“ALL RISE! Get your armour on now! Activate any protective skills you have right now!” Bachlar did not hesitate to leave Augusticus to her own tending as the black hoard threw itself to their group. The two Bronze ranked guards stood at the front, keeping back the initial surge for just a few moments.

Everyone quickly reacted to their leaders’ words, rushing into their tents to grab weapons and armour as fast as possible. In particular they put on thick leather boots and greaves. Some wore bracers but it was barely a priority.

As soon as most of the guards approached the endless swarm, they joined up with the Bronze ranks and began cycling their mana. Only a few knew protective skills, but as their skin turned to steel for a short while they could greatly lessen the pressure on their allies.

All the while, a spell formed of two spinning rings formed in front of Bachlar. This was one of the strongest Basic spells he knew, but even then he feared that it was too little. Large runes quickly appeared on the outside of both rings, sinking in for a few moments before releasing a shimmer. Both rings slotted into one, turning into what appeared to be a singular thicker ring before compressing to a small ball. He successfully cast the spell.

The ball of light compressed even further to a point beyond anyone’s vision and a column of fire appeared at the cave’s corner, the blazing, incendiary pillar lessening pressure for just moments. Soon after its effect expired and the swarm returned unperturbed.

“Pearl, how long until you can use your arms?” He asked without any kindness, the situation had turned too suddenly for their past to matter.

But as she flexed one arm, she found it hurt from the still healing cut. As for the other, it simply refused to work, her whole forearm remained a ghostly white with just a few spots of blood giving it liveliness. She had been so close to losing a limb…

“I can cast single ring spells.” She slowly pulled her body up and moved towards the corner in question. The repulsive sight only made worse by the endless danger.

Ants by the thousands. Cut, crushed, roasted, sliced, diced, and mulched. But none of that stopped so many more from pouring into the cave without restraint. It had only been half a minute and the guards already began showing weariness, only the Bronze ranked pair remained steadfast and consistent.

Yet not one claimed to know how many ants remained. If not for the storm outside they’d have simply escaped and slowly pushed their way back to the cave, but such weather made that unreasonable.

* * *

Underground, the hatchling was pleased to know that none of that ant river diverted to this lower level. It had been quite a while since he attacked their base so this sort of response made sense, but he didn’t understand why they focused on the cave so much. Actually, an idea came to mind but it entirely hinged on the queen’s intelligence lacking in some ways.

Instead of just sweeping everything in this area, it was clear that they focused on the cave and purely wanted to kill him.

“Probably the queen, or could it be something controlling the nest? They were smart enough to use the snow storm to their advantage…” He only kept his eyes peeled to see if any ants wandered into his home. The moment a single one appeared he would dig through the blocked exit and hide in the snow storm.

As long as he hid under a pile of snow he could disregard the storm itself. Comfort came second to life, especially when facing literal rivers of ants. A wicked thought bloomed within him though. If all the ants ended up charging his cave, couldn't he take advantage of this amazing situation? He began talking to himself, “That’s a suicidal idea. But if it works, and it’s a massive if… I should care more about the ants than killing the humans.”

He finally relinquished the idea, but he knew the thought would reappear soon. Eliminating the hunters was his best case scenario for a time to come.

Counting out roughly 3 minutes in his head, the lack of any ants finally calmed him and allowed for a quick check up above. Light footsteps passed through the small abode and climbed up towards the cave ever so slightly. At first he was unsure, but a few moments instantly confirmed the stream of ants had yet to end!

Even more, those above were still fighting!

* * *

The flow of ants remained as strong as before, with countless numbers of the regular kind being shoved aside constantly as the larger, battle-made soldiers rushed to their deaths as well. Hopefully the queen was ready for their heavy losses today.

Quietly laughing to himself, there was no reason to draw attention as he pulled to a safe distance and waited more. If he knew one thing it was to avoid heading up if any of the Bronze ranks survived, and with that in mind he sat down and finished stringing the final word of Wind blade storm into the spell.

He didn’t get very far though.

A rumble passed through the tunnels and he saw the pillars supporting it all began shaking, concerned for the stability of it all he quickly moved further away from those fighting up above and thought about leaving in advance.

Just what happened to cause that level of damage?

Lifting up a large warhammer, the Bronze rank warrior frowned as more ants swarmed out straight away. Still, he’d crushed all ants half a metre around his hammer into a fine paste, thinning the herd a bit and giving everyone some more breathing room.

