12 Minutes Left
He had explained his state and the state of the transmission, which roused a well-earned groan of frustration from everyone. But he had a plan.
The rest of them were not without doubt, but it was either that or dying of exhaustion fighting against the seemingly endless hordes of ants. His head pounded even more, blurring his vision.
"Well then, leader, spit some wisdom." Cedric said.
"Genocide"
"Or maybe just spit and hold the wisdom." Vin snickered.
"Basically," Kyran started, gracefully ignoring Vin. "Every ant in the nest has a mental imprint that contains part of the message. But the thing is that the imprint changes from ant to ant based on how many are left. So if one dies, less vital info becomes the imprint it had, while more vital info is moved to another living ant. And guess what the lowest part of this rabbit hole is?"
"Our location." Zari realized.
"So other than stopping the transmission from being sent, which we already failed at, we can instead just destroy every part of the message before twelve minutes are up." He finished. "Easy right?"
He was met with silent anticipation.
"Right?" He repeated.
"Shut up for a second so I can make a way out of this hole. We won't be much help if we have no ants to kill." Grayson said.
Raven spoke up next, "Well I guess that settles it. Let's go people!"
*****
9 Minutes Left
Let it never be said that the Asura Squad didn't know how to commit mass murder.
When they kicked it into high gear their speed multiplied, fatigue be damned. Without any overarching purpose to the fight other than slaughter, they cleared out the entire nest in three minutes.
Except of course, for the last survivor.
Kyran dragged the katana through an ant's torso as easily as if it were air. In the dull monotone his vision had taken, he could vaguely see a runic sentence manifest on the ant's head, before changing and flickering out.
He turned his head to the east.
The queen's lair, and the site for the last part of the message.
He started running towards it; the rest would catch up.
As he ran, he felt a slight tinge of what might have been curiosity about the sword. He looked down at it, the bright silver blade reflecting his face.
Vessie, do a scan or whatever.
[Name: Legion Sword]
[Type: Weapon]
[Relevant History: Nothing is known about this mysterious weapon, other than the fact that one of its properties make it highly suitable for the main node of a communication relay, and that it's powerful beyond reason.]
[Properties: ???]
[Abilities: ???]
[Remark: You're an idiot for touching it.]
He was even more curios than he was when he asked for the scan, as the sword's only strange qualities were its design and sharpness.
He ignored the questions in his head and continued forward.
Before long, he had reached the lair.
8 Minutes Left
His eyes flickered over to the spots of light that signified his teammates. They were rapidly closing in, but they wouldn't make it in time.
He didn't have much time.
Kyran jumped into the tunnel and used the sword to slow his fall, sticking it into the wall and dragging it with him, keeping his momentum until he dropped into a vast cavern.
BOOM
He landed on the ground with a massive thud and quickly put his guard up. His legs were going to suffer for that little stunt, but he couldn't be bothered at that moment.
The cavern around him was multiple times bigger than the ones containing nodes, and was completely empty, with the only light coming from the wall's natural luminescence.
The sword in his hand suddenly increased in temperature, and his headache became so bad he could barely see or hear.
Except he heard the slight sound of clicking mandibles, and he saw a massive thing in front of him that just appeared. It was bulbous and irregular, constantly convulsing and spitting out gouts of fire.
Fire.
Fire had taken up residence in the thing's body, so it was probably not a stretch to say..
That it was also the Queen.
He was in absolutely no condition to fight, but he saw that the dots were still too far to help him.
I guess it's me and you now.
He forced his eyes to focus on the thing in front of him.
Unlike the other ants, the Queen was more maggot-like and was set horizontally, with multiple stubby branching limbs that it used to move around. It's body was also structured differently, with a bulging abdomen that pulsed and quivered and a thorax that protruded four massive, weaponized appendages.
And it was absolutely massive.
It was almost 30 meters tall, and double that length, and a head that could swallow him whole.
Without his prompting, a Page appeared before him.
[Name: Ant Queen No. 4789934126]
[Type: Living Organism, Pseudo Fire-Elemental, Insectoid, Amythorac.]
[Relevant History: Born into the role of Queen, No. 4789934126 had always been more intelligent than her children, and put the Amythorac hive first. So when she was sent to this desolate system to complete a job, she tried to complete it to the best of her abilities. Her body and mind was taken over by a raging fire, and she was ecstatic because of the power it granted her. Too late, she realized, that every gift had a price, and now she is nothing more than a mindless beast desperately holding on to that last part of information, as it's all she has left of her former ambition.]
[Properties:
:The strength of the Amythorac is normally around 2-6 times their body weight, while they have been recorded moving a speed of up to 100km/h
:Their magical abilities are negligent, but the intrusion of one of the Elder Host has given her an advanced insight into the element of fire.]
[Abilities: Advanced Fire Control, Amythorac Production, Genetic Insight, Genetic Codex, Hivemind]
[Remark: In your current conditions, do not engage. But it's too late for that now isn't it?]
[Aether Storage: 2,500/25,00]
Kyran took all of this in with a pounding headache and a burning sword in his hand. The heat from the sword was strange in a way that didn't follow conventional temperature. He kept the same dull expression as before, the only changes being periodic spasms of pain. He didn't care how big it was, or how strong.
