The morning sun painted strange hues across the clearing. A pale light filtered into the forest, casting long shadows and creating an almost spectral scene.

The air was thick with anticipation, the silence punctuated only by the distant calls of unseen creatures and the low, ominous hum of the ritual. Team 0, spread out in a strategic formation around the clearing, was poised for action. Each member knew their role in the impending confrontation and how important it was to be victorious.

James crouched low behind a thick bush, his eyes fixed on the chimera at the heart of the intricate pattern of glowing sigils. The rest of the team was similarly hidden, masked by the natural cover and the shadows that danced at Lauren's command.

Daniel was positioned slightly closer to the group of entranced humans, ready to deploy his barriers to shield them from any potential harm disrupting of the ritual might cause.

Ezekiel and Maria, on the other hand, were tasked with handling the Grasstalkers. Aided by the shadowy cover, they prepared their most potent attacks on opposite sides of the clearing, ready to strike at James' signal. Lauren would deal with any monster who might come directly their way and prevent any disruption to their plan.

Despite the neat organization, they all knew just how dangerous the situation was. Any misstep would mean a tragedy. They couldn't afford for even one element to go wrong.

James prepared to play a critical role. The chimera's concentration was the linchpin holding the ritual together. Disrupting her focus was essential to ensuring the spell's collapse and preventing whatever outcome she aimed to achieve. More than that, he needed to ensure the backlash took her out of the fight because handling a B-rank on top of the twenty Grasstalkers would be too much.

He felt the familiar call of the ether around him, tempting him to draw upon its vast power. However, considering the delicate nature of their operation, he decided against using a brute force attack. Instead, he opted for a subtler, more precise approach.

Soul Rend was his weapon of choice. He had refined the skill over countless battles, and given its esoteric nature, he hoped it would afford him an edge the chimera couldn't defend against.

Concentrating, James visualized his attack not as a singular force but as thousands of tiny, imaginary needles. Each one was crafted with great care, designed to pierce the chimera's mental defenses and scatter her focus. This method, he hoped, would allow him to disrupt her concentration without causing widespread collateral damage to the ritual or the innocents involved.

Gently, he reached out with his mind, feeling the complex weave of mana that flowed through the clearing. The ritual's energy was a vibrant network of interlocking threads, each pulsing with power. He traced these threads back to their nexus - not the source, as that was too far away for him to determine - finding the chimera's consciousness at the center, entwined with the magic she wielded.

At least he could be sure that no artifact would stop him this time. She was in too deep to avoid his reach.

With a deep breath to steady his resolve, James launched his psychic attack. The needles of mental energy surged forward, invisible and silent, speeding toward their target.

To an outside observer, it would have looked like the chimera started screaming out of nowhere. But the other Awakeners knew and took it as a signal to start.

Daniel raised his hands, the air around him shimmering as he worked hard to cast protective shields around the entranced humans, ensuring they’d remain unharmed by the chaos that would soon be unleashed.

Individual barriers were expensive, but they allowed him to defend only limited space. If he had tried to cast a massive one, he would have needed to bend the mana to exclude the Grasstalkers that mingled with the humans. Thus, Daniel settled in, trusting that Lauren would prevent anything from attacking him, and focused entirely on maintaining the barriers.

Maria and Ezekiel, activated by James' successful disruption, unleashed their fury upon the Grasstalkers. The redhead, with hands ablaze with a white-hot flame, molded the fire into the shape of majestic dragons.

These constructs of fire roared with a life of their own as they soared across the clearing toward their targets. They swooped down, engulfing the Grasstalkers in searing heat, the air around them shimmering with the extreme temperature.

Ezekiel spread his wings wide and took to the air, flitting between trees, feathers glowing with a divine light. With a mighty thrust, he sent beams of holy energy streaking across the battlefield. He targeted the Grasstalkers who had avoided Maria's attack with surgical precision. As the beams struck, they exploded with a radiant burst, searing flesh and fur alike.

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The monsters, surprised by the sudden and coordinated assault, howled in pain and confusion. The stronger among them, their instincts kicking in, retaliated with lightning bolts, casting them wildly in every direction. The air crackled with electrical energy, a dangerous light show that threatened friend and foe alike.

Barriers glowed with a soft but firm light, intercepting the lightning bolts and dissipating their deadly energy harmlessly into the air. Without Daniel's intervention, the civilians would surely have become casualties.

Lauren narrowed her eyes in concentration and summoned more shadows to her aid. The darkness around them seemed to deepen, gathering around her, James, and Daniel like a cloak. With a flick of her wrist, she called upon waves of shadow that absorbed the incoming lightning, neutralizing the threat. From this protective darkness, ink-black tendrils shot forth, snaking toward the Grasstalkers. They wrapped around limbs and muzzles, pulling and constricting with unrelenting force.

