Alexx had almost been overwhelmed when the Guardian switched its focus from Yang to him. He had seen her use the Skill plenty of times and knew that the targets became even more ferocious as a result, but he never realized just how difficult it was being the focus of all that fury.

The Guardian's attacks rained down with so much speed and power that he felt like he was standing below a waterfall. There was barely a second to breathe as each attack led into the next in a frantic rhythm that, while predictable in its mindlessness, gave him no time to counterattack. Worse was the gravel being kicked up by the attacks. Yang hadn't noticed because of her armor and high HP, but the debris being launched carried a decent amount of force behind it, enough to damage anyone standing too close to the epicenter of the attack.

Alexx was forced to expend even more energy dodging the substantial AOE of the Guardian's blows, giving him even less time to do anything that wasn't running for his life.

'That debuff better run out soon,' Alexx thought, wincing as he was hit by another spray of gravel. He was quickly burning through his SP and would soon be at half. He still had enough for about two minutes, but the longer the Guardian remained focused on him the more SP was wasted.

Suddenly, the Guardian stopped its attacks and let out a shriek. It was only then that Alexx had the breathing room necessary to notice Yang on its back. The giant ant began bucking and shaking to throw her off.

Alexx hesitated for a moment but quickly decided that he should take advantage of the opening to attack. He would almost certainly steal the aggro again, but Yang was still in a position to attack and should be able to take it back immediately after. Furthermore, he knew that his damage output was much greater than the others. If they wanted to kill these things quickly, he couldn't afford to hold back.

Leaping into the air, Alexx used [POWER ATTACK] and delivered a devastating kick to the center of the ant's face.

*CRACK*

The attack landed right between the Guardian's eyes, creating a small impact crater and a massive fissure that nearly split the ant's head in two.

Yang was thrown forward as the Guardian's head was pushed into the ground, and even Alexx was moved backward by the force of the kick.

Alexx landed cleanly on the ground as Yang quickly rolled to her feet, readying her War Pick and focusing on the Guardian.

Blood leaked from the huge crack that ran down the center of the Guardian's head, exposing a thick iron mesh with bits of pale flesh poking through. There was a dull thud as the enormous insect's body collapsed to the ground, kicking up dust and crushing a few Drones underneath its immense weight.

Alexx let out a heavy sigh, his muscles and mind relaxing like a coiled spring. The Guardian had been focused on him for barely a minute, but it was easily the second most intensive fight he had experienced in New Eden Online, surpassed only by the encounter with The Wise One.

"Well, that was-"

"Pay attention dumbass!" Zed dashed in as if appearing from nowhere, almost knocking Yang over as he rested his back against hers. "We're not done yet!"

Remembering where they were, Alexx and Yang braced themselves for combat and assessed their surroundings.

The destruction caused by the Guardian's attacks had left them standing in a fairly wide clearing of gravel and dead Iron Ants. Sticking out as much as they did, the surrounding Drones and Warriors stared at them, moving closer now that the danger of friendly fire was gone. They should have been able to close the gap in seconds, but they approached slowly, as if seeing the mighty Guardian defeated was enough to overwhelm cautious despite their normally self-sacrificial behavior.

"What now?" Alexx asked, opening and closing his fist as he tried to regain the focus he had against the Guardian.

"All we can do is keep fighting!" Zed was grinning madly, even as sweat poured off of him while his lungs desperately fought for oxygen. "We're almost done!"

"Bullshit!" Yang shouted. "There are still thousands left! We'll be killed if we try to take them on!"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"The goats still can't get through the other Guardians. We need their help."

"There's no way we can take out another of those things!"

"We can't just-" Yang suddenly stopped. "No fucking way."

Alexx and Zed turned, dread filling their chests as they heard the tone in her voice, and what they saw affirmed those feelings.

