The six Zombie Ants did not hesitate.
In the space between one breath and the next, they lunged forward with frightening speed—metallic limbs tearing across the ground, their movements sudden and without warning.
The forest floor quaked under their charge, red glints flashing across their armored shells as they crashed toward the group's formation like a wave of living iron.
Two of them came straight at the front.
Dimitri was already moving. His stance anchored, his shield rising like a steel wall just as the first ant struck.
The impact rang out like hammer against bell, sending sparks from the collision. The second ant slammed in right after, its mandibles scraping against the edge of the shield, trying to push through.
The other four weren't far behind—one from the left, one from the right, two from the rear.
Their timing was exact. Coordinated. There would be no safe side to fall back to.
Noah narrowed his eyes, twin barrels already pointed outward.
"Fuck it."
Noah leveled his flintlocks, the polished barrels already humming with concentrated mana.
As the nearest Zombie Ant surged toward him, he fired without hesitation. Mana Bullets tore through the air in a rapid volley, each one slamming into the ant's exoskeleton with a burst of light and sound.
Chunks of hardened shell cracked away, the force of impact staggering the creature mid-charge.
Perched on his shoulder, Robocrab whirred to life. Its red eye pulsed brighter as it locked onto the target.
A series of crimson laser beams fired in quick succession, each one striking true. The explosions were small but precise, carving scorch marks into the ant's carapace and sending bits of fungus-laced shell flying.
The creature reeled. Its screech echoed through the trees, raw and piercing.
But then, from deep within the wounds, something stirred.
Wet, fibrous roots began to emerge—not from the ground, but from inside the ant itself.
They pushed through cracks in its shell like veins turning inside out, squirming and expanding over the damage.
In seconds, the torn plates were sealed beneath a layer of pulsing, twisted root-flesh. The surface darkened, hardened, thickened—becoming not just a repair, but an upgrade.
Its body grew heavier. Its armor, denser.
It didn't fall.
It adapted.
The second Zombie Ant came crashing in from the side, its limbs slicing through the underbrush with brutal force.
Noah caught the movement just in time. He twisted his body, legs kicking off the ground as he vaulted back with sharp precision.
In midair, he spun, narrowly avoiding the snapping mandibles that clashed just inches from where he'd stood.
But they weren't finished.
Both ants reared back slightly, and from the dark recesses of their mouths, a sudden surge of purple goo shot forth.
The liquid arced through the air with unnatural speed, trailing fumes as it flew. One glob came close—too close—whipping past Noah's face with a hiss that burned the air.
The moment it touched the forest floor, it hissed violently.
Smoke rose in tendrils. Leaves shriveled instantly, eaten through. The bark nearby blackened and peeled away. The soil beneath the goo bubbled, eaten down to pulpy rot in seconds.
Everything the substance touched melted, dissolved, consumed without mercy.
"Acid! These things are spitting acid—watch yourselves!"
"Brilliant. Yet another disgusting thing trying to ruin my flawless face."
June didn't wait for a reply. A flare of red pulsed at the tip of her staff before she launched a stream of small fireballs, each one arcing through the air with controlled precision.
They hit their marks in bursts of flame, leaving charred scars across the ant shells. Beside her, her Shard buzzed to life, spinning erratically as it began firing wild elemental bolts—frost, lightning, and flame—each lashing out in chaotic rhythm.
Above the chaos, Noah scaled a nearby tree, its bark rough and spiked with thorn-like ridges. He climbed swiftly, not for safety, but for sight. Perched high among the twisted branches, he looked out over the battlefield.
From this vantage, he spotted it—one of the Zombie Ants had broken from the fight, slipping past the front line and moving fast toward the rear. Toward Aiko. Toward Luis.
No hesitation.
Noah leapt.
He landed hard, knees bending with the fall, flintlocks already raised. The moment his boots touched earth, he opened fire.
Mana Bullets exploded into the creature's side, tearing through its armor like hammers against rusted iron.
Robocrab, still mounted on his shoulder, whirred violently as it added its own salvo—thin red beams searing into the ant's legs and abdomen, small blasts erupting where the lasers struck.
It wasn't enough.
The creature staggered, but it didn't slow. Massive holes had been torn through its body, exposing pulsing root-like tissue underneath. But it didn't bleed. It didn't flinch. It just kept moving, mandibles twitching as though unaware of its own injuries.
There was no pain in those movements.
Only purpose. Relentless and blind.
Aiko pulled Luis into her arms, shielding him with her small frame as the approaching ant closed in, its steps heavy with death.
Her hands trembled, but she didn't let go. The boy clung to her tightly, face buried against her shoulder, breath quick and afraid.
Then, without warning, a blur cut through the red haze of battle.
Fiona.
She surged in from the side like a storm breaking loose, quarterstaff gripped with both hands.
With a sharp twist of her body, she brought it down in a heavy arc. The steel crashed into the Zombie Ant's side with a ringing crack, making the thing stumble. Before it could recover, her foot shot forward with stunning force, slamming straight into its face.
"I got ye."
