God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The wide corridor stretched endlessly ahead, branching into multiple passages that disappeared into the darkness.

Each quickened footstep of the humans echoed against the chitinous walls, mixing with the growing thunder of pursuing ants.

Cain huffed as he pushed forward, his enhanced senses picking up the faint traces of "divinity" that seemed to be growing stronger with each turn.

"Left," he called out, following the invisible trail.

Evangeline didn’t question his direction, her shadows weaving defensive barriers behind them as they ran. The purple glow from the walls pulsed faster now, as if the entire Colony was awakening to their presence.

They rounded a corner and found themselves facing a massive chamber. The ceiling soared upward, disappearing into darkness, while the floor was riddled with perfectly circular holes— each one large enough for a large truck to easily fall through.

’An incubation chamber?’ Cain realized, remembering Evangeline’s earlier description. Although he wasn’t able to tell, judging from the change in Evangeline’s expression, it was safe for him to assume that the ambient mana in this place was through the roof.

But there was no time to admire the architecture or the sublime feeling of boundless energy. The sound of chittering legs echoed from every entrance to the large chamber.

They were completely surrounded.

Her eyes darted around before eventually settling on a particular spot,

"Those holes," Evangeline said, her voice tight as shadows writhed around her hands. "They lead deeper into the ground."

Cain glanced down at the opening. The divinity trail grew stronger in that direction, pulling at eerie sixth sense like a compass needle. But jumping blind into unknown depths like that seemed like a recipe for disaster with an army of killer ants pursuing them.

Regardless of this personal thoughts, the decision was abruptly made for them as the first wave of {Redscale Ants} burst into the chamber from thirty separate corridors simultaneously. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

These creatures weren’t mindless drones. Each one was a mechanical part of a large, buggy, death machine, their blade-like pincers gleaming in the arcane purple light. Cain counted at least a hundred in the first wave, with more seemingly approaching from the other corridors.

Left with no other choice, {Eidwyrm} sang through the air as Cain met the first wave of attackers. The blade cleaved through the crimson chitin and ichor, but immediately two more waves flanked him from either side. Without his spatial magic, he couldn’t simply teleport away from their coordinated assault.

He rolled backward, narrowly avoiding snapping pincers that would have taken his head clean off. The ant’s mandibles clicked furiously as they struck empty air.

Shadows erupted from the floor, impaling three ants simultaneously through their thorax. But for every one they killed, two more seemed to pour into the chamber.

"Winning a war of attrition will be impossible," Cain called out, parrying a vicious swipe and following up with a dark wave that ripped through the body of a {Redscale Ant}.

An ant the size of a small horse charged at him, its movements faster than the others. Cain sidestepped and brought {Eidwyrm} down in a diagonal slash, but the creature’s carapace was tougher than expected. The blade bit deep but didn’t cleave through entirely.

The wounded ant’s shriek was deafening in the enclosed space. It thrashed wildly, its damaged chitin spraying ichor across the chamber floor.

Sensing danger from behind, he spun around just in time to see another massive ant launching itself through the air at him. There was no time to dodge. He braced {Eidwyrm} horizontally, catching the creature’s pincers against the blade’s edge. The impact drove him backward toward one of the holes in the floor.

His heel caught the edge, and for a terrifying moment he teetered on the brink. More ants pressed up behind the attack of the first one, their combined weight and fervor momentarily pushing him further off balance. Below, the darkness yawned like an open mouth.

’Fuck it.’

Instead of fighting the momentum, Cain grabbed onto the ant’s mandibles and let himself fall backward into the hole, dragging the gushing tide of creatures with him.

They plummeted through darkness, the immense weight of the struggling tide crushing down on him. Cain could feel the pincers of the creatures trying to snap him to pieces despite. The walls of the shaft rushed past in a blur of purple-veined chitin.

The impact came suddenly. Cain hit the ground hard, the force driving the air from his lungs. Pain shot through his ribs, but nothing felt broken.

The ants, however, had fared far worse— the fall had driven {Eidwyrm} completely through the carapace of the first one. The rest has been crushed by the fall as well. Dark ichor pooled beneath the pile of twitching corpses.

Cain pushed the dead weight off him and struggled to his feet. He was in another corridor, this one narrower than the ones above. The air was thick and humid, carrying a faint cloying scent.

"Cain." Evangeline’s voice echoed from above.

He looked up to see her descending through another hole, shadows cushioning her landing. She touched down gracefully beside him, barely disturbed by the fall.

"Show off," he muttered, wiping the grime and blood from his hands.

"Are you injured?" she asked, her eyes scanning him for wounds.

"It’s nothing serious. The trail leads that way," he pointed down the corridor.

The corridor began to slope downward, the walls becoming smoother and the runic inscriptions more vibrant.

The trail of divinity was now so strong it made Cain feel rather uncomfortable. Every step forward felt like walking into a strange field of forces, that tugged at something invincible in his chest.

They reached a junction where five passages converged. The clicking sound was coming from multiple directions now, echoing off the curved walls in a disorienting symphony.

"Which way?" Evangeline asked.

Cain closed his eyes, trying to focus on the austere sensation. It was difficult to pinpoint the exact direction when the feeling was this intense, like trying to find the source of light while staring directly into the sun.

"Straight ahead," he said finally, though he wasn’t entirely certain.

They had made it perhaps fifty meters when the sound of frenzied buzzing filled his vision, making his skin crawl.

Evangeline took a step forward and stretched out her dainty fingers.

The wild mana swirled about haphazardly as a ball of crimson energy began to coalesce at the top of her fingers.

The instant the swarm came, they were met with a barrage of {Blood Needles}. They were shot down as quickly as they came.

As they cut through the swarm, the corridor opened into a vast cavern.

Cain’s breath caught in his throat as he stared at what lay at the center of the cavern.

"That’s it."

"That is the remnant," he whispered.