"Here's the plan. Those of us who can't take their heads off—we're the distraction. We keep them busy, slow them down, give the others a chance."
"Understood, my friend. My blade's far too blunt to do much more than make them annoyed."
"Fiona, this next round's gonna sting. We'll be taking hits we can't dodge, so stay sharp. We'll need your healing, and we'll need it fast."
"Aye, I understand. Ma heal's ready tae go—just dinnae drop dead before I cast it, alright?"
"Aiko… you're the only one here who can land a clean cut. We're counting on you to behead them. The moment one goes down, June will handle the rest. We strike, then burn."
Aiko's voice broke through the brief silence, quiet but firm.
"What about Luis-kun?"
Noah's brows drew together, the question hitting exactly where he didn't want it to. His jaw tensed, the familiar flicker of frustration rising behind his eyes.
For a moment, it looked like he was about to launch into another one of his usual rants—about the dangers of dragging a non-combatant through a battlefield, about the logic of risk versus reward, about how NPCs weren't built for this kind of fight.
But he didn't.
He let the breath out slowly, the edge of his irritation dissolving into something steadier. His gaze shifted toward the boy, then back to Aiko.
"I'll keep an eye on him."
The remaining five Zombie Ants began to shift, their bodies lowering, mandibles twitching with unnatural focus. Then, without a sound, they vanished beneath the earth—each one burrowing like drills into the soil, their clanking forms swallowed by the land itself.
Dimitri stepped forward immediately, his stance solid. He raised his shield and sword, bracing himself like a fortress of flesh and steel. His eyes didn't flinch from the ground—he was waiting. Listening.
The earth beneath them began to tremble, a low rumble that grew in steady pulses. The vibrations weren't wild or random. They were controlled. Coordinated. The tremors flowed like current beneath the dirt, converging in one direction.
Toward June.
Without warning, the ground beneath her split open with explosive force. Giant mandibles erupted from below, slicing through soil and rock with violent speed, reaching up like jaws from the deep.
In the same instant, another ant burst forth nearby, launching a stream of purple goo straight toward her—aimed to corrode, to silence her before she could cast again.
But before it could reach her, a blur of motion broke through the chaos.
Dimitri.
His shield met the acid mid-air with a sharp, ringing thud. The goo splashed harmlessly off the steel surface, burning through moss and bark but leaving June untouched. He had charged in from the side just in time, holding the line.
The monsters weren't just attacking—they were targeting.
"June, move! Run!"
Her eyes widened, panic setting in like a sudden wave. She turned one way, then another—legs shifting, but never fully committing to a path. The weight of indecision anchored her, and in that heartbeat of hesitation, everything changed.
From the shadows, one of the Zombie Ants launched itself forward, its movements swift and terrifyingly precise. It soared through the air in a deadly arc, mandibles stretched wide—aiming for June's throat.
She didn't scream.
She didn't even move.
She froze.
The world slowed for just a second. And then, a shadow broke across her vision.
Noah.
He dove from the side with reckless speed, arms outstretched. His body slammed into hers, pulling her out of the creature's path just in time. The two of them tumbled across the forest floor, leaves and soil erupting in their wake.
But the ant didn't miss entirely.
One of its mandibles clipped him as he moved—raking across his back in a brutal arc. The sound was dull but sharp, like a blunt knife dragging over bone.
They hit the ground hard.
June landed beneath him, breathless. Noah, on top, unmoving for a second, the weight of impact settling into the earth beneath them.
But he had moved.
And she was still alive.
"Noah? Are you alright?"
He stirred, slow and stiff, then lifted his head just enough to meet her gaze.
"I got stabbed in the back by a giant freaking ant. Yeah, I'm fine. Totally loving life right now. But seriously—what was that? You were moving like someone who only figured out what feet are. Were you in a wheelchair back on Earth or something?"
June's face didn't react at first. But then something in her eyes shifted—like a crack in glass, quiet but impossible to miss. It wasn't offense. It wasn't even surprise.
It was familiarity.
Just for a second, her lips pressed tight, and her eyes looked past him—somewhere far beyond the battlefield. Somewhere with white walls, sterile light, and motionless days.
Noah saw it. The edge of a truth she hadn't spoken aloud.
His irritation faded, the words catching in his throat as the look in her eyes silenced whatever else he might've said.
"Get off me, you absolute oaf. You're crushing my spine."
She didn't explain.
And he didn't ask.
But in that small silence, her hesitations made sense. Not weakness—just memory. The kind that lingers in the bones.
One of the remaining Zombie Ants broke from the treeline, mandibles snapping as it charged straight for Noah with brutal speed. The ground shook beneath its steps, and soil scattered in its wake like fleeing ash.
Before it could reach him, a wall of iron intercepted its path.
Dimitri surged forward, his shield colliding with the beast in a thunderous crash. The impact echoed like a bell struck in warning, stopping the creature mid-charge as its legs clawed against the earth, trying to regain momentum.
