Dale was surprised by the Bombardier Beetle's attack range. He could not pull out of the dive and dodge it, so he targeted the acid stream with the thirty fireballs following beside him. Unfortunately, when they made contact, it caused a chemical reaction that turned it into a stream of flames.

Those flames strike Dale's body, but Agni's armor is highly resistant to heat and fire damage by default, and his holy flame skill healed any injury he suffered. So while Dale shrugged off the attack, the fire started spreading quickly down the stream back to the Bombardier Beetle's Kaboose Cannon.

The creature somehow noticed this even while its head was facing the other way and stopped the ejection of the acid stream, which prevented itself from being blown up by the fire. The Cannon then rotated itself anti-clockwise and started shooting a stream of cold water that countered the fire that had come dangerously close to it.

Meanwhile, the Ice bugs surrounding it launched Ice skills at Dale, who had fallen low enough to enter their attack range. Dale tried his best to dodge, but the sheer scale of the projectiles coming at him didn't provide any room to maneuver.

So instead, Dale aimed his hands towards the ground and fired baseball-sized balls of white light that exploded bright flashes of light and loud noise when they fell right above the Icebugs. Dale continuously activates the Flashbang skill as a last-ditch effort to protect himself from their attacks. This stunned or disoriented the Bugs without causing severe injury, but it was just what Dale needed to distract them long enough to land at a spot free of Icebugs.

Dale knew there was no way he could climb back up high in the sky quickly while dodging numerous Ice attacks with the limited Mana he had to power the Jet propulsion skill. Furthermore, the arrival of the giant freaky-looking bugs with abilities that he had never seen before among the Icebug race had shaken Dale's confidence within himself. His only hope at survival was to get inside the stadium before the monsters recovered from the sensory overload they were experiencing. Unfortunately, there is at least a two hundred-meter distance between him and the stadium's front entrance, with many Bugs blocking his way.

When the feeling of despair starts creeping into Dale's mind, Travis and his clones swoop down from the sky above. On their backs were the Tamers and Marines who were supposed to be inside the JTD. Travis understood the situation was no longer in their control and went back to get reinforcements. The Giant Icebugs noticed this and began ordering their minions on the ground to fire at them. Travis's Clones used their own bodies as meat shields to ensure the ones carrying the passengers made it safely to the streets below.

Commander Ethan, Rebecca Lawman, Lang chi, Sevire Blase, and the twelve Marines covered in equipment made from monster parts jumped off the Travis clones when they were low enough to safely land without getting injured. They immediately called out their monster partners and began activating their combat styles. Soon a Golden Armored crocodile Man is flanked by a Black Werewolf and a Red-Wood Carapce armored Centipedede that closely resembled Scolipede from Pokemon. The three then led the Marines into the swarm that decided to abandon long-range attacks and rush in on them.

Rebecca ran to Dale's side and then slapped her hands on the ground to summon a ten-foot-tall Anthill Fortress wall around them and a fifteen-foot tall Earth Ant Wood Golem right outside the walls in guard mode.

Rebecca. "Dale! Are you alright?"

Dale. "Yes, but my Mana tank is almost empty. So I can't help in the battle."

Rebecca. "Don't worry about it! The others will hold them back until you recharge."

Dale. "I have to warn them that there is something unusual about the four Giant Bugs near the stadium. Those things seem to be the ones rallying the swarm and are using abilities that have nothing to do with Ice manipulation."

Rebecca. "Travis already informed everyone on the way here about it. So right now, you should focus on refilling your Mana."

Dale. "But it will take a long time for me to absorb the sun's rays from down here. I should fly-"

Rebecca. "The Commander ordered me to use my skill to protect you while you recharge."

Dale reluctantly nodded and then walked over to the spot where the sunlight fell and stretched out his massive wings to soak up the solar energy. Thankfully the sky was clear, and smoke from the battlefield wasn't thick enough to hinder the light. Dale didn't have to focus on absorbing as Agni's mind took care of that task, so he strained his ears to guess what was happening outside the walls, which looked to be a bit too brittle.

Dale. "These walls and one Golem aren't going to hold the Icebugs back for more than a few minutes."

Rebecca. "Then I will summon more to keep the enemy at bay and build stronger fortifications."

Rebecca slapped her hands on the ground to summon five large ant eggs, birthed seven-foot-tall Soldier Ants made from Earth & Wood. They climbed to the top of the anthill walls from where they began firing wooden spike projectiles at the Icebugs that were attacking the Golem. She again slapped the ground to summon ten eggs that hatched out five-foot-tall Workers ants made from Earth & Wood. They scrambled around the interior of the anthill and started digging the dirt with their mandibles to extract construction material for improving the sturdiness of the walls.

Rebecca. "I can bring more out every five minutes as long as Golem outside gathers Mana for me."

Dale. "If that Golem goes down, we are done, right?"

Rebecca. "The Golem will heal itself as long as its feet are rooted to the Earth. There is no chance of it being destroyed unless it is attacked by fire or something that chops it into tiny pieces. Right now, it's crushing everything with its massive fists into blood splatter on the ground."

Dale. "How can you tell it's fine from here?"

Rebecca. "My Pheromone Communication allows me to communicate with my Golem. It constantly sends me message updates of what is happening outside."

Dale. "Mind sharing some of that with me? I don't like not knowing what's happening outside the walls."

Rebecca. "Commander Ethen is savagely tearing up the Icebugs with his jaws, claws, and tail. Lang chi's lightning wolves and Lunatic howling is ruining their Ice Carapace. Blase is rolling around like a spikey wooden death ball crushing everything he comes across. Travis has lost over half his clones, but he is still flying over the battlefield, shooting lasers, and recording the battle."

Dale. "What about the Marines?"

Rebecca. "No casualties suffered so far. They are throwing around incendiary grenades at the swarm, the new heat swords are cutting through the Icebug armor like butter, and their Crusteacean Ice armor is holding against the Ice skill attacks."

Dale. "Do you see the four weird-looking Giant Ice Bugs? One them should be having a cannon on its bottom."

Rebecca. "They retreated back into the tunnels as soon as we showed up, but a lot more Icebugs are coming out in their place. My minions estimate there are at least a thousand Icebugs outside the stadium."

Dale. "Are more still pouring out of the tunnels?"

Rebecca. "Very few... wait... my minions are intercepting their pheromone communication with the Icebug Queen below."

Dale. "You can understand them?"

Rebecca. "There is something different with the way they speak and how I speak to my minions, but I can understand the gist of their reports. There seems to be a major battle going on underneath us, and it's divided the attention of their

Queen. She is horrible and furious about losing her egg... the egg is supposed to become a Queen too."

Dale. "What does it matter what kind of egg it is? It has nothing to do with us, right?"

Rebecca. "The Queen's egg somehow ended up inside the survivor's stadium. She has ordered her underground forces to dig into the stadium from below and retrieve it at all costs. They will break through within an hour, I think."

Dale. "An hour? Shit! We need to end the battle up here fast and get the survivors out before that happens."

Rebecca. "Do you have enough mana for another big attack?"

Dale. "I am fifty percent full, but that should be enough to wipe them out on the surface as long those freaky giant bugs don't show up again."