I Will Remember All of This

A muffled boom came from beneath the frozen marsh. The gray-white strands of flesh connecting the monster to the underground Vein Bed pulled taut, then snapped one by one.

Milo's first thought was that something had happened to the Sacred Flame Altar. Hake raised his shield to protect the side of his face.

The shock tore open the wound along Todd's ribs again. Blood seeped through his bandages, but he saw what mattered.

He threw up a hand. "Open fire with everything!"

The North Marsh gun emplacement fired its last Corrosive Flame-Rain Shell into the ice trench.

Boom!

The shell exploded at the bottom of the trench. Alchemical Incendiary mixed with refined corpse oil spread across the ice, and blue-green flames raced along the trench walls.

The heat swallowed severed limbs, shattered bones, and chunks of Gray Blood flesh. Gray-white filaments reached out to drag the remains back, only to burn away.

A Consecrated Mistfall Shell burst overhead.

Holy Water and alchemical acid swept out in a fan, splashing into gill sacs, spinal segments, and stitched seams.

The acid held the Gray Blood flesh strands down. Their recovery slowed visibly.

Several monsters that might have reassembled writhed in the fire. Their severed limbs failed to reconnect, and only charred remnants sank into the muddy water.

Hake raised his shield against the oncoming corrosive Frost Mist. Its surface hissed and smoked.

He stared at the heap of bodies in the trench, no longer reassembling. "They can't patch themselves back together."

The North Marsh gun emplacement's final volley turned those few heartbeats into a victory.

Todd leaned against the reinforced ice wall and took a few short breaths. He pressed a hand to the wound along his ribs; blood filled the gaps between his fingers.

Only after confirming that the monsters at