The rails were holding as Chimera took her improvised gun and started firing at the surfing serpent, who seemed whole unbothered by the attempts to perforate his body.

  For how long they would hold before she reached the surface…

  She gritted her teeth as she started pulling from deep within her storage. Premade spines, heavy alloys left over from her refit of the pods, and a whole host of weapons she built that were made for something much larger than herself.

  Slamming them onto the cart, she began building, adhering them to the surface with nothing but her own body and a few adhesives in her stash.

  You wanna play? Let’s up the game!

  Chimera’s amalgamation of parts and technomancy combined to form a four barreled ship cannon, each holding a separate shell filled with either spines, laser emitters or fragmentation, all tied to her geomantic druidic power structure that fed into her from the earth.

  It was the most ecofriendly gun in existence.

  She aimed the beast of a weapon at the steadily approaching Hoodian, who had the good conscience to look a bit concerned at the monster Chimera built.

  That was all the look Chimera needed to begin.

  With her PEGs ignited, the druidic battery powered up and her body ready for the recoil, Chimera unleashed a delayed firing action, each cannon firing a second after the other at the serpent man.

  The first cannon sprayed him with a corrosive gel that would have melted anything biological unless it could regenerate.

  The second was a flechette blast of spines, each of varying sizes and each barbed to cause the most pain imaginable. She dosed them all with a cocktail of poisonous materials and neurotoxins just for good measure.

  The third was a laser battery straight from her own pod fighter, the very one she made to rip through space oak and turn it into charcoal.

  The last was an electromagnetic launcher filled with a bunch of scrap she had been collecting. She didn’t know what was inside, but that wasn’t the point.

  The point was that it was full of metal and sharp bits, and weighed a ton.

  The recoil hit her like a truck, and the rail shook from the blast, but it held enough that she could continue firing.

  Her eyes watched as the serpent began surfing the lava wave that followed in his wake, doing his best to dodge the incoming fire.

  The biofluid got him good with the first shot, and his scales were bubbling enough that some of the spines were also sticking into the newly made wounds.

  If only it seemed like it would do anything! Chimera thought as she watched the crocodilian faced serpent man shrug off the stuff, or dip into the lava to rinse it off.

  Chimera tried to follow with the electromagnetic shotgun and cover his trajectory, but his speed only seemed to increase the more they fought.

  The good news was that it was holding him back. Even if she wasn’t able to hurt him too badly, he couldn’t approach the mine cart train without getting hit harder.

  It bought time, and that's all Chimera needed.

  Another salvo landed, and a cry of rage erupted from the serpent man as the gel coated his healing wounds, preventing them from fully closing.

  The spines landed next, some sticking and other’s bouncing off of the flickering green aura that always surrounded him.

  The laser sliced a line straight through him, burning a hole that slowed him enough that when the shotgun fired, he was blasted back into the lava.

  Chimera didn’t let it cloud her judgement, it was clear that the burning liquids did nothing to him.

  She scanned around with her guns as they loaded up, a satisfying ker-chunk loading her ‘surprise’.

  A little one, but sure to cause the whole cavern to collapse.

  A spear shot out and parted the lava wave to allow a flying serpent man to rush through, rage and vitriol rolling off of him in waves from the green aura.

  How much power does this guy have?!

  Chimera turned to check the rail, seeing the end of the line as it was approaching the dock near the surface.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  It's now or never!

  Chimera loaded the ‘surprise’ into the shotgun cannon, just as the snake rose over the lava to prepare a diving strike.

  Chimera turned to fire, blasting her cannons without end as the flying snake rushed towards her.

  “Abomination, Die!”

  “You first asshole!”

  She fired all the cannons at once, blasting the Verdant Hoodian point blank.

  Of course, her little surprise reached him before the others did, a 'gift' from her pod fighter that she had forgotten she kept inside her.

  She had meant to reload it using her body when she was fighting in space, but she never ended up needing it, so it sat inside her, waiting to unleash its payload.

  And unleash it she did.

