She was surprised no one was squished to death in their enormous hands. Grateful, yet surprised. They were dropped - literally - and immediately went on their way.

North. They needed to head further up north. To where water meets rock. Was he talking about a stream? She thought to herself as they continued their journey. Dyra had come across a few treants before. Dwarf willow treants, to be specific. In fact, her tribe lived relatively close to them. But because these types of trees weren’t as giant as direwood, those treants weren’t the biggest themselves. All this was on a whole new level, though. She couldn’t help but feel a tinge of excitement about all of this. This is what she’s been dreaming of. Not being carried around like small animals by living trees, but being here and now.

“This has to be it,” Dyra stated. In front of them was a decently sized stream of water. Rocks and sharp yet small boulders filled the water.

“What now?” Reiha asked. “It’s still daytime, and if I understood that tree correctly, kruthiks appear at night.”

Dyra was feeling tired from all the walking, and she assumed everyone else was too.

“I guess we'll have to wait,” Dyra answered. It was hard to see the sun through the thick canopy, but she guessed it would be dusk in a couple of hours.

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Nightfall couldn’t come sooner. Everyone was spread out, laying down on the ground or sitting on top of tree stumps. Dyra stood up, using her glaive as support.

“Everyone ready?” Talion asked to no response.

“Destroy the master, destroy them all. Anyone know what that means?” Nalia asked.

“I’m guessing the treant was referring to some sort of hivemind,” Dyra answered. “Like a king or queen kruthik that controls the others. It’ll probably be bigger than the others, also well-protected.”

“Great,” Reiha muttered. “Let’s try not to die, alright?”

“I don’t think Chaos would send us out here if there was a chance we were going to die, lass,” Aigor mentioned.

“Yeah, whatever.”

Dyra gripped her glaive. She could’ve sworn she heard something. Some kind of rustling.

“You guys hear that?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Talion responded.

It seemed like the wind had picked up slightly and the grass around them swayed back and forth slightly. Something didn’t sound right. Then, in front of them, the ground broke apart - and from underneath emerged a greenish-blue insectoid creature. Its scales, or what Dyra thought were scales, glimmered against the moonlight. The kruthik let out a screech as its small round eyes found the group. The long jagged scythes that served as its arms and hands dug into the dirt, preparing to lunge at them.

But before it could, an arrow came soaring past Dyra’s side and into the kruthik’s neck. the master kurthik. The big guy lifted up its razor-sharp arm. Dyra closed her eyes in anticipation.

But then, nothing. Dyra opened her eyes. Where the king - queen - whatever its gender… It was gone. Gone.

Dyra turned to see where it came from. Reiha held her bow tightly in her hand, trained at where the kruthik stood.

"Got one..." she muttered.

"Where's the rest?" Talion was about to ask. But his sentence was cut off halfway as more kruthiks burrowed out of the ground. One lunged at Talion, who quickly jumped out of the way.

Another tried to leap at Dyra. She swung her blade at him and rammed it into the kruthik's back. Its armor was hard to penetrate. Almost impossible. Dyra stabbed a few more times and chopped off a few more pieces of its armor. Finally, Dyra managed to cut through the exterior of the beast and ram her glaive into its back.

Beside her, Nalia raised her palm. Dyra couldn't see what spell Nalia had cast, but she could hear it. It sounded like several firecrackers going off at once. The next thing she knew, leaves that were previously on the ground flew through the air and the kruthik was on its back. Nalia ran towards it and rammed her spear into the soft part of its abdomen.

There looked to be an endless amount of them. Kill one and the next one would come out of the ground. Aigor was swarmed left and right. He swung his hammer in every possible direction. Dyra rushed over to help him.

They continued to fight for what felt like hours. To their luck, it seemed like fewer kruthiks were jumping out. That was until they heard another echoing roar. Dyra looked around to find the source of the sound.

Just as she had thought, it was bigger than the others. Much bigger. Its pale white scales shimmered in the moonlight. Around it, more kruthiks dug themselves out of the ground. Talion cursed loudly under his breath.

The next few moments were like a blur to Dyra. One moment, a kruthik struck Dyra's armor. The next moment, she was on the ground. Talion, standing further to her right, was frantically slashing at a kruthik with his axe. He landed a hit, but somehow his axe was stuck too deep within its armor, causing it to get stuck inside.

Nalia casted another telekinetic spell on the monster that just knocked Dyra down. However, right after she cast the spell, a kruthik crept up behind her.

"Watch out!" shouted Talion.

Dyra wasn't sure how Talion did what he did next. He gave up trying to free the axe from the dead kruthik. He aimed his hands at the beast that was about to attack Nalia. A purple light streamed downward from his elbows. It was not until the light shot from his hands that Dyra realized what it was. The sight. The deafening sound. Lightning.

The bolt of lightning blew right through it. The remaining top half of its body slumped to the ground. But so did Talion. The spell sent him flying a few feet in the other direction, laying him on his back. Just close enough for the master kruthik. The big guy raised his razor-sharp arm. Dyra closed her eyes in anticipation.

But then: nothing. Dyra opened her eyes. Where’d it go? The big one... It was standing right there. Dyra stood to her feet.

“What happened?” she asked. They all seemed just as surprised.

That’s when it hit her.

All the other kruthiks. They were lying dead on the ground. Dead - just like that, without a sound.

“Destroy master. Destroy all.” Whatever must’ve happened to their master… Well, it was dead now. That meant all of its minions were dead, too. And that’s what Dyra cared about above all.

“Everyone still alive?” Dyra asked.

“Barely,” Talion groaned from afar.

He groaned loudly as he pushed himself up. He stumbled over to his axe, which was still lodged into the kruthik. He placed a foot on its side and pulled on the axe. After three whole attempts which took a total of fifteen seconds, he finally managed to pull it out.

“What… What was that?” Aigor asked. “It just disappeared.”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Talion responded. “But hey, they’re dead now.”

“We should head back to the treants,” Nalia said.

“Wait, one more thing,” Dyra called out.

She found the kruthik she had been trouble killing earlier. She rolled it over on its belly. With one hand, she opened its jaw, and with the other, she unsheathed her dagger. With some difficulty, she managed to saw off one of its razor-sharp teeth. Putting back her dagger, Dyra picked up the still slobbery tooth.

“Gross,” she muttered to herself, wiping it on the ground.