By the time the sun rose on Alshifa’s third morning of invasion, Dahlia was already all packed-up and ready to return to the shelter.
Her head was a bit heavy on her neck as she practically staggered out through the front door—she’d ended up staying awake for far too long last night drinking with the seniors—but the seniors themselves were tough as beetles, not a hint of weariness on their faces as they locked the door behind them with a metal bar. It turned out that while she’d been sleeping all night long, Jerie had made several dozen paper signs they could plaster all over the streets for unaware survivors like Instructor Biem’s children to figure out where they had to go. Amula, on the other hand, had spent most of the night gathering random insect parts off the Old District to bring back with them; her efforts meant Dahlia would have lots of materials to work with once they were safe and sound, making sure every fighter in the shelter would be adequately prepared for the final battle laying ahead of them.
Namely, the lightning hornet in the Night Bazaar had to fall.
[... I do wonder why the Old District is so quiet right now, though,] Eria murmured, as the three of them nodded at each other before setting off for the south, sticking close to the sides of the streets as they did. [I am detecting no life signals in the nearby vicinity with your bristles. Did the hornet recall all of them so it could send them out on a mission? That sounds unlikely, given that Mutant does not appear to be intelligent enough to realise it could just walk and act on its own without relying on its brood, let alone commanding its brood to act on its behalf. Perhaps all the insects in this district are being distracted by something?]
Raya.
[He is talented, to be sure, but frankly speaking I do not think even he can survive jumping into a massive Swarm the way he did,] Eria said plainly. [Most likely, he has already perished. Perhaps the bugs are feasting on his nourishing body. That would certainly be an explanation for why it is so quiet–]
Raya’s fine.
I know it.
I feel it.
He’s the ‘Godsent Talent’, after all.
[... Even on the surface, amongst the strongest of the strong, I cannot imagine–]
“Well, don't leave us out of your conversation,” Amula grumbled, draping an arm across her shoulders while Jerie looked left and right, relaxing with a sigh as well. “Don't think there are any giant bugs around here for some reason. Maybe Raya did pull his distractin’ tactics off, huh?”
She sent the senior a small smile, nose twitching from the sharp scent of ‘alcohol’ being breathed into her face. “I'd… like to hope so, too. The voice in my head is also saying it's strange. Normally there should be a lot more bugs around, so-”
“So it's lookin’ like a calm and quiet two-hour walk back to the shelter, provided we don't be reckless and start trippin’ over every egg sac in our way,” Amula finished, waving for Jerie to come in closer so they were all walking shoulder by shoulder. “In that case, start spillin’. What's that voice in your head got to say about anythin’ interesting? That ‘system’ thing… it's basically a Swarmsteel developed for war on the surface, ain’t it?”
“Ah…” she trailed off, looking worriedly over to Eria sitting on her shoulder as she did. Eria waved two of her legs as though to say ‘do what you will’.
Then I'll start relaying your words to the two of them, if you don't… mind.
[I do not,] Eria said promptly, and Dahlia opened her mouth to start repeating its thoughts word for word. [I was just telling Dahlia it is unlikely Raya is still alive–]
“He's a cockroach is what he is.” Amula dismissed Eria's concerns with a casual wave, shrugging nonchalantly. “Don't worry about him. He’ll pop out of a crack in the ground soon enough, and then he’ll make ye feel stupid to ever have doubted his ability to not die in the first place. I don't care about him. Ye got any useful information on takin’ down the lightning hornet?”
[... I was also just telling Dahlia how, amongst the strongest of the strong on the surface, it is unlikely anyone can dance circles around a Mutant's brood for long periods of time without enraging it. If the lightning hornet has not yet made a single move, it means Raya is most likely dead.]
Jerie whistled, and Amula backed him up with a defiant shake of her head. “Raya’s fine. Just trust me on that. Now, what's that about the strongest of the strong on the surface? So there are lots of people fightin’ back on the surface?”
[Many,] Eria said plainly. [I am unsure what the children of the undertowns are taught, but while the Swarm most certainly controls the majority of the surface world, they do not ‘rule’ over it in a conventional sense—this has allowed many small factions to survive and propagate all across humanity’s final continent.]
“How many people are we talking about here?”
[Speaking in raw numbers, the Archive of Altered Swarmsteel Systems estimates around ten million humans across the entire continent.]
Dahlia's eye was already wide open before she even repeated Eria's statistics out loud, and the seniors’ surprised expressions weren't unwarranted, either.
“Three thousand people in Alshifa… so that's three zeros…” Amula mumbled, as Jerie started counting his fingers and Dahlia kept on blinking, trying to imagine how big a number ten million really was. “Ye mean the surface world isn't completely dead, then. Ten million is a lot of people, right? Then how haven't we–”
[Speaking in raw numbers, the Archive of Altered Swarmsteel Systems estimate around thirty billion insects across the entire continent, a third of which being giant insects like the ones that have invaded Alshifa,] Eria continued, not missing a beat, [and around zero-point-one percent of that fraction being Mutants. Amongst the one million Mutants, there are seven of them humanity is currently leading great wars against—therefore, if humanity wishes to retake the surface world, every man, woman, and child would have to be able to slay at least one Mutant on their own.]
