Alexx and Zed thought they understood what it meant to be swarmed by Iron Ant Drones after their experience in the eastern grasslands, but they understood now that they were utterly, painfully wrong.

In those open fields, the Drones had time and space to watch, learn, and adapt to their opponent's tactics and abilities. That certainly was the more efficient use of their lives and resources, it was not what it meant to be swarmed by ants.

A swarm meant numbers.

Sheer, inexhaustible, and overwhelming numbers.

So numerous were the deadly insects that they crawled over the bodies of their kin, both living and dead, as they attacked the Mountian Goats. What few ants weren't flung away from the force of the goats' attacks would begin crawling up their legs, finding a place to tear chunks out of the mighty beasts, causing them to cry out in pain as they fought on.

But the Mountain Goats had no time to focus on the Drones, as there were other, larger threats to deal with.

The Mountain Goats that made up the front line, each of them every bit as large and powerful as the one that Bates had enraged, were engaging with large Iron Ants that stood on their hind legs, resembling a stout praying mantis and allowing them to lash out with the foot-long pointed blades attached to their forward limbs.

'Those must be the Warrior variants,' Yang thought as she reminded herself that she was still fighting. As close as they were to the front lines, the number of Iron Ant Drones increased suddenly, almost doubling the number of Drones in their small clearing.

As the three players held their ground against the sudden flood of enemies, the Mountain Goats exchanged attacks with the relentless army of Iron Ants.

Although the Iron Ant Warriors were much smaller than the Mountain Goats at four feet tall, they easily outnumbered the beasts on the front lines by two to one. The Warriors were not much faster than the Drones, but unlike their smaller kin, they didn't need to latch onto their opponents to deal damage and could keep moving as they attacked.

The enormous insects were also more dexterous than the huge beasts, almost dancing around their powerful blows as their iron blades left long cuts across their bodies. However, they seemed to lack durability, which Yang thought as one Warrior tried to fly over one of the goats, only to get caught between its horns as it reared back for an attack. Feeling the enemy on its head, the Mountain Goat shook its horns back and forth, knocking the Warrior around as it was unable to escape. The ant's carapace quickly cracked under the relentless blows, and its body was soon ripped in half as the structural damage became too great.

The Drones, though not the focus of the battle, suffered the most casualties. With the high STR of the Mountain Goats, their every movement was a powerful blow to the comparatively small insects. Every step meant a Drone was either dead or crippled. Occasionally the goats would use [SKULL BASH], but while the Warriors were usually able to evade, the Drones could only be flattened or sent flying by the force of the blow.

Beyond the front lines, fully surrounded and deep within enemy territory, was The Guardian Elder.

Standing at her full height of nineteen feet, it trampled Drones and Warriors alike, every step shaking the ground and grinding the giant insects to dust. Multiple Warriors surrounded her, jumping about as they slashed at her legs and body, but their attacks did little more than scratch her immense HP. The Guardian Elder swung her head sideways, too fast for the hovering Warriors to even consider dodging. The force of the impact caused the ants' bodies to crumple on impact, dying instantly before their flattened husks were flung across the battlefield.

Then, The Guardian Elder reared back for a [SKULL BASH], and it was as if time itself slowed to watch the goat's head descend like the hammer of god.

*BOOM*

The Elder brought her head down, and an explosion tore through the passageway.

Dozens of ants died, not from the attack itself, but from the small shockwave created by the impact, and dozens more were thrown into the air. The players and a few of the nearby Mountain Goats stumbled as the ground shook beneath them. Even the Drones stopped moving for a moment as their instincts reacted to the overwhelming display of power. As Drones, Warriors, and gravel fell and settled, The Guardian Elder stood, composed and majestic, before a large crater.

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The Mountain Goats of Ziege Basin were horribly outnumbered, but there were some things that numbers couldn't defeat.

As more Drones began to approach her, Yang turned her War Pick sideways and struck with the broadside of the weapon, the wide, sweeping attack necessary just to clear a place to stand. She did not have the power to crush the Drones beneath her feet, nor the dexterity to run along their backs, so Yang was forced to remain mostly stationary as she kept the giant insects away from her legs. It was difficult, not letting the weight of her weapon pull her straight into a pile of Drones, but bracing herself for each swing was enough to only slide a foot or so along the gravel floor.

With Yang no longer jumping back and forth, Zed moved up to assist her.

