Against The Heresy

"This is quite the nightmarish place we're at Mister!"

"That it is, the village provides some protection against being spotted so we'll head back there."

Gear shook his head, "Negative! We have to handle this guy first. The protection only prevents them from being spotted, nothing helps if we're already spotted!"

"Foul creature, I shall handle it.", stated Extreok as she slid to halt.

The 'dog' that was chasing Kiro was hot on their tail. Despite Extreok being faster than Kiro it still managed to maintain a pace. As if it was a hunter waiting for its prey to get tired. Kiro expertly noticed that the wounds she inflicted were no where to be seen. She quickly relayed this information, "It might have some regeneration of a sort! I hurt it earlier but it's not there anymore!"

"This is an F series Chimera! The easiest way to handle them is to split them apart in half! Their regeneration can't handle that level of intensity and it will fall apart.", Gear added.

"In half is it? Easy enough.", Extreok said with a snort.

A sharp blast of wind shot forward, the 'dog' still kept its mouth open while running towards the group. As if it didn't notice it was being attacked. The sharp wind carved through its body with ease, splitting it in half. The two parts slid apart and fell. Watching its movements carefully the group was wary of it standing again. However Gear wasn't as worried, instead he was dumbfounded on how easy it was handled.

What kind of difference in strength could this be?!

-<>-

"You've reached close to the requirement to fight such dark creatures Gear."

"I know, I've come this far."

Granny Rey smiled faintly, "Your determination shines brightly, I can see it clearly."

"How can you see it so if you keep your eyes closed all the time?"

"There are things you can see without the help of your eyes."

"Without my eyes?"

Lifting a wooden cane she gently tapped the ground, "More importantly you seem to be at a bottleneck, I notice you haven't made any progress this week."

"Yeah. . . I'm not sure how I can do it either."

"You will find the answer as you search."

"I wish it was more straightforward though. . ."

"If you were given the answer then you wouldn't be able to properly form your path."

"My path?"

"That is the only hint you will get. Now Harold requested your assistance, perhaps you should go to him in the morning."

"It's not that late is it? I can get to him easily before dark arrives."

"If you wish to risk it."

"Thank you for all of your help! I'll chat next week!"

"Take care."

Gear quickly left Granny Rey's home and ran towards the blacksmith's household. As Granny Rey watched Gear leave she placed her hands together in a small prayer, "Oh protector, may you shed moonlight onto his path."

The forest waved back and forth in the wind as Gear approached the blacksmith's home. Approaching the door he knocked and spoke aloud, "It's me! I heard I was wanted?"

After a few moments of silence the door creaked open. Immediately recognizing the face Gear asked, "Where's the old man?"

"Grandpa said he had something to fetch, so he's been out for a while."

"Ah alright, do you mind if I just stay for a bit?"

"Come in! I'm getting dinner ready, would you like some?"

"If you don't mind!"

. . .

Lemon frowned as she stirred a pot. Gear tapped his thigh and asked, "It's getting far too late. . ."

"Why isn't he back yet?"

"I'm getting worried, do you know where he went? I'll search for him."

"He went out back and just headed straight. I don't know what he was looking for."

"Alright, you take care I will be right back!"

"Please bring him home safe!"

"Don't worry!"

Gear ran out the house and followed the directions provided by Lemon. Since he was steadily increasing his strength he was becoming faster and faster. He hoped by the time he found the old man he would be able to bring him back before it was too late.

Dashing through the forest he noticed how quickly it was turning dark. Gritting his teeth he knew he had mere moments left until the old man was a lost cause.

A yell could be heard in the distance. Gear locked onto it immediately and dashed with his full speed towards the location. Slipping through the trees he slid to a stop.

He spotted the old man immediately, but frowned at what was next to it. A familiar shaped creature stood over the old man, with blades for arms.

Failed Chimera: F-1, the first Chimera he came across. Memories of his horrid first encounter were springing up causing his body to tense in fear. He felt his hands shake, but he grit his teeth and ran forward.

The old man was someone dear to him. Although he was really curt and seemed kind of rude, he was a kind soul who cared for Gear like family. He was the one who taught Gear how to care for his sword.

At any cost he would not let the old man die!

"Harold! I'll distract it so make a run for it back home!"

"Gear?!"

"No questions, get moving!"

Gear leapt upwards with his sword unsheathed, swinging downwards towards the Chimera he braced himself for impact.

The blade armed Chimera turned its malformed head towards Gear and the bladed tendril shot from its back towards him.

Gear tried to jerk himself to the side, but it's hard to move in the air. The tendril shot forward with ease and pierced through his shoulder. Gritting his teeth to fight against the pain he continued forward. He felt the tendril continue to pass through his shoulder as he descended towards the Chimera.

Raising his sword with some difficulty he swung towards the Chimera's face. It leaned back and avoided the blow with no effort and lifted one of its bladed arms. It slammed the flat end of its arm into Gear and sent him crashing into a tree. The tendril in his arm moved rapidly and stiffened, wrapping around the tree and binding him to it.

Struggling to free himself he felt his heart sink. Still he lacked the strength to continue fighting! Just how much more did he need to work for just to have a fighting chance?!

The Chimera approached the old man and raised a bladed arm. Harold stumbled back until he hit a tree, fear prominent in his eyes. Gear doubled his efforts to free himself to no avail. The Chimera lowered its arm closer to Harold's neck, relishing in the fear that leaked from the old man.

Gear gripped the tendril, managing to get a hand on it. His hand turned pale as he tried desperately to rip it free. Watching the blade inch closer to Harold he felt a moment of clarity. In this helpless moment he knew there wasn't a thing he could do, but when he respawned. . .

Everything, he would dedicate it all to ridding this place of the foul Chimeras. No matter what, no matter how long it took, no matter how much stronger he needed to get. To the things that would rob him of what he cared about, the only thing they would receive from him is extinction.

He would swear upon it!

The sound of glass breaking filled his ears, followed by a series of System Notifications. But what drew his attention more was the sudden surge of strength he had. The tendril he struggled to even loosen ripped apart easily. A moment of enlightenment graced him, 'So this is what Granny Rey was talking about! The strength of higher Stages. . .'

The Chimera lifted its arm and focused its attention towards Gear, fully aware of the changed that just occurred. It's instincts warned it, this was not some helpless prey. Rather this was something to be cautious about.

Gear dropped to the ground and immediately dashed forward. His speed greater than before, something he noticed instantly. The Chimera shrieked and swung its blade arm towards Gear at a high speed.

From Gear's constant research the one thing he noticed he had to be careful of was how he used his weapon. In the small village they had no weapons. Even when speaking to Harold about making one the old man said there wasn't enough materials to craft a weapon, even if there was it would be better used towards a tool.

This left him with only one option, to maintain and keep his sword in the best shape possible. This also meant not putting it in danger however. Recently there was several posts about how when weapons faced powerful attacks above its grade it could become damaged or even broken. A rare occurrence, but proved to be more common when higher leveled players used weapons meant for lower leveled Players.

To Gear this news was worrisome. This meant that his sword, the one given to him from the beginning, was as good as paper when it came to defending himself. So he had to focus on one thing in particular, dodging.

Dashing towards the side he attempted to dodge the Chimera's swing, but he still wasn't used to this level of strength and his arm received a gash. The same arm that was previous impaled by the tendril. With that much damage his arm was essentially useless. Still gripping the sword with his good arm he continued to close the distance!

The Chimera shrieked in anger and began to rapidly swing its arms. Under any normal circumstance the person facing this would be shredded apart. This was under said normal condition. . . almost. One of the notifications from the System Gear ignored was something he would only notice later.