The cavern that led from the elevator to the mine was a long hollowed out structure. Smooth and almost clean, it was as if a drill made the hole without any crackling or broken pieces at all.

  The track that followed the path of the cavern is what Chimera decided to check out, making sure that even in her larger form, her body was ready to shrink when necessary to avoid detection.

  Her powers cascaded along her body, a subtle combination of gravity magic with parts of her terramancy was keeping her floating slightly above the ground.

  She could have walked, but no footsteps meant no new noises to bounce off the walls. With how smooth they were, there was no doubt that she would hear anything coming her way.

  She followed this trail for ten minutes, moving along the walls to give herself the best view of the hole and its various curves.

  How far below did they dig?

  The question seemed to bug her, as even for minerals, this seemed like it was too far away from the original quarry site.

  Are the Hood looking for something here? Why have the miners dig here at all otherwise?

  The questions would have to wait though, as noise began to fill up the cavern while she was trailing along the track.

  It was a low rumbling sound, consistent and coarse like two hard objects rubbing against each other.

  Got to be the drill.

  Sure enough, Chimera found herself in a massive chamber that showed several working crews of miners and their handlers. It was expansive, the chamber alone could have held the entire crew of miners she met and then some, along with probably half the people from Anvilage to boot.

  What Chimera’s eye the most though, was a chamber off to the edge that showed a horrid sight, one that made her blood boil just witnessing it.

  People, at least twenty different Elfari all being whipped by a green energy weapon that singed them as it touched their bare skin. Some children were mixed in as well, yelping as the weapon smacked their bodies.

  “Please, stop!”

  “W-We’ll keep working, no more!”

  “Mommy!”

  Chimera ground her teeth, shifting into her blobby form. Her shift made appear darker, a blood red form that surged with power and the promise of pain.

  All thoughts of subtlety passed, and the words she spoke as she entered the cavern mixed with her own thoughts.

  No more mistakes, and no more mercy to these freaks!

  Chimera let her gravity and terramancy catapult her forward, and with a sound that blasted the air around her, smacked straight into the Verdant Hood torturer with the force of a cannonball.

  “GFAHH!”

  The scalekin slammed against the stone wall with a noticeable splat. Chimera wasted no time though, sending tendrils out like a squid to pierce the captives around her.

  Regeneration! Detox! Repair!

  Unlocking a few of her PEGs, the pulse of energy shoved its way into the stunned captives, filling them with vigor and energy like nothing they ever felt.

  “Woah! I can move!”

  “The voices are gone!”

  “Come here Sala, we’re getting out!”

  The captives ran towards the entrance to the chamber, but they weren’t out of the woods yet.

  The Verdant Hood answered swiftly as Chimera finished healing the people around her, turning slowly to face the several Hood guards.

  “Stop them!” one Hoodian shouted.

  Chimera rushed the group of four, claws and spikes of all sizes shooting out of her like porcupines, the barbed edges grabbing the scalekin and pulling them towards her.

  Time to do some druidic magic!

  Her various magic organs flared, and the blessing of the Mother Tree responded to her thoughts as she covered the various Hoodians with dense foliage, tying up their bodies so tightly that they could hardly breathe.

  “Gah! F-Fools!”

  “C-Can’t move!”

  Chimera slammed them against the ground, their crushing blow sending a small shockwave out into the chamber.

  The noise echoed off the walls, and whilst the captives started running to the exit, Chimera moved to intercept the rest of the scalekin.

  Fifteen at least, that one in the back looks strong…

  She analyzed the group, watching the all female fighting force descend on her with spears, laser weapons and glowing green weaponry.

  “For the Goddess! Attack sister!”

  “DIE Monster!”

  Chimera laughed, “come on then, I need a warm up before I beat your boss down!”

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  Energy spiked as Chimera met the first to attack her, spear in hand and grinding teeth meeting her dense body of condensed muscle.

  Pulling her fist back, she tapped a bit of gravity to make it heavier, just before releasing it in a shotgun blast, causing tendrils of smaller fists to smack straight into the scalekin’s stomach.

  “Augh!” The Hoodian flew, the blow carrying them several feet before plopping them on the ground.

  I like that! Let's go further!

  Chimera condensed her body, shrinking it inwards as four approached her from all sides. Gravity crushing her from all sides, Chimera let it all go as the four arrived, shifting her body into a flurry of fists, tentacles and hooks.

  “Spinnerette!” Chimera shouted, grabbing the group in her assault as she spun in place, yet unable to escape as her fists pulled them back into even more waiting shotgun fists.

  The four were released as they were sent flying, unconscious before they even landed.

  Chimera shifted back, fists at the ready as she made two more arms, already cocked back and filled with gravitational force.

  “Don’t surround her! That’s what it wants you fools!”

  The voice came from a taller and longer scalekin, wielding two long wicked tridents in each hand. She slithered forward with a smooth cadence, showing her full control of her body.

  Boss? No, got to be a subordinate of some kind.

  Chimera smiled, “well if you won’t come to me…”

  Chimera launched forward, her fists shooting outward even as they retracted, smacking into the waiting bodies of the other Hoodian guards.

