Ambush—! BOOM! The ground exploded!
Massive ants erupted from the stone floor one after another, their massive bodies rising like living fortresses. One, two, three then four, the first wave was only ten… before the tunnel itself seemed to come alive! Ca-ca-ca-Crack! Cracks tore open in rapid succession, and within moments, more than a hundred ants poured out, flooding the cavern in an endless tide!
Stone shattered and metal screamed under the weight of these huge beasts!
The sharp shriek of carapace grinding against armor, mixed with the wet thuds of crushed flesh. What had once been a silent cavern became a battlefield in mere seconds.
Swoosh!
The United Army was already moving, and the response was almost immediate.
The Stoneback Tribe roared as one, and charged directly into the heart of the swarm, BANG! Their bodies slammed into the leading ants, halting the initial momentum through their sheer mass and strength alone. Behind them, the Silvercrest Knights reacted as well. They pulled the Runecoin Medics out of the collapsing cave and raised barriers of white light, sealing the surroundings before the ants could exploit them.
From above, it was one forward, and one back.
Near the flanks, the Vineweavers Guild, Sea Forge Engineers, and Bloodhand Marauders struck together. Roots burst from the tunnel walls, and vines climbed around insect limbs. Water-formed hammers carved through the darkness with destructive strikes, while bursts of fire detonated between the enemies, followed by raw rage and brutality.
With the core of the Mercenary Alliance absent, the Adventurers Guild stepped forward to fill the gaps as well. They were fewer in numbers, but far deadlier as individuals.
These were veterans shaped by an uncountable number of battles and experiences, driven by instincts and training rather than orders. They cut into the swarm with ruthless efficiency, while the remaining mercenary groups followed behind them, fighting with raw desperation born from the will to survive.
Swoosh!
At the front flickered Elena!
Her daggers flashed, splitting the nearest ant apart with ease.
She did not slow down at all. Every step, every strike, they were all direct and trained. Her gaze never lingered for too long, often missing the defining strike itself.
Swoosh!
She blurred with speed.
Her mind raced.
She had anticipated this ambush, but not here, not now, no, something was different, something was wrong. The descent was meant to be stable, not a full-scale engagement in restrictive terrain like this. What was worse, she knew something the others didn't.
'None of these creatures could be allowed to escape.'
If even one ant returned to the 'colony', the tunnel ahead would become a death trap. Endless reinforcements, endless delays. This was something that they, who were still on a timer, both against the tree and the corruption, could not afford!
She only hoped that this was an unplanned ambush…
While the army focused on survival, Elena moved along the edges of the battlefield, hunting stragglers and cutting down any ants that attempted to retreat into the darkness.
But…
Just then—
The ants changed!
Swoosh! Their movements sharpened, and their attacks became more coordinated. Elena jerked at the sudden change. They adapted? No, they learned…? This was no mindless swarm. Something was guiding them. A presence, unseen, directed the flow of the battle like a 'general' moving pieces across a board.
Her eyes darkened.
No matter how long she searched, she couldn't find it.
Screams echoed as soldiers were crushed beneath the massive, speared limbs. Each ant towered over ten meters tall, with a carapace harder than steel. Even enchanted weapons struggled to leave marks, much less the 'utility classes'.
Magic wasn't much better, because the tunnel itself interfered. 'Spiritual turbulence' from the roots meting the tunnel warped spells, causing them to fizzle or destabilize before even taking shape.
This was the most disadvantageous battle they had faced since the Second Calamity began.
The clash roared endlessly down the tunnel, swallowed by the darkness.
The United Army held their ground, battered but unbroken, locked in a brutal stalemate against an enemy that refused to stop attacking.
Time passed.
* * *
The battle lasted for more than forty minutes.
When the final ant collapsed, the cavern fell silent. Elena stood among the ruins of armor, corpses, and shattered shells.
She turned slowly, taking in the devastation.
She clenched her fists.
The victory was theirs, but the cost was heavy...
Many had died before even reaching the World Tree!
Damn it!
The Stoneback Tribe had suffered the most. They had acted as the army's shield, as they always had, but against these creatures, even their reinforced bodies could not withstand the crushing blows. Their shells were cracked and broken, their blood pooling into the dirt, and that was only the surviving ones.