The thing was trapped in there with him.
The glow in his eyes brightened.
The Queen moved so fast she became a blur.
His eyes widened and he moved on instinct.
The Queen surged forward. Her four weaponized appendages, each as thick as tree trunks, swiped at the air, their tips glowing with molten heat. The force of her movements sent waves of searing air toward Kyran, the intensity enough to scorch even stone. But he didn't flinch.
[Asura Path]
Invisible threads of telekinetic force wrapped around him like a cocoon, shielding him from the blazing heat. He extended his hand, and with a sharp, mental command, the threads lashed out, coiling around one of the Queen's massive appendages. The force pulled taut, but the Queen's sheer weight resisted him. She yanked back, and Kyran flew across the air, the world spinning upside down as he struggled to regain balance.
He teleported to the ground, but she was there to meet him. She reared up, her massive head tilting back before slamming forward, her jaws snapping shut just inches from his form. The air pressure alone nearly knocked him off his feet.
He dodged. It didn't help.
He used the sword to glance off a blow from the thing, but another arm quickly sideswiped him so hard he was sent flying.
[Asura Path]
He teleported to the ground and teleported again to above its head. The fire erupting from one of the bulging boils quickly expanded in a wave, forcing him to teleport away. The heat from the Queen was half a dozen times hotter than that of her children, and he couldn't defend against it.
[War Path]
The katana in his hand burned brighter, its weight growing heavier. He condensed dozens of units of Aether into the sword, then released it in a single, sharp arc aimed at one of the Queen's weaponized limbs. The blade of force cut through it like paper, severing the molten appendage with a burst of heat and molten blood.
The Queen shrieked, her massive body recoiling as fire erupted from the wound.
But she was far from done.
Her abdomen swelled unnaturally, and with a sickening sound, she spewed forth a swarm of smaller fire ants. Each one glowed with the same molten intensity, their bodies like living coals. The air filled with the sound of their chittering as they surged toward Kyran.
[Preta Path]
Creatures from his demented mind—horrific, amorphous beings of darkness and flame—surged forth from his will. They slammed into the minion's flaming limbs, their forms shifting and shifting again, trying to absorb the fire, stifling the flames just enough to give Kyran breathing room. But the queen wasn't giving him the opportunity to rest.
She rushed forward again but a surge of force blasted the queen back, and she screeched in pain, her flaming appendages flailing to regain control. But Kyran wasn't done.
[Insanity]
Black and blue flame erupted from every crack on his body, which he then used as a flaming weapon. It shifted and roiled, hissing through the air as a whip, ripping through the air as spears and emxplosions and reducing the force of attacks. Every hit he scored weakened the creature, burning through it's vitality and energy, but likewise ate at his Aether reserves quicker than anything else.
Kyran dismissed the Primordial Flame and quickly dodged out of the way of certain death coming in the form of a claw.
He kept up this dance of death, slowly crippling the creature while dodging and weaving in between waves of fire and clawed attacks.
Before the two minute mark, the creature was in a sorry state, with only one of its weaponized limbs left and bleeding from multiple tumorous boils, half of it's abdomen practically in shreds.
But his headache persisted, and the sword's strange heat made it awkward to skillfully handle. So when he prepared for a redirection of another sideswipe, he missed the claw and it hit him square in the side.
His vision exploded into stars as he hit the wall like a cannonball. Before he could regain his bearings, the ant was once again upon him and it dragged him across the cavern's wall like she was scrubbing it, then threw him once again.
When he hit the wall this time, he nearly blacked out. He was hanging by a thread, Ichor running down his face. Through the fiery haze of magic blood, he could see that the Queen was approaching slowly, savoring victory.
Quite a mistake, honestly, and she was going to dearly regret it.
He wasn't going to die here, and definitely not to the hideous thing before him. He still had stuff to do, people to have fun with, powers to make the most of.
Heroes to avenge.
So he would be damned if he let it all end here.
Especially to a fucking insect.
He raised his hand and stabbed the Legion Sword into the wall his back was resting on.
[Preta Path]
[Rune Path]
[New Combination Skill Learned!]
[Legion Fall]
The wall suddenly shifted and boiled, the Ichor on it only enhancing the raging Aether flow. The wall exploded forth into hundreds of stony creatures, insectoid in nature.
Hundreds of Amythorac. Each one was an exact replica of one that he had killed before, down to their very souls. That was the Sword's doing, but he didn't know how.
Each and every one of them had one distinct feature, and that was a massive flaming rune glowing in gold and blue in the center of their chests.
Each rune said Implode.
The Amythorac surged towards their Queen, and in a confused daze, the Queen couldn't even blink, let alone dodge.
She was shocked and elated. Her dead babies were coming back to her! So in her happiness, she allowed every single one of those ants to touch her, as if in a mad embrace. And in this incredible moment, she didn't notice how every single one that touched her transferred its rune onto it.
By the time the wave died down, the Queen's body was a tapestry of glowing words.
Kyran allowed a twitch of his mouth, reminiscent of a smile.
He snapped his fingers.
The world exploded.