As the four fought fiercely, holding back the overwhelming tide of chimeras, someone else was watching them silently from the side.
Across the jagged walls of the canyon, within a hollow midsection, an eerie-looking figure stood, spectating the battle in silence.
The man was an abomination to behold — neither man nor beast, but an amalgamation of both. Unlike his feral counterparts, the chimeras, he still retained most of his humanoid features and intellect.
His skin glistened in the darkness as stray strands of light reflected off his serpent-like scales. His lidless eyes held dangerous green reptilian slits.
His clawed — yet oddly human — hands fiddled with a bamboo-made blowgun as he contemplated silently.
Then a sound broke the silence from behind.
"Chit! Chit!" A familiar squeak echoed.
"Sss-have you rounded up… sss-on your end?" the reptilian figure asked, his voice bridging between a hiss and human words.
