The air was thick with the smell of scorched moss and insect ichor, yet the swarm did not scatter. Instead, the lesser beetles hissed and drew together, their bodies clicking and grinding as if answering some invisible rhythm.

From the rent earth strode their commander, once again—the leader beetle—its mandibles clashing in a cadence summoned order from chaos. Each snap was a war-drum, pulling the swarm into formation once more.

Ash slid to the flank, hackles bristling, his amber eyes narrowing as he sought angles of attack.

"Stay sharp," he growled, voice low but steady, "The big one's calling the tune."

Tholn moved with a predator's grace, twin daggers poised to dart into seams, every muscle wound tight like a drawn bowstring.

He gave a sharp grin and muttered, "Then let's change the melody."

Yvren planted his staff like an anchor, his stance steady and deliberate, eyes tracking the leader's every twitch.

"Not yet, hold formation," he barked, "Watch the gaps—it's smarter than the rest."

Above them, Veyra vaulted onto a twisted root, bowstring taut, her arrows glimmering faintly in the bioluminescent light. She called down dryly, "Don't blink, or you'll miss my shot."

And at the rear—Kalrek—still fumbling with his pouch, muttering to himself as he juggled half‑carved stones and wiped ichor from his cheek.

"Just need the right one, just the right one…"

For a breath, time hung suspended—the regrouped swarm chittering in dark unison, the adventurers tightening into their own rhythm. The battle had only just begun, but every heartbeat was a signal: be ready, or be swallowed whole.

The clash began in earnest as the first wave of beetles hurled themselves forward. Steel, claw, and arrow struck carapace, and for a heartbeat it felt like striking iron walls. Sparks flew where Ash's claws scraped uselessly, and Tholn's blades rang against the hardened plates. But then patterns began to reveal themselves.

"Neck hinge, see it?" Tholn hissed, slipping under a lunge. His dagger darted into the seam where head met thorax, drawing a spurt of ichor before he vaulted away, "Soft spot. Go for that."

Above, Veyra let fly two quick arrows that pinned themselves just shy of the same joint, deliberately marking the target.

"You don't have to tell me twice," she called down with a smirk, already nocking the next shaft.

Ash growled his approval, testing another strike and feeling his claws dig a little deeper at the marked angle. Even Yvren nodded grimly, adjusting his stance to hammer for those precise cracks rather than brute force.

And then there was Kalrek.

He squatted behind a toppled root, holding a glowing ward-stone like a scholar with a magnifying lens.

"Aha! The structural integrity of chitin resembles barkstone under tension—fascinating!" he declared, scribbling air‑notes with one finger while bringing the stone perilously close to overloading.

Sparks sputtered, the rune lines flaring. His eyes widened. "Oh. That's new."

"Kalrek!" Veyra barked, loosing another arrow.

He yelped, fumbling, nearly tossing the stone into the melee, "Relax! Controlled experiment!"

Veyra's voice cut through the clash, sharp and furious: "You nearly had your twinkie snapped off by a beetle! This isn't the time to jot down notes!"

The ward pulsed ominously, and he scrambled to stuff it back into his pouch with a sheepish grin, "Science is dangerous, you know."

Despite the chaos, the team's rhythm sharpened. Targets were clearer, strikes more confident. With each beetle that reeled from precision blows, the adventurers felt the tide beginning, however slightly, to turn in their favor.

The team had just begun to find their footing when the earth convulsed again. Roots shivered, dust fell in thin streams, and from fresh cracks boiled a surge of beetles, their armored legs scraping like knives unsheathed in chorus.

Another wave had come…disciplined, flanking to either side, mandibles clashing in rhythm with the deep vibration issuing from the leader.

Ash's claws dug furrows into the soil as he snarled, "There's more of them?!"

Tholn's blades flashed, deflecting a strike, "How are they doing this."

Veyra vaulted higher, arrows hissing downward in quick succession. Sweat gleamed on her brow, "They're boxing us in!"

Yvren slammed his staff to the ground, the impact sending a tremor through the closest beetles. His gaze locked on the towering leader.

Its carapace had opened slightly, revealing the faint shimmer of wings vibrating beneath. The sound was a low, sinister drone that made the air itself quiver.

"It's signaling," Yvren said grimly, "Summoning and steering them. We need to take it out quickly before it can call even more!"

The truth sank in—the leader was not just a brute, but a commander, calling the swarm with each wingbeat. The circle closed tighter, mandibles clashing in unison.

