Something splotched and splattered all over me, making me shriek all over again.

"Get a grip!" a familiar voice bled in my ear, killing whatever instinct I have telling me to keep screaming. "This isn't the place to throw a tantrum."

My eyes flew open, taking in a scrawny figure standing in front of me. What—How did he get here? Someone was shouting in exasperation above us. "Kora! What do you think you're doing? Get back here! How could you destroy the ceiling?"

True enough, there was a bigger hole with more light streaming from it apart from the one I fell through. And the person standing in front of me, with his blade drawn and dripping with purple goo, was Kora. He turned to me. "You alright?" he asked.

I opened my mouth but with my throat hoarse from screaming like a dying whale, no words came out. Without waiting for my answer, Kora turned westward, lowering himself into a stance. "Get ready," he said. "Here they come."

"Who's coming? What's happening?" I clawed at the wall for a handhold brace to haul myself upright. I got nothing but a smooth surface because jjangkai were meticulous in making sure their nest had pristine walls. "We need to get out of here. Help me up."

Kora shook his head and jerked his chin towards the veiled darkness beyond us. "Too late for that, I think," he said. "The others are on their way. We'll make our stand here. Your scent has been all over their network now."

It's the same as telling me I've logged in into my account on a public connection and now all the hackers have my details. "I don't care about that," I managed to stand even though my knees threatened to knock against each other every time I dared a step. "Bugs. This...thing has bugs. I don't like it. I don't."

"Jesus, I know, Hye-jin," Kora said, seemingly forgetting we're in an alternate game world just now. "We have no way of hoisting you up without dragging the rest of the colony into the surface, or worse, into town."

He turned to me, then. I could see the fear shining in his eyes but, unlike me, he was still standing. "We're got to fight them here until Cavya and the others get here."

I began to answer, but my words were drowned out by a murderous shriek coming out from the shadows. A strange warmth brimmed around Kora's body as he leveled his sword. Then, the demons emerged into the light.

My insides clammed up, tying themselves into a knot tightening with every second. The jjangkai were everything the pictures told me they were. The bravest one hissed and surged towards Kora who leaped out of the way of a stinger pumped up with poison. The ground cracked around the spot where the stinger landed.

"Hye-jin!" Kora yelled as he ducked and swung his sword against snapping mandibles and clicking pincers. "A little help here?"

I scrambled backwards on my wrists when one bug got past Kora's wild swing, turned to me, and with a glint in its dark, beady eyes, lunged towards me. "Draw your sword!" Kora's voice sounded far away now as my vision tunneled and my breaths turned rugged. I was going to die here. I just know it.

The jjangkai advanced towards me, its legs making sharp, clkk-clkk noises against the rocky ground. Its stinger drew back and sped towards me. "Seline, watch out!" another female voice speared through my consciousness, along with a shrill streak of blue and silver. A sword pierced through the hide of the jjangkai, drawing more purple goo from its punctured head. Okay. That goo was their...blood.

Mirani grunted as she kicked the decapitated bug aside and pulled her sword clean. She turned to me. "Get up," she said.

"Tried that already, Mirani!" came Kora's strangled voice somewhere deeper into the cavern. In the dim light, he was a blur of silver arcs and wine red hair whipping around. Even in this world, his hair never learned to stay in one place? Wow. "Since you're here, mind helping me clear this cavern?"

"Got it!" Mirani bobbed her head and forgot about me. She ran off to join Kora and soon, two swords were whirling with synchronized slashes. Damn, what team work.

I glanced at the hole I just fell through and the one Kora dropped into. The cavern's height was at least two people up—I couldn't reach it even if I managed to have an enhanced jump. These bugs excavated this much space all the while staying under the territories' radar? Was this a common occurrence or was this the reason why the flagship guild of the Central Empire felt the need to take on this mission?

My gaze landed on a spot on the wall where a strange symbol shone. Unlike the curving patterns of the purple streaks making up parts of the wall, this particular spot boasted something that could have been a rune. I noted its delicate curve, almost like two opposite hooks forming a circle in the middle followed by three dashes pointing away from their tail as well as to its left and right. What was it?

