The Idol's Fall
Charging headfirst into enemy territory where who knows how many foes might be lurking! Any commander with a shred of sanity would deck you to stop such a plan. No one in their right mind would cook up an operation like this unless they were some kind of lunatic trying to get their own subordinates shot just to avoid paying out family pensions.
"King, but this really is the best option, so what can you do?"
This wasn't so much a war as a counter-terrorism operation. The summoning circle was a hostage we absolutely had to rescue. Not just any hostage, either—one more important than the President of the United States. That was why a flashy, clever plan was less valuable than simply reaching the objective as fast as possible.
"All we need is to get to the summoning circle."
Once we were inside the range of Teleport, victory would be ours. Not enough mana left in the circle? We'd just refill it. The mages who had been slacking off were finally going to earn their keep.
"Since we all transferred in together, there's no need to worry about anyone being left behind by Teleport. Everyone just has to be inside the magic circle when it activates," Selena said after hearing my plan. She seemed to have realized just how desperate our situation was. Completely wiping out the bugs wasn't realistic when you factored in combat strength and risk.
"Let's do it now. We might never get another chance like this, with all the monsters except the boss underground."
"Agreed."
We stripped off any gear that would make noise. The armor might have protected us in a pinch, but we didn't need it now. The bugs had no ranged attacks, and once we got close enough to fight, we'd already be surrounded and doomed anyway. We had to approach the summoning circle as quietly as possible, even if it meant getting within a single meter. There was no room for clanking plate armor.
—Clank.
The frontline warriors shed their armor. Selena removed her gauntlets as well. I had nothing particularly noisy, and more importantly, I needed to use runes, so I stayed fully armed.
—Nod.
After exchanging hand signals, we advanced toward the bug nest. The tension was dozens of times worse than before. When we arrived, the bug leader was still performing its ritual. The adventurers' corpses were already unrecognizable. Had it been tearing them apart and tossing the pieces into the summoning circle the whole time I'd been here?
"Looks like it's shredding them nice and neat for the larvae."
If the meal hadn't been human, I might have enjoyed the scene like an otherworldly episode of National Geographic.
—Further ahead?
Selena signaled. It was what we'd discussed beforehand. I shook my head and replied with my hands.
—No good. We'll be spotted.
—……Charge?
—Charge.
At my answer, sweat ran down Selena's cheek. Even breathing deeply was risky—if the bug leader heard us, it might notice. She slowly raised and lowered her hand. The signal to charge.
—Rustle.
The party burst from the shadows without so much as a sound from the grass. Every member was at least Silver-rank in adventurer terms, so the feat was possible. We sprinted with everything we had while keeping our footsteps as silent as we could. The summoning circle was over fifty meters away. The bug leader remained focused on its ritual, apparently unaware.
"Can we make it?"
If we covered just twenty more meters, even if the other bugs appeared, we'd reach the circle without much trouble!
—That was the thought that crossed my mind.
"Kroooooooooot──!!!"
"Kooooooo──!!!"
—Whoosh!
Bug monsters poured out of the holes in the ground.
"They spotted us after all!"
Larilura shrieked as the swarm emerged, their bodies glistening as if drenched in acid. Yet no one in the party showed panic or hesitation. Thanks to the warning I'd given earlier.
—If the nest connects underground, they might react to the sound of us stepping on the ground.
—No matter what happens, don't be surprised. Just keep running and watch out for your teammates.
Damn it. I'd said it, but I'd hoped it wouldn't come true. Bad predictions never miss, do they? These damn bugs. With shells and fur growing on their consciences, of course they couldn't stand seeing anyone else succeed.
"Krrrro! K─KKKK!!"
The bug leader spotted us and clacked its vocal cords. That high-pitched insect screech was disgusting no matter how many times you heard it. I ignored its mockery and shouted.
"Don't fight—just run! Our legs are faster!"
"Archers! Focus your arrows forward!!"
"Larilura! Trip any enemies within range of Puppetry!!"
