The seething swarm of buzzing assailants surged straight at Chuck and the others, expanding ominously as they approached. These insects, Chuck decided, were about twice the size of the ones back home. The glossy black stingers they brandished accounted for most of their increased size. Abruptly halting thirty feet away, they hovered menacingly, the droning shifting through a cacophony of tones, punctuated by sharp clicks and an unsettling, bone-chilling rattling noise.

  “Are they trying to herd us or planning their next move?” Byrtha asked.

  “Yes?” Chuck’s laugh sounded forced and shrill. “Sorry, I’m nervous, tired, and a little scared.”

  “Only a little?” She gave him a quick smile. “You’re doing better than me.”

  Glyrgaph floated several feet above them. “May I reiterate, adventuring is not fun, not at all. And while I have your attention—should we go further down the ravine or stand our ground here?”

  “I don’t think it would be to our advantage to go where they want us to go. But standing like this is making me…uh…bug out.” Chuck’s laugh betrayed his nervousness. “We should step away from here, don’t want to be around the wind and stuff when the magic kicks back in.”

  Brytha nodded, not letting her eyes leave the swarm, “Agreed, we step backward, don’t want to show these things our backs. Glyr can you call a warning if we’re headed to something we need to know about?”

  “I can accomplish that. I’d suggest only enough movement to clear the holes in the walls. Start moving now.”

  Brytha and Chuck both began the slow process of backing up, while maintaining constant watch on what the bugs would do.

  A few steps into the retreat, the cloud of creatures followed. Glyrgaph's voice cut through the horrific noise, declaring they were finally clear of the air-holes. The group halted abruptly, hearts pounding in their chests. The bugs, as if tethered by an invisible force, froze in perfect unison, hovering menacingly in the air. After hovering for a few seconds, the swarm parted, leaving a clear path through their chaotic mass. The angry buzzing grew louder, the air vibrating with the bugs' increasing agitation.

  Several moments after the swarm moved, Chuck found out why. Coming around the bend were two, then another, giant armoured bugs. Roly-polies! Evil, huge, ugly roly-polies.

  Chuck noticed the three holes along the front of the new arrivals just in time. “Jump, duck, it’s going to shoot from its forehead.”

  Chuck spread himself out while jumping to the side. He flipped sand toward the lead poly, hoping to throw off its aim. He heard three distinct pings hit the rocks behind him. Looking up, he saw a dart-like object sticking out of the wall. He jerked his head back around when the buzzing intensified. He got a superb view of the start of their attack.

  A wave of the oversized dark hornet-ants headed toward Chuck, mandibles clicking and stingers at the ready.

  Fire…um…Fireblast! Chuck threw both hands forward for emphasis. A fifteen-foot-wide ball of fire flew toward the oncoming swarm. They crackled and sizzled on impact, many turned and tried to fly away—most didn’t get far. When the flames splashed against the far side of the pass, it spread out and returned toward Chuck as thirteen flaming basketball-sized spheres. It took out more of the bugs—and was seconds away from hitting Chuck.

  “It won’t hurt me, right?” He muttered.

  Brytha called out, “I’d cancel it or run.”

  Cancel—Cancel. Crap. Jump. Chuck tried to leap to the side, the lead fireballs hit the stone wall and dissipated. A fireball in the second wave caught Chuck right in the midsection.

  “AAAAAArrrrrr,” he cried. Drop and roll. He did, it didn’t help. His skin crackled as it turned black, the flames spreading across his body.

  << INTERACTION — Absorb fire?>>

  If it stops the pain, yes, absorb everything.

  The flames sputtered, then disappeared into his body.

  Brytha knelt next to him, wide-eyed. “Are you okay? Did you just eat fire?”

  “I’m better, but not okay. Absorbed, not eat.”

  “Bugs reforming,” Glyrgaph announced.

  “Make them go away, make them go away,” Chuck whined.

  Brytha stood over him, sword at the ready. Chuck watched the remaining bugs reform into a swarming mass, he took some glee in seeing two of the roly-polies on their backs smoking. The third was still curled up in its ball—but was moving.

