The final abomination had arrived.
Unlike the rest, it didn't simply charge through the forest. No, this one was different. It didn't crawl. It didn't stomp. It didn't roar into the fray like its kin.
It soared.
With all four of its grotesque limbs, it launched upward, grabbing, climbing, and suspending itself between the thickest of trunks. Its frame was unnaturally flexible, limbs long and knotted like knotted rope. It wrapped itself around trees as if born for the canopy, weaving between the higher boughs like a spider skating across webs. And then—its neck stretched outward, jaws snapping violently down like a striking serpent.
A knight screamed—cut short—as that monstrous beak cleaved into the treetop and tore his body from the branch like a ripe fruit.
Commander Valerie didn't need to say anything. The forces instantly redirected all their attention to the airborne beast: every spear, every blade, every glint of steel arced through the air.