Ash's breath came harsh and ragged as ichor sprayed from his latest strike.

At this pace, there was going to be no way for them to be able to eliminate all of the beetles before the leader called in more help.

A growl built in his chest as shadows stretched unnaturally long at his feet, coiling like hunting hounds ready to spring. His instincts burned sharp as steel.

"No more holding back," he muttered.

Shadows of the Pack!

From his body peeled spectral hyenas, dark and translucent, each moving with his rhythm but darting on separate paths.

They lunged and circled, weaving through roots and around beetle legs, their eyes gleaming like hollow coals, jaws snapping with ghostly echoes.

A chorus of howls rose up—low, guttural, and chilling—layered over Ash's own growl, as if the Hollow itself had conjured a pack to answer his call.

The swarm reeled in confusion. Antennae whipped wildly as the beetles snapped at illusions that vanished just as fangs sank in, their strikes scattering against shadows that left only fear behind as they seamlessly dodged.

Kalrek's mouth hung open mid‑quip, the words stolen from his throat as he watched spectral hyenas dart between the roots. "Spirits save me… that's terrifyingly stylish, especially that one with the unique design," he blurted first, half in awe, half in envy, before his gaze fixed a little longer on Riven before he focused back on fighting.

Veyra paused mid-draw, her focus shaken, her usual composure cracking.

"So it was real?" she whispered, disbelief threading her tone as she also temporarily paused for a moment, "Just like the prophecy."

Even Yvren, usually granite-faced, who seemed like he was laser-focused on the foes around him faltered. His eyes tracked Ash's footwork, the uncanny way the other three shadows multiplied and mirrored his movements.

His jaw clenched, but awe cut through discipline.

'Not only does he fight far beyond his rank,' he thought, 'He even carries the skill of Varruk.'

The swarm itself even seemed to hesitate, antennae whipping frantically as if the illusions had unsettled instinct as well as sense.

Tholn, quietly observed the addition, a smile appearing on his face as he took down another beetle, "That's our saviour."

Ash pressed forward, using phantom feints to open seams in the carapace.

A beetle lunged, its mandibles clamping onto an afterimage which suddenly appeared a few metres away from the beetle. The place where it had been struck showed a hole which was quickly being healed as shadow energy began to coat its skin again.

Meanwhile, the real Ash slid beneath, claws flashing to tear through the hinge at its neck. Another phantom circled wide, baiting two attackers into crashing together.

'There's no better time!' Ash mentally thought as the beetles had yet to find a way to eliminate his clones.

Shadow Sprint!

In that instant, Ash blurred forward, the markings on his body glowing purple. He reappeared beside the towering leader, claws raised to strike.

The survival instinct of the beast jerked, a foreboding sense of death washing over its body as it hurriedly twisted its bulk, plates shifting to guard its vulnerable areas.

However, just as it moved and prepared to brace, its entire frame jolted and froze.

From the darkness beneath its own legs erupted tendrils of pure shadow, coiling up like serpents. They lashed around its limbs, its thorax, even its mandibles, binding it in place.

The leader thrashed, but the tendrils only tightened, humming with power.

Ash's eyes flicked to the side where Riven stood, both paws outstretched and laying flat on the ground, his expression grim.

'Got your back,' Ash heard him murmur, the words like a verdict.

The beetle's shadow had betrayed it—turned into shackles that pinned its colossal body against the soil.

Ash's claws gripped the ground hard as he made another aether filled leap, his eyebrows furrowing in disgust as he braced his mind for what came next.

'This is going to taste vile,' he thought grimly, jaws opening wide. Shadow flared along his fangs, lengthening them into curved, obsidian blades.

Eclipsing Fang!

Crack! Crunch!

He clamped down hard on the beetle leader's neck seam. The shadow-coated fangs sank deep, crunching through the armored gap with a sickening crack!

With a wrenching twist, he tore free and landed heavily on the soil behind the beetle.

The severed head of the beetle leader clenched between his jaws.

The beetle's massive body remained upright for a frozen instant, wings shuddering as the last echoes of Riven's tendrils pinned it in place. Then the shadows dissolved, releasing it. The carcass toppled with a ground-shaking crash, while Ash spat aside the ruined head, his chest heaving, shadows curling from his fangs like smoke.

[Ding! Killed a D+ rank Carrion Beetle Commander. 400 exp gained. +80AP]

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.