It was a tragic sight.
Elena gritted her teeth.
It would always be like this, she had to remind herself over and over again. Every calamity, every battle, every step forward would demand a sacrifice. She knew that she had to be the one to choose this cost, so the karma would all be on her.
She knew this, but she also hated it…
Life was invaluable, and she understood that better than anyone.
After regrouping and collecting what could be saved, they continued.
-
The march resumed in a cold silence.
After several more minutes, the shattered section of the tunnel gave way to a more stable passageway. The smooth structure of the High Elven tunnel returned, but it was no longer recognizable.
The roots of the corrupted world tree had consumed almost everything.
They coiled over the walls, ceiling, and floor so completely that the original metal surface could barely be seen. Occasionally, light flickered deep within the ferocious foliage, traveling down the tunnel like ripples of watery light.
Everyone was tense.
No one spoke, but they all understood what this meant…
They were approaching the 'end'.
The 'path' from Oriest to the corrupted World Tree was long, but they had almost completed it. The deeper they went, the stronger the uncomfortable feeling caused by the innate spiritual energy became. Unlike before, there were no more attacks, and no unknowns awaiting them. Only silence, as if even the mutated beasts dared not come closer to this region.
But not everything was well…
The spiritual energy in the air was growing thicker and more violent. It burned against their skin and made their breathing heavier. Some people had skin that began to blacken, while others lost their senses, and many people reported that strange whispers had started to appear in their minds.
Not only that, but soon…
A second spiritual energy began to mix with the first.
The two forces danced together in the air like oil and flame.
The first was the withering, corrupted energy of the World Tree, but the second… the second was something entirely different.
This new aura was commanding, ancient, and aware, carrying an abnormal wisdom that almost seemed to make the spiritual energy flicker with thought. It drifted through the air like an 'eye' that watched everything. Whenever it brushed against the skin, it felt as if something alive was trying to invade the body to investigate, a sensation born from a disembodied curiosity.
A few of the soldiers attempted to resist it, trying to rewrite its nature or purify the aura using their own energy.
But…
They all failed.
Even those who had reached the Fourth Order found it impossible to interfere with this spiritual energy. That could only mean one thing. Whatever they were approaching was powerful, very powerful, and definitely above the fourth level.
Perhaps not just powerful, but wise and dangerous as well.
A chill ran down their backs.
The sensation of being watched grew unbearably intense, creating goosebumps on their forearms.
Elena's expression remained calm, but her steps quickened.
The reason she had been rushing was simple. This second aura was connected to the 'true target' of their mission. Destroying the Corrupted World Tree was impossible… but destroying what 'powered' it wasn't. Elena could only hope there would be fewer casualties like this.
Unfortunately, she knew better…
-
After one final hour of walking, the tunnel abruptly ended and connected to a massive space. They had arrived at the underground structure…?
Gasp!
What lay before them was beyond anything they had ever imagined!
It was like an inverted strangler fig, forming a colossal hollow carved into the earth itself, stretching for kilometers across and plunging even farther downwards. The space was so immense that the ceiling felt impossibly distant, almost as if mist and clouds had begun to gather near its unseen limit, blurring the boundary between stone and sky, and giving the illusion that the world above had been turned upside down and buried beneath the land.
The lower level was choked with black smoke, with a dense and oppressive aura, churning like liquid shadows as it rolled and folded in on itself, swallowing light and smothering the depths in a suffocating gloom that pulled everything 'down' to 'black'.
At the very top of the chamber, forming a ring-like region, the roots of the Corrupted World Tree converged into a colossal, intertwining mass, weaving together like a titanic knot of living wood. Each root was as wide as a large building, layering upon itself with an impossible density, forming a vast, crushing canopy that loomed overhead like a tangled foundation that continued to extend down and covered all the walls below.
Gasps echoed behind Elena in mass.
The scale was incomprehensible, even for those standing here right now. It was even more shocking for the locals of Oriest, who had joined the United Army and were still skeptical that such a space even existed.
Looking forward—
In the very center of the chamber, there it was!
The source of the Second Calamity!!
