The tunnel narrowed as they pushed deeper.

The Razorwing Skitterers tried to hold them back. They dropped from crevices, surged from side passages, and launched themselves from the walls in desperate attempts to slow the advance. It made no difference.

[Quest Progress Updated: 3,947/4,000 Razorwing Skitterers defeated.]

Helga's warhammer pulverized three Skitterers with one swing. The force of the blow sent their broken bodies flying into the wall, where they left smears of ichor.

[Helga Grimstad strikes Level 61 Razorwing Skitterer for 1,328 blunt damage.]

…

[Helga Grimstad strikes Level 62 Razorwing Skitterer for 1,391 blunt damage.]

…

[Level 61 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

…

[Level 62 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

…

Aldric's Sun Chasers swept the flanks clean. Of course, the most astonishingly strong of them all was Aldric himself. It looked like he got a pretty high proficiency in spear wielding, and most likely it was of the medium type.

[Aldric Sunborne strikes Level 64 Razorwing Skitterer for 1,167 piercing damage.]

[Level 64 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

…

[Level 63 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

…

[Level 64 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

The level difference clearly played a role, and while both he and Helga focused on the high-level monsters, having to face so many of them meant the two ended up killing low-level ones often.

Of course, despite them being strong, despite them having high levels of F.L.A.I.R., they could not see everything.

An Elite Skitterer burst from the ceiling directly above Aldric. Before it could land, Jake appeared beneath it. The boy moved so fast Reidar missed it entirely, and it was just because of Aldric's men's shouts that he understood Jake had just saved his life.

The Skitterer died before it hit the ground.

[Level 70 Elite Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

Several survivors nearby stopped to stare. Jake had moved faster than most people could track, and the damage he'd dealt dwarfed what even Aldric and Helga could do.

He was more of a monster than the monsters themselves, and what was worse was that he was with Reidar, already a monstrous existence in their eyes.

<His trait really is something else.>

That speed, that damage output... Jake was burning through mana like crazy, but the results spoke for themselves. He was here a moment and there in the following one.

Lena fought near the front; she knew what her enemies would do before they did it thanks to her trait, which fed her constant information about the creatures' intentions and emotional states.

"Left flank," she said. "They're preparing to charge."

Seraphine's archers shifted their aim. When the Skitterers burst from the side tunnel, they met a wall of arrows.

"Aldric," Reidar said. "Narrow passage ahead. Funnel them through your line."

The man nodded and adjusted his formation. When the next wave of Skitterers hit, they crashed into a wall of spears and summoned creatures packed so tight nothing could break through.

[Quest Progress Updated: 3,991/4,000 Razorwing Skitterers defeated.]

At that point, the tunnel opened into something vast. Reidar felt it before he saw it because of a change in the air's quality. It worsened, as if there was something damp there. It was also far smellier than it was before, as if carcasses or droppings had been left there. But he could not tell what it was from his position.

They emerged into what they assumed was the central chamber. The raid quest required them to destroy a brood-sac. While they didn't exactly know what this brood-sac was, it had to do with the birthing of the monsters.

Once Reidar got close enough to see the place clearly, he found the floor was covered in a layer of slime that squelched under their boots. It was the source of the damp air and the horrible smell.

Reidar stepped forward. The stench was overwhelming.

Helga, standing beside him, wrinkled her nose. "Smells like a dumpster full of rotting fish. Someone needs to take out the trash around here."

Aldric rolled his eyes. "Hilarious, Helga. Maybe you should focus on killing the monsters instead of cracking jokes. We're not here for a comedy show."

Helga chuckled. "Lighten up, Aldric. A little humor hurt no one. Besides, if we can't laugh on this joyous occasion, what can we laugh at?"

Reidar ignored their banter. He raised his hand, signaling for silence. The survivors fell quiet. Reidar pointed to the middle of the area. "Does it look like a brood sac to you?" He was pointing at a huge egg-shaped semi-transparent sac.

It was clearly filled with liquid. At the center hung the brood-sac.

<This thing is enormous.>

The brood sac filled most of the chamber. It hung suspended from the ceiling by thick cords of tissue; it was likely made of flesh and was easily eighty feet in diameter. A shape moved inside it; it was large and pressing against the membrane from within.

There was a large, very large Razorwing Skitterer inside of it, but it was slightly different from the others. There were also other kinds of sacs nearby, thousands of them, but they were far smaller than the one hanging in the middle, smaller than the Razorwing skitterers, so they must have been the sacs birthing them. Though the one in the middle was too weird and large.

The raid party pushed forward, killing the remaining Razorwing skitterers.

[Level 65 Razorwing Skitterer detected.]

…

[Level 70 Elite Razorwing Skitterer detected.]

…

The notifications scrolled past faster than Reidar could read them.

Lena moved to his side, her eyes locked on the brood-sac. Her expression shifted to something close to horror.

"That thing is not a common Razorwing Skitterer. That should be the queen."

"The queen?" Reidar asked.

"Yes… At least, this is what I understand. That thing is… changing? Evolving into something stronger for sure." Lena's eyes tracked the shapes moving inside the sac.

"I can feel its emotions. Hunger. Rage. And fear. It knows we're here, and it's trying to wake up even if it would cost its evolution. The evolution isn't complete. If we destroy the sac now, we can kill the queen before it can transform."

There were still Razorwing skitterers nearby, so before they could take care of the brood sac, they had to kill them.

"Everyone!" He addressed the raid members. "Kill the stragglers here, then summon the Rift-Sprite contuberniums and order them to kill that thing."

He pointed at the massive egg.

It didn't take much for them to kill the remaining monsters; it looked like most of them decided to flee, and a lot were bringing the other egg with them.

In Lena's opinion, there was no doubt there were other queens in some of them, just small, not even born, so their priority was to save those larvae before they got destroyed. The quest's goal was to destroy this nest, so chasing the monsters wasn't a priority.

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