The group had barely registered that Ash still clenched the severed head of the beetle leader between his jaws.

The realization struck like a silent shock through them all. That was when Kalrek broke the moment, gagging theatrically and waving his hands, "Ain't no way I'm ever doing that… yuck! Can you imagine the taste of that?"

Ash blinked, suddenly pulled back into himself. The foul ichor burst across his tongue in that instant, bitter and vile, forcing him to gag.

With a grimace, he spat the ruined head aside, shadows curling back into his throat as he gagged again, the taste still lingering like rot on his tongue.

Veyra wrinkled her nose from her perch, calling down sharply, "Try not to gross the rest of us out while you're at it."

Kalrek, ever the opportunist, had already fished out a notebook and quill, "Well, for posterity's sake… how did it taste? Sour? Metallic? More of a—"

"Kalrek!" Yvren roared, his voice cracking through the din. "Focus! The commander's down, but the swarm's still here!"

The scolding jolted them all back into battle-readiness.

The battlefield had now shifted— the swarm of beetles no longer moved with the strange organisation that they had charged with earlier.

Now instead of patterned charges, the beetles rushed forward all at once, their mandibles snapping in wild frenzy. The strangeness of it was immediate, their formation broken, their assault reduced to chaotic violence.

"I'll occupy," Ash spoke out, as he rushed forward to be ahead of everyone with his clones, making himself the main target of the beetles, "tell me what you need."

Tholn's sharp eye caught a low arch of twisted roots spanning a shallow gully.

"Drive them under!" he shouted.

One of the clones split up from the main group and lunged across the bridge, drawing three beetles into the narrow gap. The creatures lunged, mandibles clacking as they chased the shadows.

But as it reached the gap, the clone seemed to deliberately slow now before it turned around with shadow energy beginning to emanate from its mouth.

The gap was not big enough for the three beetles to walk together side by side and they would have to form a single file to attack it. But at this moment, the beasts used the landscape to their benefit as the other two beetles began to walk on the sides of the gap, allowing them all to continue charging along with the beetle on the ground.

That was when Tholn appeared. From the moment he called out to Ash, he seemed to have vanished into the canopy before reappearing as a dark silhouette that was watching from a thick branch that stretched over the gap.

Waiting on his time and seeing the beetles arrive, he leaned backwards and allowed his body to drop.

In mid-fall, he drew his moss-metal daggers—twin blades forged from green-black alloy that shimmered like living stone, their edges serrated with faint ridges of luminous lichen.

And then, he twisted his body in a 360-degree arc, his weapons sweeping outward as a vortex of green energy surged from them, swirling like a storm of blades.

"Verdant Vortex!" he roared as he descended, transforming the spin into a living saw of light and steel.

He descended into the midst of all three, his spinning blades and the raging vortex carving a whirlwind of emerald steel. The first beetle's neck seam was split wide open, the vortex tearing through chitin with a wet crunch. Ichor sprayed upward as the beast crumpled, the others behind it crashing together in the sudden collapse.

In the same motion, the other two beetles were caught in the storm, their chitin shredded by the sweeping energy. The trio collapsed together in a heap, torn apart by the Verdant Vortex.

In a single, devastating strike, Tholn's deadly art erased their charge and left nothing standing in the gap. Even Ash let out a low whistle, and Veyra murmured, "Efficient as ever."

On the other side of the battlefield, Kalrek yanked another inscribed stone from his pouch, sprinting toward a swollen fungal sac that bulged at the edge of the battlefield.

"Ash! Bring them here!" he bellowed, waving frantically as runes lit across the stone.

Ash snarled and herded the pursuing beetles straight toward him, shadows flickering like a net.

Kalrek slammed the glowing stone into the sac's side just as the swarm closed in, the flesh of the fungus trembling beneath his hand. He spun and grabbed Ash's fur without hesitation.

Ash barreled past, hauling Kalrek with him in a blur of speed.

"Tactical fumigation!" the rune‑smith roared triumphantly as they tore away.

Boom!

Behind them, the stone detonated, triggering the sac in a chain reaction.

The fungus burst apart in a thunderclap, golden mist exploding outward to drown the charging beetles.

Meanwhile, a distance away, Veyra was positioned on a tree branch that gave her the best view of everything. Her face deep in focus as she carefully pulled out an arrow nocking it on to her bow as she watched the mist.

The spores slid slickly across the hard carapaces, unable to cling, but when they touched exposed skin at the joints and soft underplates they stuck fast, glowing like brands and marking every weakness.

