"This should be the last of them!" One of the hired Awakened shouted from the flank.

Rudith heaved a sigh of silent relief.

Finally.

The last few Worker Ants still scrambling in the widened chamber no longer looked like an overwhelming swarm. They had become exactly what they should have been from the start — pests.

Dangerous only if you got careless, too many of them only because the E rank Elite boss had thrown them out to delay them.

One of the hired Awakened brought his heavy axe down and split one of the few remaining ant’s head with a wet crunch. Another drove a spear through the abdomen of one trying to flee back into a side tunnel. Noa’s arrow punched right through the eye of that fleeing Worker Ant, pinning its twitching body against the rock wall.

But the actions of that last remaining ant was a signal for Rudith.

"The boss must be doing something! It gave up control over those last few in the final moments."

Her words met nothing but silence.

Although everyone there felt some amount of emotion after hearing Rudith’s announcement, it was still a fact that they were all tired after that battle.

The entrance was still full of ragged breathing, with scraping of boots on stone, and the occasional wet twitch of a dead Worker Ant being finished off.

Worst of all was the smell: blood, guts, bile, you name it.

Rudith wiped a streak of ant blood from her cheek with the back of her hand and glanced around.

Joe was fine.

Sarah had barely needed to step in directly.

Niko and Aron had a few scratches, but nothing serious.

The hired group looked a little rougher for the wear, since they took the brunt of the force of Worker Ants, so that was expected. A few of them were panting hard enough that Rudith already knew they wouldn’t be of much use if the boss chamber turned ugly.

’Which is exactly why they came in the first place.’ Her lips curved inwardly.

Cannon fodder. Labour. Noise. Shields.

These hired Awakened could be referred to by many names — whatever label fit best, so long as they were useful.

Despite their condition, the ten Awakened looked happy as ever. On top of their base pay for coming, Rudith had also promised them every Origin Crystal that they earned from killing the horde of Ants, and considering they did most of the work, that meant they got earned the majority of the spoils by right!

And with the huge number that had been taken down, there were even a few drops of Genes and Genetic Armaments! Which, while still extremely valuable, weren’t worth much for their combat efficiency.

Nevertheless, everyone was happy.

Except for Rudith’s group.

Only they knew the truth of this beast nest and what lay ahead of them.

"Check the dead. Make sure none of these things are playing corpse," Rudith ordered.

"Then form back up. We move in immediately after."

The hired Awakened obeyed without much complain. They were tired, yes, but the rewards were already showing to be worth it.

None of them suspected that the true prize of the trip lay further in.

And once they reached it, Rudith had every intention of making sure only the original six knew exactly what they had found.

Sarah, meanwhile, stayed close, eyes faintly glowing red as she swept the nearby tunnels with her Gene’s ability.

"It’s quiet." She murmured.

Rudith didn’t look at her. "Well that’s to be expected, since we just killed every beast that once occupied these tunnels."

The leader of the hired men gave a bark of laughter nearby as he kicked over an ant corpse.

"Well, that’s the lot of them dealt with! Told you it was just a numbers game!"

Rudith ignored him. She picked this group of Awakened out for one simple reason — they were mediocre. Having found them lingering around Erenhot’s bars every night, she knew they were the perfect fit for the role she’d prepared for them.

All of them were well known drunkards in Erenhot — heck, they might even still be drunk right now! They might not even remember the day’s events when they wake up back in the outside universe, not having a clue what happened to them.

But at that moment, Rudith noticed something.

’What!!?’

The orange-red veins running through the walls and ceilings of the nest had dimmed massively.

Her heartbeat kicked up a notch.

’No... No. NO. NO!!!’

Sarah noticed too, and her face was drained of all colour. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"We need to hurry!" Rudith suddenly shouted, her tone and face extremely serious.

Even the rowdy bunch of hired Awakened turned their undivided attention to her.

"Everyone split up! Form teams of two to cover each tunnel, while Niko and Noa will stay here to watch the entrance. Let’s go, NOW!"

***

’Looks like they did exactly as we thought.’ Rohan smirked knowing that Rudith and her group were falling into their trap.

To be fair, it was the most obvious and standard move to make in their position. Considering they weren’t aware of any ambush either, it was also the smartest and most efficient.

As Rudith and her original group knew they were on a time crunch, it was smartest to cover as much ground as quickly as possible.

The moment she noticed the veins had dimmed, there was no way Rudith would keep everyone bunched together. Not when the flower was missing.

Rohan and Elane waited in silence inside one of the darker side tunnels, pressed close to the wall where the dimmed veins previously would have given away their position, but now they were completely encased in darkness.

The Lava Hellebore had been tucked farther back behind them, emitting just enough light to be a great distraction for anyone that came in to investigate.

And then—

Footsteps.

Two sets of them.

A pair of Awakened rounded the corner a moment later, neither face recognisable to either Rohan or Elane.

They waited and waited for them to come in close proximity—

Then Rohan made his move.

He exploded out of the dark like a spring releasing all of its tension, exerting force with his spear the moment he arrived in front of the two startled Awakened.

’They’re weak!’ Rohan noticed their sloppiness, and immediately send the blade of his spear slicing across their necks.

Within moments, they were dead.