Veridia from orbit was a lush, green-and-blue world. From the ground, it was a nightmare.
The Corrupted hadn't just invaded—they had infected.
Violet tendrils crawled over fields of golden grain, pulsing like veins. The air, once fresh, now carried the sweet-rot scent of corrupted biomass. Native fauna moved in jerky, puppeteered hordes, their eyes glowing violet.
The dropship landed two klicks from the incursion epicenter—a once-idyllic farming village now dominated by a grotesque, pulsating Corrupted Spire, a tower of flesh and crystalline growth spewing spores into the sky.
"Move!" barked the Gravorg squad leader, his voice like grinding stones.
They advanced under cover of mutated corn stalks. Leyla was in her element—silent, low, her claws sheathed in moonlight. Mira's spatial senses tingled, warning of hidden burrowers.
The first attack came from below.
Corrupted Root-Wyrms burst from the soil, maws lined with vibrating teeth. One latched onto a Gravorg's leg, and the stone-being roared, smashing it to pulp with a fist.
Echo's Error-Sight highlighted weak points—glowing nerve clusters at the base of each worm's skull. "Aim for the neck-joints!"
Leyla moved like liquid death, severing heads. Mira used subtle spatial compression to rupture them from inside. Echo fought with an energy-blade, his movements synced with theirs through the bond.
They cleared the field, but not without cost. One Phase Stalker was dragged underground, his muffled scream cut short.
"The Spire is generating them," Mira panted, wiping violet ichor from her face. "We have to take it down."
The Gravorg leader nodded. "We'll draw the brunt of the defenders. Your team is faster—infiltrate the Spire, find the commander."
It was a suicide distraction. They all knew it. The Gravorgs charged the main tendril defenses, bellowing war-cries, drawing swarms of Corrupted drones.
Echo's team slipped around the flank, toward the base of the fleshy tower.