The small army arrived at the bottom of the hill. Austin instantly recognized it as the place where he got the fruit to make Maya, Josh, and even Elliot Essence aware. It was also the first place that he encountered Chet. So much had happened throughout the Survival Game that it felt like a lifetime ago. Austin felt like he had gone through so much growth and change throughout his time in the game. Despite all that change, he still ended up at the same spot from early in the game.

  Even though Austin recognized the hill, it was completely distorted from the place he once knew. The grass had been dyed the same red and purple color as the rest of the forest, completely overwhelmed by corruption. Austin could even see the once-prominent trees at the top of the hill. It now looked as if it were dying and rotting away. Their leaves had turned brown, and they looked like they could fall at any moment. It was an even sadder sight than the change in the grass. A once magnificent tree had become rotted and broken.

  The final change to the area was the corrupted beasts that roamed the hill. Each of the beasts had the characteristic red and purple coloring of corruption. The beasts were a mix of monkeys, large cats, and even a few gorillas. Austin noticed that their corruption must have gotten worse than the ones he had encountered. The corrupted creatures had random spikes and tendrils growing out of their bodies. Austin had not seen the random growth from the creatures he had encountered before. Instead of looking like beasts with odd coloring, they now looked like they came from hell itself.

  Austin looked at the site with a mixture of shock and horror. The once beautiful hill had been completely ruined by Chet’s corruption. It was just another detestable thing that Chet had done. Austin gripped his hands tight as he prepared to move ahead.

  As Austin took in the horror brought by Chet, a group of two large cats, with thin tendrils growing out of their backs, realized that his group had arrived. The cats ran towards the group and threw themselves into a pounce. Before the attacks could land, a spike of earth ripped from the ground and stabbed one through. The other cat was caught off guard as Natasha slashed at it with her arms. As her attack went through the cat, both of the cats scattered into red and purple grains of Aether.

  “You need to pay more attention,” Natasha advised Austin as she moved backward. Her arms had transformed into purple and black smoke. The thick smoke seemed to be somewhere in between physical and not. The thick smoke ended with her hands that were now large black claws.

  “I thought you would pay more attention,” Jess laughed as tannish brown light faded from her arms. “You are going after Chet, aren’t you?”

  “Right, I’m sorry,” Austin said as he snapped back into focus.

  “No problem as long as you are focused now,” Natasha said with a smile. “Now go do your part!”

  Austin nodded in response and kicked off into a full sprint, his squad following right behind him. Monkeys covered in spikes noticed their group and quickly moved in to stop them. The monkeys sprang into the air and rolled into a ball, becoming something like a spiked cannonball. As they threw themselves at Austin’s squad, walls of earth shot from the ground and created a corridor that protected the group. A loud crashing noise could be heard on the other side of the wall as the monkeys crashed into it. The walls shook for a moment, causing the attention of Austin’s squad to move towards the wall. For a moment, the group seemed to be scared, but as the walls kept standing, they let out a sigh of relief and continued forward.

  On the other side of the walls, the monkeys dizzily fell backward from the small craters they made in the walls’ structure. As they tried to regain their balance, Natasha and her squad moved in to attack. Weapons constructed of Essence formed as Natasha’s squad slashed and stabbed through the monkeys. As each person’s Essence flowed through their weapons, it looked like a rainbow of blades that cut through the various monkeys.

  The squads fought back at the corrupted beasts with ferocity. Blasts of Essence shot across the hill, creating explosions of color as they landed and tore the beasts into red and purple dust. Jess was working on a combination of attack and defense. Tannish brown light surrounded her hands as she made various lifting motions. At some points, spikes tore through the ground and gored beasts before they exploded into dust. At other times, she pulled walls out of the ground and blocked oncoming attacks to her squad. She switched seamlessly between the two techniques and provided much-needed support to her allies.

  Natasha moved like a wild beast as she tore through her enemies with shadowy claws. She dashed and moved throughout the battlefield in a blur of purple smoke. She skidded to a halt as wild cats and monkeys circled around her. The cats all pounced at the same time once she was surrounded. In quick response, she seemed to sink into the ground. The cats looked at each other with confused expressions as they realized their attacks did not land. They looked around the area as they tried to find where she had gone.

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  While the beasts looked for her, Natasha started to emerge from a shadow underneath one of the cats. Her claw tore upward through its body as she rose from its shadow. The surrounding beasts were completely caught off guard by her technique. Before they could react, Natasha continued her assault and slashed through the beasts.

