The desert was never quiet.
Even here, standing within sight of the nest, Asher could hear it breathing. Not air, but life chittering, clicking, gnashing, scraping. The sound of insectoid hunger, magnified a thousandfold, echoing up from that black crack in the earth.
He crouched low on a ridge of stone, rifle hugged tight against his chest, every breath rasping in his helmet. The waypoint blinked faintly at the edge of his HUD, hovering just above the glowing slit in the desert floor.
The nest.
"Alright, Veylan," he muttered, peeking over the ridge. His voice was hoarse, words tumbling half out loud, half just in his head. "One little step at a time. Don't panic..."
He glanced at the swarm below.
Dozens of Chitterspawn paced the resin-choked entrance, rifles fused to their arms twitching as if eager to discharge. Their mottled carapaces gleamed with damp heat, their segmented jaws clattering in idle hunger.
Beside them moved Leapfangs. Lean, twitching things, their limbs bent like coiled springs, jaws snapping as if biting at phantom prey. They paced in quick jerks, never still, eyes like glass shards glinting in the half-light.
And then… there it was.
A silhouette that made Asher's breath hitch.
"...oh fuck."
The Spineguard stood sentinel. Hulking. Its armored shell gleamed like obsidian steel, plates ridged and bristling with natural spikes. The size of a transport truck, its four legs dug into the earth like pillars. From its shoulders jutted twin cannons of bone and chitin, pulsing with a sick light, heat haze bending around them.
Asher froze, throat dry. He whispered under his breath, words ragged.
"Spineguard. That's… an elite... Shit."
His mind spat curses in silence. Fuck. Fuck. Of course there's an elite here. Why wouldn't there be?
He shut his eyes, pressing his forehead against the ridge stone, forcing his breath to steady.
"Okay. Calm. Calm. Spineguards… they're tough. Sure. Shell thick as tank plating, endurance through the roof, and those cannons can punch through steel like paper."
He chuckled bitterly, his own voice sounding strange in his ears.
"But… they're slow. Not like Leapfangs. Not like those jittery bastards. Two times peak human agility at best. I've got three times now. I can outmaneuver it... Yeah... Yeah, I can. Gotta believe that."
His hand flexed on the rifle grip.
"With this speed and endurance… I'm stronger than most soldiers already. Unless they're hopped up on bone mods and combat drugs. Or wearing exo suits... Heh. Yeah. Lucky me."
The laughter died quick. He swallowed, throat tight.
"Still… that thing's a monster. If it locks me down, it's over."
He pulled his backpack close, hands moving slow, careful. He unlatched the clasp and stared at the dull black cylinder within. A compact nuclear device. Small, but not weak. Enough to turn this nest into molten glass.
He touched the casing like it was a relic, whispering.
"Just gotta get this a bit deeper. Plant it in the tunnels. Then I'm done. Mission over… maybe then I'll finally…"
His voice broke. He clenched his jaw, shoved the thought away, and sealed the pack again.
"Focus."
He slid the rifle into position, checked the mag and it's full. Seven left in reserve. Then he drew three grenades from his belt, holding them in a cluster.
"Alright… let's thin the crowd."
He yanked the pins all at once. The tiny metal rings clinked against his armor. He counted under his breath.
"One… two… three."
He rose just enough, hurled all three toward the nest.
They arced silver in the dim, then vanished into the swarm.
The explosions ripped the air.
Sand and ichor blasted skyward in fountains of black and red. Gnashlings burst apart like crushed insects, bodies shredding into clouds of gore. The shockwave toppled a line of Chitterspawn, snapping limbs, shattering rifles. A handful of Leapfangs were ripped mid-leap, tumbling down in pieces.
Asher ducked, covering his visor from the spray.
"Beautiful," he muttered, voice shaking. "Fucking beautiful."
But when the smoke cleared, the Spineguard stood untouched, its shell scorched but unbroken. Its cannons glowed brighter, heat shimmering around them.
"Of course you're fine."
No time to brood. The swarm screeched, alerted.
Asher popped up from cover and opened fire.