Selena and I alternated giving orders. The archers loosed arrows at anything that moved, sending several bugs on a one-way trip to the sewer that served as their heaven. Larilura's threads toppled the front ranks, causing the ones behind to trip and roll.
"Kororororororo!!!"
But there were too many of the damn things. It was like the line outside an Animal Crossing launch event. I felt like the protagonist of a blockbuster being chased by a zombie horde.
"KKK!!"
The master race-supremacist took flight. Its wings were transparent membranes that looked exactly like a dragonfly's. That thing was a true land-sea-air bastard. The leader bug raised its hooked claws and targeted a scout in the vanguard. I noticed its aim and swung my mithril spear.
"Where do you think you're going, you maggot?! Come play with me instead!!"
Wind, obey my command! My spear lashed out like a stinger and struck the leader bug as it dove from above. The momentum of its charge carried tremendous kinetic energy—my palms stung from the impact—but I managed to save the scout it had targeted.
—But that was all I could do.
"Aaaaargh!!"
The bug that had survived my attack flew backward, grabbed a mage who had been running hard, and soared upward. They say whoever controls the skies controls the battlefield. I hated to admit it, but in this fight, that leader bug was the one in charge.
—Crunch!!
—Crack!!
The leader bug bit into the still-living mage's head and killed him. The man never even screamed; his limbs went limp like a puppet with its strings cut.
"KK!! KKK!!"
The disgusting creature chewed on the skull with its split mouth before flinging the corpse away. Its inorganic eyes rolled as it searched for its next target.
"……Tch!!"
Selena bit her lip. We couldn't use magic, but that thing could fly wherever it pleased. There was no way to beat it. Even if we'd stopped to fight, we wouldn't have saved that mage.
"Shit!!"
I racked my brain so hard my vision started to redden. Should I have set something on fire to draw aggro after all? If I'd had enough firepower to burn the tentacle tree, I would have. Even then, I doubted I could have stopped its high-altitude attacks. Ignoring the leader and just running was the worst possible choice. By the time we reached the summoning circle, it would have plenty of time to snatch two or three more people. Larilura or I could easily be among them.
"In that case──"
I drew the spear shaft back. A throwing stance. The green mana coating of Beast Regression and my steadily growing strength granted my grip a power beyond human limits.
"Vector—Assault on the Tentacle Boy!!!"
—Fwoooooosh!!
I hurled the spear with every ounce of strength I had. The mithril blade became a silver arrow, streaking toward its target. I trusted the reduced distance and my own power. For the first time in my life, I threw a spear over fifty meters, and it tore through the air with a piercing whistle. Its target was the larva-shaped statue.
—Thud!!
—Crash!!
The object of the bugs' faith was as fragile as their devotion was deep. The moment my spear struck, the statue cracked horribly and shattered into pieces. The stone that had resembled a larva became an unsolvable puzzle, scattering across the ground around the summoning circle. The bugs' faith collapsed along with their idol.
"─────K?"
Silence. Then an even deeper silence. The bugs that had been chasing us stared in stunned disbelief at the fate of their statue. Humans go through five stages when accepting death: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Maybe bugs were the same. They had entered the denial phase, refusing to accept that their faith had been utterly destroyed. Their reaction was the same bottomless despair an obsessed idol fan might feel watching their draft-dodging idol get crushed by stage lights.
"──Korooooooorarararaaaaaaat!!!!"
"──Aaaarararororokokokoneeeeee!!!!"
The bugs forgot about chasing us and screamed instead. They frothed purple bubbles from their mouths or tore at their antennae, expressing the catastrophic damage to their sanity through performance art. True apocalypse had arrived in this otherworld that had already been left in darkness after its own apocalypse.
I followed Dana's example and humbly made the sign of the cross.
"──KKK, You mother fuckers."
Your Messiah is dead. My condolences.
"Kkk─Rrrr─Ooooooo─N──!!!!!!"
—Buzzzzzzz!!
