Ethan's face froze.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
His jaw clenched instinctively.
"System, are you seriously trying to get me killed here?"
But before he could even finish the thought—
From the heart of the light pillar, a new sound rose.
A chorus of hissing.
The sand began to move.
Blood-red beetles crawled out from the glowing core, spilling down in waves.
Their wings beat the air with a sickening buzz that made the skin crawl.
Thousands of them.
Each one glowed with a crimson spark, their carapaces thick and metallic, glinting like polished iron as they swarmed forward in a suffocating tide.
Shff! Shff! Shff! Shff! Shff—
The sound of wings filled the air as the swarm surged toward them.
The soldiers of Emerald Castle barely had time to react before the screaming began.
Spears shattered. Spellblades cracked. Energy blasts fizzled on contact.
"Skkkreee—!"
