Inside the church, a heated discussion was ongoing, as a boy shouted in anger, “How could she possibly escape?! There were six guards! All proclaimed elites and of the third rank, or weren’t these guards as good as you said, Dave?”

Seeing the furious gaze of Jim falling on him, Dave kept his composure replying, “They are the elite and I also don’t believe she escaped alone, there had to be someone from the outside that helped her.”

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Jim rubbed his template to stop his throbbing headache. “Okay I know that we couldn’t have prepared for something like this, but this situation is absurd, how was she able to escape? She was locked in a cell, and bound by iron shackles. Hell, I’m not sure that I could have escaped from this situation without causing a commotion.”

Stroking his beard, Solaire said, “I also find it hard to believe. I can’t explain how she could have escaped, especially without causing as much as a single sound. Not a single soul noticed her disappearance, that is beyond suspicious, even after witnessing all these changes and abilities first hand.”

“I think I know who our culprit is.” Saying this, all the attention turned to Max, who was eying Clay. “I mean, who else could do something like this other than Clay? He is a rank fourth and has superb control over his aura, being able to strengthen his body, he should be able to knock a few guards out.”

Hearing this, the attention turned from Max to Clay, slight suspicion rising in them. Walking before Max, Clay asked, “What the fuck is your problem? Since my return, you seem to want to say something, so what is it? You know yourself that I can't knock them out silently.”

Not standing down, he asked, “Really? You know, we have never seen you fight seriously until now, and you do have a lot of strange abilities developed out there. Who says there isn’t one that lets you hide yourself?”

“The only thing I can hide is my aura, and that sadly doesn’t make you invisible, especially as it matters little if not a single one of you can even properly sense it. Besides, if you think I hide something, Evelin could have too. Who says she didn't hide an ability? I find it suspicious how quickly she was able to learn aura compared to others,” replied Clay in defense.

“That doesn't prove-” Interrupting their discussion, Solaire intervened, “Stop! We can’t begin to suspect each other in these times. I know that things didn’t go as planned, but we have to move on. There are more pressing matters to discuss, than Evelin. By now she is long gone. We will never find her even if we look for her.”

Leaning on the table and looking over a map that pictured Churchville and the surrounding villages, Solaire said, “Evelin is gone, but the ants are not. With the recent defeat of Troy, he will not return so soon, so we should finally act and eradicate these ants before it's too late.”

“Solaire is right. Our preparations are complete, and we could venture into the woods in one or two days,” added Dave from the side with a stern expression.

Calming himself, Clay said, “Sorry, I let my emotions get the better of me. We should act as soon as possible. Now that everyone has at least reached the second rank, we have done all we can do. How are our forces looking?”

Hearing this, Jake grabbed a piece of paper, “For this expedition in the forefront is the Vanguard. After some consideration, we decided to leave Dave and a dozen of his best men behind to lead the escape if needed. This doesn't leave many guards we could take with us.”

Looking over the list one last time, Jake listed, “In total, we have about two dozen rank three and another dozen rank two who showed exceptional abilities for their rank and are intended to be only used to build our camp and provide cover in emergencies.”

Silence prevailed for a moment before Solaire said, “Very well, this has to suffice. We can’t wait any longer. We will move out in the morning.”

A silent nod of approval came from the others, before Dave stepped before Solaire, stretching his arm out. With a smile, Solaire grabbed his arm, with considerable force. “I trust you will lead these people.”

Nodding, Dave said, “I surely don’t have to, but I’m ready if needed. The sun protects you, so I’m sure you will return, my friend.”

Giving him a short hug and a clap on the shoulder, Solaire said, “Of course, who do you think I am?”

Not wasting any more time, the meeting was quickly dispersed as they made their final preparations. Thanks to Solaire’s effort, the people didn’t have the time to complain about the escape of Evelin and were quickly put to work.

It wasn’t easy but after a lot of effort and way too little sleep, the preparations were complete, when the light of a new day shined over the horizon. Standing at the front gate of the church was a group of close to forty people, all armed to the teeth.

A heavy and serious atmosphere could be felt by everyone as they looked at Solaire who was standing at the front. “I know that this expedition could very well mean the end of some of you. Death is this time closer than ever, and I thank each one of you who will risk their lives out there to eliminate a threat to not our humble city, but to the whole country.”

