The Blackblood Army Ants surged like a living tide from the nest, their numbers multiplying by the second. They came in waves, crawling over one another, mandibles snapping in an unsettling rhythm that echoed across the barren battlefield.
Each skittering leg kicked up small clouds of dust, adding to the chaos of the fight. The ground itself seemed to pulse with the movement of thousands of legs. The constant hum of their movement was almost hypnotic, lulling the untrained eye into a false sense of rhythm and pattern. But beneath the organized chaos lay lethal precision. The ants, though they moved in waves, had an eerie sense of purpose.
It was as if each individual creature was wired into a singular mind, and that mind had one chilling objective: destruction. The sight of them, moving like a tide across the battlefield, would send a chill down the spine of even the most battle-hardened veterans.
«Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!»
The gunfire was relentless, each bullet tearing into the oncoming swarm. Bits of exoskeleton flew into the air, followed by the sickening splatter of greenish ichor. But for every ant felled, two more seemed to crawl over its body, unfazed by the carnage ahead of them. The sheer volume of enemies was overwhelming.
"Hold your positions!" Kellen's voice rang out over the wide-area communicator, slicing through the noise like a blade. Her tone left no room for hesitation.
She surveyed the field with cold, calculating eyes. Over twenty combatants were under her command, a mix of hired mercenaries and retainers. Their position had been fortified, lines of defense meticulously planned. And for now, it was holding.
During the brief pauses between bursts of gunfire, Kellen scanned the horizon. She could see the extent of the damage already inflicted on her troops—some armor scorched, a few scrapes, but no fatalities yet. The swarm hadn't broken through.
But she knew better than to let relief settle. The Blackblood Army Ants were ruthless, mindless creatures, but the queen as an Aberration-Class was far from simple minded. These waves weren't sent blindly to overwhelm them with numbers. It was a strategy, a clever one at that, meant to wear them down, exhaust their resources, and leave them vulnerable. And she knew that the real danger hadn't even arrived yet.
As if on cue, the ground trembled beneath her feet.
A low, ominous rumble reverberated through the earth, growing stronger with each passing second. The tremor wasn't like the steady quake of the ants' approach. It was deeper, more menacing, and it sent a slight ripple of fear through her body.
«Boom!»
Six larger ants suddenly rushed out of the nest, towering over the battlefield with a menacing presence. Their movements were slower, more deliberate, and as they advanced, the air around them seemed to crackle with energy.
"Anomaly-Class," Kellen muttered under her breath, her eyes narrowing.
The Blackblood Army Ant guards were unlike the others. They had longer, sharper mandibles and their chitin was darker, almost black, with a slight shimmer that suggested some sort of hardened coating.
She could already see the difference. These things were faster, smarter. They moved in perfect coordination, flanking the combatants with terrifying speed. One of them lashed out with its mandibles, slicing through the defense gear of a mercenary who had moved a little too far as if it were paper. The man screamed as his body was bisected, his blood splattering the ground in a grotesque arc.
"Concentrate fire on the guards!" she ordered, her voice which was now edged with fury echoing over the comms. She gripped the stock of her rifle tightly, her knuckles white. "Take them down before they reach us!"
The battlefield erupted anew as the combatants focused their firepower on the guards. The smaller ants were still a threat, but they were nothing compared to the behemoths bearing down on them. The crossfire intensified, bullets and energy blasts raining down on the advancing anomalies. For every inch gained by the guards, the defenders fought to push them back twice as hard.
In the midst of the chaos, Stone moved with a calm that bordered on terrifying. His hands moved almost on autopilot, as he threw down his firearm, reaching for the utility belt around his waist. From there, he pulled out two phials, one filled with pale blue solution and the other with green solution.
The pale blue solution was the Wild Elephant Steroid, synthesized from the heart of the powerful Anomaly-class Wild Elephant. Consumption would massively increase his strength and bodily endurance for roughly the next few minutes while the green solution sped up the natural healing process of the body for a limited time.
He didn't waste any time as he uncorked the both phials with his teeth, spitting the cap into the ground before downing both solutions in one quick gulp. The liquids tasted bitter, almost metallic, but it was hard for him to care as the potent solution burned down his throat, sending a wave of raw power through his veins.
His muscles bulged visibly under his armor, veins standing out like ropes as his strength surged, while also felt the minor aches and bruises he'd sustained earlier faded into nothing as the healing solution worked its magic. The effects were immediate—he felt like a freight train ready to plow through anything in his way.
With a primal growl, he activated his red martial qi, the energy swirling around him like a tangible force. In an instant, he was moving—across the battlefield faster than anyone his size had a right to. His feet pounded the earth as he closed the distance to one of the massive guards in seconds.
The ant sensed the oncoming threat, its mandibles snapping open as it raised its head high, preparing to slice him in two.
Stone wasn't intimidated.
With a guttural roar, he leaped into the air, bringing both fists down onto the ant's head with the force of a sledgehammer.
"[Power Punch]!"
The impact of the technique in the hands of Stone was thunderous, the ground beneath the creature cracking from the sheer force of this strike. The Blackblood guard staggered, its carapace dented, but it wasn't out of the fight yet.
"Come on, you ugly bastard!" Stone snarled, his eyes wild with adrenaline.