This couldn’t continue, they killed a few tens of thousands of ants by now. What sort of queen was suicidal enough to force through this sort of mission?

As the warrior began recovering his mana while occasionally swinging out to crush soldier ants, those regular guards pushed forward once more and did their best to crush every ant escaping the tunnel. Most of them used skills to quickly clear up large swathes of the bugs.

Flame bolts and small Flame breaths covered the hole every now and then as well, further destroying more ants whilst the two wizards restored their MP. Everyone slowly began losing their reserves though, and the other Bronze rank slashed out with a skill faster than most could see.

Through the snow a giant ant with a bright blue carapace crawled towards them. But it had yet to even leave the hole as the instant it appeared, a strike slashed right through its body, leaving the thing as two parts.

“Royal soldiers! Be prepared for any more coming through,” The Bronze swordsmans spoke for once to warn the others, and immediately went back to slashing through dozens of ants with every swing.

The power of a royal soldier can never be underestimated, especially in larger bug colonies. Fortunately, these ones were only around as powerful as the regular warriors, any skill from a Bronze rank guaranteed their deaths. But that didn’t reduce the concerns.

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If any of them somehow survived and entered the cave… the guards all knew one of them were most likely to fall in the process of killing it! And every loss represented a weakened force, quickly forming a downward spiral. To ensure their survival meant guaranteeing their masters’ survival. Sure, the families might let them live if they escaped right now… But no one would dare hire them again.

As for those masters, things weren’t exactly swell on their end as wizards.

Bachlar downed his third mana potion, watching numbers on his status creep up one percent every few seconds but still too slow to remain comfortable. Even Augusticus was sipping on her second potion in between an intermittent stream of Flame bolts. This simply couldn’t go on.

“Why are these fucking things still attacking us?” With her injuries from prior still healing, she wasn’t in the mood to maintain any decorum.

“It’s not us, the queen clearly wanted something in this cave. Probably whatever lived here before us, and it probably fled in fear of this exact situation,” Bachlar said emotionlessly. He actually had a few more guesses but chose to just pick the one which sounded most likely.

“So we have to fight or run?” Both the two wore poor expressions without a solution. Some guards in front heard their words but barely responded either, too exhausted from this constant state of battle.

Very rarely did a fight last more than 10 minutes in real combat, there was always time to relax even if just for a few moments. Right now they had to focus without stopping as just a single fault could turn into hundreds.

“More royals are approaching!” The two Bronze ranks began preparing their skills, cycling mana within as four massive ants forced their way from the embiggening hole. One instantly died as the full weight of an enhanced warhammer smashed its body, and another was chopped into quarters by a speedy cross slash.

But that still left two more, a flaming vortex crashed onto the two but everyone shuddered as they saw both simply walk out of the flames with light burns on their carapace. And even those quickly faded!

But the attacks of 16 combined individuals easily broke and slashed their tough shells, killing the two royal soldiers before anyone received an injury. Albeit all of it at the cost of mana, a dwindling supply at the moment.

Aside from the wizards and Bronze ranks, everyone else teetered below 40% and approached a dangerous threshold. It just didn’t stop though.

Three minutes later and everyone successfully dropped below 30% MP, tiredness and weakness starting to appear but not to the degree of reducing combat proficiency. Without some extra mana potions from Bachlar, the two Bronze ranks would’ve fallen below 50% by now as well.

Another group of three royal soldier ants ate through significant reserves for the group, and even the two wizards started being even more reserved with mana. The flow of ants weakened though, that much was clear. And the relaxation allowed for those in front to recover stamina just a little, or rather slow down their expenditure.

The minutely relaxed atmosphere reversed in a single swoop though, many crying out as their fears were realised. Six more royal soldiers entered the cave, two dying before even getting through. but the rest left to everyone else as the Bronze ranks needed a few seconds to recover after using such skills.

Everyone’s attacks spread throughout the remaining four, but several skills failed as the tired warriors couldn’t cycle their dwindling mana properly, their regular steel blades clanging against the strangely blue shell. Doing no damage to the ants at all.

Fortunately, they killed one of the ants by sheer luck… But that still left three. Two of the ants lunged at high speeds to the nearest humans, jumping straight for their necks with mandibles wide open, the people barely able to react as large cuts left them bleeding out on the floor.

Jugular, throat, and windpipe were all sliced open in a single move. Two of the royal ants instantly killed two guards, one being killed as the faster Bronze swordsman pierced its body in mid-air… just after it had successfully killed one of his subordinates.

