In the silence that followed, insidious creaking noises creeped into the air, fracturing the stillness.
They could all hear loud breathing, almost meant to be hidden, turning the cavernous space into a palpable countdown to terror. Instinctively, they began to shuffle backwards as whatever it was in front of them stepped closer.
Padva hauled her low-growling Panther back with a sharp tug, joining the uneasy retreat. From the rear, Jethro peered into the darkness, his own pounding heart nearly drowning out any subtle sounds of an impending strike.
"They're coming…" Anson whispered.
Moffrey narrowed his frightened eyes. "What is going on, escort? Those really don't sound like Gray Ranked Beasts."
The escort stood rigid, utterly speechless, his face drained of color as he too stared fixedly into the consuming darkness, awaiting what was coming.
Drrrrmmmmm!
The sound caught their attention instantly. The earth shuddered beneath their boots, but something even more horrifying was happening.
Ahead, the ground buckled and shattered into jagged stones snaking across the surface with terrifying speed— and heading straight for their clustered position!
"Get back!" Anson cried.
They scrambled, leaping frantically backwards just as the ground where they had stood exploded upwards in a geyser of rock and dirt.
The concussive force slammed into them, sending most sprawling painfully onto the unforgiving stone. Only Padva, Songred, and the escort managed to land with any semblance of balance, staggering but upright.
From the eruption of earth, a massive form emerged free, sending crumbling rocks falling around the team. A thick plume of dust blasted outward, forcing them to throw up arms and shield their eyes.
Jethro coughed violently, pushing himself up onto unsteady feet. He wiped grit from his eyes, watching the dust swirl and gradually dissipate, revealing the monstrous shapes of their attackers.
His eyes first caught the one that had burrowed through the earth. It was easily twelve feet tall, a fusion of a warthog and a bloated termite queen. Its armored back was covered with sharp crystal-like spines, and its face had feelers that drooled black ichor, sizzling when it struck the stone.
The second, to its right, was a gorilla-type monster, bearing the frame of a silverback but crowned with gnarled, mossy antlers protruding out of its head. Instead of arms, six chitinous insect legs sprouted from its torso, and a noxious green fog seeped from its pores with every lumbering step, coiling around its limbs like a poisonous shroud.
And just as Anson had sensed, there was a third beast— this one undeniably the worst.
It was a hideously stretched bird-thing with wings not made of feathers but formed from and like cruel, sharp scythes. It had the head of a rotting vulture, from whose beak hung two long, whip-like tendrils that snapped hungrily at the air. And the talons it possessed were easily the length of samurai swords, glistening as it perched atop a broken column.
The bird-beast threw back its decayed head and unleashed a mad screech, forcing everyone to clamp their ears and wince in agony.
When it ended, they lifted their gazes once again to the three pure nightmares before them.
Songred's voice trembled for the first time. "What the hell are those?"
Padva's eyes quivered as she stared. It was almost like she was the only one who knew the gravity of what was happening. "A Terravore Slugbeast… a Blight-Tusk Howler… a Graven Vullturefiend." Her lips shook when she tried to speak again. "These… These are Platinum Rank Beasts. All three."
Jethro's eyes widened at that statement, snapping his gaze at the towering monstrosities again.
"But that's not possible!" Moffrey protested, clutching his aether gun. "We're in a Gray-Ranked Rift."
The escort looked utterly horrified, his entire face painted with dread. "Something has gone terribly wrong."
A loud, grinding roar filled the air as the pincer of the Terravore Slugbeast opened, declaring its attack.
"There's no time to be confused!" Songred yelled. "They're attacking!"
Suddenly— before they could do anything —blight fog surged forward, covering the air in a blitz of a second. Jethro looked around, watching the darkness get swallowed by a greenish smoke.
Through the murk, he saw the Howler slammed its tusks into Pott, sending him crashing into a stone pillar. Pott's Rhino let out a war cry and charged in retaliation.
The Howler didn't seem bothered. It merely lowered its head and shot out greenish goo that detonated on the mechbeast's thick skin, knocking it down.
Blast! Blast! Blast!