  For a moment, the beasts seemed to survive Natasha’s assault. It was like her attacks were faster than they could feel. Then suddenly, beasts throughout the battlefield dropped and exploded into red and purple dust. The entire battlefield had turned thick with dust, almost making it difficult to see. Vision returned as the dust rose into the air and vanished.

  Empty circles formed around Jess’s and Natasha’s squads. For a moment, the beasts watched them and did not dare enter their vicinity. While they were wild beasts, they could still feel fear, and after watching their companions torn apart, they felt it. Even beasts could understand the skill and power of the squads. Within the month of the Survival Game, they had transformed themselves into real warriors.

  As the beasts stood in fear, gorillas moved through the crowd. The beasts moved out of the way of the gorillas as they moved forward. The gorillas were incredibly large, at least twice, maybe even three times the size of a person. Thick tendrils that ended with spikes protruded from their backs. Their heads were crowned with an assortment of horns. On even closer inspection, their knuckles seemed to end in spikes as well. Their corruption had transformed them into machines of war.

  The gorillas let out mighty roars that echoed throughout the hills. As they did, the beasts looked towards the gorillas and cowered for a moment. As the sound of the roar faded, they ran off in a mad dash towards the squads. They apparently feared the gorillas more than they feared Natasha’s warriors.

  Natasha soon found herself surrounded by beasts. Large cats and monkeys surrounded her, but did not immediately attack. Instead, they carefully watched her. They were not going to be caught off guard like their now dead companions. Natasha moved within the circle and tried to keep her focus on the beasts. She constantly turned directions as she prepared her claws to strike. She knew that if she let her guard down for a moment, they could overwhelm her.

  The stand still broke when a monkey jumped at Natasha. Natasha quickly stepped out of the way of the strike but found her arm wrapped in purple tendrils. She looked to see that one of the large cats was ensnaring her with the tendrils from its back. The cat pulled Natasha’s arm with the tendril and tried to use other tendrils to grab at her other arm and legs. Natasha managed to move out of the way of the other tendrils as she tried to pull her arm free.

  Between dodging tendrils and trying to pull herself free, Natasha was thrown off balance and forced to the ground. As she landed on the ground, a monkey slammed its body on top of her. Spikes protruded from the monkey’s chest and stabbed into Natasha’s back. As she felt the stabbing, Natasha could not help but let out a yell in pain. Despite her time in the Survival Game, she usually could avoid attacks and was not used to pain.

  Natasha tried to push herself off the ground, but when she tried to gain balance, the cat pulled with its tendril and knocked her arm out from under her. She was not sure if she was lucky or not, but at least the monkey pulled itself from her body. She let out another yell when the bloody spikes were pulled from her back.

  Natasha started to worry. She felt trapped as the cat pulled her arm. She desperately reached with her other hand and tried to cut the tendril with her claws. While she tried to cut the tendril, the tendril grew tighter around her arm. She felt like she was losing circulation in her arm as the tendril squeezed tighter. She was shocked to see how strong the tendril was. No matter how much she tried, she could not cut herself free.

  Natasha grew more and more desperate as she clawed at her arm, but was suddenly stopped by the sound of a loud screech. She could not be completely sure what was going on, but the sound after was a thud from the ground. Quickly following the noises, a black and gold pole shot over her head and into the cat that held her tightly. She felt the tendrils grow loose as the cat was skewered from head to tail.

  “Not bad,” an arrogant voice said over Natasha as the pole quickly became shorter. “I did expect a little more from our fearless leader, though.”

  Natasha pushed against the ground to force herself up. She focused her Essence into her back as she stood up. Purple smoke rose from her wounds and started to obscure her entire body.

  As some of the pain subsided, Natasha was able to become more aware of her surroundings. Standing in front of her was Joe. He casually rested his black and gold spear on his back, the weapon that killed the cat.

  “Thanks for the assist,” Natasha said. “I guess I got overwhelmed.”

  “You got in your head. I do it a lot. We are much stronger than these beasts. As long as we keep a level-“ Joe suddenly stopped talking as a monkey charged them. It must have thought it had the advantage because the two were distracted by their conversation. Before the creature even reached them, Joe raised his free hand, and the air grew cold. Shards of clear ice formed and shot into the monkey, stopping its charge and killing it. Without skipping a beat, he continued his sentence. “-head, we should be able to beat them.”

  “I guess it’s been a minute since I have been in a fight,” Natasha grinned as she brandished her claws. “I’ve been cooped up in the camp too long.”

  “That’s a lot better,” Joe smirked. “But I do have one question: have you seen James and his squad?”