The cold that had gripped their hearts from the earlier nightmare had not yet dissipated.
The next moment, a more pungent, nauseating stench choked their breaths.
Unlike the decaying odor that permeated the forest, this scent was overpowering, viscous, with the nauseatingly sweet smell of exposed internal organs of some living creature.
Karrion suddenly stopped, his stout form taut as a drawn bowstring.
"Wait," his voice was low, almost squeezed out through clenched teeth. "Something's coming."
The deathly silence of the forest was broken.
It was not the rustling of leaves in the wind, nor the usual movements of wild animals.
It was the heavy, crushing footsteps, accompanied by the squelching sound of something wet dragging across the ground.
And then... a crack, a crack.
The thick, corrupted trees, already twisted, snapped like dry twigs under the weight of some terrifying force.
Thalia's face, beneath her hood, grew even paler. She silently moved half a step closer to Raine, her fingers weaving faint, nearly invisible strands of shadow.
Raine's heart hammered in his chest.
It was not the remnants of the Starry backlash, but a more primal, icy fear—one that came from being locked in the sights of something monstrous.
He followed Karrion's intense gaze.
A massive footprint appeared on the ground.
The print was deeply embedded in the decaying soil, wider than Karrion's entire body, with black, bubbling, viscous liquid oozing from its edges.
Around the footprint, several trees, thick enough to be hugged, were snapped in half, their broken stumps jagged as if some horrific force had violently shattered them.
The stench of rot in the air was almost suffocating.
"Quick! Find cover!" Karrion roared, shoving Raine toward a cluster of dense, twisted black shrubs.
Before the words left his mouth—
"ROAR—!"
A deafening roar split the air, accompanied by a sickening, grinding sound.
The dense forest ahead exploded in a cascade of splintering wood and rotting leaves.
A massive creature charged forward.
It was a creature... impossible to describe.
It had the massive shape of a bear, but its body was not covered in fur, but in thick, chitinous armor, oozing black pus, like melting candle wax dripping down.
Its head was twisted and deformed, resembling not a bear's head, but that of some crawling creature, its gaping mouth filled with layers upon layers of sharp teeth, saliva mixed with the stench of decay dripping from it.
The most revolting feature were its limbs—disproportionately thick, with no claws at the ends but tentacle-like appendages covered in suckers and bone spurs. Each swing of these limbs sliced through the air with a tearing gust.
The beast's back arched high, several large bone spurs pierced through the armor, their tips glowing with an eerie greenish phosphorescence.
A thick, palpable corruption emanated from it, making the very air it passed through seem thick and tainted.
The beast's bloodshot, crimson eyes locked onto the three of them.
It lunged forward with an impossible speed for its massive size, its momentum bringing the full weight of its power crashing down!
"By the beard of the dwarven ancestors!" Karrion roared, not retreating but advancing, planting his stout form firmly in front of the others.
He slammed a kite shield into the ground.
Buzz!
Ancient dwarven runes glowed brightly on the shield's surface, forming a semi-transparent energy barrier that shimmered with a golden light.
Almost as soon as the barrier formed, the corrupted behemoth's appendages came crashing down!
Boom—!
A deafening crash rang out, like a battering ram striking a castle gate.
The rune barrier shook violently, its glow dimming considerably as countless cracks spread across its surface.
Karrion grunted in pain, his legs digging deep into the ground, his arm muscles straining with visible veins popping.
"It's strong!" he gritted his teeth, clutching his warhammer tightly. "Thalia! Its eyes! Raine, find an opening to attack its joints!"
The corrupted behemoth let out a furious roar, its other appendage snaking out like a venomous serpent, bypassing the rune barrier and sweeping toward Raine and Thalia.
Thalia moved.
Her figure melded with the shadows, gracefully retreating to avoid the appendage's direct strike.
At the same time, she raised both hands, fingers dancing in rapid succession.
Several solidified shadow tendrils shot up from the ground, like quick black snakes, wrapping around the beast's sweeping appendage.
Sss—!
The shadow tendrils coiled around the appendage, making a sizzling sound as if ice was meeting red-hot iron, releasing clouds of black smoke.
The creature's movements noticeably slowed as the suckers and bone spurs on its limb were corroded by the shadow energy, emitting a pained screech.
Thalia then quickly formed a seal with her hands, pointing at the beast's head.
A ball of deep, dark energy shot out silently, accurately hitting one of the beast's eyes.
Poof!
The dark energy exploded like spilled ink.
The behemoth let out a screech of agony, its eye instantly turning pitch black as pus mixed with blood flowed down.
"Nice job!" Karrion shouted, seizing the opportunity. He yanked the nearly shattered shield away, disregarding the feedback from the recoil, and hurled himself like a cannonball at the behemoth.
His runic warhammer raised high, the runes glowing with fiery light.
"Take this, as a dwarven greeting!"
Crash!
The warhammer slammed into the joint near the behemoth's front leg, where the armor was thinner.
A dull cracking sound rang out.
The beast's armor caved in, chitin shards flying, revealing the writhing, dark red muscle beneath.
The beast went into a full rage.
It ignored Karrion, violently swinging its head, its remaining eyes locking onto Thalia, who had just attacked.
It opened its blood-drenched mouth, a thick stream of foul-smelling black acid spewed forth like a high-pressure water cannon!
The acid burned through the ground with a sizzling sound, instantly eroding deep pits, releasing acrid white smoke.
Thalia's face went pale.
She had exhausted much of her energy in accurately hitting the behemoth's eye earlier, and now her movements were sluggish.
She forced herself to summon a shadow shield, attempting to block the acid's path.
But the acid's corrosive power far exceeded her expectations. As soon as it touched her shield, the shield melted like thin ice, quickly disintegrating.
