It was early in the morning, when the first rays of light began to rise from the horizon, as a group of six people walked with torches equipped through the damp and tight enclosed network of tunnels of the mountain that trapped them over the past month.

They walked in absolute silence, and there was no sound beside the clattering of their equipment. Their hands were ready on their various weapons, as they descended closer to the foot of the mountain.

Stopping before a corner, Chris gave them a hand signal to symbolize that they were close to their intended exit, so everyone quickly extinguished their torches and moved the last stretch in complete darkness. Not long after, was the darkness distributed by the few rays of light from the dawn of a new day.

From their past observations, the ants seemed to be the least active during the dawn, which is why they choose this time of the day to make a run for the village. Creeping closer to the exit, Chris took the lead and briefly scouted the surrounding before giving the agreed hand signal to move out and follow him.

The moment they stepped into the light, they began to break out into a quick jog, while trying to be as silent as possible. It didn’t take long for them to stumble over a worker ant that was on its way through the small patch of forest they were about to enter.

Accelerating, Chris rushed in, and swiftly stabbed with his short sword the thorax of the ant before moving on, while the others followed closely. Shortly after, Clay tapped Chris on the shoulder before pointing in a direction, which was followed by an affirmative nod.

Chris broke away from the group in the direction Clay pointed at, while they moved on. Before they left the small patch of forest, Chris joined them again, his blade still covered in the green-yellowish blood of the ant he just killed.

Crouching, Clay closed his eyes and concentrated for a while, before opening them again and pointing in a direction that lead to another small patch of forest, but before that laid a small clearing that stretched for quite a while. Walking over it would reveal them completely, but moving around would take too long, and from Clay’s reaction it seemed like there were no ants around.

Starting from three with his fingers, Clay started a countdown, when it reached zero the whole group made a run for the next patch of forest and luckily reached it without encountering any ants.

From there on, they steadily made their way over to the scorched patch of earth that Solaire created with his life. On their way, they killed every ant that could discover them, thanks to Clay sensing them before they could notice them.

Time passed and after what felt like an eternity, which in reality couldn’t have been longer than a few minutes, they reached their destination and swiftly stepped onto the black, gray and brittle ground, that was covered in ash and remains of organic matter that once belonged to countless plants and ants.

Their surroundings seemed clear, so they moved over the parched ground that stretched close to two kilometers and didn’t stumble for the whole way over a single worker ant. When they got closer to the edge of the scorched land they slowed down, wary of the thicket of the forest, that they could never clearly spy into when they were on top of the mountain.

They had no idea where the ants patrolled, how big a patrol was, and worst of all how far their territory stretched. By now, the whole forest could be theirs, and they wouldn’t even know until they stumbled over the ants.

They carefully made their way into the forest, while still trying to move as fast as possible, they were all on edge and wanted to reach the village as fast as possible. Once they safely reached it, they could at least fight in an environment they were familiar with, instead of the forest or even worse the tunnels where the ants could attack from all directions.

If Jim learned one thing from the encounter with the commander ant, then that they should never fight the ants in the tunnels they created. If there weren’t, so few ants left on the mountain they stayed at, then they would have been overrun by their sheer numbers long ago.

Their way so far was mostly unobstructed, and they made good progress, but for some reason the closer they got, the more anxious Jim grew. Compared to what they expected, this was just too easy.

Jim didn’t have to wait for long after the thought crossed his mind. Clay suddenly signaled them to halt, while he closed his eyes to sense the surroundings better. When he suddenly snapped them wide open, while cold sweat trickled down his cheek, Jim knew that something was wrong.

The usual calm and composed manner of Clay was broken by his ragged breathing and terrified expression that could only leave Jim guessing what he sensed. Before Jim could come up with a guess, Clay spoke in a forcefully quit and calm voice, “There are about a dozen auras at two o’clock, all at the fourth rank.”

A gasp of shock went around the group, while Clay closed his eyes again. “They noticed us and about half of them are coming our way, they will be here in a few seconds.”

