Bizarre screeches echoed throughout the interior of an enormous cave. This cave was home to a once thriving city, now left in ruins, rendering it uninhabitable.

The city laid desolate, overrun by an army of monstrous beings. Among them were ghastly, humanoid lampposts, owls, fish, and other twisted amalgamations of animals and objects. A unifying feature among these entities was the presence of enormous, luminous worms coiled around their forms.

At the heart of the city, stood Verlena Estelle and Teres Bright. Formidable warriors renowned for their skill in successfully fulfilling dangerous contracts. Their most recent commitment, entrusted to them by a mysterious entity, guiding them to this very place.

Alongside the duo, a young girl was under their protection. Verlena shielded the child, extending one hand in front of her while firmly gripping the hilt of her blade with the other. They found themselves surrounded by an overwhelming number of the uncanny creatures, engulfed in their eerie presence.

Verlena held an expression of concern. "Teres, just where on earth has that strange contract brought us?? Never in my life have I encountered such nightmarish creatures!"

Teres responded. "Not sure, hadn't heard of this cave city before we took this job on. But, it shouldn't be blowin' your mind straight outta your skull. The thing that gave us this contract didn't exactly look human itself. I figured wherever it was sending us wasn't gonna be a jolly wonderland."

"Neither did I, but I didn't believe it would be some hellscape either!"

The creatures were closing in on them. Verlena glanced back at the frightened young girl, before pivoting her gaze back to the unsettling entities. Her expression morphed to one filled with determination. "Well, whether I anticipated it or not, a hellscape is exactly what this place is. And by request, it is our job to rescue anyone who happens to still be alive within it. So that's precisely what we'll do." She aggressively pointed her blade at the advancing enemies."Throw whatever you have at us then!! In the end, it will matter not!!"

The sudden display of aggression from Verlena triggered one of the creatures- a ghastly, mutated fish- to charge at them.

"C'mon Verlena, did ya really have to rile 'em up like that?" Teres said, his hand disappearing into his coat, retrieving a medium sized bell that was strung to it. As the fish-like entity neared, he swiftly rang the bell, its sound resonating through the air.

Teres met it head-on, forcefully slamming his fist against the creature's. The sheer force generated by their collision sent shockwaves rippling in every direction.

Teres possessed a unique ability he called "Bells of Might". Concealed within his coat were an array of bells, each varying in size to dictate the power of his ensuing attack.

With another ring of the bell, Teres swiftly maneuvered his body, forcefully bringing his leg down onto the fish-like creature, then driving it forcefully into the ground. The assault scrambled the insides of the mutant fish, ultimately resulting in its demise.

Nearby, Verlena had begun to massacre a multitude of the surrounding monstrosities. Her movements were a seamless blend of swiftness and grace as she elegantly wielded her gleaming blade, cleaving through several of the creatures with precision.

Rather than slicing the creatures apart as a conventional blade would, Verlena wielded a rare and legendary weapon known as the fragile blade. This unique weapon held the power to shatter anything it touched as if it were delicate glass. As she moved through the horde of monstrous beings, each stroke of Verlena's sword resulted in their bodies cracking and fragmenting into pieces, a testament to the devastating power of her weapon.

She drove her blade into the stomach of a humanoid owl. Cracks snaked their way up its body, until it eventually burst into glass-like shards. However, the worm entwined around the creature evaded Verlena's strike. As the owl perished, the worm hit the ground with a thud, frantically attempting to flee. Verlena disregarded it, trusting Teres would take care of it.

The worm slithered straight toward the young girl, who was with Teres. Before it could reach her, Teres stomped on the worm, obliterating it under his foot. "Really thought you were capable of slippin' by someone like me? Mm. Guess I shouldn't expect a mindless worm to know any better." He quipped, then glancing back to ensure the safety of the young girl.

Teres was taken aback upon laying eyes on the girl, as her expression and facial features had undergone a complete transformation. Fear no longer resided on her face, replaced by eyes radiating the same yellow hue as the worms. A grotesque slime oozed from her lips, mirroring the same slime that coated the giant worms.

The girl glanced at Teres, locking eyes with him briefly. As soon as their gazes connected, she swiftly reverted to her previous fearful expression.

Back with Verlena, heaps of shattered glass littered the ground, evidence of the countless creatures she had dispatched. Despite her efforts, numerous others remained, encircling her without end. Verlena gripped her blade tightly, surveying her surroundings. "It's like a never ending gauntlet of these atrocities. What purpose could they have in appearing here? Do they intend on using this cave area as some kind of nest?"

Suddenly, every single worm emitted a piercing, collective screech before violently bursting, their fluids splattering in all directions. Verlena swiftly raised an arm to shield herself from the splattering fluid, her face flinching slightly in response.

Lampposts crashed to the ground with a heavy thud, while fish wriggled and flapped on the surface. Owls soared through the air, one of them landing gracefully on Verlena's shoulder. She glanced at the owl before redirecting her gaze toward Teres, who was drawing near, dragging the lifeless body of the young girl.

A horrified expression swept across Verlena's face as she erupted in panic, yelling, "Teres! What the hell happened to her?! Have you lost your god damn mind?? How could you-..."

Teres cut her off, tossing the girls corpse in front of Verlena.

Upon closer inspection, Verlena noticed the same inhuman features Teres had seen earlier. "What...? Was this girl... the source of those grotesque creatures?" She questioned.

Pulling out a piece of candy from his coat pocket, Teres slipped it into his mouth, staring at the body. "You hit the nail right on its head. Caught glimpse of the slimy bastard lettin' some of her less than flattering features slip out, so I put her down. Had no idea it'd take down everything else along with her though. That was a nice surprise."

"I suppose it was. To take down every last one of the nightmarish beings present here manually would have been a difficult task to accomplish. Admittedly, I was beginning to grow overwhelmed. I must have killed at least one hundred of them, yet they still continued to appear. This girl assembled quite an army, though I don't know how it was done." Gathering herself, Verlena took a deep breath, sheathing her sword. "But Teres, must you be so erratic with your decision making? It was not a guarantee that the girl was completely inhuman. She could have been merely possessed, you know?"

"Maybe. Didn't have the time to consider every last factor or possibility though. I figured she looked inhuman enough, so I'd take her down and go from there." Teres looked around at the aftermath of the battle. "But I think it's about time we get outta this cesspool. All these shattered corpses are makin' the place smell like shit. We've got no reason to stay here anymore with the girl and all her little minions dead and gone."

Verlena nodded. "Yes, you're right. We'll head back then and collect our reward. Hopefully the provider of this contract did not want us to save that girl despite her role as leader of those beings."

"If that was the case, guess we botched our first contract." Teres responded, popping another piece of candy into his mouth as he started to make his way toward the cave's exit.