It took the creature a few moments to react to Leander's attack as its eyes moved to glare at its attacker. Within the depths of its glowing orange iris, Leander could see something that shook him to his core.
Unlike the eyes of a beast that were honed by bestial instinct, forged by the Wilds where the strong would feast and the weak would be feasted upon. As he looked into this fetid creature's eye, Leander saw no instinct, no desire, only the trembling, unrestrained ferocity of a mindless mad abomination.
As the thing moved to bite Leander, he pulled the sword out of its body and ducked backwards. Slashing at the abomination, Leander kept moving, drawing the abomination away from the soldier as he picked himself up. Each wound Leander inflicted on the abomination caused it to bleed a mixture of fetid blood and pus.
The sight caused Leander to grimace in disgust.
'How many of these soldiers have died just from the toxic blood and pus? Each wound just gives these creatures another weapon.'
One of its five legs shot to the side, connecting with Leander's chest and knocking him backwards. Grass gave way to dirt as Leander skidded across its surface. Stabbing his sword into the dirt, Leander managed to regain control managed to regain control stabbing the soldier's sword into the ground, clutching his chest, Leander felt nothing wrong. Nothing besides the dull pain of taking the abomination's attack to his chest.
His moment of contemplation was cut short as the mound of moving flesh was already on top of him. Its five legs allowed it to move at an incredible speed, strands of disgusting saliva fell from its mouth as it swung its head towards Leander.
'...What, is that?'
As Leander prepared himself to respond to the incoming attack, he noticed something. The space in front of him began to shimmer in the faint light cast by distant luminescent Soul Arms. In the next second, a wall appeared a foot in front of Leander.
The wall glowed with a soft yellow colour, it looked to be made of the exact same translucent material as the swords, the orbs of light had been shooting at the smaller abominations and then later the Fulcrum. The wall was made of solid light.
A moment later, the abomination slammed into the wall with a thunderous crash, sending a web of deep cracks splintering across its surface.
"Get ready, Hunter! That's not going to hold it for long."
On one knee, the soldier held one hand outstretched. A soft yellow glow emanated from his palm. It pulsed gently, as if breathing, casting long shadows across the grass. The air shimmered around it – warm, steady, and oddly calming in the middle of the chaos.
The abomination was moving again, it turned around, a disturbing gurgle escaping from its open jaws.
The soldier stretched his hand as the abomination lunged back at him, the wall of light disappeared, and a moment later, another wall of light appeared between himself and the monster. Except this time, as the monster barrelled towards the wall and struck it, the wall of light immediately splintered.
Perhaps the soldier had not focused hard enough or did not have enough time to properly prepare the wall. Regardless, the Corrupted Abomination charged towards him.
This time, however, the soldier had something else planned, ducking out of the way as the fetid creature nearly caught him in its jaws. A flurry of blue sparks began to appear near him as he hit the ground.
Leander's eyes widened as the blue sparks took on a humanoid shape.
Leander's experience with Soul Arms was limited only having seen Narina summon her clothing with blue sparks and Riku dismiss his odachi, causing it to turn into cherry blossoms that drifted away on the breeze. But this soldier was not summoning a Soul Arm, he was summoning something else, a replica of a slain foe, an Imprint.
As the creature hurled itself aside, the swirling sparks finally fused into one. From their fading glow emerged a being half-man, half-squid, its slick scales dripping seawater as though freshly dragged from the ocean's depths. Six muscular tentacles supported its body as it lifted a weapon – an ancient, three-pronged trident, rusted and menacing.
The trident pierced the creature's neck, unlike Leander's attack, which had hardly phased the Corrupted Abomination. The strike to its neck slowed it down substantially. Gurgling cries escaped from its maw as it struggled to pull free from the squid-man's trident.
The soldier called to Leander, pointing at the creature.
"Finish it!"
Snapped back to his alert state, Leander rushed forward. As he brought his sword up, the summoned Imprint pushed down with its trident, forcing the abomination to lower its head. Leander pointed the sword down, gripping it with both his hands, he drove the tip of the sword through the abomination's head. It let out one final guttural cry before falling to the ground limp.
Holding the sword in the creature's head for a few more seconds, Leander exhaled as the putrid thing did not move. As he pulled the sword out, Leander noticed the soldier walking towards him.
Despite the fighting going on around them, he did the strangest thing and offered his hand to Leander.
"Thanks for the save, Hunter. I forgot to summon my Imprint before running into battle, and then that damned thing attacked me from out of nowhere. I really would be dead without you. The name's Danse, might I know the name of my hero?"
'There is that word again, why does everyone keep calling me a Hunter?'
"Lea-eo, Leo. I am Leo."
His eyes scanning the area around them, Leander tentatively shook Danse's hand.
"Should you really be trying to shake my hand with everything going on around us?"
Danse looked around and scratched his cheek - at least attempted to scratch his cheek before remembering he was still wearing his helmet.
"My mother always told me to thank people who helped me – plus, you know – there's always the chance I'll die before this Incursion is over. So I can take my chances. Besides, with my Imprint here, I will notice one of those disgusting things before they can attack us."
Leander's eyes flicked to the Imprint.
The first thing he noticed was its gaze, unlike the shaking eyes of the Corrupted Abomination, fueled by some otherworldly madness. The Imprint's gaze was the exact opposite; Leander would go as far as to notice its gaze was completely empty.
It was just as Riku had described; the Imprint's hollow gaze revealed its nature as a simple puppet, its strings held by its master.
Its head was an uncanny recreation of a human head, except it had no ears, hair and two vertical slits took the place where a nose would have been. In its right hand, it held its trident – what Leander had first thought was made out of rusted metal, on closer inspection, it was made from what looked like driftwood. Wood that had been smoothed by the waves, its surface covered by a myriad of barnacles. Its body was covered in bright blue scales dotted by white marks, as the Imprint moved, it reminded Leander of the waves that lapped against the dock at the northern edge of the Undead Kingdom.
The memory of which sent a shiver down Leander's spine, in fact, the longer he looked at the thing, the more disturbed he became.
Such a creature looked like it belonged deep underwater – a place Leander's body reacted strongly against, a phobia ingrained into his instinct, a phobia his mind could not quite grasp. This caused Leander to feel a sense of uncertainty as he looked at the landwalking aquatic Imprint.
"That thing, what is…"
Leander's words died in his throat as he heard something moving, the sound of the grass rustling behind him. The Imprint had already moved to intercept the mound of putrid flesh as it picked itself back up. Its trident shot forward, finding purchase in the Corrupted Abomination's chest, stalling its advance.
Danse paused, shouting at Leander.
"I thought you killed that thing?"
Gritting his teeth, Leander raised his borrowed blade.
"I thought I did."