The ant screeched in rage, lashing out with its mandibles. Stone narrowly dodged, rolling to the side just as the sharp mandibles sliced through the space where he'd stood moments before. He was on his feet in an instant, grabbing his combat knife and plunging it into one of the joints between the creature's chitinous plates. The creature shrieked again, its massive body convulsing in pain as green-black ichor poured from the wound. Stone yanked the knife free, readying himself for another strike.
As Stone grappled with the monstrous guard, the rest of the combatants focused their fire on the other anomalies. Kellen's orders had whipped the mercenaries and retainers into a coordinated frenzy, their concentrated attacks chipping away at the guards' defenses. Bullets and energy blasts hammered the ants, targeting their vulnerable joints and softer underbellies.
«Boom!»
The other combatants were no slouches either. One of the retainers, an adept with a fire-based ability, launched his ability at one of the wounded ants, spreading a stream of molten flame across its armored body. The creature shrieked—a high-pitched, unnatural sound that cut through the cacophony of battle. The flames ate through its exoskeleton, and within seconds, it collapsed in a heap of smoldering debris.
One of the guards, enraged by the death of its kin, charged forward, its mandibles snapping at Kellen's squad. But this time, they were ready. A pair of grenades sailed through the air, detonating at the creature's feet and sending a shockwave rippling through the ground. The explosion ripped off one of its legs, forcing it to collapse in a heap of twitching limbs.
"Forger, we could use a bit more help down here!" Vance's voice crackled through the comms, barely audible over the din of the battle below. Rion spotted him through the scope, shouting orders to the nearby mercenaries while two mutant ants closed in on him fast.
"Relax, I'm giving out free firepower up here," he responded dryly, adjusting his position for a better angle on the remaining guards. "Why don't you ask the teddy for help?"
Vance didn't respond, but Rion caught the exasperation in his brief silence. Not that he cared.
Through the scope, he watched the two ants closing in on Vance. One was mid-pounce when Rion squeezed the trigger. A single round tore through the first ant's thorax, spraying a fine mist of greenish blood. Before the second ant had a chance to react, Rion shifted aim and pulled the trigger again. Another precise shot, and the second ant collapsed, its legs folding under its twitching body.
As he reloaded, he activated his Resonance ability, [Combat Frenzy II] and [Enhanced Perception] techniques, feeling the familiar surge of energy ripple through his body. Time seemed to slow down around him as his affinity to the weapon in his hand deepened. He slid a fresh magazine of Taser rounds into his rifle. These rounds weren't meant to kill, not right away anyway—they were designed to incapacitate.
His crosshairs centered on a particularly large guard ant, a behemoth of a creature with mandibles the size of machetes. The ant was charging, its mandibles clicking wildly as it tangled with Stone.
Rion exhaled slowly, steadying his aim.
«Whizz! Whizz!»
Two quick squeezes of the trigger, and both shots found their mark, embedding themselves in the creature's thorax. A heartbeat later, the air crackled with electricity as the taser rounds discharged. The guard ant convulsed, its movements jerky and uncoordinated as arcs of electricity danced across its armored body.
Stone wasted no time, lunging forward with his qi-infused blade. The ant, still twitching from the shock, had no chance to defend itself as he plunged the blade deep into its skull, letting out a final screech before collapsing in a heap.
Rion took other shots at normal ants, staggering them long enough for the group of combatants to focus their fire and take them down.
Swiftly replacing another spent Nova core, he reloaded his rifle with another clip of armor-piercing rounds and took aim.
One shot, under the enhancement of [Overclock], sent the bullet clean through the leg of one guard. The ant stumbled but didn't fall. A second shot, fired with deadly precision, hit the creature square in the head, ripping through its chitin. Despite the severe wound, the guard remained standing, its eyes glazed over with rage. It took six shots from his rifle, in addition to attacks from the other members before the creature was finally brought down, its body collapsing into a heap of twitching limbs.
"Perfectomundo," Rion muttered, already sighting the next target.
Through his scope, he could see the tide of ants slowly shifting. The guards were powerful, but even they couldn't withstand the combined onslaught from the well-coordinated attack. With each guard that fell, the regular Blackblood Army Ants became more disorganized, their relentless charge faltering as their command structure crumbled.
Just a little longer.
He adjusted the zoom on his scope, watching as the combatants pushed the ants back toward the nest. The once fierce and coordinated army of ants was now faltering, retreating toward the safety of their underground hive. The smell of burning ant bodies filled the air, thick and pungent, clinging to the back of Rion's throat. The combatants, though battered and bruised, managed to hold their ground.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the remaining guards and the surviving ants began to retreat in earnest, likely under orders from the queen deep within the nest. Their mandibles clicked wildly as they disappeared into the shadows of the nest entrance. Rion scanned the battlefield one last time, ensuring that no stragglers remained.
The field was littered with the corpses of fallen ants, their once gleaming exoskeletons now dull and shattered. Bullet casings glittered in the yellow dust, a stark reminder of the brutal battle that had just taken place.
Rion exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and lowered his rifle, deactivating all active techniques. He could feel the tension in his muscles start to unwind, though the adrenaline still coursed through him, making his hands tremble slightly.
"Well," he muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. "That was fun."