They pressed forward at a fast pace, no longer holding back. Roots tangled under their foot, jagged stones jutted from the earth, and thick trees loomed around them but they didn't slow.
Each of them pushed their stamina to its limit. Running even through uneven terrain where one wrong step could mean a twisted ankle. But they didn't care and their agility is high enough for all of that. The urgency was greater than the risk.
Even Annette, who some might have expected to struggle as a priest, kept up with ease. Her movements were smooth and agile almost like a rogue weaving through all of this obstacles.
Truth was, her body had always been nimble. Her physical ability hidden beneath the image of her profession as a priest. People often saw a priest and assumed fragility but Annette was anything but that.
Anticipating situations , she had made subtle modifications to her robes long ago. Now, with practiced hands, she unfastened the outer layer, letting it hang like a cape behind her shoulders. Beneath it, she wore fitted trousers and a tight shirt that gave her freedom to move.
Mark and his team, unfamiliar with her game glanced at her with mild surprise. There was a beat of silence then grins and quiet compliments passed between them, nods of acknowledgment given mid-stride.
Annette simply smiled and kept running.
They continued at that pace for several more minutes before Eccar suddenly raised his hand in a signal to stop.
The group halted immediately, hearts pounding and breath visible in the cool mist.
"I found another one of those mist," Eccar said quietly.
Without waiting, he moved ahead. They followed him into the mist-shrouded woods, their weapons already drawn and their senses already on alert.
After a short hike through dense trees they reached a clearing and there it was. Another rift that swirling with pale light and humming with Magic energy.
But they weren't alone.
Five pale grey creatures had already emerged. Their bodies twisted and sinewy. They let out faint shrieking through the air like rattling wind.
Two of them stood out immediately. These two were larger than the rest, with grotesquely fat bodies and thick oversized arms that dragged along the ground.
Jan narrowed his eyes and drew his bow. "Those two are new."
"Oh, they're nothing," Eccar replied with a low chuckle, utterly unfazed.
The others looked at him, glancing between the rift and Eccar's calm face. That laugh wasn't arrogance, it was understanding. He'd seen worse inside the rift when he took a glimpse. Much worse.
And whatever it was, it hadn't come out yet.
They pushed that thought aside. Whatever horror still lingered behind the rift could wait. Right now, they had a fight in front of them.
Annette stepped forward, her voice low but steady while murmuring incantations with practiced rhythm. Golden light flared around her fingertips then rippled outward like waves.
One by one, her allies felt the surge of energy. Their muscles tightening, their limbs growing lighter, and their senses sharpening.
"Speed and strength," she said simply, her eyes focused. "Make it count."
Eccar cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders.
"I'll take the big ones," he said, nodding toward the lumbering giants. "You lot handle the others."
No one questioned it.
Jan had already loosed his first arrow. It flew with a sharp hiss and instantly burying itself in the neck of one of the smaller creatures before it could even move. The beast shrieked and staggered but didn't fall.
Thorne, Hund, and Mark surged forward in unison with their blades drawn. They moved incredibly fast despite their build, sweeping in with precise slashes.
The second creature barely raised its claws before Thorne's Magic greatsword cleaved through one of its arms.
Hund followed with a brutal upward slash that tore into its side while Mark kept its attention locked with sharp and aggressive strikes.
Kaela darted around them like a flicker of shadow. Her twin daggers gleaming with runes. That daggers actually a Magic weapon as well but she hesitate on using it before and intended to keeping it in the most important fight. But right now every fight is important.
She moved too fast for the eye to follow, slicing tendons and hamstringing of the third creature then dancing away before it could retaliate.
Her attack weren't lethal on their own but they were devastating in how they set the creature up for others to finish.
Esther raised her hands. Fire swirling at her staff before she cast a blast that engulfed one of the wounded beasts.
Flames surged and roared, painting the trees in a harsh orange glow. The creature screamed and twisted, its flesh burning and crackling.
Selene stepped up beside her and her Magic answered in the same manner like Esther. Lightning arced from her gloved fingertips and attacking the same target in the middle of its burning state.
The fire and lightning wove together in a storm of destruction that brought the creature crashing to the ground, twitching and silent.
Meanwhile, Eccar met the two giants.
One of them lunged at him immediately, its oversized fists crashing down like boulders. But Eccar wasn't there. He moved like a blur and ducking low, then striking upward with such force that the creature reeled back.
The second tried to flank him but Eccar twisted, planted his feet, and slammed his fist into its gut with a shockwave of raw force. Strange green energy from the creature burst around him in a flare.
The giants were pretty strong but Eccar was faster, sharper, more ruthless. He didn't even using his real strength.
The forest echoed with the clash of steel, the roar of Magic, and the shrieks of dying beasts. The team fought as one, their rhythm flawless, and their pace relentless because they are now in urgency.
The rift pulsed again behind them like a brackground. Eccar's eyes don't leave it while fighting. Worry that some unexpected things coming out from that cursed dimension.