As Selvaria walks towards the man with the ten voices in his head, Ben rushes to block her path. He then uses his telepathy to communicate with her and the rest of the group.

Benjamin. "I don't think it's a good idea to confront it alone."

Selvaria. "I will not let that freak sabotage our evacuation."

Benjamin. "No one else knows what that thing is or what it's planning to do. So if you pick a fight with it alone, the others will try to protect him from you."

Selvaria stopped and slowly regained her composure.

Selvaria. "You have a point... Why don't you use your ability to tell everyone about the threat?"

Benjamin. "I am not sure my willpower is strong enough to handle that range. Also, it will cause people to panic if they find out I can speak and read their minds."

Selvaria. "True, so how do you propose to deal with it?"

Benjamin. "Let me call in some help from those who know me and my mission."

Ben looked towards the sky and contacted Travis with his mind.

Benjamin. "Major General Fjord! We need to talk about an imminent threat."

Travis was recording the progress of the EVAC in the stadium from above. But after he received the message flew down to Ben's side. The moment he landed, he canceled his combat style turned back into a Human. Fortunately, the clones were unaffected by the cancellation and continued to monitor the stadium from their vantage points. Travis's eyes glanced towards the Royal Egg in Ben's hand before breaking a smile.

Travis. "Travis will do... Looks like you earned a big promotion. Anyways, I know about the Icebugs trying to dig their way into the stadium."

Benjamin. "No, not that..."

Ben detailed Travis's telepathic ability and discovery when he tried reading minds in the stadium.

Travis. "Do you have any intel on what that thing is?"

Benjamin. "That is a new type of Bug monster called a Chimera."

Travis. "It's a bug?"

Benjamin. "The Icebug Queen created it by fusing the souls of Tamers she consumed before forcing them into new bodies."

Albert. "What the fuck! They can control our souls after we die?"

Benjamin. "I am not sure how it all works, but they are still in the experimental phase. The Queen inside this egg is a part of that, so we cannot let it fall back to their side."

Albert. "Why don't we destroy it now?"

Benjamin. "I believe the egg is the first of its kind, not the last. Better to take it back to Seward for study."

Travis. "How did you learn all this... can you understand the Bug language?"

Benjamin. "No, they were speaking to each other about the egg in English."

There was an awkward silence as everyone processed that info.

Albert. "So the Icebugs can talk in English now?"

Benjamin. "Well, I saw the Icebug Queen learn Spanish right after eating a Mexican General alive. I am pretty sure she learned English and other languages the same way before today along with their memories."

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Everyone present was disturbed by this revelation.

Selvaria. "How many other Chimeras are there?"

Benjamin. "Albert mentioned that you all fought four weird-looking Giant Bugs controlling the swarm. I am pretty sure they were the failed Chimera experiments."

Travis. "Failed? How so?"

Benjamin. "The Queen mentioned that four of her Chimeras went insane after rejecting their new Bug bodies, so she had to control them directly. However, the one she created with a Human body retained its sanity and could operate independently. So that Chimera is the one she was talking about."

Travis. "Is it stronger than the other Chimeras?"

Benjamin. "Honestly, I have no idea. That is why I wanted your opinion on how to handle it without causing panic during the EVAC."

Travis. "Well, it is clear that we must do whatever it takes to put that thing out of its misery. I suggest we get Dale to use his long-range attacks on it."

Benjamin. "Do you think that will kill it?"

Travis. "If it doesn't, at least the attack will distract it long enough for the planes to take off. I will help Dale keep it busy."

Selvaria. "I want to kill it."

Travis. "By all means, try your best. Does anyone else want to join us?"

Albert. "I can fly, but I don't have any Mana..."

Rin whispers into Albert's ears, and he suddenly slaps his forehead.

Albert. "Oh right! Chandra's Wrath can take away Mana from my opponents."

Selvaria. "Are Mana stealing skills common, or was I just unlucky?"

Albert. "Mason's Dragoon's aura should provide you with enough Mana, so why not invite him in on this?"

Selvaria. "I don't know where he is right now."

Travis. "Is Mason the kid in that fantasy cosplay armor?"

Selvaria. "Yes, that's him. Do you know where he is?"

Travis. "It's a good thing my clones and I share everything we see and hear. They will contact Dale and Mason about the threat and the plan. Ben, I suggest you and Rin go and inform Commander Ethan about what we are about to do. They can provide backup if things go south."

Selvaria stroked the bunnies on her shoulder, and they jumped over to Rin's arms. Galatea, busy napping, woke up when Selvaria patted her head.

Albert. "Can you tell Bison as well? He might wonder why we are attacking a survivor."

Benjamin. "Sure."

Travis. "You two follow behind me. We should do everything to stall him until Dale can launch his attack from above."

Albert. "I will try to steal his Mana before he tries to use his skills."

Travis. "That will do. We should focus on crippling his mana reserves so that he can't use the Toxic gas skill."

Ben nodded and walked with Rin towards the passenger JTD that had almost loaded all the survivors. Commander Ethan and the twelve Marines were busy bringing in the last Icebug corpses into the cargo hold of the other JTD. Ethan suddenly jerked his head towards Ben and looked confused before turning towards the Chimera.

The Human Chimera noticed Ben's entry into the JTD and started walking towards it. Travis slowly walked over to block him and ask a question. Selvaria and Albert followed him, but they put a few meters between them.

Travis. "Did you find those jeans in a thrift store, or is that the new fashion you kids are into these days?"

Travis pointed to the bright Neon Green jeans the Chimera was wearing.

"Beat it, Geezer! It's none of your business."

The Human Chimera spoke in a strange voice that sounded like it belonged to a Mongolian throat singer.

Travis. "You shouldn't be so rude to the elderly. Are you perhaps a foreigner?"

The Chimera tried to walk around Travis, but Selvaria blocked his path.

Selvaria. "The Major General asked a question, Freak!"

Freak. "What did you call me?"

Selvaria. "Freak!"

He seemed to grow suspicious of Selvaria by how she spoke. Something about her unsettled him when he looked into her eyes.

Travis. "Well, your odd choice of clothing is freakish, and you were staring at those Icebug corpses for quite some time."

Freak felt something was wrong in the way they both talked to him, and he started backing away from them all.

When he moved three meters away, the sky above lit up with twelve fireballs that rained down on his location. Travis, Selvaria, and Albert activated their combat styles, transforming them into hybrid monster forms. Freak now knew the Tamers had somehow figured out he was their enemy and quickly transformed into a six-foot-tall humanoid Scorpionfly that looked nightmarish.

Albert's eyes shot out a bright ray of white light at Freak, who was trying to activate his monster skills to block the fireballs. The attack didn't hurt Freak's eyes or body, but he could feel his Mana disappearing significantly.

Several fireballs manage to hit Freak's body, but somehow he survived the attack and dodged the rest of the barrage. The Carapace on his body had turned into Granite which is highly heat resistant. The wings on his back are on fire, but they are ejected and replaced. Dale quickly summons and launches another dozen fireballs that strike Freak's body again with no effect.

Sensing that Freak still had a large pool of Mana left in reserve, Albert uses Chandra's Wrath on him once more. But before he can activate it, Freak launches himself at Albert and uses the scorpion tail to strike him in the chest. Albert's white Moth body takes on a dark purple shade as the poison spreads through his arteries and veins. His eyes lose focus as they turn pure red.

Freak. "You are our thrall now!"