Haylock's severed head still glowered with malignant triumph, dark blood oozing from the ragged stump of his neck. Even in his pitiful state, his magic thrummed with unholy vigor. Slivers of crimson lightning crackled across the chamber, forming a swirling vortex that pulsed at the center of the floor.

From that maelstrom emerged an abomination that dwarfed every creation they'd seen before. Massive, leonine paws struck the stone with enough force to rattle the vats of writhing experiments. Great bat-like wings, ragged and dark, unfurled behind its broad shoulders, stirring the stale, foul-smelling air. Three heads crowned this monstrous form: the snarling visage of a lion, the twisted muzzle of a black goat, and a hissing serpent with eyes glowing green. A colossal scorpion tail, dripping with venom, curled over the beast's back, poised to strike.

Ethan felt his stomach twist at the sheer scale of the chimera. Beside him, Tara mouthed a silent oath. Klax's lips drew back in a snarl, new rage mingling with the pain still fresh from Jun'Ei's fate. Fauna swallowed hard, hands shaking around her staff. Lamphrey instinctively stepped closer to Ethan, her eyes darting from one monstrosity to the next. They could almost taste the creature's malevolence in the stagnant air.

"Behold," Haylock rasped, unearthly power carrying his voice despite his missing body. "The Ultimate Hybrid—my masterpiece."

The chimera's three heads bellowed in unison, a sound so guttural it made the walls vibrate.

REVOK, THE CHIMERA OF WESTERWEALD (LVL 150)

HP: 2500/2500

WILL: 3000/3000

Ethan looked down to see the head of the Doctor had entirely rolled away – propelled by a final burst of blood magic that carried it to the top of the chimera's growling lion-head.

"A thing of beauty, is he not?" Haylock cooed atop his pet. "The idea came to me after studying your kind for so long. You are fascinating creatures, you know. Your versatility is rivaled only by your malleability. It is something we humans are sorely lacking in. Wouldn't you agree, Archon Ethan?"

The hulking monstrosity took one step forward on its massive paws.

But neither Ethan, nor his team, took a single step back.

From behind the beast, Klax nodded to Ethan. Fauna held firm. Lamphrey readied her next incantation and Tara cracked her neck beside her Archon.

And the Archon himself smirked up at the doctor and his engine of death.

"Still a little fight in you yet, is that right?" Haylock chuckled dryly. "Good. Let us close the curtain on our tale. Let the walls of the world come crashing down!"

"Everyone," Ethan said. "You know what to do."

The party tensed.

Take that monster's Willpower down…and that's my new Host.

Haylock licked his frigid lips.

"Let's match the power of the Archon against the power of ingenuity itself," he said.

Then, with the gigglish passion of a child: "Revok…dinner."

The beast let out a bellow that pushed the whole party back. Only Ethan managed to plant his feet into the ground using Thorn Whip and hold himself in place.

"Everyone!" she shouted over the din of the Chimera's roar. "Focus on wearing it down."

"Which one?!" Tara shouted beside him.

"Any!" Ethan ordered. "I'm willing to bet that all its three heads share the same Willpower stat. They're grafted onto the same body, after all!"

Klax was the first to feel the might of the beast. The hulking brute kicked out at him with its hind legs, sending him hurtling towards a vat and knocking the wind out of the attack he was readying.

Through the haze of his fury, Fauna's healing spell restored him. But it was Ethan who suddenly appeared beside him that truly got him back on his feet.

"Klax," Ethan said. "You flank left. I'll go right."

The dogman spotted Tara slipping into Stealth-Mode as the lion-head launched itself to try and take a bite out of her. He understood the strategy.

"Alright," he growled. "For Jun."

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He couldn't bring himself to look at the vat that contained what was left of her. Part of him couldn't believe it, still.

And Ethan didn't let him. He grabbed him by the scruff of his shoulder, lifted him to his feet, and activated his [Mass Hide] Skill.

"For Jun."

Both of them surged forward, Klax carried but the haste of his frenzy and Ethan by his [Sonic Skitter]. The great beast turned, its snake head hissing in fury but not seeing anything but flashes of air as both of them struck: Ethan with Greybane and Klax with his flaming fists.

CRACK.

The shattering of the snake's skull echoed across the whole chamber. Meanwhile, Tara clipped its right paw with a quadruple dagger strike, disrupting its attack and crippling its hulking limb. The creature railed against their assault, and when it regained its footing its remaining two heads looked right into the sight of Lamphrey and Fauna both readying a twin blast of magic at it.

Without a second's hesitation, they let their magic fly, combining both their weaves of power into one purple-yellow blast of pure starlight.

The attack slammed into the creature, enveloping it completely in a haze of brilliant light and smashing through the wall at its back.

