Matthew reached the meeting point first, sending his spirit back to guide the rest of the group and, not long after Jamie and the second legion arrived.
"What's happening," Matthew asked. They were out of breath and leaned against the wall.
"White… ant. it got Conny," Jamie stuttered, struggling to get the words out. "They're coming, he distracted them with his bell. But they are coming."
Matthew's stomach sank, he eyed the tunnel Parker's group went down. What if they thought the bell was some kind of joke, if they didn't come Matthew would have to escape by himself.
Joey, Brian and the other two members of the first legion arrived not long after. They caught a look at the four people from the second legion and understood vaguely that they were in danger.
Before they could say anything however, Parker's group came storming through the cave. The stocky, gray eyed boy's brow was furrowed in concern.
It only took a few seconds to explain and they were all reclimbing the sloped path that would lead them back to the chamber with the river of sand.
Matthew was the first to reach the dark, slimy tunnel back and jumped back as people burst from the tunnel.
It was the fishers or at least what seemed left of them. Kirk was cut all over his arms and back and his face was covered in brown sand. He whimpered as he saw them.
"The hive… they all just began bursting from the wall."
There was a surprising moment where his chest tightened as he realised Stella was probably dead. Then the reality that they were trapped on both sides became worse.
Parker cursed, whipping around to climb back down. "Dammit, we'll take another tunnel. One we can fight the Hive in and is too small for the ants to crawl in."
"They'll collapse the caves and crush us," Matthew said in a grim voice.
Jamie scowled, raising his spear. "We'll cut through the hive and get back to the secret tunnel."
Kirk and the other remnants of the fishers shook their heads vigorously.
"We can't!" Kirk exclaimed. "There's too many, they are creating new paths just like this one."
Matthew had always wondered what had created the different tunnels and what would happen if they followed the original high corridors of stone.
It was the Hive, this must have been a seasonal thing for them, but what could have triggered them. A heart-clenching tremor ran over the earth.
The ground began to vibrate.
The long, craggy stone corridor began to shake, small puffs of dust rained down from the jagged ceiling. The shadows of the many holes in the walls trembled as the beast approached. The air became heavier, clinging to his skin and making his sweat feel colder.
There were footsteps tapping through the small cave leading to the river of sand. Everyone raised their weapons, eyes hardening and waited to see if it was one of the hive beasts.
Stella stumbled out of the gaping darkness, her green eyes alert and shaking. She flinched at their raised weapons, raising her hands and screaming.
"The hive left, there are still some of them back there. But the horde is gone."
A strange knot losenned in his chest as the blonde hair girl returned alive. His gaze became sharper as he turned back to the dark corridor, a great shadow began to loom over the brown stones as the ant approached.
"We'll fight through the hive," He concluded.
Everyone immediately charged back through the dark tunnel, Matthew grabbed Stella's forearm pulling her through the darkness, her arm was slick with sweat and warm against his cold grip.
"Any injuries,"
Stella shook in his hand a little, "I'm alright, my head hurts."
Matthew frowned, a dark thought flitting through his mind as he pulled her forward. The hive could use a form of hypnosis in large groups and control their prey for short periods of time.
How did Stella resist their control? Matthew silently gripped his sword, letting his wandering spirit stay close behind the shivering girl.
They returned to the winding cavern that held the river of sand, the little shoreline they used to hunt was filled with Hive beasts.
They were about the same size as a horse, their skin was grey and mottled—hardened carapace armor. Occasionally a vein of electric-blue light coursed under their it and into the three sharp spikes on their back.
They immediately sensed the minds of the people in front of them, their cries were hoarse and deep like a wounded animal, terrifying mandibles clicking.
Parker had a furious light in his stormy gray eyes, he raised his green jade axe and roared.
"Get down and set up a shieldwall, before they climb up here to meet us."
All shieldbearers began a frantic crawl down the sloping path to climb down the ladders they had set up. Jamie stood on the edge of the path, raised his spear and pointed it at the insect-like monsters below.
"Secure their space!"
His spear's tip shot forward impaling a Hive beast straight through the head. Luke and other armament wielder stood at the edge firing firebolts, ice spears and tempests at the charging horde.
Matthew considered using the wind spell he copied from someone to try jumping down the elevated path.
