The last ant’s body hit the ground with a sound that echoed farther down the tunnel. I stood there for a moment, breathing harder than I meant to whole faint static crawled across my hammer.

  I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my wrist and forced myself to look up.

  Rok was already moving, his club resting on his shoulder with the same casual ease he always had, like none of this mattered, he kicked one of the twitching ants out of his path without glancing down, his attention already on the tunnel ahead.

  Damien, on the other hand, sheathed his sword in one smooth, quiet motion, the act oddly mesmerizing.

  His eyes moved, scanning the chamber with steady precision before settling forward like he already decided what mattered and what didn’t.

  I broke the silence, “how are you guys not tired?”

  Damien glanced back before answering. “When you were training from a young age, you're bound to get used to it.”

  Rok spoke next, “yeah, I fought my tribe. Many bones broke. Good memories.”

  I looked at them for a second as we continued walking.

  The tunnel ahead sloped downward into darkness, and even where I stood, I could hear it, those faint skittering sounds, like something alive was shifting just out of sight.

  Not a full swarm but enough to make it clear the fighting wasn’t over.

  “So uh, what—“

  Before I could finish my sentence. Rok stopped up first, rolling his neck once as he started down the slope with heavy, deliberate steps that carried quite a confidence that I don’t think I’d ever be able to fake. Damien followed half a step behind with his sword loose in his hand again.

  I stayed behind them, tightening my grip on the hammer as the static light continued to flicker the way ahead.

  Before I realized it, something moved to our left.

  An ant burst from a narrow crack in the wall, its body low and fast as it lunged toward Rok’s blind spot, my breath caught in my throat as I opened my mouth to warn him.

  But he was already moving.

  His club swung backward over his shoulder in a motion so casual it almost didn’t look real, the weapon connected with the ant mid-leap, smashing it into the opposite wall so hard that I heard a crack before the body even hit the ground.

  At the same time, another ant darted forward through the opening Rok’s swing left behind, its mandibles already opening.

  Before it could attack Damien’s blade flashed.

  The ant fell apart before it could touch him.

  I barely had time to process it before I noticed movement above me.

  My body reacted before my brain processed it, I raised my hammer instinctively as the static along its head flared brighter than before when I swung it. The pulse caused the ant to jerk violently in mid-air before it hit the ground in front of me.

  Rok crushed it a second later with a single downward stomp.

  Another scout lunged from farther down the tunnel, and Rok met it head-on, his club coming down brutally as it flattened the creature instantly, Damien stepped around the body with effortless precision as his sword flicked once to intercept another ant trying to slip past him.

  I stayed behind them, my hammer ready, my eyes moving as the static continued to hum softly with my hammer.

  The tunnel continued downward as faint skittering sounds slowly became more frequent, more organized.

  I started to get a gut feeling that we weren’t walking deeper into the cave.

  We were walking deeper into something that had been waiting for.

  The skittering didn’t stop, and after a while, I realized it wasn’t supposed to, because every few steps another ant would appear from somewhere in the dark, crawling from a crack in the wall or dropping from the ceiling above or rushing from behind a rock we had already passed, forcing Rok to crush it or Damien to cut it down.

  At first, it still felt manageable.

  But the longer we walked, the more I felt it changing.

  Another ant lunged from the left, and Rok pivoted and smashed it aside, making its body tumble across the floor, and before it even stopped moving another dropped toward Damien, only to be caught with its blade, arms steady and expressions unchanged as he let the corpse slide free.

  I swung at the next one, the static flaring as the ant jerked sideways and stopping completely.

  We didn't stop moving, we just couldn’t.

  Because every time one died, another took its place.

  Not big enough to be a swarm but enough to press us down.

  One came from behind.

  I turned around too slow as the static flickered.

  The ant’s mandibles scraped against my boot, before it could do damage Rok’s hand grabbed it mid-lunge and crushed it against the wall like it was nothing.

  I looked at him silently for a moment before speaking. “Thanks,” I muttered.

  Rok only grunted. “Didn’t see.”

  Damien didn’t react.

  He kept walking faster, sword already drawn now, no longer sheathing it between fights, his eyes moving faster now, searching every shadow.

  The skittering was everywhere now.

  I looked at Rok, and for the first time, he actually looked serious, because his swings, while powerful, were tighter now, more deliberate.

  Another ant rushed him, larger than the others, and he crushed it instantly, but his recovery was slower now.

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  Only for a moment.

  But I saw it.

