Fuck it, I got a sec.
[ KILL & BE KILLED ] - Final Event (LIVE)
Remaining Participants: 2,472,613
Titan's Path: Northeast (38,146.2m)
Eliminations: 119
Time Until Catastrophic Tectonic Shift: 3:12:49
Damn, people are still dropping like flies.
Dangling from my grappling hook wrapped around the thick, silver-leaved tree, I wondered if anyone else was killing hundreds, possibly a thousand mindless zombies for absolutely zero credit. Honestly I hope not, because it's for the most part gotten old really, really quickly. I've spent the last hour leading the charge into massive hordes, where periodically Korbin and Cassi would call for a stop to clear the area and regenerate our mana pools. The severe lack of living enemies meant none of our kills resulted in a big blast of health and mana, but rather a disgusting spray of dark sludgy fluid.
Of course, where the zombies axcel in numbers, they absolutely lack in individual resiliency, because they're fuckin' glass builds. It takes maybe three regular slashes to a vital point to kill them, but a decapitation was typically a one-shot. With my current endurance sitting comfortably above 80, the 800+ stamina pool that comes with it makes for regular, manaless combat more a means to pass the time than exercise. That also means while Cassi and Korbin have to rest, I can choose to meditate or not. Which of course I'd normally be, if it wasn't for the only thing that's made this constant plunder deeper into this slowly dying silver forest interesting…
*rustle*
My head snapped around to face the disturbance rustling the branches behind me. Korbin and Cass both lay asleep tied to their respective branches, expediting the natural mana and stamina regeneration process. Which meant I had to keep watch for whoever or…whatever has been tracking us since we broke through into the forest. I told the other two immediately, and Cassi has already managed to spot glowing white eye sockets whisk through the forest from her Spectral Eye at a prior rest point since.
"Well, our well conditioned point-man got it, right Tom?" Korbin sarcastically asked, patting my shoulder twice as he headed for another nap. I wondered if they ever get groggy from waking up, searching mad murdering, then sleeping again. Actually…I kind of know exactly how disorienting that can be. Still, Cassi unironically agreed with Korbin, which of course meant I really am their designated nap-sitter. It'd been pretty uneventful the last two times I'd watched them take their little 8 minute power naps, though they felt longer and increasingly boring each time. Whoever's watching us from above have also been far more active when all three of us are moving, which marks this disturbance as all the more concerning.
*snap*
The crack of a twig shifted my attention across the dying silvery forest, this time finding a few zombies moseying about down there. With a sigh, I let my momentum spin me around while still hanging from my grapple hook. Peering below out of curiosity, a pair of massive white eyes pierced into mine from within a mess of brush tucked under the shadow of a towering tree. Then, I retracted my hook and landed along Korbin and Cassi's branch, shaking them awake. Cassi unwrapped the braided vines tying her to the tree, pulling a single loop to unravel the knot. Korbin however just burned his vines off, though they each took about the same amount of time to get to their feet.
"I thought we said to wake us in an emergency. Nobody's deader than they were when I laid down, Tom." Korbin said after scanning the area battle ax in hand. Looking back down off the branch, the white glowing orbs were no longer visible.
"Whoever's been on us got real close, l didn't want to leave you hanging if they made a move." I replied quasi-defensively.
"I'm not so sure they're going to." Cassi said, stowing her staff on her back before it disappeared assumedly into her storage space.
"Elaborate, because you called these necromancers inhumane sadistic slavers not so long ago." Korbin firmly requested.
"It's not them. At least none that I saw, though there were easily a dozen of those freaks gathered at once when my Spectral Eye floated in." Cassi cooly replied, furrowing her brow clearly mulling something over in her head.
"But…most of those things I saw defending them looked totally different from each other outside of basic anatomical similarities. It's possible one of whatever those things are is our white-eyed tracker." Cassi proposed after a few silent seconds.
"Oh, so then they'd basically have an army of specialists on their side in that case. No worries." Korbin sarcastically replied with a chuckle.
"Something like that. Not all of them looked equally as lucid or agile as the next either, so there's a chance there's some factor that's creating power gaps amongst them." Cassi replied earnestly, still staring into the abyss clearly using all of her brain.
