Their first objective was the closest, and arguably the most dangerous: The Viper's Kiss Daggers.
The map led them to a deep, sunken grotto, a humid, misty basin shrouded in thick, purple-leafed vines. The air was heavy with a sickly sweet smell, like rotting fruit and ozone.
In the center of the grotto, on top of a crude, moss-covered stone altar, sat a pair of wicked-looking, snake-like daggers. Their black blades seemed to drink the dim light.
The path to them, however, was a writhing, hissing nightmare.
The floor of the grotto was a maze of deep cracks and holes. From these dark openings, the guardians emerged. Gloomfang Vipers.
They were monstrous, snake-like creatures, ten feet long from snout to tail.
Their bodies were covered not in scales, but in overlapping plates of black, armor-like shell, like giant, nightmarish centipedes.
Their heads were broad and flat, with six glowing, emerald-green eyes that tracked the team's every movement.
But their most terrifying feature was their mouth. When they hissed, their jaws would open wide to reveal rows of needle-like fangs. A sickly, bubbling green liquid dripped from their mouths onto the stone.
Sssssizzle.
The acid dissolved the rock with an audible hiss.
"Edgar, Appraisal," Dante commanded, his voice low.
Edgar flinched, his eyes wide with fear. "Gloomfang Vipers, Rank C," he reported, his voice trembling. "High speed, moderate defense due to the armor plates."
"Their main weapon is a corrosive neurotoxin they can spit up to twenty meters. Direct contact is fatal. Their weak point is the underbelly, but it's almost always protected."
"They're endless," Talia observed, her hand resting on the hilt of her rapier. "More are crawling out of the walls every second."
She was right. This wasn't a nest they could clear. It was a flood. Wiping them all out was impossible; a quick, surgical strike was their only option.
"Listen carefully," Dante said, his voice cutting through their fear. "Edgar, you stand back with me. Erica, Lana, Talia, you are the spearhead."
"Your objective is not to kill all of them. That's impossible. Your job is to create a path. Punch a hole through their lines directly to that altar."
He looked at their assassin. "Talia, you are the only one fast enough to do this. You follow the path they create, you grab the daggers, and you get back. No hesitation."
He then turned to the three women who would be their front line. "I will protect your backs with my summons."
The Orc Champion was too much of a mana drain for a long fight like this. He needed a more versatile team. He focused his will, and the shadows around him came together.
The spectral forms of Derek, the Wardcrafter, the Phantasmist, the Graviton user, and the Toximancy user rose from the ground, their violet eyes glowing with cold, unholy light. His five lieutenants.
"Guardian, Deceiver, Juggernaut," he commanded, pointing toward the girls. "You will form their front and rear guard. Protect them."
"Anchor, Corruptor," he gestured to the two puppets who fell in beside him and Edgar, "you will protect us."
The girls nodded, their faces set in grim determination.
"Now," Dante said, his voice dropping to a predatory whisper. "Go."
The assault began with a symphony of fire and force.
"Let's clear a path for the little bird, shall we?" Lana purred, a manic grin spreading across her face. She spun her Verdant Iron Staff.
Whick!
The staff extended with a sharp sound, its length tripling in an instant. She charged forward, a beautiful whirlwind of destruction. The vipers lunged at her, spitting their corrosive venom.
"Guardian!"
The shadow of the Wardcrafter glided in front of Lana, raising a shimmering Phantom Ward.
The green acid splattered against the dark energy shield, sizzling and dissolving, but the barrier held. Lana used that opening to bring her staff down with bone-shattering force.
CRUNCH!
The staff crushed the armored head of one viper like an eggshell.
"Don't get cocky!" Erica yelled, rushing in beside her. "Plasma Lance!"
A spear of white-hot energy erupted from her hands, punching a clean, molten hole through the armored chest of another viper. The creature convulsed and died, its own venom boiling inside it.
The two of them, a chaotic storm of physical force and a focused beam of pure destruction, began to carve a path through the writhing sea of monsters.
Behind them, Talia moved like a ghost. Her feet barely seemed to touch the ground as she moved between the two raging powerhouses.
Her Kinetic Eye allowed her to see the path of every venomous glob, every lightning-fast strike from the vipers. She was untouchable, a silver wraith dancing through a storm of green death.
Dante's puppets were the key to their advance. The Juggernaut, the spectral echo of Derek, acted as a battering ram.
It didn't have the skill of the girls, but its raw power was undeniable. It would charge forward, its shadow greatsword swinging, smashing vipers aside and creating openings.
The Deceiver flickered at the edges of the fight, its Ghostly Images drawing the vipers' attacks, making them waste their precious venom on phantoms.
