Once more, the notification confirmed to Alex that these current enemies were just the Hive's soldiers. Their overall strength was rising, but it wasn't close to the peak. They had to do better.
He didn’t have the breath for words, just the hiss of air tearing through his lungs and the drumbeat of his own pulse in his ears. The chimera’s twitching legs gave one final spasm before collapsing fully, blood pooling dark against the cracked stones.
He stood over it, his fists trembling, knuckles torn and bloody, while his aura still flickered around his frame like an afterimage. His body screamed at him, every nerve ablaze from the punishment of [Bloodwrath] and the burning aura of his Martial Art. For a moment, he swayed, his vision doubling.
Then the roar of battle behind him broke through his stupor. The others were still going at it, their spells and shouts echoing through the coliseum as the last of the insectoid guards were hammered down. Alex spat blood, forcing his spine straight and lifted his head.
Garret’s shield crashed against another chimera while Henry attacked from behind, splintering through its armor with weapon and spell combined. Kate’s blade lit the dark in a lance of fire and Holly’s wind sliced precise openings for the others to exploit. The air was alight with steel and spell, a storm of color and violence.
Alex flexed his bruised hands, feeling the ache deep down even in his bone marrow. Not done yet.
He stepped forward, ready to throw himself back into the fray. Because if his fight had proved anything, it was that these things weren’t going to go down easy. And if he was going to keep his team alive through this hive, he’d have to break himself again and again until there was nothing left to break.
“Alright… round two.”
***
From the moment the squad ventured into the hive’s cave mouth the tunnels pressed in around them, air filled with a damp musk and the sharp tang of chimera shit. Their feet sank into churned earth as the squad descended deeper, the hive walls glowing faintly with veins of energy. The deeper they went, the more oppressive the sensation became. It was like walking down the throat of some vast beast.
Alex’s [Aether Sight] painted the labyrinth in threads of light: lines bending, folding, doubling back in maddening patterns. He could feel the presence of the hive pressing all around them, consciousness brushing against his like whispers just out of earshot.
A hiss echoed through the passage. Then another. Then a dozen.
“Shields up!” Eric said.
The front ranks locked in. Henry and Ghrukk braced shoulder-to-shoulder, halberds flaring with spellpower. Garret plopped his shield down with a grunt, metal screeching as the ground vibrated beneath it. Behind them, runes shimmered into place as Doran etched quick glyphs across his shield rim, each mark glowing brighter than the last. Then he set his shield in place next to Garret’s.
The attack hit a moment later. Chimera soldiers poured from the tunnels. Their bodies moved with terrifying synchronicity, limbs striking stone as if the entire hive had been trained to kill as one.
The tanks took the brunt. Claws screeched against shields, the sound piercing in the narrow tunnel like a siren. Sparks burst from impact points as Henry pushed back with sheer muscle power, his biceps bulging and sweat slicking his brow. Ghrukk yelled out as shadow-fire aura flared around his skin, creating an aura to burn the enemies even as they attacked, turning claw swipes into molten ash.
“Attack!” Eric ordered.
Spells and steel lanced over the tanks in a coordinated barrage. Holly’s air gales compressed into blades, slicing antennae clean from skulls. Kate darted through gaps, her sword igniting mid-swing, every strike leaving a streak of burning light across chitin. Devon tossed glowing glyph-bolts which detonated mid-air, piercing deep into thick carapaces.
Alex ran forward, fists already coated with energy.
Each of his punches were a thunderclap in the close quarters, concussive energy bursts that smashed chimeras back against the walls. These particular chimera soldiers weren’t Adept Tier, simply peak Mortal Tier beasts, which made things easier, if just a bit.
Even with their overwhelming firepower, though, the fight was a slog. The tunnel rang with screeches, each one answered by the bellow of steel and the hiss of spellfire. The squad carved their way forward inch by inch, momentum was costly but attainable.
Finally, the last soldier collapsed twitching, its death screech rolling through the tunnels like a warning bell to the rest of the hive deeper in.
An oppressive silence followed, as if the hive refused to give the raid party of their answer to such a call. But they couldn’t stand around to wonder about that. They had keep up their forward push through the hive tunnels. So once more the raid party found themselves in a maze of turns and switchbacks.
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It didn’t take too long until the cavern opened before them. A broad chamber revealed itself with stalactites looming overhead, its floor and walls broken by dozens of dark, gaping tunnels feeding into it. The air stank of rot and the walls pulsed faintly with threads of aether.
Every drip of moisture from the ceiling echoed like a hammer blow in the still air.
Alex’s eyes swept the cavern, [Aether Sight] picking up wisps of energy, faint ghost-lights over the tangle of tunnels converging on the room. There were dozens of tunnel openings. It was like standing in the center of a spider’s web. Any of those holes could vomit death at them in seconds.
Garret shifted uncomfortably behind his shield, muttering under his breath. “I don’t like it. Too many mouths. Not enough teeth.”
“Agreed,” Kate said, her blade already held at the ready. Her eyes flicked from hole to hole, the faint twitch of her jaw betraying the unease that Alex could see behind her visage.
Myrae crouched near one of the walls and brushed her fingertips along the pulsing vein of aether that ran up the stone. Her lips pressed together in a thin line. “This is some kind of a core intersection. The hive’s main arteries run through here. Whatever’s below us... It knows we’re here now.”
“So, it's crossroads then," Alex gestured at the intersecting tunnels. “We pick the wrong way, we burn time. We burn time, we get swarmed.”
“Correction: you’re already swarmed. They just haven’t turned their full attention on you yet.” Obby added.
Alex grimaced at Obby's words, but didn’t argue.