Something zipped in my periphery. I stumbled out of the way as Kora flew past me before slamming against a wall not far from where I was. My eyes widened, whirling around to where I saw him last. Don't tell me he came from there—

A weight lifted off my chest when Kora groaned and rolled to his knees. Blood dripped from the side of his face but he was very much alive. All good then.

Not.

Just as Mirani skidded to where we were, the horde of jjangkai she was fighting somehow got thicker. For every one she and Kora cleaved down, three more seemed to take its place. Kora cursed—something I haven't seen him do around me while we're together. "They just keep going," he wiped the back of his hand against his mouth. "Mirani, how're your reserves?"

Mirani hissed as she swept her sword in a large arc, catching an offensive stinger right at the root. More purple blood splattered in the air and on the ground as her blade cut through the exoskeleton like it's made of clay. "Not good," she said, stepping out of the way to let Kora finish the mutilated jjangkai off. "It requires a reasonable amount of magic to even cut through their skin."

Well, duh. These were like if cockroaches ever developed poison and grew extra pincer-like appendages. A nightmare it truly was.

"Seline," Kora said. "Do you really intend to sit there and watch us get killed?"

I stared after the hole with a different kind of longing and desperation. "I could watch you get killed all day," I answered.

Mirani yelled as she stabbed through the underside of another jjangkai, pinning it to the opposite wall. Kora whipped and swung his sword, catching a stinger's point against the flat side of his blade. It would have impaled me on the ground. "Well, I'd like to live, thank you very much," he said through gritted teeth as his feet skidded on the ground in his fight to drive the netherbeast back. "If you didn't get your sorry ass in here in the first place, I would still be on the surface and having a good time."

I shot up, summoning my sword into my hands. It was still the same practice sword I ended up with from the start. With a few tweaks using my magic, it has considerable damage abilities now. "Say that again and I'll ram you through," I said.

"That's great!" Kora yelled and kicked a bug straight at me upon chopping one of its legs. "If you can reach me first, that is."

"You cheeky, little—" I started but with a hundred tons of exoskeleton sliding towards me, I didn't get to finish. Instead, I imagined the bug to be Rin's stupid face and slammed my sword straight through. Purple goo dripped to the ground as I pulled my sword out.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" came Rin's taunting voice. I looked up to see him diving to the ground to avoid yet another stinger and snipping pincers from two different bugs. Mirani was locked in battle with at least five. More still poured into the cavern, hissing as they came across the two pockets of sunlight we wreaked into their nest. They were about as happy as me whenever people dragged muddy shoes into the floor I just finished mopping.

My hands tightened around the hilt of my sword. "Mind your own business, dimwit," I muttered as I joined the fray. Despite the roiling discomfort at the pit of my stomach, I forced myself to see these bugs as the cockroaches I used to drown with insect spray. If I learned how to deal with those whenever I was alone in the dorm or in the house, I could deal with these too. "I can do it on my own," I said, first as a whisper, then into a yell, "I can do it on my own!"

I swung my sword, my instincts taking over my movements. During my training with Trink, I discovered that I only have to think what I wanted to do and this character's body would follow. I swiped my hand over my face, summoning my menu. Focusing on the skills list, I scrolled to the very end of all the ones I could cast and settled on one.

"Give me your swords!" I called, getting ready to speak my spell. Mirani didn't need to be told twice. She flipped onto the back of a jjangkai like a limber acrobat and threw her sword straight at me. I brought my hand in front of me like I was aiming to stop it with my mind powers. The blade came rushing without any hint of stopping. I sucked in a breath and yelled, "Enhance!"

My magic snaked out of my fingers and wrapped hungry coils around the zipping blade, halting its trajectory. When I was finished, Mirani, still aboard the bucking insect, whizzed by, grabbing the weapon by the hilt. She whirled just in time to skewer another bug who thought it was a good idea to scale the walls and drop in on her.

She gave an amused whistle as she jumped off the insect and finished it off with a sickening crunch. "A crafting spiria, huh?" she said. "Remind me to keep you in my contacts list."

I blinked. She wasn't afraid of me because of my magic? Was it a different ideology in the Central Empire?

