As they traveled, the sounds of the jungle morphed in response to the dying light. The roaring and boisterous clamor of various monsters ebbed as the night flowed in. It was as if these predators knew instinctively that more terrible hunters stalked the darkness. The footing became even more treacherous, forcing the group to slow down in order to chart a proper path. Riell pulled a number of items from her Spatial Ring: small glowstones, each providing enough light to see for a short distance through the shadows. She passed them around, sparing one for each warrior. They clutched them in their hands like lifelines, the only source of sight that they possessed.

Having solved the issue of sight, they carried on. Soon, the only sounds that broke the silence were the group’s labored breaths. Dharen and Ethan, with their enhanced Endurance, were not suffering any ill effects from the difficult travel. However, the majority of their companions were not so fortunate. He suspected that Anand had long since passed the point of exhaustion, and was now subsisting on pure pride. Meanwhile, Beran was taking the occasional moment to activate his Restorative Sleep, topping his stamina off with a brief respite.

Despite the setbacks, they reached the site of the flashing light with no significant issue. With an eye on staying covert, they covered their stones slightly so as to dim the light that emanated forth; unfortunately, they could not be dimmed completely without plunging the group into an impermeable darkness. Creeping slowly, they skirted their way around the small area that housed the teleporter. The air was thick with an eerie silence; Dharen felt a small, instinctive urge to retreat. He quashed the bothersome sensation with a grim resolve, moving stealthily across the wet jungle terrain.

Though they circled the clearing, they discovered no sign of passage - nor did they hear the telltale signs of conversation or movement that might indicate the teleporting party had remained within the clearing. With their glowstones unable to fully pierce the darkness, they had no choice other than to push into the clearing and assess the situation.

Keeping the stones covered slightly so as to reduce their visible profiles, they crept into the clearing cautiously. In defiance of their caution, the mud sucked and pulled at their boots, emitting ever-so-quiet squelching as they traveled. Dharen noted that the ground was particularly moist in this area, more so than any areas since… he paused. Since the blood-soaked battlefield that they had created so recently.

He knelt closer to the ground, holding his glowstone aloft so as to allow him a more thorough examination of his immediate surroundings. He touched his hand to the much that coated the area, examining it closely. It had a notably crimson hue, more so than should be expected by chance.

A sound of surprise cut across the air, quickly muffled. Dharen looked towards the noise, seeing the dark form of one of his companions. They held their glowstone low to the ground, illuminating an object splayed across the ground ever so slightly. A corpse.

Soon, they had found five corpses in total, one after another. Each was killed in a similar manner as the others: with quick efficiency and little sign of a struggle. Finally, they found the sixth member of the group - an absolute giant of a man. He had fallen into a small ditch, hiding his form. Unlike the others, the large warrior had not gone quietly.

The area around him had pooled with blood, the overly large amounts of the life-bearing fluid indicating that the man had likely been the holder of a Vitality-boosting Seed. While the other warriors showed minimal wounds, as if they had been the victims of quiet assassination, the final man displayed anything but that. His corpse was mangled and marred with a plethora of various wounds; he had been stabbed and cut, sliced and bruised.

The blood that had poured in a torrent from his numerous wounds had yet to soak fully into the ground. Dharen examined the body further. As he did so, he noted that the blood surrounding the man demonstrated a slight discoloration, as if it were not entirely human. Though, it was hard to say with certainty due to the depth of the darkness that surrounded them.

As one, Dharen and the others closed ranks, alert and observant for whatever manner of creature had assaulted the unfortunate warriors. While they had been planning to do the same, they were not eager to be ambushed in turn.

“We may have already encroached on the territory of the Nulzan, judging by the manner of deaths here. Be ready for anything, and stay vigilant,” Riell, voice kept low and quiet, reminded the others. She dropped her glowstone onto the ground nearby to free her hand, the others doing the same. Dharen slipped his own stone into his Spatial Ring for safekeeping.

