The swarm of insects followed their queen out of the dust, their mandibles chittering ferociously as the monster towering high above them made to free herself from the underground and lead them into battle. It had been difficult to match the monster to the scale of the cavern before, but now that it was slowly being revealed by the dispersing plume of dirt and debris, Brock could see that the Tyrant easily reached over 50 meters tall.

It was still a meagre size compared to the Brood Mother he’d seen in the outback, but Brock certainly wasn’t going to mention it to the multi-ton murder mantis gunning for his life.

There was about a good hundred meters or so between Brock and the breach site, and he’d give himself around thirty seconds before they caught up to him. If he wasn’t moving that is. He could already hear the rest of the stubborn insects that refused to give up as they clawed their way through the caved in tunnel behind him, and he had no intention to stick around long enough for all of them to have a bite.

He had a vague idea which direction Sanctuary was in, just off his own aura traces he could detect along the sands, and although he knew returning there wasn’t the best of ideas, he knew he couldn’t handle all this himself. He also couldn’t run for days, already feeling the fatigue weigh his body down from his previously oxygen deprived environment.

As long as the townsfolk could handle the hordes with the assistance of Harry and Fon, he was confident he could dispatch the big bad momma that birthed them all. He was hot, he was sweaty, dirty, and panting. Loose dirt clung to his face and hair, and his lungs stung, but still, he gritted his teeth and got to running.

If only to give the townsfolk a warning, Brock lit up the sky with a blast of his Augment of Sparks, parsing apart the baby blue expanse with a fiery streak of crimson. Hopefully, someone was smart enough to understand the meaning behind it and notify the warriors so they could prepare for an encore.

They’ll have a few minu-

Brock felt the unsettling presence from before concentrating its attention on him seconds after, and as its aura pressed down upon his shoulders, he resisted the ensuing stumble and kept his pace. The aura was powerful - horribly so - but it clearly lacked the intent to harm. Within he felt endless boredom, and heat, and hunger. And curiosity. It was a curiosity about what being had dared to use an inferior power within its domain.

Licking his teeth, Brock mobilized his own aura and shrugged off the faint grasp the monster had on him. It was like a massive weight lifted off his shoulders, and Brock was certain he didn’t want to aggravate whatever was watching these events unfold. Super certain.

Yeah. That would be bad.

The distance grew rapidly as Brock bolted away, from a hundred meters of separation, to two hundred, then three hundred, then five hundred. He easily outpaced any one of the creatures in the horde, even the new and improved Agility based insects, though they were catching up and almost upon him.

Sanctuary hazed into view ahead, and Brock was relieved to see many tiny figures scrambling about on the walls and directly in front of it, some even hefting the oversized weaponry he had gifted them. Leading them from the very front, he saw Harry in his dulled armor, resting a large axe over his shoulder. Its edge was coated in bug guts.

Fon was one of the many atop the wall, and he noticed her give him a pronounced wave, as if to reassure him about their prepara-

Brock spun into the air, barely dodging a blade as it slashed across the space he was running seconds prior. Metal scraped against metal as his own arm blade released itself, and using his momentum, he cleaved the attacker’s skull in two, sending it tumbling to the ground.

He landed a second later and didn’t even stumble, only blast a few blades of air behind him to ward off the other closing in chasers. Yeah, get fucked.

In the respite, he spared a brief glance behind him. He whistled. Peaking high above the swarm of hundreds, was the queen. Each blade of hers was over two dozen meters long, gleaming ivory in the overhead sun. Swiftly, she crawled the distance behind her swarm, her hundreds of emerald eyes locked on Brock’s moving form. She had found her transgressor, and she was not letting him go.

“Well, fuck.”

If not for the fact she launched a glob of that same sticky substance he’d seen holding her up, Brock would have given her his infamous middle finger. Unfortunately, he was instead forced to swerve to the right and dodge that very same blob of dark green snot as it smeared itself across the dried earth and instantly hardened, blackened and crusty.