His spear stabbed through heads and sliced through legs as he put out as many attacks as possible, a nervous sensation growing as he fought to keep the tide of ants at bay.

Alexx was about to join his teammates when he saw Drones moving in from the sides. This close to the front lines, the flood of ants would fill every crack in their defenses. Every minute flaw would be punished severely.

Letting his friends focus on what was ahead, Alexx turned around and began striking at every ant that thought it could sneak up on them. While the number of ants he was dealing with was less than a third of what Yang and Zed were facing, Alexx had to cover a wider area and needed to move from one side of the clearing to the other every second.

Yang swept aside another group of ants and more quickly moved to replace them. Although her attacks with the flat side of her pick were able to hit more ants she was doing much less damage. Most of the ants were just being knocked aside, rejoining the fight unless they happened to land beneath the hooves of a nearby Mountain Goat.

'I...I think I've got it.' Yang had panicked when the number of Drones suddenly increased, but with Zed's assistance, she soon adjusted to the higher pace.

Having regained some breathing room, Yang changed her grip on her War Pick again, making a proper attack with the piercing end. The attack tore through the first ant, while several more were flung aside by the force of the blow. Even as her arms, shoulders, and back muscles were screaming with the effort of swinging her massive weapon continuously, her high END allowed her to keep going and she wasn't going to stop any time soon.

Yang let her next swing pull her into the air, knowing that she would be landing in a disadvantageous position but using the airtime to check on Alexx and Zed. At the current pace, Yang was breathing heavily and didn't think her voice would carry over the noise. Without the ability to communicate easily, a little damage was worth it to make sure they weren't in any danger.

Zed's eyes were locked in a determined expression, darting around as his focus shifted from one target to the next; the tip of his spear was a blur as it struck down one Drone after another. His trademark battle-crazed grin was plastered across his face. All thoughts of supporting her had clearly left his mind, but as long as he was acting as another target for the Drones she couldn't complain too much.

Alexx was facing away from her, so she couldn't see his face, but his movements were as sharp as ever. The few ants that tried to jump through the air near him were instantly struck down. As for the ants on the ground, Alexx's feet slid across the gravel, never leaving the ground but still striking the nearby ants like an iron beam.

Both of them were fighting hard with beads of sweat pouring off their bodies, but neither showed any signs of slowing down.

As Yang's feet touched the ground, she immediately felt a tug on her legs as ants bit at her armor or tried to climb up her. Fortunately, Yang's modifications to her leg armor made them much wider than they were before, too wide for the Drones to completely clamp their jaws around her shins. Although the armor was damaged slightly, the ants on the ground were unable to hurt Yang before her War Pick swung past, the piercing end tearing through a few and knocking away the rest with ease.

As the weapon completed its swing, Yang quickly reached down to pull away the ant that was currently crawling toward her exposed thigh. Unfortunately, this Drone was more clever than the rest of its kin, as it unexpectedly changed targets and jumped for her arm, clamping onto her wrist.

Eyes wide, Yang let go of her War Pick completely, quickly ripping the offending insect off of her and flinging it in front of Zed, who cut it in half without a thought.

'Well, at least the pain reduction feature is working,' she thought gratefully as she picked up her weapon from where it fell. 'Still, that stupid balance patch is really fucking me now.'

Because the game's patch notes were so extensive, it was nearly impossible to find out just how many smaller changes had been implemented and where. The only thing they could do was continue playing as normal and letting others know if they found something.

For Yang, that discovery came when she tested out her new armor pieces. Apparently, the Pioneer System decided that the way armor reduced damage was too overpowered. Before, any attack that hit the player in an armored part had the damage reduced by the total of all armor worn, which is how Yang managed to have an Armor stat of 45 at level 11. With the new patch, each armor piece calculated the damage reduction independently, while the menu showed the average Armor value of all worn armor.

'I get that it's more realistic, but plenty of games calculate damage like that,' she thought as she crushed another ant. 'And if they wanted it to be realistic, then why didn't they make it work like that from the beginning?!' Yang took a deep breath to calm down before she got too worked up. 'At least it adjusted the original stats too. 20 Armor might not be as good as 45, but it's better than the 7 my bracers used to have. Now focus,' Yang looked past the Mountain Goats and saw what looked like an endless sea of black carapace. 'This fight isn't ending any time soon.'