The Iron Ant Guardian, its carapace in fractured pieces, was slowly but surely getting back to its feet.

~~~~~

Yang dashed forward to strike the Guardian down before it had a chance to attack.

'You barely have any HP left, just fucking die already!' Yang didn't have [ANALYSE] but she could tell that the Guardian couldn't have more than 100 HP left at this point. Just one or two more hits would finish it off.

As she charged forward she sensed a pair of Warriors flying in from behind her, coming to defend the Guardian now that they realized it was still alive. Yang chose to ignore them and take the damage. Even though it was at extremely low HP, Iron Ants tended to deal with the damage better than players or animals. If there was even a small chance that the Guardian could keep fighting like it was before, she wasn't going to give it the opportunity.

Then, Yang sensed something massive coming from above.

*BOOM*

Something struck the ground in front of Yang with the force of a ballistic missile, causing a huge shockwave that knocked her back and sent the Warriors spiraling into the horde of Drones. Dirt, dust, and gravel filled the air as Yang hit the ground hard, ears ringing and desperately clinging to her weapon.

As she climbed to her feet she felt something grab her from behind. She panicked for a moment before realizing it was Alexx, who was also carrying Zed with his other arm. Once he had a good grip on her, he looked at something on the wall of the passageway and jumped.

Between his immense STR and the [LEAP] Skill, Alexx had them practically flying through the air, clearing dozens of feet in a matter of seconds. As they fell, Yang noticed that they were headed for a stone outcropping that appeared to be just big enough for the three of them.

They hit the stone wall hard, but they managed to keep their footing. Alexx let them go, Yang kneeling as she held her head while Zed practically collapsed to the ground now that he was out of danger.

"Is he okay?" Yang asked as the ringing was starting to fade. "He doesn't have Heavy Exhaustion again does he?"

"Uh, no, but he does have normal Exhaustion," Alexx said after a moment. "I think it's the same as the other one but it'll wear off in an hour."

"Alright." With that worry out of the way, Yang turned to look for the source of the explosion below.

Her eyes widened and the corner of her mouth turned up into a grin. "Oh, they're fucked."

The dust had cleared to reveal The Guardian Elder standing atop the shattered remains of the Iron Ant Guardian, an Iron Ant Soldier hanging from her mouth. As Yang stared, the massive beast turned her head to stare back at the three players up on the cliff face. Her gaze didn't feel as oppressive as it did earlier, instead, Yang felt that the elder goat was looking at them appreciatively.

Zed had told her once that a Mountain Goat had recognized his help when they had fought the ant army out in the grasslands, so Yang wasn't that surprised to see The Guardian Elder doing something similar, but it was still a little strange to think about something so powerful thanking her.

Yang was snapped out of her trance as two of the remaining Guardians turned around and managed to clamp their mandibles around The Guardian Elder's hind legs.

She gasped as the elder goat let out a roar of pain. But a bit of pain was the only sign of distress the goat showed as it quickly and calmly raised her legs to kick the giant ants in the torsos, flipping them over completely as the two powerful blows sent them flying.

Yang was concerned as she saw the damage from having those sharp jaws pulled away so violently, but was astonished to see the damage healing rapidly right before her eyes.

As the damage recovered, The Elder quickly turned around, swinging her horns and taking out several Warriors and Dozens of Drones in the process. The Guardians were trying to turn themselves over as The Elder reached them, knocking one of them into the stone wall with a swing of its head while stomping on the chest of the other.

The third Guardian was distracted, trying to hold back the tide of Mountian Goats by itself, and was unable to defend itself as The Guardian Elder raised her head behind it. The rest of the goats tried to retreat at the last second as The Elder brought her head down in a [SKULL BASH], creating a dust cloud and tremors strong enough for Yang and the others to feel up on the wall.

From their vantage point Yang could partially see through the cloud of dust as The Elder turned to headbutt one of the Guardians against the opposite wall, causing many shards of rock to break away and fall down onto the ants and goats below.

Yang could hear a few more loud bangs as the dust settled, revealing two very dead Iron Ant Guardians, while the last one was heavily injured and surrounded by Mountain Goats.

With the Iron Ant Guardians defeated and The Guardian Elder back on the ground, Yang and the others watched as the remaining Drones and Warriors were swiftly dealt with.