Katyusha’s instincts, finely honed through her pursuit of the arcane path, immediately recognized that the eerie stillness following the Corpse Mother's demise was not true peace, but the ominous calm before the storm. Reacting swiftly, she retrieved another set of spell catalysts and began to initiate a defensive spell activation sequence.
However, before she could complete her incantation, her surroundings were swallowed by a surge of darkness erupting from the ground, disrupting her senses and shrouding her vision.
A crisp, sharp sound echoed through the air as a blade collided with glass. Her icy, glass-like passive defensive force field ignited in response to the unknown attack. She was acutely aware that this assault likely stemmed from the Darkshroud Formic Lord’s bloodline ability, [Darkshroud]. To opponents of the same rank, it has the simple effect of taking away one’s sight, but Katyusha is a rank 1 Official, not a Lord. It wasn’t only her sight, but her sense of smell and touch were also deprived.
To rank 0 apprentices, they probably couldn’t sense anything at all. They had it far worse.
As one of the most powerful mages in Twin Helix, her passive magical force field is not only extremely durable, but it could also ‘regenerate’. As long as the ‘hp’ of the barrier isn’t depleted, she would remain completely protected. However, her instinct warned her that the enemy’s attacks were specialized in shredding magical defensive barriers. In response, she quickly switched the spell activation sequence for the appropriate spell. “Rank 1 ice-path magic spell, [Cryogenic Burst]!”
The spell's execution shattered her passive barrier, converting it into an explosive surge of frigid energy. The profound chill managed to congeal the dark elemental particles emitted by the Darkshroud Formic Lord's bloodline ability. As the innocuous mist, which usually skirted both physical and magical defenses, cascaded like an ebony snowfall, its obscuring influence diminished significantly. This offered Katyusha the clarity she needed to assess the nature of the assailant that had breached her defenses, all while reestablishing her telepathic bonds with her ice golem cavalry.
There are twelve humanoid black ants, having 2-meter tall bodies each and 4 bladed limbs instead of arms.
Their figure completely blended in this gloomy darkness, allowing them to gain semi-invisibility. Although scraping their darkness-imbued blade limbs on Katyusha’s defensive force field had caused their blade-limbs to be covered in frost, they weren’t affected that much. The pseudo-dark-path environment granted them some level of resistance toward Katyusha’s strong ice-path radiation. On the contrary, as long as the darkness is still present, she is being suppressed due to the conflict of paths.
Yet, with the activation of her [Cryogenic Burst], the humanoid ants surrounding Katyusha became ensnared in a delicate yet lethal layer of hoarfrost. Their movements slowed, affording Katyusha a fleeting moment to regroup. However, their high magical resistance prevented their immediate demise, their robust constitution guarding them in the face of her chilling assault.
While these ant-assassins demanded her full attention, her contingent of ice golems found themselves similarly embroiled in combat against soldier ants that had sprung from the ground. Their position offered no room for retreat or support, leaving her to confront the threat on her own. Her lack of specialization in melee combat, coupled with the ant-assassins' anti-magic proficiency, meant she was at a grave disadvantage. She stood countered by the enemy's forces, a reality that vexed her to no end.
However, that was before she acquired her golem physique.
Katyusha clicked her tongue in annoyance. “I saved this for the Darkshroud Formic Lord’s main body, but plans can never keep up with reality…” Her body slowly submerged into the shark-wolf golem’s nape until no trace of her human features was left. And then, the icy beast roared, and with it, a stream of frost wind with the power of a [Cryogenic Burst] followed suit.
…
“Rank 1 sword-path martial art, [Night Severing Argent Blade]!”
Schwing! A piercing resonance, akin to a blade cleaving through the very air, echoed as Shirogane executed a martial art. The resultant luminosity seemed to rend apart the fabric of the unnatural night sky, leaving behind a persistent trail of brilliant silver swordlight. This resplendent radiance acted as a steadfast sentinel, steadily repelling the encroaching veil of the Darkshroud mist. Having a length of 100 meters, it gives the convoy a method of knowing which direction is which, thus allowing the official Hunters to somewhat regroup and establish an effective combat formation to fight back.
However, executing a large-scale flashy move like this has taken a toll on the swordswoman, evident by her heavy breath. Yet, duty compelled her to address the impending threat, prompting her to plunge into another relentless bout of slaughter.
“Visibility has returned.” A distance away from the silver-armored swordswoman, her brother Kurogane reported while engaging a group of rank 1 soldier ants the size of a horse. “I can’t assess the damage. If anyone is free, can you provide a report to Sumire?”
