Chimaera's Conquest: The Legend Of The Devourer-Chapter 301: Bellerophon’s Misery

Two Olympus soldiers stood guard in front of a reinforced door. The room beyond was flooded by Bellerophon, designed to ensure Adrian’s demise by drowning, which was more or less a natural cause.

They didn’t understand why lord Bellerophon went to such an extent to kill a mere mortal. Sure, he performed somewhat well in the arena. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t have killed him by themselves.

At the end of the day, the man was a low-level mortal. If they shared the penalty, they wouldn’t have to go through so much to deal with him. Either way, the guards soon got bored with doing nothing and exchanged idle chatter to pass the time.

"It’s been two hours," the first soldier said, glancing at the door with a bored expression. "Think we should check if he’s dead?"

"Yeah, we should. If we wait too long, the body might bloat. And Lord Bellerophon won’t be happy if the mortal became unrecognisable," the second soldier replied, stretching his arms. "Let’s get this over with."

They both moved closer to the door. As they reached for the handle, the door burst open with a sudden, violent force. A hand shot out and grabbed the first soldier by the neck.

The soldier’s eyes widened in shock as someone snapped his neck with a swift twist. His lifeless body crumpled to the floor.

The second soldier, horrified, tried to pull his partner away. But before he could react further, someone yanked him into the room. A pressurised water bubble was inside the chamber to ensure Adrian’s demise.

Adrian pulled the man deeper into the bubble, using the intense pressure to choke him to death. The soldier struggled, his movements frantic and desperate, but it was futile. His body soon went limp.

But the trouble wasn’t over yet. Using the soldier’s corpse as a foothold, Adrian forced himself through the water bubble. He had sustained some injuries in the process, but it was nothing the troll’s blood couldn’t handle.

"That was close..." Adrian mumbled as soon as he was out.

He had had countless thoughts of swapping the Merman’s lungs for something better. But it was thanks to that, he survived for over two hours inside the water bubble.

"Poison nullification helped too," Adrian reminded himself.

Without poison nullification, he would still be knocked out thanks to the powder Bellerophon threw at his face. Either way, he had been lucky to be alive even after all that. But the problems weren’t over yet.

"He could’ve left more soldiers for backup... I need to get out of here without being seen."

Adrian wasted no time. He stripped the first soldier of his uniform and donned it quickly. He then used his ability [Gluttony] to consume the second soldier’s body, ensuring no trace of him remained.

He then used [Mimic] to take the form of the soldier he had drowned. Once dressed and ready, Adrian stepped out of the chamber, leaving no evidence of the gruesome encounter behind.

Bellerophon and Olympus would find out about him later. But for now, he was safe and needed to get out of there. As Adrian walked out of the arena, Lucina let out a sigh of relief.

<Thank god master is safe!>

’Thank god?’ Adrian scoffed. ’It was a damned god who got me into this mess in the first place. Why the heck are you thanking them?’

Lucina chuckled softly.

<Old habits die hard, Master. But point taken. I do want to know what Master plans to do next?>

’Nothing changes. I still want to climb the tower and kill the gods. Only this time, I’ll start with that bastard Bellerophon.’

Earlier Adrian couldn’t care less about a god with daddy issues. But now that he had crossed paths with him, Adrian wouldn’t forgive or forget him. Not until he had his head to play football with.

Even so, fighting Bellerophon would have to wait. At least till they are on a similar level of strength. But Adrian would prefer if Bellerophon remained on a higher floor than him. That way, he’d be able to use the tower’s mechanics to deal quickly with him.

On the other hand, as Adrian predicted, Bellerophon had left most of his forces stationed around the arena.

But the uniform he wore allowed him to move with a certain level of anonymity, blending in with the other soldiers and staff. He kept his head down, avoiding eye contact as he navigated the hallways out of the arena.

Since everyone seemed to mind their own business, getting out of the arena was fairly easy.

’Lucina, keep an eye out for any more surprises.’

<Always, Master. You know I’ll watch your back, figuratively.>

***

A few hours later, Adrian’s secret was revealed. The atmosphere was tense as Bellerophon’s soldiers stood in front of the room, their eyes fixed on the ground.

The bloated corpse of one of their comrades lay before them instead of the mortal’s. The room was still and silent, save for the occasional drip of water echoing off the walls.

Bellerophon marched into the room, his expression barely masking his seething anger. His presence alone was enough to make the soldiers tremble.

He took one look at the corpse before him and sighed heavily. He had already informed his father, Poseidon, that he had dealt with the mortal menace, and he had even received praise for it.

The thought of having to explain this failure after receiving the rewards made his blood boil.

"Where is he?" Bellerophon snarled. "Where is the mortal?"

The soldiers remained silent. They knew better than to speak when their leader was in such a rage. Bellerophon paced back and forth, his fists clenched at his sides.

"If my father finds out that mortal escaped," Bellerophon continued, his voice rising, "what little reputation I have left will vanish into thin air. He might as well throw me into Tartarus, slaving away for the rest of my days."

The soldiers exchanged nervous glances but remained silent. Bellerophon stopped and turned to face his men, his eyes blazing with fury.

"Find him!" he ordered. "Find the damned bastard, and bring him to me. And if my father discovers anything about what happened here, I will kill every one of you with my own hands."

As his rage peaked, a dark aura began to seep out of Bellerophon. The air grew heavy, and two of the soldiers closest to him crumpled to the ground, their lifeless bodies collapsing as if the life had been sucked out of them.

The remaining soldiers didn’t need to stay there any longer. They rushed out of the room, desperate to avoid the same fate as their fallen comrades as they scattered to search for the mortal.

Once alone, Bellerophon took a deep breath, trying to rein in his temper. Losing control was unlike him, and it spoke volumes about how much this situation had shaken him. He needed to think clearly if he was going to rectify this mess.

"...damn it!"