The chimera jumped to pounce on Anwen but she managed to dodge by sliding out of reach of the creature's claws and stabbing into the creature's chest. However, it didn't do any fatal damage and only provoked the creature to rampage and attack brutally.
After seven minutes of fighting and moving continuously, Anwen started to get tired, her speed dropped drastically. Plus the injuries she received, made her even more unable to move fast.
Gradually, Anwen's defenses began to be exposed, making it easier for the chimera to inflict damage on her.
"Ah!"
Anwen was hit by a claw on the shoulder. Blood immediately flowed and covered the ground. Anwen was still on the move, he was desperately fighting to win the fight.
In the midst of the battle, as she continued to dodge and counter-attacks, Anwen was reminded of her older brother teaching her to use the sword.
At that time her brother said "True warriors will not back down from the fight. It is better to lose than surrender. When they have advanced to the battlefield then they have only two choices. Win or lose."
Holding back all the pain that radiated through her body, Anwen raised her sword to do as slash after slash as she could.
"It's better to lose than to give up. COME FORWARD!" Anwen shouted loudly, expending all her remaining strength to overthrow the opponent but the opponent did not give up.
Slash!
Wound after wound opened and blood after blood spilled. They continued to exchange attacks for three minutes and the victor of the battle began to emerge. The Chimera began to dominate the battle by carrying out a series of attacks so that Anwen could only dodge without being able to counterattack.
The girl kept moving, shifting to the left, rolling, jumping, ducking, and running until at one point she fell to her knees as she tripped over her own feet and her sword was thrown far forward. She turned around and gaped at the sight of the chimera already leaping forward to pounce on her.
"BROTHER!" she shouted as she closed her eyes, preparing to accept the most terrible pain that would take her life but just as she had been waiting for the pain to come to her, the pain did not come.
Just before she opened her eyes, she heard the sound of the bushes rustling as if something had been pierced through and then a moment later the chimera roared and the atmosphere became silent.
Anwen opened her eyes and was surprised to see the figure of her older brother standing in front of her holding a bloodied sword. "Y-Brother..." he said quietly. It was too quiet for Rion to hear.
'Am I hallucinating?' Anwen wondered in her mind. She had a hard time believing that Rion had come to save her. After three seconds of silence, staring at the figure in front of her, Anwen was again shocked when she finally realized that the chimera was now lying in front of her with his head cut off.
With trembling legs and blood still oozing from her wounds, Anwen struggled to stand up as she remembered Odette.
Meanwhile, Rion seemed to be frozen in place while staring at Anwen very closely. The girl's white face and her clothes were stained with blood.
Anwen just stood up and her head immediately felt dizzy. Her vision blurred and the area around her seemed to be spinning. It made her fall again but this time she didn't fall to the ground but into someone's arms. From behind her blurred vision, she saw the face of a brown-haired man who always followed the king wherever the king went.
"Tri-Trishy… you here? Since when?" she asked very weakly.
Her purple eyes shifted to the right to see the gray-haired man sitting in silence then looked back at Trish and said, "Brother?"
Understanding that Anwen was trying to confirm that the man who was standing in silence was really him, Trish nodded.
"Let's go!" said Rion as he turned to walk away from the place.
"No!" said Anwen who stopped Rion's steps.
Anwen got up from Trish's arms and tried to stand up straight.
"I-I have to help Miss Ody," she said breathlessly. Anwen didn't know she was suddenly finding it hard to breathe until she fell back down and Trish caught her again.
Rion turned around in surprise. He was worried about Anwen's condition but he hid those feelings behind his flat expression.
"B-brother!"
Rion's eyes widened slightly when he heard Anwen call out to him. After six years, this was the first time Anwen had called him.
With a shaky breath, Anwen continued her speech.
"B-big Brother, please save Miss Ody. She distracted the chimera to help me. We were attacked by two chimeras earlier. Brother, I beg you to save Miss Ody, if anything happens to her, I won't be able to forgive myself." She began to cry and her breathing grew heavier.
"Trish, bring her home."
"But Your Highness A–" Trish's words were cut off as Rion quickly ran westward from the place.
Trish looked at Rion who quickly walked away and then turned to look at Anwen. The girl seemed to be getting more and more difficult to breathe from time to time and it made Trish panic.
He immediately carried Anwen, princess style, and walked quickly towards the exit of the forest.
***
Rion ran following the bloodstains scattered along the road leading to the west. It was the blood of the chimera whose tail had been cut off by Anwen.
In the midst of his fast pace, he remembered Anwen who some time ago called him 'brother' and a faint sincere smile appeared on his face.
***
Meanwhile, Odette who was still being chased by the chimera continued to run aimlessly. She didn't know where he got the power from but she ran very fast and moved swiftly jumping and avoiding the tree roots protruding out to the ground but she had to stop when the chimera that was chasing her jumped and blocked her way.
GULP.
Odette swallowed hard. She was panting for breath and sweat was streaming down her face.
Grrr…
The creature roared and tried to get closer. Odette immediately threw a sleeping ball at the creature but the creature managed to dodge. The second ball was thrown and the creature was able to dodge again.
Odette cursed herself for being so bad at throwing. Now that she had one ball in her hand, she had to make the most of it. She tried to focus on aiming at the huge creature in front of her and the moment she was sure to throw, the chimera let out a very loud roar.
The roar made Odette scream in surprise and subconsciously threw the sleeping ball to the ground in front of her feet. The purple ball broke. A greenish-colored gas immediately spread around her and covered her body.
"Whoaaa!" She immediately held her breath and dashed out of the puff of gas.
Roarr!
Seeing its prey run away, the chimera immediately ran toward her, and the chase began again.
Rion who was still following the trail of blood on the road was surprised to see Odette running from the front followed by a chimera behind her.
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From the author:
Phew... glad that Rion and Trish have arrived! By the way, what do you think about this book so far? Also, would you mind giving this book a review? I would love to hear from you ^^.