Ximena gave a fleeting glance to the succubus who quickly zipped overhead, in and out of her vision.

Seeing Salome disappear, Ximena stepped back into the narrow pass and continued using her crystals to deflect her Frostbite outward and increased the range of Absolute Zero, making whoever dared to approach her beg for the warm grasp of death.

It was time to do the job Master Vale entrusted to her.

Sadly…

She wasn't going to be able to do it perfectly, as some gaps in her offense existed where an invader could squeeze through. Well, not unharmed, but they could get past Ximena.

Ximena would try to block that from happening as much as possible, but the sheer number of them made it hard.

The initial wave who'd run into Ximena had fallen and sunk into the ground, but their brethren had immediately replaced them, stepping over their fading corpses and continuing the dauntless charge.

The invaders were quick to learn of Ximena's dreadful ability, but also quickly found her weakness to projectiles; they began subjecting her to the same treatment they had given the winged demoness. They started throwing whatever they could at the crystal owl – one even threw a Dawn's Eye.

Ximena quickly used her revolving sash to block all the attacks she could, but some inevitably got through and smashed into her; however, when they did, Ximena would either let it hit her if it was aimed for her armor, or she'd harden her body and absorb the blow.

She did take the occasional damage. But, when all was considered…

It was going well…

Well, that was until a thunderous voice shot out from somewhere in the mass.

"Sssstay back!"

It was spoken in…

'Praxel?'

Whatever had just yelled that order couldn't have been a beast of this world… no. They'd just spoken in a language from Kaldora, Ximena's home world.

But that wasn't particularly what mattered.

What mattered was that whatever they yelled hadn't necessarily regained order, but they had enough influence to disrupt the mindless charge and help the warriors rationalize their situation.

Most of the horde stopped charging and made way for a singular serpent chameleon hybrid, yet a few stragglers ignored the Champion's order and ran past to their deaths.

This disgusting chimera creature with the body of a humanoid chameleon, but the head of a viper, stepped into Ximena's dreadful aura without fear, holding a long halbard. Its skin instantly subjected to the damning effect of the cold, but its will was unfrozen.

"I sssaid ssstay back!"

The creature picked up the halbard and slammed the pommel into the stone ground, which, for some reason, produced an ominous high-pitched ring. But this ring seemed to do the trick, as any of the horde still moving went stationary.

The snake didn't care and took another step ahead of the crowd toward Ximena.

"I know who you areee… Ice Witch. What are youuu doing here?"

Ximena's brow furrowed, but her eyes remained piercing, cold and still. Their soft blue glow reflecting the cold world. Ximena responded in the beast's own language:

"You know who I am, yet you dare to address me with such disrespect?"

Ximena threw her hand forward and sent a chill wave crashing into the serpentine Champion, yet the snake stepped forward into the cold and braved it.

As venom dripped from its fangs, the beast hissed at Ximena, then said:

"No matter…"

It took a stance toward Ximena and dropped its hips, then shouted an order to the mass behind it.

"Advance above!"

The serpent Champion charged Ximena and jabbed at her with the tip of its halbard, its body staying just out of Ximena's executable range.

Ximena hardened her hand and punched away the tip and tried to jump toward the snake, but it slipped away, out of range.

"I don't know who you are… but it's time you learn some respect."

***

Vale sat in the stone throne, hearing the constant opera being sung in his head by the system.

[Champion Salome has slain Nascent Chamelon Warrior]

[+5 Aether]

[Affiliated Awilix has slain Nascent Chamelon Warrior]

[+5 Aether]

[Your Worker, , has been slain by a challenger]

[Your Worker, Aster, has slain a Chameleon Warrior]

[+5 Aether]

[Champion Ximena has slain Nascent Chamelon Warrior]

[+5 Aether]

But it wasn't only the system he was hearing…

He could hear the harrowing echoes of the ferocious clash happening a little ahead of him in the maze.

