The battlefield split in two currents of chaos: Ash tearing through the Grunt Beetles in reckless abandon, and the rest of the party holding their ground against the towering Keepers.

The tunnel chamber shuddered under the weight of the fighting, resin dripping like molten glass from the ceiling while screeches echoed in every direction.

Yvren stood at the center of the group's formation, staff braced, his wards pulsing outward in steady waves. Light rippled across the resin walls, dazzling drones and forcing them back whenever they pressed too close.

His voice, calm but firm, carried over the din, "Kalrek, keep your focus on the Keepers. Wet their shells with runes—they must not be allowed to signal for reinforcements."

Kalrek snorted, carving frantically into a stone as he crouched low, "Aye, aye, soak the bugs. Glorified exterminator duty, that's me!"

He hurled the rune, and it clung to a Keeper's leg, releasing a fizz of searing light that made the monster reel back with an angry screech.

One of the Keepers bore down on Tholn, its mandibles snapping with brutal force.

The Murkfen warrior twisted aside, his movements sharp and economical. Its limb slammed down, cracking stone where he had stood a heartbeat before.

With a rasping growl, Tholn slashed upward, his blades biting deep into the softer underjoint of the beetle's leg.

The Keeper hissed, chitin splintering, but it lunged again, forcing Tholn to backpedal, weaving between its strikes like a predator evading a larger beast.

Across the chamber, Veyra kept another Keeper at bay.

She planted her feet and loosed an arrow that ricocheted off the wall, striking the beetle in the side of the head. It shrieked, enraged, and charged, drones scrambling around its feet.

Veyra cursed under her breath, firing again and again, each shot aimed to slow rather than kill.

"Big bastard's not letting up!" she shouted, ducking as resin shards exploded from a near miss.

"Veyra! Ready yourself," Yvren called, his voice steady even amid the chaos.

Just then, Yvren raised his staff high, summoning a dome of light that flared as the second Keeper's charge neared.

The beast recoiled, stunned by the radiance, buying Veyra precious seconds to adjust her aim.

"Now," he said firmly, "While it falters."

Veyra drew back her bow, channeling aether until the arrow shimmered with pale light. She whispered the name, "Moonpiercer."

The shaft streaked through the air like a comet, slamming into the exposed joint at the creature's throat.

The Keeper screeched, staggering back as Yvren pressed the dome tighter, light searing into the wound.

Another Moonpiercer arrow followed, streaking true until it struck the first shaft dead-on, driving it deeper into the Keeper's throat.

The doubled impact flared brilliantly as aether seared through the wound. The beast convulsed, thrashing, before collapsing with a final shudder.

As its corpse slumped against the resin wall, Yvren turned his head slightly toward Kalrek.

"One down," Yvren said, lowering his staff as the Keeper slumped lifeless. His voice stayed calm but carried a sharper edge. "Kalrek—mark the others now, soak their shells so they cannot cry for reinforcements."

Meanwhile Kalrek continued his work, carving two runes at once even as sweat streamed down his brow.

"Bleed my fingers dry, why don't you," he muttered, etching furious lines.

With a grunt, he flung both stones in quick succession.

The Keepers snapped their mandibles and braced, expecting explosive force. But instead, the runes burst mid-air with a splash, drenching them in gushing water.

Water streamed down their carapaces, soaking their shells until the glow of their signaling glands sputtered and dimmed.

"There!" Kalrek barked with a grin, "Got your kind twice with the same trick! Hahaha!"

The drenched beetles froze.

For a long beat they glanced at one another, mandibles twitching as if to ask—did we really just get juked like that?

Then, slowly, they turned their heads toward Kalrek, rage seething off their carapaces as resin dripped in streams.

Kalrek's bravado cracked, his grin faltering as he stumbled back a step.

"...Ah. You didn't find that funny, did you?" he muttered, fear flickering in his eyes as he took a step back.

The drenched beetles froze, then, with fury burning off them, lowered their heads and charged at Kalrek.

He squeaked out a nervous laugh and stumbled back, ready to bolt.

Before the beasts could reach him, Yvren swept in, staff blazing, a wall of radiant light slamming into their path. The beetles screeched, momentarily stunned. Veyra's arrows cut through the pause—Moonpiercers whistling bright, punching into their joints with sharp cracks of aether.

The two Keepers roared, hammering against Yvren's barrier. He gritted his teeth, holding firm while shouting, "Now, Veyra!"

She loosed again, arrows glowing, each strike timed with Yvren's flares to exploit the cracks in their armor.

Kalrek, seeing the opening, hurled a rune beneath their feet. It detonated in a burst of concussive force, throwing both beetles off-balance. "Ha! Didn't see that coming, did you?" he barked, though his voice wavered.

