Within mere seconds, the silent tunnels became a cacophony of bloodshed. A mass of pale, glistening flesh was wreaking havoc among the unsuspecting Jackdaws.
Only the Boss, Edmon and the burly swordsman had been ready for immediate combat. Luckily enough, most of the noctic abominations had focused on them. There were some, however, that rushed past the frontline and immediately sunk their teeth into their victims.
The first noctic abomination to score a kill had pounced on some poor fool who had grown too comfortable with his position in the formation. He let down his guard, having assumed he was in one of the safest spots.
The beast's filthy maw gaped wide before clamping down on his shoulder. Blood spat from the wound immediately, falling on his armor and the mana lamp which was strapped to his chest. The yellowish light quickly became darker, being obscured with a film of blood.
Just as he let out a yelp, the beast threw him to the ground and began clawing at him with its almost-human hands. The fingers, however, were far too long and had a few too many joints. Where the fingernails should have been, there were sharp and blackened talons which hooked downwards. The man screamed in pain as the beast put a few deep tears on his body, but he wasn't dead yet. He was bashing against the beast's round face with his still-functional arm, but it wasn't doing any good. The beast's empty eyes didn't even move as he bashed against its head in a flurry of desperation. It was as if the noctic abominations couldn't feel any pain at all.
Someone would have rushed to his aid, but they were all occupied trying to save themselves from the same fate. He begged for help, blood and tears streaming down his face, but no one could help him now. His screams echoed in the dark tunnels as he was dragged out into the darkness by his mangled shoulder, never to be seen again.
The original trio had been split up, the Boss now struggling to survive against the assault of two abominations at once. He had landed several whip strikes against both of his assailants, but there was no reaction. Neither abomination had recoiled from any injuries he inflicted. This put him at a disadvantage, as his primary fighting style relied on disrupting the enemy's actions through inflicting pain.
Ducking under a vicious swipe, Boss took the opportunity to reach down and gather up his whip with one hand. Now holding it in a loop, he dashed to the second abomination and stabbed into its side with his knife. However, he didn't pull the knife out. Instead, he used it as leverage to spin the abomination around. As soon as he was able to get behind the beast, he threw the looped whip around its neck and pulled hard. Its screeches suddenly became labored as its airway was closed off. Boss twisted the whip's loop several times in his effort to strangle the beast.
The beast, now finding itself in danger, began to fling its arms back and thrash about in an effort to free itself. It went berserk, moving even faster and more erratic than before, but Boss held on tight as if he were bull-riding.
There was too much movement for the Boss to properly see what was happening, but soon he heard the sound of snaps and cracks. He kept holding on to the rampaging beast by the whip that was wrapped around its neck and by the knife that was still embedded in its side. Soon after, he heard something tear and pop, like the sound of pulling a drumstick from a roasted turkey.
The beast finally stopped thrashing, but suddenly succeeded in bashing a claw against Boss's back. The attack surprised him, as it shouldn't have been able to reach him. But the limb that hit him felt sort of... lifeless...
His eyes widened as he realized what happened. The abomination tore its own limb off to use as a club and was now beating him with it. The dismembered abomination limb bashed heavily against the Boss's back multiple times as the beast tried to screech through its constricted throat. His grip was slipping. Just a few more of those attacks, and he would be in serious trouble.
The Boss and the beast were suddenly interrupted when another abomination crashed into them. Boss lost his grip on the whip and was tossed away. Luckily, the knife slipped out from its hold in the abominations side, so the Boss still had his knife when he hit the ground.
Jumping to his feet, the Boss saw that the abominations were swarming around the injured, yet leaving the others alone. They were drawn to blood. Even the abomination he had been fighting just a moment ago was now being devoured by another of its own kind, and more were starting to move towards it.
With the abominations being drawn to the fallen, the rest had a chance to regroup. The fight was dying down at the cost of the dead. The dead were dragged off into the darkness, with three or four extra abominations chasing after each body, be it human or one of their own kind.
The human casualties numbered higher than that of the abominations. But now, most of the abominations had left the battlefield, chasing after someone else's food. At this point, only three of the abominations were left.
The horror of the event had awoken something primal in the survivors, something which couldn't be stopped. Bellowing out war cries, the survivors regrouped and charged against the stragglers. They were infuriated- they were bloodthirsty.
The remaining humans swarmed the last of the noctic abominations and hacked into them with all sorts of weaponry. The Boss watched in shock. At first, it looked like a typical response. It just looked like they were killing a monster. But soon... The abominations were torn apart in ways so gruesome that it was hard to believe the humans were the perpetrators.
The first two abominations were massacred in a furious storm of gore, but the third wasn't so lucky. Someone had severed the tendons in its arms and legs so it couldn't escape. It weakly struggled, none of its attempts providing it any mobility. Now that there wasn't any rush, the crazed survivors menacingly approached it with even darker ambitions.
During the battle, it seemed like the abominations felt no pain at all. Regardless, the survivors greedily turned to torture. At first, the beast was making the same screeches as before and it seemed the torture had no affect. But before too long, that changed. The screeches became more frantic and higher pitched.
Several of the survivors' mouths twisted into devilish grins. It seemed the noctic abominations really could feel pain after all.
The beast cried out first in supposed pain, then in certain agony.
A few of the abominations that retreated into the dark had came back to the edge of light to see what was happening, as if they were curious to hear the pained cries of their own kind. It seemed like it was a new sound they had never heard before.
The torturers chuckled in devilish delight when they saw them. They put on a gory show, displaying to the abominations what they would do to them if given the chance. The observers' eyes were lifeless, but for just a moment, they seemed to reflect an emotion.
They didn't quite seem afraid... they seemed disturbed.
The Boss couldn't watch any more. He turned away and tried to calm the twisting feeling in his stomach. These... these were his men.