Unsurprisingly, all others were deeply immersed in their own battles. Even though the brains of the operation have decided to choose to tread the necro-path environment, they were still ambushed on the way by the ants. A copious amount of rank 1 soldier ants are popping left and right, overwhelming and putting pressure on the hunter’s combat and reaction abilities.
It took them some time until someone else was freed from the fight.
Crack! The sound of an exoskeleton breaking could be heard as Kenji in his fully armored state killed the last soldier ant on his side. He climbed on top of a hill of ant corpses that he slaughtered, then scanned the surroundings as he took out a longbow and a heavy spear from his dimensional storage. “Estimated 120 apprentice casualties, a lot of grass soldiers have been killed, and I only see a few lizard beast slaves who survived the first wave.” He pulled the string bowstring with the heavy spear as an arrow. “Providing support to Dark Enigma!”
Boom! The arrow left Kenji’s bow at Mach speed. The man had turned from a meat grinder into a [Kinetic Artillery] that unleashed devastation from long range, lessening the burden of the rearguard while providing a report to Sumire.
[Darkshroud] saturation severely hampers communications and disrupts telepathic enslavement connections. When Shirogane unleashed her [Night Severing Argent Blade], some semblance of the communication channel was restored, but its range remained considerably limited. The 'head' of the formation was still isolated from the 'body' and the 'tail', rendering effective countermeasures impossible. Now, with Kenji providing Sumire vital information, she could more efficiently mobilize her mutant kobold army, thus alleviating the pressure on the 'head' of the formation.
< The situation on Katyusha? > She asked.
Kenji shifted his haze towards Katyusha before squinting his eyes, using investigative martial arts to barely pierce through the thin layer of dark mist. “She’s occupied at the moment. It takes me a while to kill a single Slayer Ant, but she’s fighting an army of them.”
The Slayer Ants are the antimage elite unit of the Darkshroud Formic Lord, the humanoid ants. Having greater physical specs and intelligence compared to the other units, each is equivalent to an official Hunter in terms of combat prowess. Not only possessing a stronger exoskeleton capable of enduring an obnoxious amount of physical attack, it also possesses an obscene level of magic resistance. Low-damage magic spells would literally bounce off of their exoskeleton. The reason why Katyusha’s magic spell is effective on them is simply because her methods are that powerful. Nevertheless, she couldn’t be relied on in this situation, considering she and her golems are holding back 40% of the ants in this ambush.
“You want me to help her?” He took another arrow while his body shakes off the silvery dust he produces due to the nanoms getting obliterated after enduring the strain of his martial arts.
< No. She can’t die unless they deplete her ice. What’s the situation on Carriage 29? >
Carriage 29 is where Mordred is located. It is located on the front-middle portion of the formation. It isn’t too far from where they are currently, but the thick mist can’t be completely dispelled by Shirogane’s [Night Severing Argent Blade].
Even Li Xiaobai, the captain of Radiant Desolation, couldn’t compete with this [Darkshroud]. On the contrary, dark is the opposite of light, so the conflict of paths made him completely suppressed in this environment. With their relative proximity being in the ‘head’ of the formation, none of the Twin Helix members can see Li Xiaobai’s flashy moves nor hear the sound of his team’s battles, proof that the effect of dark-path suppression is far worse for his team.
In any case, Kenji referred to the mental map in his mind while scanning the surroundings for Carriage 29. As he anticipated, he encountered a challenge: the carriage's location lay beyond the range illuminated by Shirogane's [Night Severing Argent Blade]'s swordlight. "Zero visibility," he remarked with a frustrated tone.
< Tsk. I can’t communicate with Undying Forest’s captain either, her team’s Grass Soldiers are fighting like headless chickens. Kenji, give Shirogane some breathing room. >
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Understood.” After launching another spear, he put the longbow into his dimensional storage and leaped towards Shirogane’s area.
Shirogane is a sword-path cultivator, she possesses the sharpest attack of all Twin Helix. Unlike Kenji whose speciality is his brute strength, she uses her large katana taller than herself to cut down the horse-sized soldier ants as if they are blocks of tofu. She undoubtedly has the greatest personal combat power next to Kenji. However, her destructive power isn’t consistent. Prone to exhaustion and mentally handicapped, she is somewhat of a glass cannon compared to other martial artists.
Nevertheless, the soldier ants that she killed easily exceed the ones that Kenji had dispatched. She doesn't tend to collect her enemy's corpse into a pile, so the dismembered corpses of ants she slaughtered are scattered around the battlefield. As of now, she single-handedly blocks a large tunnel that the ants used as a channel to constantly send reinforcement.