  The missile exploded, sending her train, and the passengers down the track even faster than she thought possible on rails.

  The explosion worked as intended as well, causing an explosion that toppled the cavern ceiling and started to collapse the mine all around Chimera.

  But with the head start, Chimera had enough time to grab the passengers and pull them inside her just as the mine started to fall on top of her.

  Shifting to her amorphous form, Chimera closed her eyes as she felt the rocks start to bury her under the earth.

  …

  Fury coursed through Lesrack as his prey launched a ship’s missile directly at him, utterly destroying his aura shield and even cracking the emergency shield he had underneath it

  Were it not for the gifts he had received from his patron goddess, it was clear that he would have met his end to this... abomination!

  What in the Thousand Hells was that thing? It built cannons in mere moments, and fired ordinance I would expect on a battleship! What kind of monster did those knife-ears create?!

  Lesrack patted himself down, checking his body for any damage he might have missed. His gifts were mighty, giving him regeneration and strength beyond any of his kin, but the pain he used to feel was muted along with the changes, and he would often find himself with pieces of debris lodged inside him without realizing it.

  Sure enough, a spike the size of his fist was resting in his tail, piercing through and emitting a sickly black ooze.

  Poison no doubt, but even so I should be able to feel it. Toxins to block pain and confuse perhaps?

  Lesrack ripped the spine out, holding it to his eye as he examined it.

  The Abomination created this… and seems to possess other abilities that defy explanation. However, it is likely destroyed now.

  The cavern around him was collapsing, and the train took much of the brunt of that missile, Lesrack had seen as much. Even with all of that, he had a tough time believing that even that thing could survive it.

  Yet… his instincts screamed at him that he should be wary.

  If they made this one, the Elfari could make more. Zala’taz should be made aware, much as she irks me.

  With a flap of his wings, Lesrack moved through one of the new holes that emerged from the explosion, flying out into the sky towards his destination.

  …

  Chimera opened her eyes to the sky, her body pinched in between three rocks that pinned her together. It was a strangely comfy feeling, like a bed that was stony and a blanket that was crushing but relaxing.

  Still, now wasn’t the time for sleep.

  With a gulp of air, she ballooned herself outward, pushed the boulders outward and freeing herself.

  No longer pinned, her body flopped on the ground, her eyes to the sky as she heard the whines of shuttles and panicking people.

  Oh, right, the passengers.

  Chimera regurgitated the indoctrinated Elfari, giving them a mind cleanser to flood the pheromones out of their bodies.

  They were still unconscious, though many of them were starting to turn awake with the cocktail of drugs she was manufacturing and pumping into their bodies.

  “W-What? Where are we?”

  “I don’t remember leaving the mine, how did we get here?”

  “Mommy? Daddy?”

  Family's reunited, and many of the indoctrinated sported cuts and bruises, but the relief on their faces was a palpable thing. Chimera couldn't help but bask in it for a bit as she watched people who had almost been sacrificed were smiling whole heartedly.

  Time to get going.

  Chimera began to walk, leading the people towards the sirens and sounds. She didn’t say anything, but the motion seemed to bring them out of their stupors enough to realize where she was heading.

  She was in her Elfari form now, so she probably looked like a hostage like them.

  The people she freed earlier were organizing the refugees and getting them to the shuttles, and Chimera found herself corralled along with them.

  She heard them whisper and feel relief, cry and weep for their loved ones, and others swearing vengeance on the Hood for what they did to them.

  Chimera thought about the Hoodians she left in the mine, wondering if they died under the lava wave she unleashed.

  Despite them being enemies, it didn’t feel good to her that they died like that.

  However, she steeled herself to the idea that this was a war, and she likely would have to do much worse in the future.

  Save who you can Chimera, there’s no room for suicidal empathy.

  She almost said it aloud, catching herself when a small Elfari girl smiled at her.

  A whisper of thank you came from the little girl, along with a knowing wink.

  Chimera smiled at that, leaning back and letting her head rest against her seat as she let the feelings of the passengers wash over her, bringing her to sleep.

  ...