Iratus pushed Morn out of the way as two halberds fell down with an oddly synchronized thump. The gray statues on either side stepped off their pedestal and raised their weapons. Morn threw their axe at one of them while Iratus raised first his fist and then one of his eyebrows as if daring the creature to take another step.
“Guys,” said Jade, turning around, “There’s two more.”
Jade pointed at two statues running towards them with their swords out. There was something off about them, thought Jade. With her eyes, she saw two faceless statues made out of a gray stone, but the tremors in her feet told her something else. Never before had stone felt so wobbly.
“What are they?” asked Acantha as she readied her vines to lash out.
“Sloan Defenders,” said Lumira readying her spear. Kevins did a few steps back and positioned himself behind Jade. Acantha yelled at Lumira:
“If they are Sloan, then why are they attacking us? You should tell them that we’re on the same side.”
“Do you have any gold stored here Acantha?” Lumira snapped back. She looked over her shoulder at the dryad and continued: “Me neither. Sooo, basically, we’re trespassing.”
She flicked her hair back and threw her spear at one of the defenders, it went right through its chest and skittered on the floor behind it. Lumira cursed.
“The worst kind,” she mumbled. Then in a much louder voice she said: “Physical weapons won’t work on them!”
Morn slashed their axe at the creature from one side, then the other. The blade just went through the defender’s body as if it was made from water. Little droplets of slime splattered all over the floor and ceiling with every hit. The statue fighting Iratus thrusted its halberd towards the orc. Iratus caught it with his hands and pulled. The defender pulled back.
“Eh,” said Jade, “Then there really is no place for me.” She sidestepped the incoming sword and pushed her blade into the defenders body. It slid through with barely any resistance. Acantha whipped her vines at the same creature without avail and screamed in frustration:
“Well, then how are we supposed to fight them?”
Lumira clicked her tongue and pointed her finger at the creature that ran towards her. She shot a beam of of light right through it. It stopped running and looked down at the gaping hole that was now in its chest. Slowly the hole filled itself like a pit of watery mud.
“Dangit!” Said Lumira, before she reloaded her finger and shot again, this time aiming for its head.
Jade took another step back and another.
“Careful!” said Iratus, who was right behind her.
“Sorry,” said Jade. They were now fighting back to back. Or rather, they were being pushed in a corner. For some reason she kept slashing at the slimy thing before her. To no avail, other than to tire herself out. The creature that Lumira had shot, was regrowing its head, albeit slowly. From the corner of her eye, Jade watched it. Its body height didn’t seem to change, which meant that some of its volume had disappeared. An idea sparked in Jade’s mind.
“We’ll line them up for you,” she sang to Lumira. Then she explained her plan to Morn and Iratus. She sidestepped a few times around the creature. Morn had covered their axe in flames and drove their opponent towards Jade. Iratus let go of the halberd and rolled forward, landing on the other side of the statue- thing.
Jade smiled, that went more smoothly than she had imagined. Now that the creatures were surrounded, Morn lit a fire in their hand and threw it at them. The creatures hissed, not from their non-existing mouth, rather it sounded like air was escaping from their bodies.
Acantha whipped her vines a the formerly-headless creature while Lumira ran to the other side. The four creatures reached for each other and held hands. Through the flames it was hard to see where one creature stopped and the other began. They were melting. Smoke rose up to the ceiling.
“Stand clear!” Lumira said, while pointing her finger at the burning bunch.
Jade jumped back and covered her eyes as the room was lit by a bright white beam of light shot from Lumira’s index finger. Lumira moved and cut the melting creatures in two, lumping the top half of their bodies onto the floor. The light dimmed and Jade opened her eyes again. She saw a bubbling mass of ligaments in the dying fire.
“Yes!” exclaimed Jade and smiled. She breathed heavily. The continuous dodging of blows and the futile cutting at an opponent that was completely unresponsive to any attempt to cause it pain had worn her out.
“Hold on,” said Iratus, “It’s getting up.”
He was right. The four creatures seemed to have melted away, but now bounced back into the shape of a singular creature. It looked around without eyes. Jade readied her blade. This fight was not over yet. Morn got ready to throw another ball of fire. The creature was a lot less stable than the four statues had been. It either did not have the energy to act like a statue, or it simply given up the pretense of being made of stone. It stretched itself out and came down like a wave onto itself. While doing so it shot small darts in all directions. Jade dodged the one coming for her face and with her blade she blocked another one aimed at her chest.
Jade looked up and saw that the creature reached with a hand to the ceiling, where another creature reached down to grab the hand.
“It is escaping!” shouted Morn and they threw another flame at the creature. It missed the creature and the ceiling and instead fell onto Acantha, who was standing opposite. She screamed as the fire burned away her skin.
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