  Rather than take the blows through, a small ethereal light met her fists, glowing from belts that the scalekin had along their waists. Some of the guards deployed shields on top of the barriers, creating a phalanx to protect the taller Hoodian.

  “Forward sisters! Formation B!”

  The taller one pushed the ten remaining guards forward, who faced Chimera with their waiting barriers and energy tridents.

  Chimera pulled her fists back, checking out the group as she tried to determine the best way to assault the now cohesive unit.

  They’re different now, is that sub-boss of theirs the one doing it?

  Chimera took a moment to expand her senses, the trials of energy in the air flowing around her in a chaotic weave. It was more instinct than prescience that allowed Chimera to dodge three tridents launching at her just as she felt the connection they all seemed to share.

  It’s like the pheromones, they’re on the save wavelength because she’s sending them commands!

  Chimera felt a tingle as one more stab came from her left, and another from her right, each trying to skewer her as she dodged.

  That would have been a problem if she had rigid structures like bones to slow her down. Instead she simply bent around the strikes, her fist slamming into a shield as she tried to hit any spot that was exposed.

  The barriers would take the strike, but the flickering she saw gave her hope it could be broken.

  Concentrated strikes then.

  Four arms pulled back, the gravity bending them unnaturally as she pulled more of herself out.

  “Hammerstrike!” she yelled out, causing some of the scalekin to group up.

  Gotcha!

  Just as let go of the gravity, a twitch of her magic shot her chest forward, slamming her body against the walls of shields and tridents, some even managing to pierce her.

  Crap, that huurts!

  Her chest was burning from the green energy, the small arcs of light searing her blobby flesh and cooking the parts beneath.

  But all of that was superficial compared to the strike she made, her four arms still held back by the gravity well she made for them.

  Release!

  Her arms shot forward, flying over the phalanx to her intended target.

  The leader of the squad had only a moment of clarity before the sledgehammer Chimera slammed into her shield, blasting right through and connecting with her body. The body flew and landed somewhere deeper into the cavern.

  The group, so connected and of one mind before, seemed to shift into full on panic as the dim barrier around them lessened.

  Chimera peered at them, still on the ends of their spears with a manic grin on her face.

  “Not so tough without your little shield, huh!” She laughed as her body wrapped around all of the guards around her, grabbing and stabbing each of their exposed bodies with tendrils so fine that even their armor couldn’t block them all.

  Soon the group of snakes was writhing, pain shocking their systems from the neurotoxin Chimera injected them with.

  It wouldn’t kill them in the amounts she gave, but pain for over an hour with a trip to unconsciousness? Most definitely.

  With the group defeated, Chimera rushed over to the sub-boss looking Verdant Hoodian, shifting her body to begin healing the damage she received.

  It took a bit longer, the green energy did a good job of burning even her regenerating flesh, but the Wujack genes she received helped her body find ways around the burns, and soon her aches were already feeling dull.

  A minute later she found the sub-boss, her body bent in unnatural ways that looked wrong for even a snake being like her.

  Chimera checked the scalekin’s eyes, noting that they were unfocused and already dulling.

  She was dead as roadkill.

  Chimera didn’t let it stop her though as she stabbed the parts around her head with her tendrils, regeneration shoving its way into the body in spurts.

  The sub-boss gasped, breath coming in raspy gasps as she tried to move and found that she couldn't. Chimera was hijacking her nervous system, stopping the brain from sending signals into the other parts of the… ah, in Rasz-asha’s body.

  One tendril was in the back of the Hoodian’s head, downloading details into Chimera’s as she held the sub-commander in place.

  “I’m going to ask you this once, Where is your commander?” Chimera stared the scalekin in the eyes as she held the being in place.

  Rasz-asha did a great job of keeping her cool, until Chimera flooded her with a small dose of neurotoxic substances.

  “AH! AHRGHHH! I-I d-don’t know! S-She’s not here!”

  Chimera shook her head, “you do realize that if I wanted to, I could kill you in the most painful way imaginable right?”

  Rasz-asha shook her head, “no I didn’t know that!”

  Chimera gave her a look, “oh… thought that was sort of implied.”

  “You insane creature, how would I know any of that? Release me!”

  Chimera felt a bit dumbfounded by that, “you really think I will?”

  Rasz opened her mouth only to slowly close it, her face a mixture of hopelessness and worry.

  “Yeah, that’s what I figured too. So, here’s what's gonna happen, you’re gonna go to sleep and I’m going to skin your memories a bit more thoroughly so I can figure out your reason for being here. It also might make you stupid going forward, but I don’t have the luxury of time right now.”

  That made the scalekin panic, “w-wait! I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”

  Chimera gave her a cheshire smile, “don’t leave anything out~.”

  The terror on the scalekin’s face almost made Chimera scoff.

  Sheesh, she looking at me like I’m the one who was torturing people.

  Chimera spent five minutes giving the sub-commander a few lessons in constructive cooperation as the small screams echoed in the cavern.