To stay here ant certain death, but not every demonkin could face death with resolve.
While Shou still hesitated at the order to flee, another upper-rank warrior was first to turn away, suddenly breaking from the group and bolting down the tunnel they had co from!
“I told you we should have migrated south! I told you… This is all your fault, Hu Yan! Your idea, you take responsibility for it!”
The desertion of one upper-rank warrior ignited the terror already pressing on everyone’s hearts. Several more, panic-stricken, wailed and scread as they shoved aside their comrades to follow after him.
“Cowards!” one of the warriors who remained spat harshly.
But Hu Yan didn’t even glance at the deserters. His eyes were locked on those two massive Evil Eyes.
The Chiss, it seed, had finally gathered in full and were ready to hunt. Six-Clawed Stealth Monsters lted into shadow, while the beetles sward the ground like a living tide.
“Shou! Run!”
At his shout, Shou could only grit his teeth and turn.
But before he could lead the few survivors more than a few steps, disaster struck.
The deserters who had fled into the tunnel—barely had their figures been swallowed by the darkness when sharp, short screams burst out!
Then ca the nauseating sounds of tearing and greedy chewing!
A few Six-Clawed Stealth Monsters, their bodies drenched in blood, walked out of the tunnel. Even upper-rank warriors, once they lost their composure, were slaughtered cleanly by such ambushes.
The retreat was cut off. The Chiss’ true encirclent snapped shut, leaving them completely trapped.
“Kill—!” Hu Yan roared, charging first into the swarm!
Despair ignited into madness, and the battle instantly descended into its bloodiest stage.
Warriors bellowed, each slash and thrust carrying the weight of mutual destruction.
Blood and flesh flew. Severed limbs mixed with the Chiss’ purple ichor splattered everywhere.
Demonkin fell one after another.
One warrior rolled across the ground, stabbing upward to kill a Six-Clawed that had revealed itself in the gore. Before he could even pull his spear free, three more Chiss pounced, ripping him apart in an instant.
Another upper-rank warrior swung his weapon in a storm of death, shredding any Chiss that approached. But under the combined “gaze” of the two Evil Eyes, his joints petrified, his weapon slipped from his hands, and he was swallowed by the tide.
The cavern floor quickly turned into a swamp of blood and corpses, a nauseating stench of death saturating the air.
Drenched in purple blood, Shou’s arms felt heavy as lead, every swing like tearing bone from his body.
Behind him, Qiong held aloft a radiant sphere that dispelled invisibility, while continuously casting potential-boosting spells on his comrades. The strain of overusing his magic left him reeling with dizziness, but chanically he cast another Clear Mind spell on himself just to stay conscious.
This was a battle with no hope—only an endless sea of insects before their eyes.
And just when it seed all would be ground to paste in this blood-soaked mill—
“Chiss… I… lo…ve…”
A garbled voice echoed from so unknown tunnel, layered with eerie distortion.
Shou couldn’t understand, assuming it a cry from so Chiss. But an old warrior muttered in confusion: “A human?”
The mont the voice sounded, sothing even stranger happened.
The Chiss army, a second ago attacking in disciplined fury, froze as if soone had pressed pause!
Whether slashing claws, spewing acid, or preparing invisibility—
Even the two Evil Eyes exuding dreadful pressure—
All stopped in the sa instant!
Their movents locked. Even the irritating “sssk-kah” sounds ceased abruptly.
The entire cavern fell into silence, broken only by ragged breathing and the drip-drip of blood.
The sudden stillness was more terrifying than the earlier chaos.
“What… happened?”
An opportunity!
While so tribesn stood stunned, Hu Yan reacted instantly. Despair in his eyes flipped into mad hope, as if he had grasped the last straw.
“This way!” he roared, pouring every ounce of strength into his hamr. He smashed it into the thinnest section of the insect wall, tearing open a desperate gap!
Shou didn’t hesitate for a second. He seized the dazed Qiong and charged through the blood-soaked path Hu Yan had carved!
He spared no thought for others. By now, of all the young warriors, only the two of them remained.
The two Evil Eyes were the first to “wake.” Blinding rays burst from their enormous pupils!
The beams seared past the fleeing group. Shou, by sheer fortune, was untouched and managed to dive into the tunnel.
The rest of the Chiss shook off their paralysis too. But now, they no longer fought with perfect ease. So pursued the fleeing warriors, unwilling to let prey slip away. But the majority turned and surged in a different direction—Shou thought he heard distant rumbling.
Even a fraction of the swarm was still deadly for the fewer than ten survivors.
Hu Yan and several warriors too wounded to escape spun back, bracing themselves in the narrow passage.
“Go—!”
The crack of breaking shells, the shrieks of the Chiss, the thundering of the hamr, and the distant rumble—all sounds blended into the nightmare behind them.
In his last glance back, Shou saw Hu Yan’s blood-soaked figure vanish beneath the swarm.
The dark tunnel stretched ahead. Behind, hell’s screams pursued. Shou clenched his teeth, dragging the near-unconscious Qiong forward.
At last, he crawled out of the cavern, back into the Stone Fort. Only Qiong remained beside him.
They had gathered nearly all the tribe’s strength—almost forty of their mightiest warriors. Yet of them all, only he and Qiong had returned alive?
Not even the shattered magic cores of their fallen clansn could be recovered.
And when Shou looked at Qiong, the pain only deepened. One of Qiong’s arms and a leg were gone, only fragnts of petrified stone marking where they had been.
“Qiong…”
Then—
Clack… clack… clack…
The crisp, hair-raising sound of chitin striking stone echoed from all around.
Closer, faster—until countless figures encircled them.
It’s over!
The thought rang clear in Shou’s mind.
He lifted Qiong with one arm, the other raising his broken bone spear, ready for the last stand.
There was no regret. He had done all he could. From the mont they stepped into the Stone Fort, their fate had already been sealed.
But the expected attack never ca.
Once the encirclent closed, a glowing green Eye Insect floated forward.
In both Shou’s and Qiong’s minds, a voice sounded:
“I… love… peace. Talk?”
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