Chapter 88: Descent into the Hive
Wind rushed past his ears as he fell. The crater walls blurred past in a smear of black stone and purple smoke. Abyssal bugs scattered from the walls as he dropped past, their chitin shells clicking in panic.
He fell fifty feet, then a hundred, then two hundred.
Holden landed on the bottom of the crater in a low crouch. His boots barely made a sound when he hit the ground. The Shadow-Weave boot absorbed all impact.
Then he looked up.
Bugs covered every part of the walls. They poured out of the broken gate below, all heading for the top. The sheer number was overwhelming; thousands of purple-veined bugs formed an endless tide that showed no signs of stopping.
No audience. No cameras. No teachers grading his performance. No teammates to protect.
Holden smiled.
He drew his Star-Forged Sword with a mental command.
The sword ignited. Red-gold fire blazed along the edge, so bright it cast shadows across the crater. Heat distorted the air around him.
He activated his Iron-Body to maximum. His skin hardened to the density of tempered steel. His muscles tightened up, and he became 100% focused. In that moment, he was moving with no wasted effort at all.
Then he moved.
Whoosh!
The first bug died before it knew he was there. His blade took its head clean off.
Crack!
He was already moving to the next target. A group of five bugs scrambled across the floor. With one swing of his sword, all five bugs broke into pieces. Their hard shells and purple blood flew everywhere.
The crater went silent for a moment.
Then chaos erupted.
The bugs sensed the threat in their midst. Hundreds of compound eyes locked onto the blazing figure in their midst. They surged toward him from every direction.
Holden laughed silently. It felt incredible to cut loose.
He stepped into the horde.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The bugs fell in piles around him. His Transcendent sword art turned each swing into a masterpiece of cutting efficiency. Every arc was perfect. Every angle was lethal. The red-gold blade sliced through their chitin shells easily.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Bug corpses piled up around him. Purple ichor sprayed across the floor, sizzling where it touched his Iron-Body skin without leaving a mark.
More bugs came. He killed them all.
A massive beetle charged at him, its mandibles clacking.
Holden didn’t even slow down. He stepped to the side, pivoted, and took the beetle’s head off with a single horizontal slash.
Thud!
The body crashed into the wall and slid down into the pile of bodies.
[Ding!]
[10 Rank 1 Abyssal Bugs Defeated! 2x KP Booster: +400 KP!]
[Current Balance: 58,590 KP]
He pushed further into the crater. The bugs were thicker here, climbing over each other in their desperation to escape. They swarmed him from every angle.
Holden became a meat-grinder.
His blade moved so fast it left afterimages in the smoky air. Red-gold trails crisscrossed through the horde like a web of fire. Bugs died in sheets, their bodies falling apart mid-lunge.
[Ding!]
[25 Rank 1 Abyssal Bugs Defeated! 2x KP Booster: +900 KP!]
[Current Balance: 59,490 KP]
He leaped onto a group of bugs climbing the wall and ran along the vertical surface, cutting them down as he moved. His Shadow-Weave boots gripped the ground like magnets. He ran sideways across sheer cliff faces, leaving a trail of falling chitin.
[Ding!]
[15 Rank 1 Abyssal Bugs Defeated! 2x Booster: +500 KP!]
[Current Balance: 59,990 KP]
The bottom of the crater was a river of bugs. They swarmed toward the broken gate in a big purple wave, flooding out into the forest.
Holden dropped from the wall and landed in the middle of the river.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Bugs crashed into him from all sides. Mandibles scraped uselessly against his Iron-Body. Claws scraped against steel skin and snapped off.
His sword never stopped moving.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
The bug river began to thin out around him. Bodies piled up at his feet.
[Ding!]
[40 Rank 1 Abyssal Bugs Defeated! 2x Booster: +1600 KP!]
[Current Balance: 61,590 KP]
He moved through the bug corpses, his boots crushing chitin shells with every step. The broken gate loomed ahead, covered in cracked runes. Purple smoke poured through the gaps.
A group of bugs tried to block his path. They stood on their hind legs, hissing as their mandibles opened wide in a threatening display.
Holden activated Gale-Step.
Whoosh!
He vanished from between them and reappeared on the other side, already moving. The bugs snapped at empty air, confused, before his return strike took their heads off from behind.
[Ding!]
[20 Rank 1 Abyssal Bugs Defeated! 2x Booster: +800 KP!]
[Current Balance: 62,390 KP]
He was close now. The gate was thirty feet away. The smoke was so thick he could taste it on his tongue. The ground vibrated with the movement of thousands of bugs pouring through the broken doors.
Holden paused for one breath.
Then he sprinted the final distance.
The bugs near the gate instinctively cleared a path as he approached., sensing the killing intent rolling off him like heat waves.
He hit the cracked doors at full speed.
His Iron-Body shoulder hit the ancient stone.
Crack!
The already-damaged gate shuddered. Cracks spread rapidly through the rock like lightning bolts. The ancient runes flickered and died.
Holden hit the gates again.
Boom!
The gate exploded inward. Massive chunks of rock fell away, crashing into the bug river below. A thick cloud of dust and purple smoke exploded outward, filling the air.
He stepped through the breach.
He was now inside the Hive.
The air was thick with corruption. The walls pulsed with dark energy. The sound of thousands of bugs echoed from the tunnels ahead.
Holden stood in the entrance, drenched in purple ichor from head to toe, completely unharmed.
He checked his balance.
62,390 KP. He was getting closer to his legendary upgrade.
He kicked a loose chunk of gate rubble out of his path and walked into the dark.