Moffrey shot wildly at the Vulturefiend, missing every blast. The Darcbeast sped through the smoke, wheezing past each time he was certain that he had a clear shot.
The Howler turned his direction and shot another green sludge at him. Moffrey moved his shoulder, barely averting the attack before he activated his boot jets and elevated himself into the air.
"Positions! Positions!" Songred roared, leaping backwards to avoid a sweeping scythe-wing. He summoned two separate columns of blade petals, directing them in a furious barrage against the Howler's thick hide.
The damage was barely visible. The blades barely cut through its thick skin. His Direwolf barked, leaping with a burst of a giant lotus manifesting behind it. Just when it was about to release a downpour of explosive petals, the Vulturefiend glided past it, sinking its talons into its skin and tearing through.
The wolf howled.
"Petal!" Songred yelled in fear, running to his falling mechbeast.
Padva saw what had happened but was stuck in her own situation. The Terravore Slugbeast was burrowing under the earth once again and she was trying to find out where.
Suddenly, her Panther roared a warning and she reacted instantly. Padva threw herself into the air as the earth exploded precisely where she'd stood.
The Slugbeast's pincers opened, aiming to capture her in its jaws, while her feet lifted her higher into the air. Hanging there, suspended by her agility, Padva nocked three arrows in her bow at the same time— their blades sizzling with explosive aether.
With perfect timing, she released them straight down into the beast's open, ichor-dripping maw.
She saw its eyes widen.
Quickly, her Panther caught her tunic in its jaws and teleported into the shadows. A fraction of a second later, a thunderous explosion ripped from the Slugbeast's gullet, rattling the cavern walls.
Padva reappeared on the ground a second after with her mechbeast. But her momentary hope died instantly because after the smoke cleared, she saw that the Slugbeast was barely even harmed.
It shook its head, like it was fighting off the dizziness before it headed toward the broken statue where Mory was healing Pott with her Sunspire.
Padva groaned, sweat stinging her eyes, and drew two more arrows from her quiver.
Nearby, Anson's Lynx pounced on the Howler, biting into its neck. The beast barely flinched, swatting the mechanical feline aside with contemptuous ease, sending it tumbling like a broken toy.
And watching all of this, from behind a spur of fallen rock, was Jethro. His Gutterling joined him in poking their heads out, watching with heaving chests.
They saw the Slugbeast drive one colossal pincer deep into Pott's stomach with brutal force. They saw the Vulturefiend catch Anson and Songred with its tendrils and fling them so hard that bones surely must have broken.
Padva and her mechbeast couldn't keep up with the Slugbeast, and they ended up falling, almost lifeless after being struck with the Blight-Tusk Howler's green sludges.
Moffrey, desperately dodging, was snatched from the air by the Vulturefiend's talons, and after his Cobra's desperate ice attacks, the bird beast simply opened its grasp, letting him plummet from a lethal height.
Within moments, the entire team lay broken and defeated. Only Mory remained untouched, but she wasn't exactly moving. She sat huddled on the ground, hugging her legs, her precious Sunspire plant trembling on her knees.
She looked terrified. "I can't heal all of them… I can't…"
Jethro's eyes widened, then looked in another direction where the Darcbeasts were now calmer.
They approached the fallen squadmates with the intention to feed on them, but one of them spotted Mory— the Terravore Slugbeast.
With a sinister hiss, it sank itself into the ground, and began to burrow its way towards her with speed.
Mory didn't scream. She didn't even try to crawl away. Perhaps shock held her, perhaps despair. But she simply stared at the approaching line of destruction, her eyes filled with resigned terror. She hugged her Sunspire tighter and squeezed her eyes shut.
Jethro's heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird. 'No! What is she doing?! Come on! Get out of the way.'
There was nothing he could do, and even still, there was barely any time left. The distance closed rapidly. The Slugbeast burrowed closer and closer, and it was going to—
KROOOMM!!
The earth directly in front of Mory shattered by force. This time upwards. Rocks and stones spilled into the air, and the Slugbeast shrieked loudly in pain and fear.
Mory opened her eyes. Jethro's own widened.
Holding the Terravore Slugbeast by its armored neck was one of the most legendary mechbeasts in history.
A Titanic Liongolem.