Gi faced the Eldritch Forest much as he had the first time he’d come here. This time there were no whispers in his mind, nothing urging him forward against his own will. Yet, that didn’t diminish the darkness inherent in those trees. Shadows that hid the Ghast horde, the other Eldritch Elites, and even more terrifyingly the Eldritch Leader. His arm seemed to ache sympathetically from the eldritch energies that had ravaged it.
Failure here meant death. A very painful death.
In front of him, Krayli and Hillin had finished organizing the others into monster groups. About a dozen of the groups were headed by a complex race like himself. The rest of the nearly two hundred monsters were all either goblins or the occasional monster with enhanced intelligence or communication abilities. A giant hedgehog, in particular, stood out to him surrounded by a handful of goblins.
Hillin stepped to the front of the assembled monsters. He cleared his throat, which after their biological conversation Gi assumed it was for theater, and then folded his hands behind his back. “I know many have followed me because you’re stuck on your path. Progressing when the child clans of greater species take all the resources. Elites snapped up by Fighting Drakes or lured to their death into this cursed forest.”
Hillin held his arms out to indicate the thick trees behind him. “That ends today. Today, we break the status quo and bring back chaos to this instance of the Playground. We will cast off the oppressions of the established order and use that anarchy to elevate ourselves!”
As the golem leader yelled out the last words, the gathered monsters roared. Gi wasn’t confident they understood all of what was said. Hell, Gi wasn’t sure he understood it all. Hillin still knew much more than he’d told Gi. The other monsters didn’t care though. What Hillin truly represented was hope, an end to their plateau. Without waiting for a command, goblins rushed over themselves to enter into the Eldritch Forest.
Gi watched as the majority of them disappeared into the dark trees. The undulating cry of the Ghast Swarm grew to the roar of a thousand dying infants and joined the wordless battlecries of Hillin’s mob. Along with Hillin, Krayli, and the other complex race led groups, Gi rushed into the forest. Poe flew at his shoulder, hovering much too close, but he could see his dragonfly companion was scared.
“Danna will protect us,” Gi said and he thought Poe flew a little more confidently. A confidence that shattered as they darted around a tree and the battle came into view. The monsters and the Ghast Swarm had met right at a small stream in the forest and the ghasts leaped across the small stream headfirst into their monsters. Their heads opened up like an awkward coin pouch with a haphazard set of teeth that led into their dark maw. The ghasts bit or sometimes sawed straight through the goblins without any change in their burnt out eyes. Those not close enough to fight continued their strangling cry.
Poe flew backwards, backing into a tree before he fell down. More ghasts swarmed out of the trees leaping over the front line and diving towards himself and the now downed Poe. Gi grabbed his Focus pendant with one hand and knelt in front of Poe. “Danna, please lend me your strength,” he whispered, his prayer lost in the sounds of battle. “And let your light shine forth through me!”
A leaping Ghast was blasted out of the air by his [Arcane Bolt], but Gi didn’t stop. Rising, he blasted out two more in quick succession. After his initial burst, his attack speed slowed down, but it was enough to keep them mostly away from the two of them. Seeing Gi fight back, Poe had managed to rally and started spitting web from his tongue’s mouth. It ensured that any Gi missed would get stuck long enough for him to shoot them.
Unfortunately, the other monsters weren't doing as well. A third of their monsters had been killed already. While perhaps the same number of Ghast had been killed, they still streamed out of the forest. The meat shield was slowly getting worn through and the leaders of their mob had started to engage.
The hedgehog had rolled into the frontline and Ghasts now hung pierced by his quills. They flung wildly back and forth trying to make their way towards its flesh, but without hands, they were well and truly stuck. Gi had him and Poe shift to be behind the hedgehog as the goblins that had been in front of them were already fallen.
The only set of goblins seemingly doing okay were where Nori and the five that she’d brought to be killed. It appeared like all six of them knew some martial arts and each Ghast that leapt towards them was quickly assaulted by their fists and finished by their claws. Nearby them, a skeleton who could change its forearms into blades spun wildly and had managed to kill a dozen ghasts by itself, but had also killed all of the goblins in its own unit. One of the werewolves had leapt into the ghast backline and had ransacked their reinforcements up until the Ghast swarm had simply been too much for it.
Other than Gi himself, the most effective were the other two Elites. A teal sheen surrounded Kralyi’s bow and a ghostly arrow appeared every time she pulled the string back. With each shot, a Ghast fell dead. Unlike Gi who only shot those closest to him, she actually fought to protect their numbers, taking those that were about to fell one of their own. Even with her excellent aiming, her speed was still faster than his slowest attacks.
