In their few brief moments of deliberation, Dharen and the Nulzan hunters had made a plan: utilize their greater mobility and smaller size against the Aarthriin Defenders. Thus, Dharen ran away to begin phase two.

Unfortunately, he had planned to kill one of the monsters with an initial sneak attack, allowing him to employ To The Victor, The Spoils to discover the secrets of at least one of the creatures’ abilities. That had failed.

In the end, however, he had found the effects of one of their shared Boons, but not in the way that he had wished.

He bounded across the cavern on powerful legs, quickly tearing apart the distance. Having no more need for stealth, he dropped his activation of Softstep in order to better conserve his Spirit. A loud crashing appeared behind him, the result of the nearest Aarthriin Defender slamming a heavy-jointed limb against the stone floor.

Surprised, the monsters as a whole took a brief moment to fully react to his presence. Then, there was a strange series of noises as they burst into action behind him. Dharen leapt over the cavern’s river, risking a glance backwards as he soared through the air.

The Aarthriin Defenders were gaining on him quicker than he had imagined. Though Dharen possessed astounding strength for a human, his physique was still constrained by his low starting point. Meanwhile, the Aarthriin Defenders behind him suffered under no such restrictions.

They were behemoths relative to him, massive forms built of thick muscle and heavy chitin. And while their size slowed them, they were by no means slow.

Stone rumbled behind him, victim of the heavy footfalls that followed his path. The large insects’ wings beat furiously, which would have looked hilariously ineffectual in terms of lift were it not for the surprising speed with which they closed the distance between them.

Dharen turned his attention back away from his pursuers, spotting his landing on the other side of the river. Booted feet impacted the stone with a thud, before pressing deeply and leaping forward once more.

Unlike him, the Aarthriin Defenders were far too heavy to simply leap over the river - and although their wings flapped, they were incapable of doing much more than assisting with quicker movement. A wave of water slammed into him from behind, sent spraying into the air, victim of the furious momentum of the Aarthriin Defenders.

Dharen risked a glance back once more. Unlike him, the insects were forced to trudge their way through the river. Though the Aarthriin were quite tall, they still sank down a notable amount. The water swirled and eddied around them, playful and innocent, naive of the dangerous going-ons that were occurring around it.

Having gained some breathing room, Dharen felt some of the tension that was gripping him release its hold. As accustomed as he was becoming to life-and-death battles, he knew that he would not be able to defeat all of the monsters alone were they to catch him.

He led them back through the path that he had previously traveled, stepping over the honeycomb-like floor riddled with its ruined eggs. As he moved, a deep rumbling echoed from the far end of the cavern behind him, as if a giant had come to life.

When the Aarthriin Defenders passed over the ravaged remains of their colony’s spawn, the pursuit grew more heated. The sounds of heavy limbs impacting unyielding stone renewed with a desperate fervor. Yet, having gained a large lead due to the obstructing river, Dharen managed to keep well ahead of the encroaching monsters.

It wasn’t long before he reached the end of the tunnel, spilling out into the food-bearing cavern. Mentally ignoring the abominable odor that permeated the air, he continued on into the next ascending tunnel. The passageway began to narrow. While this had no effect on Dharen’s progress, he knew that it would force the Aarthriin Defenders to slow by a small degree. The tunnel was still wide enough for five to walk abreast, but his pursuers were significantly wider than humans or Nulzan - only two could fit side-by-side by one another within the compressed space.

The sound of scraping and grinding spilled out from behind him, confirming his thoughts.

Dharen finally found the tunnel’s end, emptying out into the cavern in which they had fought the previous set of Aarthriin. Quickly, he crossed the cavern, heading for the cramped crevice through which they had entered. It was easy to find; the corpses of the Aarthriin dead were piled near the opening, forming two lines that flowed outwards from it as if to outline an extension of the tunnel. He threw himself through the opening, landing before the Nulzan hunters that awaited his return.

A heavy crash resounded, the nearest Aarthriin Defender slamming into the wall with extreme force. Yet, despite its determination, it was unable to follow him into the small and cramped tunnel.

“Now!” Dharen shouted, signaling to Ekzel.

Hiding within the midst of the gathered Nulzan, Ekzel used his Boon once more. Though it was highly draining on his Spirit, enough time had passed to allow him to use the ability for a short while. He activated his Boon, Spirits Of The Lost, which caused vengeful spirits of the deceased to rise, seeking revenge against the living by attacking those nearest to them.

While Dharen had gathered together the Aarthriin Defenders, the Nulzan hunters had collected the corpses that littered the room into piles that bordered the narrow tunnel. Ekzel’s ability did not give the summoned apparitions any ability to move - thus, they could only attack things that stood near to the physical corpses.

Wisps of ethereal smoke began to rise from the corpses, coalescing into brutal facsimiles of the once-living. They were mangled and broken, terrible reflections of the violence that had served to end their lives.

Keening wails spread through the air, a sound akin to wind passing through a confined space. They rose up from the sides of the gathered Aarthriin Defenders, assaulting them with gnashing mandibles and trampling feet. Even under the assault, Dharen could see that the damage was split among each of the living Aarthriin. Though it seemed as if the one that was attacked suffered the most damage, it was difficult to gauge by how much.

The apparitions of the Wrath-type Aarthriin and Confusion-based Aarthriin rose as well, though unfortunately their ghosts did not possess the Boons that the Awakened Aarthriin had in life. They only possessed strength on par with the bodily power of the corpse - this meant that while the Wrath-type Aarthriin were at least somewhat useful, the piddling strength of the small Confusion Aarthriin was hilariously ineffective.

So far, the plan to deal with the large monsters was turning out alright. Though, they had not expected the Aarthriin Defenders to be able share the damage that each received among themselves. Ideally, Dharen would have been able to kill one with his opening assault before having to run back to the narrow tunnel. That would have not only lowered the numbers of enemies that they faced, but it would have also allowed him to potentially use one of their own abilities against them.

In the end, he shrugged. Though things had not gone entirely according to plan, it was still true that the Aarthriin Defenders held the distinct disadvantage of being too large to fit into the tunnel. The process would take longer than expected, but it would still have the same conclusion.

The assembled Aarthriin Defenders either attempted to smash the apparitions around them - simply phasing through them and shattering the corpses underneath - or, reach Dharen and his allies through the tunnel by smashing at the stone of the tunnel. Though it was unlikely that they would be able to break through enough space quickly, he winced a little to see puffs of stone dust fly up from the spot that the Defender landed blows, fracturing the rock. With the significant weight of its body, it could put a lot more behind its blows than he had accounted for.

Still, it was a futile effort. If the tunnel began to widen, they would simply back up further. He swung his hammer lightly on the stone below him, careful to not hit the walls and reduce the integrity of the narrow walls any further. It paid to be safe, after all.

Soon, the familiar glow of Restraint’s enchantment appeared, spreading its gentle light. What came next was not quite so gentle.