The bleak afterglow made the rainwater pouring down from the cave's skylight resemble dust-covered rubies. Large numbers of Snake People clad in the Quetzalcoatl Cult's pale green robes wandered unconsciously into the dark, lightless pool, submerging their elongated, scale-covered bodies within it. Though the pool was terribly crowded, these Mutants did not quarrel. The mutters in their throats were gradually replaced by ever more indistinct hissing.
Not until the Praetorian Guard and the Emperor burst in did the Snake People raise their heads from beneath the water, which had become slimy with dander and other metabolic waste—they were more deeply mutated than the Snake People in the outer caves. Their scales and feathers were more vividly colored, and even their bones had become long and slender, as if they needed time or certain elements to complete their transformation. But that was where their similarities ended. Rampantly proliferating tissue made them look like half-rotted lizardmen.
Once they discovered the intruders, angry hissing spread through the cave. Expressionless, the Snake People charged at them. Whether jagged boulders or uneven rock walls, their sharp, misshapen hands and feet let them traverse everything as though on level ground. The knights entering the cave behind them fired explosive rounds at those creatures that had clearly left the bounds of humanity. The hatred for mutated creatures written into their genomes made killing such monsters satisfying.
The golden spearhead formed by the Praetorian Guard fired at Dr. Pedro Domínguez while escorting the Emperor forward in a charge. They trusted the Gene-modded Warriors to control the situation behind them. The mutated creatures that tried to block this squad could not even slow them down. In the blink of an eye, they were hacked to pieces by the Spear of the Garrison or the Sentry Sword. Their assault formation