It… kinda looks like my sister’s cooking…

He’d of course never say that to her face. It was a good way to earn a ninja chop to his forehead.

**

The clouds overhead cast thin shadows across the earthen rooftops, the sun’s radiance blotted out on a day that Mio thought really needed some light right now. Although not on her. She had never liked the sun. Her skin was too delicate for it. One such shadow twitched and bulged, and slowly, she rose from the darkness, the blackened substance sloughing off her like mud and returning to that whence it came.

Although there was the chance her target heard her, she didn’t care at the moment and sighed loudly, gazing out over the chaos that was about to unfold. While she hadn’t really believed he was one in the first place, she was starting to seriously doubt that Brock Carter was a Skin Walker. She was all but certain no beast could have such a penchant for trouble as he had. Though her Patriarch would be the judge on that.

Her Young Matriarch’s brother appeared to be an agent of chaos in that regard. Always attracting misfortune to his person wherever he went.

Mio spared one last look at the terrifying sight of the approaching monster and dropped down in front of the sorry excuse her target had for a door. The creature wouldn’t be the first Tyrant she’d seen, as Jane and a slew of other people – herself included - had taken down one terrorizing their clan capital, and she was certain it wouldn’t be the last. There had been several sightings all across the mainland, after all.

Within the town hall, she could sense only three individuals; her target and two of whom she presumed were guards. Maybe even people the woman was discussing tactics with in the little time they had left. She didn’t much care, as this town was now doomed anyway, even with the help of Brock Carter, and she kicked the door out of the doorway.

It shattered and pieces of clay scattered across the ground as all three people moved to reach for their weapons. Mio was already one step ahead of them, a trio of needles flashing out and striking the pressure points found along each of their necks. She rolled her shoulders lightly as they instantly froze and fell to the floor, paralyzed.

She looked down at the fear present within their eyes and resisted the urge to frown. For the clan.

**

Finally, Brock found himself nearing the walls of Sanctuary, and Harry ran up to meet him, the warriors he was priorly conversing with deciding to stay back and avoid him entirely. Brock spared a glance behind him at the ensuing horde and promptly dropped down on his haunches, giving himself time to rest.

“Dude! What did you do?!” Harry stepped forward and shook his friend lightly by the shoulders, demanding an answer.

Brock pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned, “I… uh… got a phone call.”

“…You got a phone call?”

The man didn’t respond, just opting to click his tongue and wave the boy’s words off. Harry made a noise that spelled out the opposite of amused but still helped the man to his feet. He spotted Fon looking over at them from up on the wall only several meters away, her face seeming oddly guilty. Brock furrowed his brows at her but turned around and faced the assault he had brought upon the town.

He estimated the horde to arrive in around five minutes, and it would give him plenty of time to just stop for a moment and catch his breath. He detected two of the speedy variants move to attack him, and he didn’t even react. Instead, Harry stepped forward and let the strikes bounce off his armor. They didn’t even scratch it.

Promptly, they were cleaved in two by his axe.

He heard the boy sigh, and glanced at him, simultaneously chopping the legs off another speeder and crippling it, “What?”

“I’m so close…” Brock’s lips straightened out and he met the boy’s eyes. Immediately, Harry gave him the look, “Not like that. I’m close to breaking past level 50. I just need something big to push me over the edge.”

“…You do understand how you just keep doing it right?”

Harry furrowed his brows, “Doing what?”

“The innuendos?” Brock supplied.

“What the hell is that?”

The older man deadpanned, “A type of cinnamon.”

Harry went quiet after that, just looking plain confused at this point, and Brock chuckled. The banter aside, he understood what the kid was saying. He had all the energy he needed, but he needed a push from a powerful enemy to get the momentum required to break through. Or at least, that was his understanding of it.

Luckily, there were dozens of beasts over level 50 fast approaching, and even the Tyrant herself for him to use as steppingstones toward his levelling. And they would be upon them in another… Brock squinted his eyes at the distance… three minutes.