He gave up the idea in case he ended up hurting himself and instead sent out his spirit to distract the Hive beasts.
Parker and ten other boys set up, shoulder to shoulder, eyes grim and scared. The hive beasts slammed into them with loud bangs.
The wall shook and was pushed back, sword and spears shot from behind the wall, piercing their necks which were softer or hacked their feet off.
They had fought countless Hive beasts, after you killed some they ran away, but you never let them stop, and started shaking those spikes on their back.
From above Luke wielded a white staff, he fired bright bolts of fire that blasted any Hive beasts that tried to initiate a mind attack. He looked down grimly shouting.
"We have to clear the way now!"
Matthew, Jamie and the others were already down, clearing the way through the Hive beast with frightening speed.
Matthew's sword changed constantly as he tore through Hive beasts, shifting between a crystalline white and an obsidian black.
He ignored any injuries using [War blood] to heal injuries if they weighed him down too much.
All those hours spent with his mom playing with swords paid off here as he sidestepped deadly stabs and sliced through their tough chitin shells.
He avoided replicating attacks to conserve mana for healing and to also reduce the burden on his strained spirit as he perceived and escaped deadly blows faster than he normally would.
He found critical points in their armor and struck with deceptively fast movements, each time a creature believed it gauged his sword path it created a new line of attack.
Each blow crippled or killed an enemy and before long Matthew was drenched in their green sticky blood.
A strange feral excitement bloomed in his chest as he tore through them.
A grim satisfaction of being able to lay bare all his efforts to grow stronger, and see it culminate in a slaughter that tested not only his mental and physical limits, but his very spirit.
Someone shouted his name behind him, but he couldn't hear.
He jumped over a spiked foot, landing on its owner to stab his sword through its insect eyes, jumping away as another creature tried to pounce on him.
Again he heard his name, but was busy evading a deadly bite trying to take off his head. He crouched and slammed his sword into the Hive beasts neck.
"Matthew, we have to go now!" Stella's voice alerted him.
He turned around and the others were making it to the secret tunnel, the honeycombed wall behind them was shaking furiously.
Their loud battle against the Hive beasts was attracting the ant.
Stella waited for him, screaming at him to leave the fight behind.
He let out a hoarse breath as his sight blurred a little from the amount of energy he had just exerted.
Stella grabbed him and pulled him forward, occasionally veering through a stray beast, or letting go of him so he could clear the path.
Matthew couldn't hear the hoarse roars of the hive beasts as he was pulled forward by Stella.
She had a horrified look on her face as a Hive beast loomed over her to kill, her eyes were wet with tears like a soaked emerald.
Matthew shot out of her hand like a whisper, his sword, now a crystal white, tore through the beast's two spiked legs before stabbing into its head.
A ringing pain assaulted his mind as he almost fell to his knees, whispers all around him poured into his mind.
They spoke of anger, fear, envy, pride and justice as they assaulted him.
Stella grabbed him forcing him forward as they were left behind, she screamed something inaudible to him as she cried.
Kinslayer suddenly felt horribly cold in his hand as the whispers became shouts, a chorus of six horrible words.
BURY THE SWORD IN HER HEART.
He screamed with all he could, resisting the mental assault, and forcing himself to run beside her.
The wall behind them shattered, a column of dust rose in their air as the grinding sounds of stone filled the winding tunnel.
A great, armoured beast broke through the dust with a horribly fast dash.
The air popped and whistled as it moved, being displaced by its titanic form. Matthew's mouth became dry as the ant engaged the hive beasts, ripping them apart like toys.
"We're almost there," Stella's distant voice echoed in his ringing ear.
The Hive beast seeing they were in mortal danger stopped and began to shake the spikes on their backs.
A calm ringing sound layered over the chaotic sounds of war, a psychedelic dance of light erupted from the spikes.
Matthew instantly fell over screaming, a horrible pain racked his weakened mind and tore into his weak spirit.
Stella grabbed him struggling to hold him up and pulled him towards the exit.
Her face turned red with exertion as her weak voice pleaded and screamed for someone to help them. The ant also shivering from the mental assault retreated.
Matthew grit his teeth, struggling to stay conscious as his vision darkened.