Chimaera's Conquest: The Legend Of The Devourer-Chapter 261: True Chimaera (1)

The hospital’s parking lot was a scene of chaos. Hunters surrounded an impenetrable barrier that encased Adrian, and everyone took turns trying to break through the shield. Even Mei tried but couldn’t make the barrier budge, even with her S-rank strength.

Hours passed like that, and soon Sophia, Vesper, A’mila, and George arrived on the scene. James gave them a brief breakdown of the situation, as John was too busy counting his losses.

First, it was the dungeon incident, and now this. Things were not looking good for him and other than public sympathy, there wasn’t anything for him to gain from the terrible situation.

Meanwhile, James told them everything he knew and that Adrian could be in serious trouble within that barrier. That was all it took for Sophia to charge up her magic.

She hurled fireballs at the barrier, only for them to fizzle out upon impact. Even Fenris joined in, growling and clawing at the shield, but even her immense strength was futile.

At the same time, nearby, media crews broadcasted the scene live. Cameras captured every inch of ground zero, from the ground and from helicopters hovering above, with their spotlights primarily focused on the black barrier.

Reporters spoke in urgent tones, describing the mysterious barrier and the desperate efforts to break it. But eventually, their attention shifted away from the barrier.

In the background, the hospital was in a grim state. Medical staff were busy moving the corpses of victims of Charles’s terror attack. The media tried talking to John and James about the body count of the dead, but even they didn’t know the exact number.

Although they didn’t tell the media about it, it was because most of the corpses had been dismembered with the intention to make it difficult for them to identify anyone. As such, it was impossible to know the exact numbers without forensic reports.

How did they about know it? Well, Vex told them. Seraphina had handed her over to the DRA the moment they got there, and they were busy interrogating her while she was being treated for the wounds Seraphina graciously gave her.

At first, it wasn’t easy to get her to spill the secrets, but soon, she gave in, and information trickled out of her.

In the meantime, Amelia was also being treated by the DRA staff. But thanks to Seraphina’s healing abilities, she was never in any danger. All that remained was... the result of the fight inside the barrier.

"Fuck!" Sophia cursed following another failed attempt to break the barrier.

Even then, she wasn’t willing to give up. Sophia stepped back, her mind racing. Ultimately, she decided to pour all her strength into a single, decisive attack. Gathering her mana, she prepared herself for one final attempt to punch through the barrier.

The hunters watched as Sophia channelled all her power, her body glowing with energy. After a minute or two, she rushed towards the barrier.

Just as she was about to collide with the barrier, it dissipated, vanishing into thin air like it never existed. Sophia, unable to stop her momentum, stumbled forward.

She tripped and fell into the massive crater, landing directly on Adrian, who had just been freed from confinement. Thankfully, Adrian caught her in time, and they both fell to the ground.

For a moment, they lay there, tangled together. Adrian looked up at Sophia and smiled.

"Someone looks excited to see me."

Sophia didn’t reply and buried her face into his bare chest while calling him an idiot and various variations of it. Adrian didn’t complain and held her closer briefly before the others came rushing in.

James, John, Mei, and the guild members rushed there while Seraphina and the others followed them. But Fenris arrived first, rushing to Adrian and furiously licking his face.

Apart from broken armour and some bruises actively healing on their own, Adrian wasn’t much affected by whatever happened inside the barrier.

However, they all had a common question, "Where was Charles?"

***

An hour later, Adrian found himself back in DRA’s executive director’s office. The last time he was there, he was given the title of <Super Rookie>.

While not much time had passed, things certainly changed, as it was clear from Rick’s demeanour towards Adrian.

"Would you like something to drink?" Rick asked, taking his seat across the table.

Adrian shook his head. He wanted to get done with the situation and then head home. After all, he still needed to devour an organ from Charles’s corpse that he had stored within his inventory.

’The DRA would have certainly taken his corpse with them the moment they saw it. I couldn’t waste another opportunity to retrieve an organ and complete the quest.’

That’s why, on Lucina’s recommendation, Adrian placed Charles’s corpse inside his inventory before the barrier disappeared.

"I was told you wanted to discuss something with me?" Adrian asked Rick.

"I merely wanted to know about the incident," Rick replied. "Considering your prompt action in the matter, I’d assume the attack had something to do with you?"

Adrian smiled. Rick was as keen as ever. He already knew the answer to his query but wanted to know the answer from Adrian’s mouth.

"You can say that," Adrian replied. "I think you have seen the videos I handed to James regarding the open dungeon incident?"

Rick nodded. The incident had evolved into something much bigger, and DRA had deployed its international team to investigate the matter without alerting Maria or any members of her guild.

"So, it had something to do with that matter..." Rick mumbled, but the answer raised another question. "Even if that’s the matter, why would they attack Felicia?"

"They wanted to nuke my reputation and destroy my credibility," Adrian chimed in. "Felicia was just a pawn in their game. I was the real target."

"So it was you, after all," Rick smiled, shaking his head. "The one who closed the dungeon."

"I can neither confirm nor deny the allegation," Adrian shrugged.

"Well... that was all I wanted to know," Rick said, getting up and approaching Adrian. Thank you for everything. While we lost a lot of people, the losses would have been significantly more had it not been for you and your team."

"What will you do now?" Adrian asked, not interested in sentimental gratitude.

"I’m handing in my three-month notice and going all out to find any dirt and bring Maria down at all costs," Rick said with a sly grin, extending his hand to Adrian. "Someone as disgusting as her needs to pay her dues."

Adrian shook it firmly, silently acknowledging Rick as an ally in his fight against Maria, "I couldn’t agree more."