The Golden Mantis Body had absorbed most of the damage, but the shockwave from that impact still rippled through and shook up his internal organs. This enemy was turning out to be more difficult than he assumed. Sage threw out a metal disc, geometric shapes and unusual symbols lit up upon its surface, drawing power from Spirit Stones embedded at the center of the disc. The Formation Plate came to life, creating a massive dust storm that rose hundreds of feet into the air. The swirling winds of this instantaneous tornado were broken up by the treetops, but dirt and dust was still flung into the air, causing a massive commotion.

At the same time, Sage brought out hundreds of insects. Even if they were pretty pathetic in direct combat, they still had plenty of uses. Small scent markers were launched out in different directions and a herd of Charming Lance Beetles rushed in the direction the arrows were coming from. At the same time, groups of Chameleon Mantids rushed out to the sides, to conduct a flanking maneuver while many Emerald Dragonflies flew up into the trees above him. They couldn’t fly directly through the dust storm, so Sage didn’t give them any orders. They acted on their own instincts, spreading themselves into the forest to get away from the dust storm.

As for Sage, he was already hopping into a hole on the ground, following behind one of the Warp Worms as dozens of them dug tunnels into every direction, somewhat compromising the strength of the forest floor, but also creating a labyrinth underground.

There was a string of sudden explosions, and the tunnel Sage was crawling through rumbled and he had to scramble forward to escape a collapse. This was definitely the most dangerous part of using Warp Worms. A scent did not spread nearly as well underground as it did in the open air, so it was far more difficult to direct the worms. It was far easier to breed them with specific ancestral memories to perform specific tasks when they were given a specific scent and then release them to work on their own. He couldn’t just whistle them over and tell them to dig him out. Unfortunately, he was not linked to a Warp Worm right now to hide within, and he certainly didn’t have a minute to sit and calmly raise another. He carefully dug his lower body out, pulling his legs free of the rocks and dirt and quickly shuttling down the small tunnel to escape from the collapsed area.

The insect he was currently linked with, was actually one of the Charming Lance Beetles and it was part of the group charging through the dust storm and barreling towards the archer. Given that the insects were pretty useless on their own, Sage had started to use a Charming Lance Beetle as his link target. Other than the Warp Worm it was the insect that he felt had the greatest potential yet he always ended up using the least. It certainly wasn’t because of its great toughness, nor even its ability to suck the blood from things it stabbed its horn into. No, it was actually the ability inherited from its ancestor the Succubus Beetle. The same pheromone power that Sage always tried to retain, was also present on this beetle. At this time, the beetle Sage was linked to was acting as his general. It could produce a range of thousands if not millions of scents, easily mimicking Sage’s scent markers and also allowing it to trick many other creatures that it was friendly and non-threatening.

While Sage was crawling through a small tunnel in the trail of a slimy worm, the Charming Lance Beetle troop rushed forward in search of the enemy attacker. One of the fifteen foot long beetles would smash its head into each of the trees they passed, giving it a good shake to point out where the enemy might be hiding. After the crash the beetle would have to sit still for a few seconds to recover and then it’d rush forward to rejoin the pack and prepare itself to test out a different tree. After a few moments, Sage got to see what the likely cause of that string of explosions was when an arrow fell onto the ground in front of the beetles. It stuck into a fallen tree and Sage noticed the strange shape of the arrow. The arrow’s shaft bulged a few inches down from the head, spreading to a few inches wide. In the wide space, there was an open area like the bole of a tree, or the inside of a dugout canoe. In that empty space, Sage saw a flash of jade. That jade glittered with a strange light and then the arrow, the tree, and a half-dozen of the giant beetles were blasted into smithereens.

The explosion rocked the nearby trees and the closest beetles were knocked off their feet by the force of their comrades' body parts hitting them.

Was that some sort of exploding talisman? This archer is pretty extravagant. Those things cost tens of thousands of Spirit Stones each.

Sage controlled his beetle to continue the attack. It released a different scent to point in a direction and the beetles rushed over. It also released a second scent, giving a similar order to the Chameleon Mantids that were spread out to the flanks. There was a whistling noise and then hundreds of arrows fell upon the troop of Charming Lance Beetles. The arrow points rained upon them, thudding into their armored bodies, but stopping after a slight penetration. That attack hit each of the beetles with dozens of arrows, covering an area a thousand yards wide, but it was also quite weak and failed to kill them.

The swarm rushed closer, just in time to catch sight of their enemy. A figure in dark robes was standing upon the upper bough of one of the largest trees. They were holding a large piece of golden metal with so many embellishments upon it that it was hard to tell what it was. Only the presence of a string and the hand motion of the one using it gave away that it was a bow. Sage was just in time to see the person turning from left to right. To the left a solid wave spread into the distance, and the strum of their fingers launched a similar wave to the right. That wave spread rapidly, moving too fast to make out what it was until it made contact with something.

Arrows. Thousands of arrows.

Just as the Beetles suffered earlier, the mantids to either side were drowned by a wave of arrows, but the Chameleon Mantis did not have an absurdly thick and armored carapace like the Charming Lance Beetle. Those carefully concealed killers were shot dead in a single wave. Then the archer turned back towards the Charming Lance Beetles. Their fingers seemed to strike their bow like a harp and the closest beetle clattered to the ground, its large horn tipping into the dirt and cutting a small ditch as it slid forward. Then the dark robed figure’s arm started to wave and each time it did, one of the Lance Beetles was struck dead. Sage’s linked beetle let out one last order before it too was silenced, joining the others in death. The scent called the Emerald Dragonflies to the area, ordering them to build webs around the area the scent came from. They slowly gathered, flitting between the trees and threading Steelsilk between the boughs and limbs, or at least they were supposed to.

Sage had already lost his eyes above the surface.