Drooling, the leader bug flew straight at me. For the first time, its inorganic, scribble-like eyes showed an emotion other than bloodlust. As the greatest of the bugs, it had reached the second stage of death—anger—faster than any of its kin. What happens when a microbe that once lived only to eat and shit gains faith, then loses it? The leader bug bristled the fur on its shell and roared, determined to prove the answer.
"Want some advice? Go to Romania. I can recommend a different religion. We've got otherworld religions too."
I kicked off the ground.
—Boom!
The overwhelming force of my legs left footprints in the floor. I used that momentum to accelerate my dash. Breaking formation to run ahead alone was suicide, so I'd been holding back—until now. Drawing aggro while staying with the group was the ultimate troll move.
"Kroooooooooooooooooooooottttttt!!"
The closer it got, the more insanely fast the leader bug's flight speed felt. Did it make sense for some random mob to power up just because it was pissed? I maintained my dash speed and began weaving.
"Vector—Zigzag!!"
—Tap-tap-tap!
I marked three directions and evaded. A true master's movement. With my fluid footwork, the leader bug lost track of me. It was too late to decelerate. It was going to smash into the ground and leave a death mask like the ones flies used to leave on old snack shop walls!
—Fwoooosh!!
My wish didn't come true. The leader bug activated its phasing ability, drilled through the ground, and vanished.
"What the hell is that phasing bullshit?!"
The sight of it performing rituals and eating people's heads alive had been so shocking that I'd forgotten. Flight wasn't its only specialty!
"Digging holes and flying through the air—both are fucking disgusting!!"
A vile technique that let it dodge my attacks while lining up its own kill shot. The leader bug combined two abilities that traumatized a Nintendo-generation kid like me and burst out from beneath my feet in under ten seconds.
"The power of prediction and experience!!"
Having read the ambush, I threw a punch with a 0.1-second cooldown. It wouldn't kill something even my spear couldn't pierce, but it should at least slow its momentum───
—Fwoooosh!!
"Ah, shit."
It phased again. The bug's head that should have taken my punch slipped through like a hologram.
—Grab!
The moment my body lurched from mistiming, the leader bug phased through me and seized my collar with its hind legs. Before I could even process what was happening, the ground fell away.
"Ghh!!"
Was its finishing move to either crush or drop me? The bug was copying eagle tactics. As a former aspiring veterinarian, I found it unforgivable.
"You crazy bastard!! Go do your high-altitude shit to your dead god!!"
—Crack!!
I grabbed the leg holding my clothes and twisted with all my strength. No matter how tough the exoskeleton, joints and muscles handled pressure. Exposed to force that could crush boulders, the hooked claw lost its grip. The bug dropped me.
Whoosh—
Thud!!
When I landed from ten meters up, the others had already reached the summoning circle. They must have kept running while the bugs were still reeling from the mental crash. Looks like I was the only one forced onto the Insect-Rollercoaster. This is why nobody wants to play tank even on Earth.
"Senior!! Hurry!! Just watching you is making my heart pound so hard I feel like I'm dying!!"
A teary-eyed Larilura used Puppetry to retrieve my spear and tossed it to me. I caught it and ran.
—Fwoooosh!!
The leader bug launched another high-altitude attack.
"KooooRrrrrrroooooooooooo──!!"
Ten meters to the summoning circle. Larilura vanished, wrapped in light so she wouldn't get in the way. Five meters. The helicopter-like buzzing of wings grew louder. Three meters. My enhanced senses detected the hooked claw approaching from just one meter behind.
—Finally, the long-awaited one meter.
I took a backstep jump and swung the spear like a hammer.
Clang──!!!
The leader bug was too slow to activate its phasing ability. It had tried to catch my spear with the arm it had extended to kill me. To the twisted face of the disgusting creature, I politely raised my middle finger.
My foot touched the summoning circle.
"If you want a real fight, come after me, you retard."
The moment I muttered that, light swallowed my vision.