  “Got another of those firestorms in your bag?” Brytha asked.

  Fireblast! Chuck threw his hands forward again. A baseball-sized sphere shot out and took out fifty or more bugs.

  << INTERACTION — Usable magic is zero, remaining magic needed to keep form together and component alive.>>

  Back down to there, hmm. Am I recharging?

  << INTERACTION — Yes. The Structure is keeping ten magic points in reserve to keep you alive as you recharge.>>

  I’m that low? Status check.

  << STATUS

  Health: 36/80

  Magic: 10/108

  >>

  “I’m done for a bit, nothing in the tank,” Chuck called up to his friends, failing at keeping worry out of his voice.

  “Then I shall keep them from you.” Glyrgaph charged at the cloud, his roots whipping as he closed in. The tendrils connected with deadly accuracy. The initial charge took out almost as many as the baseball-sized flames.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Surprise is gone,” Glyrgaph called out as he flew back from the swarm.

  The swarm stayed in a state of chaos, with bugs flying in and out of the central cloud. The noise from them grew louder. Three of them broke away and headed straight for Brytha. A few quick strikes of Glyrgaph’s roots sent them tumbling through the air, hitting the opposite wall with an audible pop.

  Brytha relaxed a little. “Thank you.”

  “You are welcome. Discovering that my roots are an effective lash is fortuitous.”

  “Quite fortuitous.” Chuck couldn’t help but smile.

  The bugs continued their drone. Sporadically, they feigned an attack, but stayed out of Glyrgaph’s range.

  “Seems like their content keeping us pinned down. Making use of a time constraint on us?” Chuck looked over at Brytha, who shrugged.

  “Not sure. Does seem like they are waiting on something, though. More of those…um…tanks?” She replied.

  A change in the buzzing pitch silenced everyone. Chuck felt the tension ripple through his body. He heard Brytha muttering under her breath. They waited.

  The swarm darted from right to left, but grew no closer. A high-pitched chirp joined the constant buzz. He looked over at the remaining tank. It had uncurled and was upright, but it didn’t advance.

  “They have to be waiting.” He muttered. Status check.

  << STATUS

  Health: 38/80

  Magic: 18/108

  >>

  Should have enough to reform. He waited a couple of seconds and didn’t hear a response. He willed himself back to his humanoid form. “Have any of you tested to see if this sand is different from what we ran into earlier?” He asked.

  Brytha shook her head. “Not had the time, plus I don’t think experimentation on that would be the best action at the moment.”

  “Mm-hmm, just wondered if you found yourself out there. We may need to know how much room we have to…”

  A new buzz echoed in the ravine, a deeper sound. Chuck couldn’t tell if it came from the swarm in front of him or something else. He looked right and left and didn’t see anything. The noise grew louder.

  Brytha’s voice joined the chaos of noise, flat and almost emotionless. “Above us. Things are above us now.”

  Chuck looked up. The hornet-ant's friends had arrived; they were bigger with a flail-like tail. Worm-caterpillar-dragon fly? Chuck didn’t have time to evaluate further. The new bugs dove at them, the swarm flew straight at them, the tank rumbled forward, all at the same time.

  “This isn’t good,” Chuck muttered, flattened his arms into large swatters, and windmilled them at the onrushing attack. He felt his hands contact the bugs, creating holes in the swirling mass—which filled in right behind the attack. He started swinging right to left, one hand above the other. Swaths of bugs moved or went down. He still saw no real impact on the cloud. Brytha and Glyrgaph were no longer visible. The clicks and buzzes kept him from hearing anything, either. His world came down to him and thousands of bugs.

  He felt sharp jabs of pain along his back. Some had landed and were feasting on him. Hundreds of fiery stings landed all over his body. He figured his poison resistance was the only thing that allowed him to keep going, though it might be waning. The sensations shifted and now all the stings and bites seemed to be focused on his left leg—which was going numb. He twisted and swung downward, crushing an unknown number of bugs against his leg. That left his right shoulder exposed, and the bugs focused there. The level of pain grew. It wouldn’t be long before parts, or all of him, would face debilitation.

