The battle raged on for a while, bursts of light and flame flaring between the trees.
Green clouds erupted at intervals as spore rats detonated, sending people stumbling back, gagging and wheezing before forcing themselves upright again.
Gradually, the pressure eased.
The tide of spawns thinned.
Their numbers dwindled until only a few stragglers rushed in from the edges of the forest.
"Are they gone?" Matt muttered, eyes darting across the ground and into the shadows.
Those positioned at the outer edges of the formation finished off the remaining weak spawns, seizing the lull to clear the perimeter.
"Most of them are, I think," Icard said.
A brief calm settled over the group. Some people bent over, hands on knees, dragging in rough breaths.
Others groaned quietly, shaking out their limbs and wiping spore residue from their clothes.
The forest fell unnervingly quiet again, the strange background sounds retreating into the distance.
Then something moved.