"Are you two alright, my friends?"
Noah rose slowly, pushing himself off the ground. Pain burned across his back where the ant's mandible had struck, but he bit it down, face taut with grit. He didn't speak. He just moved. Flintlocks in hand, he raised both barrels and opened fire.
The shots landed hard.
Mana Bullets slammed into the ant's side, tearing into its carapace with explosive force. Robocrab responded in kind, its eye glowing brighter as it fired off a string of red laser beams, each impact chipping away more of the fungal flesh and corrupted shell.
The ant reeled. Its legs skidded back. It let out a screech that rattled through the clearing.
And that was when she moved.
Aiko.
She stepped into the space between moments, her presence like wind before a storm. Her hand slid to her scabbard, fingers curling with quiet resolve. In a single breath, the katana flashed free.
One arc.
Clean. Sharp. Final.
The blade sliced through the thick neck of the creature with such force and precision that the head lifted from the body before gravity remembered its duty.
It fell.
And with it, silence reclaimed the air for one breath more.
"Ano… the head is crawling back to its body."
Aiko's voice was soft, almost hesitant—but her words carried weight.
On the ground, the severed head of the Zombie Ant twitched violently. Thin fungal tendrils slithered from its neck like roots seeking soil, pulling its way back toward the ruined body with unnatural urgency.
From behind Noah, footsteps approached—calm, deliberate.
June.
"Clear the way unless you fancy becoming collateral."
She raised her staff, and the air around her shimmered. The temperature spiked. Mana thickened like mist before a thunderstorm.
Then, from the tip of her staff, flame erupted—not wild, but controlled. Blue, red, orange, and green fire swirled together in a helix of unrestrained force, each color dancing over the other in shifting layers of magic.
The flames surged forward, engulfing the crawling head and broken body in an instant.
June's Shard hovered beside her, humming softly before it began firing. Bolts of elemental energy crackled outward—lightning, frost, flame, and wind—all striking the ant's remains with precision, feeding the inferno.
The creature let out one last screech, shrill and sharp, a sound that trembled through the trees—
—and then it was gone.
Reduced to nothing. Not even ash dared remain.
The remaining four Zombie Ants had not retreated far, their bodies lingering just beyond the broken line of trees. They stood unnaturally still, legs planted, heads twitching ever so slightly. But they weren't waiting.
They were studying.
Their lifeless eyes scanned the battlefield with eerie intent, as if some unseen mind behind them was learning—measuring strengths, calculating weaknesses, planning the next move.
June exhaled softly, then flicked her hair back over her shoulder with the kind of flourish that made the lingering heat around her seem intentional.
"Well, that settles it. Honestly, I haven't the faintest idea what you'd all do without me. You're unspeakably lucky I'm here to carry this ragtag mess of a party."
Dimitri raised his thumb with unshaken cheer.
"Good job, June."
Fiona stepped forward, her presence quiet but grounding. She lowered her hands, and with a whispered chant, the air stirred around her like a breath drawn in by the forest itself.
A soft green glow spiraled beneath her feet, etching a wide magic circle into the earth—its light gentle, but deep, like sunlight filtering through old leaves.
The runes shimmered, ancient and calm, pulsing in slow, steady rhythm. From the circle, threads of green light wove outward, reaching the others like vines seeking wounded roots. Where they touched, warmth bloomed—not a burn, but the soothing kind that settled in the bones.
Cuts stitched themselves together beneath the light. The sting of bruises faded into nothing. Pain, once sharp and constant, softened into silence.
June turned her gaze toward Noah, half-expecting him to roll his eyes or mutter something under his breath about her being overdramatic. It was routine by now—his usual blend of sarcasm and irritation whenever she leaned too far into her own brilliance.
But what she found instead caught her off guard.
He wasn't annoyed. He wasn't even smirking.
Noah was watching her with a kind of calm seriousness—eyes steady, expression unreadable, but not cold. There was warmth there. A quiet understanding she hadn't asked for, and hadn't expected. Not from him.
Her lips curled into a smirk, but it didn't have the same edge it usually carried.
"Why are you looking at me like that? What's the matter? Struggling to cope with how amazing I am?"
Noah didn't answer. He simply gave a small shake of his head, wordless and unreadable, and turned away.
He stepped forward, eyes locking on the remaining Zombie Ants still watching from the distance. Their bodies were still. Waiting.
And so was he.
"I've noticed something… Every time we take one down, they pull back. Regroup. Watch. It's like they're treating this whole fight like some twisted turn-based strategy game."
[Because the longer the battle drags on, the more it tips in their favour. These things aren't just mindless—they adapt. Every attack, every reaction, they're logging it like data. Gathering patterns. Testing weaknesses. Right now, they're still calculating, weighing risk versus reward.]
[But once they've gathered enough—once they're confident in their victory—they won't hold back anymore. They'll strike all at once, no hesitation, no gaps to exploit. And trust me… once it reaches that point…]
[For players like you, it usually means it's already too late.]