The fleshy tendrils dragged themselves across the land, burrowing and climbing as they spread their way around the cave's hill, growing more and more pale mushrooms that continued to breathe out misting clouds of noxious spores, slowly cloaking the hill in a poisonous fog.

The simple monsters continued to rise from the gaping mouth, which even on its own began to take on a fearsome appearance, as razor-shape blades like rusted teeth began to poke out from the cavernous soil itself.
The beasts of mildew and mold, their joints turned wrong, some with faces spiraling inwards, or chests broken outwards with what appeared to be turning gears, slipped their way with ease through and out the fog, some noticeably bloody or ripped from the defenses which had begun to grow in behind them.

The second one of these creatures left the fog, was the moment it turned wild, roaming aimlessly with no purpose but to brutalize and feed.
Many of the villages were so far that the random amblings brought most nowhere near, however the sheer numbers which continued to be pumped out by the minute only increased the probabilities.
It wasn't long before one and then another found one of the nearby villages, clawing viciously at wooden structures, spilling in through the unshielded windows to rip apart any who slept within.

And once one creature found such a place, with so many unresponsive morsels so close together, it wouldn't be long before more would follow in its stead, nosing in on the other's find to violently bicker over who should get the shredded remains.

What made things all the better, or worse, if one dared to think such cellular creatures should be spared, all of the villages were too far away to hear one or the other, and no fair warning could be given even between buildings, the creatures proving themselves to fairly fast and efficient, despite their apparent disorganization.
An unending bloodthirst and stomachs that would never fill surely quickened one's ability to ravage.

To the one who dared to tread upon the land, who felt so sure to even the head the way of these beasts' birthplace, she might soon find her journey, short though it may be, growing more and more difficult the closer she got.

Away from the hill the beasts may have been scattered, but it took little thought to figure out that they would be more densely clustered from where they arose.

It was only a matter of time before the stranger was spotted, her uniquely invisible light making her clearly visible to the blind monsters.
There was little scent to the ghostly form, little noise to her gliding figure, yet there was a sound; clear, ringing out through the frosty air like the bell of a distant tower, and it was this that brought the nearest monsters to heel, to heed the song like a siren's call.

Human or beast, angel or demon: it did not matter, as could clearly be heard by the beasts railing against even each other; once her presence was known, any of the monsters who heard it instantly.
This -- the attack, the battle, the chase...it would be the only instance in which they would not only ignore one another's own proximity, but even work together, even if rather raggedly, but only should the need arise.

Otherwise, it was, quite simply, one for one.

Shortly before the stranger could even reach the cloud of spores, she would soon find herself beset on all sides by several monsters, thin-legged but sharp-clawed, bounding in with hissing fangs and starving bellies.
From her left through a valley, from her right down over hill, from behind in a charge, and, last of all, from in front, slipping in for a facial surprise as it leapt from the fog, its own head splitting apart in a gush of bloody spray.

An unexpected light show swam into the air.
Like silent fireworks it exploded apart, piercing through the chest cavities of the four crooked creatures.
Unable to see, unable to even feel it considering the speed at which the blazing arrows moved, the monsters never even knew what hit them.

Although they may have technically been mindless, there was certainly nothing but ill intent in them, and apparently this alone was enough for the beasts to simply explode -- and not even in a remotely gory way.
Their bodies glowed as their flesh burned away, ashes scattering across the grasses.
For a moment, although the stranger was long gone by then, the ashes seemed to continuing glowing and shuddering, before the wind then picked them up and began to whisk them away.

The lights did not stop there, burning into the nearby roots which had embedded themselves in the soil, running their course in an attempt rid the hillside of them entirely.
More ashes were left behind, more to be taken by the wind.

An instant after the attack, the stranger herself had vanished, flaring into her own ray of light as she streaked through the fog, appearing before the cave's mouth within the blink of an eye.
With her approach came a pulse of light, a shockwave of energy which stripped away more of the fungi that had sprouted so fast, managing to shed a pocket of clear air within the fog, all around the front of the mouth, and even a long, tapering strip to either side of the hill.

The mushrooms protected by the hill itself, or the shockwave simply missing them due to direction, continued on without ceasing, spores spreading through the pocket, more tangled roots and fungi growing in the place of that which had been burned away.
With the help of their brethren so close, the fungi seemed to grow back even faster than before.
Some distance away the lights spread on, the attacks only furthering the need for the fungi to speed up their growth, although the flora's reactions was nowhere near enough to match the light's own, and slowly the spore-borne mist began to fade away with the dying mushrooms.

Flesh now hung from the roof of the cave, many, though not all, of the weaponized defenses having dropped to the ground, metal, as with flesh, burning to ashes and dust.

