The young man half expected his back to be torn to shreds by the powerful Twisted one the moment he completed his task, but when he swiftly turned around to defend himself, the deadly mutant was still reeling back from the exposure to Leor's Willpower torch.
It didn't make any sense. Sure the bright flash of light was blinding, but it shouldn't have been enough to stagger such a powerful foe. Leor's confusion quickly drained away as he had a sudden thought. What if the mutants' strong sensitivity to light allowed his Willpower talent to somehow have an effect on these mutants, simply from the light projected by his torch? If that was the case, Leor had been carrying a perfect weapon against these mutants the whole time, and he didn't even realize it.
As his thoughts filled with the new possibilities, the inky darkness around him suddenly began to shift and churn. It was as if someone had turned on the pump, and was in the process of sucking all the corruption out of the room.
Leor's fingers clenched into a tightly held fist as he realized that their plan was working. Alina must have reached the other door and inserted the second high grade crystal. In hindsight, it was always quite naive to think the formation might not work just because the doors were opened. The draconic inscriptions were powered by Willpower, and engraved separately into each door. There was no difference to the inscriptions between an opened or closed doorway.
As the corruption was swiftly drained from the mountain fortress, the mutant defiled instantly showed a strong reaction. Their unreasonable speed and power slowly began to wane, and the exhausted Beasts finally had the ability to gain the upper hand.
The elder grey wolf beside Leor took full advantage of the few precious seconds he was given to rest his exhausted and injured body. Just as the mighty Twisted one was shaking off the blast of Leor's Willpower infused light, it was hit with another wave of weakening when the corruption that empowered it was sucked away.
When Leor saw the elder wolf moving to resume the fight from the corner of his vision, he hastily drained Willpower from the low grade crystal on his polearm and transferred it all directly into the Willpower torch in his other hand. The young man stepped toward the terrifying Twisted one cautiously, holding the bright torch out before him as he did.
The Twisted one visibly recoiled from the torches light, stumbling backwards as it tried to move itself away. It wasn't able to get far, a massive canine that looked like a slender but incredibly oversized wild dog latched onto the lesser Twisted dark elf's arm from behind, dragging it toward the ground with an angry snarl. That large canine was the true form of the tall female Beast that was part of Bones personal crew, she had finally rejoined the fight against the lesser Twisted.
The elder grey wolf didn't waste any time, rushing forward to help pin the monster to the floor. A moment later a third and a fourth Beast rushed to the scene, launching themselves on the downed body of the struggling Twisted, as powerful Beastly jaws tore at its flesh from all sides.
Leor was shocked and elated by the sudden turn of fortune. It seemed that the creature had been weakened far more than he expected from the loss of the empowering dark corruption, and the exposure to his own torch of Will.
The Twisted one let out a terrible high pitched wail, struggling to its last breath as flesh was torn from its body in great chunks. A wide circle of blood began pooling up around Leor's feet as he watched the massacre. A few seconds later, a flood of fresh Willpower filled his chest.
That boom was the final proof that his torch of Will was truly weakening the mutated defiled. There was no other way to explain why he had received a boost to his own Will from the death of the Twisted one, when he hadn't personally attacked it a single time. It seemed that covering them in the light of Willpower torch counted as taking part in the fight against these particular mutants.
After the second most powerful threat was defeated Leor turned his attention to the ongoing main battle. The great Highblood Beast had almost been turned completely red from the large amount of blood covering his incredibly durable hide. The Twisted leader of the mutants looked like a smoke bomb that had been placed in a wind tunnel, as the corruption that was released from his skin was swiftly sucked away by the formation the moment it was produced.
With no cloud of corruption to hide in, the Twisted mutant leader was finally made vulnerable to Bones attacks for the first time since the battle started. Leor had glanced over just in time to see the Twisted one realizing it had lost its precious ability, and staring up in fear as a tremendous fist crashed through the air towards it. A sound like a cannonball hitting a sack of vegetables rang out a moment later, and the body of the Twisted one was sent crashing across the hard stone floor in a brutal way.
