Chapter 38

The chimera was fast and smart. It knew better than to just lock itself into a grapple with Luke. Maybe it would win that, but maybe not. Size didn’t mean shit in this world. It had gotten a decent measure of his speed when he’d run at it, and probably overestimated his strength based on the attack he’d biffed it on.

The fight ranged across the yard, with the far more mobile chimera taking the lead in keeping at the edge of Luke’s range. He chased after it, and it baited him away from the farm. He knew what was happening, but considering how much damage they’d done in under a minute, he was more than happy to get away from the house and barn so that he could really cut loose.

Once they were out past the fields, the fighting intensified. The chimera had a lot more room to pick up speed, and Luke had to admit it was probably faster than he was on a straight run. Without buildings to dodge around or fences to leap over, it switched to doing a sort of drive-by where it would slash or snap at him as it rushed past, hoping to be in and out of his range before he could retaliate.

Luke made it pay for that on its third attempt. He dodged the raking lion’s claw that tried to slit him open and smacked its back leg with his mace hard, right in the knee joint. The chimera let out a pain-filled roar and leaped on the strength of its three good legs to put some distance between them.

There was no way in hell Luke was going to let it limp off into the mountains to recover. He took off after it, barely able to gain on it even with its busted knee, and eventually got close enough to take another swing. The chimera was ready for the attack and leaped straight up to dodge. For something so bulky, it was remarkably nimble.

It came down in a pounce, hard and fast. Luke scrambled to dodge, but [Twitch Reflexes] couldn’t throw him out of the way of something so massive. It buried him in fur and muscle and snapping teeth while he struggled to force its head away from him. 40 strength wasn’t just for show though, and despite the fact that the thing had to weigh literal tons, he didn’t buckle under the weight.

With one hand tangled up in the chimera’s mane and the other still gripping his mace, which he’d positioned across its bottom jaw to force its head up, Luke heaved it to the side. The chimera landed on its flank with a ground-shaking thump, momentarily dazed. Before it could recover, Luke grabbed his mace in both hands and readied another [Power Strike]. This one landed home, right across its face.

The bones crumpled and the chimera went berserk. It hissed and scratched wildly at him, desperate to hurt Luke. Despite the completely ruined jaw and loose-hanging eye, it scrambled back to its feet and charged in. Luke wasn’t sure if it knew it was done for and had decided to take him with it, or if it was just pissed beyond all reason, but either way, it came at him with a whole new level of ferocity.

He still had [Life Surge] in the hole if he needed it, but the chimera’s savage attacks were wild and uncoordinated, displaying none of the cunning it had used earlier. Luke went on the defensive and used his mace to bat away sweeping paws while relying on footwork to keep from being buried under its sheer mass again.

Between its ruined back knee and its crushed face, the chimera wasn’t nearly as fast or as accurate as it had been at the start of the fight. Luke tagged it with another [Power Strike] about thirty seconds later, that one catching it on its front leg and completely shattering the bone. The chimera staggered and struggled to keep itself upright, but didn’t relent in its attacks.

From there it was just a matter of finishing it off. It got slower and weaker from pain and blood loss, until eventually it couldn’t fight anymore and it died at the edge of a field. Luke was mostly uninjured aside from a bit of straining to handle the weight when it pounced on him and a triple line going down one arm where a stray claw had raked him while they were grappling. He hadn’t even felt it at the time, but it stung like a bitch now. That’s what he got for being too lazy to put on the armor.

[You have slain Lion’s Head Chimera (lvl 20). 415 XP awarded.]

[Life Surge] would heal both of those up, but he wanted food on a plate in front of him before he activated it. Luke jogged back to the house and found Minou and his family waiting anxiously at the door for him. He raised a hand in greeting, realized it was covered in blood, and said, “Hey, do you happen to have a shower or tub? Things got messy.”

“Of course, Guardian! We’ll get it ready for you right away. Kids, start getting buckets of water to heat for our savior.”

“Oh, you don’t need to go through all the trouble,” Luke said. Then he stopped. A hot bath did sound nice. “Well, tell you what, how much would a hot bath and a meal cost me?”

Minou smiled and shook his head. “It is the least we can do. Really, you asked for so little in exchange.”

Luke was ushered into their kitchen and sat at the table while they scurried around him and insisted that he need do nothing but wait. Food was placed in front of him, and he took the opportunity to trigger [Life Surge] and heal himself up. Then he inhaled the food, only to find a second plate taking its place. That was demolished with similar speed, and soon after, the room he was sleeping in had a large wooden tub filled with steaming hot water. Minou handed him a bar of soap and asked, “Would you like your clothes laundered?”