He reached out to the stuck ant, grabbing its bulbous head and squeezing with muscular arms. After applying more than a little force it collapsed and he destroyed its head. Everyone else successfully dealt with the remaining ants in that time, a swing of the warhammer smashing another ant into the cave’s ice wall and an upgraded Earth bolt spearing another through the side.

By the time the last two were killed, four guards died in total, all the regular warriors simply couldn’t adequately react to the energetic and hasteful attacks of these ants. But with this third group of royal soldiers their advantage crumbled like a sandcastle.

Ants quickly began swarming up the legs of everyone nearby, pain spread through the bodies of all those guards as hundreds of small cuts appeared all over their legs. Slowly moving upwards as more ants clambered up, those with enough wits about them running away with the Bronze ranks.

Four more quickly fell as numerous ants cut through critical ligaments, the ants quickly tore through veins and arteries with some soldier ants leaving them to bleed out. Flame breath spells repeatedly spread over the expanding ant swarm but they were soon replaced.

Without much choice, the two Bronze ranks took action once more.

Five minutes later, and down to a mere group of eight, the last of the ants were crushed and immolated. Everyone sat down to recover their mana, drink some water, and simply adapt to the situation. Twenty minutes of a horrific attrition battle, and they only barely repelled their enemy.

If just a few more swarms had come about…

Augusticus shuddered at the thought, biting her lip as one hand still refused to clench. Even with medicines she would need a night to recover… If only she hadn’t been so cocky. Not even that, if only she was more willing to attack first and check the lizard’s identity later!

She’d have the dragon heart, if it had one, and could have properly helped in this battle. How useful had her Flame bolts been?

Holding the coin in her working hand, she couldn’t help but feel even worse that two of its charges were wasted like that. She absolutely needed the final one to ensure survival on the mountain. How could she hunt that dragon now as well?

Body aching from the endless spellcasting, she moved to find a cushion to sit on, but stopped as a burning pain filled her. She couldn’t help but look down to discern what caused it, feeling something rigid and aching in her chest.

Blood poured into her academy robes, and a curved dagger pierced right through her heart!

She gently raised her hand up to touch its tip as it poked through.

With only the barest bit of time to look behind, she weakly tried to hold up the coin before the gloved hand grabbed it from her. “Why? Why is he…” Her breath was cut short by a kick shoving the rapidly bleeding corpse onto the floor. She tried to grab a small glass vial at her waist, but heavy metal boots crushed the hand.

Everyone turned to the assailant as soon as they heard the stab, but no one could have possibly reacted in time. Even the Bronze ranks stood a fair distance away, and their perception already dulled from such a lengthy battle.

Bachlar, situated elsewhere, immediately flew into a rage. Screaming and pulling out a short wand from an inside pocket of his robe, although it was clearly far too big to rest in there neatly. His eyes turned red as he shouted, “Jeremiah, I’ll have your head for this insubordination!”

“You’re welcome to try,” he appeared unfazed with Bachlar threatening an attack, the two Bronze ranks preparing to strike. But just after speaking he already pointed the coin to both knights and activated it, neither of the two prepared a skill for blocking or evading its attack.

A crescent of light struck the two knights, their weapons attempting to block such an attack but it simply didn’t work. Like a fluid, the light wrapped around the blade of one’s sword and the handle of the other’s hammer. Passing right through and striking the bodies of both.

With a thick red line appearing through the chests of both, blood first seeped slowly but could no longer be restrained. They knew the wounds were fatal and charged to kill Jeremiah in their dying moments.

The swing of a hatchet suddenly swung into the head of the warhammer wielder, staggering him as bone chipped in response to such an attack. He tried to swing the hammer around to strike this second assailant but it was too late, they moved away and left him pushing every muscle to its extreme. He’d be lucky to swing his weapon once more.

Bachlar didn’t stand on accord though, already activating his wand to fire at Jeremiah the moment he used the final charge of Augusticus’ tool. A spear of magma and flame tightly aimed for Jeremiah’s head, the head of molten rock just inches away from both obliterating him and reducing the remains to a charred pile.

With a speed matching the Bronze swordsman, he wasted the curved dagger in his hand to divert the attack, ignoring its belching flames like a warm breeze simply passed by. Bachlar grew concerned and couldn’t help but say, “You’re Steel ranked?!”