Once the entire thing started shaking and all the lights created by the constant pulses of Energy vanished, we looked around to see if there was anything that could take us out of here. Thankfully, the meal we ate before coming into the Nest was still having an effect. We had a very basic ability to see in the dark. It still wouldn't be enough for us to find an exit in this large chamber.
"Riley, come here," Michael's voice rang out.
While speaking the Silkbound Marksman took one of his remaining arrows. He whispered something to the Silken Witch, who quickly made a ball of silk appear on the edge of the arrow. Michael gestured me to get closer, and I followed, sort of understanding what he was trying to do.
Taking a quick swig of Eater blood, I recovered enough Energy to activate {Firestarter} and ignite the silk that was wrapped around the arrow into a makeshift torch. Thankfully, Riley had been practicing to make different types of threads. One of them could burn for a while and provide some light even if it required more Energy to be made.
As the torch lit up, we all looked around, trying to see if there were any tunnels or a way to get out of this place.
"There!" Rex scouted, pointing to an area directly in front of where the Eater or the Nest mouth was supposed to be.
Without thinking twice, we all ran towards the tunnel. During the fight, everyone realized that there was only one way out of here. As much as Eaters had some strange ways of moving, even they required a path to reach the outside. It was simply impossible for the Nest to be completely closed off from everything, especially since it was responsible for birthing new Eaters.
With everything around us still shaking, we bolted as quickly as possible through the tunnels. We were all doing our best not to think about the fact that we were carrying a giant flare warning every single Eater in this Nest that we were arriving. After all, those creatures always chased fire. Then again, maybe with the death of the Nest, they would also be trying to run away and leave us alone.
That hope was quickly snuffed out as we turned the corner and saw a Scavenger Eater shivering in place. The moment that creature noticed us, it snapped its tentacles in our direction and started to chase. A part of me wanted to kill the creature so we could continue moving without a problem, but that would take too much time and the Nest was quickly becoming more and more unstable. The shaking didn't stop. As a matter of fact, it intensified. In just a few seconds, it felt like we were running from an earthquake.
Bits and pieces of the wall started to fall on top of us, trying to block our path. It wasn't the type of damage that seemed intentional. It wasn't as if the Nest was doing one last hurrah in an attempt to stop us. We needed no more proof of that than the fact that the Eater chasing after us suddenly was squashed by a massive cave-in that left nothing to be recovered. Even then, we didn't look behind to see what was going on. Our singular goal was to leave this place. Finding an exit and hopefully coming out more or less unscathed. At the very least, we hoped not to be anymore injured than we already were.
We finally reached a junction in this tunnel. Instead of having to pick a side to go, the tunnel on the left collapsed, forcing us to take the right path. While that was a really awful situation to be in, I couldn't help but thank the Nest in a way. After all, we tended to spend too much time talking about decisions instead of making them, and that wasn't the type of thing that could happen right now.
There was another tunnel that appeared on our right. This time, without even waiting for anything to happen, I shouted, "Here!" and moved to the tunnel as quickly as possible. My reasoning for going in there was based on a couple of marks that I saw on the ground that looked like the legs of an Eater, while the other passage didn't have anything of the sort. It was a very flimsy reason, but in a situation like this, the option felt better than leaving it all to luck.
Just a few meters [ft] ahead, there was another set of five tunnels. I started moving towards the one on the right since there seemed to be more of those tracks on it, but before I could even get closer, Rex shouted, "No, the middle!"
A part of me wanted to argue and ask why, but the fact was that Rex understood tunnels and the underground world much better than I could ever hope to do. Our Rodenti companion took charge of the next leg of our escape. While he could move much faster with his new foot, he still paled in comparison to us. I was about to grab him and put him over my shoulder when Astrid moved a bit faster than me. She put the Rodenti on a piggyback ride and started running as fast as she could.
Rex had a strange confidence when telling us where to go. Anytime more than one tunnel appeared, he would shout which one we were going to take with barely a second to think. I was worried that he was just guessing, but at the same time, he had various skills related to controlling and understanding rocks. Even if he was going on pure gut feeling, no one was going to argue that he was the best one for the job here.
While we were supposed to be getting farther away from the metallic tendrils, most, if not all, of the rock around the Nest was starting to shake loose. This left behind only that strange type of metallic skin holding us in place. On a few very brief occasions, we even had a chance to look down countless meters [ft] into what looked like a chasm. From the small glimpses, I could tell that the Nest was probably in a massive chamber going hundreds, maybe thousands of meters [ft] down.
A flurry of thoughts crossed my mind considering all the possibilities and ramifications of this discovery. They vanished just as quickly as they appeared. This wasn't the time nor the place to create theories about the inner workings of the Nest.