  Damien saw it too.

  “They’re not turning to kill us,” he said, not slowing down. “They’re delaying us.”

  The words settled heavy in my chest as I looked at the bodies behind us, at how every single one had died without ever overwhelming us, how they came in ones and twos and no more than that, forcing us to swing, forcing us to react and spend energy.

  And no matter how many we killed, more continued to come.

  Damien’s voice was quiet when he spoke again. “They’re wearing us down. But why?”

  For the first time since meeting Damien, I thought I saw uncertainty in his eyes.

  Could it be, he doesn’t know?

  No.

  I killed that thought immediately.

  But looking at his expression I couldn’t help it.

  “Damien,” I said. “Do you know what these are?”

  He stopped and looked at me for a second, before responding. “No, the job Information said a swarm of creatures were spotted, nothing else.”

  My eyes widened as realization came.

  Could it be? I thought.

  “Maybe a queen?” I said, “If these creatures are wearing us down, don’t you think it’s for a reason?”

  Damien looked at me, a brief flicker of curiosity in his eyes, before asking. “And what led you to that conclusion?”

  My mind went blank as I stared at him, I couldn’t just say I read about them back in my old world, nor could I tell him I just knew.

  “I—uhhh…lucky guess?” I said.

  Damien looked at me suspiciously, looking past my act as I chuckled nervously.

  “Smart,” he said, before turning and walking again.

  The skittering changed gradually, so small at first that I almost convinced myself it was imaginary, but the longer we pushed deeper, the more it settled in as something deliberate, coordinated, like something just snapped and they no longer watched us and started to press us properly.

  Another ant slipped from the ceiling without warning, faster than earlier ones we encountered, I swung on instinct, the static along my hammer flaring unevenly as the head connected. But the timing was so off, just enough that the creature twisted mid-air instead of locking up completely, and before it could recover Damien stepped in with that same terrifying calm of his, blade flashing once in a clean strike that split the ant apart.

  But this time… he didn’t reset properly

  It was small, probably so small that most people wouldn't notice, but I did.

  “…They’re speeding up,” I muttered under my breath, tightening my grip.

  No one answered.

  A second later two ants rushed us together instead of separately, and Rok moved first, his club sweeping wide and brutal as always, crushing one instantly, but the second one slipped through the opening his swing created, forcing Damien to pivot faster than before, his blade catching the creature mid-lunge. But instead of the effortless clean finish I’d gotten used to, the strike dragged on a fraction longer before the body fell.

  Rok exhaled beside me, not in a tired way, not even close…but no longer casual either.

  The tunnel felt tighter the deeper we went, the air heavier, and the ants, they weren’t hesitating anymore.

  One came low, another dropped high.

  I raised my hammer again as the static flickered wildly across the head as I swung, but weaker than before, enough to make the ant jerk instead of fully locking up, my stomach dropped as I saw it still coming.

  But Rok’s arm shot past me a split second later, grabbing the creature mid-lunge and slamming it into the wall.

  My chest tightened.

  “…I had that,” I said quickly, even though we all knew I didn’t.

  Rok looked at me for a second. “…too slow.” He said.

  Not in a mocking or cruel way, just honestly.

  Ahead of us, Damien’s sword began to move faster, not cleaner, just faster as two more ants rushed him from opposite angles, his blade catching one cleanly while the second one forced him back a step.

  The skittering grew louder. Closer, more organized.

  Sweat started to build along my palms as the hammer hummed faintly in my grip.

  Movements exploded from the right wall as three ants popped out.

  Rok’s club dropped, crushing the first one instantly, Damien intercepted the second one in a flash.

  But the third—came straight at me.

  My body moved late as I swung hard and the static burst unevenly across as panic spiked in my chest, the blow connecting but sloppily.

  The ant’s mandibles snapped shut inches from my arm.

  Way too close.

  Damien moved in one flash.

  The creature split apart in front of me, its body dropping between us as the tunnel started to feel more closed.

  Damien didn’t look at me.

  “…Stay sharp,” he said calmly.

  I tried.

  But panic was already creeping in.

  The pressure finally broke all at once, the fragile rhythm we had barely maintained, snapped apart as three ants surged forward in from different angles at the same time, forcing Rok to pivot hard to the right with a heavy swing while Damien stepped left into a clean but committed cut, and in that instant, a dangerous gap opened between us.

  And for the first time since entering the cave. I was alone.

