The silence of the deep layer was shattered not by a roar, but by the wet, sickening sound of tearing meat.
The obsidian-skinned creatures, blind, shifting masses of solidified shadow and weeping black sludge, slammed onto the petrified world-root with enough force to send shockwaves through the ancient wood, causing the entire platform to groan in protest.
Captain Gideon's vanguard didn't stand a chance.
Two soldiers near the edge of the root were whipped into the air by a lash of black sludge before they could even draw their steel. They vanished into the boiling nectar ocean below with a short, stifled scream, their armor clattering against the stone cliffs before they hit the black liquid.
The air filled with the metallic tang of fear and the smell of ancient rot.
"Form up! Shields out!" Gideon roared, but his voice lacked its usual bite, sounding thin and desperate against the cacophony of the monsters.
