[A/N: I forgot to mention that Donnel’s smite Blessing allows for him to be able to create weapons of ash light, I changed previous details and forgot to mention this so decided to point it out now.]
The trio moved deeper into the factory, their boots crunching on shattered glass and debris scattered across the floor. The flickering light overhead cast shadows on the walls, where fresh and dried blood mixed in grotesque patterns.
They passed by a bloody handprint smeared across the concrete wall, the fingers stretched unnaturally long, as if whoever left it had been clawing for survival.
The metallic stench of blood and decay became overpowering, forcing Kira to breathe through her mouth.
“Ugh, this place gets worse the further we go,” Kira muttered, her voice tinged with unease. Donnel grunted as they came across another horrifying sight… a lifeless body sprawled across the floor, its abdomen torn open. The organs were scattered around like grotesque offerings, some still glistening with fresh blood. The face was frozen in a silent scream, eyes wide in terror.
“Truly disgusting,” Donnel remarked, his lips curling in disdain as he stepped around the body, careful not to touch the blood pooling beneath it.
Claus, however, didn’t seem as disturbed by the sight. He crouched down, inspecting the body with curiosity. “That’s not even the most unsettling part,” he said.
Kira glanced at him, her brows furrowed. “What do you mean? How could it get worse than this?”
Claus looked up at her, then over to Donnel. “You both know that our world operates on a kind of game like system, don’t you?”
Donnel nodded, gripping his spectral hammer tighter. “You mean the one that shows our talents and combat power? Yeah, everyone knows that.”
“Exactly,” Claus confirmed, standing and brushing off his hands. He gestured toward the corpse. “Did either of you notice that when the monster attacked us earlier, no system window appeared? Nothing identifying it or its rank.”
Donnel frowned, his eyes narrowing in thought. “Now that you mention it… System windows only show up when you’re curious about what you’re fighting. But it doesn’t usually work on humans. Maybe because that thing was technically human, no window showed up?”
Claus smiled faintly, the kind that acknowledged a clever observation. “A very well-thought- out hypothesis. I thought I was supposed to be the smart one here. Seems I was mistaken.”
Donnel snorted, waving him off. “Don’t flatter me, Claus. What’s your take on it?”
Claus rose to his feet, his expression serious. “That was my theory as well. But there’s something else. Kira and I can read both talent windows for humans and monsters due to our Blessing. Yet when I tried to read the system window for that creature… I couldn’t.”
“What do you mean?” Kira asked, tilting her head in confusion.
Claus hesitated, glancing between them. “I did see something, but it was incomprehensible. Jumbled, broken, as if the system itself was trying to make sense of it as well but couldn’t.” Donnel frowned deeply, the lines of his face hardening. “And what’s that supposed to mean?” Kira spoke up before Claus could respond. “It means only one thing. Not good.”
Donnel rolled his eyes, though his grip on the hammer tightened. “That much was obvious, Kira. I was asking for specifics.”
Claus began walking again, his expression pensive. “If I had to guess, it means that whatever we’re dealing with here doesn’t fit into the system’s normal parameters. It’s something outside the rules. And it’s presence in this world may not only be new but it may Alos be corrupting the system… Parharps some ort of virus. Something it was never designed to understand.”
His words made them steel themselves, it was already obvious what they were dealing with was strange, his words simply made it more obvious… More grim.
As they moved further in, the air grew even thicker with the smell of decay. The distant shuffling of footsteps and guttural growls reached their ears before the creatures themselves came into view.
Mutated humans stumbled towards them. Their bodies were an eye sore… elongated limbs twisted at unnatural angles, patches of flesh hanging loosely as if their bodies were rotting from within, and faces stretched into inhuman snarls.
Eyes, where they hadn’t been gouged out or sealed over with warped skin, glowed faintly in the dim light.
Donnel stepped forward, his spectral hammer materializing in his hand with a crackling sound. “Stand back. I’ll handle this.”
The first creature lunged at him, a jerky, uncoordinated motion, but Donnel was quicker. He swung his hammer in a clean arc, the force of the strike obliterating the creature’s head in an explosion of blood and bone fragments. Its body crumpled to the ground, twitching.
Another mutant charged, its claws slashing through the air. Donnel sidestepped with ease, Turing around and slamming the hammer into its side.
The impact shattered its ribs with a sickening crunch, and the creature flew into the wall, where it left a smear of blood before sliding down lifelessly.
A third emerged, its abdomen grotesquely distended, pulsating as if something was writhing
inside.
Donnel grimaced and swung the hammer, caving in its chest. The creature collapsed, vomiting a slurry of bile and blood before falling still.
Each swing of Donnel’s hammer left a trail of destruction around the aoredy roughed up surroundings.
One mutant had its arm torn clean off before a follow-up strike crushed its spine. Another lost its lower jaw to an upward swing, its tongue lolling out as it took its last breath.
He moved with skill and precision, each strike intense and powerful, ending them each in one effortless strike, as if the gruesome scene before him were no different than a routine chore.
The stench of blood and rot thickened with each kill, an oppressive smell that clawed at their
senses.
Kira, despite trying to hold herself together, gagged audibly. Her face turned pale before she doubled over, vomiting violently onto the floor.
Claus glanced at her, concern etched on his face. “Are you okay?”
Kira wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, glaring at him through watery eyes. “I don’t know. Do I look okay?”
Claus pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. “This isn’t the time for your attitude. Circulate your energy around your body… it’ll help deter the smell.”
Kira straightened slightly, her tone sharp. “Wait… Are you serious? And you’re telling me this now? After seeing how badly I’ve been handling this stench?”
Claus shrugged, his expression was impassive. “I thought you were already doing it.”
“If I was doing it, don’t you think I’d be in better shape?” she snapped back, rolling her eyes.
She sighed heavily, letting her aura manifest, a faint golden glow spreading across her body as she began to circulate her energy.
The immediate relief was visible in her posture as she inhaled deeply, finally able to block out the worst of the odor.
“Sometimes…”
“…wonder if you’re actually as smart as you claim to be.” she muttered with a touch of
exasperation.
Claus gave her a sidelong glance but said nothing, turning his focus back to Donnel, who stood in a pile of mangled bodies, blood dripping from his hammer.
“You done?”
Donnel turned to look at him, the spectral weapon dematerializing, letting tye blood that
were on it to drop to the floor befir he materialized it again.
“For now,” he said grimly, eye fixed ahead.
“But something tells me we ware about to see to worst of this.”