The Guardian was everywhere at once, its Phantom Ward appearing just in time to block a potentially fatal spit of acid aimed at Lana's back or Erica's flank.
From his command post, Dante watched with cold, analytical detachment. Edgar stood beside him, his face pale, calling out warnings. "More coming from the left! That one's bigger, it might be an alpha!"
A viper, faster and larger than the others, broke through the main line of combat, its six emerald eyes fixed on him and Edgar. It coiled back, its throat bubbling as it prepared to spit.
"Anchor."
The shadow of the Graviton user raised its hand. The air around the viper grew heavy, its lightning-fast lunge slowing to a crawl.
At the same time, the Corruptor breathed out its Miasma of Decay, a faint, sickly mist that enveloped the slowed creature.
The viper hissed in pain and confusion as its own corrosive venom began to drip from its fangs, its power weakened by the necrotic energy. It was still dangerous, but it was no longer an immediate threat.
"That was close," Dante said calmly, glancing at Edgar. "Stay right behind me." He nodded, his eyes wide with a mixture of fear and grateful admiration. 'He thinks I'm protecting him. The fool.'
The front line was halfway to the altar. The floor was littered with the twitching corpses of dozens of vipers, but more just kept coming, a seemingly endless tide of black armor and green venom.
"We can't keep this up!" Erica shouted, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "My mana is running low!"
"The staff is getting heavy!" Lana added, her movements a fraction slower, her playful grin replaced by a grimace of effort.
"Talia, now is your chance!" Dante commanded. "Go!"
Talia didn't need to be told twice. She burst from behind her two protectors like an arrow from a bow.
She sprinted down the bloody path they had carved, her feet a blur. Vipers lunged at her from the sides, but she moved with a supernatural grace, her body twisting and turning, dodging every attack by a hair's breadth.
As she neared the altar, a new shape emerged from a large crack directly behind it. It was a Matriarch.
Twice the size of the others, its armored plates were thicker, its fangs longer, and its six eyes burned with a cold, hateful intelligence. It let out a piercing shriek that made the entire grotto tremble.
"Erica! Lana! Distraction! Full power, now!" Dante roared.
They knew this was their final move. They poured the last of their strength into a single, coordinated attack.
Erica created not a lance, but a massive, exploding sun of fire. Lana's staff glowed with a vibrant green light as she slammed it into the ground, sending a shockwave of pure force rippling through the stone.
The two attacks converged on the Matriarch.
The monster shrieked in rage as it was engulfed in fire and force, its attention completely diverted.
That was the opening Talia needed. She leaped onto the altar, her hands snatching the Viper's Kiss Daggers. The moment her fingers touched the hilts, a faint, green aura enveloped her arms.
"I have them!" she yelled.
"Retreat! Now!" Dante commanded.
The retreat was even more chaotic than the advance. The enraged Matriarch, shaking off the effects of the blast, lunged forward.
"Juggernaut! Guardian! Hold the line! Buy them time!"
His two most powerful puppets threw themselves in the path of the Matriarch. The Guardian's shield shattered instantly under the monster's furious assault.
The Juggernaut met it head-on, its shadow greatsword clashing with the Matriarch's fangs. It was a battle of monsters, one living, one dead. But his puppet was losing.
Lana and Erica, their energy spent, stumbled back, protected by the Deceiver's last, flickering illusions.
Talia, clutching her new daggers, ran with a speed that was even greater than before, the artifacts already boosting her abilities.
The Juggernaut let out a final, psychic cry as the Matriarch's fangs tore through its shadowy form, dissipating it completely.
The psychic backlash hit Dante like a physical blow, and he staggered, clutching his head.
The Matriarch, its path now clear, charged after the fleeing girls.
"Now!" he yelled at the last puppet.
The Deceiver, its purpose served, abandoned its illusions and threw itself directly at the Matriarch's face. The monster, confused by the suicidal tactic, snapped at the phantom.
It was a pointless, final act that bought them exactly one more second.
It was enough. They were out of the grotto.
"Don't stop!" Dante ordered, pushing his team forward.
They ran, leaving the sounds of the hissing, enraged vipers and their shrieking queen behind them.
They didn't stop running until the sweet, sickly smell of the grotto was replaced by the clean, damp air of the twilight forest.
They collapsed, panting, bleeding, but victorious. Talia held up the daggers, their snake-like blades gleaming in the dim light. Their first artifact was secured.
But as Dante looked at the daggers, and then at Edgar, who was still trembling with relief beside him, he knew the true harvest was yet to come.