They were shocked, but not unprepared. They expected such a situation and prepared for this. With a simple gesture from Jake, broke Chris away from the group and vanished into the thicket of the forest, while his aura stopped leaking from his body.

With another gesture from Jake, took Jim position at the front, with the shield made by Dennis in his left and his machete, in his right. To his right stood Clay, while Max stood to his left, who were equipped similar. Together they formed the front line of the group. Behind them between the small gaps of the shield stood Dennis and Jake, which represented the rear.

They had a tight formation without gaps, as long as no one broke away. Of course, was this number compared to real formations that consistent of dozens of men laughable, but luckily the enemy had similar small numbers.

The moment they finished preparations, Clay warned them, “Brace for impact!”

The moment he said this, they simultaneously heard the scratching of dozens of feet, as they pushed the dirt under their feet away and rushed through the forest. The loud sound gave away how heavy their enemy must be, before they even saw them.

From one moment to the next, six shadows broke through the thicket of the forest, as they landed on the small clearing Jim’s group took formation in. Seeing the creatures before them, everyone’s expression turned for the worst.

They were like expected a group of ants, but unexpectedly it was not the commander type they expected at the fourth rank, but something entirely different. Compared to all other ants they had seen before, they were truly massive.

They stood at a height of about one and a half meter, but which was truly intimidating was how broad they were. Their body was wide enough to comfortably fit two chests from a man next to each other. Their exoskeleton was of a gleaming black and was bulkier than the ones from any other ant, looking more like full plate armor, than bones.

The exoskeleton looked almost like it was layered, and their mandibles were wider and stronger, which showed that they were not used for holding prey but outright killing it. The moment the ants saw the group, they moved without hesitation, trying to run them over with their weight alone.

Seeing this, Jim took a deep breath, as he was unusually calm about the threat in front of him. During this breath, he could feel how the essence inside him accelerated and began to burn, releasing energy that was carried through his whole body.

His muscles tensed, and his veins bulged, as he prepared for impact. One of the ants took him as a target and with a scream from the bottom of his heart he pushed with his shield forward.

His muscles felt to be ripping as the whole weight of the ant crashed against the shield, and he was pushed a few centimeters back, sliding along the dirt until he found halt and pushed back, which caused the cracks from the impact on the shield to widen.

For just a moment, Jim saw the mandibles of the ant twitching before they snapped shut with an unimaginable force. Wood broke and splintered through the air, as the shield was snapped into two almost instantly, but Jim stayed unharmed.

Obstructed by the wood, the ant didn’t notice how Jim ducked below it and aimed his blade at its thorax, and before it could react, he slashed upwards and beheaded the ant in one swift motion.

That was one down and five to go. Taking a quick look around himself, Jim took the whole situation in. Max was trapped in close combat with one ant, but was holding on. Clay was a bit further to the left, skillfully avoiding the attacks of two different ants.

He definitely needed help, but before he could even decide on his next action his instincts kicked in, as he moved to the left, barely avoiding the ant that tried to tackle him. It missed him, barley, and took a moment to regain its balance.

Jim knew that the ant that passed him would attack Dennis and Jake, who were the weakest next, but before he could move the last ant obstructed his way and he was trapped in another close combat. Normally he would be anxious in such a situation, but there was one reason why he was not.

Before the ant could reach either Dennis or Jake, a figure came rushing from the shadows of the bushes and took the opportunity the ant took to regain its balance to jump on its back. With his short sword pointed downwards, the figure landed on the back of the ant and penetrated its thorax all in one motion. A heart-wrenching screech filled the air, as the ant struggled to shake off Chris before it finally succumbed to its wound and died.

In the meantime, Dennis took an opportunity and used his arming sword to penetrate the eye of the ant Max was fighting and with the blade sticking out of the other side of the skull, it was certain that it was dead. That left only three ants alive.

All the while, Clay avoided two of them, and he was slowly reaching his limit. “Guys! Could I get some help please!?”

