Back in the farming fields, the situation, to the naked eye, remained the same.
With the chimera chasing Jay and the latter repeatedly throwing any kind of tool he found on the ground, there really didn't seem to be a change.
However, if one looked closely, thy would realize that this was not the case.
The chimera's body, which at the beginning had been in a perfect state, now showed multiple wounds all around.
As for its face, there was no need to mention that it was worse than the body, as Jay had made this part of the chimera his main target.
The reason for this was simple, because he wanted to damage its eyes.
Not only were they probably the most vulnerable part of the chimera, but if he succeeded, he could blind the monster and immediately diminish its combat power.
It was clear with this that Jay had not been wasting his time, but unfortunately, despite his numerous attempts, he had been unable to hit either of them.
This of course, had not gone unnoticed by the chimera, who was now no longer pursuing Jay just out of interest, but also because within itself, anger towards Jay had formed.
At this moment, what the chimera wanted most of all was to sink its fangs into the elusive prey that was Jay.
*Clang!*
Once again, another tool slammed into the chimera's face, though it landed on a bad part, the forehead, which was hard enough for the tool to just bounce off with no damage
However, even if there was no damage, the chimera reacted differently than all the previous times.
"RAAAGH!"
After letting out that roar, the chimera suddenly stopped its pursuit, sitting down on two legs while looking at Jay.
"...?"
This obviously caught Jay's attention, who, making sure he was a good distance from the chimera, also stopped momentarily, also taking the opportunity to pick up a couple more tools.
The next moment, the esper threw another tool again, aiming it directly at one of the chimera's eyes.
However, this time the chimera didn't simply stand there waiting to receive the tool, but actually dodged it by moving its head to the side!
This surprised Jay a bit, but not wanting to give up, he again raised his right arm which was holding another tool.
It was clear from his pose and the wind around him that he was preparing for a strong throw.
*GLUHK*
Before Jay could make his move, however, the sound of the chimera regurgitating something echoed in the surroundings, the latter's throat and chest visibly swelling.
"!"
Immediately, seeing this, Jay could feel a sense of alarm, whether this was coming from his own instincts, his little ones, or the system, he knew he had to do something!
*SWOOSH!*
The decision Jay made was to attack, throwing his tool with all his might at the chimera, this time not only wanting to damage it, but also to stop whatever the chimera was doing.
In just a matter of a couple of seconds, the tool flew through the air to where the chimera was, being merely a few inches away from the monster.
*PTU!*
With that sound, the chimera spat out a purple mass that slammed directly into the tool, destroying it in an instant before continuing its journey forward, in Jay's direction.
Although it had hit another object in its path, its speed was such that it was to the point of being dizzying, not giving Jay much of a choice.
'It's coming too fast, I won't have time to dodge, I can only minimize the damage!' Thought Jay as his body moved according to what he had planned.
In just an instant, all the wind around Jay gathered in his right arm, which he raised in an attempt to deflect the purple bullet, forming a swirling wind current like a whirlpool wrapping around his arm.
He knew that despite its relatively small size, the bullet contained great power, which combined with the lack of time meant that he could not prepare enough to block it directly.
Instead, Jay decided to deflect the bullet!
*CHAK!*
"ARGH!"
The bullet was not long in coming, and the moment it touched Jay's palm, though it was only for a very brief moment, the latter's skin immediately took a great deal of damage, leaving a good portion of living flesh exposed.
Had it continued like that, Jay had no doubt it would have pierced his hand, but thanks to the swirl of wind wrapping around his arm, instead of digging further into his palm, the bullet followed the wind current in Jay's arm and spun around.
Then, just as the bullet was about to reach his elbow, Jay moved his arm sharply downward, managing to fling the bullet toward the ground, in a place where it would not harm any of the nearby students.
*BAM!*
With that sound, a small crater with a spherical size formed on the ground.
"...Ha...hahaha, what a ...sh*tty monster..." Jay said as he looked at his right arm, although he was relieved that he had been able to successfully deflect the attack, the damage had not been small.
Where the bullet had passed, a path of living flesh had been torn open, creating what one would have no better way to call it than a bloody mess.
And while the aforementioned wound was the most striking thing, neither could Jay's condition be ignored, with large beads of sweat trickling down the sides of his face and a clear expression of exhaustion written all over it.
However, he knew extremely well, that this wasn't the time to rest.
Now that he had witnessed firsthand the power behind that bullet and how costly it was to deflect it, Jay was clear about one thing, he could not under any circumstances allow himself to be hit directly by it.
But of course, the chimera had other plans.
*GLUHK*
With that sound, both the chimera's throat and chest swelled again, making it clear that it had much more where the last bullet had come from.
Seeing this, Jay let out a deep breath, the wind gathering around his legs to focus on increasing his speed.
Immediately, he glanced again at how much time he had left according to the system, thanks to the chimera's unexpected ranged attack, though he had been keeping time in his mind, he ended up losing it.
_____________________
[Time Remaining: (5) Minutes, (15) seconds.]
_____________________
'It's gone down more than I expected...' Thought Jay, who had expected some time slowing down the moment the bullet touched him.
While the bullet was not the purple smoke that the chimera released, judging by their color, and especially since they were both substances coming from the chimera, it was clear that they were related in one way or another.
Inspecting his surroundings again for another working tool to use, Jay's gaze casually rested on the crater the chimera's bullet had made.
To his surprise, while he had been occupied with his thoughts, the purple substance from the bullet had been corroding the ground, deepening the crater and forming a small puddle of said purple substance in the process, several bubbles bursting on its surface.
