After running for an indeterminate amount of time, flickers of light appeared below, accompanied by wave after wave of the sounds of slaughter.
"Loretta is still down there." Raven quickened his pace, racing across the rock wall like the wind. "We need to hurry."
As they neared the bottom of the entrance well, Raven looked down at the chaotic battlefield below and saw a massive azure arrow streak across the air. Recognizing Loretta's signature skill, Raven felt a slight sense of relief.
"Don't rush in yet. Let's find an opening to intervene," he whispered to Lansseax.
Centered around the lift, the expeditionary force had formed a semi-circular defensive line, fending off a sea of giant ants that surged like crashing waves.
These great ants were as large as fire-breathing chariots, their surfaces covered in reddish-black bristles, and their sickle-shaped mandibles could easily twist a longsword. They had yet to gain the upper hand against the expeditionary force; layers of ant carcasses had been piled into mounds, becoming part of the defensive wall. However, the swarm seemed endless, and they cared nothing for trampling over the bodies of their own kind.
Malenia flitted gracefully back and forth along the front lines, her prosthetic blade a blur of flashing light. Wherever she passed, the giant ants froze in place, only to shatter into pieces seconds later.
"Loretta, have you found the Queen you mentioned? A war of attrition works against us," Malenia called out.
The rest of the expeditionary force had not yet descended via the lift. She and the Cleanrot Knights had been locked in a fierce struggle with the ants for a long time; faced with a massive numerical disadvantage, they were forced to shrink their defensive perimeter repeatedly.
"It's cunning; it's intentionally hiding itself," Loretta said, her sharp gaze scanning the swarm. "But I will find it—there!"
She drew her bow and loosed an arrow. A brilliant streak of blue light tore through the air, snapping one giant ant in half and pulverizing the three legs of another, leaving a perfectly straight trajectory in its wake.
Clang!
A peculiar, top-heavy ant moved to block the path of the great arrow. Its head was covered in a deformed, heavy carapace that glinted with a metallic chill. Loretta's arrow struck the center of the shell, erupting into a wide web of cracks.
"Greatshield Ants." Loretta frowned. She had seen these troublesome guardian ants during her last trip; their deformed head-shells were sturdier than tower shields. However, the appearance of Greatshield Ants meant the Queen they guarded was nearby.
An ant dragging a massive abdominal sac hurried to turn around, attempting to blend back into the swarm.
Loretta notched two great arrows and aimed again, but a swarm of winged flying ants suddenly took to the air, soaring over the defensive line to dive at her. She was forced to dispel her magic greatbow and hoist the silver war-sickle leaning beside her.
Amidst the chaos, Malenia surged out of the defensive line, treading upon the backs of the giant ants as she moved through the swarm like flowing water. Sensing the threat, another massive wave of flying ants took flight, forming a dark, oppressive cloud that dove toward her.
Malenia didn't even look up, seemingly unaware of the threat from above. The flying ants screeched as they dove, only to be torn apart mid-air by a massive volley of golden rings.
The Cleanrot Knights swung their halo scythes, unleashing their weapon arts. A second wave of shimmering rings whistled upward, completely routing the flying ants before they could regroup.
Placing absolute trust in her subordinates, Malenia didn't spend a shred of energy dealing with the aerial threat, charging straight for the Queen.
Closing the final distance, she leapt into the air, her war-boot slamming into the head of a Greatshield Ant and crushing it into the dirt. She flourished her prosthetic blade, and a flow of sword ki bypassed the carapace of another Greatshield Ant, neatly severing its head at the weak joint between skull and thorax.
The Queen was already fleeing at full speed; despite dragging a bloated abdomen, it was remarkably fast. The path between Malenia and the Queen was filled in the blink of an eye by returning giant ants, and the remaining ten or so Greatshield guards pounced forward.
Malenia stood her ground and raised her hand. The prosthetic blade flew from her grip, its trajectory undulating like a wave. It bypassed the swarm from an impossible angle, caught up to the fleeing Queen, entered through the left side of its skull, and exited through the right.
The Queen continued to scuttle for dozens of meters before its six legs twitched and it collapsed. The moment the blade pierced its brain, its death was assured; the subsequent movements were merely residual nerve impulses.
Malenia let out a hot breath. As long as the Queen died, the colony would immediately scatter, breaking apart to join other swarms—that was the experience Loretta had gained from her previous journey underground.
All the giant ants stopped in their tracks. Just as Malenia thought the battle was over, they screeched in unison and pounced forward once more.
"Was Loretta wrong?"
Malenia braced her hands against the mandibles of a giant ant, pushed back several meters by its momentum. With a low shout, she dug a leg into the ground to halt her retreat, delivered a snap-kick that broke one of the ant's legs, and used the momentum of its loss of balance to twist and rip the creature's head off with a sickening crack.
Even separated from the body, the mandibles on the ant's head continued to bite ferociously, sparking against her golden prosthetic. Malenia frowned slightly, looking at the even greater numbers of ants swarming her. Even for the Goddess of Rot, without her blade in hand, her only option was to retreat.
She leapt lightly, performing several agile mid-air maneuvers like a waterfowl to shake off a dozen ants jumping to catch her. But as she prepared to return to the defensive line, she suddenly stopped in mid-air.
A high wall composed of giant ants rose before her. Ant legs intertwined and mandibles locked together; this living wall resembled a sentient monster, writhing as it blocked her path back.