"Targets lit—perfect," she called, loosing a rain of arrows that lanced through seam after seam.

Two beetles fell immediately, their legs twitching as the mist highlighted every weak spot she pierced.

And then one by one, the arrows began steadily picking off beetles, but a large cluster still pressed close behind them.

Ash glanced at Kalrek, voice taut between breaths, "What's the plan now?"

Kalrek flashed a grin, tugging another rune stone free from his pouch, its etched lines already glowing.

"My specialty," he said, his tone a mix of pride and mischief.

Him, unwilling to be outshone, then brandished a half‑finished ward stone.

"Behold!" he shouted hoarsely, "the Counting Pebble of the Death God!"

He flung it with all the grandeur of a general unleashing his trump card. The stone bounced uselessly once, twice—then rolled to charging beetle swarm.

The insect froze, antennae jerking as they prepared for an explosion.

Kalrek raised a hand, grinning as if conducting the moment.

"Three!" he shouted.

Thwip!

An arrow hissed through the air, dropping one beetle.

"Two!"

Thwip!

Another arrow split the mist, a second insect collapsing with a shriek.

"One!"

Thwip!

A third fell twitching, glowing seams pierced clean through.

Kalrek's grin widened, chest puffing.

"Zero!" he bellowed, throwing both arms wide.

Thwip!

"Just like that—four dead!" he declared as he turned proudly to Ash, tapping his chest with smug satisfaction. "See? Psychological warfare."

Ash only stared back, deadpanning. He did not know whether to feel disappointed or shocked… It was exactly as advertised. The name of the move did exactly what he said it would do.

A wider smirk appeared on Kalrek but before he could double down on his boast, a shadow shifted overhead.

Yvren dropped from the canopy like a thunderbolt, his cloak snapping in the air, his descent silent but for the hum of power building around him.

Both hands gripped his staff as he funneled raw energy into its core, the wood glowing until it seemed more flame than timber. The air warped around it, heavy and sharp, humming with the promise of destruction.

"Typhoonic Descent!"

The staff slammed into the earth like the hammer of a god.

The ground erupted, a shockwave exploding outward in concentric rings, arcs of green and violet light slashing through the mist like jagged lightning.

Beetles shrieked as the blast ripped through them—carapaces cracking, bodies bursting, legs curling as they were thrown back in heaps.

The forest quaked beneath the impact, roots splitting apart as if the Hollow itself had flinched.

When the dust cleared, silence followed. The remaining swarm lay shattered and still, the battlefield carpeted with broken husks. Yvren straightened slowly, staff steaming, his eyes hard as stone as he observed the beetles, making sure that none of them remained alive.

"Yvren… he's so strong…" Ash exhaled, his voice low with awe, as he thought to himself that he was definitely stronger than any C rank beast he had ever fought.

"Of course he is…" Tholn's voice sounded from behind him as some bushes rustled and were pushed open to reveal Tholn, the hunter materializing from the shadows as if he had always been there.

He then, with a faint smirk, added, "He's the head of the whole Murkfen Kin's hunting party after all."

Meanwhile, now standing on the floor but all the more annoyed at the praise coming to the boss, Kalrek scoffed loudly, puffing his chest, "Pfft, I had a whole set of runes ready. But nooo—someone had to go and steal my limelight."

Yvren ignored the grumbling, his expression calm as he lifted his chin after observing the battlefield, "You all did well. The ambush of the beetles failed, but together you still broke the swarm."

His eyes flicked to Kalrek, and with a rare grin he added, "And you—your timing was sharp."

The rune-smith froze, eyes wide. A flush crept over his cheeks as he fumbled with his pouch, suddenly unable to meet Yvren's gaze.

"W-well, of course it was," he stammered, puffing his chest while looking anywhere but at the others. His previous open lack of consideration for authority funkiness had seemed to have been zapped into nothingness.

Ash tilted his head, confusion flickering across his features as he tried to make sense of Kalrek's shy embarrassment.

He had no idea how to react, caught between amusement and bewilderment at the sudden shift in the rune-smith's bravado.

"Don't praise him too much. If stupidity killed, you'd have wiped the swarm already Kalrek," Veyra grunted as she had jumped down and landed next to them, but there was a flicker of reluctant amusement in his eyes.

"HEY!"

Veyra rolled her eyes with a small smirk, and Tholn simply crossed his arms, lips twitching as if holding back a laugh.

"Let's continue forward," Yvren blankly spoke out.

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