Veyra's final Moonpiercer streaked like silver fire, striking the weakened joint of one Keeper's neck. The beast shrieked and collapsed sideways, convulsing.

Yvren's staff blazed brighter, a lance of light piercing the second beetle's eye. It reared back in agony, only to meet another rune-explosion from Kalrek that toppled it hard to the ground.

Together, the three of them pressed the assault—light, arrow, and rune pounding in harmony until both drenched Keepers finally lay still. The clash thundered in the Nest's chamber, resin cracking and smoke curling, their victory ringing out in the silence that followed.

Ash carved through the remnants of the Grunt Beetles like a storm unchained. Shadows coiled and lashed, tearing through chitin while resin sprayed in black arcs across the chamber floor.

His teeth sank deep into another drone's thorax as Riven darted past him, a blur of afterimages from a Shadow Sprint that ended in a crushing impact against two more Grunts.

The beasts screeched and toppled, and Ash didn't pause—he was already moving to the next.

The mission counter burned in his vision.

21/50…

22/50…

The numbers ticked up with each kill, the weight of the trial pressing on him like a brand. He ignored the ache crawling up his limbs alongside the , and pressed harder.

A sharp whistle cut through the din. Tholn vaulted into the fray, his blades glinting violet in the gloom.

He had broken from the Keeper fight, slipping through the chaos to aid Ash. Without a word, he fell into rhythm—daggers flashing in short, lethal arcs that cut down the stragglers Ash's shadows scattered.

A drone lunged for Ash's flank, but Tholn intercepted, severing its mandibles in a single fluid strike.

"I'll pick off the ones attacking you," Tholn said evenly, parrying another, "Keep killing them."

Ash gave Tholn a brief nod of thanks before launching into the next strike.

A clone appeared at his side, casting Umbral Bind that erupted in black tendrils, seizing a knot of beetles.

Tholn dove in, blades sinking cleanly into each immobilized foe. Resin splashed across his arms, but his motions never faltered.

Riven barreled into a cluster from behind, scattering them into disarray.

Tholn flowed into the gaps, cutting them apart with surgical precision, while Ash drove forward with Eclipsing Fang, his claws cleaving through a larger Grunt's armored shell in a burst of shadow.

Together, their contrast was stark—Ash's frenzied savagery and Tholn's calm precision—but it worked. The swarm thinned rapidly.

26/50…

29/50…

The counter surged, a burning reminder of what the system demanded.

Ash's chest heaved, his vision blurring, but still he tore onward. Tholn moved with him, a steady anchor, warding off the dangers Ash's fury left unchecked.

The last Grunt Beetle came lunging, its mandibles wide.

Ash struck first, a shadow-cloaked slash cleaving its torso. Tholn's daggers flashed in tandem, severing its legs. Together, the blow ended it in an explosion of resin.

31/50.

The counter pulsed, blazing in Ash's mind. Ash had cut down just ten of the Grunts himself, but the rest had fallen to his clones, Riven's relentless strikes and Tholn's precise daggers, leaving the floor littered with broken shells and resin.

A flicker of frustration churned beneath his exhaustion—still nineteen left to go before the system's demand of fifty would be met.

Yet mingled with it was a grudging satisfaction at the fact that he was able to make such progress.

Just then, a loud voice dragged him out of his thoughts.

"Finally… saints save me, it's over," Kalrek gasped as he flopped onto his back, collapsing onto the floor with a heavy grunt as the last Keeper finally toppled.

Smoke and resin filled the chamber, the echoes of its death cry still vibrating through the tunnels.

Veyra wiped sweat from her brow, bow trembling in her hand as she let out a shaky laugh, "I hope we dented their forces at least."

"I don't want to see another beetle for a bit," Kalrek groaned, "I need a power nap."

For a brief, fragile moment, it felt as though the Nest had grown quiet—yet the silence was weighted more with exhaustion than with peace.

"You all did well," Yvren began to speak as he made his way over to Ash and Tholn, "We can recoup for a bi-"

WHUMMMM… WHUMMMM…

Just then, the chamber quivered with a new sound.

A low vibration rolled through the resin walls, growing into a loud, humming thrum that rattled their bones.

All eyes turned toward one of the tunnel mouths where a massive Keeper was standing, its carapace glowing brighter than any they had faced.

The creature had its head lifted high, wings opened slightly that were vibrating hard against its shell.

The bone-rattling hum echoed like an alarm, reverberating down every passage of the Nest. Its signaling glands flared with harsh light, painting the chamber in an ominous glow.

The party stiffened, their moment of relief shattered.

Kalrek let out a weary, exasperated groan, "...fuck."

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