Taking a deep breath, he shouted, “You all know what our goal is, and we will not rest until the queen of the ants has been slain and the safety of everyone is ensured! All of you have fought against the beasts before and are the best of the best who have survived against all odds until today. The wilderness will be different and much more dangerous than our city. But I promise you that I will try my best to ensure the survival of everyone so that we can all build a safe haven for all that need it in these dark times!”

A row of shouts and cheers ensued after Solaire’s speech. They had to keep the morale as high as possible, as most likely not many will return. Thankfully, their group consisted mostly of people who have already lost everything in this catastrophe. Their families, jobs, and wealth – gone. There was nothing more to lose than their own life, and some were happy to give it some last meaning to leave their mark and fight until the end.

The mindset of everyone changed rapidly since the beginning of this catastrophe. Everyone who wasn't able to adapt would quickly die, after all. In just two and a half months, an incredible change occurred in the previously peaceful and boring Churchville. By now, most of the survivors shared a connection of survival and united closer than ever.

Then in these dark times, the only thing they could turn to are the few survivors that remained, which made every death more painful. Not only that, but gradually the mindset of the people changed. They were prepared to give their own life to others to ensure their survival – to live not for their individual benefit, but for the benefit of the community.

With such a mindset they worked a lot better together and this was also the reason why Evelin’s careless behavior enraged them so much. Her intentions were good but used the wrong methods and most importantly acted on her own.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

They valued the opinion of everyone and decided collectively on their decisions, to act on their own and risk the lives of others was a crime deserving of death. She also killed Isabelle, which the people didn’t approve of.

She was human scum, yes, but she still had to be properly judged and not killed right away. Rules and regulations were in such turbulent times that more important. Where would they get if everyone just did what they wanted?

But at the moment no one thought about such matters, as they were finally entering the wilderness and the group was nervous. Understandably so, they were after all going into unknown territory that was much more dangerous than their city.

Their first goal was a village that was closest to their estimated location of the ant's nest and could for now walk on a street, but the thick forest surrounding them, where you could only see a few meters before the darkness swallowed every form of light, didn’t help to ease the tense atmosphere.

Clay had constantly his aura up, to look for any possible threat, and he sensed a few beasts, but after seeing their group, they wisely retreated. There were actually not that many beasts who would go out of their way to attack a group of close to forty humans.

Most beasts roaming the woods were either hunting in small packs or alone with great individual strength. Thanks to this, they reached by the end of the day the village without much of a problem.

Strolling the village to make sure not any hidden threats were awaiting them, they built their camp for the night. This was the last night they had the luxury of a roof over their head and a proper shelter that shielded them from the elements. From the next day onwards, they would have to camp in the wilderness in tents and sleeping bags for an unknown time.

They used this opportunity to have one last good night of rest before they truly ventured into the woods. Clay made it more than clear that travel at night was nothing more than suicide.

Thankfully, not all was bad. They were a big group of people who were almost all in the third rank, with some even being in the fourth. Few beasts would dare fight them, even with their home advantage.

Like this, the night passed uneventfully and another morning began. Solaire was sure to wake up early to wake everyone else so that they could use every single second of sunlight they had. Time was of the essence, and they had to find the ants as quickly as possible, if they wanted to prevent them from getting an even bigger problem.

They could not imagine the population of the ants, but by now there would be hundreds if not thousands of ants. Their only hope was that there was only one queen and not multiple.

With Solaire, Jake, and Clay shouting orders, the camp was quickly packed together and everyone was ready to leave for the unknown.

***

Since they rested at the village a total of four days passed and while they took some time to adapt to this new environment it wasn’t as bad as some feared. The terrain was hard to maneuver and at night there was not a lot of rest, with all the sound from the wilderness surrounding them, but they at least faced a lot fewer beasts than they feared.

To speak the truth, they almost faced none. At least not openly, the number of ambushes they encountered was mind-numbing. Many beasts tried to sneak attack at night to kill the few rank two silently, but thanks to Clay’s aura surrounding their camp, every sneak attack or ambush failed.

Sadly, this constant upholds of his aura didn’t go unnoticed for Clay’s mental health. Jim knew that controlling aura took three things. The first was keen senses to be able to feel your aura, the second was astonishing concentration, as you could never once stop manipulating it, and with this came the third reason; endurance.

