Crimson blades of grass, sharp as serrated teeth, brushed against their ankles. Hunched trees, their bark gnarled into monstrous visages, loomed down from the oppressive canopy. An unseen pressure weighed heavily on them, a suffocating dread that constricted their throats and stole the air from their lungs. Every few moments, a low, pulsating hum resonated through their very bones, a sound that gnawed at their sanity like a starved ghoul.

"Disgusting," Priscilla hissed, her hands frantically scrubbing at her crimson robes, as if trying to wash away the cloying miasma. Dark motes, Small and barely visible to the naked eye, danced in the stagnant air, swirling around her like tormented phantoms.

Khan let out a low growl, the fur on his back bristling. His battle-hardened instincts screamed danger, a primal terror clawing at his insides.

"My grimoire..." Edge's voice was strained, his fingers struggling to hold the ancient tome's pages still. They seemed to writhe and twist of their own accord, filling with cryptic symbols that danced before his eyes. “It’s showing me… I don’t know what it’s showing me…" he trailed off, his face etched with a horrifying fascination.

Del, usually a picture of calm, felt a tremor course through her. The ChaosMote, imprisoned deep within, thrashed restlessly, a caged beast desperate to break free. It whispered seductive promises of power, of freedom, of a world reshaped in the fires of oblivion. Each thrumming pulse from the unseen obelisk amplified the insidious whispers, tempting her with forbidden skills and potential beyond imagining. 'Take me,' the mote pulsed in her mind, ' Consume me. Absorb me,’ it tempted. ‘Become one with chaos!’

"I will not succumb," Del gritted her teeth, her willpower solidifying the mote's confinement. This was a battle not just against the approaching enemy, but against the insidious corruption gnawing at the very fabric of her being.

Just then, Holly, her voice tinged with a paladin's unwavering resolve, stepped forward. "Hold fast, everyone!" The words resonated with a faint, shimmering light, a testament to her divine power. It bolstered their flagging spirits, momentarily pushing back the encroaching despair.

With newfound determination, they pressed on. But their resolve was shattered by a sudden movement in the undergrowth. Del whipped around, hand instinctively reaching for the bow slung across her back. A glint of silver in the dim light, a taut bowstring released, and a sickening thud as an arrow found its mark. A strangled cry pierced the air, followed by the rustle of leaves and branches as a figure tumbled through the crimson foliage, lifeless.

Del's breath hitched, a flicker of cold calculation replacing the brief moment of shock. "They're here," she announced, her voice laced with a steely glint. The battle had begun, and the weight of their desperate mission bore down upon them.

The leaves rustled, not with the skittering of animals, but with the methodical tread of something far heavier. Branches creaked, not under the sway of a gentle breeze, but under the weight of a deliberate movement. Del's warning wasn't just a word, it was a punch to the gut, a jolt of adrenaline that coursed through their veins.

Priscilla slammed her staff, the golden dome of Sanctuary snapping into existence with a flourish. Holly, her voice tinged with urgency, called out her buff, “[FriendlyBulwark],” reinforcing their defences. Edge, his eyes narrowed, held a potent spell at the ready, its energy crackling in his palm. Khan, always eager to fight monsters, roared a taunt, “[Rahhh]!” invoking his racial skill.

But the attack didn't come from the front. A blur of motion flashed from the side, a dark shape hurtling towards them. Del reacted with lightning speed, nocking an arrow and releasing it in a single, fluid motion. The arrow flew true, but as if guided by an unseen hand, it veered off course at the last second.

Like fleeting shadows, faces flashed behind the overgrowth. The ambusher's eyes, burned with feral ferocity, however, there was something more in them as well... A collective gasp escaped the party’s lips. This wasn't some mindless monsters they were dealing with. This was something… intelligent.

The realisation slammed into them like a physical blow. Del, her smile twisting into a grimace, pointed sharply. "Edge, over there!"

Edge didn't hesitate. “[DarknessBuckshot],” he unleashed a volley of darkness, his spell erupting in a shower of swirling orbs that detonated with a thunderous roar. Gnarled trees splintered, the undergrowth exploding in a shower of debris.

But the attack came again, this time from behind. “Careful! From the back! [MagicArrow], [RapidFire]” Del whirled, loosing a volley of enchanted arrows with a cry of warning.