That single attack was crushing, causing the Twisted leader to struggle as it returned to its feet. With its strange ability stripped away, the mutated Twisted was forced to rely on only its speed to dodge the mighty apes attacks, but Leor knew that was a losing proposition. Bone was too agile and strong for the leader to last long in a straight fight, even if it was an incredibly strong mutant Twisted.
With Bone gaining the upper hand, Leor turned his attention back toward the remaining skirmishes all around him. He took it upon himself to further tilt the battle in his allies favor. Wasting no time, Leor moved toward the closest mutant with his Willpower torch in hand, casting the brilliant light onto the body of the defiled elf.
A similar scene repeated itself as before. The mutant was instantly weakened, and that weakness quickly led to its death when its Beastly opponent seized the upper hand. As soon as Leor felt the familiar sensation of the Willpower growing in his chest, he quickly moved onto the next enemy. He repeated this process again and again, his Willpower rapidly ballooning as he aided in the death of over a dozen mutant defiled.
By the time the last defiled fell, Leor's total Willpower had increased by nearly half once again. The flame of Will inside him had undergone tremendous growth since the young man stepped foot in this fallen realm. From half the size of a clenched fist, it now filled a wide cavity at the center of his chest. Leor was confident that soon he would have enough Willpower to start seeing some of the initial benefits of the 'Body of Will', the state that differentiated Initiates from Willpower Adepts. When the Willpower inside a body becomes large enough to naturally cover a certain area, that area of the body gains subtle benefits, even without actually expending any Will.
For example, if Leor's Will spread to cover both his arms, his arms would be slowly empowered over time from soaking in the magical Will, gaining both strength and durability, so that even without consciously expending his Willpower, Leor would become much stronger.
These benefits were stacking, because he could still use his Willpower to consciously empower his already strengthened limbs, increasing their power once again. This was the reason that Willpower Adepts were so much stronger than Initiates, and the reason that the older an Adept became, the stronger they got. After all, their body would continuously be strengthened by the Willpower it was being bathed in, that process could continue for as long as the Willpower user lived.
Shaking the distracting thoughts from his mind, Leor began rushing toward the final battle. It was incredibly dangerous for him to do so, but it was also dangerous to allow this fight to continue much longer. At any moment more defiled mutants could flood in through the opened gates, so time was of the essence.
Leor poured his newly gained Willpower into the torch, over-fuelling the flame so that it grew to three times its normal size. This way he was able to project the light much further, and remain at a relatively safe distance from the deadly struggle.
The moment the Willpower infused light hit the terrible Twisted leader, the creature rapidly turned its rage filled red eyes to face Leor. A look of pure hatred filled the defiled monster's menacing face as it stared him down. Leor's heart skipped a beat in the next instant as the Twisted mutant leader opened its great grey wings and took flight.
Leor was sure that the monster was coming to kill him, staring in shock as it flitted through the air in his direction. All he could do was hold his torch up high and prepare to defend himself with his weapon. Taking a deep trembling breath to stoke his courage, Leor watched as the Twisted fiend passed right by above him.
Confusion began to fill his features as Leor continued to watch the creature fly deeper into the mountain fortress. After realizing it wasn't after him, Leor thought it might have decided to flee, but if that was the case it was moving in the wrong direction! A heartbeat later a feeling of pure dread filled Leor's heart as he watched the Twisted mutant leader swoop down toward Rynn and Drelk.
The old elf had just awoken from his unconscious state, but it was clear that he was heavily wounded. He was barely able to lift his heavily aged head when the Twisted one landed lightly beside him. All the Beasts in the mountain fortress let out enraged cries as they rushed toward the injured Drelk. The old elf was like a father to many of them, and they would do anything to protect him.
However, it was no use. The Twisted one was too fast, and it had been allowed to reach Drelk's side before any of the Beasts even knew what was happening. Leor watched in despair as the vicious blood soaked claws reached down toward Drelk's body. However, the monster's hand moved right past the elf, wrapping around the delicate waist of the terrified Rynn.
Leor's eyes shot open as he watched the Twisted mutant take flight once again, carrying young Rynn with him into the air.
"C-Close the gates!" Leor screamed, but there was just no time. The mutant leader flashed through the air with terrible speed, disappearing into the night sky before anyone could move to stop him. All that remained was the distant sound of Rynn's desperate screams as she was taken further away into the darkness.