It's not like the sounds of the clash were all that distant…

[Warrior, Six, has been slain by a challenger]

[+5 Aether]

[Archer, Two, has slain Nascent Chamelon Warrior]

[+5 Aether]

[Warrior, Stacy, has slain Nascent Chamelon Warrior]

[+5 Aether]

[Your Worker, , has been slain by a challenger]

In fact… it seemed the group stationed in front of him was already facing enemies, meaning Ximena had somehow been bypassed.

Vale cracked his neck and pulled his whip and sword out of the Nexus of Beginnings, and shot a glance back at Toy, spotting her emerald eyes, which peeked out from behind the streamers.

Then he pushed down on the arms of his stone throne and rose. At that exact moment, the first Chameleon Warrior slipped through the end of the maze and into his gaze. Vale wasted not even a single breath in cracking the whip over its skull. The razors bit into the mohawk thing on its head and staggered it.

As the Chameleon Warrior hissed and cried in pain, Vale threw his whip to the side and charged forward, sending a swift strike into the beast's abdomen, then, empowering himself with Aether, he cleaved upward and split the foul beast in half.

'Rad…'

[You have slain Nascent Chamelon Warrior]

[+5 Aether]

Vale stepped back and admired his work as the guts of the beast spilled out and dissolved into the stone floor, along with the rest of its body.

Yet, that was only one of many.

Vale tuned the system out in lieu of focusing on what was right in front of him…

That being said, two more Chameleon Warriors, who, despite looking worse for wear, had made it to him. The beasts screamed when they spotted Vale's eyes and charged him.

"Kill Lust!"

Yet he gave them both a similar treatment to the first and quickly dispatched them…

However, they were quickly replaced by three more.

'Huh? What is happening? How are so many getting so far this quickly?'

At this point, All Vale could do was trust his Legion and focus on chopping the three in front of him to ribbons.

He gave the two the same treatment as he had the first, but when he tried to strike down the third, an invisible force blocked his blade.

The third Chameleon Warrior took advantage and sliced at Vale, who barely managed to summon his armor in time.

Vale kicked the warrior away, then jumped back just in time to dodge an invisible slice aimed at his neck. As Vale tumbled, he looked forward at a shimmering green figure who slowly faded into reality:

"Hello, Lust. I'm sorry, but you have to die. Master's orders."

The beast looked just like a regular Chameleon Warrior… but Vale could tell it was anything but.

'A Champion?'

It had to be…

But why did it look just like a warrior? 'Do all the Chameleon Champions?' And why did it talk so… humanly. It also carried a sword instead of relying on its claws like the others.

Fretting on it wasn't particularly helping anything, so Vale focused on picking himself up and charging forward. As Vale sent a strike toward the supposed Chameleon Champion, the beast did an expert move and slipped his attack, deflecting Vale's blade and slamming its own into Vale's armor.

Vale staggered back as the actual warrior, now joined by three more, continued the charge and barreled into him.

Vale almost fell, but managed to shapeshift part of his arm just in time to shift his weight, changing his center of gravity to gain enough composure to jump away.

Vale landed on his knee, then slowly rose and looked down at his charging foes.

"This master of yours… I'm looking forward to meeting them."

Using all his force, Vale empowered his arm with Aether and then struck downward. His sword cleaved into the shoulder of a warrior, biting down into its chest and killing it swiftly.

Vale added:

"I have a lot to talk about with them."

"Sorry, but master doesn't talk with corpses."

The Champion lunged forward, launching its sword directly toward Vale's eyes.

Vale barely managed to swipe his head to the side to dodge a fatal blow, but he could feel a steady liquid stream falling from his cheek.

Vale wiped away the blood, smearing it on the back of his hand, and laughed as he sent a kick into a warrior.

"Ha. You're funny."

The Champion cocked its head to the side, and its bulging eyes narrowed.

"Why are you laughing? That wasn't a joke."

'Boring…'

'Is dullness a side effect of being dickless?'

Vale sighed, then slammed his sword down, which was quickly intercepted by the Champion. But Vale was able to leverage his attack into a spinning backheel he sent into the gut of the beast.

But as the champion fell back, a small horde of warriors rushed ahead.

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