The Best Outcome

Just as Mel was concentrating on inscribing the magic circle, a violent tremor came from outside the tower, as if an earthquake had struck.

"What is Kane up to again?" Mel could only set aside his work for now and go check on Kane.

At that moment, Kane was staring at a huge stone statue and swallowing nervously. He had originally been casually clearing weeds with sword aura, but he accidentally struck a rock. Then the rock stood up, blue lines of light spreading across its body.

The stone man had an enormous head, while its torso was much smaller. It had two short legs and two massive fists.

"A monster?" Kane steadied himself, gripping his longsword.

"No, it should be a chimera, like the things the Truth Society released when they attacked the academy. An artificial creation."

"Why would there be a chimera in a place like this? And it looked like it just crawled out of the ground."

"It was probably a relic from some era, sleeping here all this time until you activated it." Mel looked at the dirt still clinging to the stone man. "Its level isn't very high, only level 70. I should be able to deal with it easily from now on."

"It doesn't seem to be attacking on its own?" Kane looked at the stone man in confusion. Could this chimera be unable to attack proactively?

Mel carefully sensed the flow of magic within the stone man's body. Though it stood completely still, the activity of its magic power could not be faked.

"Kane, go up and test it. See whether it attacks you. If it doesn't, then the signal tower will have a means of protection too."

Mel rubbed his chin. Strictly speaking, chimeras belonged to the field of magical engineering, though