The Balehens strutted among the rocks, clucking at each other. At least, Zaria assumed they were clucking. She’d heard chickens at the village, and the sounds coming from the creatures were reminiscent of chicken clucks in the same way a rotten corpse was similar to a healthy adult. The sounds had become wet and garbled, a perfect match for the balehens forms.

These must have fed well on demonic flesh and blood. About a dozen of them were nearly six feet tall, and their feathers were patchy and mismatched, missing in places to expose purple skin underneath. Their overall built was lean and closer to a bird of prey’s than that of the chickens they had once been, save for the bloated bellies. Something writhed and twisted within their stomachs, visible in bulges along their skin. Each also had lost their feathered behind, sprouting instead a long and thin tail like a rat’s that ended in a demonic point. All of them had horns sprouting from around their eyes, a sign of their demonic corruption. The final, and most dangerous aspect, were the wings. The feathers had completely fallen away, and the skin had peeled back to the first joint in their bone. That left them with a pair of scythe-like forelimbs that were covered in keratinous barbs, the primary weapon that made Balehens so feared. They’d use those limbs to pin something to the ground, then viciously peck the creature to death.

Interspersed with those dozen were another two or three dozen of lower Tier, Tin balehens that looked a bit closer to normal chickens, save the demonic tails. They even had wings still.

All save one.

The balehens were on the edge of Zaria’s expanded vision, and hadn’t noticed her yet, which allowed her and Vysala to observe the threat unassailed. And one of the balehens had drawn both of their attention.

“Do you have any idea what happened there?” Vysala asked.

Zaria shook her head. “I was going to ask you. Do demons ever mimic golems like that?”

“Not that we’ve seen.”

This particular balehen was, according to its nameplate, a Balehen Drone, and was a Bronze tier mob. Mob, not monster. Bronze, unlike the Copper and Tin tiers of the rest of the flock. It looked like someone had constructed a suit of full plate armor to cover a balehen, then animated it. In place of a head, it had a perfect cylinder that ended in a glass lens. The creature walked among the balehens, mimicking their behavior perfectly. Too perfectly. A balehen would cluck twice and bend down to peck at the dirt, and a moment later the Balehen Drone would do the same. Its clucks even perfectly mirrored the sound of the balehen it was copying.

“They balehens aren’t attacking it,” Zaria said after a moment. “It has to be some kind of new balehen.”

Vysala snorted. “They’re demonic corruptions, but they’re still chickens. It’s not hard to convince a chicken something isn’t a threat. And - can you move your vision closer to it? The joints, specifically.”

Zaria did so.

“There,” Vysala said. “Look at what’s underneath.”

It wasn’t hard to tell what had the witch interested. Between the joints, there was no flesh showing, but it also wasn’t the solid iron or stone one would expect for a construct - nor was it elemental energy that could mark it as a rather specialized elemental mob. There were cords of some kind of… not rope. They were all black and perfectly smooth. They were even slightly reflective, like they were made of some kind of flexible glass.

“I don’t know what to make of that,” Zaria said.

“Neither do I,” Vysala said. “Except that it’s not organic. So if this thing isn’t a normal construct, or an elemental, or a creature… it might be that whatever it is, the balehens didn’t know how to react to it. Since it looks kind of like a balehen, it didn’t trigger their predatory instincts, and it wasn’t a threat, they had to slot it into the only remaining category they had left - flockmate.”

That tracked for Zaria. “No way to know if it’s hostile, and it’s Bronze. I’m going to give Maw and Broil orders to focus all their attacks on it if it turns aggressive, but not to provoke it otherwise.”

Vysala nodded. “Whatever it is, best not to provoke it. Do you know how you want to play this?”

“I’m going to move my body to the roof, and we’re charging in directly. I’m hoping I can startle the smaller balehens into fleeing. Then it’s just us and my mobs against the big ones. If I can’t scare the smaller ones, they’re only Tin. I can stomp them to death easily while you and the mobs whittle down the Coppers, and then join you against them.”

“Works for me. When do you want us to engage?”

“I want you and the mobs on the patio. The moment we get over the flock, leap out and jump down among them. Can you do that without breaking a leg?”

“Benefits to Copper,” Vysala said. “Can handle this height no problem, just go still when I jump, all right? Don’t want to have to deal with the forward momentum and the fall.”

