Gi couldn't believe his eyes. He'd seen the Spiked Eagle Progenitor at the Assembly. He hadn't been this ridiculously large then. Did he have some sort of growth Skill like Poe? Or maybe it wasn't the Progenitor that had come?

"What do we do?" Tiria asked quietly. The gathered Inquisitors and the Templar from the attack all watched him in silence, waiting for his direction, and Gi steeled himself. He was a Progenitor. Surprises wouldn't stir him to inaction.

"The plan remains the same! If any of them come within range, we fire. If enough of them break close..." Gi's words died as the Progenitor started to descend, but as he did, his entire body started to break apart into thousands of pieces.

Each piece was a Spiked Eagle identical to the Progenitor only smaller.

For a moment, Gi was taken back to the Child Stage as he marched with a horde of mixed race monsters as countless ghasts charged at them heedless of their own well being. Just like the Ghasts had been, the Spiked Eagle Progenitor was a [Swarm] type.

And the swarming bodies of the Progenitor were moving much, much quicker than their Adolescent counterparts.

"FIGHTING RETREAT!" Gi yelled. At his words, Kumo sprinted towards the mountain. She should have left as soon as she landed, but she'd stalled to watch the fight. Some of the Inquisitors started to run as they saw her run, but Gi shouted to stop them. "HOLD STEADY! Move at a quick pace, but make sure you keep your eyes up to fight. We need to do as much damage as possible here in the open."

He turned to Tira whose [Waterborn Armory] was shorter range than Gi's attacks. "Adjust their pace as needed. I need to thin the crowd as much as I can."

She nodded and turned her eyes to the sky. Gi summoned his full accompaniment of [Archbishop]s and started to send off the globe form of [Divine Ire] as soon as they were within range. The light shredded any of the Adolescents that got caught up in it, but only the swarm closest to the blast were damaged enough to fall from the sky.

A notification confirmed his theory on the Progenitor as well.

Superficial damage to Spiked Eagle Swarm (Progenitor).

With the entirety of the enemies' clan and the Swarm descending on them, their numbers choked out the light and Gi found himself only lit by the cascading blasts of light from their own army. Shadows flickered along the ground at odd angles from the rabidly shifting points of light and the army just seemed to grow larger and larger in his vision.

They'd reached maybe three quarters of the way to the mountain when things went to hell. They were still far above in the sky and Tiria had done a good job of adjusting their speed as they approached, but the Progenitor must be able to control his entire Swarm instantaneously unlike the Ghasts as the entire group as one started to dive.

The speed with which they did was unbelievable. It was faster than a soft cap Agility by more than just a few ranks. This was clearly some combination of Core and Skill that sent a mass of Spiked Eagles each the size of boulders hurtling down at them from the sky. They wouldn't make it in time.

"RUN!" Tiria shouted instantly as they started their dive. Everyone gave up the attack and rushed for the mountain. Gi and Samba found themselves at the back of the Clan as Gi continued to fire off attack after attack to try and keep them at bay while Samba clearly planned to use his massive body to save as many of the otters as he could.

His Templar had clearly had the same idea, but Samba shouted at them to run as they had also slowed down to provide a wall. They kicked back off, but neither their speed nor Gi's attacks were enough. Most of the Inquistors made it into the tunnel, but a few had turned around to fire out before Tiria got them sorted and it had caused a stampede as those behind bodily shoved the rest forward.

Gi blew one of the Swarm out of the sky at only a few arms length away, but another just blew through the body of its dead swarm mate and crashed right into Gi. He smashed into the ground with a blow that reminded him of Fader as it knocked the wind out of him. A shimmer of Light Aether surged all around him as Samba's Domain activated.

The Swarmling ripped its claws against Gi's Demon Steel Robe which, thankfully, protected him from the majority of the damage. It was only a second later before Samba ripped it off of him.

"KEEP RUNNING!" Samba yelled and Gi felt a small measure of awe for his Elites. Samba had his arms spread wide and was protecting Gi and as many of his clan as he could with his body. Swarmling after Swarmling collided with his already injured back, but he kept going. Each of their attacks wasn't as strong as an Elite, but they were much stronger than the Adolescents that Gi had fought.

The Templar had brought shields out from their [Expanded Pocket]s and held them with both hands above their heads as the group continued to try and force its way into the tunnel. As Samba had pulled Gi to his feet, he continued to rush towards the tunnel entrance with the rest of the mob, relying on his summons to watch his and Samba's back as best as he could.

It was chaos.

Shrieking Eagles crashed into Templar or the few Inquisitors that had yet to make it. Otters tripped as the blows landed in them and were trampled by their fellows behind. As everyone tried to rush into the entrance together, the group got stuck and Tiria had to fly over the group and pull out Otters to unblock the way.

The whole time Swarmlings dove into their midst with their insane power. Any Inquisitor hit died instantly and the Templars only lasted two hits. That was even with Samba's Domain. Somehow, Samba had taken over a dozen blows and still marched forwards protecting as many as he could.

Gi himself had been struck a handful of times, despite his and Samba's best efforts, and he had a cut along his cheek as well as a deep ache in his body. His left side had started to thrum in pain again, but there was nothing that Gi could do for it.

Finally, Gi and Samba practically fell into the tunnel and Samba yelled out to his Templar, "Make a wall!"