A flash of purple to my right caught my attention. Immediately, a stone dropped into my gut. "There's another stream incoming," I said, slicing through the tail of another insect. "They're coming from the east!"

"You and I have different definitions of east, Seline," Kora said, dropping next to me as he sent a jjangkai corpse back into the front lines. "You could at least say thank you, you know? We're risking our limbs here for you."

I scoffed, pressing my back against his, with Mirani adding to the weight. With the jjangkai coming from all nameable directions, it's better if we protect each other's backs. "What? You're bitter because I didn't boost your sword? Oh, poor you," I taunted, parrying a stinger from damaging my face before landing a kick into the bug's eyes. It shrieked in pain before I silenced it with another stab. "Well, news flash, I'm never going to touch any of your things. Ever!"

"Wow, that's one way to express gratitude!" Kora yelled from behind me. The sound of exoskeleton crunching and nether beasts hissing in pain was unmistakable. "I could learn a thing or two from you!"

"Don't patronize me, you coward!" I yelled back as I sliced a bug's skull into two. After fighting in such a closed range as this, it's next to impossible to tell how strong these were. Getting a look at the splotches on their backs seemed like a complete waste of time and attention. "I'm not the idiot who decides to come running and throw their ass into a den of bugs!"

Kora snorted. "Why? Are you the idiot who managed to fall into a den of bugs causing another idiot to save you?"

I scoffed. "Did you just admit to me you're an idiot?" I kicked another jjangkai away, sending it crashing into the wall. "You? Save me? Dream on!"

Boots skidded against the ground, driving a flurry of debris. Kora cursed as he sidestepped a rushing bug before whirling to do a number on its hind legs. "If you see me as an idiot for doing you a favor, you should see yourself!" he said. "Falling into a hole, kicking a larva open, catching the rest of the colony's attention—how stupid can you be?"

"Focus!" Mirani's strained beratement was drowned by the added shrieks of the jjangkai as she piled one on top of the other. She moved to tackle another one advancing towards her when she was thrown forward by an unseen one coming up from behind. My cry got stuck in my throat as I watched Mirani roll and wiggle underneath the mass of stomping legs and stabbing pincers, her sword lost in the fray.

Then, Kora managed to lose his footing and ended up pinned to the wall with a stinger. What about the poison? I was about to lunge towards either of them when I heard a deep grumbling from somewhere above us.

"Stick to the wall!" Ahrian's voice streamed into the cavern with the light. Before I could process it, explosions wracked the place, startling the rest of the jjangkai. Then, the darkness groaned. And the ceiling crumbled right in front of my eyes.

Like an oncoming hailstorm, huge chunks of purple-streaked rock rained on us.

I rushed to where Mirani had flattened her herself against. Her chest heaved up and down, making her breastplate clink against her shoulder pads. Bright light suddenly drowned the darkness out, bringing with it several figures whom I couldn't be more relieved to see. "Nazran, instruct your beasts to carry these three out," Cavya's calm but authoritative voice matched the small crunching sounds made by their feet stepping onto broken chunks of the ceiling and squashing the trapped bugs underneath them in the process.

Kora grunted beside me, hands around the motionless stinger nailing him to the wall like a disgruntled picture frame. With a wince, he pulled it free. His boots touched the ground in a series of soft clicks. He frowned at the stinger now separated from its owner by a sizable bit of the ceiling. "We can still help, Cavya," he said. "Let us."

Cavya drew his rapier which had stayed sheathed all this time. "Oh, I don't expect you to sit around once Nazran gets you out," he said. "I was thinking of making you blow up the ceiling, making it crush them on multiple places we couldn't reach."

Valren drew his sword and stabbed down. His blade squashed a still-squirming head. "But now that our scent has been registered, we're going to have to wait for all of them here," he said. "It's going to be a blast."

Judging from the way his snout parted to reveal his deadly-sharp fangs and the glint of excitement dancing in his slitted eyes, he was looking forward to smashing stuff. Well, I was about to pass out upon realizing I had just been in a room full of bugs...and somehow lived.

"You and I will have some words about your conduct in this mission," Cavya said to Kora who looked like he was holding his poop in. That talk couldn't be good, could it? Did he just get in trouble because of me?