“Understood. Once you hop off, I’ll take a few more steps so you’re clear of my feet - stay stationary until then. Don’t want to crush any of you.”

Vysala stood up, and held out her hand to Rav.

Zaria hadn’t been certain about using a moon heart right away, but the mimic had seemed so excited for the prospect, she couldn’t resist. The moon heart and sword body had fit the former crate like a glove. His motions were quicker and his overall demeanor was far happier. The influence of the moon heart had turned him from a straight blade into a curved one, more akin to a scimitar, and there was a waxing moon and waning moon in the sword’s pommel. Unlike the other sword mimics, the blade was not Rav’s mouth - instead, it was his tongue, and he could twist and turn it at will. Instead, he had a larger cross guard, and could split it open to reveal rows of teeth inside.

Zaria gave one final round of orders to the mimics - when to leave, what to target, and to return once all enemies were defeated or the mimics had only five minutes left before they would go feral. Finally ready, Zaria charged in.

The balehens all popped up to look at Zaria as she ran at them, her strides shaking the ground with every step. The smaller ones squawked and dash in all directions, some small bit of self preservation overriding the demonic influence that drove them to violence. The larger, however, started to hiss and cluck, getting ready to attack.

An iris closed in over the Balehen Drone’s lens, giving it the appearance of a mechanical eye. Then, to Zaria’s complete shock, it spoke.

“Outside of Context Problem, Black Swan codex 0-0023b: possible Entity presence. Seeking clarification.”

Something extended from the top of its head, a long thin metal rod that expanded outwards into a dish. The drone went completely still.

Then Zaria’s next step took the crossbow mimics in range. They immediately popped up over their candlemen’s back and opened fire, a single volley flying in among the Balehens. At this distance, their accuracy wasn’t the best, but two bolts fired did manage to land home, drawing indignant squawks from the flock and applying the debuffs the crossbows carried.

The pain and shock spurred the demon-corrupted chickens into action. With a single crow from the largest of them, they charged in. With Zaria and the balehens rushing towards each other, the crossbows were only to get off a couple more shots before the balehens were in range to respond with their own ranged attacks.

Each of them made a horking sound, and something came flying from their beaks, rising up towards Zaria’s porch. The wet masses landed among the candlemen. Almost immediately, the mimics beset the monsters, slashing and biting, but not before Zaria got a look at the projectiles.

Felworms. Normal earthworms warped by demonic corruption to be larger and covered in barbs, now trying to wrap around mimic limbs. The venom they carried was brutal against flesh - and was mystic enough it could even harm beings made of wax and steel.

The balehens horked again, and Vysala smacked one of the felworms out of the air with her spork before it could even land. “Get ready!” she shouted, crouching down.

And now Zaria was among the balehens in truth. She stomped two quick times, trying to clear out the balehens from beneath her. The demonic birds were fast and moved to escape Zaria’s blows. However, she hadn’t really been trying to kill them - just clear out a space for her attack.

As one, the candlemen, Maw, Vysala, and Broil leapt from the patio. They landed among the Balehens, which crowed and hissed in shock. Per Zaria’s instructions, they waited until she took a couple more steps, then moved to attack.

And attack they did, with brutal efficiency. The sword candlemen formed a circle with Vysala and the Bosses around the ranged fighters, who immediately opened up with close range crossbow fire. The balehens rushed towards these threats, leaping for the mobs to try to pounce on them. One of the candlemen almost went down immediately, the balehen sinking its wing-talons into the mimic’s shoulders. However, the sword mimic on its back reacted quickly, thrusting its blade into the ground to brace the candleman from falling. The balehen pecked at the candlemen’s helm, aiming for the eye slots with uncanny accuracy. The candleman responded by shooting its tongue out of the flap in its armor and wrapping the appendage around the balehen’s midsection, trying to pull the bird in closer for a bite. Its own sword was at an awkward angle for any kind of controlled strike, but it was still able to hack at the demonic chicken.

Had the balehen been a normal animal, those blows would have quickly killed it from blood loss. But when the candleman split the creature’s skin, the felworms rose up to the injury, sinking their hooks into their host’s flesh and anchoring themselves in place, providing an immediate seal to the wound. Another balehen leapt over that one, stretching out its talons towards one of the archers.