With a heavy thud, Kenji arrived next to her, a black warhammer already in his hand. “I’ll take care of this hole. Your attention is needed elsewhere.”
Swiping her katana to wipe off the formic blood, she nodded. “Hmm. I’ll leave it to you.” She activated a martial art and switched places with Kenji as his tower of corpses provided a better vantage point.
“What seems to be the problem?” She coldly inquired over the team channel, her silver eyes scanned the black mist behind her magic machinery armor.
< Carriage 29. > Sumire’s telepathic message could be heard. < Save Satoru by all means. >
“Understood.” Shirogane sheathed her large katana and made an Iai drawing motion. “Rank 1 sword-path killer move, [Judgment Cut]!” Her hands, and by extension, her blade turned into a blur.
…
Mordred is being tossed around left and right while the carriage he’s in is being gnawed by rank 1 soldier ants and a single slayer ant. The ironwood construct is extremely durable, considering it was used as a defensive carriage wall. However, they can only defend against rank 0 attacks. The damage rank 1 beast could produce is significantly far more than what a rank 0 material could endure.
With no more Grass Soldiers, Undying Forest’s combat resources primarily responsible for manning the carriages’ defenses, the soldier ants are free to gnaw at the carriage as if they are eating cotton candy. The carriage is like a turtle shell, it’s only a matter of time before it is broken and the ants could eat the juicy meat inside.
In less than ten seconds, the carriage got shredded, and some of the apprentices inside who were panicking got their limbs cut by ant pincers or the slayer’s blade limbs. However, at this moment, space seemingly loses its meaning. A cut was made across space and time. The ants, and the carriage, suddenly get dismembered by a phantasmal blade of silver from a distance away. The blade also shreds the Darkshroud mist, clearing away the unnatural darkness in a small area.
With visibility returned to Mordred, he checked around the condition of his surroundings. The carriage wreckage and the unfortunate corpses of other apprentices are all that he can see. Within an arm's reach, there’s an apprentice whose hand, unfortunately, got bitten apart by soldier ant’s pincers. Blood is gushing out from the gruesome wound, and he could see a trace of blackness begin to spread from it.
‘Secondary dark-path corruption…’ He assessed as the apprentice cried in suffering due to the corruption. Just as Mordred is about to perform first aid so that the unfortunate apprentice could serve as bait a little longer, the ground around the wreckage pops up, breaking the layer of hoarfrost. A tunnel has been made, and a burst of [Darkshroud] gushed out from the said hole, saturating the area with more of this non-lethal mist, but in reality, quite lethal to mortals and apprentices.
Fortunately, the carriage wreckage and the Grass Soldier corpses possessed strong radiation-repellent properties, allowing apprentices to stay alive in this pseudo-dark-path environment. Still, the dark mist can pass through Katyusha’s magical force field, there’s no reason it can’t pass through the carriage and Grass Soldier’s corpses’ radiation-repellent field.
At this point, he knew that he had to fight. His killing intent was aroused as he reached for the revolver on his thigh, but he remembered that the ants are not the only thing that could threaten his mortal shell’s wellbeing. His left hand reaches for the pouch on his thigh, taking out a small potion bottle. It is an anti-dark-path radiation potion, allowing apprentices who consumed them to endure some level of dark-path radiation exposure for some time.
Feeling the potion take effect, Mordred aimed his revolver toward the incoming ants.
The bigger the formic beast, the stronger they are. The weakest ones are the workers, equivalent to early-stage to late-stage rank 0 apprentices. They could be as small as a golden retriever, or as big as a donkey. While lacking the all-slicing pincers and the ability to spray caustic formic acid possessed by the soldier ants, it doesn’t mean they are harmless.
Bang! Mordred’s fireball projectile bounces when it hits a worker ant as big as a donkey, one that is equivalent to a late-stage apprentice.
With that level of defensive capability, he knew that the weapon in his hands would be useless. Small arms are great against other humans, but to hunt beasts, it’s better to use large-caliber rifles. The real world isn’t a controlled environment where the enemies that appear are on the same level as himself. With his level of negative karmic luck, he’d know that sooner or later, things wouldn’t go according to his plans.
Nevertheless, even knowing his path would lead to a dead end, he did not give up. He chose to retreat towards the wreckage of the carriage, as it offered protection against radiation. If things didn't work out, he can secretly use one of the many trump cards under his sleeve.
After all, Sovereigns, even former ones, oftentimes possessed multiple decks of cards under their sleeves.
While retreating to the wreckage, some of the apprentices who survived the first wreckage also followed suit. They too, began to gather up and take on defensive formation, proof that some of them have experience in this hellish situation.
