Drakira moved through the Hive Fiend's mass like a ghost.

The Veil of the Unseen wrapped around her, bending light and sound, making her invisible to the countless creatures that swarmed past. She could feel the relic draining her stamina, a steady pull that was already beginning to wear at her reserves. Added with her blood searching relic and things aren't looking good at all.

Ten minutes, she estimated.

She had to move faster.

The terrain was nightmare made manifest. She wasn't walking on ground, she was walking on flesh. The organic surface pulsed beneath her feet, warm and yielding and she had to fight the urge to vomit with every step.

Things moved in the tissue, visible just beneath the surface like parasites in skin. Occasionally, an eye would open and look around before closing again, scouting for any strange occurrence. And she knew the only thing keeping her safe was the fact that the monster was protected.

In the distance, she could hear the sounds of combat. Her companions were fighting, dying maybe, buying her the time she needed. She tried not to think about that. Tried not to wonder if Karathra was still alive, if Brakthar's wounds had finally slowed him, if Hrothgar's berserker rage had finally burned out.

Focus. Just focus on the mission. Focusing on her own side of things, that's the only thing she could do.

The core grew closer. She could see it now, a massive organ pulsing with inner light, surrounded by the densest concentration of creatures she'd seen yet.

They moved around it like worshippers around a shrine, their bodies forming a living wall of protection.

How was she supposed to get through that? She couldn't help the tremble that passed through her.

The Veil made her invisible, not intangible. She could still be touched.

If she tried to push through the packed bodies, they would feel her. The moment they felt her, the moment any of them reacted, the Veil would become useless. She'd be surrounded and torn apart in seconds.

She needed another way.

Drakira circled the core, looking for weakness. The creatures were packed tightest near the ground, but above... above, there was space. The core rose like a tumor, and its upper reaches were less defended. If she could climb, if she could get high enough, she might be able to drop onto the core itself.

But climb what? The surrounding tissue was too soft, too unstable. It would give way under her weight.

Then she saw something.

One of the larger creatures, thing that might have been a giant once, stood near the core like a sentinel. Its back was broad, covered in the same organic growth as everything else, but its body was stable.

It could be her ladder.

Drakira moved toward the giant creature, timing her steps to match the rhythm of the surrounding activity. The Veil would hide her from sight but she still had to be careful. One wrong move, one unexpected noise, and everything would fail.

'...no...don't imagine that..'

She reached the creature's foot. Up close, it was even larger than she'd thought, easily fifteen feet tall, with arms like tree trunks and a body that was more mass than shape. It stood motionless, its empty eyes fixed on nothing.

Slowly, carefully, Drakira began to climb.

The creature's flesh was firm enough to hold her weight, though it squelched unpleasantly with each handhold. She pulled herself up its back, inch by inch, trying not to disturb the smaller creatures that clung to it like remoras on a shark.

Halfway up. The Veil was draining her faster now, responding to her increased activity. She could feel her muscles beginning to tire, her focus beginning to waver.

Three-quarters. The core was close. She could see its surface clearly now, a membrane of translucent tissue wrapped around something that pulsed and glowed. It was almost beautiful, in a horrible way, and it was the heart of a monster.

At the top of the giant creature's back, Drakira paused to catch her breath. The core was ten feet away and with one jump and one strike.

That was all she needed.

She drew her weapon. Shaping part of the blood searching relic into a long knife, enchanted for sharpness, capable of cutting through almost anything.

Drakira jumped.

For a moment, she was airborne, the Veil streaming behind her like a cloak of shadow. The core loomed ahead, its surface rippling as if sensing her approach.

Then she was there.

Her knife plunged into the membrane, and the core screamed.

It was a sound beyond hearing, a psychic shriek that tore through Drakira's mind like fire. She nearly lost her grip and fell, but she held on. Her knife was buried to the hilt in the core's surface, and she wasn't letting go.

She twisted the blade.

The scream intensified. The membrane split, tearing open like rotten fruit.

Inside, Drakira glimpsed something, a mass of tissue and white fleshh surrounded by pulsing arteries and glowing fluids.

She stabbed again. And again. And again.

Below her, the Hive Fiend was convulsing. The creatures that had seemed so coordinated moments ago were now thrashing wildly, attacking each other, attacking themselves. The connection that bound them was severing, and they didn't know how to exist without it.

Drakira kept stabbing until her arm grew too tired to lift. Then she fell, sliding down the collapsing core, landing in a heap of dying tissue that had once been a monster.

The Veil failed at last, leaving her exposed in the middle of chaos.

But the chaos was ending. The Hive Fiend was dying, its countless bodies falling still one by one as the core's final pulse faded.

Drakira lay there, too exhausted to move, and watched the nightmare end.

She'd done it.

God help her, she'd actually done it.

In the distance, she heard voices that most likely belong to her other masters. But she was too tired to turn her head or do anything but lay there.

She smiled, closed her eyes, and let unconsciousness take her.

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