The rifle barked in savage bursts, muzzle flash searing the dark. Bullets tore into Chitterspawn, cracking shells, ripping torsos apart. He focused them first, gunning down the ranged threats before they could pin him. Each pull of the trigger sent another insect crashing into the sand, ichor pooling beneath their limbs.
Leapfangs screeched and bounded forward. Asher's breath hitched.
"Here we go---"
One sprang high, limbs whipping like springs. He pivoted, rifle snapping up, firing in a blur. The rounds tore through its chest, bursting it mid-air in a spray of shards. Another leapt low, jaws clamping for his leg. Asher jumped back, squeezing off three rounds, splitting its skull before it landed.
His mag clicked empty.
"Shit---shit, reload!"
He slapped a new mag in, hands moving fast. Too fast for normal humans. The agility upgrade sang through his body, making his movements fluid, precise.
But in that instant of reload, the Spineguard moved.
It charged, the ground quaking with each step. Its cannons flexed, spewing volleys of bone javelins.
Shards whistled through the air like artillery. One slammed into the ridge beside him, blasting rock into shrapnel. Another clipped his pauldron, spinning him sideways, alarms screaming in his HUD.
"Fuck---fuck---" He ducked, rolled, slammed against cover, heart hammering.
The Spineguard shrieked, its voice a guttural thunder, vibrating through the sand.
Asher snapped the mag home, popped up again. His rifle roared, spitting fire at the Leapfangs. One by one, their bodies burst apart, black rain staining the desert. He cut them down mercilessly, forcing every shot to hit.
The last Leapfang fell with its jaw blown clean off, twitching in the dirt.
Asher didn't stop to savor it. He bolted, sprinting back from the nest. His legs pumped like springs, each stride faster than thought, three times peak human speed carrying him across the dunes.
Behind him, the swarm shrieked and followed. Chitterspawn scrambled, Gnashlings poured from the crack like a living flood, and the Spineguard thundered after them, cannons pulsing with light.
Bone javelins whistled past his ears. One slammed into the sand just ahead, exploding in shards. He leapt over it, boots kicking up clouds of dust.
"Come on, come on, faster!" His voice cracked as he ran. "Three times agility, don't fail me now!"
The swarm trailed, a tide of chitin and hunger. But Asher's reflexes carried him, every leap precise, every stride efficient. He carved distance between them, lungs steady, heart calm.
Endurance held him upright. Agility made him untouchable. For now.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he skidded into the shadow of a sandstone ridge, ducking low, rifle ready. The swarm was still behind, but the gap was growing.
The HUD blinked alive.
---
Asher Veylan
KC (Kill Credits): 134
Strength: 1× Peak Human (Cost: 50)
Agility: 3× Peak Human (Cost: 200)
Endurance: 2× Peak Human (Cost: 100)
(Max: 50×)
Body Modifications: —
Bind Subjects: —
---
Asher stared at the numbers, chest heaving. His thumb hovered over Strength, then over Psychic.
"…Strength wouldn't exactly help me crush through them especially that spineguard, " he muttered.
He clenched his teeth.
"Endurance. That's what I need. There's going to be a lot of running. A lot of hacking and slashing if I go deeper in. If I drop from fatigue…"
He jabbed the air.
"Endurance it is."
The HUD flickered. His body surged with a steady calm, a deeper well of breath filling his chest, fatigue washing from his muscles like water down stone.
---
Asher Veylan
KC (Kill Credits): 34
Strength: 1× Peak Human (Cost: 50)
Agility: 3× Peak Human (Cost: 200)
Endurance: 3× Peak Human (Cost: 200)
(Max: 50×)
Body Modifications: —
Bind Subjects: —
---
He exhaled, slow.
"Good. Better. I can keep this up now."
He leaned his head back against the stone, closing his eyes, listening to the swarm still shrieking in the distance.
"Alright," he whispered to himself. "Round one's over. Spineguard's still out there. Nest still standing. But I'm not done yet."
His hand clenched tight around the rifle.
"I'll finish this. One way or another."
And with that, he forced himself to stand, eyes fixed north, toward the nest.
The war wasn't over. It had only just begun.