Holly, her shield held high, deflected a hail of javelins that shattered against its surface. The sound echoed ominously through the oppressive silence. "Javelins?" Holly's voice cracked, her eyes widening in disbelief. "These are no mere monsters!"

Another barrage of darkness erupted from Edge, momentarily silencing the unseen threat. Frustration gnawed at Khan, confined within the protective dome. "Cowards! Face us like warriors!" he bellowed, his voice laced with fury.

Finally, a figure emerged from the shadows, cloaked in darkness. In its hand, a buckler still bore the remnants of Del's deflected arrow. It spoke, its voice a low growl. "Not the ones to talk first, are you!?"

Another wave of shock rippled through the group. They'd expected minions, but not this. Not a creature who could speak, who could strategize, who could wield weapons with deadly skill. This was an enemy far more terrifying than anything they'd faced in the Underdark. With a mix of trepidation and newfound resolve, they activated Inspect on the lone figure, desperate to unravel the mystery that stood before them.

Title: HuntMaster

Class: [Hunter] lvl.8

Magic Affinity: None

Race: DemiMonster

Variant: Rabbit

>>>[🐰]<<<

HP:105

MP:10

STA:145

CP:10

Skills

[Burrow], [Hop], [DetectMonster]

Perks

[EnergyBurst], [Luck], [MonsterCore: Medium]

Tags

[Infertile], [Monster], [Branded]

The status table mocked them with its meagre stats. A level 8 HuntMaster? Pathetic. Yet, a disquieting truth lurked beneath the unimpressive numbers: DemiMonster, Rabbit variant. The implications sent a shiver down Holly's spine.

"A half-breed?" Khan rumbled, his brow furrowed.

"Doesn't matter!" Priscilla spat, her voice tight with loathing. "It reeks of Taboo, that's all I need to know."

Ignoring the outburst, Holly squared her shoulders and addressed the figure huddled at the base of a tree. "Minion," she began, her voice firm, "where is the Abomination?"

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The figure, cloaked in shadows, didn't answer. Instead, its crimson eyes – unnatural for a rabbit – flicked towards the fallen comrade, focusing on the gaping hole in its chest. "Why do you ask?” it rasped, its voice laced with a chilling intelligence. "You… ‘heroes’… are here to slay my Master, are you not?"

Yes, that was their duty. To cleanse the world of all corruption and all evil. Holly belonged to the CleansingFlame, an order dedicated to the eradication of such threats. But something about this exchange felt off. The minion's question hung heavy in the air.

Seeing the silence stretch, Del reacted first. An arrow, empowered with TrueFlight and Piercing, left her bow in a blur. It struck true, but instead of a satisfying thud, a flash of emerald light erupted as the minion twisted at the last moment, the arrow glancing off its shoulder. Impossible! Enviable skill or was this just Luck?

The minion snarled, its eyes burning with a hatred that transcended the supposed savagery of a beast. It pressed a paw against the wound, hissing in pain. Wounded, it retreated behind the thick trunk of a nearby tree.

"I see," it hissed, its voice tight with barely concealed fury. "Matters not…I have what I came for. I know your Stats!" This confirmed suspicions - the creature knew how to Inspect.

Edge, always keen to show off, wasted no time. A crackling spell shot from his palm, aimed at the creature’s cover. Wood splintered, bark flew, but the figure was already gone.

"Murderers!" a voice boomed, echoing around them, seemingly emanating from everywhere and nowhere at once. The party tensed, expecting another attack, but the forest remained silent.

After a moment of tense silence, Del finally relaxed her bowstring. "They were testing our strength," she murmured, a grim realisation settling in.

Edge scowled. "Evolved monsters? Not exactly what I signed up for."

Khan, his lion’s tail all bristled, approached the fallen DemiMonster, the first one Del had shot. His face was a mask of conflicting emotions. Pointing at the body, he spoke, his voice low. "This... it vaguely resembles a DemiHuman, but something just feels… off."

