"Okay, forget all this," Kael said, more serious now. "You'll understand everything in time. For now—we're not done here. Let's go"
Seris was silent for a while. She didn't speak anymore since Kael was her owner. She nodded and followed him.
They moved cautiously now.
Minutes later, they found it.
A hole in the ground—large enough to fit a wagon—lined with mucus-like resin and twitching tendrils.
"Down there?" Kael asked, his face twisted in disgust.
Seris nodded grimly. "That's the nest."
Kael wiped his mouth, already regretting this decision. Still, he forced himself to follow. Seris had already dropped down into the tunnel, sword drawn, shield raised, her back straight and fearless.
Kael slid in after her, landing with a crunch on damp, spongy ground.
The tunnel sloped down steeply, the walls slick with mucus and covered in bioluminescent moss that pulsed like a sick heartbeat.
Kael took a deep breath, gagged, and muttered, "Smells like a corpse took a shit and died again."
"Focus," Seris said, voice clipped. "We're not alone."
The tunnel opened into a vast cavern. Kael stopped short, his stomach knotting.
Eggs. Hundreds of them.
They lined the walls like tumors, bloated and pulsating. Some were split open, their contents long gone. Others twitched as if something inside was dreaming of violence.
Kael swallowed hard.
In the center of the chamber, perched atop a mound of bones and broken gear, was the queen.
She was massive. The size of a carriage, maybe bigger. Her abdomen was swollen, translucent, writhing with the outlines of new spawn. Her carapace shimmered with a sickly sheen, and her eyes—eight of them—locked on Kael and Seris with malignant hunger. Her mandibles clicked with glee.
Then she screamed.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
A piercing, glass-shattering shriek.
POP! SPLUTCH! SPLAT!
The eggs burst.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of smaller creatures swarmed from the walls.
Kael barely had time to think before Seris threw herself into the fray.
"Stay behind me!"
She charged into the swarm, shield first. One bug shattered against stone, another crumpled under her boot. Her sword rose and fell like a pendulum of death.
Shitshitshitshitshit.
The swarm was too big. He couldn't let Seris fight alone.
He reached into the air and opened his storage.
He grabbed a can of mosquito repellent and tossed it at the closest creature. The spray hissed out, clouding the bug in chemicals. It screeched and thrashed, confused.
"Eat DEET, you mutant bastard."
Another charged him. Kael ducked, grabbed a windproof lighter, and flicked it to life.
Click-click... ffffWOOOOSH!
He shoved it into the face of the bug already soaked in repellent.
FWOOOSH!
A small fireball burst to life. The creature ignited, flailing in agony.
"Okay. Improvised flamethrower. Not bad."
Seris was still fighting like a demon. She'd taken a hit to her arm, blood running in a thick trail down her elbow, but she didn't stop.
"These are no D-rank pests!" she shouted. "This is at least B-rank! Maybe A!"
Kael popped open a solar lantern and threw it into the center of the cavern. The chamber lit up in a harsh white glow, exposing the swarm for what it was.
Misshapen bugs with too many eyes and too many legs. Some had wings. Others had talons. One had a mouth on its stomach.
"Oh my God," Kael whispered. "What kind of nightmare is this? I swear I will never take on a quest like this again."
He reached back into the storage.
He tossed a salt pouch into the face of a bug mid-leap. It screeched, smoking where the salt touched it.
"How the fuck does that work on these things?"
"They're moisture-bound," Kael said quickly, eyes flicking to the sizzling corpse. "High water content in their biology—salt pulls it out. I read about it... back in college. Science group."
Seris spared him a sharp glance between swings. "What's 'college'?"
"Place of study. Far away from here. Long story." He hurled another pouch. "Salt kills slugs. Thought it might work. Guess I was right."
She didn't ask more—no time, and probably no interest. But she nodded once. "Then throw more."
The queen screeched again. This time, her abdomen split open, birthing a fresh wave of hatchlings that crawled toward the light.
Kael felt his resolve falter.
But Seris was still fighting. Bleeding, gritting her teeth, covered in gore. She wasn't just strong—she was terrifying.
Kael snapped himself out of it.
"Alright, assholes," he muttered, pulling more windproof lighters from the storage. "Let's make this hellhole glow."
He lit three at once and lobbed them into the cluster of newly hatched bugs, spraying repellent to ignite them.
FWOOOM.
Fire lit the resin-lined chamber. Eggs exploded. Insects screamed. The queen shrieked—this time in pain.
SKREEEEEAARRRGH!
Her carapace was smoking, her limbs twitching.
Seris took the moment.
She charged, shield up, ignoring the swarm. The queen lashed out with a taloned limb. Seris ducked, pivoted, and drove her blade into the queen's side.
The scream that followed nearly shattered Kael's eardrums.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
Black blood poured from the wound. The queen reared up, limbs flailing.
Kael reached into his storage again and pulled out one of the solar lanterns. He cranked it to max brightness and hurled it at the queen's face.
Blinding light filled the chamber. The queen reeled.
Seris didn't hesitate.
Seris climbed her back. Screamed a wordless battle cry. And drove her blade into the soft, twitching meat of the abdomen.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The queen spasmed. Then collapsed.
THUUMMP.
Silence fell.
The remaining hatchlings twitched, then went still. One by one, they retreated into the shadows, fading into the tunnels.
Kael stood panting. His jacket was soaked with sweat and bug blood. He looked like he'd crawled through hell.
Seris dropped to her knees beside the corpse.
"You good?" he asked.
She looked up at him and nodded, too tired to speak.
Kael walked over, crouched beside her, and offered a water bottle, opening it. "Drink."
Seris looked at the strange bottle. But this time, she didn't ask Kael any questions. She just took the bottle and drank the water.
They sat in silence for a while, catching their breath.
Kael finally stood and looked at the carnage.
"I'm grabbing a leg or something," he muttered. "We need proof."
Seris groaned. "Get the mandibles. They'll know what it was."
Kael hacked them off as best he could, wrapping them in a torn piece of cloth and stuffing them into his storage.
"That was a D-rank mission, huh?"
"Either someone at the guild's blind, or someone wanted us dead."
"These better be worth something. And the guild better have answers."
Kael nodded.
"We should go."