The acid was about to pour onto Thalia.
Raine moved.
He didn't know how he moved.
Maybe it was his instinct for survival, or his intense desire to protect his companions, or perhaps that cursed, incomplete precognition ability acting up again.
At the moment the acid was about to hit, a blurred image flashed in his mind—Thalia, covered in acid, struggling in pain.
Almost instinctively, he lunged forward, slamming into Thalia to knock her out of the way.
Sss—!
The searing pain shot up from his left arm.
A few drops of the splashing acid landed on his arm, instantly burning through his clothing, scorching his skin, releasing the acrid smell of charred flesh.
The pain nearly knocked him unconscious, but he didn't have time to cry out.
Because Thalia, knocked off balance, stumbled a few steps toward the behemoth.
The beast's tentacle-like appendage was already sweeping toward her again!
"No!" Raine's vision went red.
He wanted to charge forward, but the intense pain in his left arm and his weakened body made his movements sluggish.
Just as everything seemed lost, something inside him stirred.
His starry bloodline seemed to sense his dire situation and unyielding will.
A faint but pure surge of starlight power erupted from within him, uncontrolled, rushing down his arm and toward the sword tightly gripped in his hand.
That seemingly ordinary, slightly bent longsword suddenly glowed with a soft, stardust-like gleam.
Raine didn't have time to think about how it happened.
Fueled by sheer courage, he summoned all his remaining strength and swung the sword awkwardly but fiercely at the beast's incoming appendage.
Clang!
A sharp, metallic sound rang out, drastically different from the dull thud of Karrion's hammer.
The hard bone spurs on the appendage were actually severed by the seemingly ordinary longsword!
The starlight energy collided with the corruption, bursting in a shower of dazzling sparks.
The beast let out another agonizing screech, retracting its appendage in pain.
Raine was knocked back by the immense recoil, his hands bleeding, and the sword flew from his grip as he stumbled to the ground.
"Well done, kid!" Karrion roared, seizing the moment, charging forward again with his warhammer aimed at another joint of the beast.
Thalia also regained her footing, not bothering to check Raine's injuries. She gathered her shadow energy once more, sending a flurry of shadow spikes toward the behemoth's injured eyes and joints.
The beast was now completely maddened.
It flailed its appendages, spewing acid, its massive body rampaging through the forest, smashing more trees in its wake.
But having lost several eyes and with its joints injured, its attacks became erratic, its threat greatly diminished.
Raine struggled to get back up, gritting through the pain as he retrieved his sword, noticing the starlight had vanished, as if it had been a fleeting illusion.
He looked at Karrion and Thalia.
The dwarf, like a tireless war machine, landed each hammer strike precisely on the beast's wounds, the runes flashing with each blow.
Thalia's movements had become more ghostly, her face pale, her body swaying noticeably, as if she might collapse at any moment.
This battle felt like a war of attrition.
They were wearing down the beast's life force, but the beast was also draining their energy, magic, and will.
After another violent clash...
Karrion's shield finally gave way, letting out a pained screech as a huge crack split through the middle.
The dwarf was knocked back, crashing into a thick tree, groaning in pain.
"Damn it... this shell is tough..." he spat out blood, struggling to get up.
The beast seemed to be nearing its limit.
Its wounds had become numerous, and the pus spilling from them was now mixed with dark red blood.
Its movements slowed, its roars now tinged with weakness.
Its bloodshot eyes locked onto Raine and his companions, as if assessing something.
Finally, survival instincts took over its bloodlust.
The corrupted behemoth let out a reluctant low growl, dragging its wounded body around, crashing through the trees as it retreated deeper into the forest.
The heavy footsteps and the sound of trees breaking grew fainter.
The forest fell silent again.
Only the three of them's heavy breathing remained, along with the overwhelming scent of blood and decay in the air.
"Ha... ha... it... it ran..." Karrion leaned against a tree, panting heavily, his face a mix of sweat, dirt, and blood.
He looked at his nearly destroyed shield, wincing in pain.
"This precious shield of mine... I'll have to get it fixed when we get back."
Thalia didn't speak.
She was leaning against a nearby tree, her body trembling slightly, her face as pale as snow, her lips tinged with a hint of purple.
She coughed violently, covering her mouth with her hand, blood seeping faintly through her fingers.
Raine rushed to her side, wanting to help, but she gently pushed him away.
"I'm fine." Thalia's voice was hoarse and weak, almost inaudible.
Raine glanced down at his left arm.
The acid burn was a patch of blackened flesh, the blood and tissue melting away, the pain constant, mingling with the starlight backlash, making his head spin.
A pyrrhic victory.
They had driven off the behemoth, but the cost was heavy.
Raine was wounded, Karrion's equipment was severely damaged, and Thalia... her condition seemed even worse than after the last time she used her power.
Raine watched her fragile figure, and his concern grew like a wild vine.
He sensed that Thalia's weakness was not just from the battle's toll.
It was a deeper, more profound sense of life force draining away, a feeling of withering.
He opened his mouth to ask something but saw Thalia's tightly closed eyes and pressed lips, and he swallowed the words.
Karrion struggled to rise, inspecting Raine's wound.
"Ugh... this corrosion is intense, we need to treat it fast." The dwarf rummaged through his pack for herbs and bandages. "Kid, what was that with your sword...?"
Raine shook his head, exhausted. "I... I don't know."
He looked at the sword in his hand, the brief starlight glow still a mystery.
The three of them silently tended to their wounds, bandaging themselves and swallowing the bitter ointment.
After the brief tumult, the forest fell back into its brooding silence.
But this time, the silence carried a new sense of bloodlust and the weight of having survived.
The road ahead seemed longer and more dangerous than ever.