Leor didn't hold any delusions about his usefulness in such a desperate fight. His weak human body, along with his meager Watchmen's Polearm, was not going to make any difference against such overwhelming numbers. No, the most important thing for him to do now was send every drop of Willpower he could generate into his Willpower torch, while trying not to die. That was the best way for Leor to help his friends now.
He needed to keep the flame burning brightly, but also be careful to ration his Willpower reserves, so that he didn't run dry before the battle ended. Wasting all his Will in the first few minutes of the long struggle would be a deadly mistake. He also needed to avoid empowering his body, or even his weapon. That Willpower would be far more useful in the form of radiating light, weakening everything that attacked them.
Still, Leor made the flame burn far brighter than he could normally sustain. He did so for an obvious reason. He knew that he would be receiving a constant flow of new Willpower soon, from every single mutant they destroyed. So, as long as the fight continued he could keep the torch's flame burning especially bright.
The flickering white flame above his head rippled with an almost sacred radiance as it grew to three times the size of a common torch light. The oversized fire in the young man's hand almost looked comical, but the mutant defiled would not be laughing when they stepped inside its glow.
The first wave of enemies crashed against Bone's crushing blows, sending blood and bodies flying in all directions. Just behind bone stood the old grey wolf, carefully guarding the great apes' backside from any mutants that attacked him from the rear. Just behind old grey to the left and right stood Alina and Thale, sealing the passage to prevent any enemy from reaching Leor or the injured Drelk resting closest to the wall.
Somehow the mix of unlikely companions managed to form up into a workable defensive formation, all out of pure instinct and cooperation. Bone would stand out front, using his great might to break the enemies charge, and forcing them into a bitter melee. The grey wolf would serve as the second line, supporting the mighty ape from behind and preventing him from becoming overwhelming. Alina and Thale would do the same for the old wolf, and they all would use their bodies to protect Leor, whose incredible Willpower infused light was their greatest advantage.
Just as the battle began in earnest, Leor watched old Drelk pull a strange golden herb from the pocket of his flowing robe. The herb was familiar to Leor, because it was one of the high quality spiritual herbs that he used his Willpower talent to save from defilement. He watched the old elf send a powerful flood of Will into the herb, then without hesitation he smashed it against the ground with all the might his thin old arms could muster.
The scene that followed was incredibly unusual. Instead of being crushed, the spiritual herb completely transformed into a plume of golden vapor, as if it had been made of water that struck against a burning fire. Drelk let out a pained grimace after making the heavy movement, his body was truly too injured to be doing such a physical task, but the old dark elf forced himself to endure as he used the Will he had injected into the herb to control the plume of golden mist.
Leor watched as the mist split into three clouds, then wrapped itself around the bodies of Alina, old grey, and especially Bone, who received the largest portion by far. The golden mist seemed to react instantly to the Beastly bodies, sinking into their skin with a glimmer and leaving their bodies with a slight golden glow.
Drelk saw Leor's curious gaze and let out a satisfied chuckle.
"That herb can increase the might of a Beast for a few hours. Now there are only two left in existence, such a pity that I am forced to use it now. I'm not as useless as you thought, am I boy!? Ha!" Drelk grimaced again as he held his aching ribs, forced to stop speaking to endure the sudden surge of pain.
Leor looked back at the ongoing battle in curiosity, watching as Bone's already crushing blows became even stronger. The great ape threw himself into the wave of defiled, an angry roar escaping his large mouth as he pounded his enemies bodies into the ground.
By now a constant rush of Willpower was entering Leor's chest every few seconds, it was almost more than the young man could endure. His limbs soon started to tremble from the overwhelming surge. All he could think to do to ease the discomfort was direct the Will right into the Torch in his hand. That made the already large flame above his head grow even brighter, becoming a tower of fire that reached a few feet above the young man's head.
A half dozen mutants had slipped past Bone by now, and collided headfirst into the other three defenders. Old grey snarled and snapped his mighty jaws, tearing through one defiled after another, but the old wolf could not hold a candle to the crushing might of the great ape.
Alina moved with stunning speed, it was clear that the golden herb had enhanced her already potent feline reflexes. She moved her body like an acrobatic dancer as her rapier became her deadly claws, stabbing and slicing her way through any defiled that came her way.
Watching Thale fight was the most interesting surprise to Leor. The once mutated dark elf seemed to be far stronger than anyone had given him credit for. His glowing red eyes trailed through the flickering light as he spun his body to generate tremendous force, sending it all into the heavy steel mace in his hands. It was obvious at a glance that the young Dark elf had been a well trained fighter in his previous life, perhaps a member of a noble family like Alina's that trained him from birth.
But even so, that didn't explain the power he was able to generate in each of those strikes. The mutants that moved toward Thale faced almost as gruesome a death as the ones who strayed too close to Bone. The silver metal mace in the young elf's hand was flanged at the top, allowing all the force of each blow to be directed into the tips of those steel flanges. When his mace crashed against the bodies of the defiled mutants, it turned whatever area it hit into a morbid mash of flesh and blood. Moreover, the dark elf seemed to expertly maneuver so that each of his strikes was a critical hit. His blows landed against the kneecaps, necks, or skulls of his enemies, ruthlessly destroying their ability to fight back in a single strike.
The gruesome struggle continued for a few minutes, as the group of companions quickly laid waste to the first wave of mutants. Leor's chest continued to burn from the intense feeling of being flooded with Will, the young man had never experienced anything like it in his life. Already the Will inside him was beginning to press up against the limits of his chest, forcing its way out into his arms and neck.
As Alina ran her rapier through the chest of her opponent, landing the killing blow on the last mutant of the wave, a temporary lull in combat was created. For a moment, only the sound of deep and laborious breathing filled the small blood-soaked portion of the cave. The group was given a few merciful seconds to recover as they waited for the next wave to arrive. It wouldn't be long, the stampede-like sound of the horde of mutants moving through the dark cave toward them had only grown louder over the last few minutes.
Leor gripped his chest tightly with his free hand as he took in one deep breath after another. The young man never imagined that he would one day be grateful to stop gaining Willpower, but he was right now. The current circumstance was an anomaly that might have never happened before in the entire history of Willpower cultivation.
In order to gain Willpower from a defiled creature, the Willpower user needed to directly and materially assist in the creature's defeat. Having a Willpower talent as an early Initiate that could do such a thing on a large scale was impossibly rare. Even Leor's talent could not normally do such a thing, it was only because of the strangeness of the defiled mutants that made such a thing possible.
The few seconds of reprieve greatly improved Leor's condition. The terrible burning in his chest faded into a numb ache as his Willpower finished the process of expanding, then settled into its new form. As the mass of Willpower in his chest integrated with his being, Leor felt a sudden rush of energetic might filling his body like he'd never experienced before. Observing his own condition, Leor quickly understood what was happening. He had just crossed over the unofficial threshold that separated the early Initiates from those who were considered mature and experienced Initiates.
Leor had gained so much Willpower that he passed over the halfway point between Initiates and Adepts. He was now closer to becoming an Adept than he was to the early Initiate he had once been when he arrived in this realm.
By now, the few seconds of fragile peace had ended, and the next wave of defiled mutants could be seen moving through the tenebrous cave towards them. Unfortunately, this time it wasn't just a few dozen low tier defiled.
Leor clenched his teeth tightly in dread as the feeling of a powerful defiled Willpower spread over his body. Among the ranks of enraged creatures rushing towards them was a mutant Twisted. It wasn't a lesser Twisted, either, the corrupted black mist seeping from its skin was proof of that.