"I think we're forgetting that whatever it is got within striking distance while you two slept, and I'm not sure it cares if I see it anymore." I interjected their pondering, wondering if I'm crazy for having a sense of urgency on their behalf.
"Good. Hopefully they make their move before we reach those necromancers." Korbin replied with a casual grin.
"I'm good on all my resource pools if you two are." Cassi added, pointing down toward the forest floor hurrying us off the tree. I looked back at Korbin, who gestured for me to go ahead as well.
"…fine." I said, leaping off the silvery branch while firing my grapple hook up and around its bark. The rope wound taut several feet before crashing atop a rotten stump protruding from the dark forest soil. Recalling my hook and falling down with a soft crunch of dried leaves under my boot, I slowly crept my way eastward while scanning the trees. The whole forest itself has steadily grown more deathly and rotten as we continued piercing deeper into its depths, as did the volume of dark clouds blocking out the sunlight. Meaning the three pairs of glowing eyes, two peering around a pair of trees and one standing high in the treeline were more like truckers headlights illuminating the forest.
Sighing, I shook my head in frustration before slapping my blades together, crackling a jagged Lightning Bolt directly at one of the sets of eyes on the ground. As the bolt burned straight through the figure's shoulder, an ear-shattering screech immediately followed as its eyes flicked skyward. Slamming my palms to my ears from under my blade grips, I backed against the tree I'd leapt from and fought desperately to keep my focus. All my thoughts instinctively screamed for me to get as far away from this noise as possible, the rattling in my chest slowly pressing onto my very lungs. Fighting to create a portion of silence in my thoughts, I managed to keep my eyes open as the constant grating vocalization rang on.
*BANG*
All at once, the piercing screeches abruptly cut out under the roaring impact of Korbin's fireball, lighting the rotting tree beside the shrieking creature. The flames consumed the tree up to its branches before the fire abruptly extinguished with no clear explanation.
"So that was fuckin' annoying, huh?" Korbin asked after rolling across the leaves covering the ground. Cassi landed firmly on her feet behind him with a large splash of water mana. Peering back at her however, my peripheral kept catching new bright glowing orbs illuminating behind her. They continued to pop up from the shadows in twos, until it felt like the forest itself had awoken.
"We're close." Cassi said in a low voice while brandishing her bo staff. Knowing she'd already scouted into their camp, I readied my blades and entered my fighter's stance. The glowing eyes shifted and dashed around us, none daring to advance first. None, except the first pair of eyes glaring down at us from high in the trees. The eyes bolted into a glimmer of light, revealing its pale, stretched skin before the humanoid creature leapt fully from its branch directly above me. My eyes tracked its movement thoroughly while shuffling out from its path, spotting the glimmer of two lengthy curved daggers held backwards in their long, bony fingers.
With a shuffle of my feet, my blade sliced across the white-eyed creature's long, stringy tricep. Its eyes locked onto mine as a dark fog permeated from its body.
"Come on man, you couldn't hold it?" I said, pressing two fingers to my nose. The humanoid creature's head tilted to the side as several other white eyed, lanky beasts emerged from the surrounding eyes. None of them were the same builds outside of the stretched skin and lanky arms, the majority trotting in on all fours using their incredibly long arms. A flash of orange flames immediately cooked one into a dismembered crisp, causing the other new challengers to frenzy toward Korbin. Before I could turn to provide assistance however, their apparent leader dashed in front of my path wafting its expanding dark cloud with it. I glared at the creature's face, only now noticing the smooth, hollow cavity where its nose ought to be. Yet, outside of the grey, stretched skin, I could unmistakably recognize a look of genuine sadness in its expression.
"The fuck are you, dude?" I asked, looking down at the unmistakable get up of a rogue. The thin cloth lining flexible leather armor at their vital points, only the collar was shredded and stained a dark red. Without a word, its blades rose up into a fighter's stance, their footwork exuding a conviction their eyes severely lacked. Unwilling to leave my friends hanging at the expense of talking to practically myself, lightning mana curled around my arms shooting out from the tips of my slapping blades. The creature's foot planted hard the moment I shifted, dashing into its own dark fog. My Lightning Bolt created a small hole as it ripped through the fog, just barely glimpsing its fellow humanoid creature suffering a bolt to the ribs before the fog resealed.
Great, not another shadow-prick.
