At first, it was just a small spark. A tiny flicker that barely lit the cocoon.
But in the next breath, that flicker turned into a roaring blaze, spreading across the web like it had been waiting a hundred years just to burn.
The Chimera thrashed inside its own trap as the fire climbed higher and higher.
KIIIIIIK!!
The Chimera shrieked as flames swallowed its body, burning bright like a miniature sun.
Its own web—once a shield, once a prison—had become its final cage.
The protective barrier that kept everything out now kept the fire in.
And little by little, the monster was dragged toward its inevitable end.
It burned.
Screamed.
Twisted.
Then, after a long moment of crackling heat, it finally stopped moving.
By the time the flames died down, nothing remained but a faint scatter of ash.
Only after confirming that it was truly gone did I turn my back on it.
My breath came out shaky. My magical power was barely holding on.
If not for the reserves stored in my bracelet, I would’ve collapsed long ago.
But even with that, one more battle would be dangerous.
I forced myself to move slowly—quietly—far more cautious than before as I escaped the maze-like passage. Eventually, I found the stairs leading deeper underground.
Each step creaked under my weight as I descended, the air growing colder and heavier with every meter.
At the bottom waited an iron door, thick and rusted.
No runes.
No enchantments.
No traps.
Just old metal.
I took a breath and kicked it hard.
The hinges, rotted from age, gave way with a dull crack, and the door fell inward, raising a puff of dust as it crashed onto the stone floor.
I stepped inside.
The room was silent—too silent.
At the center stood a massive glass tube, still intact despite a century of neglect.
And inside it...
"...Lisa."
Her name escaped my lips before I realized I was speaking.
Lisa floated quietly in the pale liquid, eyes closed, her expression peaceful—too peaceful for someone who had disappeared into this nightmare of a place.
For a moment, I forgot the exhaustion clawing at my body.
Forgot the battles.
Forgot the maze.
Forgot everything except the girl sleeping inside that tube.
I slowly walked closer, each step echoing softly in the hollow room.
"...I finally found you."
My voice trembled.
And Lisa, unmoving, continued to sleep—like she’d simply been waiting for me to arrive.
----
Lisa was resting quietly inside the transparent glass tube, her eyes closed, her entire body wrapped in cold metal chains.
Pink hair.
A pure white dress.
She looked exactly—painfully—like the Lisa I had seen in my dream.
I stepped closer, studying the tube in detail.
Her wrists and ankles were bound tightly, restricting even the slightest movement.
A thick bandage covered her eyes, and even from here I could sense the heavy magical power woven into it.
She had been like this... for a hundred years?
No.
That was impossible for any ordinary human.
Even chimeras had been forced into deep hibernation just to survive the passing century.
Beta and the others only lasted because they slept together, their magic intertwined.
Lisa... must have been placed into a similar state of suspended animation.
Someone had kept her alive deliberately.
But whatever the reason—
it was time for her long sleep to end.
I slowly raised my hand and pressed it against the cold glass surface, intending to wake her.
The moment my skin touched it—
A red light burst out from the scar on the back of my hand, spreading instantly, wrapping around my whole body.
My breath caught.
Something—some kind of information, sensation, memory—began pouring into my mind, as if the tube itself was speaking to me.
And before I could react, the world around me started to blur.
---
A memory—someone’s memory—from a time I couldn’t place.
A quiet rural village bathed in warm sunlight.
And in the middle of it, a young girl ran down a dirt path, smiling so brightly it seemed to light up the entire scene.
Her hair, a soft shade of pink, fluttered behind her as she hurried along.
But it was her eyes that stood out—eyes that caught the light and sparkled like jewels.
I knew instantly who she was.
Lisa.
I was watching her memories unfold before me.
"Moooom!!"
She burst through the door with boundless energy, and a middle-aged woman appeared almost immediately, opening her arms.
"My, my, why is our little princess so excited today?"
Lisa practically threw herself into her mother’s embrace, laughing as she clung to her.
"There are really pretty flowers blooming over there!"
"Oh? Is that so? Then let’s go see them together in a moment."
"I don’t want to go with my sister..."
"Lisa! Be quiet!"
"Sister, you’re being even louder."
"What?!?"
Another girl stepped into view, glaring at Lisa with clear annoyance.
Her appearance made me blink—she looked almost identical to someone I knew.
...Lina?
A former rebel.
A woman who had left everything behind to search for something she lost.
Yet here she was in Lisa’s memories... arguing with her like siblings do.
The way they bickered, the familiarity between them, the closeness hidden beneath the complaints—it didn’t feel like animosity at all.
It felt like family.
I kept watching, a strange heaviness forming in my chest, as the two girls continued their small, childish quarrel in a world long gone.
"Waaah! Mom, sister hit me!!"
"Stop exaggerating. When did I ever hit you?"
"Lina! Is what Lisa’s saying true?"
"No! I was just brushing something off her clothes...!"
"Family members should look after each other. Apologize properly."
"...Fine. Sorry, Lisa."
A warm scene—quiet, gentle, ordinary.
A small family, living peacefully.
Laughter mixed with mild scolding, filling the home with the kind of warmth that feels eternal when you’re a child.
But the memory didn’t stay peaceful for long.
The vision shifted, like a curtain being violently ripped down.
"Aaaaaaargh!!"
"Find the girl!"
"P-please! Spare me!!"
The village was burning.
Flames devoured roofs one after another, sending showers of embers into the night sky.