  The skittering closed in immediately, like the swarm had been waiting for this exact mistake, one ant dropped from above while another rushed across, their mandibles wide as my grip tightened around the hammer and a familiar weak static flickered across the head, unstable.

  Useless, I thought, as the ants continued closing in.

  Instincts and fear started to creep into my mind as I scattered on what to do.

  And then—I stopped.

  Not my body, but my thoughts.

  Because beneath the noises and movements and pressure, something suddenly clicked into a place in my mind. My eyes lowered to the hammer and watched the faint static crawl along the metal.

  “…It’s not releasing,” I murmured.

  Memories surfaced instantly.

  The throw, the same throw that caused the lighting when I met Rok.

  The way the hammer had sparked when it skidded across the ground.

  I hadn’t meant to do it.

  I’d been angry. Frustrated.

  But the lightning had answered anyway.

  My breathing slowed as the ants continued with their attacks, closing the distance with growing confidence, but for the first time since this started. I wasn’t panicking.

  “…it needs a path,” I whispered.

  Like before.

  If I was wrong and it didn’t work? Then I’d suffer for it. But if it did work?

  I took a calm breath as the nearest ant lunged.

  I moved, but not towards it.

  Instead, I stepped forward and drove the hammer down into the stone floor and dragged it forward with everything I had.

  For a heartbeat, nothing happened.

  But that’s when I saw it, blue streaks

  SKEERT—

  the hammer’s head scraped violently across the rock as sparks exploded outward in a wild shower, but with real sparks, not the weak flickers from before, the static snapped outward instantly like it finally found somewhere to go.

  ZZZRAKK—

  Lightning burst free in a jagged, violent arc that tore across the stone in a branching line of blinding white-blue light, ripping through the nearest ants mid-lunge and phasing into the ones behind them as their bodies paralyzed and collapsed all at once.

  The cave flashed bright as the smell of scorched bodies filled the air.

  And then—silence.

  My hammer trembled slightly in my grip as faint arcs of electricity snapped along the head while I stared at it, my breathing slowly steady and controlled.

  Beside me, Rok covered his nose. “Bad smell.” He commented.

  And to my left, Damien stood still, sword still hanging as he watched.

  The lightning faded as quickly as it had come, leaving behind only weak sparks along the hammer’s head, and my arms began to tremble from the strain as the ants in front of us began to pull back.

  Not running, but retreating.

  They moved in perfect, synchronized waves as their bodies stepped backwards in unison while their mandibles clicked in faint rhythmic pulses, like some signal was passed between them. For the first time, they were no longer pressing forward.

  Rok lowered his club slowly, his breathing heavier now, beside him, Damien kept his sword raised, the tip steady as his eyes tracked every movement.

  The ants never turned their backs.

  They retreated, step by step.

  Until the last of them disappeared into the tunnel ahead.

  Rok rolled his shoulder, “…They’re leaving.”

  “Not leaving,” Damien said quietly, lowering his sword without sheathing it. “They’re withdrawing.”

  I stared at the tunnel where they had vanished, the static light in my hammer dimming further.

  “…Why?”

  Damien didn’t answer immediately.

  Instead, he stepped forward over the bodies and crouched beside one of the fallen ants, nudging it with the tip of his blade as its legs twitched weakly before going still.

  “A signal,” he said quietly.

  “Stronger here.” He said, standing up. “They’re being called back.”

  The words sank into silence.

  Damien wasn’t guessing, he was certain.

  Rok spoke next. “Queen.”

  Damien nodded once.

  I looked into the tunnel, into the dark slope leading deeper below, realizing the skittering had completely stopped.

  No scouts, no movement. Just silence.

  And a faint smell of something else.

  “Keep going?” Rok asked.

  “We don’t have a choice,” Damien said, “Elias, light?”

  I nodded quickly. “Lightning.” I said, as the hammer flickered.

  Damien already began moving, so we followed.

  The tunnel widened the deeper we went, the walls pulling farther apart while the ceiling above us rose higher, the air began to grow colder with every step as that sour smell started to thicken.

  Then, the tunnel ended.

  The passage opened into a massive chamber, vast, and in the center of it, she waited.

  The Queen.

  A massive ant, towering over every other ant we had fought before, her swollen abdomen pulsing slowly while her long mandibles rested motionless with two purplish eyes staring down upon us.

  She didn’t move, she didn’t need to.

  The ants that had retreated were already gathering around her, forming ranks as they faced us again.

  The chamber fell completely still.

  No skittering or sound.

  Just her. Watching. Waiting