Hearing this everyone moved beside Jim who himself was still struggling with the other ant. It took longer than the first, as he didn’t get a good opportunity, so he was forced to create one himself by cutting its joints, which caused it to lose its balance.

With the head of the ant on the ground, Jim wanted to help the others, but stopped in his tracks when he saw how Clay’s sword penetrated the thorax of the last ant as it fell on him. Pushing the dead body away, he stood up, his chest completely covered in green-yellowish blood.

He was breathing irregular but beside the exhaustion everyone survived this battle without getting noteworthy injuries. But even though they were unharmed, there was not a single smile on the faces of the group. This battle was a complete disaster.

Not only were the ants able to discover them, besides all their efforts, but they were also completely overrun, as their formation didn’t even withstand a second before breaking. Calling the fight just now messy would be an understatement, and that they all survived lies only in the fact that the ants have a big weakness with their thorax that can be easily exploited by their longer weapons.

They can speak from luck that only half of the ants from the group moved, instead of all of them, because even a single more could have meant the death for someone.

Having this in mind, Jim asked Clay, “Where are the rest of them?”

Quickly sensing their surrounding, a confused expression appeared on Clay’s face. “They haven’t moved since the last time.”

There was a moment of silence until Clay seemed to have a realization. “It’s their queen!”

Bewildered, Max asked, “What do you mean their queen?”

“It is very strange that suddenly so many rank four ants gathered at the same spot. I mean, we only ever saw one and that was even a different type, the ones we just fought were specialized in defense instead of commanding, because they are no ordinary ants but the guards of the queen.”

Jim’s eyes widened in surprise before asking, “How sure are you that the queen is with them?”

Clay didn’t even think before replying, “I’m certain. The fourth rank is by no means common, and such a concentrated group of them shows that they want to project something very precious to them, and for ants there is nothing more holy than their own queen.”

“Okay, that is all good, but why the fuck are we discussing this? Shouldn’t we be running away, while they haven’t moved yet?” Jake asked anxiously.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Shaking his head, Clay said, “No, we can’t run, we have to kill it. There will never be such a good opportunity as this one. Their numbers are similar to ours, and we now know what we are dealing with. We will just take them by surprise, kill the queen and run away.”

“Are you out of your mind! That is nothing but suicide, we just barely survived this battle, and you want to risk your life again?” Max asked furious.

“I know that this is dangerous, but I have a feeling that if we don’t kill this queen right now, we will never make it out of this forest alive. Max, you have seen their numbers,” Clay explained calmly.

Max thought a moment before a heavy sigh escaped his lips. “Has someone ever told you how absolutely annoying it is that your arguments are logical? Arguing with you is nothing but a time waste.”

Having said that, he began to move in the direction where the ants came from. Seeing this, the group exchanged looks before following. This was their best or more specifically their only chance to get out of the forest alive. If you want to defeat and army, start by killing its commander.

Besides, they had confidence that they could run in the worst case scenario away. The guards were very heavy, strong, well armored and one good bite with their mandibles would mean certain death, but they lacked one thing; mobility.

They were fast when they rushed them, but they had next to no mobility when they began to fight. They took a long time to turn their body around and in general needed time to pick up speed. In a forest where they could easily use the trees to obstruct their paths, they were confident in running away.

Having this in the back of their mind, they rushed through the forest, with Clay leading them, as he was the only one who knew where the enemy was. They didn’t have to run for long, and like previously, Clay gave Chris a hand signal to circle around and wait for an opportunity to kill the queen.

Their plan was simple. They would take on their formation again, moving in the open to distract the guards, while Chris would sneak around, kill the queen from behind and run away during the chaos.

In the case that they didn’t get a chance for a killing blow, they would retreat to the village and plan further from there. With this plan set, they moved in formation into the open clearing where Clay gestured the ants to be. After passing one final tree, Jim saw for the first time the queen that caused this whole mess.

