Ant's Nest

The village was ravaged by the horrors of wars. Houses collapsed and fields burnt, livestock butchered and its inhabitant slain and slaved.

The knights of the Order of Trilly watched atop their neighing horses. One hand gripped the reins of the horses firmly, and the other placed ready on their sword, prepared to unsheathe it at a sight of danger.

The sun rose high in the sky as the knights sweat' trickled down their widening, cautious eyes and nervous faces. Their chattering as they scanned the surroundings provided a brief sanctuary from the horrifying sight of massacre and plunder.

"Maybe… We should have listened to that kid," a young knight said, his brown hair glinted under the merciless sun ligh, looking at the corpse of a mother hugging her daughter.

"Who? That watchman, Hubert, was it?" another responded, his eyes leisured. He was one of the knights responsible for Hubert's dreadful and excruciating torture.

"Maybe we should have, Arlus, maybe we should have…" another muttered, his face exhausted by the passing of age.

"All of this was preventable, if only we listened to that watchman," Arlus, the young knight, regretted.

"…" the sound of rubbing leaves accompanied their advance further into the village. The knights were silent, their eyes scanning for survivors among the casualties and wreckage.

---

Hubert looked at his sword, its once bright shine replaced by the tainting of the ants' green blood.

He then walked toward the laying amputated hand of which he found the sword.

"I don't know who you are, and I will never know," Hubert said.

"Rest in the embrace of the Goddess," he closed his eyes and said a short prayer.

Then he returned the sword to its owner's embrace.

As the sound of clinking of metals and shouting of soldiers intensified, he looked.

In which the ants were slowly getting pushed back to their hole. While the ground were littered by the bodies of lifeless ants, their green blood puddled on it.

"…" Ron stared at Hubert, then at the ongoing fight, then at back at Hubert, waiting for what he would do.

"Let's go…" Hubert said, with a voice filled with helplessness, knowing he was powerless in such a huge battle.

Ron nodded.

Hubert and Ron picked themselves up and began ascending up ground from the passageway. Leaving the soldiers and ants to their struggle of life and death. They came in with their dulled shovels and returned with it.

Their walked and walked, their steps echoed against the passage's wall.

Then their silhouette was slightly visible from the outside.

Their sound footsteps replaced by another. The continued sound of scraping of shovels and rotating carriage wheels.

The guards, newly replaced, holding whips and shouting orders, welcoming back to the reality of being a slave.

"Is that Hubert?!" another questioned upon seeing Hubert coming out, his hand stopped working.

"And Ron?!" another followed upon seeing Ron following Hubert out.

"They survived? And the guards didn't?" another asked, skepticism of the situation.

"Hey!" a guard called out, his voice first commanding but he stopped after realizing Hubert and Ron exiting the passageway.

"Both of you, continue to work!" the guard overcame his hesitation and ordered. A whip in his hand ready to be launched freely.

"…" Hubert and Ron looked at the guard.

With tired eyes, Hubert walked to where his place of hefting mana stones into the carriage was, Ron followed closely. Despite experiencing the terrifying conditions inside the cave, they carried on with their work

"Ugh… Man, you really stink! You should get a shower," one of the slaves, beside Hubert, of whom never bothered to start a conversation with him, spoke with a friendly tone.

"How did you guys even survive?" another asked, his piqued interest got the better of him. Though Hubert remembered the cold glance he received from the slave previously.

He was perplexed and confused on the sudden change in the nature of the slaves. Their once disdainful and cautious eyes were replaced by their welcoming and curious glance.

---

"Advance men!" Clasius shouted, his voice like a roaring lion, echoing against the narrowing tunnel the ant created.

They have pushed the ants back, a step by a step. Where the trail of corpses of ants and their green blood marked the struggle for each step they took. Accompanied by their own share of casualties.

"Sana hoc homine," Kira soft voice became a patron for the wounded. With her magic capabilities and faith in the Goddess, she healed the men in her name.

 "Thank you, nun," the soldiers thanked her before grabbing their fallen weapons and returning back onto the fight. Her casting of healing magic became a miracle in that damp and choking cave, where even the widest and longest of cut would be healed by her words.