“... Oh,” Dahlia breathed.
“Thweep!” Jerie blew.
“So we're not winning, then,” Amula muttered, frowning in dismay. “Just how strong is the Swarm on the surface, anyways? Are all the Mutants up there as strong as that lightning hornet down here?”
Eria crossed its legs, though nobody but Dahlia could see it do so anyways. [The Swarm surrounds humanity’s final continent from every conceivable direction, their forces concentrated across seven major fronts—the surface world regards them as the Seven Swarmsteel Fronts, the bastions of the continent. If any one of them were to fall, it would spell the end for humanity. Even you children of Alshifa would not be spared from the sheer weight of their bodies crawling across the surface.]
The three of them shuddered as they left the Old District behind, still having not come in contact with a single giant bug thus far. If not for Eria, Dahlia was sure they’d all be teeming to the brim with anxiousness, but for now they were hyper-focused on every bit of information they were wringing out of Eria, and for her part… she supposed she was interested about the surface world, too.
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“Seven Swarmsteel Fronts?” she asked, quietly, if only to distract themselves from the fact that the Northern Bridge Street, the Northeastern Keefa Street, and the Northeastern Burqal Street were every bit as quiet; it almost felt like they were going to walk into a trap at any moment.
Eria, of course, could detect her rising heart rate. They were one. It could monitor every little thing in her body. For about ten more minutes they trudged along in complete silence, Amula glancing nervously at Dahlia glancing at Eria, wondering why it was refusing to talk—but then it jolted awake, legs shaking in place as though it’d just been electrocuted by an invisible bolt of lightning.
[Apologies. Retrieving the last-updated batch of information from the Archive of Altered Swarmsteel Systems took longer than I expected,] Eria said, and Dahlia repeated verbatim. Amula and Jerie both sighed breaths of relief. [You were asking what the Seven Swarmsteel Fronts were, yes? Would you like to know all of them by name?]
Amula nodded. “It’d… be good as entertainment while we walk, at the very least.”
[Very well. Starting from the very south going clockwise around the continent, there is the Attini Empire Front—defended by the Empress and her Spore Knights, it is the southwestern fungi forest front stopping the continent from getting overrun by colossal ants. The Great Mutant of the South known as ‘Regalia’ leads its brood of five billion against the Attini Empire’s three million humans. It is currently the most populous region on the continent.
[Then, there is the Deepwater Legion Front—defended by the ‘Storm Strider’, the Harbour Imperators, and the Harbour Guards, it is the westernmost aquatic front stopping deepwater insects from crawling onshore. The Great Mutant of the West known as ‘Corpsetaker’ leads its brood of a billion against the shoreline of the continent.]
[Further up along the coastline, there is the Plagueplain Front—defended by the ‘Marshal of the Virulent’ and his Mandellas, it is the northwestern front stopping venomous insects from sneaking past the borders. The Great Mutant of the Northwest known as ‘Mortifera Pestilence’ leads its brood of two billion against the inhabitants of the front, and all major plagues that appear on the continent are because of the Mandella’s failure to eradicate them at the source. That includes the plagues and diseases you townsfolk of Alshifa face from time to time.]
[In the wartorn ashlands, there is the Hellfire Caldera Front—defended by the ‘Bloodflame General’ and his Igniscale Warriors, it is the northernmost front stopping explosive and fire-based insects from razing the continent to the ground. The Great Mutant of the North known as ‘Blue Flame’ leads its brood of three billion against the Igniscale Warriors’ hundred thousand, and… well. The Igniscale Warriors are not known as the continent’s strongest warriors for nothing.]
[In the wintry plains, there is the Rampaging Hinterland Front—defended by ‘Gigantitania’ and her De Balla forces, it is the giant border wall front that runs from the top of the continent to the southeastern end of the continent. The Great Mutant of the Northeast known as ‘Mammot’ leads its colossal brood of two billion against the De Balla’s giant Swarmsteel armours, and it is the only major front that has not seen a single day of rest since the Swarm descended a century ago. The De Balla do not understand the concept of sleep.]
[In the sky-piercing mountains, there is the Mori Masif Front—defended by the ‘God of Death’ and her Nocturna, it is the southeastern mountain front preventing flying insects from taking over the skies of the continent. The Great Mutant of the Southeast known as ‘Black Witch’ leads its brood of two billion across the skies, and it is a major front that only sees action during the night. Because the giant insects in this front are also highly capable with camouflage and deceptive techniques, the Nocturna kill anything that moves during the night, friend and foe alike. It is perhaps the most dangerous major front for any traveller to pass through.]
