The grease fell onto the thing that had emerged from the suit of armor, spreading over its pulsing shape and coating the surface in shifting, glossy colors.
As for the thing itself, it was a translucent, milky white. Through it, one could see tangled fibers and sharp, shadowy fragments that shifted toward the point of contact as it moved. It stretched around its victim, crushing the cheese-like, melting prey into pieces.
The victim's struggles had ended before the lamp oil was poured. The thing grew more active and vigorous, and the remains it had wrapped around collapsed with grinding, crushing sounds, becoming part of its semisolid mass.
Fragments of bone that had not been fully digested were incorporated into its shapeless gums, helping it chew up its next prey.
It made people hate their own instincts and imagination. Through the shadows beneath its translucent skin, they could picture how a body was taken apart and absorbed into the thing, as though the two had always been one.
Green raised his torch and stabbed at it. Though it had no eyes, the mass clearly sensed the approaching heat. It swelled into a kind of branching structure, then lunged at him.
The gleaming white substance tried to slip past the torch and coil around his bare wrist, but the priest's swordsmanship wouldn't let him miss at such close range.
The two collided in midair. From the point of contact, the oily sheen burst into a blinding flame that spread rapidly across the entire bizarre shape, engulfing the stretching white mass and making it contract reflexively.
It paused for an instant, then began to boil.
The semisolid mass was as full of moisture as it looked. The sudden heat made it vaporize and swell violently, ballooning until its wrinkled surface stretched taut and