Malik crouched, heaving three onto his shoulders, then tried the fourth...
Thud.
They fell.
Despite his Nadhir Saif strength, he couldn't balance that many.
These mortals, for whatever reason, were ten times as heavy as one might expect.
Ignoring that for now, he charged back toward the exit.
The fire roared around him, greedy, stretching claws of heat licking at his skin, biting deep.
It hurt. It hurt bad. But he didn't stop.
He dumped the bodies outside. Turned. Rushed back in.
The next weight crushed him and nearly buckled his knees.
It seemed their current... state made their weight incrementally increase.
Perhaps it was due to the Corruption becoming something tangible within them.
Malik didn't know and he didn't care... his mind was more interested in saving them.
He never faltered.
Even as his arm bled, barely obeying, as his lungs shrieked, and as his vision swam.
Didn't matter.
Didn't matter.
Didn't—more bodies.
More weight.
More pain.
