The campfire swayed in the small winds that flowed through the camp.
At first, it looked like several travelers shifting through the darkness and towards the light. Eventually, the light from the flame pushed the darkness away and revealed their figures.
There were four persons, three male and one woman.
Their skin was pale as if all the blood had been drawn from their bodies and their movements were unnatural as if they never had to walk with legs that only bent forward.
With sunken eyes and gaping mouths, their weapon sheathes were empty and they all wore armouring aspects that were long damaged.
Each of them was filled gaping holes revealing open, dry wounds.
From those said wounds, stunningly vibrant blue hydrangeas bloomed through their flesh, their eyes, mouths, chests and the rest of their body. The pretty petals rustled in the soft wind that ran through the forest.
Xaryus and Zadius froze for a moment, a cold chill running up their spine.
Even Velmo was slightly taken aback, his eyes widening at the familiar sight of the beautiful flowers he had avoided a few days prior.
Ignoring their visible shock, the creatures moved forward – not with malice, not with anger – with the sole intent of spreading the parasitic roots of the blue hydrangeas.
After the beautifully animated corpses took a single step, a gale blew through the forest and ripped two of them to shreds.
Instead of crimson blood, a strange blue pollen-like spore quickly scattered around their bodies like an array of eerily beautiful buds of snow.
Velmo was already standing a metre behind the once whole corpses as their severed limbs fell to the ground, his hand covered in a glowing green energy formed into a sleek sharp blade.
Spite Ability: [Aery Blade]
Spite Description: You channel wind around your arm and will it into a mighty and compromising blade. As long as you possess a strong will, your blade will not shatter.
Before the strange pollen could have spread, Velmo spun around and raised his [Aery Blade] into the air, summoning a small whirlwind; just big enough to suck up all the strange pollen.
With another wave of his glowing blade, the whirlwind dragged itself and the strange blue pollen away from the brothers, deeper into the forest.
In just a few seconds, Velmo had already neutralized the threat. Xaryus and Zadius almost forgot the power held by the man they were travelling with.
"These two will pose an adequate challenge. Give it your all, I'll keep their creator busy… Remember, I'll be watching…" With that, Velmo's body erupted in a surge of wind and his figure roared out of the clearing and into the night sky.
Xaryus and Zadius didn't have much time to think.
It was simple, Velmo lowered the level of the threat so that he could gauge their capabilities and went off to slay the beast that created those abominable animations.
All they had to do was kill what was in front of them.
But that was easier said than done.
Xaryus and Zadius had never faced such horrors before. They knew that there were all kinds of mana beasts and abominations in their world but what they saw was a bit unnerving.
They recognized the flowers blooming alongside the corpses of the two remaining adventurers.
"That could've been us…" Zadius thought, "That… could've been Xaryus." The thought of Xaryus falling to the strange beast had crossed Zadius' mind, washed away all his anxiety and replacing it with sheer determination.
With that, he dashed forward, his younger brother close behind.
Both their bodies were enhanced by mana circulation and their abilities in full motion. Xaryus' short sword glowed with a bright light whilst the shadows gathered around Zadius.
In a flurry of steel, they lashed out towards the corpses in front of them.
Despite their awkward and slow movements, the moment Xaryus and Zadius got close, their gaunt eyes lit up with a bright blue light and their gaping mouths released a loud pained groan.
Their motions were quick, almost catching the brothers off guard.
However, that wasn't enough.
Xaryus flashed his glowing sword through the air and slashed through the corpse's damaged armouring aspect. At the same time, he side stepped its crazed charge, and out the way of the blue spores that sprayed out of its hollow wound.
To Xaryus' left, Zadius had leapt into the air, bringing both his feet into the animated corpse's chest.
The blow sent the beast flying backwards and as Zadius landed on the ground, he had already noticed the spray of spores in the air near Xaryus.
"Xaryus! Be mindful of slashing or piercing attacks, we don't know what those spores could-"
As Zadius spoke, his shadow sense alerted him of the flowered corpse rushing back towards him with great speed.
He was just fast enough to press his cloaked daggers into the creature's strangely powerful hands. Zadius had already noticed what the thing was trying to do, it wanted to touch him with the hydrangeas.
Pushing against the powerful creature, Zadius noticed the hydrangeas produce a small batch of spores before it quickly released a whole swath of them into the air.
Before Zadius could react, he felt a slight burning sensation in his chest. He knew… the pollen had already reached his lungs
Its effect was instant.
Zadius' body felt weak, and his strength bled from his limbs.
The animated corpse ripped his daggers away from his hands, throwing them to ground and slammed its hands into Zadius' body, releasing another spray of pollen.
His body flew through the air before slamming into the heavy trunk of a large tree. Pain ran throw his body and his gaze fell on the corpse awkwardly walking towards him, a cloud of insidious pollen pulsing from its vibrant flowers.
"Zadius!" Xaryus called out, seeing his brother thrown across the forest.
But he had no time to think, the flowered corpse was threatening to infect him with the elusively dangerous hydrangeas, and his body was pushed to the limit with every move he made.
Xaryus released a powerful slash, knocking both his sword and the creature's hands away. Gathering all his strength in another moment, he released a flurry of attacks to clash against the set of monstrous blows the corpse had thrown his way.
With each shallow cut he left on the beast, more of the blue pollen spread out around the creature like a mystical, weakening aura.
Xaryus could sense the immense amount of mana those insidious flowers pumped through the corpse. If not for that, he would have already lopped the things hand off.
There was only one thing left to do.
If they didn't act now, they would not see the sun rise.
Simultaneously, the brothers had declared their intent to the world.
"Stigmata."
***
As the brothers were fighting, a part of the forest near them was ravaged. Velmo quickly darted around the destroyed environment, leaping across trees and soaring through the air with blinding speed.
He came to a halt atop the upper branches of a rather large tree. The wind encasing his body had vanished and he had stopped circulating mana through his body; he was hiding.
Down below, a grotesque figure awkwardly walked across the wreckage. Its body was a mass of thick coiling vines that seethed to mimic a humanoid form.
Beautiful blue hydrangeas crowned the creature's repulsive body and covered it in an aura of mystical blue pollen.
What would be the creature's head shifted across the destroyed flora looking for its target. The mana beast feeds on human blood to survive so it had been following Velmo and the brothers since they crossed paths.
"It seems that the brothers are having some trouble." Velmo thought, glancing towards the brother's location.
He had sensed a strong surge of mana come from their location.
"They must have used their stigmata.I wish I could've seen them in action but keeping this thing away takes priority."
Velmo pondered, seemingly unaware that the strange mass of living vines was 'looking' at him.
In a flash, the creature's body roiled towards Velmo, losing its human shape amongst its lust for blood.
Alongside it was large, sharp roots that shot from the ground with the sole purpose of impaling the Jade Tempest.
As the beast approached him, his eyes quickly glanced back towards the beast and a sly smirk shot across his face.
"Not gonna give me a chance to enjoy the show, are you?" He quipped.