Before them stood an ant that could be mistaken for a blob of walking meat that must have been as tall and wide as two men. Its shining black exoskeleton with scarlet red accents reflected the morning sun, while its mandible and the mouth that laid beneath it were covered in blood, meat and what looked like scraps of organs. Lying before it was the massive corpse of a boar, and after seeing the group, it slurped the rest of the intestines that hanged from its mouth down.

It held its head sideways, almost as if curious what the foolish group before it wanted to try. Its antennas twitched a few times before its mandibles suddenly snapped shut as if angry by something.

Before the group could even process what was happening, the guards around the queen began to rush towards them, all but one of them. Taking a closer look, Jim noticed that this particular guard was different.

At first, it looked to be the same as the other guards, but it was not. Compared to the other ants, it stood on two legs at a height of about two meters and was noticeably slimmer than the guards, and with his hunched over neck he looked very humanlike. Beside his slimmer stature, his exoskeleton seemed even more resilient than the one from the guards. Strangely, the exoskeleton enlarged at the forearms continuing downwards, into what almost looked like blades?

The guards interrupted Jim’s analysis as they crashed with full force into their formation. This time, there were eight of the ants and their chance of winning was slim at best, but thankfully their purpose was not to win but to buy time.

Thanks to the short distance between them, the ants were also unable to pick up a lot of speed, and they were able to hold against the first charge, but they somehow had to prevent the ants from surrounding them.

While they fought, the uneasy feeling in Jim only grew. The few times he got a glimpse of the humanlike ant, which must be the royal guard of the queen, caused a shudder to run through his body. Something was wrong with this ant and Jim was not alone with this feeling, as Clay must have felt the same when he screamed, “Chris, don’t come close to the queen!”

There didn’t seem to be a response from Chris and as the fight continued they were able to kill two of the ants, but there were still six left, and those were about to encircle them. From the corner of his eyes, Jim was able to see how Clay suddenly broke the formation and ran off to the queen, slipping between a gap from two guards.

The moment he passed them, the guards immediately turned to chase him, which took thanks to their bad mobility some time, enough for Clay to put distance between himself and them. Seeing this, Jim couldn’t keep a curse in as he sprinted after him.

This was beyond reckless and not like Clay, but it also gave Jim an opportunity, because two of the ants had now their back turned to him. Burning the essence inside of him faster, newfound energy rushed through his veins, accelerating his body beyond its normal capabilities.

He rushed onwards, and the closer Jim got to the royal guard, the worse his uneasiness got. He passed the two guards who were turned by now, and with inhuman precession he stopped in his tracks between the two guards, swinging his machete from close to the ground to build up momentum, he slashed through the thorax of the right ant cleanly and beheaded it. Continuing on with his momentum, he swung the machete upwards and brought in an arch down to the thorax of the second ant, beheading it too.

In one motion, Jim beheaded the two ants and when he finally regained his balance and continued his sprint, he was already too late. Before his eyes, the previously completely still royal guard moved in a speed impossible for its size. Meanwhile, Jim saw how Chris came rushing from the forest as he was about to jump onto the back of the queen.

The moment the royal guard moved his left arm to attack, Clay moved too, lifting his shield to deflect the attack. The moment the black sword came down and was about to hit the shield, Clay must have felt something, as he threw his whole body to the right, moving his shield to intercept the attack.

As if time slowed down, Jim saw how the sword cleanly went through the wooden shield, continuing on through the skin, muscles and even bones of Clay’s left arm, as it was cleanly cut off above the elbow.

If he hadn’t thrown his body to the side and moved his shield to intercept the sword, the thing flying through the air wouldn’t be his severed arm but instead his head. Not yet feeling the pain of the wound, Clay regained his balance and wanted to go for an attack himself. An attack he sacrificed his arm for, but he was just not fast enough to react, as the right arm of the royal guard moved to behead him.

But before the sword moved down, the royal guard stopped in its tracks as it sensed something. Turning to its queen, he saw how a human was jumping on her back, which immediately put it into a rage that caused it to forget all reason.

