The group of would-be rescuers moved through the darkness with all the stealth they could muster. The night air was filled with the chirping of insects and the rustle of wind against the grass, sounds that helped mask their presence. A large grey moon hovered in the night sky, but the heavy corruption in the air made it difficult to see clearly, and very little of its light made it down onto the realm below.
The crystal in Leor's hand guided the group around the base of the great mountain before directing them up its massive slope. As they climbed higher, Leor glanced back toward the plains and nearly stumbled at what he saw. Thousands of red eyes glimmered in the darkness like scattered fireflies across the land. It might have been beautiful if not for the terror it carried.
There were far more mutated defiled than Leor had imagined. He had once hoped they might find a way to wipe them out, but that thought now felt painfully naive. Swallowing hard, he forced his eyes back to the crystal compass in his hand.
They moved like that for nearly an hour, crossing paths with a few wandering mutants they could not avoid as they followed the Twisted across the mountainside. With Bone beside them, any lesser defiled were struck down quickly, never given the chance to raise an alarm.
By now the group had been led to a part of the mountain rarely traveled by the Beasts of Drelk's fortress. For reasons that remained unclear, this stretch of rock and soil bore little vegetation, and there were almost no defiled Beasts to be found here. Because of that, the Beasts had always avoided the area. Even Bone and the old Grey wolf, with all their experience, were unfamiliar with what they might encounter in this place.
What they did find was far different than what they expected. After climbing over an unusually steep hill of rock, the crystal compass drew them toward a fissure that cut straight up and down the mountain's face. It stretched like a scar across the stone, splitting earth and rock alike in its path. The group carefully descended the slope toward its base, then began following the massive crack as it wound upward along the mountain for nearly half a mile.
As they continued to walk along the base of the fissure, they began to encounter defiled mutants at an increasing pace. The group had already dispatched three in the last half hour, as many as they had seen on the entire trip before this combined. When they finally arrived at the topmost region of the massive fissure, they discovered why.
The fissure did not end like one would expect. Instead it turned into the mouth of a gigantic cave, as if a scoop had been taken out of the mountainside, its interior darker than the cloudy nighttime sky. Worse, a group of twelve defiled mutants lingered around the entrance to the cave, and, worst of all, stood the massive bloated form of a Twisted tier mutant defiled. Leor could feel the oppressive Willpower spreading from the creature. It wasn't as terrible as the maggot-like infesting Willpower of the Twisted one who had stolen Rynn, but it still made his skin crawl nonetheless.
This Twisted one had also clearly been a dark elf once upon a time, but now, instead of the slender and lithe body that was common to elves, it had ballooned to a tremendous size. The creature's skin was pulled so tight from overexpansion that it had split in many places, and new grotesque grey flesh had grown to seal those wounds. It wasn't clear why exactly this Twisted had grown into such a form. Its body did not appear to be evolving toward any discernible purpose at first glance.
This clearly wasn't the Twisted they were hunting down, but it was absolutely a powerful defiled. Unlike the lesser Twisted that the Grey wolf had defeated, this one was releasing mutated dark corruption from its bulbous form, just like the powerful mutant who led the attack on the fortress. That meant all the weaker defiled around it would be empowered by its presence.
The group of companions huddled behind a large boulder on the edge of the fissure to hide themselves as they discussed their next move.
"Let's wait a moment, maybe they will leave," Drelk suggested in a barely audible whisper. The old elf was riding on Thale's back, wrapping his sticklike arms around the young elf's neck to hold on.
No one suggested a better idea, so the group waited for a few minutes, cautiously observing the mutants from afar. Over time, some of the weaker defiled wandered away, but the bloated Twisted did not move from the cave's entrance. Finally, after nearly twenty minutes, the number of weaker defiled beside the large Twisted had dwindled down to merely two.
Alina and Leor glanced at Drelk with eagerness in their eyes. It was clear that now would be their best opportunity to strike. After one final check to ensure that everyone was ready, the companions shot out from behind their cover and raced down the short stretch of fissure toward the mouth of the cave.
Bone took the lead, casting off his cloak as he resumed his Beastly form. The elder wolf wasn't far behind him. Leor and Alina stayed close together as they rushed to follow the Beasts, and Thale brought up the rear. The young dark elf's speed was greatly reduced with Drelk on his back, so he made himself useful by scooping up the discarded cloaks to carry them for the two Beasts.
By now the two defiled and the single Twisted had caught sight of the approaching Beasts. The defiled rushed toward the great ape like mindless fools, but the bloated Twisted stood its ground, attempting to block the cave entrance with its massive bulk like some kind of hideous corrupted guardsman.
Bone barely acknowledged the weaker defiled, simply swatting them away as he rushed toward the stronger foe. The grey wolf snapped its jaws around the head of the one that had fallen closest to him, and Alina sent her rapier piercing through the skull of the other. Just like that, only the bloated Twisted remained.
After Bone finally reached his rotund enemy, the mighty ape opened the fight with his favorite attack. Jumping off the ground just before striking distance, Bone connected his hands and brought his two massive fists down like a crushing sledge of meat and muscle. This time the blow connected. There was no sneaky disappearing trick for the portly Twisted.
The sound of smashing flesh and crunching bones spread through the wide fissure, as the Twisted's head was crushed into its own body. Leor clenched his fist in triumph as he watched the monster's huge figure slowly stumble to the side and fall.
A moment later, however, half of the strange grey fleshy patches all around the monster's body exploded outward, exposing a dozen thick red tentacles that reached out nearly twelve feet in length. The body of the Twisted deflated in a grotesque collapse as the tentacles stretched out to claw against the ground, moving the creature forward like a hideous engine. While half of the fleshy patches became tentacles, the other half tore open to become toothy maws, filled with hundreds of razor sharp teeth.
It was clear that even Bone was surprised by the turn of events, standing unsure of how he should respond for just a moment. The large tentacled Twisted began to rapidly shuffle across the floor toward the Highblood Beast like some horrible mixture of a spider and an octopus.
As the Twisted moved toward him, Bone shook off his indecision, a look of angry aggression returning to his ape-like face. The bodies of the two massive foes crashed together like a head on collision, flesh crushing against flesh as they struggled for dominance. Bone slammed his fists against his foe, gnashing his teeth as he ripped large chunks out of the squirming limbs with his powerful jaws.
The tentacled Twisted, however, wrapped its many limbs around Bone like a vise, attaching itself to the Beast's wide chest as it tried to tie down his arms and legs. The dozen tooth filled maws across its body bit and tore at the great Beast's flesh.
The old Grey wolf rushed forward to aid the larger Beast, snapping and pulling at the tentacles to try to free his ally. There wasn't much the rest of the group could do in this situation. The fight going on in front of them was so deadly that they could be killed by a single stray attack.
Alina alone, with her Beastly body and supernatural premonition, had the ability to attempt to help. But even then, her thin rapier was hardly going to make much difference against such a powerful Twisted foe.
Ironically it was only Leor who could come to the aid of the powerful Highblood now. Even though he was one of the weakest members of the group, his incredibly rare Willpower talent made him uniquely qualified. Especially right now, while they were facing mutated defiled creatures, whose sensitivity to light was their greatest weakness.