Malenia sensed her surroundings and realized that ant walls were rising on all sides, finally understanding their intent. She kicked off the ground to leap high, but the ant walls were already toppling toward each other. A landslide of giant ants buried her within, piling up into a literal mountain of insects.
Countless giant ants pressed down on her in layers, their screeches echoing repeatedly in the cramped space. Malenia found herself face-to-face with one ant, its compound eyes reflecting thousands of images of her face. A sinister wave of psychic energy drifted through, as if some existence was speaking to her through this ant.
"Vessel of Rot, your coming to the underground was a mistake."
Malenia forced her upper body up, snapping an ant leg with her bare hands. She inverted the sharp end and drove it deep into the giant ant's skull.
"You cannot escape..." the ant uttered before twitching and falling still. Yet, the mountain of ants only piled higher.
"My Lady!" Seeing Malenia buried under the mound, the Cleanrot Knights went into a frenzy. They leapt past the defensive line, brandishing their weapons in a counter-charge, briefly pushing the swarm back.
"Don't be reckless! They are retreating to encircle you!" Loretta shouted a warning, but the Cleanrot Knights were deaf to all else, oblivious to the fact that their retreat was being cut off. Or rather, they knew and simply didn't care.
Just as the situation turned critical, a bolt of thunder exploded in the air. Crimson Dragonbolt crashed into the other side of the battlefield, plowing a path through the swarm like Moses parting the Red Sea.
Cloaked in torrential Dragonbolt, Lansseax—in her dragon form—dove down. Her target didn't seem to be the focus of the battle. However, in the next moment, a large group of seemingly ordinary giant ants suddenly unfurled transparent wings and took to the sky to meet her. A dozen Greatshield Ants also dropped their disguises, scurrying out from nearby locations to form a shield wall.
A giant ant lying on the ground suddenly stood up, revealing a bloated abdominal sac—it was a second Queen. It screeched and retreated, summoning more ants to fight the Ancient Dragon, unaware of a figure falling silently from above.
Raven kicked hard against the rock wall, using Bloodhound's Step to teleport directly above the Queen. He gripped the Sword of Night and Flame, his body straight as a diver to minimize wind resistance, and plunged onto the Queen's back, driving the blade deep into the juncture between its head and body.
Suffering this heavy blow, the Queen let out an earth-shattering screech that silenced the entire battlefield for a heartbeat.
Raven wrenched the blade out, and a fountain of foul, stinking blood geysered into the air. He spun like a whirlwind to face the Queen's front and drove his sword into its mouth, unleashing a torrent of magic power.
The Queen's entire body convulsed, light shining through its head and thorax. With a loud pop like a punctured balloon, a massive bloody hole exploded in its abdomen, and it slumped to the ground, motionless.
With one foot on the Queen's head, Raven pulled his longsword from its clenched mandibles and turned to face the swarm.
Splatter. The geyser of foul blood from the Queen finally hit the ground.
Several Greatshield Ants stared intently at Raven for a moment before crawling toward him. Raven raised his sword, but they merely scuttled past him.
Raven saw that every giant ant on the battlefield was retreating. But unlike the descriptions in Loretta's diary, they maintained a general sense of order as they withdrew, showing little confusion. He had a premonition that these ants would return.
After a moment's thought, Raven sheathed his sword and stepped aside to let them leave. There were still too few members of the expeditionary force at the bottom of the well; even if they pursued, they could hardly deal significant damage.
Boom!
The thinning mountain of ants exploded from within. Malenia's figure soared into the sky, her sword ki billowing like waves. She held two cracked ant legs in her hands, her body covered in ant blood and fragments of chitin, her red hair matted against her armor.
Glancing at the retreating swarm, she tossed aside the ant legs she had used as improvised weapons and walked to the Queen she had killed, retrieving her prosthetic blade from the corpse.
"Thank you very much, Prince Raven, Miss Lansseax." She flicked the foul blood from her blade and bowed. Despite her height, the gesture was exceptionally elegant. "Had you two not arrived, our forces would have suffered significant losses."
"It was only right," Raven said, his eyes lingering on the Queen Malenia had killed. "Two Queens in one colony? Or were there two colonies?"
"Prince Raven." Loretta hurried over, her legs shimmering with silver light, followed by the Mimic Tear, Esme, who waved at Raven.
"Loretta, have you ever encountered something like this?"
Loretta knelt to inspect the two Queen carcasses, her expression one of utter confusion. "No. Biologically speaking, it should be impossible for two Queens to coexist peacefully."
"I've read similar treatises in the Grand Library," Raven added. "Subterranean ant colonies are centered around the Queen and possess intense territorial instincts. Entering the territory of another colony usually results in war, never cooperation. Furthermore, the fact that the swarm didn't completely collapse after the Queens died is highly abnormal."
"There is one more thing." Malenia mentioned the message conveyed by the psychic force when she was buried. "Perhaps... these ants were coming specifically for me."
"The situation is becoming more complex," Raven shook his head. "However, once the main body of the expeditionary force arrives, these ants won't pose a true threat. Let's treat the wounded first and set up camp here to wait."
Support me here: https://[email protected]/AuAuMon
Elden Ring: The Unborn One's Journey Through Elden Ring(250 Chapter - Ongoing)
Join the journey and become part of the story!