The flow of demons did not stop, although the stranger, should she not act too hastily, might be able to note that they paid absolutely no heed to her as they left the cave.
As with themselves, they were far too focused on first getting a leg out into the world, before worrying about the holes in their stomachs, and would all simply pass her by, dashing off into the fog as it began to close in around her, yet thin out behind her.

Some monsters would head directly into the thinner parts of the fog, soon finding themselves burning silently away as the lights bounced up to them, then back down into the fungi.

It was as the stranger predicted.
Without much in the way of resistance, the portal was easily reached, and it was, indeed, a relatively new one at that.
The threads tying the two realms together were thin and weak, and almost instantly began to fray at her attacks.
Not even a minute would have passed before the hole began to collapse.
Some of the saw blades deeper into the cave simply vanished from view, while those up front stopped spinning entirely.

The last monster was cut into two as the rift was closed, though its front half did not stop crawling forward, jaws snapping hungrily at the air as viscera trailed behind it.
Though the defenses up front seemed to have broken down entirely, the fungi continued to try and live as it did, but was slowly being eradicated.

The mist was thinning, the more recent of monsters quickly finding and going after one another.
Many more were far away, however, still roaming the lands, killing beasts and men alike.


On the other side of the rift, the small invasion's commander was steaming, but perhaps not as much as one might have expected.

Such a quick defensive manuever was as unexpected as the attacks used against him.
Midnight had yet to be completed, and yet here he was, latched behind the tiny hole in space he'd found.

It wasn't necessary in the least for him, but it was an easy chance to try a new sort of raid -- or would have been.
The area beyond the rift was weak, defenseless...or so he had thought.
He'd been planning to send some of the Necropolis natives through after he'd managed to strengthen the hole's bonds (he'd already tried to once, but it was so wobbly, that the demons who went through simply vanished into the realm of probabilities), but now he found himself without.

Tendrils dug at the area where the hole used to be.
He could make a new one, but this route of entry was ruined; it was known, and would likely be watched for some time to come.
Perhaps there would even be an attempt to get through the collapsed strings.

It could have been worse.
He could have pushed through with substantial force, leaving him with even more of a watchful eye.
Or perhaps he wouldn't have lost, or at least have managed to damage his opponent's resolve.

A large crack formed in the bricks he was holding tight to, digging his roots deep into where the rift had once connected to Necropolis.

He tried to remind himself that the most important thing gained from this was the knowledge, but it wasn't much.

What had those attacks been?
The light wasn't hot, yet still it burned away his cells...there were ashes left, yes, but he could barely feel them anymore -- he wasn't sure they would even regenerate at all.
It was an entirely new energy, the likes of which he'd never seen before.
He needed to find a way to circumvent it.
Better defense.
Stronger counter.

The only way he could think of to do so was to simulate such an attack, and that would be to simply go up against it once more.
It was what he always did.

He was still connected to the other side.
The beasts left fiber trails, like footprints, though very few would be able to trace such microscopic threads; even the lights the stranger had used, which seemed to have had their own sort of wild mind, had yet to find them out.
If the same defender continued to go after his raiders, he should be able to learn from it; and he did suspect that they would all be wiped out in turn.
Perhaps a few would manage to go missing, just another monster in the wilds of that continent.

As he kept an eye on them, body prepared to take in as much information as it could the instant any were obliterated, he turned another to some of the other matters at hand.
There were other places he had to search.
More citizens to test.
Find a better use for the denizens here besides causing their own extinction; they might have some manner of knowledge or strength of their own to offer him.

Would the technological continent be able to handle a brief raid just as well?
Should he attempt a different tactic over there, just to see what would happen?
Is it even possible that, despite their differences, a warning could be given from one to the next?

He refused to be beat when the time of reckoning finally came, but his patience was already beginning to wane.
Still, he was surprised at his own relative calmness regarding this apparent defeat, and how slow he was managing to take things.
Perhaps he was merely tired from his long sleep.

He supposed it was no use getting furious over one little bug with only a flashy show to offer him.
After all: it only took a single new vaccine to rid a single outdated virus.

With a heave, the bricks fell down around him, burying the location where the portal had been, and wrapped himself around it.
If anyone tried to dig out the hole, they'd find themselves either hitting an impassable wall of brick, flesh, and stench, or teleporting straight into their own crushed lungs.

Despite the frustration flowing through his veins, a low chuffing sound echoed out from where the building had fallen.
The ground began to sink beneath the building, his body swallowing it up even more.
He was going to enjoy ridding the universe of the one who'd eradicated those monsters, just as he had any of the demons that managed to destroy one of his cells.