The crack of a whip got louder and louder as did the cries of pain from whichever being ended up at the bad end of the whip. Iris stood up, leaving the defenceless girl on the ground just as a lone creature peeked its ugly head from around the corner.
A hideous creature crawling on all fours began to laugh maniacally as its large yellow eyes with vertical pupils snapped onto the group of women. The creature's skin could be best described as being rotting rock in colour with long lonely strands of what used to be once hair hanging down its goblinoid face. The creature's claws left their mark on the stone as it dashed toward the woman.
[Inspect]
[Goblin Crawler Level 38]
[A cave goblin which degenerated into a hideous bloodthirsty creature which had lost every goblin desire and replaced with an unsustainable hunger for flesh.]
The crawler lunged mindlessly at Iris, dark red blood dripped onto the cave's floor as she dodged under the creature's body before driving her spear straight through the surprisingly feeble creature which simply slumped onto the floor.
"More of them behind you." Shiro warned the elf as she passed her.
More of the degenerated goblins began to appear from around the corner. Shiro ran in front of the undead hoplite, meeting the goblin crawlers where the path was squeezed between the gorge and the wall. Blood splattered onto the stone painting a ghoulish painting as the old warrior attacked the goblins appearing blurred as she carved a bloody trench. A severed hand landed near the risen causing the undead to shake her head to stop watching the morbidly enchanting dance happening in front of her before jogging forward, intercepting the few crawlers that slipped passed Shiro's bloody gaze.
Iris thrust her spear at the goblinoid in front of her who jumped to the side before jumping at her in the same motion with its claws extended toward her. A tooth landed on the elf's shoe as she used the back of her spear to bash the creature away. The crawler's claw let out a howling screech as it slid over the bare stone until its body fell down into the river.
A black glass spear tip exited through the back of the goblinoid's neck before being ripped out by the tall undead. Iris turned away from the gurgling carcass in the direction of a quiet whistle. Swiveling on her heel the elf felt her hair being blown backwards as an arrow whizzed right next to her ear.
On the other side of the gorge, a goblin with dark blue and green skin wearing armour made from bones, let loose another arrow this time toward Shiro dealing with the few surviving creatures skittering away in fear. The arrow flew through the air toward Shiro's back.
"Huh?" Iris heard the cave goblin say the same thing she was thinking as they both watched the black arrow simply bounce off Shiro's right shoulder, tumbling harmlessly into the river below without any signs of the beast woman using any abilities. "-ill!" The goblin reached behind his back and pulled out a whip.
The mere sight of the whip caused the crawlers near him to be sent into a fear-induced frenzy. Whipping his weapon toward Shiro the cowering crawlers huddling their wounds threw themself once more at the nekos.
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Swiping in front of her, Iris cleaved her blade into the beast's shoulder before jumping backwards and stabbing the next bloodthirsty beast. Half of a skull flew out of the crawler's stomach as the tall elf twisted her blade and moved onto killing more of the degenerate goblins.
"Come on something answer me!" Nakatei shouted as no spirit seemed interested in her contract even as she progressively increased the price she was willing to pay.
"Look." The pale human shook the shaman, pointing at the ugliest thing she saw in her life climbing up.
"Ehhhh." Nakatei grabbed her sword and swung it in front of herself to scare the thing off but it didn't stop the corpse eater from crawling toward them. "What's happening with me?" She hit herself in the forehead as the heavy fragmented sword in her arm began to shake and a cold sweat began to flow down her back.
"Grraaa!" The creature charged at her, snapping its jaw in a wild frenzy, foaming at the mouth.
The fox raised her weapon over her head and pulled it down, smashing into the ground as the ghoulish creature dodged backwards. Its slim legs powered its lunge aimed at the shaman's throat. Panicking the woman put her arms in front of her causing the crawler's face to push her away and fall onto the ground.
"Iris!" The human screamed as she tried to get up, the clean bandages on her legs beginning to discolour.
The crawler turned its attention toward the screaming necromancer, putting its clawed hand on the girl's chest, and pinning her to the ground. Her thin black dress confused the beast above her as no tears appeared on its gleaming surface. Its lower jaw opened wide like a door with a broken hinge and tried to chump on the girl's pale flesh. Kia weakly kicked the crawler's jaw keeping the massive unhinged jaw filled with nail-like teeth away from herself.
Nakatei stumbled on her feet and stared as what must have been Kia's blood leaked through the white bandages and hissed sinisterly as it touched the floor turning into puffs of smoke. She grabbed her sword and felt the cloud fogging her mind slowly reside as the crawler lost interest in her.
For a split second, the fox felt like she should wait and let the strange necromancer get killed. It wasn't like she disliked the strange girl, the opposite in fact. Without being able to put her finger on it she felt a strange familiarity toward the doll-like human coming from somewhere in her mind.
After eternity later, Nakatei felt warm blood splashed on her face as her body swung her sword down. Rubbing the fat off her body the fox looked down and saw that her sword barely managed to dig into the crawler's flesh. She found it surprising that the creature was dead before noticing Shiro's spear between her legs dripping with the creature's filthy blood.
"Gya!" A loud scream bounced off the walls. The cave goblin desperately tried to invoke a sense of mercy while thrashing in the undead's arm. Without slowing down Iris crushed the cave goblin's throat.
"Tei!" Shiro reprimanded the fox before kicking the crawler off the necromancer.
"Sorry."
"Are you okay?" The nekos lifted the snow-white girl from a puddle of fatty blood by her black dress.
"Iris?" Kia looked traumatised by her near-death experience, gripping Shiro's forearms hard enough to leave nail marks on her skin. A black leather bag appeared from nowhere behind Shiro and fell onto the ground with a dull thud, splashing dark blood everywhere.
"I'm here." Nakatei watched as the undead elf took the filth-covered necromancer from her guard, letting the girl latch onto her newly cleaned clothes. The undead tried to check on the unresponsive necromancer but was met with silence."Kia?"
"Aaaand the lass fell asleep," Shiro leaned to the side to check on the wounded girl who was resting her head on the elf's shoulder, smiling from ear to ear as she put the back of her hand in front of Kia's face, checking if she was breathing. "She was so scared her hands turned cold." She lifted the mysterious leather bag from the pool of blood and set it beside the ash-cold campfire, unsure why did the girl pulled it out.
"What do we do now?" The elf replied while slowly brushing the girl's long black hair more to calm herself down then to comfort the sleeping human.
"I will throw the corpses into the river, Tei will move our camp somewhere else after she catches her breath while you do you." The white fur nekos proposed before pulling her spear from the corpse nearby.
"Shiro, how did you deflect that arrow?" The elf suddenly asked as the warrior turned.
"Arrow resistance. Come handy in a chaotic fight."
"I never knew a warrior has access to such an ability."
"You're right, it doesn't. Gained it after becoming a pincushion for a group of bandits but now I don't have to worry about any missiles."
"Convenient indeed."
"Kinda, it's convenient fighting low-level stuff but after abilities and magical gear come into play... well, I don't have arrow immunity." The demi-human added before her crimson eyes landed on her ward who swayed from side to side while her wide open eyes fearfully scanned the cave.
"Shir-" The fox reached toward her guard as she felt her head become light-headed before darkness overcame her.