The storm of flames eventually came to a stop, the energy of the fifth and sixth members of the squad nearly exhausted. The inferno came to a stop and they caught sight of their quarry yet again. The armored plates seemed brittle, every bit of blood and water having been burned away, yet the beast was still moving. In fact, they were surprised to see that the flames hadn’t just stopped, they were being sucked into the beast’s opened mouth. When the last of the fire was consumed, the beast even gave a challenging roar to them. They even all took a step back in fear, but their preparations were not in vain. The storm of fire wasn’t just a method of killing it also trapped the beast once more.

The wet mud and sand that had been dragging the beast downwards was cooked rapidly in that storm of wind and fire, acting like a massive kiln to fire and harden the ground back into a stone like consistency and trap the monster within. While it was trapped once again, the final steps of the plan were enacted. The youngster of the group, Big Oak, and also the one who had been on scouting duty the longest was finally put into play. The many bushes and shrubs in the valley suddenly started to move, each of them sending forth a few vines, the living ropes writhing forward and piling onto the beast in front of them, adding a second layer of encumbrance and trapping to the beast that was already trapped in the stone ground. The final member of the team acted at the same time. The Boss had drawn out a huge lance, easily twenty feet long. His Qi rose off of his body like steam, all of the muscles of his massive frame started to pulse and expand, making him look more like a monster than a man. Stomping against the ground, the stone and rocks shattered into dust from the force of his first step, launching him forward like a freight train. The trapped beast held in place and helpless, the sharp point of that huge weapon poised to pierce its eye and stab into its brain.

Unfortunately for the Black Skull Squad, the solid stone hadn’t trapped it very well. With its huge serpentine body and the help of the free arms on its upper body it quickly pulled its tail free of the ground. When the thousands of vines piled over it to tie it down, the beast’s mouth opened and the numerous articulated fangs spread apart. A duct on the bottom of its mouth flared and a stream of liquid shot out. The vines immediately shriveled up on contact with the liquid, the beast throwing its head side to side rapidly, creating a perimeter of that terribly fluid and keeping the vines at bay.

It was too bad the Boss of the Black Skull Squad couldn’t stop his attack at this point. He could see that the beast was already freeing itself and while it was surrounded by a wall of vines they hadn’t actually tied it down. Even so, it was still confined to a small space, limiting its motion and giving him the chance he needed to strike it down. Charging forward like an army of heavy cavalry formed on a single man, he thrust his lance forward, striking like a thunderbolt.

As if it was anticipating such a thing, the beast twisted its head and caught the thunderous lance on the eyebrow like spines over its eye. The tip of the lance gouging a huge channel into its armored flesh, crimson blood spouting into the air even as the spines knocked away the majority of the lance’s force. The beast’s head kept moving, twisting one direction to knock away the lance and then twisting back to tilts its snout towards the man. The horns on the top of its head getting leveled at him. At least a dozen small spears in response for the huge lance he’d tried to skewer it with. Reacting like lightning the man released his spear and thrust his empty hands forward. One of them made a fist and drew back, winding up as his other hand opened and caught the longest of the horns.

The horn pierced his palm before his fingers closed and grabbed hold, his body thrown backwards to keep the other horns away. His other hand smashed forward, trying to use his fist to smash against a part of the monster’s skull that didn’t have a horn or spine protecting it. There was a loud crash and a soft crack as the fist shattered the plate it struck, the beast’s head shivering from the impact. The other six members of the Black Skull Squad sent up a loud cheer, encouraging their boss to finish the deed. It was only then they all seemed to notice something. The ground around them was shifting.

Looking down, Big Oak noticed the ground engulfing his leg and his blood ran cold. Lifting that leg he rapidly stomped it down, the ‘ground’ wasn’t the ground at all. It was thousands of small objects. A sea of slate grey ants had surrounded him. His stomp smashed dozens of them, but even more of them were marching towards him from every direction. Cries rang out from the other members of the squad, but it was already too late. They were surrounded from every direction, and a hundred feet away the tide of grey actually rose up into the air, a cloud of them buzzing in the air, tiny wings carrying them upwards like a moving stone fence. The lightning wielding archer was the first to go down, his energy exhausted and his weapon next to useless. The man that had controlled the earth was surprisingly also an expert with his fist and feet, smashing thousands of the ants before he was completely covered in them. The wind and fire cultivators were next, their technique were very powerful against the masses of small insects, but they had already used up most of their energy in their assault on the beast and couldn’t hold out for long.

The strongest, the Boss, was next. Despite being the most powerful, he had to deal with a swarm of ants in addition to the beast itself. The ants bought time for the beast to recover and the acid and webbing that followed slowed him down too much. A few ants crawled onto his body, biting into his flesh and weakening him. It led to even more of the ants finding their way onto him. The heroic leader of the team was slowly bitten to death by an army of ants. The last two were Big Oak and the Talisman Master. The Talisman Master fought hard, using up every last one of the paper seals he carried, tossing them out by the handful and clearing a perimeter around him. It was too bad for him that he was mostly a water elemental cultivator. The water was pretty effective at washing away the swarms of ants and each high pressure spray killed many, but when the water dispersed the ants picked themselves back up and returned to their march.

Big Oak was in even more dire straits. The vines and shrubs he controlled could slow the ants down, but it couldn’t block them off completely. The little insects chewing through the plants and constantly creating new pathways. The youngster even held a huge club and was smashing it down against the ants as he tried to manipulate the vines to strengthen his defenses. The Talisman Master knew the hopelessness of their situation and chose to save their youngest member. Tossing out the remainder of his talisman and activating them all at the same time to form a path for Big Oak to escape.

“Run! You have to live for the rest of us!”

One man ran out of that valley, blood running down his arms, tears streaming down his cheeks. Unable to even save a single one of the Land Birds in his escape. The swarm of ants were too numerous. They’d picked the birds clean before they even started the attack on the squad. He passed by a pile of bones in his flight. A torrential explosion of water was the only reason he could survive. It was like the most massive and powerful waterfall he’d ever heard of had appeared, moving horizontally like the breaking of a flood dam, washing away countless ants and clearing him a path. The Talisman Master used his own Qi to form a wall of water, blocking the beast from pursuing. Big Oak heard a pained cry a few minutes later, the silence afterwards making it obvious that he was the only one left in their squad.

Not even a silver ranked squad can take it down… Just what sort of terrible monster is it?

He’d been running at his top speed, ignoring his wounds and trying to escape as quickly as possible. Suddenly, he slowed down. His steps coming to a stop as he felt death approaching him. Looking behind himself, he saw that the beast was up on a ridge, just staring in his direction without moving. The blood covering its body not subtracting from his terror, only multiplying it. Big Oak turned back to the path in front of him and saw motion. He couldn’t quite make out what it was until it was too late. The bushes in front of him seemed to come alive. A figure separating from the underbrush, its perfect camouflage broken as it swung two scythe like forearms towards his neck.