BIOLOGICAL SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM-Chapter 1289: The bugs (15)
The clone bowed and turned to his group. Fifty Chimaeric Demons gathered to leave. They activated their power and shapeshifted into various small birds—sparrows, finches, and creatures that once belonged in these forests.
They took flight, staying below the trees, and disappeared into the winter morning mist.
Erik watched them leave and then turned to his companions.
"Do the remaining troops know their duties?" Amber asked.
"Yes. They'll fortify the shelter and clear any threats from the surrounding area. I already talked to them." Erik adjusted his own gear after having checked it.
The fruit trees and vegetables were going to need protection, and so did the meat they collected until that point.
Erik made a sort of cellar deeper into the shelter's basement, which meant the meat would stay fresh for as long as they put it there. He also made huge blocks of ice in order to freeze the meat.
"Are we going?" Emily lowered her rifle.
"Yes," Erik said. "There is no more time to lose. Is everyone ready? We have a long week ahead."
Looking at their faces, Erik could tell his companions didn't really want to take part in this, but knew they had.
Though none voiced their concerns out loud, their expressions betrayed their unease at having to fight the queen, but that was it. Even the clones seemed more alert than usual, their postures tense with anticipation.
"I've got enough arrows," Mira patted her quiver. "Besides, I have a living arrow-making company as my boyfriend. What could go wrong?"
"I'm ready too," Emily said. "The rifle is in good condition."
June shapeshifted his face into that of a human to talk. It was weird for a now small bird to have a human face, but it wasn't like he had another way to speak to everyone at the same time.
"I'll scout ahead once we're moving. The morning fog will give us good cover."
"Just stay within sight," Erik said. He was the weakest of them all, but his experience made up for it.
"We don't want to get separated before we even reach the caves."
Amber gave them all a look. "Let's go then. Standing here won't make the journey any shorter."
The group left the shelter and moved through the forest. Ten clones walked in front of Erik and the others, while another ten followed behind them. Erik and his friends stayed in the middle of the group.
Emily and Mira kept monitoring their surroundings. June was flying above the trees to check if there were thaids close to their position. Amber kept ready to warp everyone if needed.
There were some small thaids around. Them being there meant no large predators lurked nearby, or at least nothing that could hunt them, too. They were weak compared to the clones, but that didn't mean they were weak in absolute terms, though; they kept away from the group.
"The forest is strangely empty," Amber said after an hour of walking.
"Yeah, the battle must have brought many of the thaids in the area to death. If even flying thaids died, I bet that stopped other thaids from reaching the area."
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However, thaids were thaids. They were beasts obsessed with devouring. They didn't, only when they were sure they would get killed.
"There are still signs of the large creatures that passed through here to reach the cave," Erik said.
Broken branches and deep tracks marked their passage. Some tracks belonged to creatures larger than anything they'd seen on land before.
"The queen's not the only one who'll want to keep a hold of those caves," Erik said.
"Underground spaces large enough to accommodate such sizes are rare. Every large predator in the area will try to make it their den."
"Perfect." Emily's voice dripped sarcasm. "We get to fight our way through them first."
"Better than facing the full bug swarm," June said, landing on a branch. Predictably, that's exactly what happened.
However, this time, Erik would keep the queen in check so that they could focus on cleaning the nest from the bugs.
The battle outside the cave greatly reduced their numbers, so fighting would not be as dangerous as it was when they first arrived.
Plus, Erik was going with them. Just one of his attacks would wipe out thousands of bugs.
"The path ahead's clear for now. But I spotted fresh bear-like thaids' tracks. Big ones."
This reminded Erik of the Ursus Glacialis and Luminaclaws that had given the Chimaeric Demons their starlight fireballs, as well as the Metalfur Bears, with their steel-transforming coats. Similar thaids roamed this area. Strangely enough, most of the thaids here were bear-like species.
"Keep moving," Erik said. "We need to reach the cave entrance by noon." They pressed on through the forest.
Everyone moved in silence and had to watch their steps on the leaf-littered ground. Even June did his best to keep as silent as possible, despite him flying.
A clone raised his fist—the signal to stop. The group froze as something massive moved through the trees ahead.
Heavy footfalls shook drops of dew from the leaves. Erik saw large shapes through the foliage but couldn't make out the details, and the vegetation didn't help.
Whatever it was, it paused, testing the air. There was a strange shimmer as it moved, like light catching on metal.
<Be careful,> Erik said through a mind link. <Whatever this thing is, it might have power similar to the metal fur bear.>
Yet the size was at least thrice that of that creature, which wasn't small at all. It couldn't possibly be a Metalfur bear, though.
<We'll circle around,> Erik said. <We can't waste time and energy fighting it.>
The group backtracked, taking a wider path through to avoid the monster. The creature's presence, though, confirmed Erik's theory.
The thaids in the area had been attracted by the bloodbath he instigated, but they remained in the area to nest within the cave or to take advantage of the bodies that were still outside the nest.
It was impossible for the queen and her underlings to have cleared the battlefield already.
They were surely working on dismembering the corpses of the thaids who died there to feed their young and troops, but the battle was too big for the monsters to have managed that in so little time.
The queen's territory would face other things, not just Erik's group, but that meant they would, too. As the sun climbed higher, the forest thinned. They approached the rocky ground that marked the cave's entrance.
The battle transformed the area. Broken trees and deep gouges scarred the earth. Blood stained the rocks, and corpses littered the ground. There were still bugs in the area, but also many other thaids scavenging the corpses.
"The bug swarm didn't retreat underground," June said from his perch.
"That was expected."
Erik studied the entrance. There were many workers standing in the area, protecting it.
He turned to the group. "Is everyone ready?"
The others nodded. The clones checked their weapons one last time. Emily started charging her rifle with mana. Mira nocked an arrow.
"Stay close," Erik said. "We will need to break through if we want to enter, and once inside, there's no quick escape."