As she spoke, Dharen heard a soft and almost imperceptible clicking sound. He whirled in the direction of the ominous noise, before he heard the same sound repeated from another direction. And another. And another.

Though it had already been quite dark, it seemed that now night had descended upon them in truth. A deep darkness that appeared to have a mind of its own, almost pushing at them like a physical presence. Wary of what had occurred to the formerly-living warriors whose corpses now littered the clearing, they pressed in tighter and more defensively.

Shadows whirled and twisted around them, as if beings made of smoke. The ethereal gloom pulled at their fears, rushing in like an approaching enemy before dissipating and returning to nothingness.

In the midst of the gloom and the darkness, they attacked.

They appeared from the shadows, moving with an astounding speed and agility. The sounds of clicking spread through the air, the Nulzan’s signature manner of tribal coordination. In a single moment, they were upon them.

Forced by the innumerable number of enemies, Riell activated her Field of Uncertainty. A nearby Nulzan shifted in place, finding itself suddenly obstructing the path of one of its brethren. However, unlike the Feyul, the Nulzan possessed the wits and the agility to adapt somewhat. The affected Nulzan made an urgent clicking noise, and rather than tumbling into the teleported Nulzan, the incoming creature twisted adroitly, slipping past his fellow while incomprehensibly maintaining its speed.

Dharen’s eyes widened. As he listened to the chatter that spread around the field of battle, he had a realization: the Nulzan were truly able to communicate to one another. They weren’t just producing random clicking noises, they were talking. They were organizing themselves. In response to the chatter from each other, they moved together in an attempt to defeat Dharen and his allies.

With the Field now in full effect, an invisible ten foot barrier had appeared around Riell. Beran, as well, activated his Frozen World in order to further stifle the assault of the agile creatures. Though it was not enough to stop the encroaching enemies, it slowed them considerably - turning a torrent of attacks into a more manageable number. Fortunately, the monsters suffered from the same difficulties as Dharen when dealing with Riell’s field. That, combined with their extreme displays of agility, demonstrated that they likely possessed Seeds of Fear as well.

His suspicions were confirmed further a moment later, as one particular Nulzan became wreathed in shadows and disappeared within the darkness. One Nulzan after another activated their own Boons, the majority of which appeared to be some form of stealth-type ability.

However, not all of them were limited to stealth. The corpses that littered the ground, broken and lifeless, were slowly coming back to life. They rose with twisted limbs and broken necks, with slack eyes and moaning lips.

Even as the new enemies made themselves known, the stealth-oriented Nulzan sent reminders that they were there. One after another, they assaulted the combination of Riell’s Field of Uncertainty and Beran’s Frozen World that had become the bedrock of their current defense.

For a moment, Dharen found himself teleported to the edge of Riell’s range, inciting a brief moment of alarm. In the next moment, he had been shifted closer inwards, behind a single Nulzan. Before he could be teleported once more, he hammered the monster’s skull in, shattering its skull and flinging brain matter across the field.

A moan resounded from behind him, and Dharen jerked in response, reflexively bringing Restraint in a wide circle around himself. The blunt weapon collided with the shambling corpse that approached from his back, caving its skull inwards.

“To me!” Riell cried out. “We’re getting out of here.”

As Riell deactivated her Field to more easily allow her comrades to close enough distance to be included in her short-range teleport, Dharen burst towards the group. The air around her began to shimmer with an arcane light, undulating softly.

The others gathered around Riell, defending her as the teleporter began to activate. Entering the range of the device, Dharen turned to provide his own defense. As he did so, a wall of flesh flashed towards him from the corner of his eye - the resurrected corpse of the gigantic warrior.

At the last moment, he managed to turn slightly and hold out his arms to block. He successfully arrested the majority of the blow’s impact, but the impetus of the attack caused his feet to slide against the mud - pushing him just out of range of Riell’s teleporter device as the group disappeared in a flash of light.