“Satoru, was it? I heard your marksmanship is excellent, but do you have any idea how to kill them?” A brave-looking youth, having a spear and a shield on his arms, extended an olive branch to Mordred by allowing him to retreat to his back.
“I do,” Mordred replied, somewhat familiar with the youth since he could be considered a carriage-mate. “I have armor-piercing rounds, but I can only fire a limited amount before my arm breaks.” He deftly threw away the empty chambers and replaced them with the said armor-piercing rounds.
“I see.” The youth instantly understood what Mordred implied. “I’ll make sure every shot counts. Ha!” His spear thrust pushed back a worker ant that got too close. “You lot, come here and stick together!” He called out to the scattered apprentices to gather up.
Unlike rank 1 cultivators, apprentices couldn’t do anything superhuman. At most, they have stronger radiation resistance, senses, and physical strength. Spirit cultivator apprentices had it even worse since they are simply mortals that can think fast. Nevertheless, this does not stop them from possessing superhuman will, and not giving up in the face of death.
Mordred could see that the hands of the spearman youth were shaking in fear. The youth had hidden it well, but he did not let the fear of death dictate his actions.
Naturally, Mordred’s mortal shell was also the same. He had inspected the synchronization rate between his soul and his mortal shell; it was revealed that it had less than a ten percent synchronization rate. The ‘muscle memory’ of the body can still dictate how he responds to external stimulation.
Bang! Another shot was fired, but this time, it was an armor-piercing round. The unfortunate ant got its head blasted into pieces, its movement stopped completely. The shot saved the spearman youth from having his spear cut into two.
“Nice one!” He praised, as he swiped his spear, already engaging in combat with the next ant.
What the spearman youth didn’t notice was, that shot has taken a great toll on Mordred’s arm. Despite taking on Wyverian form, his right hand is still shaking from the recoil. ‘It feels like my bones are shattered…’ Mordred allowed the Wyverian healing factor to heal the damage, but he couldn’t wait that long. He tossed the revolver onto his left arm and ignored his shaky aim.
Bang! Another shot has just saved a youth not too far from him, the worker ants that he killed fell onto the ground.
“Fuck, I can’t hold on much longer!!” The Spearman youth originally did not want to complain about Mordred’s shooting speed. However, it was too slow that some of the apprentices have already gotten dismembered alive, and their scream echoes on the battlefield. When the spearman youth checked both of Mordred’s scaly arms were already bleeding, he kept quiet and focused on what he could do.
This situation did not last long because more mid-stage and late-stage equivalent ants are popping left and right, they are far stronger than the ones being delayed by the surviving apprentices.
When a soldier ant, one that is as big as a horse, made its presence known, the apprentices were engulfed in a tide of extreme despair.
Clack! In an instant, the spearman youth’s spear was split into two. He quickly threw away his broken weapon while sacrificing his shield to save himself and put himself next to Mordred. “Seems like we’re going to die soon…” The spearman took another weapon that was lying around while smiling with the determination to die a heroic death.
Amidst the chaos and impending doom, an eerie calm overcame Mordred. Like the Spearman youth, a twisted smile flickered across his face, revealing the dark humor currently on his mind at this very instance. ‘It seems like I’ll reincarnate into an ant in my next life…’
Undeterred by the overwhelming odds, Mordred faced the monstrous and fearlessly. His trembling hands grasped the revolver tightly, he fired at the creature with grim determination. Bang! As expected, the armor-piercing bullet ricocheted off its impenetrable exoskeleton, while the recoil of the gun shattered the bones in his left hand in the process.
Until the very last moment, even when the dark-path corruption had already spread onto his skin, Mordred still tried his best to aim with his barely working right hand.
Yet, just as he was about to sacrifice ‘Satoru’s’ dominant hand for the tiniest chance of killing the soldier ant, a miracle occurred. A voice, ethereal and sweet like the nectar of the heavens, resonated through the air.
“[Judgement Cut]!” The words carried an unyielding power that defied life and death.
In an ethereal spectacle, a mysterious silver blade materialized, seemingly rending the fabric of reality itself. The swordlight dismembered the soldier ant as if a thousand-degree knife slicing through butter. The very same ant which Mordred’s armor-piercing rounds could not penetrate got instantly killed, the creature’s black formic blood, hemolymph, scattered around its corpse in a breathtaking spectacle.
Thud! Kurogane arrived not too far from the apprentice’s location, leaving a crater in his wake. “Apologies for the delay, great work on holding on and surviving. Now leave this to me! Rank 1 metal-path martial art, [Tin Burning: Polar Attraction]!”