Hillin, though, was something else. He was also a ranged fighter except a grey light would play about his fingertips and he’d make a motion like throwing a paper airplane. As he released, a hawk the size of a kite would go soaring through his fingers and every ghast it passed through dropped as thought it had been cut by a sharp knife. Every time a section of their lines was in danger of being overrun, a grey hawk would float over the fighting goblins and descend into the approaching horde. Even with the steadily increasing numbers, it looked like Hillin’s ability would make this easy.
A thought that proved a curse as soon as Gi had it.
A giant sunflower pushed its way through the trees. Multiple vines wrapped around trunks as it pushed its broad head through to look over the battle. After surveying the fight, it leaned its head back as though taking a deep inhale.
“Dodge!” Gi yelled, grabbing Poe with his good arm and leaping out of its direct path. Shooting its head forward, a purple mist drifted out of its disc florets in a wide path over the fighting ghasts into the bulk of the goblins that they had left. The Ghast swarm was unaffected, but every goblin the purple mist hit, their skin started to sizzle and bubble. Panicking, they all attempted to run out of the burning mist, but the ghasts weren't so generous of opponents. With the goblins no longer fighting back, they ripped into them. Blood and dismembered limbs made the stream run red.
Thankfully, those under command of the complex race monsters fared better.
Nori had managed to make her way out of the purple mist with only a minor burn, having slapped the ghast attacking her out of the air. One of her five were not as lucky. A ghast had sawed through their middle with its teeth, bursting out from its chest before the weight of the goblin's body pinned it down. The ghast thrashed about on the floor tripping its allies and keeping the rest of Nori’s group safe.
Gi grimaced at the death of one of his fleeting allies. After witnessing Hillin and Krayli's strength in this battle, he couldn't afford to lose any of Nori's goblins yet even if she wanted them all dead anyways.
“KILL. TEAR.” The skeleton bellowed and dove towards the giant Sunflower Elite. Its group of goblins formed a V with the skeleton at the head and clawed their way through the ghasts to protect their leader. The skeleton tore into its giant stalk, but vines appeared out of the trees and snatched the skeleton off the ground. It tore into the grabbing vines with its sword arms, but more appeared until it flung it in the direction of the hedgehog.
Neither the skeleton nor the hedgehog took much damage from the throw, but the skeleton became stuck in the tangle of ghast bodies on the hedgehog’s spines. The Sunflower turned towards them and released another purple mist right on top of it. The hedghehog writhed in pain, flipping over and pinning the skeleton underneath it, but that only exposed more of its soft underbelly to the acidic mist. Gi watched in horror as its skin sloughed off and the mist ate away at its insides. From the lack of any struggle beneath, Gi assumed the skeleton had also been destroyed by the mist.
“Form a line beyond the reach of its breath weapon!” Hillin yelled as he and Krayli continued to try and stem the tide of the ghasts that were pouring in. Their reinforcements had dwindled some, but the sheer number of them seemed decidedly broken to Gi. Wasn’t the Swarm an Elite just like him? Why did they have such overwhelming power?
From Hillin’s command, the remaining complex race groups formed up into a line. Five werewolves and a single golem were all that had survived the Ghast fight so far. With their better race and traits, they were able to hold the line against the ghasts limiting further casualties.
“Gi!” Hillin yelled, “Target the new Elite!” Realizing that he’d been watching instead of fighting. Gi spun his pointed finger towards the monstrous Sunflower. Three rapid bolts fired out of his finger. The first went wide, burning against a tree, but the other two managed to hit its giant flower face. As the two bolts hit home, pollen erupted out of it quickly turning purple and acidic around it. The disc florets that he’d hit fell off from its center and each one gave a tiny scream before it turned into ash.
The Sunflower went strangely still after the attack, ignoring its screaming body parts, and turned to face Gi directly. Its vines started pulling itself towards him. The acidic pollen continued to bleed out of its damaged face and it heaved its bulk across the stream.
“Shift!” Hillin shouted but the werewolves embroiled in combat against the ghasts didn’t move quick enough. Luckily, their fur protected a little against the mist. Unfortunately, their collars did not. Two of the werewolves collars sizzled and snapped. The pieces of metal falling onto the bank of the stream where they fought. As it did, the two of them immediately grabbed their head and hunched down, howling wordlessly into the ground.