We made another turn to the left, following Rex's directions. Finally, we were able to see some genuine progress. Instead of running around on this flat ground, we were going up towards an area filled with rock. The landslide that was happening behind us didn't seem to have reached this area just yet. We all pushed through, hearing the rumbling of dirt falling down and seemingly endless abyss behind us.
However, we were not the only ones. The Eaters doing their best to run away from the Nest. Cleaners appeared and tried to attack anything on sight while still moving farther and farther away from the Hatchery. We climbed more and more, moving faster and faster, being followed by not just the crumbling stone of the Nest but also all the monsters that existed within. We started getting closer and closer to the point where the torch in Michael's hand didn't seem all that needed. The effect of the meal we had before entering the Nest was more than enough to allow us to see things properly.
Once Michael realized that, he tossed the torch backwards in hopes of slowing down some of the Eaters that were quickly approaching. He hoped to make the ones in front of us distracted enough to allow us to pass, even if they were not looking back to do anything against us. It seemed that even those monsters had some sort of survival instinct in a situation like this.
We all watched as a light appeared at the end of this tunnel. It wasn't the type of light that came directly from the outside. Instead, it was more like the reflection of the sunlight bouncing around the walls. There were some loud noises coming from the distance, but considering that the entire place was filled with monsters that were running away, I didn't care much about that. In all likelihood, those noises were just the sounds of the monsters and Eaters clashing with one another.
We finally reached the outside. Instead of the sky or the Rodenti, the first thing any of us saw was a large boulder flying in our direction at high speed. Rex raised his hand, and the projectile slowed down, giving us enough time to dodge to the side. As we did so, another set of rocks came flying, those sharper and more precise. Astrid quickly triggered {Emerging Glacier} to form a barrier around us as I shouted, "We're not Eaters!"
I couldn't tell if my words reached anyone, but at least the ice barrier in front of us was holding strong. Quickly moving along the barrier, we reached the other side and peered over to see what was actually going on there and why we were under attack.
The entire field was proof of the battle that took place here. There were countless bodies of Eaters rotting away on the ground. Unfortunately, that wasn't all. In the mix of those bodies, we could see dozens of Rodenti who seemed to have fallen during the battle. We didn't have time to stop and mourn the fallen, as the fight was still going on. While we were emerging from the Nest, so were the rest of the Eaters, and their numbers were much greater than anyone ever expected.
Someone seemed to notice our presence, and that we were not the same monsters they were trying to kill. They fired an arrow that landed in front of us. Attached to it, there was a piece of green cloth. I stared at it with a frown, but Rex quickly explained that it meant they would cover us. Having that security, we just started running back towards the army.
Some Eaters appeared to stop us, including a couple of Scavenger Eaters and even a Hunter Eater. In addition, two Tunneler Eaters were also nearby. But the Rodenti attackers were still going on full swing. They fired spell after spell and arrow after arrow at the creatures, making sure that we were not going to be harmed by them.
Unfortunately, no Rodenti could protect us from what happened next. The entire Spire shook violently, and the top half of the Nest had a piece of it broken. It started to tumble in our direction. That 20 to 50 meter [65.6 to 164.0 ft] tall structure was coming down directly on top of our heads. Everyone ran with everything they had, but it was Astrid who once again proved to be invaluable during our moment of struggle. The Huskcarver kept shouting commands for a few seconds. It was almost as if she knew where the debris was going to fall. In all likelihood, it was her turn using {Mind Of Possibility} to save our asses.
In one of the blocks of rock that fell near us, everybody could see one of the Rodenti that had split off from us during our initial infiltration. While they might have survived the fall, they couldn't get away fast enough and were crushed by the falling pieces of metallic dirt that crashed on top of them. From another piece of the Nest, two Rodenti came out, partners of the one that had just perished. They spared a brief glance at their fallen companion before continuing to move, knowing that any second that was wasted right now could result in death. We were unable to find anyone else in the debris. This meant that they either didn't make it or fell before all of this started to happen.
Upon surviving and making it back to the main body of the army, we quickly shouted a couple of commands to the Rodenti. We let them know to ignore the Cleaners and the small Eaters that were coming out unless they started to approach the army, since they would attack anything in sight. That was still true now. We also shouted what little we knew about the Drillers, and the Rodenti that came out of the tower added some information about the type of Eater that we had yet to see. Apparently, they were called Climbers and had something to do with being stuck into walls and using stealth to attack.
Thankfully, between the falling debris, the battle that had already ensued, and the fact that the Hatchery itself had been destroyed, this part of the fight didn't take as long to complete. In a few more minutes, together with the Rodenti, we had managed to destroy an Eater Nest.
I was able to confirm that it was possible to get rid of those creatures once and for all.