Back in the burning southern forest, the Paladins prepared to charge.
Then, the sun went out, but there wasn't a cloud covering it. The flames of the burning forest flickered violently as a massive shadow blotted out the sky.
The Rotting Druid watched, his jaw unhinging.
A black cloud of one hundred thousand mutated swamp locusts descended from the sky like a solid block of iron.
"Shields!" the lead Paladin screamed, his arrogance vanishing instantly. "Light the sky! [ SOLAR FLARE ]!"
Dozens of Paladins thrust their hands upward, burning massive amounts of DP to unleash waves of holy fire into the air. Thousands of locusts were incinerated instantly, raining down as burnt husks.
But there were one hundred thousand of them.
The swarm crashed into the golden formation like a tidal wave. They didn't care about holy fire. They were a biological algorithm driven entirely by starvation.