"Tsk, "nun"," Kira clicked her tongue, mocking her own title and seemingly agitated by it.

In such a tight place, Henry stood upright with his feet planted on the ground and his rapier kept closed beside him. He placed himself behind all the swordsmen, halberdiers and magicians.

His eyes observed and moved rapidly and furiously, scanning for any ants that had a chance to pierce through the three layers of barrier in front of him.

Every time he swung his rapier, his body stayed still, graciously his hand moved, similar to a chef cutting meat on the air and turning them into cubes.

"Take your antidotes, men! We're getting close!" Clasius ordered sternly.

"Help! Help!" a swordman cried after an ant managed to break through his shield and bit him lightly on the neck.

A helpless and doomed expression present on their faces as they looked at the paralyzed swordman. Green liquid leaking from his nose and strained red eyes, his body still and his mucles rendered useless, akin to a vegetable.

The ants, they were not just normal ants. Instead of foraging and scavenging for food, they hunted and preyed. Their wide, sharpened jaws and each bite that inserted a small amount of paralyzing poison into their victims' nerve system made them to be one of the most threatening ants.

"Sorry… I can't give you my last antidote!" another swordman shouted back.

"May the goddess embrace be with you!" a mage shouted back.

"No… no!" the man shouted one last time. His despairing voice slowly drowned, overwritten by the voice of continuous fighting and shouting.

The tunnel got damper each step they took and gradually, the wall changed from that of a fragile dirt wall into that of a sturdy stone wall.

"Cautions! We have arrived! Send them to the Goddess' side today!" Clasius exclaimed.

From the narrow tunnel of dirt wall, to the wider stone passageway, it was obvious that they were walking toward somewhere, somewhere the humans mingled with.

Human skulls and bones could be seen abandoned on the floor of the place. The putrid smell of rotten flesh and blood could be noticed by the soldiers as they tried to fight the ants while covering their nose with their hands.

"Their queen should be in here," Kira mentioned.

"Then prepare to fight, our duty is to slain the queen and her elite bodyguards. Don't weight us down, servant," Clasius looked at Henry.

"…" Henry replied with his silence.

"Tch, troublesome insects, why would they even attack the catacombs? What do they desire from this place?!" Clasius asked, his voice irritated by the troubles the ants have created for them.

"We'll find out, it should be fun," Kira responded, a slight flush on her face as she gripped her massive two handed flail, her body slightly trembled in anticipation and excitement.

The soldiers reached the end of the hallway.

…

The ants stopped attacking. In uniform, their antennae twitched and trembled. Then they all left the passageway, retreating back to the room at the end of the stone's hallway.

The passageway silentful.

"Wh-what happened?" a soldier asked.

"I'm not sure…" another replied.

"Interesting… The queen are pretty smart it seems, she's preparing for a final stand!" Kira muttered excitedly after deducting all the causes and reasons.

"Then we shall do the same too," Clasius replied.

"Mages! Cast a cover over our soldiers!"

"Invisibilia testudine!" the mages obeyed and casted their magic.

"Swordsmen and Halberdiers! Rest! We'll regain our strength before launching the final attack on the queen!" Clasius said sternly.

Upon hearing the captain's words, the swordsmen and halberdiers collapsed to the ground, dropping their weapons and breathing heavily. The sounds of inhaling and exhaling immediately filled the place, replacing the silence but not the grim atmosphere.

They sat there for a while, accompanied by the eyeless and soulless stare of the detached human skulls and bones. It was a brief respite where the soldiers drank their water and prayed together for victory.

Then they continued.

"Men, prepare yourself for the final fight! Prepare to die and prepare to kill as many ants as you can." Clasius's voice echoed through the stone passageway. His men staring at him.

"Attack formation!" he commanded. Walking to the very front, bypassing all the soldiers and mages, placing himself as a leading figure in the final fight against the ants.

"Follow me! To victory!" Clasius raised his sword high as he ran forward, to the end of the passageway where he knew struggle awaited him.

"To victory!" his men echoed, running forward, following their leading captain, charging against the mounting odds and outnumbering ants.

The heart of the nest where the queen resided.

"Today, we shall send them to the Goddess's embrace!"