The farther they advanced, the more mutated monsters they encountered. The stench of Outer Dimensions energy wafting from them nearly suffocated the knights. Fury was pumped into their veins like fuel, igniting their will to fight. There were countless varieties of Snake People. Aparajita's Power Armor swiftly marked several types the vanguard had encountered before. Some had mutated from humans, while others had crossed the Veil of Reality into this world. The latter were far more heavily mutated. Giant Snake People like those that had once guarded Dr. Pedro Domínguez were everywhere, and even powerful knights had to expend considerable effort to kill such monsters.
The monsters flooding in from every direction like a tide were driven back by the knights' web of firepower. Yet it would not be long before the creatures reappeared, even more severely mutated than before. The best way to distinguish Snake People corrupted through human mutation from Snake People that were Extra-dimensional Beings was to kill them, then see whether their corpses decayed and dissolved in an extremely short time. This small lesson learned in battle did little to ease the knights' burden, for the sight before them was one of utter despair. The road to the Feathered Serpent God, stretching for dozens of kilometers, was packed with monsters. No one knew whether the knights had more ammunition or the monsters had greater numbers. Floodwaters had crossed the mountains and met the lava, creating vast currents of steam that blanketed every battlefield. Everyone had to fight within the dense fog, relying on electronic eyes to see anything more than ten meters away.
Everyone fought atop corpses. The blood of Gene-modded Warriors and mutated creatures covered their feet, cooling the lava. Not even breathing filters could dispel the sulfurous stench in the air. The knights had