Nah. He did it to himself. It wasn't like I asked him to come and get himself in trouble.

The sound of a million thudding footsteps resounded from a distance, making everyone tense and ready their weapons. When the first line of jjangkai appeared from the shadows of the intact ceiling, Cavya gave a whistle. All of the Dragnasand Knights charged. Onward to battle.

Heather, herself, threw herself into the restarting fray, shouting at the top of her lungs, "What are you waiting for, Crimsons?" she said. "Are we going to let these central morons win?"

A resounding "No!" followed after her as Trink, Arzo, and Revery followed after her. This left me with Kora who eyed the battle with narrowed eyes. "What are you thinking?" I dared to venture as the only time I saw him this serious was when he was playing an intense 5v5 match against strangers over Fortress and Strife or just about any multiplayer, strategy games.

"About how I'm going to tie you in a trunk the moment we get out of here," he answered before closing his hand around my arm. "Duplicate!" he chanted.

Before I could make sense of what spell he casted, he withdrew his hand and gave me a playful wink. "No need to worry about not enhancing my sword," he swiped his hands down and the same light I saw when I was working with weapons shone over his already shiny blade. "I can make my own."

Then, he ran into the fray, leaping over the backs of oncoming insects like it was something he was doing by the time he got out of his mother's womb. Ugh. What a show-off.

"Hey, doofus," I called as I rushed after him just to give him a piece of my mind. "You can't just go and steal my ability from me!"

Kora ducked under a flaming jjangkai courtesy of one of Heather's elemental attacks. He had the nerve to smile at me despite the thin stream of blood running down from his hairline. "I didn't steal it," he replied, stabbing and spinning out of the way of another stinger aiming to pin him to a wall. "I just copied it. With my special skill, that is. Do you need everything to be explained to you?"

Heat rushed into my cheeks, and it couldn't be because of the growing exhaustion in my limbs. "You unoriginal thief!" I screamed. "You—"

"Would it kill you to stop yelling at each other for a second?" Yaora snapped, unleashing a flurry of tiny daggers at the insects in his immediate radius. "My ears are close to bleeding."

"I can relate to that," Trink pulled his sword clean out of a twisted carcass. "Mirani, how did you get these two to shut up?"

Mirani swept her foot underneath her target, before slicing it into two. "I didn't!" she said. "Your arrival merely stalled them."

I was about to say something when the whole cavern shook once more. Ahrian was nowhere to be seen. Cavya cursed. "Damn, that buzzard," he said. "Can't she aim for a more considerable timing?"

More of the further caverns rumbled and collapsed, burying more incoming waves. Soon, the tide of jjangkai thinned and continued to do so. Within what felt like an hour, Cavya thrust his rapier and decapitated the last bug. It exploded into a shower of purple goo—a unique trait of the cat-headed langkoor's sword. I could tell from its craftsmanship that it also got a homing function that recognizes him as its sole owner. Perhaps I should do that for my items and weapons too.

We gathered together in one spot, kicking away broken mandibles, legs, or pincers out of the way. Revery and Nazran had started collecting the stingers and something from inside the beasts' mouths. "Mirani, you didn't have to crush so many heads," Nazran clicked his tongue and passed Kora some of the items in his bunch. With a sigh, the poor man had no choice but to start lugging it into his inventory. Served him right for being such a show-off with his abilities.

Mirani crossed her arms and frowned. "Hey, it's not just me," she said.

Then, from the corner of my eye, something whizzed, breaking free from the shadows made by the chunk of the ceiling which didn't fall down. It rushed towards Kora. In a flash, my sword slashed through the air, connecting to a hard surface with a crunch. The jjangkai tumbled off Kora, but not without dousing him with freshly-spilt purple blood.

Just the sight of his hair plastered over his eyes brought unparalleled glee in my gut. His mouth parted in shock, which caused some drops of blood to dribble past his lips. He ended up hacking and pounding his fist against the wall. I doubt jjangkai blood tasted good.

When he had finished sputtering and had swiped his hair off his face, making him look as if a cow had licked him in the face, I gave him a smile and a playful wink. "Now, we're even," I said.