My eyes darted up in search for a branch, hoping to grapple my way out of this cloud of darkness surrounding me, only to find the cloud had risen much higher than I thought. Dirt kicked up from my side, alerting me to shuffle the opposite way. Sure enough, a pair of beaming white eyes were mere inches from me when I landed a brutal elbow, twisting between their daggers thrusting up toward my chest.
*BOOM*
A burst of orange light illuminated the fog and crashed several feet behind me, the heat wafting against my back. I peeked behind me and noticed the cloud had been dispersed, as I could clearly see Cassi and Korbin fighting back to back against several other noseless monsters.
"Curious." A low, raspy voice whispered, returning my attention to the sad eyed, noseless creature leaking dark clouds. Its body had already leaned forward, leaping off all fours with its daggers in hand. Reading its Flow, I noticed it was overcommitting to the overhead stab from way too far away, electing to feign my parry and shuffle off its center line instead. My eyes nearly leapt from their sockets watching as a burst of jagged purple lightning rippled from the end of the creature's daggers as they curved back up where my neck would have been. Feeling an unexpected amount of anger at seeing this, I immediately countered their whiffing stab with an uncharged Lightning Strike. By the time my blade found its destination however, the creature had continued its momentum into its dark cloud, making my blade harmlessly phase through its no longer corporeal form.
"Really? Lightning AND shadow affinity? And I thought I had it good." I teased, hoping to draw them out sooner so I can get back to helping Korbin and Cassi. Though it weren't for their insane numbers advantage, I may not need to rush so terribly. The noseless creature remained silent, besides the whooshing of its shadowy fog whipping around me. The stench of mildew mixed with parchment filled the air, one I'd entirely blame on this agile creature if I hadn't recognized it from somewhere.
*snap*
My blade twisted back, tracking the insane buzzing of energy vibrating the hair on my arms. A surge of lightning mana spiraled around my forearm as I deflected away the creature's long thrusting dagger, the rush feeling new yet oddly familiar. Reading the creature's Flow, I stabbed forward toward the creature's hip. A flash of purple lightning bursted around its second lanky arm as it jutted up from under the tall humanoid's knees. My blade slid through its elbow pit, bouncing off its elbow bone from the inside as I feigned a slash with my other harm. The creature ducked in response, not even acknowledging its arm dangling at its hip.
*CRACK*
It was an odd feeling, my knee bouncing off a face with no nose cartridge. Though it did seem to amplify the sound as the creature's head snapped back as it staggered a moment. Unwilling to let it slip back into its own fog, Ripple Stride brought me right up to its face as I threw a stiff calf kick. The creature tripped on its own foot slapping into the other, giving me the gap I needed to land a Lightning Strike though its neck. The creature's throat bursted as it struggled to keep its head up with the severe lack of muscles left. As I stepped forward to slice off the monster's head entirely, I noticed an odd look of joy in its expression.
"…see you soon." It whispered, causing dark blood to jet from its leaking neck wound. My blade cut straight its brittle spinal cord, twisting me back into a sprint through the fog toward my friends. A flash of bright flames consumed my vision as I dashed through the darkness, forcing me to leap over the burning silver tree. Cassi and Korbin split up, Korbin in a constant retreat placing his traps around the forest floor leaving several white-eyed creatures brutally ripping their hands and legs off to escape. Cassi however was on the offensive, chasing one of Korbin's creatures after fluidly bashing her staff into a couple others skulls.
As I sprinted over to help deal with their lanky, noseless pests, the memory of dozens of eyes surrounding us played in my head as I scanned around. Sure enough, dozens of those creatures poured in from every side.
Fuck…alright, 'point-man'.
Preparing myself mentally, I changed course toward the largest group of creatures and fired a Lightning Bolt at their frontman. The bolt cut cleanly through their face, and three other creatures trailing behind them before fizzling out. Sliding under a wild swing of a massive broadsword in the hands of a big armed, potbellied creature that still lacked a visible means for smelling. The beast of a humanoid had on a portion an armor set, rocking a thick metal chest piece while lacking one gauntlet, a helm and greaves.