At once, the essence inside the royal guard ignited as it burned to give it the speed to reach its queen in time. It bent its knees and just as it started running, a blade flew cleanly through the tendon in its right knee and as soon, as it put weight on the leg it was unable to bent it causing the royal guard to lose its balance and stumble.

Just before it crashed, it used its left leg to catch its balance and continue its sprint with the severed tendon by ramming its right leg into the ground, which gave it enough force to jump high enough to reach the queen, but it was too late. Chris pushed with all of his might, the short sword in his hands into the thorax of the queen, all the way up to its hilt.

Looking over to Clay, who had his mouth wide open for a heart-wrenching scream, he smiled. “Life-”

From one moment to the next, Chris head turned upside down. His braid opened, and his long brown hair flew through the air, as his head crashed on the ground, while his headless body fell together with the queen to the ground.

The queen was gasping for air and twitched on the ground, as it tried to stand up. The royal guard and everyone else was for a moment frozen and silence resumed besides the choking of the queen.

Once, Clay let out his spent up scream and began to rush to the royal guard, the ants followed with a screech of their own before going into a frenzy. It was a miracle that Max, Dennis and Jake were able to withstand the four guards for so long without Jim or Clay, but with them in a frenzy, they were overwhelmed almost instantly.

The short moment it took Jim to decide where ever he should help Clay or the others, he saw how Jake stumbled and lost his balance, which one of the guards immediately used-

*CRUNCH*

With one bite, flesh ripped and bones broke, as both of Jake’s legs were cleanly cut off. Without legs, he had no balance at all and fell over like a sack of potatoes, while Max used the moment where the ant was trying to open its mandibles again, to push his sword through its eye socket.

Witnessing this scene first-hand, Jim’s consciousness turned black, while his dark blue eyes turned dull, like the depths of the ocean. His body burned more essence than he ever had before and, similar to the royal guard, Jim bent his knees and shot off with incredible speed.

Moving, he quickly reached the guard at the back. He used his momentum, to slid on the ground, while grabbing his machete with both hands, he rammed it into the abdomen of the guard splitting it sideways open. With most of its organs spilling out, the ant didn’t live for long.

Using the rest of the momentum, Jim jumped high into the air landing on the head of a guard that was about to sever Dennis head, crushing its skull under his weight, pushing its eyeballs and brain matter out.

Before the last ant could react, Jim was already before it slamming his machete like a club into its forehead, ripping the exoskeleton open with sheer strength, as the blade embedded itself halfway into the skull.

The head crashed to the ground and Jim had to use his foot to finally get his blade free, which caused him to stumble backwards and wobble a few times before being able to catch his balance. His vision was beginning to blur.

Wiping over his nose, he noticed that he was bleeding, but he didn’t care. The moment he wiped his blood away, he let himself fell forward and sprinted with another burst of speed to the last remaining enemy; the royal guard.

He just had to kill this ant, and then he could finally rest, it was their last obstacle between freedom. The essence inside him burned and fueled his body with immeasurable strength and energy. Never before did he burn so much essence, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep this state up for long.

With speed, he never reached before Jim was in seconds before the royal guard that was about to slice Clay open, who seemed to have lost all reasoning. With all the force Jim could muster, he swung his blade in a curve from close to the ground up to the head of the royal guard, intending to end this battle in one strike.

Before the blade even passed the hip of the ant, it moved effortlessly in a speed matching Jim’s, as the black blade of its left arm fell down like the axe of an executioner. The short moment before the two blades met felt like an eternity, but when they did-

Jim’s machete broke before his very eyes in two. This machete had served him well these past four months, but there was a limit to how much abuse one blade could withstand. The broken blade didn’t sway Jim from his goal. The moment his feet felt the firm ground, he spun around, switched the grip of his broken blade and rammed it up to its hill into the side of the thorax of the ant.

He was about to tear the thorax open, when he saw a blur of black, and then suddenly felt the grip on his blade loosening. Looking to his right arm, he didn’t find his hand, but instead a clean cut that soon began to turn scarlet red.