As stupidly proficient Clay was at controlling his aura, there were limits for how long one could maintain such a large aura for almost four days straight. This not only took a toll on your mind but also on your body. Thanks to Clay being of the fourth rank, his body had endurance not comparable to any normal human, but even this body reached its limits.

Solaire already declared that if they didn’t find the ant nest today, they would be forced to rest. It was best if they could travel without relying on Clay’s aura, but if the last four days proved them anything, then, that they needed to rely on Clay.

It was hard to admit, but the amount of times they avoided someone dying because Clay sensed the attack beforehand were countless. Jim believed their number would have been reduced by a third if they didn’t have his help. Thanks to this, they didn’t lose a single soul.

Like this, they continued their journey through the region Clay believed the ants were located.

“AHHH” A frightened scream filled their ears and everyone tensed up, turning to the source of the scream. ‘An ambush? No, that couldn't be, Clay didn’t say anything, or did he finally give in?’ Such a thought crossed many before they let out a brief sigh of relief.

Someone just fell into a deep hole. Wait, a deep hole? Confused, the group looked around them only to find countless such holes littering the region like the ground itself was eaten by a swarm of worms or rather ants.

Realizing this, many had a bad feeling, when they investigated where this sea of holes led them to. Traveling another few hundred meters, the group soon saw a mountain in the distance, which had a lot of rocks protruding from its side.

Getting closer, they realized that what they thought were rocks turned out to be holes, more than they could count. The mountain resembled a rotting apple that was infested with worms. The good thing was that they found the ant nest they so persistently searched for.

The bad news was that they would never be able to smoke these ants out. With so many holes in the mountain and surroundings, the smoke could never gather enough to be of any threat to the ants. This was weird, as a typical ant nest, had mostly two to three entrances so that the nest was easier to defend, sadly they didn’t face anything close to a normal ant species.

Looking below one of the holes, Jake asked, “If this mountain is the nest of the ants, where are all of them?” Clay’s tired eyes widened as he looked back to where they came from and closed his eyes, seemingly trying to sense something.

Abruptly opening his eyes, he shouted, “We fell into a trap, prepare for battle!”

But it was far too late for a warning. The group felt the earth rumbling below their feet, like the uprising of an earthquake, with the sun setting many felt like the end of the world had arrived. Did they survive for so long in this godforsaken apocalypse only to be eaten by a swarm of ants?

Jim was terrified and was rapidly thinking of a possible escape route, if ants truly were mere seconds away from swarming out of these holes they would be fucked. Of course, it would be easier to think if Jim wouldn’t have this splitting headache that distracted him… Wait, a splitting headache?”

Looking around himself, Jim realized that everyone else had the same headache. A second after this revelation, a maniacal laugh sounded in Jim's ears, that sent a shudder through his back. He would recognize this laugh anywhere.

Turning around, he saw Troy strolling leisurely towards them. He hid behind a tree a few meters away, in the cover of darkness. A big smile was plastered over his horrendous face, which was covered in burn scars. While the stump of flesh that used to be his ear twitched eerily.

His eyes were bloodshot and his veins inflated, as if they seemed to explode any moment. Using his ability to such an extent had its price, but Troy seemed to care little about it.

“Troy! You fucking lunatic, what is your plan? If you restrain us here, you will die too!” Shouted Jim furiously.

“Hehe… Jim, I don’t think you understand. This is the plan. Today, we shall all perish here together!” Saying this, he spread his arm to the sky, with the setting sun in his back. Just as his arms were raised, simultaneously a swarm of dozens, no hundreds of ants busted through the ground and swarmed the small group of humans. With a smile on his face, Troy let himself fall backward, laughing as the ants ate him alive. Like a storm could drown a ship, Jim and the others were drowned by seemingly endless waves of ants.

***

Flying above the sea of ants, was a singular bird that had a glimpse of intelligence in its eyes, and about a kilometer away an old man with a back straight as a tree mumbled, “How disappointing. I hoped he wouldn’t sacrifice himself just to achieve pointless revenge… I guess I expected too much. Furthermore, I should get better moving, not that these ants catch me spying on them. This region is no longer safe, it's time to move on.”