As the most well trained of the Halls, they quickly fell in and created a wall of shields with their remaining number that was just enough to keep the tunnel blocked about halfway. With a grunt, Gi hauled Samba onto his back even as the giant Otter was still getting attacked and leapt over the wall of Templar.

"Inquisitors!" The Twins yelled out in unison "Attack!" They had formed their own rows behind the wall of Templars and [Divine Blast] after [Divine Blast] tore though the air. They weren't as strong as Gi's and one couldn't even take down a Swarmling even with a direct hit, but the entire tunnel was lit with them.

Still, the Swarmlings pressed in with their overly durable bodies. Some dropped to the ground and even waddled forward, sending out stone spikes as they did to get within range to strike. When they got in close, Tiria yelled out more commands.

"[BREATH WEAPON]!" The Templar in front breathed out a wall of water, along with the closest Inquisitors. The Water Type Aether crashed into the Swarmlings, pushing them back and weakening them. The follow up of light tore through the gathered Swarm, beating them back for a brief moment.

"Prepare to throw any remaining Fire Bombs!," Gi yelled out. Those were supposed to be an ace if they ever got overrun, but he couldn't hold back against the incoming swarm. The Swarmlings charged back into the space that had been left after the [Breath Weapon] attack only to be met by a dozen balls of hide and paper streaming a hissing gas from them.

The explosion in the small space even pushed the Templar back and a few had to abandon their shields as they quickly caught fire from the torrent of flame. The Eagles themselves paradoxically turned to ash on any part that was caught up in the blast, forcing the few that had been in the start of the tunnel to retreat.

Silence reigned in the tunnel after the Fire Bombs were thrown, leaving a completely clear opening showing the rocky ground of the Barrens beyond. That ground was covered in shadow from the Spiked Eagles that still hovered overhead, waiting on them to come back out.

Gi took a deep breath. "Take a breather. Drink some water and get ready to move. Poe, see if you can find Kumo and our Hunters, we need to get in touch with them immediately. Tiria, see to Samba. Elizabeth-" Gi stopped as his glare landed on the undead woman. "Are you going to fucking help?"

"I'm just conserving my strength for the next fight," she said dully.

She clearly suspected some sort of foul play, but she wasn't willing to give up a second Encampment Crystal either. With how overwhelming the Spiked Eagle Progenitor was, he was starting to regret forcing her along.

"If I don't see ice killing Eagles in the next one, then I'm throwing you outside as bait for the Swarm."

She gave the barest hint of a smug smirk. "As my employer demands."

After the briefest rest where the Templar stayed close to their shields, the Underbridge Clan moved deeper into the mountain with Poe leading them further inside. The deeper they got, the more constructed the mountain started to look until they arrived a giant room in the middle.

The room was a wide column that led all the way out to the sky. A ramp spiraled around the room and various openings pockmarked the entire chamber. Light cascaded down from the very top, but much of it was still lit by the soft glow of blue moss that crept along the walls. Towards the opening, Gi could see flickering shadows from Spiked Eagles that were still at the top and starting to pour back in.

"They've got the advantage here, Poe. Tell me the Hunters are somewhere better."

They're up the ramp one floor.

Gi's eyes followed Poe's instructions and he could see that there was an opening a little smaller than the one they'd come in at one level up from where they were.

More and more Eagles started to arrive at the opening on top of the mountain as the Progenitor clearly understood that they weren't coming back out the way they'd come in. Before they could get their forces consolidated, Gi rushed their group up the ramp and into the tunnel across. Once inside, they came upon dozens of dead Spiked Eagles that led back into a broader room that had a few more tunnels leading off.

Kumo sat inside with her mace laid across her lap and over a hundred Hunters spread along the wall. In the center of the room, a blue Encampment Crystal glowed, sending streaks of blue light against the craggy walls.

Kumo smiled. "Want to do the honors, Boss?"

Gi looked to Tiria. "Status?"

"We're down a third of our Templar, but they managed to keep ninety percent of our Inquisitors alive. We have a few wounded, but we can keep them at the center."

Gi motioned to the Inquistors and wounded to surround the Encampment Crystal and took stock of the room. There were four entrances at ground level and one above that must go at an angle to another floor. The four were small enough that they should be able to hold them with the Templar that they had, but that one in the air could be dangerous.

"Aether stores?" Gi asked the Twins who looked over the assembled Clan.

"With the Inqusitors... a little over half and climbing."

Since most of them had [Divine Blast], they'd be key in this fight to help overcome the Aether stalemate but the [Breath Weapon] of the Templar would give them a way to both use their Aether and have a strong impact on the fight since water would have the type advantage.

Gi eyed each of his Elites. "It still seems doable to me. Any dissent?"

Concern played obviously in Tiria's eyes, but she shook her head. Samba who still lay on the ground from his extensive wounds lifted his paw and gave a thumbs up. "I've got enough Aether to keep my Domain running."

The twins gave their assent and even Elizabeth spoke up adding her drolling confirmation, but Gi just responded to her with a glare. Still, he was satisfied. Things had gotten off track, but they were recoverable.

"All right then, we do this. Obviously, they know we're somewhere in the mountain, but they will have to search for us and watch to ensure we don't escape. Let's rest up as much as they can until they find us and then we'll get their attention."