Driven by a cold fascination, Del stalked closer to the slain DemiMonster. The minion was a grotesque mishmash of human and rabbit, a disturbing amalgamation of flesh and fur. Unlike Khan, a Beastman whose form leaned heavily towards human features, this DemiMonster reeked of the monstrous. Its humanity was only a poor imitation, a fleeting attempt coming out as a mockery.

Scant clothing, a mere loincloth, barely covered its muscled form. Primitive jewellery – bone shards, teeth, and crudely carved trinkets – adorned its body, a testament to its savage nature. Yet, one piece snagged Del's attention: a carved MoonStone necklace, the crescent moon shimmering faintly in the oppressive gloom. On a whim, she reached out and plucked it free. As she examined the corpse more closely, a prickle of unease crawled up her neck.

The DemiMonster's back bore a brand, a malevolent glyph seared into its flesh. The sight filled her with disgust, but also a flicker of something else… recognition. Discomfort gnawed at her throat as she pocketed the necklace. It wasn't the act of looting that unsettled her; it was the brand. It bore an uncanny resemblance to the slave collar she was forced to wear – a constant reminder of her own subjugation.

Priscilla, fueled by righteous fury, marched up to the body and prodded it with her staff. “I’m glad I came here," she declared, surprising everyone. "This creature… this mutated rabbit… it defies the natural order!" Her voice crackled with righteous fervour, her eyes blazing with a zealot's fire. "We must eradicate this corruption and its source entirely!"

"We will, Priscilla," Holly interjected, her voice resolute. "We will purge every trace of this evil."

Khan let out a weary sigh. "Monsters," he grumbled, the word heavy on his tongue. "Easy enough to fight..." He trailed off, his brow furrowed in thought. "But they aren’t just monsters… Are they?" The question hung in the air, a silent plea for understanding that perhaps they were fighting ‘people’ rather than monsters.

Edge, ever the scholar, piped up with a response gleaned from the Inspect. "The tags are clear: [Monster], [Branded], [Infertile],” he stressed the monster part. “But I see your point, Khan. It's their intelligence that throws us."

Holly added, "Indeed. Even rudimentary intelligence in a monster ups the threat factor considerably."

Khan shook his head, a hint of frustration in his eyes. "That's not what I meant."

Priscilla, ever the zealot, cut in with a sharp retort. "Don't be deceived, Khan! They're nothing like DemiHumans. They're Monsters, through and through!"

Khan sighed again, his expression unreadable. "I know, I know..." he muttered, but the doubt lingered.

Edge, a mischievous glint in his eye, interjected with a morbid proposition. "Holly, do we have time? The Tome of Secrets hungers for knowledge. Dissection could reveal a great deal about these creatures. It might even settle Khan's musings here." He finished speaking, his hand hovering over a disturbing copy of the brand he'd just etched onto a page.

Holly glanced at the shimmering dome of Sanctuary, its protective magic waning with each passing moment. "No, Edge," she said firmly. "We can't waste time. Let's press on before they regroup."

Del voiced her agreement. "The Abomination's lair," she said, her gaze scanning the dense foliage. "It can't be far. We should move before they stage another attack."

With a resigned shrug, Edge closed his tome with a snap. "Well," he muttered, "another time, then."

Del took point, leading the party deeper into the shadowy woods. They were close, closer than they'd ever been. But before they could reach their goal, a new disturbance pierced the oppressive silence. A distorted chorus unlike any they'd heard before echoed through the trees. Del cupped an ear, her eyes darting towards the unseen source of the sound.

A rasping caw echoed through the trees, a single harsh cry that made her ears twitch. More followed, a growing chorus of crows filling the air with their sharp, predatory calls. It was a chilling song, but strangely… jubilant.

"CarrionCrows?" Del murmured.

Crows were ill omens, and the unnatural glee in their caws sent a cold dread creeping through the party.

"Indeed," Holly confirmed, her voice tight. The cawing grew louder, a dark melody swirling around them.

"More monsters?" Khan grinned, already readying his weapon. Yet, the thought of flying enemies dimmed the enthusiasm in his eyes. "Flyers… They’re a pain to deal with," he added, his voice grim.

Edge reached for his tome. "Perhaps a spell," he began, the pages in the tome already fluttering.

"No," Holly interjected, placing a firm hand on the tome to close it. The cawing reached a crescendo before abruptly falling silent. "They're not attacking… yet. Save your MP, we can deal with them if necessary."