Noah was already moving. Without missing a beat, he stepped into the opening Fiona had carved and unleashed a barrage from both flintlocks. The shots hit clean, punching into the ant's legs and thorax, forcing it back with bursts of light and recoil.
The creature shrieked—a high, twisted sound that seemed to split the air. Then, in a blur of unnatural movement, it twisted its limbs inward and burrowed straight into the ground. Earth cracked beneath its weight as it vanished below, leaving behind only the tremble of disturbed soil.
"You gotta be kidding me. How many tricks do these things have?"
The air split with a child's scream.
Luis.
From beneath the ground, soil burst upward in a violent spray as one of the Zombie Ants erupted from below like a living nightmare.
Its mandibles were open wide, aimed not at the boy—but at Aiko. The glint of its fungal-covered shell caught the red light like broken glass, its body trembling with unnatural hunger.
"Damn it, Aiko!"
Noah fired without thinking. Twin flintlocks roared, Mana Bullets crashing into the ant's armor with controlled bursts. Sparks flew, shallow craters erupted along its side, and smoke coiled from the impact zones.
But it didn't stop.
The creature barely flinched. The holes Noah made seemed meaningless, as if the pain was an abstract concept the thing had no use for.
Aiko's arms trembled as she slowly pushed Luis behind her. Her breath caught for a second—but she didn't run.
She let him go.
Her steps steadied. Her shoulders straightened. And with a faint shimmer of resolve, she brought her katana into both hands, the blade catching the blood-colored moonlight as she faced the incoming nightmare head-on.
To everyone's surprise, Aiko didn't shake. She didn't cry. There was no trace of fear in her eyes, nor the distant fog of despair that had once clouded her voice.
She moved with purpose.
Like the quiet of still water before a blade touches its surface, she stepped forward and drew in a single breath. Her hands, once unsure, now gripped the katana's handle and scabbard with clarity. The stance she took wasn't something guessed or imitated—it was practiced, steady, real.
Like a true samurai.
Her eyes closed for just a heartbeat. Not in hesitation. In focus. In surrender to something deep and silent within herself.
"Draw Slash..."
And then she moved.
The blade whispered from its sheath in a single, fluid motion. The slash wasn't showy. It didn't glow or roar. But it carried weight—a hidden strength tucked in grace and speed. The katana cut clean through, slicing the air and the enemy in one breath.
The head of the Zombie Ant dropped to the ground with a dull thud. Fungal threads twitched from the severed flesh, and the mandibles still clicked erratically, refusing to acknowledge death.
It wasn't gone. It wasn't dead.
But it had been stopped. Wounded so deeply it would take time to reknit what it had lost.
Noah's brows rose ever so slightly.
Dimitri's eyes widened, a rare moment of silence falling over him.
Fiona froze mid-step, her gaze fixed on Aiko with something close to awe.
Even June's lips parted, just a little, as if words had paused halfway to her tongue.
[Well then. Didn't see that coming.]
"Everyone, back away from that ant. Now, if you please."
Aiko stepped back, katana still lowered, her breath steady. She reached for Luis and moved with him away from the fallen creature, the boy still staring wide-eyed at the damage she had done.
June stepped forward, her grip tightening on her staff as the very air around her began to shimmer.
Heat rolled off her in waves, silent but undeniable. The ground at her feet cracked faintly, and above them, the red moonlight seemed to bend slightly—like it too was reacting to what was coming.
"Let your wretched form be devoured by flame… Chaos Flareburst."
From the tip of her staff, fire erupted—not just red, but fractured into wild shades. Scarlet, orange, blue, and green danced together in twisting ribbons, all of it unnatural, all of it beautiful in a terrifying way. The flames struck the headless corpse of the Zombie Ant in a single surge.
It didn't scream. It didn't writhe.
The chaotic fire wrapped around its body, consuming it in a heartbeat. Fungal threads hissed, blackened, and vanished. Roots withered into nothing. Its thick shell cracked and curled inward as if it had never been solid to begin with.
And then it was gone.
No remains. No bones. No ash to scatter.
Just silence where it had stood.
Noah's eyes narrowed as he watched the remaining Zombie Ants retreat, their movements no longer wild or rushed.
They stepped back slowly, slipping into the shadows between twisted trunks, hiding just beyond reach. But they did not flee.
They observed.
"It's their heads. That's where the mushrooms cluster. You sever that, and it stalls the regeneration. Buys us time. That's our opening."
The five that remained kept to the edges of the clearing, half-hidden behind bark and fungus-covered roots.
Their lifeless eyes glinted faintly, but it wasn't aimless anymore. It was almost... aware.
Each one shifted from foot to foot with a patience that didn't match their mindless design, as though something behind them—something unseen—was watching through them, adjusting their tactics with silent precision.
"It would appear we're not the only ones who've managed to pick apart our enemy's weakness," said June.
Noah didn't smile. His hands remained near his weapons, steady.
"From what I've seen, this is the part where it gets serious. Everything up to now? That was just the warm-up. The real fight's about to start."