"...Heh, now that's something I can work with!" Jay said before quickly moving to another working tool and picking it up.
*Bam!*
Leaving a small crater in the ground, Jay then took a big leap upwards, the chimera, which had been about to launch another bullet of purple substance, was forced to stop in order to take better aim.
As for why Jay decided to just jump, when that would mean making him an easy target, it was because unlike other people, he had a way of moving in the air.
Plus, it would make the chimera take longer to aim at him, giving him a valuable seconds head start.
Jay then created a platform of air and propelled himself into another area especially devoid of students that was closer to the chimera.
Not content with this, the moment he landed, he again began to run, but this time in a circle and approaching the chimera.
Said monster then got tired of waiting and spat a second time, aiming as best it could at Jay.
*PTU!*
However, hitting a moving target proved too difficult even for the chimera, so the bullet ended up hitting the ground.
*GLUHK*
The chimera, not satisfied with this result, decided to keep trying, launching bullets one after another, making it clear to Jay that it wasn't a special move or anything, just another ability of the chimera.
In fact, the only reason it had fired only one bullet at Jay before was because it wasn't used to this new long-range attack.
This was understandable, after all, the chimera was used to hunting motionless prey thanks to its characteristic purple smoke, which had a potent drowsy effect.
What it wasn't used to, as it turned out, was dealing with a sneaky little human who, while posing no real threat, was annoying enough that it had to think of a new method of attack.
In a matter of seconds, Jay had already narrowed the distance between the two to merely a few feet.
While he had initially tried to get as far away from the chimera as possible thanks to the powerful physique it possessed, in order to do what he had in mind, he had to get as close as possible.
As for the chimera, it had already learned from its mistake and was not shooting wildly, but was waiting for the right moment to hit Jay squarely, which was getting easier and easier as he got closer.
They were both planning something, and it was clear that the next thing they were going to do was going to decide the course of this fight!
*Plop!*
However, at that moment, Jay, who was running at high speed while being wary of the bullet the chimera might throw, unexpectedly, tripped over a small mound of dirt, falling face first into the ground.
"..."
"..."
For a short time, both the chimera and Jay were silent.
Though of course, before even a second had passed, they both began to move.
"SHIT, WHY JUST NOW?! WAIT, LET ME GET UP!!!" Jay shouted as he desperately tried to stand up.
*PTU!*
Not caring in the least about Jay's words, the chimera launched the bullet it had been preparing, which was of a much larger size than normal, almost being as big as a basketball.
Despite that, its speed had not slowed down in the slightest, if one took into account that the chimera had fired aiming towards the ground, which was where Jay was, it was going even faster since it was a direct and shorter trajectory.
However, in the face of this, Jay, who had barely managed to stand on one foot, unlike the scream he had let out earlier, which was full of panic, now only had a satisfied smile on his face.
*BAM!*
The dirt in the surrounding area flew everywhere the moment the bullet hit its target, raising a thick cloud of dust, evidence of the power behind the bullet.
The chimera, seeing this, could not help but rejoice, heading quickly towards the dust cloud to enjoy its reward, which was, obviously, to taste the meat of that elusive prey.
Thanks to the fact that there was only a distance of a few feet, it took the chimera no time at all to get there, but to its surprise, in the center of the dust cloud, the only thing on the ground was the crater made by the bullet he had thrown, a small puddle of purple liquid at the bottom.
"!!"
Suddenly, the chimera felt an intense presence behind it, forcing it to turn around immediately.
The moment it did so, the first thing that entered its gaze were a pair of emerald eyes that despite being in the middle of a cloud of dust, were still visible, and as a final detail, these eyes were at the same height as the chimera's head.
*SWOOSH!*
A strong current of wind then slammed into the chimera's body, dissipating the dust cloud in the process.
Now that it could see clearly, Jay's figure in the air, holding his work tool which was covered in purple goo, with both hands, became visible.
In response, the chimera let out a roar as it swung its arms to intercept Jay, on its face an expression of anger evident and a large amount of purple smoke billowing from its mouth.
"ROOOOGH!"
They were both moving at great speed, Jay in order to land a blow on the chimera and the chimera trying to crush the esper.
Without even a second having passed, the difference between the two's physiques became apparent, with the chimera's arm coming in much faster
At this rate, it was clear that victory would belong to the chimera.
*BOOM!*
However, at that moment, a large burst of energy from Jay took place, and this, evidently, was the effect of him having used the system's ability, [Overload].
Thanks to that, Jay, who was at a disadvantage, received a huge power boost strong enough to allow him to hit his blow at the same time the chimera's hit him.
*CRACK!*
The sound of bones being broken echoed in the surroundings, product of the blows of both colliding with their target.
In first place was the chimera, which had managed to hit Jay's left side, fracturing several ribs, in any other situation, this blow would have sent him flying, but there was a reason why this had not happened.
With both legs braced against the chimera's chest, and a strong grip with his left hand on the aforementioned monster's neck, Jay had his tool firmly stuck in the right side of the chimera's head.
"R-RAAGH..."
It had been an exchange of blows in every sense of the word, but judging by the chimera's blank stare along with the small spasms throughout its body, it had apparently been the chimera who had gotten the worst part of it.
Normally this would signal the end of the confrontation, but to the chimera's bad luck, its opponent was not one to just deliver a single decisive blow.
*CHAK!*
With that sound, the working tool once again stabbed into the chimera's skull.
For a few seconds, this sound would be heard again at least a couple more times, until two heavy objects fell to the ground, giving way to absolute silence in the farm fields.
