Other than his traits, Blaze was itching to test his attributes. Sadly, no one in his horde was strong enough for that.
However, it changed with Chimera’s birth.
It had inherited the strength of a chosen, a headless, and a protector. Such a creature wasn’t lacking in that department.
That’s why when Blaze saw its attributes, he couldn’t hold back and asked it to attack him.
A little sparring has never hurt anyone.
All six of Blaze’s tendrils coiled up, digging into the ground for a push, as Chimera was technically faster than him.
But before attacking the creature, he had an announcement to make.
"Clear the place," he said. "If you don’t want to get shattered into a hundred pieces."
The grade-2s were the first to react, followed by the elites of his horde.
Meanwhile, Chimera understood Blaze’s intention and got fired up. It seemed that having David’s brain made it impulsive and a warmonger.
With a sudden burst of speed, Blaze launched forward. The ground cracked under him, sending debris flying everywhere.
Chimera’s eyes widened, not out of fear or disbelief; it was the cheetah’s instinct to keep an eye on its target. Others would have had a difficult time seeing Blaze, but not it.
It copied Blaze, crossing its arms as it braced for impact.
Just then, the horde master disappeared from its sight. It wasn’t because of his speed. Blaze had vanished!
Chimera’s head snapped sideways, trying to locate its target through smell. But even the smell had faded away. Suddenly, it sensed a presence behind and turned to strike, but it was too late.
Chimera’s back flared up as Blaze’s kick hit its back like a meteor. The beast was literally sent flying, but it turned mid-air, landing on the ground on all fours like a cat.
It roared, digging its claws into the ground, but the force was too much. Its claws ended up ripping through the ground. It eventually stopped and looked ahead, intending to strike back. But before it could, Blaze disappeared and reappeared on top of it.
Chimera saw a shadow on the ground and looked up. Blaze was in the air, his tendrils wrapped around his hands for extra strength.
This time, instead of defending itself, Chimera jumped towards him as the latter swung his fists.
Once again, Chimera flipped in the air, using its tail to attack Blaze before it could disappear.
Unfortunately, Blaze read it like an open book and vanished a second time.
Chimera snarled, expressing its annoyance at its opponent’s cowardly tactics. This time, it didn’t stay still and turned around right on time to dodge Blaze’s punch.
"A quick learner, huh? Must be the military training kicking in."
It wasn’t just a test of Blaze’s attributes. He also wanted to test Chimera’s abilities, especially the ones it had inherited from different corpses.
So far, it had shown Cheetah’s agility, David’s strength and impulsiveness, and a soldier’s training. Blaze was pleased with all that, but he wanted to see the Headless’s trait also kick in.
To be honest, I know nothing about the headless to compare Chimera’s actions with.
Blaze was about to disappear again when Chimera lunged at him.
Its tail slammed against his tendrils as the two fell back to the ground.
"So that’s what it is," Blaze smiled, rolling off the ground.
Chimera growled, confirming Blaze’s thoughts.
That’s what Chimera had inherited from the Headless.
Couple that with the rest of the attributes, and you’d have a recipe to create a Frankenstein.
"No wonder you’re a grade-4 undead."
Chimera smirked, looking proud.
"Too bad you let your ego blind you to obvious fooling tactics."
While Chimera was rejoicing in Blaze’s compliment, the latter disappeared back into his domain. The former could only snarl to let out its frustration.
Just then, a bone-shattering fist connected with its side. Chimera almost got folded in half, but then another hit came from the left. Then another from the back, and then the front.
While Chimera struggled to counteract, the horde was seeing a strange sight. For them, Blaze appeared to be in multiple places at once, hitting the poor creature from different angles all at once.
The rest pitied Chimera, but only Marrow saw the truth. Technically, she felt it.
After the initial four attacks, none of Blaze’s punches had hit their mark.
"It’s blocking all the attacks..." she mumbled.
As a healer of the undead, she could sense when one of them was injured. That’s why she knew that following Blaze’s initial attacks, he hadn’t landed a single blow on Chimera.
Blaze was both surprised and taken aback by Chimera’s learning curve. Not only was it matching his speed, but it was also predicting his moves. Perhaps it was another inheritance from its cheetah lineage.
"Let’s see how you counter these," Blaze said, unleashing all of his tendrils.
"Reeeh!" Chimera squealed, expressing its colorful thoughts.
"Life is unfair. Deal with it!"
It seemed unfair to Chimera, but Blaze was merely testing both their limits.
Simultaneously controlling his fists and kicks was easy, but add the six tendrils in the mix and things changed.
Blaze couldn’t tire out physically, but mentally, he was overwhelmed. Yet, he kept pushing past his limits.
At first, it got overwhelmed by Blaze’s sudden change of tactics, but slowly, it recognized its pattern as well. It went from being hit seven out of ten times to just three.
It could have stopped more, but unlike Blaze’s ten limbs, it only had five, if one were to include its tail as a limb.
That was just the difference between a grade-4 and a grade-5 zombie. There were some things the former simply couldn’t overcome with talent, and Chimera was feeling it.
Just then, one of Blaze’s many punches broke through Chimera’s defenses. The attack landed like a cannon blast. One could see the ripples forming on the latter’s thick hide as it was flung into the air.
However, in a twist of fate, that force filled its charge, and it let out a thunderous bolt towards Blaze from its horn.
A loud explosion followed, covering the entire lair in dust.
"My lord!" Marrow yelled, rushing into the dust.