Decapitating one scrawny unarmed creature and spin kick another mid-sprint, my momentum dropped down as I slid under the tanky humanoid's swiping broadsword. With a quick Flow Strike, my blade sunk into its furthest ankle, piercing out of their muscular calf as I slid past. The tank tried turning around for a second strike as I popped up, allowing me to yank one blade hard. Their ankles clashed together as the chain wrapped around both their feet, knocking the tank down face first. My blade twisted around in my hand as I went to stab the tank through the back of the neck, when its massive arms tossed its body weight up in the air. The angle change sent my blade careening off his body armor, knocking my arm back as the tank chomped its jaws at me.
*BAM*
Cassi's boot smashed into the tank's jaw as she glided by, twisting and smashing her staff into a second creature's skull in a single motion. Jabbing my blade into his neck, I leapt across the tank's back, avoiding another pale noseless humanoid and ripping my second blade free from the squirming tank's ankle. Deflecting away a short sword slashing in from the side, I leapt back across the tanks backside, feeling the cold metal on their armor press against my scars as the tank popped up to their feet. Its arm swung back, the air pressure from its swipe nearly pushing me over as I slipped to the side. Gripping my blade's hilt, I pulled hard, freeing the one still pierced into the tank's neck and sending even more dark red blood spewing across the forest. The tank let out a gargled cry, one that had a mixture of rage and… anguish.
The pale, white-eyed tank dropped into a full sprint, but not before I watched a single tear drop from their eyelid. Leaping the side, my blades slapped together, sending a bolt ripping through the Tank's cheek popping their skull like a rotten fruit. A thinner, more feral acting humanoid creature leapt on top of my boots before I could kip up, instead getting themselves launched up into the air. Pressing my elbow off the soil, a single slash decapitated the pale, noseless creature. My boots kicked its corpse away as its head bounced off my chest before finally kipping up to my feet. My eyes fluttered as I backed inside of Korbin's orange dome, landing a stab to another pale humanoid's stomach as I shuffled back.
"Oh, he is alive!" Korbin hollered from my backside, followed by a strong gust of wind as a stone spear pierced into the humanoid at the end of my blades' skull. Twisting around, corpses disappeared one by one across the blood-splattered forest floor around Korbin and Cassi as they continued wiping out the lanky, noseless creatures.
"Raaghm sorry!" A guttural voice screeched behind me. Spinning on my heel, I rested a blade above my skull as I stabbed the leaping humanoid through the temple. Their body fell limp instantly, allowing me to toss them off my blade in one motion before their body weight fell onto my wrist. I shuffled into a spot splitting Korbin and Cassi, panning around to locate which of the countless humanoids closing in around Korbin's dome would die first.
"AAAGHH!!!" A wild howl echoed across the air itself, immediately causing every single humanoid to freeze and turn toward its source somewhere further east. Seeing my chance, I Ripple Strided to the border of the dome walls and stabbed my blade through the back of two pale humanoid's brittle skulls. Both of them collapsed instantly, yet the ones surrounding them didn't even flinch. After a brief pause, I leaned forward to continue cutting them down when every single white-eyed humanoid took off into the forest at once.
"What?! Oh come ON, no way you're that fucking lame!" Korbin yelled angrily, tossing a pair of fireballs after the fleeing humanoids. Cassi walked up next to me, her heavy breathing giving way her approach.
"That…was those things I was telling you about." She said, taking a long breath to steady her tired speech.
"I'm sure, it's a shame that gave zero indication as to what the fuck they are." I said, staring into the forest.
"Well, about that." Cassi began, taking a step back and dropping her eyes.
"Yeah?" I asked through narrow eyes.
"I wasn't sure before because, well, it didn't make sense, but I thought I'd seen one…transform into one of those from my Spectral Eye. But it didn't look like any of the other ones at the camp, so I waited until I could at least find enough physiological variants before reporting it." Cassi rattled off, slowly losing me with every unnecessary detail.
"Fucking english, Cassi. What were those?" I replied, shaking my head frustrated.
"They were people." Korbin coldly interjected, wearing a disappointed indifference similar to a pouting child as he walked back to us.
"Ha-ha, hilarious Korbin." I said, shaking my head with a grin as I turned back to Cassi. Her increased glancing around to avoid my eyes quickly killed that confidence however, as I took a step into her eyeline.
"That is hilarious, right?" I asked her, waiting very patiently for a response.
"…we should rest quickly, we're almost there."