Del nodded in agreement. "Likely it’s just a distraction, a rouse to make us waste our STA and MP," she muttered, her gaze scanning the trees. "Let's not get bogged down. Keep moving."

They pressed onwards, the unsettling silence left by the crows leaving an unpleasant void. Soon, the trees parted, revealing a clearing. But the sight that greeted them wasn't what they expected.

"Well, this isn't exactly what I envisioned," Holly breathed, her eyes wide with surprise. Even the fire in her gaze seemed to flicker momentarily.

The Divine Quest had begun with a singular Abomination, a singular Chaos Obelisk, and a manageable 242 Minions to purge. It had seemed like a straightforward mission at the outset. But the minion numbers had escalated – doubling, quadrupling, then skyrocketing past a thousand. And then, the revelation that these weren't mindless beasts, but intelligent monsters, had thrown their plans into disarray. Now, faced with this… this unexpected sight, a sense of overwhelming uncertainty washed over them.

A monstrous fortress of nightmare lumbered out of the clearing, a warped reflection of human ingenuity twisted by cruel claws and monstrous minds. Double log walls, crudely hewn from impossibly thick timbers, reeked of damp earth and a primal savagery. No orderly rows or precise cuts marred the surface. Instead, a chaotic tangle of knotted giants, their gnarled limbs grasped skyward like the reaching claws of a monstrous beast. Jagged protrusions sprouted from the uneven surface, a nightmarish palisade promising a messy demise. Wall slits, hacked haphazardly into the thick wood, resembled gaping maws, hungry for another taste of steel.

Dominating the centre of this barbaric stronghold, a single, monstrous obelisk pulsed with an unholy glow. Made from obsidian so black it seemed to swallow the surrounding light, the structure writhed like a petrified scream. Its form, a grotesque parody of a reaching tendril, corkscrewed obscenely skyward, culminating in a single, malevolent eye – a swirling vortex of inky darkness pulsating with a sickly purple luminescence. Glyphs, carved with an alien and blasphemous grace, writhed across its surface, glowing a feverish crimson and flickering like murderous embers. This wasn't just a monument; it was a conduit, a pulsating nexus for some unspeakable power.

The air thrummed with a palpable pressure, a dark, oppressive hum that gnawed at the adventurers' minds and threatened to turn their guts inside out. It was a challenge, a dare, a malignant entity mocking their very presence with its pulsating rhythm. Worse, the sickening hum seemed to emanate from within the fort itself, amplified by the warped structure. The entire edifice felt like a living cage, its obsidian heart radiating a corrupting energy that threatened to taint their very souls.

Thousands of eyes, not the mindless, bloodshot orbs of beasts, but those filled with a warped intelligence, gleamed from the crude battlements. A savage gaze promised a desperate fight for survival, a thousand against five. The odds were a sheer cliff face, a death sentence for most. The Divine Quest, once an easy promise of power, now felt like a cruel mirage, the goal of their quest laughing at them behind an army of minions.

But amidst the dread, a spark of defiance ignited in Holly's eyes. A steely resolve, cold and calculating as the obsidian heart of the fort, replaced the despair. A ghost of a smile played on her lips. Perhaps she saw a weakness where others could only see defeat. "We can do this," she declared, her voice ringing with a resolve that pierced through the oppressive hum. "Cast your buffs, then we charge!"

The adventurers, shaking the aura of dread away, rallied around her. They were a flickering flames of defiance against the encroaching darkness, and they would not go down without a fight. Buffs were cast, strategies were shared, and a desperate plan took shape. It was a simple, brutal tactic – a charge, a desperate gamble against overwhelming odds. But in the face of such an impossible situation, it was all they had.

A final, defiant shimmer surrounded Priscilla, and with a shared look of grim determination, they sprinted towards the fort. As if summoned by the approaching clash, the unnatural silence shattered. A thousand crows, their feathers black as a moonless night, erupted from the surrounding woods in a swirling vortex. CarrionCrows, drawn by the promise of a feast to come. But their caws, unlike the chilling screeches expected, held a macabre glee. It wasn't a chorus of terror, but a twisted celebration, a morbid welcome for the coming battle.