The beast that had climbed the tree dropped down to the ground. It ran away into the bushes. The other forest beasts surrounding the giant tree did the same. They had all run away at the sight of the new player.
Only the new horror in front of them remained. It walked toward the giant tree that housed the group. Each step caused the branches to tremor.
Its skin was a frankentstein of who knows what. Part leather, part scales, part human skin, and feathers jutted out at random areas all around. Its mouth was circular like a worm's. Rows of teeth lined up until its throat showed whenever it opened its mouth.
The beast in front was the most disgusting and twisted one he'd seen so far in this hellhole that trumps even the stupidest of the books he's ever read and he's read some really weird ones.
It was even worse than the forest predators. At least those had some semblance of an animal. This one clearly came out of a nightmare.
The monster reached the base of the tree, wrapping its limb around the trunk.
"Everyone, climb as high as you can, now!!" Gale shouted.
No one questioned him, and they all immediately grabbed at the rough bark, climbing up as fast as they could. Rachel quickly pulled herself up while Ollie followed behind closely.
Annett looked back at Anna, who couldn't find any footholds on the bark. She pulled the woman to her back, "Hold on tight."
Alex was nimble. Her dexterity and small stature allowed her to easily climb and hold onto the bark to climb herself up.
Dmitry, on the other hand, was slow and falling behind. He was old, and his hands shook as he tried to pull up his body with every handhold he grabbed.
This tree dwarfed the other trees, providing them lots of room to climb up. But what was the point of it if the creature would eventually just reach the top with them.
Rachel got to the next platform first. A fireball lit up in her hand, then she threw it below, missing the others still climbing.
It hit, but only slowed the creature exactly for one second. It didn't even look burnt, granted its fur and scales already look black.
"Save your strength!" Gale called out to Rachel. "We need to get higher!"
The group kept climbing. Wood cracked below as the creature broke through branches. Its smell grew stronger—decay, piss, sweat, and shit all blended together in an unholy concoction.
Gale glanced at the blue moon up in the sky through the leaves of the canopy. Its blue light was dim, less blue than when it was awake, if that made sense. It was their only plan to kill the thing below, but there was no time to explain. He just hoped they'd follow his commands for the best.
"Faster!" Gale pushed himself up.
Dmitry wheezed below him, slowing down. Irritation grew in Gale as he watched the old man fall behind. Mundanes.
The creature was close enough to Dmitry's position that he could clearly now add the smell of its breath to the already disgusting blend. From this far, its tooth decay was on full display.
Gale dropped down to where Dmitry struggled.
"What are you doing?!" Rachel yelled.
Gale ignored her. He braced himself against the trunk and grabbed Dmitry by his collar. He grunted, using all his strength to pull and throw the older man all the way up to Rachel's branch.
Dmitry flew upwards. For a moment, his momentum faltered, looking like he wouldn't make it. Then, Rachel grabbed his wrist as he was about to fall, pulling him onto the branch.
For a second, Gale felt relief. And that literally lasted only for a second. The monster roared, bringing him straight back to the nightmare he was in. Now he was the last one, just a couple of feet away from the monster's mouth.
"Gale!" Annett shouted. "What's the plan?"
What else? There was only one thing that could save them from this monster, and that was a bigger monster. He looked between the monster and the blue moon above. They were about to die anyway. This was their only chance.
He jumped up, grabbing a higher branch. His shoulder groaned as he pulled himself up.
"We need to hurt it enough to make it scream, and it's got to be at the top of the tree," Gale said.
The monster had reached the upper branch. Growls suddenly echoed all around, and the forest beasts that had disappeared were back, creating a circular entrapment around the giant tree.
The bad became worse. It possibly couldn't get any worse.
The creature pounced upwards, claw swiping through the air. Gale blocked with his saber. Fingers went numb. His other hand's grip on the tree almost broke.
It tried to attack again, however, the monster looked like it was moving in slow motion. Annett had focused her time-slow on the beast. Ollie's gun fired downwards at the forest beast that surrounded the tree, now daring to climb up.
A fireball hit the monster square in the face, and it groaned loudly, but only for half a second. For a second, Gale had seen its eyes glance at the blue moon. It knew what they were trying to do.
Fucking hell. It was smart. He needed another way to make the monster scream loud enough for the blue moon to take notice.
He pulled out a bone knife and pounced downwards, slashing against the beast's flank as he dropped, then pushed the bone knife into the tree to stop himself.
The monster only let out a low growl, too quiet.
Gale once again launched himself upward, trying for another slash, deeper this time.
The creature's tail whipped around, hitting Gale. The blow sent him flying up much more than he anticipated. He was airborne, unable to dodge.
The monster saw its chance. It jumped, mouth open. He could see every detail of its teeth and smell its putrid breath.
It was the end. Probably.
A waterfall of fire hit the monster, filling his view with nothing but red. Rachel dropped down to Gale, putting herself between him and the monster.
She blocked a swipe from the beast, pushing her back.
A gunshot rang out, hitting the eye of the monster.
Gale saw his chance. He pounced to the underbelly of the beast. He steadied himself with the knife and then used all of his strength in one punch. He felt his bones groan as his fist made contact with the belly. The beast launched upwards, airborne.