"Cover!" Ethan shouted, grabbing Klax and initiating his [Mass Skitter] to get them both out of the way of the falling chunks of wall that slammed down onto the monstrous hybrid. Both of them ended up beside the rest of the party, panting, sweating, but confident that their combined strength had brought the thing low.

But as with everything else they threw at him in this domain of death, Doctor Haylock displayed no weakness.

Instead, the Chimera rose from the ashes of their attack completely intact.

And the party watched in horror as its snake head simply regenerated – shedding the broken bones of its old form and growing a new one to replace the bloodied mess that had become of its head.

Ethan appraised the ability quickly, eyes flickering to the other heads as they all met his gaze:

[Skein of Typhos]

Grade A

Effect: 50 pts HP {Regeneration}

Regeneration…already that powerful?

Thaddeus had employed something similar. The question was: was it only that specific head that the Regen applied to, or did it affect the entire creature itself?

"Focus fire on the other heads!" Ethan yelled. "Lamphrey, Fauna – let's decapitate this thing where it stands."

Both mages leveled their staves and put everything they had into the next blast – coating their mana catalysts in fire, ice, and lightning. Ethan, meanwhile, readied his [Spectral Snipe] and focused his flaring claws right at the lion's head.

Somewhere, deep in the creature's form, Haylock began giggling again.

"FIRE!"

The blast that shot from all three of them wrapped the entire chamber in boiling, killing light. The very walls of Griffon's Watch melted away as their strike slapped the Chimera right in its faces, bathing the beast in a kaleidoscope of magical energy that would have ripped through a lesser creature.

But they were quickly discovering that this was no normal beast of this world. It was a true mutation, and it had tricks of its own.

Ethan double blinked as he looked to see the shield that had just formed in front of its heads:

[Repulsor Shield]

Grade S

[ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY] to Magic all Magical DMG for 5 secs.

Repulsor shield…

The flickering violet glyphs of the shield couldn't be mistaken – it was the exact skill Ethan had taken from Valgraiva back in the Twilight Sepulcher.

But not even he'd upgraded it to S level. To have complete immunity to magic and that Regeneration ability proved that this beast was an amalgamation of nothing but overpowered strength.

And by the supreme confidence with which the beast strutted forward, Ethan had a hunch.

He bade his companions stay behind him and sprang forth, awakening his S-Ranked [Wing Buffet] to push the hulking beast back.

"Plan B!" he shouted as the three-headed monster howled its defiance at him. "We disrupt the thing's movement. I'll hold it down. You guys strike!"

The party moved at once – again, no hesitation. The confident of their Archon was willing them forward, keeping them unified in purpose once more.

Ethan activated [Thorn Whip] and summoned a flurry of vines to bind the creature in place. Keeping [Wing Buffet] going, he then summoned up a charged [Twilight Edge] that surged through his vines, burning the creature's hide with energized darkness itself. The Chimera's three heads lurched this way and that, resistant, and yet still his hold on its remained firm.

It was strong, but it wasn't strong enough to resist the Synergies from a true Archon. Behind him, Ethan saw Fauna and Lamphrey ready another focused barrage. Klax and Tara made to lunge forward.

And the Chimera of Westerweald raised its wings…

[Wing Buffet]

Grade S

Ethan felt himself begin to struggle against the gale that was sweeping against him. Both his Wing Buffet and that of the beast clashed and tore up the ground between them. But Ethan held.

That is, until the hulking monstrosity's goat head began to twitch with power, sapphire sparks flying from its eyes.

[Baphomet's Cry: Activated]

Grade: A

Effect: 185 pts Lightning DMG for 5 secs

Twists of sparks ran from the goat-head down Ethan's vines, mingling with his Twilight Edge and sending a surge of lightning right back at him. He tanked the damage by activating [Barskin] but the creature wasn't finished yet:

The lion opened its maw and let out no normal blast of sound this time.

Ethan had time to jump forward with [Sonic Skitter], direct his [Wing Buffet] towards Tara and Klax to push them out of the way, and then face the full brunt of the creature's [Roar] Skill by himself.

He felt his limbs go numb and splinter, his vines retracting at the sheer strength of the creature's bellow.

Sys, how is he…

He's an observer, Ethan, Sys replied. Now we know why he was so intent in watching us.

Ethan looked up as the Chimera rose above him, all three of its jaws opened with pure, primal hunger.

"I must admit, it was a pleasure watching you work all this time," Haylock snickered from within the beast. "It gave me just the inspiration I needed to perfect my masterpiece. I'm an inventor, Archon. I'm an experimenter. And you were the perfect field specimen. What you see before you is the result of all your precious woes."

Ethan heard Fauna shout behind him. He heard Klax bellow in renewed rage.

But he was beginning to see that even all of them together couldn't take this thing.

"My turn," Haylock said. "Revok…kill."

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