Lightning shot from Mash’s hand as he fell toward the insect. It flashed brightly in his eyes, but he was still able to see despite it. And that let him see the monster completely ignore his lightning. He hadn’t put much power behind the attack. He had just wanted to stun it, but his attack hadn’t even slowed it. The only thing it could be was magical resistance. His domain would’ve let him notice if it used magic or anti-magic to block the lightning. The magic didn’t do anything. It just took the hit and kept moving.

There was nothing magical about its defense though. The creature’s body was naturally resistant, and Mash had the feeling that it was a general resistance. Probably to all magic in general. That alone would make these things a menace, but he knew that they could heal on top of all of that.

[Let the others know.]

Mash sent the message to Priscilla. He had given each of his friends a real imitation of Priscilla and could communicate through them now. Distance and security weren’t really a concern anymore either.

He didn’t wait or receive any confirmation. His focus shifted to the fight. He was close enough to the cavern's entrance to feel more insects approaching. His domain let him see at least two more of the things. Although the exit was too narrow to allow more than one through at a time. But the hole was getting bigger as the monsters tried to funnel through it.

The first monster was getting close now. Mash twisted his body. He turned and brought his foot down on the insect as he landed. His dragon form made his legs bigger, and his feet were nearly twice as large. The souls of both of his feet collided with the insect’s head. It hadn’t even tried to dodge. Mash heard a very distinct breaking noise, as his feet pushed on the monster’s skull. The insect crumpled under his feet. Its head got pressed into its abdomen. A countless number of arms and legs snapped as well. The way it crunched underneath reminded him oddly of a cookie. The sound at least was the same as that first bite of a truly crunchy cookie.

His knees bent sharply as he landed. His hands swung out grabbing some of the legs. The hole around him was crumbling rapidly. The snow and dirt slowly fell to fill the hole. It would take a while for the snow to completely fill it, but he was sure that it would happen. He didn’t even hesitate a little and popped one of the monster’s legs into his mouth. It crunched as his sharpened teeth broke the hard shell of the insect. It was salty. It almost felt like he had just stuffed his mouth with a handful of salt. Not a very pleasant experience, and he didn’t have the time to check what affinities he gained.

The insect he stood on moved. It hadn’t died from having its head crushed. Nor its body caving in on itself. But that wasn’t the only issue. The hole that the insect had squeezed out of exploded. Dirt and snow fell as more monsters rushed out. They didn’t slow in the slightest and the corpse that Mash was standing on was pushed upward. The sound of chitin breaking was loud. It felt like the ground beneath him was breaking. Which it was. Insects forced themselves into the opening, completely ignoring how much actual space was available. They crushed one another not caring at all for their surroundings. His domain let him watch the horrific process as one of the monsters lost its footing and was immediately trampled by others. They didn’t seem to care for anything but escape.

Mash stumbled as the insect he stood on got pushed to the side. His knees bent slightly, and he pushed the insect down as he leaped out. The force of his jump caused a ripple among the monsters, but it didn’t slow the tide. It just led to the insects at the front being crushed against the walls. They were dying. Killing one another in a desperate scramble for the sudden opening. Everything around him crunched. The snow, the bugs, and even the stone crunched as the insects pushed their way through. Even though he had jumped, he hadn’t really gotten much ahead of the mob. They were right behind him.

They must have been trapped somehow. Kept stuck beneath the snow. But there had been ways out and in. The guilds had said as much, though he didn’t really know how old the information was. While the adventurer guild updated their information whenever they could, it didn’t mean that they actually had all of the information on a location. Monsters could grow or new ones could move in. Both of which had likely happened. He should’ve realized it sooner. The guild hadn’t known about the extremely large wolves. That should have told him that the information they had was outdated. He just hadn’t considered it. Did the others think of it?

He felt it, as another insect pressed against his foot. They were moving faster than before. A sudden burst of speed as they approached the opening. Then he heard the first click. The strange sound reverberates from the insect beneath his feet. As the monster made the noise, he felt a vibration run up his foot. The sensation made him flinch reflexively, and he used his wind attunement to carry him up faster. It gave him a small boost, but enough to get out of the hole a few seconds ahead of them. Which was apparently the cue for Redd to rain blood down on them. It fell on them like rain, but they were much sharper. Tiny blades of reddish-black blood managed to pierce the chitin of the monsters. And the monsters didn’t seem to care. They pushed through the blood.