As Maria and Ezekiel continued their barrage, the Grasstalkers found themselves overwhelmed. The combined assault of fire and light, coupled with the restraining shadows, prevented any chance of organizing. Maria's dragons of flame continued to dive and swirl, her control over them precise, each breath of fire calculated to inflict maximum damage without spreading to the forest around them.

Still, their sheer number meant that the threat couldn't be easily neutralized. As the shock wore on and the monsters stopped freaking out, those that had avoided the worst of it finally reacted.

Warily, they placed themselves in a rough formation around the fallen chimera, using their massive bodies to protect her from the elemental fury unleashed upon them.

Lightning sparked through the clearing, clashing with Maria's fiery dragons and breaking them apart, forcing her to push more mana into the constructs.

Despite the surprise, the Grasstalkers were all high D or low C-ranks. Their might wasn't in question.

Bolts of crackling energy met feathered javelins, exploding mid-air and forcing Daniel to expend more power to protect the civilians.

The one thing keeping Team 0 on the offensive was that the Grasstalkers seemed determined to prevent any harm from coming to the chimera. They interposed themselves between her and Lauren's tentacles, taking hits they should have been able to avoid.

Thus, more and more of them fell.

Through all this, James continued his mental assault. Unfortunately, he couldn’t outright break the chimera's psyche, given her sheer magical resistance, but his efforts kept her on the ground.

The backlash she suffered from the breaking up of the ritual had been significant, and even now, James could feel the way the wild mana rampaged through her channels, tearing at the seams keeping her animal and human sides together.

Still, eventually, she managed to pick herself back up, shoving thousands of mana points around her head in a crude shield that managed to keep James out.

However, the clearing had almost fallen silent by the time she had done so. Only two more Grasstalkers remained standing, of the larger variety, while the rest of the pack had fallen in their efforts to protect her.

The chimera took the scene in silently. She observed the broken, burned bodies, the still healthy humans, and the attackers.

Poisonous yellow eyes finally landed on James. Surprisingly, rather than hatred or rage, there was only acceptance in them.

"I suppose it was inevitable for someone to come to stop me. I told him it would happen, but he never cared to listen," A surprisingly feminine voice cut through the air. The chimera took a step forward, causing Team 0 to fall into stances, and she chuckled, "Oh, we'll fight, don't worry, but not immediately."

She hummed, looking around, "You did a good job, huh? Who knew the AA could ever produce such good little soldiers… Well, this portion of the ritual is well and truly fucked, but luckily it wasn't a fundamental pillar. He should still be able to go through with it." She continued, content to talk to herself.

"What's the ritual for?" James interrupted. He usually wouldn't have minded letting her speak, but the time was tight, considering what he suspected was happening.

The chimera tapped her lips, tilting her head in what would have been an attractive pose had she been fully human, "Well, it doesn't really matter at this point. It's not like you can do anything to stop it." She murmured before standing up straight. The motion required effort, given her wincing.

"The world as you know it is ending today. My master has decided that humans have squandered their opportunity to become great, so he'll take the reins." She finally said.

It didn't explain much, but it was enough to confirm that something bigger than a simple dungeon break was happening. And the absence of answers from command took an even more ominous tone.

"Your master?" Lauren barked harshly. "You mean the one who turned you into a monster?"

The chimera looked down at herself, blinking quickly, "Ah yes, I have been turned too, haven’t I? Well, I knew this was a possibility when I started working for Hephaestus, but I didn't have many other options. Not after the AA broke up the Golden Sun."

"Poison Snake! That's who you are!" James exclaimed loudly, finally putting together the familiar features with the images he could remember seeing online. The woman was an infamous executive of the Golden Sun guild, known for being extremely slippery. She was one of the few to have escaped capture.

Seeing her now, James could only pity her. While she seemed not to mind her fate too much, she didn't seem to be all there from the way she spoke. Her power was still significant, but he knew Poison Snake to be a B-rank Awakener, which meant turning hadn’t given her additional power.

It might have given her the skills to manipulate the ritual's mana. That was something not every B-rank could do. Not one known for focusing on combat anyway.

"Whatever was done to you can be undone, I'm sure. If you give yourself up, we'll help you go back to being human." He said firmly. He didn't expect the chimera to accept, but he still needed to make the offer.

Predictably, she shook her head. "No, you wouldn't. The only one who can is Hephaestus, and he'll need a lot of human sacrifices to do it. Luckily, I have quite a few here now that I don't need them for the ritual." By the end, her tone had shifted to being husky. Danger oozed from her every pore, and James prepared to fight.

The others seemed stunned by how quickly the woman shifted, but he could follow her brain waves and see how jumbled her thoughts were. Poison Snake, the human, simply wasn't there anymore. A new being was using her remains instead, and given the bloodlust she was emanating, she wasn't interested in talking anymore.

"Daniel, keep protecting the hostages. We'll kill her as quickly as we can." James ordered grimly. Even with her powers significantly hampered by the backlash, the chimera would be a harsh opponent. They couldn't afford any mercy.