A single black root, as wide as a mountain, hung from the center of the ceiling. Its surface was alive with pulsing red veins of light, making it look more like flesh than wood. The root coiled around a massive crystal the size of a palace, stretching for over fifty meters wide. The crystal glowed faintly, floating in the center of the chamber, carved with countless runes and geometric channels that gave one a headache. It was unmistakable...
That was a 'Supreme Grade Spirit Stone', a 'Core Stone' created by the High Elves!
But…
The true horror was beneath it.
'Pinned' beneath the massive crystal core was a creature.
- The Ant Queen…
Her colossal body, locked on a platform, was bound by roots and runes, her carapace cracked and leaking light. The Core Stone above her acted like both a weight and a seal, crushing her body while feeding her energy, maintaining her, and pulling at the same time. Ancient apparatuses of unknown design connected the crystal to her body, keeping her alive, and stabilizing her existence, yet trapping her in an eternal torment.
The queen's form radiated both decay and time.
Its mere existence was devastating to its surroundings. She was ancient, so ancient that her presence carried a feeling of loneliness and desolation that shook the heart.
Around them, the 'walls' of the chamber writhed.
Tens of thousands of ants covered every surface, packed into cracks and layered atop one another, crawling in endlessly shifting patterns. Their faintly glowing eyes reflected the same corrupted light that pulsed through the roots of the World Tree, giving the chamber an unsettling sense of being watched.
The massive underground chamber resembled a hive city.
The material that once formed the walls was impossible to identify. Like the tunnels leading here, every surface had been consumed by enormous roots that wove together and encroached into a single half-living structure. Swimming through this network of roots was the endless swarm of ants. Their numbers were beyond counting. Dozens of different types moved in patterns across the walls and ceilings, diving in and out of pockets, each one created for a different purpose within the colony.
Unlike Petra's ant army, this swarm was 'natural'. It was primitive, feral, and didn't have any unnatural species or unique creations.
This place must have once been part of a High Elven complex, but now, the truth was buried.
The only remnants of the old structure that had not been concealed by the roots were the 'central pillar' and the large 'circular platform', the one where the Ant Queen was locked. The three entities, the 'Ant Queen', the 'Crystal Core', and the 'World Tree', had formed something like a symbiotic relationship.
Elena drew back slightly, her expression unclear in the dark.
She raised her voice slightly and ordered the United Army to retreat a few steps back into the tunnel.
While the army retreated, Elena sifted through what she knew in her mind.
The Ant Queen pinned beneath the massive Crystal Core was no ordinary creature. This ant was a rare and terrifying species capable of devouring its enemies and stealing their 'traits'. Given enough time, such a creature could create an army that could adapt and overcome any opponent.
It was a frightening ability, one that could single-handedly fight off entire civilizations.
Fortunately, this species had almost never been seen throughout history, and the creature before them clearly lacked the time and resources it needed to grow into what it could have been. This was what normal people would conclude, but something on Elena's face was… odd.
Despite its immaturity, no, it was malnourished… Mm, anyways, Elena recognized it immediately. The Warlord Forge Ant Queen was one of the Calamity Species recorded in the Book of Calamity. Most Calamity Species could no longer appear in the current world, and the few that did were only ancient remnants from before the Elfefalein Empire had disappeared.
As for the question of why this particular species was awarded that title, that was simple—
It's 'History'.
A long time ago, the Elfefalein Empire had fought a devastating war against a single Warlord Forge and her colony. The conflict nearly destroyed their civilization, which is saying a lot considering how advanced they were at the time. Even though the High Elves had eventually won, the cost had been devastating, far worse than any of their battles with the twelve Beast Kings.
Fortunately, the creature before them now was only a shadow of that ancient tale. The army that filled the chamber ahead was nothing compared to what the High Elves had once faced.
Elena exhaled.
She knew more about this ant than she wanted to admit.
The High Elf Felllilth had explained the origins of this ant to her...
According to him, this ant had been captured and experimented on shortly before the war with the Warlord Forge Ant Queen from back then. It had never been confirmed, but he suspected that this had something to do with the cause of that war. He didn't know much about its origins, only that its bloodline had a very strong connection to the Beast Kings.
Elena also knew something else, something she wished she didn't, something that would soon haunt her. She shook her head, pushing that thought away.
Now wasn't the time…