  A searing pain, more intense than the others, hit his chest. Looking up, he noticed the swarm had parted enough for the tank to take a shot. One of the barbed darts stuck out of Chuck’s chest. The world lurched, and he stumbled. His legs no longer in sync with his brain. He started swinging his arms, trying to clap his swatter-hands. He didn’t impact as many bugs with this attack, but the kill rate was much higher. The bugs swarmed him, biting and stinging. He kept on swinging.

  Chuck shot forward from some sort of blow in the back. He’d felt the bugs on his back squash under whatever had pushed him. The attacks and the sudden push caused him to stagger forward. Three wild steps later, he fell on his face in the sand. He took satisfaction in the feeling and sound of crunching bugs. Relief washed over him. Whatever had pushed him also scared off the bug attacks. Then he felt a tap on the back of his leg. He wanted to turn and see what happened, but his body had different ideas. Suddenly, he slid back across the sand. Hmm, didn’t sink.

  As suddenly as he’d been pulled backward, he stopped. He noticed a voice trying to get his attention.

  “Chuck, answer me. Chuck!”

  “Brytha, I can…” Chuck noticed his words were drawn out and a little slurred.

  Brytha let out a loud and long sigh. “Good, you’re alive at least.”

  Chuck felt Brytha and Glyrgaph lifting him to a sitting position with the stone wall propping him up. He worked on focusing his eyes. He struggled with it. Drunk? The stings? “What?”

  “First, are you okay? You had two-thirds of those bugs attacking you.” Brytha’s concern was apparent in her tone.

  “Drunk feeling. Hard to…um…focus. Where did bugs go?”

  “They’re on the other side of my wall.” Brytha paused, “I have an item that allows me to create a decent-sized force dome. It won’t move and we won’t be able to use it again—takes to long to recharge. I planned on saving it for the big boss, but wouldn’t do us any good if we didn’t get that far.”

  “You’re saying it’s a one-time use?” Chuck asked.

  “No, limited use. Once I invoke it, the recharge counter starts. It can last a week, but it’s not mobile. So, usually it works well. Get to a battlefield, pitch the dome over your tent, and you’re set for a week. You can move it after four days, but it doesn’t reset the week duration. Only allows what I allow in and out—living creatures, I have to touch with the rod. Glyr and I touched it before I invoked. You, I needed the dome to clear the path. I came in from behind—you and the bugs were pushed out of the way.”

  Chuck nodded. “Ah, the tap on my ankle.”

  “Yep, you're not slurring as bad—almost normal speech. Feeling better?” Brytha stepped closer. Glyrgaph floated behind her.

  “Yeah, I know we have to keep moving, but I think we have time to rest, don’t we? I could use some time to recharge.”

  Brytha put her hands on her hips and looked at the sky. “This dome will last long enough. I think a few hours might be okay.”

  “I have a question.” Glyrgaph floated down to everyone’s eye level. “These bugs, mostly, haven’t been too big of a problem, other than sheer number. Mainly, they’ve been effective in draining our resources. Could that be the actual reason, or are they a significant challenge?”

  “I’ve thought about that,” Brytha stated. “I think it could be a little of both—thanks to you, maybe. The Structure sees three entities, and based on what you told me, you don’t have a true class level, do you?”

  “No, not yet. The Structure informed me after my first attack on the bugs that I would have to choose a class soon, though.”

  “And, we had the critter I was chasing make it in and die suddenly—he was actually number three. So the math seems to still dividing by three, but only counting the levels for two. That is just a guess. I also think this attack is about draining us, based on what I know and my speculation. The big boss is next.” Brytha sat down next to Chuck. “So, I think we should take this time to rest and recharge as much as we can. Plus, we have to figure out how to get out of here.” She pointed to the swarm outside the dome. “It doesn’t look like they are going anywhere soon.”

  “A problem for later.” Chuck stretched and flowed into a form that fit nicely against the stone wall. “First, it’s nap and recharge time.” Within seconds, Chuck started snoring.

  In his almost asleep state, he heard Brytha mutter something about unfairness. He mentally shrugged and drifted deeper into sleep.