With Harry’s sizeable Constitution and Vitality, he was certain the kid could tackle a guard or two by himself, albeit with some difficulty. He was more worried about the other melee combatants honestly.

They could barely take care of the Spawn reliably, let alone the Hunters or the various Speedy Gonzales among the swarm. The Guards would definitely eat them alive, probably literally. He had geared them up the best he could, but sometimes the best was far from enough.

Hopefully we can keep the death toll low…

A speeder, as he taken to calling them despite their real name – Swarm Scouts, lashed out overhead at him and he ducked, instantly responding with a blade up through the jaw and into the brain. While he understood what the Tyrant was trying to do, these new versions were far easier to deal with than the version he had fought before.

The other ones were at least fast enough that he struggled to hit them. These ones were decently slower than him, and even their armor was a negligible amount stronger. If anything, they were basically just a Spawn that knew how to run.

With closed eyes as he tried to slow his breathing, Brock detected Harry finally remove himself from his side and move back to the guards, probably doing his best to boost morale. Brock could practically feel the fear and uncertainty in the air. It was a little contagious, he had to admit. He had no doubts about his own survival if things came down to it, but the others around him? What about them?

Well, that was yet to be seen. Silently, Brock wished for their survival and opened his eyes. He took a stance, his blade already out and waiting. Let’s do this.

Then, the tide was upon them.

Brock did his best to become a martyr for the majority of the swarm, weaving around attacks and striking back. He felt himself quickly becoming overwhelmed, but struggle was the price of life, and he had learned that all too well. And if he had to struggle to save the lives of others, he was fine with that.

His reddened blade cleaved clean through the shield and arm of a Swarm Guard, leaving its entire right side open for a strike. Brock made to move, but was forced backward as the blade of a speeder slashed the across place he was intent on. He spun on his feet and dodged a downward smash from another Guard as he snatched the head of the speeder in his hand.

Its skull pulped in his fist, and he threw the remains at a Hunter as it tried to capitalize on his moment of occupation, blinding it with the brain matter of its brethren. His kunai found a place in its eye the next second and the red hot cable sliced through the arm of a Guard as Brock used it to block its attack.

The man ducked under a swing and grasped his wire, yanking it from the Hunter with a grunt. He felt the skin of his palm smoke and sizzle but he ignored the pain and slid out the way of another strike, saddling up beside a Guard and wrapping a length of the superheated cord around its armored neck.

The beast endured the next attack of its comrade in Brock’s place, earning itself a bleeding wound across its chest and shattered carapace. Grinning, Brock grasped and immediately loosed his kunai into a Guard about to kill one of the warriors a short distance away.

It punctured through its shoulder firmly and bought the man enough time to escape. The insect tried to give chase, vehemently tugging the wire along with it. Brock was already blocking the strike of another attack and driving his blade up into a skull as the wire tightened and severed the head clean off the Guard he had wound it around.

Getting fed up with the battle already and how much they were harrying him, Brock roared his Sparks through his pathways, and bathed them all in a torrent of crimson fire, melting their bodies with a heat approaching 1,500 degrees Celsius.

It wasn’t enough to kill them outright, but it was more than enough to weaken their carapaces to the point a barrage of air blades could effortlessly cleave them open, splattering their innards across the ground.

For the most part, Harry seemed to be sharing his job at attracting attention, fighting most of the Guards at once and struggling immensely. The queen was literally towering above them now, only a little farther away than she actually appeared. Brock knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to let her get any closer and he met her eyes directly.

Unfortunately, he didn’t understand how bug eyes worked and could glean nothing.

Brock launched another slew of wind blades toward the gang Harry was fighting, damaging the leg joints and backs of many, before using Ethereal Shackles to save one warrior and Oppressive Might to smush the Scout trying to catch him by surprise like a fly against a window screen. Its green blood freely oozed out from its pancaked corpse.

Cracking his only set of knuckles against his opposite shoulder, Brock flicked the different colored bloods from the length of his weapon and prowled forward, ignorant of the carnage he had created around him.

It was time to hit the main course of today’s event.