"Rachel, hit it with fire!"
Rachel jumped up, meeting the beast in the air. She pulled her right arm back, then swung.
Fire erupted from her hands. A wall of fire met the airborne monster.
It tried to cover its face, but Gale threw his bone knife right into the butt of the monster. It flinched.
Enough time for the fire to meet the face of the monster, covering it whole.
The beast's skin burned under the heat. It let out a piercing scream of pain. The sound shook the forest, knocking leaves from distant trees.
Suddenly, its cry cut off abruptly. The whole monster became engulfed in a lance of blue light that came from the sky. The blue light faded, and the beast disappeared as if erased with no trace of it.
[Tainted Forest Beast felled.]
[The once faithful sentinel, tainted by the Mohrusy, ravaged the villages with its unending hunger. It was our mission to cleanse the blight.]
[Extracting Origin from prey…]
The moon lazily blinked once and then closed its eyes. The blue light turned into a lighter colour, no longer a deep blue.
"What the f—?" Ollie said.
Annett's knees buckled as she looked above. "The blue moon... it has eyes…"
Gale dropped down to a lower branch. The threat below wasn't solved. All of his muscles screamed at him for some rest after exerting everything he had to that punch that threw the monster into the air. Maybe he even ripped some of his muscles. No time to check.
Below, the forest beasts went crazy. They had started climbing up as soon as the tainted monster disappeared. Snarls drowned out the whole area.
Ollie kept shooting, hitting targets right in the centre of the forehead. But it was like shooting at the ocean. There was no end to the tide of beasts.
"We're running out of time!" Ollie reloaded.
Rachel landed beside Gale. Her breathing was ragged. She was also getting tired. The flames that covered her fists now barely flickered with energy like a candle about to be blown out.
"I can't keep this up much longer," she said.
They didn't have many options. Almost half of their group were no help. If they could fight, then the group might've had a chance.
There has to be a way. Even if life was a sadist, it would give everyone a fair chance and allow for the riddle to be solved.
"Rachel, can you still produce any fire?" Gale asked.
She nodded. "A little. But it's not stable."
"It'll have to do. Annett, how much can you slow them down?"
"I can affect maybe a dozen at a time, but not for long. It drains me," Annett replied.
Gale nodded.
"Ollie needs to conserve his ammo for anything that comes close up. Rachel too. Annett, you slow down any that comes close to the top. That's all you need to do."
"What about you?" Rachel asked.
"As for me…" Without explaining, he dropped down to a lower branch where most of the beasts had climbed up to.
"Gale, stop!" Rachel shouted. "Come back!"
Gale activated Distort. Light bent around him, slightly shrouding his location.
The forest beasts looked at him, hesitating to attack.
Gale focused completely and jumped into the fray, not waiting for the beasts. His focused Phase Touch spread itself around the edge of his sabre.
Time stretched. Time slowed. He saw everything in slow motion, but not because of Annett. Adrenaline spiked up in his system. Breath of the Void kicked in, giving him no blind spot.
One slash to the throat. One beast felled. Each slash felled a beast. The system rang endlessly with each swing of his hands.
An idea hit him then. If Phase Touch could evolve, why not other skills? Distort could bend light.
Gale focused, bringing the refractions closer to him. A slight headache behind his left eye formed. It grew to a painful throbbing headache until he felt like the left side of his brain was about to explode.
Yet he kept on. He focused on bringing in the refraction as close to his skin as possible. Slowly, they moved inwards, causing more confusion in the beasts that were climbing up. Some beasts even fell as they looked at the light distortion happening.
Then finally, Distort touched his skin. The skill had encapsulated him, making him nigh invisible. Only if he moved, would the beasts see a slight hazy silhouette.
[Your Distort increased in proficiency…]
"Gale? Gale! Where are you?" Rachel shouted from above.
The forest beasts paused. He had disappeared, and now they had no one to attack. In that moment, Gale attacked.
He was a ghost. He moved through the monsters, each swing of the sabre hit a vital area with Phase Touch on the edge of the blade.
Forest beasts dropped. It was raining dead bodies the average size of 1.5 garbage trucks. Their deaths were a mystery to their own kind as an invisible monster mowed through them in the tree.
Blood sprayed everywhere, coating Gale's Distorted figure. The blood had formed an outline of him.
The tide panicked. They were all dying and didn't know what killed them. They scrambled down the tree. Most of them just dropped, releasing their hold on the bark.
They ran.
Then, the last beast disappeared into the bushes. Gale's Distort faded, now showing his own battered body covered in blood. His sabre was covered and dripped with black blood.
Silence. He saw the group above, watching. None of them had anything to say.
Rachel moved first. She climbed down slowly.
"Gale, are you ok?"
He couldn't muster the strength to answer before his knees gave out. His muscles convulsed, and he fell off the branch.
The world tilted and the group's faces looked smaller and smaller as he fell.
He saw the leaves pass by. The ground was still far away, far enough that this would probably hurt in the morning. And as he fell, he saw Rachel's face. Her dark red hair was a contrast against the dark greens and blues that passed by.
There were tears in her eyes. Why? They all survived. She should be happy.