[Finally, there is the Genesis Glade Front—defended by the ‘Worm God’, it is less a battlefront than it is the headquarters for the bug-slaying organisation known as the Hasharana, who wander across the continent cleaning up infestations like the one Alshifa is currently suffering from. The Great Mutant of the World known as the 'Swarm Queen' coordinates the entire rest of the fifteen billion insects against the Worm God, and while he is certainly strong enough to keep the entire continent from being immediately destroyed from within, that even hidden undertowns like Alshifa are being infested shows he is being overworked. He cannot keep watch on the entire continent alone. Regardless, he is undoubtedly humanity’s strongest, rumoured to possess a hundred Swarmsteel that have kept him alive for the past four decades; you will find no more infamous a human than him on the surface.]
[...]
[... Do you see now, Amula?]
Eria raised a leg and pointed in the general direction of the Bazaar, where the lightning hornet was, and Dahlia did the same to let the seniors know—she already knew what the little black bug was going to say before she said it out loud.
[The Great Mutants and the Lesser Great Mutants on the surface command legions upon legions of giant insects to bash into the Seven Swarmsteel Fronts, and I can tell you, with a hundred percent certainty, that the weakest Mutant under their command can easily eviscerate that lightning hornet in the distance.]
[You, children of Alshifa, are moths with your wings clipped off.]
[That is why I will support Dahlia if she wishes to attempt sealing the hole in the ceiling.]
[Even if all of you were to venture to the surface, it is a statistical improbability that any one of you can create great changes in the greater war against the Swarm.]
[In that case, would it not be better to simply remain here and let the true soldiers… do their… part…]
[...]
Eria trailed off, eyes staring off at the hole in the ceiling, and all three of them furrowed their brows at the same time.
“Er. Dahlia. Is yer little friend broken or somethin’? Felt like it still had a few things to say.”
“I… don’t know what’s going on, either. Eria. Eria? Are you okay?”
“Thweep!”
“Maybe the two of us can whack yer head for a little bit and then it’ll work again. Doctor Sanyon used to do that with the firefly cages a lot when they refused to light up.”
“Please… um, please don’t hit me–”
[Year One Hundred, day eight of Month Bug,] Eria said in a cold, metallic voice, and Dahlia repeated its words slowly. Something about the way it spoke sounded a little… off. [By the Archive of Altered Swarmsteel Systems, records state and document a failed joint operation to eliminate the Great Mutant Beetle known as ‘Mammot’ in the Rampaging Hinterland Front. As a result of enraging the Mammot, it volleyed thirteen cocoons from the far eastern front all the way into the centre of the continent, where twelve of them landed in the Sharaji Desert and one is still currently unaccounted for.]
[The Archive of Altered Swarmsteel Systems believe the missing cocoon contains a Mutant of unknown threat level, but, most likely, it has the same basic capabilities as the Great Mutant Beetle it spawned from.]
[Within three to four days of its emergence from its cocoon—provided it does not exert itself too much within that timeframe—it will be able to birth an entire army’s worth of giant insects even without a partner.]
Simultaneous blinks.
Simultaneous freezes.
Then there was a crack of a neck, a sharp whistle of panic, and a deep breath drawn through the nose—the three of them had been taking it easy on their way back to the shelter, but no longer.
Amula threw Dahlia onto her back so she could start sprinting and jumping across the dilapidated roofs, and Jerie took the normal street route with his flute already drawn. Under normal circumstances, maybe Dahlia would’ve felt a little worried Amula was quite literally soaring over multiple storeys of buildings on their mad prance back to the shelter, but this wasn’t the time to worry.
“How long has it been since that lightnin’ hornet came down here, Eria?” Amula snapped.
[Two days and nineteen hours–]
“Alright! Hold on tight, Dahlia! I’m gonna go at maximum speed!”
The warning was too little, too late. Amula jumped onto the edge of a roof, bent her knees, and then it was like it didn’t even matter that she was missing all her right toes. The two of them were a swirl of motion as they left Jerie behind in the dust, hurtling across Alshifa without a care in the world for being detected by any giant bug; even with her face buried in Amula’s neck and her bristles being chafed by the winds so much they felt like they were going to tear off, she could tell not a single giant bug was going to face their way.
All of them, without a doubt, were in the Southern New District—and though it would’ve taken them ten hours to make the return trip sneakily, it only took Amula twenty minutes of concentrated dashing and jumping to screech to a halt atop a building opposite of the shelter.
The two of them immediately ducked behind a giant chimney for cover, trying to keep their ragged breaths under control as they peeked down at the New District where the ground was writhing and climbing over each other, attempting to collapse the shelter by sheer weight of mass alone.
The Old District was already flooded with giant ants, and more were still streaming in through the Southern Luwu Tunnel just a hundred metres away from the shelter.