“Stay clear!” Hillin shouted and he tossed out another small fist sized block of metal right between the two werewolves. A long beep sounded once it landed and then it exploded outward. Shards of metal cut through the two werewolves, their goblins, and the nearby ghasts. The shifting werewolves were dead and the explosion had slowed the flow of ghasts for a moment, but it couldn’t be held back long.
Gi had bigger flowers to fry though. As the Sunflower crossed the stream, its vines suddenly came into range and it leaned back taking a deep breath to send its pollen his way. Not wanting to be cooked in acid, Gi took off at a sprint, heading around several trees as he skipped over the stream.
“Poe, fly up. Keep the ghast webbed up!"
Darting around one of the trees, Gi shot off a three round burst at the Sunflower. This time all three hit. Two new holes were blasted in its face and purple mist spread out from the wounds. A werewolf that had wandered close was singed and immediately wandered off. The Sunflower had already used its breath weapon where he'd been before, leaving a stream of mist that now separated him from the rest of the army. He'd evaded the wrong way.
The Sunflower turned its giant head to face him, but its vines had already shot towards him. Gi activated [Speed Boost], but he was forced to dodge a leaping ghast and the Vine grabbed him, yanking him off his feet. The ghast that missed spun back around and dove for him. He shoved his good arm into it's chest which was just enough to hold it back, but he couldn't break the stalemate. The ghast lunged and gnashed with its mismatched teeth, its hot breath blowing on his face as it screamed and cried. Saliva dripped down onto his bicep and a sizzling burning made him cry out.
"Poe, help!"
Instead of Poe, an arrow protruded through the ghast's head, its blood spraying onto his face. Thankful for Krayli's assistance, Gi sat up and realized the situation was more dire than he thought. The werewolves had flanked the Sunflower and were attacking on the other side. The vine on his foot was still keeping him pinned and slowly dragging him closer to the Sunflower itself. Most of the remaining ghasts were assaulting the werewolves, but a small group had broken off and were circling around to kill Gi. Their awkward gait thundered across the small stretch of forest and Gi whipped the dagger out of his robe and started to saw on the vine that held him.
"Poe FIGHTING!" Poe yelled as he divebombed the vine, using both his jaws to try and gnaw him free. Seeing as Poe was targeting the vine, Gi dropped his dagger and pointed at the incoming ghasts with his finger. Unable to miss at this distance, the first three were all burned up, but it didn't stop the next four that were barreling towards him. Poe had worked about halfway through the vine and Gi would only have one shot about a second before the ghasts reached him. He hoped for more of Krayli's arrows, but he also knew that they were planning on him dying here. This was as good a spot as any he supposed.
Gi pulled his stone out of his pocket. If he was going to go down, he was going to bash at least one of these bastards out with him. He'd just started a prayer to Danna when a silver hawk swooped down from above and cut through the three ghasts. Two broadhead arrows sliced through the vine that Poe was working and suddenly Gi was free. He popped to his feet, but no more ghasts were around this side of the Sunflower.
Krayli had turned her attention back to the Sunflower, but Hillin stared his way, pointing towards the giant plant. "Finish it off! You need all of the Elites!"
Confused at how helpful they were being, Gi darted towards the Sunflower. All the strikes to its face had done little to stop the plant and its vines were already tied up with the two remaining werewolves. He couldn't tell what had happened to the other complex races, but it looked like they'd fallen while he was down. Now towards its back, Gi planted his finger against its giant stalk and fired his [Arcane Bolt]. The first shot tore out a quarter of its green stem. The next two that followed only took it down to half as it started to writhe. Its vines lashed out, knocking the two werewolves back, but it still wasn't dead.
Unwilling to let someone else get the kill, Gi hopped up onto its broken stem and started to claw at the wounded section, even managing to get the claw on his wounded arm involved. It released its acid mist up into the air in a final attempt at destroying him, but it took time for it to settle down on him. His claws ripped out a huge chunk of green stem just as his next shot was ready for his [Arcane Bolt]. He fired one last shot just before the acid could descend and scrambled away.
The battle field paused. Hillin, Krayli, and the two remaining werewolves were all that was left of their forces near the stream. The Sunflower wobbled before its whole body crashed into the ground sending up a small plume of the purple mist into the air. There were no more sounds of ghast screaming into the air nor vines whipping about the dark forest. Other than the small gurgle of the stream, a silence fell over their bloody battleground.
Eldritch Vine Horror (Elite) defeated!
1 Body Orb received.