The bolt hit the lead ghoul center mass, arcing to two others. Electricity jumped between rotting flesh, the smell of burning tissue mixing with the wasteland's ambient decay.
[Blighted Ghoul HP: 3,400 → 2,650]
[Blighted Ghoul HP: 3,400 → 2,780]
[Blighted Ghoul HP: 3,400 → 2,820]
Seven hundred damage on the primary target. Five to six hundred on secondary hits. Good damage, but not enough to eliminate.
Samael's kinetic compression hit next. The invisible force crushed inward, targeting all six ghouls simultaneously. Bodies crumpled, bones snapping under pressure.
[Blighted Ghoul HP: 2,650 → 1,830]
[Blighted Ghoul HP: 2,780 → 2,010]
[Blighted Ghoul HP: 2,820 → 2,050]
Eight hundred damage to the weakened target. Seven to eight hundred on the others.
The ghouls kept coming.
Riri shadow-stepped into range, Desert Viper's Fang finding the first ghoul's exposed spine. The blade sank deep. Poison activated on critical hit.
[Critical Hit! Blighted Ghoul HP: 1,830 → 1,340]
[Poison Applied - 80 DPS for 10 seconds]
She withdrew and shadow-stepped back before the ghoul could retaliate. Loki hit the same target, jaws closing around its throat. The wolf's new armor absorbed a retaliatory claw strike that would have torn through flesh.
[Blighted Ghoul HP: 1,340 → 620]
Vermillion's crimson threads wrapped around three ghouls, HP drain pulsing. The butterflies pulled life force in steady increments, distributing it to Riri and her companions.
[HP Drain - 60 per second × 3 targets]
The first ghoul collapsed, Loki's assault finishing what the poison had started.
[Enemy Defeated: Blighted Ghoul - Level 24 - Elite]
[Experience gained: 2,340 (×3 multiplier applied)]
Five remaining. Combat time: forty-three seconds.
Vesper shadow-stepped between targets, claws finding weak points. Kirin struck again from above, lightning hitting two ghouls that had clustered together. Samael's kinetic strikes eliminated threats with surgical precision.
Two minutes later, all six ghouls lay dead.
[Pack Eliminated]
[Experience gained: 14,040 total]
[Survival Timer: 07:57:12]
Three minutes of combat. Eight hours minus three minutes left.
"Efficient," Samael said. His MP bar had dropped by two hundred points—kinetic barrier maintenance plus combat usage. "But Elite packs will spawn faster as corruption increases."
"How much faster?"
"Stage 2 starts at the two-hour mark. Spawn rate doubles. Stage 3 at four hours, spawn rate triples." His gaze tracked the horizon. "By Stage 4, we'll be fighting continuously."
Riri checked her own resources. HP: full thanks to Vermillion. MP: 1,890/1,950. Stamina: 498/566.
Good position. But eight hours was a long time.
They moved forward. The wasteland offered no cover, no terrain advantage. Just cracked earth and ambient corruption that would slowly kill them if they stopped moving.
Fifteen minutes passed. Another pack appeared.
[Blighted Ghoul Pack - 8 enemies]
More than before. Larger group, same Level 24 Elite classification.
"Formation," Samael said.
They executed the same pattern. Kirin's opening lightning strike. Samael's kinetic compression. Riri and Loki cleaning up survivors while Vermillion provided HP drain coverage.
Combat time: three minutes, twenty seconds.
Thirty minutes into deployment, they'd cleared three packs. Twenty-two Elite enemies eliminated. Experience accumulating steadily.
[Survival Timer: 07:28:45]
[Environmental Corruption: Stage 1 - Minor DoT]
Riri drank water from her inventory and checked companion status. Loki: full HP, Stamina at 82%. Kirin: full HP, Stamina at 76%. Vesper: full HP. Vermillion: collective consciousness stable.
Everyone operational. No injuries. Resources holding steady.
"This is manageable," she said.