The royal guard held his left arm again high into the air, intending to sever Jim’s head instead of just his machete, but as it raised the blade it suddenly cleanly broke in half. The clash with Jim’s machete must have done more damage than it expected, as it was confused by its broken blade.

This moment of confusion was enough for Clay to finally align his sword to a gap in the armor of the royal guard below its hip, and with one last essence infused thrust, he rammed his blade from the hip all the way through its body.

Without checking if the royal guard was dead, Clay ran past it and dragged Jim by his arm to the rest of the group. Max had already the unconsciousness Jake over his shoulders, both of his served legs were still bleeding, but he wrapped some clothes around to apply some pressure.

There was no time to tend to the wounds or think, they first had to run and reach the village, where they would be temporarily safe. Jim wasn’t really in a state to think, as he burned too much essence. His vision was blurry, his head dizzy, and he was just barely able to stay conscious. He just let himself get dragged away by Clay, as they both left a trail of red, as neither Clay’s severed arm nor Jim’s severed hand stopped bleeding.

Max was at the front with Jake on his back, then followed Clay and Jim, while Dennis stayed at the back. The royal guard had Jim's broken machete stuck in its thorax, his right tendon was severed and the complete sword of Clay went through its body, they were pretty sure this monster must have died from that.

They were already very close to the village and after a few minutes of desperate running they saw the forest getting thinner, as the bushes and tress were pushed away from civilization. In just a few months, this cleared space would be taken over by nature yet again.

They kept running until they found a house that seemed to be mostly intact and rushed through the door. Max rushed in and cleared with one hand a table of its decoration before putting Jake on it.

He was still the one with the most severe injuries, and his bleeding had to be stopped at all cost. In the meantime, Jim’s head cleared up a little even if he still felt very weak and couldn’t fully understand what was happening around him, but he knew that he had to stop the bleeding of his right hand.

Clay was in a similar situation as he wrapped the stump of his arm with clothes as firmly as possible, while slowly burning essence to help with the regeneration of the body. Dennis used the time to barricade the living room they were staying in.

Once everyone was bandaged up, and they felt realty safe they finally allowed themselves to relax and the moment they did all their bodies broke to the ground, panting and heaving for air, as they felt the pain coursing through their bodies. Pain was good, it meant that they were alive.

As Jim concentrated on the pain, his head cleared up for the most part, and he stood up from the chair he was sitting on to see how Jake was doing. Seeing his dirty and blood covered face, Jim felt an ache in his heart. Besides Mia, Jake was the only one he had left. He didn’t want to admit it, but with both of his legs gone, it was only a matter of time until Jake would die out in the wilderness, he had to reach a functioning civilization.

Looking down to his right arm, Jim only felt worse. His right hand was his dominant one and the one he used to swing a sword. He didn’t even know if he would be able to fight with only his left arm.

Taking a deep breath he tried to think positively, it was only his hand he could still use his right arm for a shield, he just had to adapt to fighting with the left arm…

He shook his head to clear, his mind of his unnecessary thoughts. They knew it wouldn’t be easy to get away from the ants, and considering everything, it went relatively well. They lost Chris, but Jim didn’t really have the mental capacity to register what his death meant for him, and at the moment he was just focused on how they would survive this mess.

For now, they will rest in that house for the day and in the morning move to the city to get Mia and then just try to catch up to Dave and the other survivors. After all, are they a very large group so it won’t be easy for them to move quickly through the thicket of the forest, and they must have left behind a big trail that can be followed.

Distracting his racing mind with thoughts on their survival, he didn’t notice Max behind him until he laid a hand on his shoulder, which caused Jim to flinch, as he instinctively grabbed for his machete only to find air. Seeing that it was Max, he calmed down.

“Jim, you should rest, we can think about our current predicament later.”

Hearing this, Jim just nodded along, Max was right he will first sleep, and then they will think of a proper strategy. The moment he sat down on the couch, and laid his head back, he could feel how his consciousness almost immediately slipped away as he fell asleep.