Mash watched as their chitin began to darken around the spots the blood hit. Red’s blood was worse than any poison, and these monsters clearly weren’t immune to it. An attack like that should have slowed them. Other monsters and most people would’ve fled. But these things only pushed on. The ones that had taken the brunt of the blood were dying and their bodies weren’t moving as swiftly as the others. That didn’t stop the tide behind them. The dying insects were pushed and crushed into the mess of bodies, as more monsters pushed. All of this happened in a few seconds, and then the first group of insects emerged from the hole.

The monsters went insane. The clicking noise they had made by knocking their limbs together returned tenfold. It echoed across the snowy landscape as more of the monsters escaped. The monsters didn’t just run at them either. Instead, they ran in every possible direction. Climbing over one another. Most of the insects seemed to ignore Mash and his friends completely. Only the ones that were already heading in their direction even took note of them. Their limbs raised as the first of them approached.

The dozens of pointed limbs were raised like spears. It was followed by others. A giant golden hand encircled the first three insects and crushed them into a fist. The same fist swung around, granting them a small bit of space. Red shouted while blood swirled around her hands.

“Mash, block the entrance! We can’t contain them like this.”

His body was moving before she said anything. Although he wasn’t planning to block the hole. He had started running around the opening. His plan involved just destroying as many as he could while getting to the other side They had unconsciously stepped back. The noise and number had made them wary. And they had stepped away and given up the easy chokepoint. That had been a mistake, an amateurish one at that. The kind of mistake that someone with years of experience wouldn’t make. To him, it was a reminder. They had leveled quickly and were stronger for it. But at the same time, they made mistakes that others might not.

Already two dozen of the insects had escaped, but he just focused on sealing the hole. Mash had a simple solution in mind. Wood grew from his back. A wooden limb like a tail had grown from the center of his back. In the end, he started making a large flat disk. It would be a seal for the hole that they had made. He put his weight on his right foot as he abruptly turned. And charged toward the oncoming stream of insects. Lightning hadn’t done much so he didn’t bother with it. His dragon form alone made him strong enough to tear through the insects, but he still wanted more. His form changed slightly as his muscles bulged. They became denser and his teeth grew even sharper as he mixed the wolf form with the dragon one.

The two forms blended together well. Rather than his dragon form simply taking precedent, the two forms worked on his body in slightly different ways. His reflexes and instincts were honed by the wolf form. It let him react a bit faster. The dragon form gave him raw speed and power that his other forms couldn’t really match. He charged headlong into the swarm of insects. While his lightning might not be that useful here, he thought that his woodwork was better. It hadn’t become that much harder, but it was a little stronger. Not to mention he could still reinforce it with his enchantments.

Blades of wood grew from the palm of his hands. They weren’t really swords. Just really long blades, and he didn’t bother trying to make them sharp. They would cut, either way, so he just made them as durable as he could. Slightly glowing etchings spread down the blade as it grew further and further from his hands. He charged into the mass of insects. With his hands thrust out to his sides. He charged into the insects and tore threw them. The first line of the monsters was split in half by his blades. A few insects struck his body, but they exploded in a mass of blood and viscera. Their blood was red as anyone else’s, but it stank like rotten milk. Some of the blood flooded up his nose and mouth. He forced himself to swallow. Even the monster’s blood would help him. Although these monsters weren’t all that strong individually, and the blood of a handful of them only barely raised his stats.

With his domain, he could track all of the insects around him. And he saw what exactly their healing was like. Insects that he had cut in two, reconnected themselves to whatever they could find. They didn’t need to rejoin with their own bodies. They simply grabbed whatever was nearest. Many of the monsters had even more limbs and some had too few to even move with. All of them continued to flail. It disappointed him. The healing wasn’t magical. It was a bestial thing of monsters. And he realized with another sickening thought, that he already had that ability. A monster’s healing. He shouldn’t have expected anything else.

He slowed after charging through another wave of the insects. Although he still hadn’t made it to the hole. They just didn’t stop flooding out of the hole, which was only getting bigger as more insects stuffed through it. Now even more monsters were flooding out. He didn’t care though. They couldn’t stop him. He was so sure of it. Right up until he slipped. He charged into another insect, but his foot skid across some blood that had frozen too quickly.