The fighting had barely started and already, the trio was surrounded. Abnormal Eaters they'd never seen before closed in fast.
One of them charged Johnquis: thick-bodied, heavy steps cracking the stone. Its arms were lined with jagged amethyst plates.
It swung wide, like a battering ram built to kill.
Johnquis raised his chains and crossed them into an X, catching the blow.
"Fucker—shit! This freak's got stone boxing gloves!"
The Eater slammed forward, trying to pin him down.
"Enough of you! I'm not dying by your fists—I'm dying from your corpse-stinking breath! Argh!"
He kicked it back with all his strength. The Eater stumbled, shoved several feet away. Johnquis uncoiled his chains and cracked them hard, trying to land a follow-up hit.
"God, you're hard! Just die already!"
The chains barely did any damage. Its amethyst-plated arms deflected each strike with a dull clink of metal on crystal.
Then Dancer moved.
