Disaster Around the Trees

"HUAARRGHHH!!"

< SCORCHING SLASH >

Carfeld's eyes went up in flame after he saw his troops get killed by the chimera, even if he can't damage the giant snake due to its hard skin, he should be able to damage the chimera since it has less armor, with a bit of fire the chimera's fur should start burning.

His sword was engulfed in thick orange flame, his body temperature rising up by the seconds, Carfeld turned around and immediately went after the chimera thatis still chasing the remaining knights, with a loud scream, he jumped and swung his sword to the chimera's head, hoping that it would do some damage.

Davira, Rezio, and the other special knights are also quick to jump on the battle, they charged towards the chimera with their auras with the intention of giving the normal knights some time to escape.

ROAARRR!!

SLASH!

Carfeld's blade cuts deep into the chimera's head, significantly bleeding it, but that wasn't enough to bring the chimera down, its fur also didn't catch on fire, as soon as the chimera received the attack, its snake tail moved towards Carfeld, the snake head on the chimera's tail opened its mouth, revealing a sharp fangs and also dripping saliva, along with the tail, the chimera also redirected its claws to Carfeld with a quick swoop.

"UGH!"

SWOOSH!

He managed to dodge the snake tail by moving his head to the side, since that snake was aiming for Carfeld's head, it was easier to dodge than some may expect, but the real challenge would be avoiding the chimera's claw, Carfeld saw the sharp claws heading straight for his body, and he held his sword as tight as possible, he won't be able to dodge it completely since he's currently in air right now, moving the head is one thing, but moving an entire body in the air is like having the ability to do a double jump.

CLANK!!!

The chimera's claw was met with Carfeld's blade, Carfeld held the insane pressure generated by his blade colliding with the claws, he knew that even a slight mistake will kill him instantly, so with the risk of death in mind, Carfeld releases all of his strength to try to hold on and not get cut off in two by the massive claws infront of him.

BOOM!!!

Carfeld held on for approximately 10 seconds before his stamina runs out and he was thrown to the ground rapidly, his impact with the dirt beneath him caused an explosion to happen, dust debris flew to every direction, blinding everyone including the knights and mercenaries.

"CAPTAIN!!"

"CARFELD!!!!"

Everyone screamed Carfeld's name, they stopped on their track after seeing him run towards the chimera and the giant snake, confused as to why he did it, they all know he won't be able to defeat them, but somehow his confidence gave them hope that perhaps, a miracle would happen.

After Carfeld was slammed to the ground, the chimera's focus drifted to all of the special knights that is attacking it, one after another the chimera easily tossed the highly skilled special knight from its body, injuring them.

"GUHH!!"

"UAKHH!!!"

HISSS!!

CHOMP!

ROAAARRR!!!

The dust debris soon faded away, and the first thing that the knights and mercenaries see is the Two-Headed Giant Snake biting the Chimera's butt, the snake attack came out of nowhere and it surprised everyone, they gasped as they saw the chimera roared in pain while blood started to pour out, on the other hand, Carfeld was seen lying on the ground, a hole was created at his place because of how strong the impact was, if he didn't wear any armor, he would surely died.

"Ah! Captain!!"

"Huh? Wait!"

Moseth realized Carfeld and quickly went closer to him, alongside with Deter that is trying to pull him back.

"Fuck..."

"Captain!! Are you alright?!" Moseth asked.

"Y- yeah, somehow.."

"Hold my hand!"

Carfeld held Moseth's hand and he pulls him up to stand, surprisingly Carfeld didn't sustain any serious injury, he was able to stand up normally without the need of help.

"Im a bad leader aren't i..." Carfeld said with sorrowful tone.

"Huh?-

ROAARRRR!!

HISSS!!!

Loud roars and hisses won't stop echoing throughout the forest, the grounds are trembling, in the heart of the Monoghriad Forest, two SS-Ranked monsters are currently fighting with eachother, and the place where the fight is located, just so happen to be right infront of the mithril cave expedition group.

The snake bites, the chimera responded, they took turns to bite eachother, one is using poison to paralyze the enemy, while the other one is using its ridiculous bite force to tear down the enemy's hard skin, its a battle of time, which one will lose conciousness first, either the chimera from the deadly poison, or the two-headed giant snake from the constant bleeding.

