It probably took us about 30 minutes of running to reach what turned out to be the last stronghold.

And this was massive.

There were more than a few thousand Infernals here, and due to the number of them, I was quickly spotted, and before I could stop them all, everyone quickly gathered and knelt.

"We greet the Patriarch!"

Thousands of Infernals kneeled before me, and their voices shook the tunnels around us. Which was to be expected from the group I saw before me. I couldn't sense a single Qi Refinement Infernal in the entire group, and there were a few more Nascent Soul Infernals present now.

Ten years sure do change a lot.

But it's good to be back.

I missed them.

Boom!

A loud noise immediately shook the tunnels once again, only this time it wasn't produced by the kneeling of a few thousand Infernals. There was a battle happening.

Hm.

I don't see the boys.

Not waiting for instructions, I took off in a sprint deeper into the tunnel to where I could sense the attacks coming from.

"Come!"

I called out to my Clan as my sprint quickly became a rocket-like flight, as black flames billowed out from the soles of my feet in droves.

There was no need to look behind me or to check if my order was followed. These were the members of my Clan, and if I ordered them to jump, they would have been in the air before I finished my sentence, and they wouldn't have landed until I gave the order.

Ah.

This feels good.

It is only right that I christen my spear with the might of my Clan behind me.

The tunnel we were running down had a sharp corner, and once I made the turn, the sounds of battle I'd been hearing up to this point finally matched what I could see.

I spread my senses throughout the wide expanse of a tunnel I found myself in.

There were about 100 Infernals out here. The boys were among them. I know for a fact they could feel my presence approaching just due to the connection we now shared through the Eternal Flame.

But they had no time to pay attention to me, as the biggest ants I've ever seen in my life were here in numbers that more than doubled the number of Infernals present in the battle. For a brief moment, I wondered why they were the only ones here when more than a few thousand Infernals weren't so far away, but I would address that later.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

In the meantime…

I opened my hand. My precious spear, which had been following me while covered in flames all this while, finally graced my hand.

Finally…

This feeling.

It is one I've missed.

The loaner spears given to me were fine, but they were not mine. They were not made for me according to my specifications. They were not imbued with my flames. They were not mine.

It was now that I remembered some of the first words said to me by Yamaal:

"It is often said that the love between an Infernal and their spear is deeper than the love between a mother and their child."

The statement was rather weird to me all those years ago. And of course it would be. I didn't know what an Infernal was at the time, let alone having never held a spear a day before in my life.

But times were different now.

I knew who I was.

What I was.

I gripped my spear even tighter and ramped up my little propulsion system before diving into the ants with ferocity.

The smallest among their number was roughly the size of a large dog, while the biggest ones I could see were up to the size of a grizzly bear.

Ants. The size of a grizzly bear.

I was supposed to be angry at them, but I couldn't stop the grin forming on my face. This was it. This was the type of battle I enjoyed being a part of.

I could've covered the entire battlefield with black flames, but instead, I allowed my spear to do the talking. After all the training I did on that empty moon, along with the improvement of my cultivation, the amount of power packed into just one of my swings…

BOOOM!!!

An entire swath of ants was immediately blasted back into a direction I was no longer paying attention to. They screeched all around me in what I assumed to be anger as they bared down on my position with clacking mandibles.

But it was never enough.

No matter what they did, or how many came, my spear didn't stop moving. Every single swing, stab, or slash resulted in nothing but destruction. What made it better was that there was almost no Qi involved with my actions.

This was nothing but my physical ability.

I didn't realize it in the moment, but at some point, everyone who was fighting when I got there stopped fighting and backed off.

All of them. Thousands of Infernals. They just stood to the side and watched me fight with nothing but joy on my face.

And I didn't even realize until after the battle was over and I stood there in the middle of a few hundred dead ants. Carapaces and mandibles littered the area all around me.

Not long after that, I was back at the stronghold with everyone and sitting in one of the many rooms here.

Vrusha was in the room, of course, and the boys were here as well. They and the rest of the Infernals who weren't present at the stronghold promptly gave me their greetings after the conclusion of the battle.

"What are we doing with the bodies?"

"They are being transported back to the surface, where we sell them in bulk at a flat rate depending on weight, Patriarch."

"Oh, who organized that? You, Lirian?"

"Ah no, Patriarch, that was handled by Lidaz and the finance department."

Oh, I almost forgot about all the departments we made. Well, that's good then.

We then spent the next hour or so catching up, but with more of a focus on the situation underground at the moment. It wasn't anything different from what Vrusha had explained to me already, but more details were added.

For example, the reason why only the boys and their respective squads were on the battlefield was because the ants would attack every couple of hours without fail. Some attacks would be like the one I was here to witness. Just a couple hundred ants while others could reach thousands.

And that would be only if they stayed here.

With the number of Infernals we had, there wouldn't be a problem pushing deeper into the tunnels, but then the might of millions of ants would descend on us like never before. We simply didn't have the numbers to contend with something of that magnitude.

Not before now at least.

"Alright, I understand. Make sure everyone is prepared. We will make a deeper push after the next battle. You mentioned there is another location that all were forced to retreat from, correct? We will push towards it, conquer it, and occupy it long enough to free whoever is located.

"Sounds good?"

They gave their affirmations, and the meeting ended. There was more catching up to do, but that would come in due time.

For now, there is business to handle.

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