Huh, she passed out.

  Chimera held the priestess Lesa in her tendril, already inserting said tendril into her ear so she could check her brain for a deep dive.

  It took a few minutes, and she had to fend off a few Hoodians, but she got what she needed from the priestess.

  It was about as sick as she imagined it to be, but it was also worrying.

  A summoning for some kind of beast? What would even need that much energy that it had to devour hundreds of people to summon?

  Chimera knew that the word that Lesa had used in her mind was summoned but it felt more like it was something used to activate something instead. Like the words were similar in meaning when she checked with her own thoughts.

  So whatever this thing was was going to help them find someone on Torsca called the Elementalist.

  This was the plan for these Verdant Hood, why they were being so secretive and why they did this bold play at grabbing the Elfari from Anvilage.

  They were desperate to find this Elementalist.

  What could someone like them even do?

  Mera didn’t know that much, only that the person searching for this Elementalist was someone called the High Inquisitor, someone named Zala’tazz.

  If Lesrack was their General, then it sounds like this one’s calling all the shots. A religious figure that they answer to.

  Chimera looked up at the hole she made, and bounded up it as she moved, spreading her senses to find the image of the Inquisitor in her mind.

  It didn’t take long, as Chimera felt more than saw the person in question.

  A massive pulse of energy, the kind that she felt when she was in the presence of that Mother Tree person back on Steros.

  Brimming with life and power, the energy that could create pulsed through the cavernous area and focused on a single point.

  Chimera turned to see with her eyes, and felt whatever passed for a heart in her stomach drop.

  Oh, oh shit.

  Over a few hundred feet away from her, what she once thought was a bundle of rocks in her senses when she was chasing Lesa, turned into something far, far worse.

  A great, giant worm rose from the ground, Its body was rippled with feelers, its maw was the size of the temple that she was inside only a few seconds ago.

  It was huge, easily taking up the entirety of the cavern with its length, long and tube-like from head to tail.

  And on the head of the creature was the beacon of that energy, the High Inquisitor Zala’tazz riding the worm with a manic grin plastered over her face.

  “Yes! Break to the surface Monga!”

  The worm roared, an eerie screech that vibrated the very air around the cavern. Chimera shook just from the noise it made, feeling the ripple try to tear her body apart from the force alone.

  It took all of her concentration just to keep herself from vibrating apart.

  Thankfully the screech ended as the beast shot upward, breaching the surface and sending light below that illuminated the cavern below.

  Chimera held herself a bit longer as she slowly floated above to the surface, letting her wings do most of the lifting.

  As the surface blinded her for a short second, she opened her eyes to a sight that froze her in place.

  The mountains, the ground, and even the forests that she saw on her way here were flattened by the arrival of the worm, and its descent moved the ground around it like it was a wall of water creating a river, parting from its path and unable to resist.

  She shook herself, slapping her face to break her out of the trance she found herself.

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  It's okay Mera, you got this… If Meghan could fight a giant iguana… you can take a giant worm!

  Chimera watched as another mountain near the range she was currently caved in from the worm tunneling through it.

  “Nope, fuck all of this!”

  Chimera reached into her stomach, pulling out a piece of the wooden core that held the Meras’ dryad body. It was a piece that could directly connect to the ship but also to her friend by channeling druidic magic into the piece.

  “Meras, we have a huge problem!”

  …

  Bayleaf sighed in relief as she went through the last of the people in her checkup line, clearing them all of pheromone influence. It was a trial to be sure, going through so many just to make sure they were free from sabotage, but it felt great to know that there wasn’t anymore souls being chained by their enemies.

  Now she could relax for a bit.

  Or, so she thought as she turned to her partner in the mind cleaning duty, who turned to her.

  Inside their mind palace, they felt the distress roiling off of Chimera, and a thought later were sitting in their shared space as the blob girl turned to face them.

  “The Verdant Hood’s summoned some kind of worm monster, and it's destroying everything in its path!”

  Bayleaf couldn’t help but laugh a bit, more out of a stretching of her nerves than actual laughter.

  Because of course there would be a giant fucking worm heading their way!

  Meras nodded as she pulled out a piece of wood that Bay didn’t recognize.

  “The ship's starting up, we’ll be airborne in a few minutes.”

  Bay nodded as she returned to her body, shooting up into the sky with her magic as she tried to spot the monster worm in question.

  It wasn’t hard, as in the distance about a few miles away, she could see not the worm, but the destruction it was leaving behind.

  Forests, hills, and even smaller mountains were collapsing underneath the power of what Bay could barely make out was a long tube-like creature.

  Bay landed back down.

  “Everyone, I need you all to get to the ship! Grab every shuttle, every space or air worthy vessel and get to the sky immediately!”

  Thankfully her soldiers and fellow Harriers got to work right away, but the civilians and the forge workers were already starting to grow restless.

  “It's a matter of safety! Enemies are inbound and coming fast, we need to evacuate!”

  “You heard the she-elf! Head for the spaceport!” the booming voice of Kass shouted over the crowd’s worries, lighting a fire under their feet and causing them to scramble.

  Bay nodded to the chief, “thank you Governor Kass.”

  Said Governor shook her head, “I always hated that title.”

  Bay’s moment of awkwardness was interrupted by a noise in the distance that shook her, a part of her blobby flesh tearing open from the sheer vibration of the power behind that voice.

  She quickly healed her open wounds, but the hit she received wasn’t so easily shaken off.

  W-What the hell? Was that the worm?

  Bay pushed herself to her feet, still feeling a bit wobbly after the sonic blast from the worm creature.

  Moving with the crowds and checking the houses as she rushed by, Bay grabbed as many civilians as she could and rushed them towards the space port. Her new tendrils made the task relatively easily, allowing her to grab and hoist over fifteen people easily without effort.

  Still, it felt like it was too slow and as another vibrating blast cascaded over the people, she knew they were all running out of time.

  Leaving the rest of the evacuation to her fellow Harriers, Bayleaf launched back into the air as her body grew several more magical organs, each one installed with the same mana generators that Mera employed to great effect.

  She needed to buy more time, and that meant facing the impending monster that was approaching.

  She was about to fly over when a ping in her mind caught her attention, just as the Meras-102 glided alongside her, and Meras summoned her to the bridge with her magic.

  “Imperial Harrier Bayleaf Bristlebranch, you are to confront the Metal Beast with the Meras while evacuation is being held. Shoot to end it if you can, delay it if you can’t.”

  An image of her High General shown on the screen of the bridge, her stern face marked with sweat and a cascade of people around her as she corralled them forward.

  “Get those people in the shuttles! I don’t care if they’re afraid of heights, you get them in there soldier!”

  “Yes ma’am!”

  Bayleaf echoed her own acknowledgement as the screen shifted to show a topographical map showing the worm’s approach.

  Bay shook her fear away, feeling the confidence from the ship as she watched Bark take to the captain’s chair, connected with the ship as she and the other’s got to their stations.

  Bay connected to something else, as Meras made a smiling face on her screen, showing an image of the orbital cannons turning to the surface, ready to take aim on the worm in question.

  “Better hold off on that before we're sure Meras. Punching holes in the planet doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

  A roll of the eyes image came on the screen next, but the guns turned to face back out in space once more.

  There were plenty of weapons aboard the Meras, so Bay wasn’t sure why she was so pouty, but either way, it didn’t matter.

  There were lives to save, it was time to be a Harrier!

  “All personnel, engage battle stations!” Bark Ironside roared as the ship hummed with the sound of the guns and plasma weapons coming online. The lasers began firing immediately in the direction of the worm.

  The battle for Torsca has begun!

  …