"For now." Samael's attention stayed on the horizon. "Stage 2 will change that."
They kept moving. The wasteland's terrain never changed—same cracked earth, same bruised sky, same ambient wrongness that made her skin crawl.
Hour one passed. Then ninety minutes.
At the two-hour mark, the corruption intensified.
[ENVIRONMENTAL CORRUPTION ADVANCING]
[Stage 1 → Stage 2]
[New Effect: -8 HP per minute (24 HP per minute outside barrier)]
[New Spawn Rate: Elite packs every 8-10 minutes]
[Warning: Corruption will continue advancing]
The air thickened. The chemical taste became sharper. Riri's debuff icon changed color from yellow to orange.
"Barrier's mitigating most of it," Samael said. His MP bar had dropped by eight hundred points—two hours of sustained barrier maintenance. "But I'm burning through Mana faster now."
He pulled a Greater Mana Potion from inventory and drank it in one go.
[MP: 1,156 → 1,656]
Five hundred MP restored. Enough to sustain the barrier for another ninety minutes before he'd need a second potion.
Movement ahead. Multiple shapes this time.
[Blighted Ghoul Pack - 12 enemies]
Twelve. The spawn rate had increased, but so had the pack size.
"Kirin, prioritize clustering," Samael said. "We need them tight for compression."
The drake responded immediately. Lightning struck the center of the pack, drawing ghouls together through shared damage. Samael's kinetic force hit while they were grouped.
The compression was massive. Twelve bodies crushed inward simultaneously, the sound of snapping bone echoing across the wasteland.
[Blighted Ghoul HP: 3,400 → 2,210]
[Blighted Ghoul HP: 3,400 → 2,340]
Riri shadow-stepped into the weakened cluster, Desert Viper's Fang finding targets. Poison stacked on five ghouls before she withdrew. Loki tore through three more, his reinforced armor absorbing retaliatory strikes. Vermillion's HP drain wrapped around the survivors.
Combat time: four minutes, fifteen seconds.
Twelve Elite enemies down.
[Experience gained: 28,080]
[Survival Timer: 05:54:33]
They'd passed the halfway point. Four hours down, four to go.
Samael checked his MP. "Third potion in thirty minutes."
"I'm good on HP and Stamina." Riri's resources were holding better than expected. Vermillion's drain kept her HP stable. Her Constitution investment meant Stamina depletion was slower.
Another pack spawned six minutes later.
Then another eight minutes after that.
The pattern continued. Combat, brief rest, more combat. Pack sizes varied between ten and fifteen enemies. Kirin's Stamina started dropping below 50% at the four-and-a-half-hour mark.
"Ground him," Riri said. "We can't risk exhaustion."
Kirin descended, landing heavily on cracked earth. His wings folded, electricity still crackling along his scales but aerial support no longer available.
Four hours, forty-three minutes into deployment, Stage 3 hit.
[ENVIRONMENTAL CORRUPTION ADVANCING]
[Stage 2 → Stage 3]
[New Effect: -15 HP per minute (45 HP per minute outside barrier)]
[New Spawn Rate: Elite packs every 4-6 minutes]
[Warning: Final corruption stage at 7-hour mark]
The corruption damage tripled. Even inside Samael's barrier, Riri's HP dropped fifteen per minute. Vermillion's drain compensated, but the margin was tighter now.
And the spawn rate had doubled again. Four to six minutes between packs meant continuous combat with minimal recovery time.
"This is where it gets hard," Samael said. His fourth Mana Potion went down. MP restored to functional levels, but the consumption rate was accelerating.
Pack after pack hit them. Fifteen enemies. Eighteen enemies. Twenty-one enemies in one massive cluster that required Kirin's full lightning output plus Samael's kinetic compression just to create manageable targets.
Combat time stretched. Five minutes per pack. Then six. The sheer volume of enemies meant elimination took longer even with perfect execution.
Riri's Stamina dropped below 50%.