Omny, a level 21 elf warrior, used Brutal Rapier to pierce the skull of a strange corrupted marsupial, a lost, in what was his penultimate energy reserve. Immediately, he raised his sword to block another similar being's attack. He got to pause its jaws with the edge, and was pushed back, barely able to stop it.
A few meters behind him, one of his companions laid unconscious, on the verge of death from the wounds received.
A little further back, there was an elven archer, a childhood friend of Omny. Now, she was forced to melee, armed with a short sword and a small shield attached to her arm.
On the other side, Jarlia, a big and muscular jaguar-woman, was piercing an impossible cross between hippopotamus and gazelle with her claymore. She was also at the limit of her strength.
At her back, protecting his fallen companion and wearing heavy armor, there was the elf's brother and Omny's close friend. His huge shield still held, but it was beginning to show small cracks. His offensive power was low, so he needed the help of the rest to finish off his enemies, although he could hold them like none of the others.
The problem was that none of his companions were idle to help him. And their mage had been ambushed by two raven-like beings, with slightly curved beaks. There was no doubt that his life was in serious danger, but he was unconscious, and none of his companions was able to get rid of their enemies to treat him, to make him drink a potion.
The five of them had left the outpost, in hope to gain experience. They were confident since, lately, the number of losts had decreased. It wasn't known why, only that they had been called into the forest, for which they had been recommended to be very cautious in front of an unknown situation.
And now, they were regretting not having listened to the warnings. They had chased a huge dog with thorns, which they had wounded and wanted to finish off. They hadn't been attentive to their surroundings, had lacked vigilance, and had ended up being surrounded by more than thirty losts.
They had established a defense perimeter, with their mage in the center, who had been attacking from the safety of the protection of his companions. But when they had all engaged in battle with their enemies, and the mage had been supporting them, those two flying losts had mercilessly attacked him, even at the cost of their lives.
It was evident that they had been unlucky enough to meet a general, for the corrupted beasts couldn't plan such a thing on their own. But they had also been careless, even reckless. And now they were going to pay for it with their lives, only a miracle could save them. But they didn't believe in meeting allies in the area they had chosen precisely because it was isolated, and thus not having to compete for prey, prey that had become hunters.
Jarlia severed one of the beetle's legs, but didn't have time to block the attack of a long appendage with a stinger that sped toward her. It was coming from the scorpion behind the beetle.
"Aaaargh!!" she screamed after being hit by it.
She had barely had time to move, to manage to keep it from piercing her and being poisoned, but couldn't avoid being hit and thrown off balance. This allowed the beetle to bite its jaws into her leg, although that left it vulnerable, and it was pierced by the heavy sword.
She was unable to continue standing on her badly injured leg, so she knelt to face the scorpion as best she could. It had replaced the defeated beetle. She was tired and hurt, and knew that her death was near.
Anlimtha, the elf, barely managed to block the tentacle of a species of terrestrial cuttlefish with her shield, but couldn't prevent it from brushing against her skin again. It burned the skin with that non-deadly but painful and numbing poison.
She managed to cut it with her sword, but there were still many more. She had cuts on her arms, legs and face, and part of her armor was shattered. Her body was barely responding, partly from exhaustion and partly from poison. She was almost at her limit, and she wasn't the only one.
Her brother, Anlimoth, was being pushed back little by little, thus leaving the shield its mark on the ground. He was trying to pin it up there, but he was being pushed. He might have suffered the fewest injuries, but all his muscles were sore. They trembled from the stress and strain they had been enduring, and were threatening to give up. He clenched his teeth to try to hold out a little longer. He knew that, if he fell, his companions would be attacked from behind.
And Omny was no better. His bloody mouth showed that he had suffered internal injuries. He had even spat blood. His whole bruised body ached, and although he refused to give up, he had hardly any strength left.
Suddenly, a huge corrupted grasshopper, with an appearance that made it looked like it had been scorched, leaped from behind its corrupted companions. It was ready to land among the living, and upon the badly wounded mage. Undoubtedly, given their precarious situation, that would be the final nail to the coffin that would end up collapsing their precarious formation.
But suddenly, the huge insect's trajectory changed slightly, just enough to make it miss its goal. And, what was worse for its comrades, when it fell in front of Jarlia, it also crushed a scorpion.
Six arrows had pierced it. Some of them had ripped its wings, some were physical arrows and others completely made up of mana. But even the physical ones seemed to have something imbued in them. They had penetrated deep into the insect's body, and one had even pierced an eye. It was clear that its life was close to ending.
The jaguar-woman glanced at Anlimtha, but not only was her partner not capable of this, but her bow was on her back.
Everyone looked off into the distance. Even Anlimoth did. He turned back while holding his shield. But, far from distinguishing the supposed archers who may have saved them, who could help them overcome that still desperate situation, they found the silhouette of an animal that was running fast towards them, an animal whose color was too bright to be a lost.