The two mercenaries screamed.
It was a sound of pure, unadulterated agony.
They stumbled back. They looked down at their own hands. Their steel gauntlets were melting. The metal turned to black, bubbling sludge. The sludge dripped onto their leather armor, which began to dissolve with a sickening hiss. Then it touched their skin.
Their screams intensified as their own flesh began to melt like wax, dripping from their bones.
The rest of the caravan stared in absolute, frozen horror. The caravan master's face was a mask of pure terror. Lila and Aurelia watched from the wagon, their hands clamped over their mouths to stifle their own screams.
This was not a fight. This was a slaughter.
The screams of the melting mercenaries echoed in the unnatural silence. The rest of the caravan stared, frozen in horror.
Lila grabbed Riku's arm. Her knuckles were white. "Riku, no," she whispered, her voice filled with a primal fear. "Don't go out there. That thing... it's not human."