Eric stepped forward into the center of the chamber. He turned slowly, as he was seemingly gauging the angles of the tunnels. “Then we hold here long enough to catch a breather. Healers, patch up who you can. Everyone else, recover what aether you can muster. We’re not moving blindly into these side tunnels until we’ve at least got breath in our lungs.”
They moved into a loose circle, shields outward and weapons poised. Allie and Myrae lit faint lights in their hands which created long shadows that stretched underfoot.
Myrae pressed glowing palms to Doran’s leg while Devon worked a slow reinforcement glyph over Garret’s dented shield. The stink of blood and musky stone still filled their noses, and the incessant drip of water from the stalactites assaulted their ears, but they stayed on task, knowing they wouldn’t get much time before the chimeras made their move once again.
It was only about an hour before they heard the signs. A faint skittering noise in the shadows of one of the tunnels. They all turned as the skitter transformed into the rhythm of footsteps. From one of the tunnels, a silhouette became visible, appearing tall and lean.
They all prepared themselves, weapons held ready as the figure emerged into the light. It was a chimera, obviously, but this one was different from the rest they’d seen so far.
Its frame was almost human-like and it was biped. Its feet were hooved, with bestial cat-like legs that led into a torso covered in chitinous armor. It’s arms were muscled under dark fur ending in long claws and its head—while lizard in appearance with scales and slit eyes—had the same split mandibles of the soldier-class chimera they had seen in the city and tunnels. Antenna jutted from its forehead, with horns curling back behind its skull like that of a ram. A segmented tail whipped from its back sporadically.
“Wha’, da fuck, is that?” Doran sputtered.
Alex felt the pressure of the chimera’s aura even from across the cave. Its arcane core contained a thick aura that placed it undeniably in the beginning of the liquid-stage of Adept Tier.
This was the most powerful creature they had come across so far, without a doubt.
“Its middle Adept.” Alex said aloud, making sure everyone understood the threat.
His words caused everyone to tense. All across the group knuckles turned white as they all held their weapons. “Don’t underestimate it, even for a second.”
The creature looked at them from the tunnel entrance a moment, its head cocked to the side, as if intrigued by their presence.
“I’m guessing this thing’s the boss then?” Garret took a step forward, positioning his shield. “Come on then fugly!”
The chimera moved suddenly, disappearing in Alex’s vision for a moment, then it reappeared just as quickly and slammed into Garret's shield like a wrecking ball.
Garret’s boots skidded back half a foot and the metal of his shield groaned under the impact. Henry grunted, veins bulging as he set his hands behind Garret’s, helping him hold the beast back with his strength.
But unlike the soldier drones, this thing didn’t just hammer away at them like a feral monster. It stepped back, then feinted quickly. One bladed limb struck the shield and rebounded, then its other limb whipped around from a low angle, its bladed claw headed straight for Garret’s exposed knee.
Garret barely got his shield angled back down in time. Sparks flew as the claw scraped along the steel. “Son of a—! This one knows how to fight!”
Before anyone else could react, the chimera leapt back, its legs pumping and the air warping faintly beneath it. Alex’s eyes narrowed.
“Wait—”
The thing’s internal aether flowed in a pattern. It was wasn't random aether moving to bolster its body, but it flowed in a practiced and smooth way. Wind spiraled faintly at its feet, carrying it sideways in a blur of motion. Alex recognized it instantly as a [Gale Dash], Holly’s movement skill.
“What the fuck?” Holly’s voice cracked with disbelief, her own sword-hand dipping as if by astonishment. She recognized the skill as well.
The chimera stepped sideways again, and it mimicked her battle stance almost perfectly, its arms curling like twin blades. Then it struck out. Air aether rippled with its movement as it lunged forward, each slash was augmented by cutting winds that peeled away from its body flew at the party with immense speed. That sent the group scattering to dodge.
With everyone distracted, the Chimera dove in at Sarson when he was recovering from a roll.
Kate ran in to block, her own blade flashing in a wide line. The chimera parried—not blocked, parried—angling its limb to deflect her strike aside before countering with a sweeping kick that sent her skidding back across the stone and coughing blood.
“Shit—!” Kate spat, recovering in a crouch.
“Don’t give it space! Press it. NOW!” Eric yelled out.
Alex surged forward at Eric's command, his fists flaring azure. He hammered a [Flare] strike straight into its chest. The blow detonated in an explosion of energy, but the chimera had rolled with the hit and lessened the impact, its carapace only getting scratched.
It countered with a backhand slash so fast Alex only dodged by slamming a [Shield] into place and jumping backward, its claw skittered across his spell and away from him just as the blow cracked the barrier like glass and threw him further back.
The thing screeched a guttural, almost triumphant cry and kicked off the ground with another air-propelled burst, soaring above the squad.
“Eyes up!”
Devon loosed a glyph-bolt, and it spun mid-air with a push of aether. But he still barely missed, the blast sizzled past the beast’s wingless flight. Holly struck then by sending a compressed gale upward like a blade of wind. The chimera somehow flipped backward, creating its own air slash and cleaving the attack apart. The shockwave ripped dust and grit from the cavern floor.
“This isn’t possible!” Holly shouted, fear edging into her tone.
“They’ve been learning from us,” Alex snarled, blood hot in his veins. “Every move we make, they were watching. We should have realized they'd end up copying us.”
It was a terrifying realization. He had always assumed the chimeras were figuring out counters to their attacks, but it turned out, they were also learning to use them as well.
This enemy was using their own skills and spells. An arcane beast with spells... that shouldn't exist.
Alex sucked in breath, his pupils dilating with restrained fear. "Fuck."