The pillars struck the ground with a thunderous crash. They followed one after another, and the explosions followed like detonated war drums.
Flame and dust erupted upward, shaking the very air around them.
Isaac instinctively brought his arm up to shield his eyes, but the force of the shockwaves was already bearing down on them.
Vax moved fast.
He slapped a gauntlet to the ground, and a dome of blue-gold energy sprang up around them.
The shield shimmered like crystal, absorbing the blast and dulling the impact.
Flames danced harmlessly along its surface as chunks of torn earth and debris slammed against it.
When the noise died down, the dome faded, revealing a cratered battlefield.
Smoke rolled along the ground in waves, and the scent of scorched metal clung to the air.
More importantly, massive holes had been torn open on the ground, which had acted as hive’s ceiling.
The earth had collapsed inward, revealing the insides of the Metavore Brood for the first time.
And it screamed.
A guttural, unnatural shriek rose from below. It didn’t sound like any one creature. It sounded like many, layered together in rage and pain.
The ground quivered. The hive had woken up.
From the edges of the crater, one could now see the grotesque blend of iron, flesh, and pulsing organic growth that made up the hive’s structure.
Tubes like arteries ran through its walls. Steel bones protruded from the edges. The glow of mana flickered from deep within.
"Command team, report," Vale’s voice rang through the team’s comms.
Renald immediately began issuing instructions. "Bombardment team, fall back to secondary line. Celia, return to Command."
Celia responded instantly. A dark blue cloud swallowed her, and she vanished from the sky.
A few seconds later, she reappeared next to Renald in a swirl of clouds, catching her breath as she adjusted her clothes.
"As planned, you will be on standby," Renald, the champion rank on command team, said. "Be prepared to extract anyone who needs rescue."
Celia nodded
Below them, movement began.
The scout team poured into the hive from several of the open craters.
One of them shifted into the form of a small black fox and darted ahead, leaping from ledge to ledge. Another dissolved into nothing, turning invisible mid-step. A third simply charged in with blades drawn, cutting down the first abomination that climbed into view.
Emily walked to the edge of one crater and activated her Phantom Parade skill.
A faint white glow lit her fingertips as ten Wisp Spirits shimmered into existence around her.
Tirra, the ghost bird, soared above them in careful arcs, her feathers trailing smoke. Through the skill of the ghost bird, Emily could talk telepathically with her Bonds.
Isaac watched as Emily closed her eyes.
The wisps scattered instantly, phasing through the walls and tunnels below. She tilted her head slightly, absorbing everything they saw and heard.
Then she stepped off the edge.
Her body passed through the solid rock without resistance, but only for a few meters. Deeper in, she hit a wall that pulsed with dense mana. It forced her to shift direction, passing through alternate paths.
Not all the hive’s walls were permeable for her.
The Wisp Spirits had no such problem. They moved through everything, scouting freely.
Back at the Command post, Isaac listened as Emily’s voice echoed in their ears.
"There are multiple tunnels. The deeper layers are saturated with mana. I can’t phase through most of them. Only the wisps can go further."
Renald frowned. "Noted. What are the wisps seeing?"
There was a pause before Emily’s voice came back, more urgent this time. "The internal mana density is extreme. If it’s that thick... the Brood is on the verge of evolution."
Isaac’s eyes narrowed. "This is bad."
Vax stepped closer. "How bad?"
"If the mana saturation is enough to block phasing abilities, then the Metavore Brood is on the verge of becoming a Greater Prime."
There was silence for a beat.
Currently, the Brood was classified as a Greater Metavore Brood. That alone was already a major threat. It likely held forty to sixty monsters within, at least five of which were Champion-rank.
It also created flesh-cyborg monstrosities from its own body to serve as defense units, and it set traps.
It was already dangerous.
But if it evolved into a Prime or even a Lesser Prime Brood, the chances of defeating it would plummet sharply.
"We don’t have time," Isaac said.
"Find the Cores quickly," Renald said firmly. "All infiltration units, begin Stage Four."
"Copy that," came several replies across the comms.
Stage Three had been the insertion of scouts.
Stage Four was the infiltration.
From above, Isaac watched as the infiltration teams began their movement. Five separate squads, each with their own role and formation, dropped down into different craters. Each had been trained specifically to fight in close, winding quarters.
Team Alpha, led by a Vale, took the western hole.
Team Beta, featuring a Sanctum-supported support caster and their vanguard, moved in through the southern breach.
Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon followed through the other openings, moving with calculated speed. Each one vanished beneath the surface, swallowed by the grotesque metal-flesh landscape.
Only the last two infiltration teams, Zeta and Omega, remained on the surface.
Their task was to stop the monsters that were pouring out from the hive’s ’official’ entrance—the one between the tentacles.
These monsters could spread Pollination, and attack the Command team, which was why they needed to be defeated.
The hive had felt the attack. It had responded.
And now it was angry.
Isaac could see the first wave of monsters clawing their way out.
Lanky, iron-limbed creatures, with steel-plated faces and twitching limbs, climbed the walls like spiders.
They looked wrong. Their joints were too loose, and movements were too fast.
Flesh was fused with machine parts, and their eyes glowed red.
Zeta’s tank summoned a wall of stone, splitting the battlefield. Omega’s mage began weaving chains of fire to burn anything that crossed.
"Brace for contact," came the order from Renald. "Hold the entrances. Don’t let them escape."
From below, the infiltration units began sending information.
"This is Alpha. We’re moving through flesh corridors. Saw two traps. Disarmed both. Going deeper."
"Beta here. Detected Champion-rank signature. Possible proximity to a Core. Continuing approach."
"Delta reporting: encountered mechanical spawner. Engaged. Need backup if it keeps outputting at current rate."
Renald kept track of all of it, eyes flicking over a tablet connected to the hive scan.
Isaac turned to him. "If the Brood is evolving, we might need to prepare for full Core detonation."
"We’re holding that as last resort," Renald replied. "If we do that too soon, we’ll lose any chance of studying the hive structure."
Celia stepped up beside them. "We won’t get a second chance if it evolves."
Everyone knew that.
The cores of the Metavore Brood acted like beating hearts. Each one was a localized mana engine, powering different sections of the hive, and connecting the Metavore to the hive. Destroying them would weaken its defenses and integrity.
Finding them was the priority.
But they were buried within layers of walls, guarded by powerful flesh cyborgs and traps.