The male elf rose up off the ground, hovering in plain view of Thomel and his leader, as well as their support.
A hail of bullets flew at him and shredded his already broken form. Blood splattered the trees and then was quickly pulled back into the elf's body by arcane powers.
The bullet holes mended and new flesh grew over the gaping wounds.
Thomel watched as what looked like a part of the intestine was blown out of the elf, only to be immediately restored.
“Damm it, measured retreat!” Their leader yelled out.
Thomel obeyed gratefully, backing up carefully while ensuring he kept up the suppressing fire.
Dropping a spent magazine to the ground, he slammed in a new one and continued to spray the elf, doing his part to turn the being into Swiss cheese.
The elf just absorbed all the bullets without even so much as a shudder, then his eyes snapped open and he began to move.
Raising his dark-green hand, the elf’s entire arm burst like a bloody blister, a sludgly tendril pulsated in the scraps of light escaping through by the canopy. Moments later the tendril was blown off by a well-aimed volley of shots.
In its place, a supple branch pushed its way through the wound, its leaves looking like fingers.
“Full retreat, now!”
Thomel turned and ran as fast as he could towards the rest of their unit. He only dared to steal a glance once he was sure he wouldn’t trip on anything, and that’s when he saw the elf convulsing.
His flesh was revolving inside and out, like he was no longer a part of the third dimension but rather a pawn for the fourth.
Tendrils of bright, fluorescent green vines were sofly bursting out of his body and showering the surrounding area in gore and glowing dust.
He was like a bastion of life, with the surrounding trees growing thick and firm, their frailty wiped out by the purity of his transcended blood.
He didn’t bother asking whether or not he should throw a smoke grenade. Unlatching and hurling one towards this newly transformed threat.
The team leader looked like he was about to rebuke him but then, just before the smoke obscured the elf, he got a glimpse at their transforming body.
“An aggarten? Dammit. Move it! Move it!” He yelled out to the rest of the team.
In a panic, everyone began to sprint away, the somewhat calm retreat of just a few seconds before now a distant memory in their terror.
“Smoke again! Now!”
One of the hunters just ahead of Thomel dropped their smoke to the ground like it was on fire, forgetting to unlatch it in her fright.
Thomel had to skid to a stop and scramble to pull the pin on it before running to catch up with the others. A feat that was made horrifyingly easier by the activation of his Hunted Hunter boon.
The increase in speed was so great that he could have surpassed his team members with its help, but he chose to maintain pace with them instead.
“Another!” The leader puffed out, almost slamming into a tree as he looked over at the young hunter.
This time there weren’t any mishaps and a cloud of smoke exploded into existence a few yards behind them.
This cycle repeated itself two more times but still his boon persisted, the elf still hadn’t given up the chase yet.
Even with the substantial increase in his natural physique, he was still sweating like crazy and his teammates all looked like they were doing worse than him, even after injecting their emergency stimulants.
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With a loud yell, the young hunter’s body slammed their leader to the ground, just as a branch sailed overhead, penetrating a few inches deep into the pale bark of a nearby tree.
Skidding to a stop, Thomel swerved around and brought his rifle to bear on the elf. If that’s what it could even be called at this point.
He resembled the monster that forced him into this line of work, what felt like years ago.
His arms and legs were completely gone, replaced by dozens of green tentacles with little offshoot tendrils coming out of them like branches from a tree.
This elf monstrosity’s eyes were gone, replaced by leaking orbs of water. These siwlring maelstroms of furry and miniature waves glared at Thomel with pure hatred.
The trees to which the elf had latched himself to were growing stronger by the second, revitalised by the elf's twisted form.
Yet somehow, he was still just so beautiful, an avatar of purity bringing life back to a sickened forest.
Dark green blood dribbled out of his wide open mouth, falling to the ground in an unending splatter of life-giving fluids. The small mushrooms and saplings swelled with might from this offering, growing larger and more alive with every droplet.
This wasn’t an elf anymore. It was something so much greater. It was perfection. How could he have shot something like this?
A sharp bang snapped out, breaking Thomel out of his entranced state. After a moment of bewilderment, he joined his comrade in opening fire.
It took only a few loud shots for the rest of their team to snap out of it as well, and soon all five of them were desperately trying to shoot the former elf down.
There was no layered fire, no attempt to conserve ammo so that when someone had to reload there was still someone shooting. It was just a mad burst of bullets with no real thought put into it.
And it worked. Their team leader must have been given some sort of special ammunition because when his bullets hit the monster, they actually properly exploded. It was a full step up from the minor explosive bullets Thomel and the others had.
Its entire left arm was blown apart just as it lunged downwards at them, forcing it to swerve to the right instead and giving them a little more time.
“Damm it!” The leader grunted, foraging another magazine from his belt and jamming it into his scrappy gun.
Unlike before, when the monster swung back around, there wasn’t any more real explosive force, and it was able to endure the lesser bullets with nonchalance, falling upon the team leader with all the grace of a demented eagle.
Thomel paused and then, with a sorrowful sigh, pointed his gun towards the embattled duo. Before he could pull a trigger though, a sudden fireball claimed the both of them.
He looked to his side to see a fellow hunter pulling back their arm, and Thornel witnessed as they threw another incendiary grenade at the two.
Another burst of gunfire sounded out; the young hunter was peppering them with bullets, and, after a shocked moment, Thomel joined him.
He wasn’t at all proud of what he or the others were doing, but he couldn’t think of another way to go about this.
Mercifully, the team leader's life was cut short as he lacked the resilience to endure the bullets that spared him from a drawn-out end.
The creature, on the other hand, roared in silent rage and attempted to pull itself up a tree with its burning appendages.
It fell off halfway, crashing onto the ground and curling inwards like a dying spider.
Their leader had called it an aggarten but that was evidently false, if it was an aggarten then no amount of sacrifices could save them. Nevertheless, it was still a stark reminder of the horrors these worlds had to offer.
Thomel truly wished that the burning corpse was a bonfire rather than the monstrosity it truly was. He wished this was just some family outing from back when he was young, not a life-or-death battleground where they got sent to perish by people too concerned with numbers to realise they were even real.
“What now?” The young hunter asked quietly.
“We pull back.” Another hunter answered.
“And what about him?” Thomel interjected, gesturing at the smouldering body of their former leader. Small flames still licking him clean of any flesh.
“We leave him, he’d do the same if it was one of us.” The third and final member of Thomel’s team answered, sounding confident.
“Give me a second.” Thomel said. Walking over to the cadaver and looking for anything that might be a memento.
He settled on taking one of the dead man’s rings, the one on his fourth finger. Making sure to rip off a part of his ghillie suit to use as covering to pry it off.
“Will they really send that back?” questioned the younger hunter, confused.
“If he’s got anyone left then… probably? I’m not too sure.” Thomel replied, slipping it into a nearby empty magazine.
His boon had dissipated with the elf’s death, and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep. He’d been in two battles too many today.
It was fine, just a few steps and they’d be back to where they were before. A few more after that and they’d be back at the hovercrafts, then back to safety and security.