BOOM!!

BOOMM!!!

Trees broken, rocks destroyed, explosion after explosion happened at a rapid interval.

BOOM!!!

SHRAKK!!

As the battle goes on, the expedition group watched as they see the final moments of the battle with the snake using its body to loop around the chimera and strangle it, the pressure that came from the force of the snake's body made chimera roars in pain, it was being choked, and soon it will lose conciousness, but the chimera isn't a beast that will give up just like that, with one final attack the chimera uses its massive jaw to bite the giant snake on its neck, the chimera's teeth burrowing deep into the snake's skin, both of the monsters are being put in a life or death situation, they pushed everything they can to make the other die first.

"H- how terrifying.." Said one of the knight.

"They're just as strong as the rumors, this is what a battle between two SS-Ranked monsters looked like.." Deter responded.

At last, the forest went quite again after sometime, there are no more noises, no mote explosion, no more chaos, only the wind and insect noises filled the air around the expedition group, the snake and chimera bathed in glory as their body is wrapped against eachother, the snake head is facing up to the sky with its mouth open while the chimera's head is still biting the snake's neck, they both died under the moonlight as if their battle will be remembered in history.

"Is it.. Over?" Said Lyra.

"I think so.." Deter responded after coming back to his initial position.

Everyone froze in their place, they kept their eyes staring at the two monster corpse, remembering the death of their comrades a few minutes ago, their body is still there, covered in blood, that horrifying scene permanently sealed and carved within the knights and mercenaries heart, they will remember it as the time when they survived the attack of the strongest monster within the inner part of Monoghriad.

"Urgh.."

Rezio appeared from the distance, his left arm was holding his right arm, and his expression doesn't seem to happy, he must've had more serious injury than Carfeld.

"Carfeld, you're okay?.." He said.

Soon, Davira and all of the other special knights appeared, they all roughly had similar injuries, thankfully their life isn't in danger, and they can still fight even in that condition.

"Everyone..." Carfeld spoke, his voice almost stuttered.

"Captain, is the cave that we've been searching for really worth it?"

One of the knights suddenly spoke, he expressed his concern and also the credibility of this mission.

"Are we sure we're not being disposed off by the minister? What if this mission is just a way to get rid of us."

"Hey, calm down! We will find a way out." Davira reassured the knight.

"That's..." Carfeld tried to answer, but his voice got cut off by his incapability to search for a convincing answer.

"Shit, i genuinely forgot Zain and Artha didn't have anything that could help them escape.." Deter whispered, mourning his fallen comrade.

"At this point, even if that cave turns out to be true, won't we encounter that same monster again when we are trying to get out of this forest? You special knights probably capable of defeating one of them if you tried hard enough, but for us normal knights.. We can't do anything, we are just a living meatshield, even in the Great Treant battle..."

Suddenly, everyone in the group went quite and they began to think about the knight's words, what he was saying is true, ever since the expedition group entered the inner forest, the normal knights have been nothing but a meatshield, ready to die for the special knight or mercenary to handle the situation, they have always been the bait, their skill might be great, but that wasn't enough if you want to survive in this place..

"It's just the two of us now..." The knight said.

"Im sorry, im really sorry." Carfeld replied.

"I know that, i know you guys are not as capable as the other, but that doesn't mean you guys are weak, you're a proud knight of Latricia, you've trained hard for this position, you've conquered many hardship, and this is the result of your hardwork, you're not weak, it's just that this place is more dangerous than what you guys usually dealt with."

"Listen, we're here as a team, we are a comrade, we need eachother to survive— but even so, that doesn't mean we won't be in danger, in wars, death occurs everywhere, even when we stayed together, in face with an impossible opponent, working together as a team is better than going alone, there will be deaths, but our survival chance are better, and what matters is that you didn't abandon your comrades, if you died protecting whats dear to you, then in my opinion, that is a honorable death."

"Your friends didn't die so you could die too, prove yourself to them that you're strong, you will not lose hope, you will survive, you will show them that their death is not in vain, you being alive is already something they can be proud of— So, lift your heads up and look forward, face your fear, we're in this together, i know im not the best leader, but i will show you that we can still succeed even if we have reached the bottom."