The creature was moving closer to him.
Of course, Ash suspected something like this would happen, but he didn't want it to.
Ash snarled, blade halfway drawn.
"How the hell are these damn things learning to fly this fast?"
The creature dove towards him.
Ash spun, just before impact. His blade flashed. One wing sliced clean off. The creature dropped, screeching, limbs flailing.
It didn't stay down.
Claws tore at the earth as it lunged again, jaws wide, ready to bite into Ash.
But Ash wasn't a noob when it came to dealing with something like this. He trained all his life after all.
Ash stepped in. Drove the blade through the creature's skull.
A crunch. Then silence.
It had stopped moving.
Ash yanked the weapon free, turned, and split the head in two, just to be sure it wasn't pretending to be dead like what happened before.
Then he ran towards the battlefield.
Max was still out there.
But before Ash could reach him, something echoed inside his mind. It was a voice. The voice wasn't that strange, actually, it was very familiar. Ash has heard it lots of times because the voice actually sounds like his own.
"[Vanquished. You killed a Tier 2 Creature: Broodspawn Mantid]"
His breath hitched for a second.
That voice again.
Of course, it was distracting, but Ash didn't stop. He'd heard it too many times to care.
Ahead, beams of light flared.
Both remaining broodspawn dropped, bodies twitching in the dust.
Max stood between them, his suit stained with black blood. One shoulder plate bent from bites. His visor cracked, showing a bit of his face, but not too much.
Suddenly, the ground trembled. The mantis charged towards him, each step like a hammer.
Just as the creature was about to slam into him. A burst of force ignited beneath Max's boots, launching him backward just as the claw came down. Stone shattered where he had stood.
Max spun in the air.
His gauntlet shifted, and the barrel on his hand flared.
Bolts of energy screamed through the air, slamming into the beast.
The mantis raised an arm, blocking the shots with its thick shell.
Still, Max didn't stop, he continued firing. He was in the sky where the creature couldn't meet him.
Well... Max wasn't sure yet.
All this time while fighting, he had been trying to study how this creature fights, and its having wings and not using them is strange on its own.
This is why he flew to see if the creature would follow, blinded by the death of its children.
And of course, it almost works. The creature spread its wings. Ready to take flight but it couldn't. One of its wings had already taken serious damage from one of Kael's fire attacks, making its ability to fly non-functional.
Ash moved.
Sparks danced across his skin. Small arcs flickered between his fingers and the blade in his hand.
Then the voice returned.
"[Skill: Storm Vein]"
"[Skill: Static Surge]"
The world shifted.
Edges sharpened. Time stretched. Every motion slowed except his own.
Ash lunged.
His body blurred, the storm inside him cracking through muscle and bone. He slipped past the creature's claws, ducked beneath the curve of its blade-like leg, and drove his weapon toward its head.
The blade punched through chitin, sank deep between some of its twitching eyes.
The beast screamed.
But it didn't die.
It threw its weight back, dragging Ash with it before slamming into the ground. Max fired. The blasts struck its neck, but the creature didn't fall.
It roared and surged forward. It couldn't fly but it could jump. Really. Really high. That caught Max by surprise.
It slams into Max and swings Ash aside like toys.
Ash rolled across the stone. Max was sent skidding into a boulder, suit sparking.
The beast didn't care about him anymore; it had other plans.
It turned.
Straight for the survivors inside the broken cage.
The broken cage stood in its way, twisted steel and reinforced bars. But the creature hit it like a wrecking ball. Quickly snapping metal apart.
Screams rose in the cage.
One man in front tried to run towards the back.
Too slow.
A claw pinned him down. Dragging him towards its mouth. Its Jaws opened. As the man's Bones crunched.
Then silence.
The body vanished.
In its place, the creature coughed.
Four wet pods dropped from its mouth. The eggs pulse with sick light.
Max was already close by. He suspected something like this would happen. When this creature fed, it dropped random numbers of eggs. The egg that hatches the broodspawn.
Max raised his arm. His gauntlet sparked, preparing to fire at the eggs before they hatch.
But out of nowhere, the Matis head slammed into him before he could shoot. He flew back, crashing into a wall hard enough to leave a dent.
The beast turned again.
The remaining survivors were frozen. Legs trembling. There were no weapons for them to use. Even if they have any, what could they do to a monster like that?
Suddenly, the air shifted.
A shadow streaked past.
Fire exploded across the Matis' side.
Kael hit it like a meteor.
They moved scraping the earth.
His whole body burned. Flames rising from his skin like they were burning red and alive, feeding on his rage.
He drove his fist into the mantis' chest. Again. And again.
Each hit scorched flesh and shattered chitin.
The creatures screamed, claws flailing. But Kael didn't stop. He still dragged it across the ground, fists pounding, flames roaring louder than the creature's shrieks.
Together, they vanished into the distance, fire trailing behind them.
Ash didn't look toward Kael. His eyes were locked on the eggs the creature had vomited.
He moved.
He shifts his blade. It crackles faintly with static electricity. He swung down hard.
But it was too late.
One egg split open. Then another. And another.
Four broodspawn spilled out—smaller than the mantis, but faster. And they look really hungry.
They shrieked.
Ash stepped in. His blade cut a clean arc, severing the head of the first.
It hit the ground, twitching.
Then the voice slithered into his skull again. Unwelcome, but familiar.
"[Vanquished.]"
Ash didn't have time to breathe.
A second creature slammed into his ribs, knocking the wind from his lungs.
Another rose, wings buzzing, and latched onto him. Its legs were wrapped tightly. Then it lifted.
The ground fell away.
Ash caught a glimpse of the cliff edge. He remembered the drop. The sharp rocks below. It was thanks to his tier 5 body that he was able to survive that. He doesn't mind the fall, but the journey up was the problem.
His jaw tightened.
"No. No, no, no. We are not doing that again."
He twisted, jamming his blade into the creature's side.
It shrieked.
They dropped.
Ash hit the ground in a rough tumble, rolled through dust and blood, then quickly rose again.
In front of him, one of the broodspawn landed and hissed. The one he just stabbed. Its Wings are twitching. Eyes burning with hunger.
The others turned toward the fleeing survivors. Who has left the broken cage and managed to find a way to leave this hell?
Ash wasn't sure if they could make it. He didn't even care. His only focus was the creature in front of him. Lightning still sparking at his fingertips.
"You're alone now,"
His voice was low.
"You're going to die here, you damn creature."