“Hah. I don’t think the stains are coming out of these,” he said. “I’ve been meaning to replace them. Could you recommend somewhere to buy some new ones in the morning?”

“Ah. I believe we are about the same size. I’ll set out a shirt and pants for you to try on. If they fit, take them with my gratitude.”

“Oh come on, that’s too much,” Luke protested. “You can’t give me the literal shirt off your back.”

His mouth twisted weirdly when he said that, more so than usual at least, and Minou looked confused. “Sorry,” Luke told him. “I don’t think that translated right.”

“It is fine. Anything we can do, just let us know. Here, let me get those clothes for you and you can get cleaned up.”

Luke felt like he was taking advantage of the family, but he tried to see it from their point of view. How many sheep was a meal and a bath worth? Could anybody else have killed that chimera? Probably, but in numbers and at considerable risk. How much peace of mind would Minou have just knowing that a monster wasn’t prowling in the night, wondering when it would decide to break into the house instead of eating livestock?

Framed like that, it was a bit easier to accept their generosity. Luke stripped himself down and made sure his jeans and boxers were tucked away. He’d find somewhere else to dispose of the jeans later, assuming he got a decent pair of pants tonight. Then he eased himself into the tub and let out a groan of pure relief at the hot water.

Luke just sat there soaking for a few minutes, his eyes pointed at the ceiling but not seeing anything. Since the minute he’d arrived in Aros, he’d been on his guard. Any second could be his last; there was danger lurking around every corner and behind every bush. Even when he was sleeping, it was troubled. Exhaustion drove him to bed, and he woke up often at the slightest noise. He knew he wasn’t really safe, even in Curt’s workshop.

That constant state of awareness, that nervous tension that he never fully managed to shrug off, was draining in more ways than one. Luke was just so God damned tired. Laying there in that tub, it hit him all at once. He was going to crack and break long before he made it to the God Machine. Hell, he was already cracking.

Even now, finally back in civilization, he couldn’t let himself relax fully. He was having his first bath that wasn’t cold stream water in a month, and he couldn’t enjoy it. His ears picked up every creaking floorboard, every murmured conversation. He heard Minou in the other room, opening and closing dresser drawers. He heard the animals outside, still unsettled by the chimera attack and huddled together.

It wasn’t going to get better. He was heading to a place far more dangerous than the one he’d left behind: a city full of Inquisitors intent on hunting him down. None of the rest of his family had accomplished this, and they’d all been older and smarter than him. He was stupid to think he’d make it where they’d all failed.

He wasn’t even following his own plan. Curt had laid his whole build out for him long before Luke had even shown up. System was the one pointing him in the right direction. The only thing he was good for was hitting things really hard. Someday something was going to hit him back harder, hard enough that he wasn’t going to pick himself back up.

A knock on the door snapped him out of his reverie. “Sir Guardian?” Minou’s voice came through the door. “I have your new clothes.”

“Thanks,” Luke said. “Come on in.”

Minou entered and placed them on the dresser. He glanced down at the pile of bloodied clothes and said, “Are you sure you wouldn’t like them laundered?”

“No, thank you. Thanks for the replacements, Minou.”

“If you’re certain then,” the farmer said. “When you’re done, we’ll get the bath drained so you can get back to sleep. Please, stay as long as you’d like.”

“Just for the night,” Luke said firmly. “I’ve got a long way to go still.”

“As you say,” Minou agreed before closing the door.

“A long, long way,” Luke muttered to himself before closing his eyes.

He wasn’t any sort of psychologist, but he knew he was heading for a breakdown. After just a month, he was completely burnt out. Something had to change if he was going to make it for the long haul. All he could think about was all the close calls. That cat monster that Red had saved him from. That goblin that had almost killed him. The templar…

Luke told himself he didn’t feel bad about killing another person. It was self-defense. He didn’t have a choice. If he’d let the man live, he could have used some healing skill and come after Luke again. It wasn’t like there were any police or jail cells to hold him. Even if the templar hadn’t had any way to heal himself, Luke wasn’t doing him any favors by leaving him alive in that condition. A monster would have finished the man off inside an hour.

He didn’t feel bad. The templar had deserved it. There was no reason to hang onto that, to dwell on it and replay it in his mind while he waited to fall asleep, because he didn’t feel bad about it.

Now he just needed to find a way to make himself believe that.