. And then—

*Gulp—*

Shaking out its jet-black feathers, it unfurled… colossal raven wings, vast enough to eclipse the sky.

A monster with an eagle’s head, a leopard’s body, a tail ending in a snake’s head, and enormous raven wings. This was the boss of the current Red Gate.

It was a ‘Chimera,’ a creature born bearing the demonic Authority of ‘Gluttony.’

*Screeeeeech—!*

A horrific shriek tore through the rain, causing a ringing in the ears. Dokyeom quickly covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut. As soon as the sound subsided, he immediately scanned his surroundings. Most of the hunters were cursing under their breath, stumbling backward in retreat.

“Aaaargh!”

The world flashed bright as someone let out a strange cry. Beneath the thunder, the Chimera’s beak gaped open, revealing a black void. Clumps of flesh, mingled with blood, splattered onto the ground.

This was also the reason the Agors had fled. The Chimera, unable to control its hunger, had indiscriminately devoured them.

This particular Chimera was a ‘brood parasite,’ a hatchling left by its mother in another species’ nest. Its nature was to be raised by the host species until it grew large enough to indiscriminately prey on the very creatures that had nurtured it.

This Chimera was a mutated species, only two weeks old. From the moment of its birth, it had been tormented by hunger, dominated by its ‘Authority.’

Despite its appearance, it was still merely a hatchling.

The problem was—

“Wait… if it’s a Chimera, isn’t it a variable-grade monster? Damn it! Everyone, stay alert!”

Chimeras were variable-grade monsters, meaning their rank increased when certain conditions were met.

A normal Chimera’s rank would typically rise each time it consumed something. However, the monster before them had a different condition: dominated by the Authority of ‘Gluttony,’ its rank increased the longer it remained hungry.

In short, stalling for time would only put the hunters at a disadvantage.

“Clear out the Agors first! Don’t let it eat anything!”

Ignorant of this crucial detail, some hunters desperately grabbed nearby Agors, intending to remove them from the Chimera’s sight, and promptly hurled them back into the pit.

Yet, Agors weren’t the only prey available here. Hunters, too, were ‘suitable’ food for the Chimera.

*Screeeee—!!*

The moment the beast’s hunger-crazed eyes fixed on the hunters, clustered like an ant colony, the entire area plunged into utter pandemonium.

“Aaaaaargh! Don’t come this way!”

The snake-like tail swept across the area, and the beast’s blood-stained beak indiscriminately pecked and tore at anything living. Hunters who reacted quickly managed to evade the immediate danger. However, the Agors still held by the hunters faced a different fate.