"Alright. It's time for you to leave." Devon informed the two, handing them a map, "Take the back exit drive for a couple of miles. Follow the map. There you'll find an abandoned helipad. I've set up everything there. Inside the chopper, you'll find another map and details of all my illegal bank accounts. There should be a couple of billions of dollars in those accounts. I've also set a trust fund in your names for all the trouble. Get on the chopper and leave for the place I've marked on the map. From there you'll board on a private jet that'll take you to Cuba."

Devon continued as the four of them hurried to the exit, "Let me think if I am forgetting anything... Right, take this communicator. Don't fire up the chopper until I give you the signal. I have to stall that monster otherwise he'll think I'm the one who's escaping and shoot the chopper down. Understood?"

​​

"Clear," Alex replied as they arrived at the exit.

Devon helped them load the necessary things in the jeep. Everyone got seated comfortably and then headed out into the wilderness. As the gates closed behind him, Devon rubbed his shivering hands together intensely. Staring at the disappearing jeep for the last time. His heart palpitated as he impatiently ran back towards the control room. All the while thinking a single thing, 'Will they make it in time?'

The base was deserted. Not a single soul was in sight. Papers, furniture everything was scattered all over the place. If someone was to see the scenario, they'll think that the place was a site of a catastrophe or a zombie outbreak. Devon soon reached the control room and scanned the outside surroundings. Apart from Arnold, only 30-40 people were left standing.

Apart from that... The scene in front of his eyes, almost made him throw up. Devon had witnessed his fair share of gory stuff while experimenting with Inhumans. Yet, it was unlike anything he had imagined in his darkest nightmares. When he saw the scene outside, he was stunned. He stood and in absolute shock.

The next moment, the dozen or so men who were standing closest to Arnold began to scream and fell to the ground. Their bodies were almost cut into two, and bright red bloodied water flooded the surface of the ground. The ground had become a field strewn with the remains of corpses, in heaps of flesh and blood. No mere human could've made such a mess out of what once were humans.

Devon was in disbelief and only hoped that what he was seeing was an illusion. He couldn't even imagine what had happened there in his absence. Broken arms and legs, scattered entrails, headless bodies, and severed heads… that's all he could see. He had thought that the dragon was a monster but he was wrong... In Arnold's comparison, the jade dragon was nothing more than a docile puppy. Arnold was the only monster there. No one else.

The situation was getting out of hand. If things were left as they were, Gary wouldn't make it out in time. Devon was hesitant but he had no choice left. It was sooner than he expected but it was the only way to buy time for Gary. He pulled a chair, sat in front of a computer and started furiously typing something. Immediately after he was done, the doors leading to the control were sealed shut.

Devon had just unleashed the horrors of his countless failed experiments on Arnold. He had been experimenting with beast crystals for quite a while now. Numerically speaking, he had conducted well over a thousand experiments to research the effects of consumption of beast crystals. Both on humans and monsters. It went without saying, that not all of these experiments were successful. Only about 1% of the specimens yielded desirable outcomes. Which meant that the rest of the experiments ended up in failure. These failed specimens were put into either chemically induced coma or in cryostasis.

The successful specimen had already been sold to various warlords and dictators. But Devon had kept the failed specimens with himself. This was his endgame.

Thus, he had a force of about 990+ uncontrollable monstrosities as the ace up his sleeve. But as said, these 990+ or 993 beings to be exact, were uncontrollable. That meant releasing them from their respective pods was a last resort for Devon. This was also the reason why he had shut himself up in the control room. Otherwise, he would've been the first one to die by their hands.

Moments later he could feel the true monsters wreaking havoc in the base while most of them instinctively headed outside as Devon had planned. But even with the new force he had with him, he was sure that Arnold could easily take care of them with the dragon's aide. Hence, he decided to call for more reinforcements. He once again got busy on the computer and type a message.

It was an SOS message to the Chieftain of Lizardmen, Grock. Devon knew no one was a match for Arnold and his dragon but calling Grock in might help him distract Arnold for enough time for Gary and the other's to escape safely. But by the time Arnold would be done taking care of the crystal bred monstrosities, the Lizardmen and Devon, Gary would've gone far away.

But it seemed that fate had different plans. The moment Devon send the message to Grock, there was a huge explosion on the outside. However, the explosion occurred far away from the hideout.

Devon immediately started looking around in hopes of finding out what the hell was going on. It didn't take him long enough to do that either. The aftermath of the explosion could be seen clearly.

A huge mushroom-shaped cloud of flames appeared in the middle of the swamp. Which was immediately followed by a thick black cloud of smoke. The shockwave generated by the explosion had uprooted anything within 2 kilometres radius of the explosion. Despite being kilometres away from the explosion, even Devon could feel the aftershock. He didn't know what the hell was going on but it soon dawned upon him.

"No... no... NO!" Devon exclaimed, thrashing everything in his vicinity.

The area where the explosion took place was right around the lizardman lair, or the one Devon referred to as the main base of Lizardmen. It was bad news for him. Since Arnold was here, it meant that the rest of the syndicate had already made their move against the lizardmen. Which meant... There was no reinforcement coming to aide him. Not anymore. He was on his own.