The Lieutenant's team materialized through the portal in full combat formation five soldiers moving with the coordinated precision that came from years of joint operations. Each bore specialized equipment: crystallized essence reserves strapped to their belts, portable barrier generators humming with protective energy, and weapons designed specifically for dimensional threats.
"Move out!" The Lieutenant's voice carried the kind of forced confidence that young officers used to mask their terror. "Northeast bearing, combat pace. We've got fourteen minutes forty seconds."
They ran.
The corpse-field was even more treacherous than it appeared from the portal's threshold. Bodies stacked in configurations that created false paths, the ground slick with decomposition fluids that had been fermenting for weeks. Cracks from the earlier dimensional disturbance had left fissures that dropped into darkness, forcing constant route adjustments.