Vysala was there, stepping in with her spork. The impact rune on her spork flared to life, and the balehen was swatted back like it weighed no more than a normal chicken. It scrambled back to its feet once it landed, but its movements were awkward. Before it could charge back in, Rav snapped up over Vysala’s head like a scorpion’s tail, and slashed the air.

A crescent of pale blue energy leapt from the slash, flying through the air in an arc. It struck the balehen in the chest, drawing a thin line of blood that erupted a moment later into a torrent. The felworms sealed the wound, but Rav was now slashing the air, sending wave after wave at the demonic creature.

Another Balehen managed to slip between two of the candlemen, clucking in fury as it targeted a crossbow wielder. This one was met by Maw, who grabbed the hen in both hands and lifted it up before shoving it directly into his lid and snapped down. The balehen thrashed and scratched in his grasp, trying to tear itself free. The panicked motion did hurt the boss - but Zaria had fed it on demon flesh.

Maw had gained the Demonic Regeneration ability on top of the regeneration granted from consuming Hellish Cuisine. He was regenerating at phenomenal rates, and the Balehen wasn’t able to do enough damage to overcome it.

Vysala’s runes were also doing their work. Mimics would activate them when they landed a solid blow, striking the balehen with an Impact rune and sending it flying back. Per Zaria’s instructions, they only did so when she was the one behind the Balehen.

It was easy for her to crush one of those chickens with a stomp. She had to go for a few blows to put the creature down, but she could hear its bones fracture with every strike. Another Balehen pivoted to charge her directly, and Zaria pointed at it, dropping her mouth and letting out a cackle.

The balehen staggered as spectral forces assailed it from all sides. The individual blows didn’t look like they were very powerful, but they came so fast it was hard for the creature to maintain its balance, let alone attack.

All across the battlefield, the granted abilities from the demonic flesh were showing themselves useful. It had always been one of three abilities. Some mimics had Demonic Regeneration like Maw, which kept them up and fighting. A few others had gained Hateful Blood. While this did nothing on the offense, whenever a balehen’s pecks and scratches managed to get through to the mimic’s interior, the wound would explosively rupture, doing a small bit of damage to the mimic and far more to the balehen. The last ability was Sadistic Might. These showed no changes to their fighting style at all, but when Zaria pulled up their abilities, she could see they were getting a stacking damage buff with every strike they landed.

The real focus, however, was on Broil.

The new boss was proving the difference in power between a Tin and Copper boss handily. His steel stovepipe tentacles struck like hammer blows when they landed, and even the agile balehens couldn’t evade forever. Once it wrapped one of those limbs around a balehen, the metal of the stovepipe heated to red hot almost immediately, searing the creature’s flesh and releasing a sickeningly pleasant aroma of roasting chicken. When one proved too fast for Broil to catch, it let loose with a barrage of embers that streaked like miniature comets, going so far as to curve in the air like seeker projectiles to find their target.

That wasn’t to say there were no casualties on Zaria’s side. A candleman was pulled out of formation, and three balehens surrounded it, pecking hard enough to puncture even Uncommon armor and tear away the wax beneath. Its sword mimic tried to lash out at the threats, but one of the balehens got its beak around the hilt and pulled and thrashed the creature. Another went down to a balehen that didn’t go in for the lunge, instead dancing out of reach and slashing back in when the candleman and its sword mimic missed their blows. But overall, it was going well.

Then she heard a sound that drew her attention away. Dozens of clucks accompanied by fluttering wings, followed by a stomping sound.

The smaller balehens were returning, flying through the air with hateful abandon. Beneath them, however, was a balehen that had been out of Zaria’s range until recently. It was three times as tall as a human and moved with demonic grace as it charged straight for Zaria.

The drone, which had been immobile this entire time, whirred to life when the monstrous balehen approached. “Priority Update: Boss-level threat detected. Retreating to minimum safe distance to await further instructions.” Its back split open, and three blades erupted from a compartment there. They whirled over the drone, and it was lifted into the air by the sheer force of the downdraft.

The giant balehen saw the drone lift off, and then it met Zaria’s gaze. When it saw she had noticed it, the creature reared back its head.

The accompanying cock-a-doodle-do sounded like a herald of the apocalypse.