Chimera

To put it bluntly, Lan Qingyou just thought the name sounded cool.

However, since the other woman said it was fine, then it probably was. At the very least, she didn't feel like she had lost on a psychological level.

“I'm glad you like it. But your... Children of Danu are almost depleted. Don't you plan on replenishing them?”

Lan Qingyou scanned the battlefield below.

While the number of her own golems was rapidly decreasing, the opponent's homunculi were also thinning out.

Moreover, because the two of them were busy fighting each other in the air, neither had been able to go down and reinforce their ranks.

“Heh, you should worry about yourself first.”

Seeing her opponent actually turn around to remind her, Alisa felt the preposterousness of the situation.

As if I don't know how much of my own army is left. I don't need your reminders.

Well... even though their schools of thought were different, they were still very similar in certain aspects.

“I'm tired.”

Suddenly, Alisa stopped in her tracks.

“Huh?”

Seeing her opponent stop, Lan Qingyou followed suit and looked at her with confusion.

“What I mean is, I'm tired of this game of tag. Let's end it here.”

With a grand wave of her hand, Alisa summoned a monstrosity—a creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, the tail of a snake, and a pair of eagle wings.

“And this is...?”

“A Chimera. You must have heard of them.”

“Ah, right. Yes, I've heard of them. Is this another one of your research results?”

Lan Qingyou nodded.

How could she not have heard of a creature like a Chimera?

When Diana was naming the city ‘Typhon,’ she had mentioned that the Chimera was one of the children of the goddess Typhon.

Lan Qingyou had only ever heard of that particular myth from Diana.

What truly made the word ‘Chimera’ familiar to her were the legends of synthesis beasts from Blue Star alchemy.

Of course, she had also seen the witches discussing it in the Witch's Tea Party.

After all, they were alchemists.

Compared to obscure myths she had never heard of, matters involving alchemy naturally piqued her interest much more.

However, the moment she saw this creature, Lan Qingyou’s first thought was its eyes.

After all, such a mismatched beast already violated the natural rules of monster evolution.

Especially that lion head and snake head.

While it wasn't as if she had never encountered two-headed creatures—like the two-headed snakes, Two-headed Hounds, and two-headed demons she had met in dungeons—those monsters, while multi-headed, were at least part of the ‘same series.’

But the two heads on this creature clearly didn't belong to the same species. Their fusion could only be the result of human intervention.

As expected...

“Correct. Cellular and biological research is my specialty, and it's the specialty of the Aurelius family.”

“You've heard of the cloned black cow named Patton from over a hundred years ago, haven't you? That was a masterpiece by an ancestor of the Aurelius family. It's just a shame that, due to immature technology, it only lived for a few years.”

Alisa spoke of her family's ‘heroic history’ with a face full of pride. Even when she mentioned the regret regarding the cloned cow, her expression didn't change.

Clearly, that ‘regret’ was merely lip service; she didn't personally feel any remorse.

After all, it was normal for a product of immature technology to have flaws.

Besides, wouldn't flaws simply mean there was plenty of room for future generations to improve?

Like this Chimera, a creation that would have made any of her ancestors faint with excitement.

“Ah, sorry. I'm just a middle school graduate and an illiterate. I'm not really familiar with Patton or black cows.”

Lan Qingyou shrugged as she watched Alisa flip onto the back of the Chimera.

What!?

A middle school graduate and an illiterate!?

Alisa, who had just settled onto her seat, was stunned by Lan Qingyou's words.

The same was true for many of the onlookers outside.

Wait a minute...

Saying something like that is a bit of a low blow, isn't it?

If a middle school graduate learns alchemy faster and better than everyone else, then what does that make the graduates from famous Blue Star universities?

Are they worse than illiterates?

Also, since you only have a middle school education, why did you look for academic elites and academic geniuses when first distributing the Witch potions? Did you look down on academic slackers like us?

“Forget it. Talking is useless. Now, let me end this meaningless match!”

Alisa shouted from atop the Chimera.

Then, the Chimera's snake tail opened its mouth and spat out a gust of wind, propelling the winged beast a great distance instantly.

In the blink of an eye, it was right in front of Lan Qingyou.

The Chimera opened its massive maw and lunged at Lan Qingyou to bite her.

Startled, Lan Qingyou didn't even think before shifting her body and flashing to the side.

“Is that the same magic you used to flash behind me earlier? You space-types really do learn everything.”

Alisa wasn't the least bit surprised to see Lan Qingyou vanish from the spot.

After all, Lan Qingyou had demonstrated it before; she just hadn't seen it clearly at the time.

With that, Alisa patted the Chimera's back as a signal.

The lion's head opened its mouth again and spat a fireball the size of a washbasin at Lan Qingyou, who had just reappeared and hadn't even steadied herself yet.

Whoosh—

The fireball whistled past as Lan Qingyou vanished once more, reappearing on the other side.

Lan Qingyou looked a bit disheveled now.

Not only were the bristles of her magic broom singed by the flames, but the corner of her robe was also on fire.

“Ah... I forgot to add the fireproof enchantment.”

Ruan Qingyi, who was sitting by her shelter window looking up at the sky-screen, slapped her forehead at the sight.

Others might not be familiar with Lan Qingyou's Star Set, but she knew it all too well.

After all, it was something she had rushed to complete overnight.

Forget fireproofing; this set didn't even have specific enchantments for other elemental magics.

She had only put on general magic defense enchantments to ward off attacks. She had thought that with Lan Qingyou's level and magic, that would be enough...

It seemed that when fighting others, there was still a risk of being set on fire.

She made a mental note; this would be useful for later.

Indeed.

Compared to Lan Qingyou's current predicament, experimental performance was what mattered most to Ruan Qingyi.

Leaving Ruan Qingyi aside for a moment.

Back with Lan Qingyou, after reaching out to pat the corner of her robe and extinguish the fire, she launched her own counterattack.

The ‘main attackers’ were naturally the floating cannons, which had been hovering around Alisa the entire time.

It was just that she hadn't attacked while dodging earlier.

However, Alisa was already on guard against things she had seen before.

Almost at the same time the floating cannons fired their beams, the Chimera shifted its flight path, causing the attacks to miss.

“Alisa, why can't my beams penetrate your skin?”