-----V-----

Tessera rose high, with a sliver of sun-rays going through the clouds. The carriage rocked as it was being dragged by lizards. Not the dynami, of course, instead they were what I call horse-lizards. The size of a horse, but more reptilian in nature.

I saw Amara cleaning her artifact weapon with cloth and oil. I glanced at my weapon and thought that I also likely needed to maintain mine.

I thought that because these artifacts are so high tech that they didn‘t need any maintenance. I always have taken good care of my old blaster, until Ethan kicked it from me. But now, after hearing the noise of my artifact‘s trigger, I just knew I needed to clean it up.

„You think you could hand me that after you are done?“

„Sure. If you pay me.“

„Fine, how much?“

I started taking out my money pouch and counted silver.

„Oh, not with silver,“ she said and looked me up and down with seductive eyes.

Since the first time meeting her, she hasn‘t changed a bit, she always tries to go for me.

„Nevermind, I‘ll just buy my own gun rep... Artifact repair kit, if that is actually a thing here.“

„I will get you in bed one day,“ she said with a grin.

„If you really want to go in bed with someone, then you should ask Braxton there,“ I said and glanced over towards the gunslinger, who seemed to be unfazed at the conversation. He was looking into the distance, twirling one of his blasters.

„Yeah, no. He isn‘t good in bed, trust me. You‘ll know why when you look down there.“

„I‘m not just going to nonchalantly look down at another man‘s crotch.“

„Suit yourself.“

----------

The carriage stopped and we stepped outside. In view was the fortress, giant walls with big artifact turrets on top which were currently firing at this moment, down to were Smittis lay.

Beneath the walls and close to the gates, stood artifact hunters, and soldiers of Stratos. The soldiers didn‘t hold artifact weapons, but there were some that seemed higher in rank holding weapons that glowed.

As we walked through the crowd, we saw the person we were looking for. Franek. And even Ivona was there next to him.

„Goddammit. Of course, she is here,“ I muttered.

Amara‘s helmet was back on, I could just see her broad grin through the helmet as she looked at Ivona.

Franek noticed us, and he seemed to be glaring. I haven‘t talked to the noble, but we have exchanged glanced a few times at the mansion. And I am pretty sure that he knows about me being acquainted with Ethan.

„So what do we do?“ I asked but wasn‘t necessary when a man clad in an artifact armor walked up to a small podium.

His artifact glowed yellow as the star, and he had a holstered artifact sword. A helmet hid his face.

The crowd‘s attention went towards the man when he clapped his metal gauntlets a few times.

„Welcome, welcome. As many of you know, I am general Vick, one of the Stratos‘s army generals. I am the one organizing the containment of the kypseli.“

A general from the army? Not some famous artifact hunter?

„As you can see, our turrets are firing at the bugs at this moment, and once they have finished preventing them from getting over the walls, we will start to head out and target their newly established hives. I can already see a bunch of new faces around here so I will tell you all how this works,“ he said and glanced at everyone. He then continued. „You all should group up with around twenty or so people, artifact hunters or my soldiers. And in the groups, you will have a leader that has fought the kypseli many times, and they will have a map of the hives you should go and exterminate. Really simple, isn‘t it? If you come back with the heads of the egg layers, then you will be rewarded graciously. Just listen to your leader, and don‘t screw up.“

And that was that, but he did also give us a few tips about how we should take down the kypseli, and it doesn‘t seem that hard.

The people who were experienced with taking down the bugs called out to the new exterminators, Franek was one of them, obviously.

„Ohh, I can‘t wait to see what that crossbow girl will do,“ Amara said with a hint of excitement.

„Let‘s just get this over with, come on.“

We walked towards Franek, his glare met our eyes, especially Amara‘s.

„So, you three want to fight alongside me? I take it you are Vincent, am I correct?“

Ivona must have said something, he wouldn‘t just know my name like that. Maybe he heard it from somewhere, who knows.

„Vincent Grey, and you are Franek Quenton.“

„You can just call me Sir Franek. Ivona here has told me much about you.“

Knew it, what else did she say than just my name?

„She said that you fought against Ethan, and took his arm off along with his shield. And I can already see his shield on your back, I want to thank you for what you did.“

Eh, what? It wasn‘t really I who took his arm, but that doesn‘t really matter. I could see a faint smile coming from Franek, either from gratitude for what I and Amara did, or that he just can‘t wait to kill us after finding out it was Amara who killed his sister.

„Oh, you heard about that? Well sorry but the guy managed to escape, but he might die without the artifact. I have heard that he helped kill Elishia, I am sorry for what happened to her.“

„Yeah, the bastard might live. That shield will likely be the only thing left of him, and I would gladly take it, as the only item left of the murderer I don‘t want it to somehow get back into his hand or grave.“

I glanced over at Ivona, and she only had a calm and composed reaction when I flinched to his words. Of course, he would want it, or more likely, Ivona told him to get it for her.

„I‘m sorry, but I can‘t really give it to you. He was once my friend,“ that's a lie, „and I want to keep it to remember him, even though he might have been an asshole.“

„I guess that‘s fine, but how about this, let‘s bet.“

„Bet? I have gambled many times, so I am really confident in myself. And let me guess, the bet is about the shield?“

„Indeed. Whoever kills the most amount of kypseli can have the shield, you just have to take one down, collect its teeth, and so on. If you take down one of the egg layers, then you will get a bonus as if you killed five.“

I could see his eyes dart towards Amara a few times. He must know.

„Sounds easy enough, I‘ll win rather eas. . .“

„Kypseli have managed to climb the walls!“ a guardsman spoke from on top of the wall.

We all spun towards the wall and noticed the turrets have stopped firing, and then yells and screams were heard, and also the noises of screeches and clattering from the creatures I haven‘t yet seen with my own eyes. Some of the men were thrown down, some were already dead when they fell.

„So, is the bet active now or later?“ I asked calmly.

Ivona looked at me with disgust. „You can‘t just say stuff like that when the people are dying!“

She drew out her crossbow, an arrow was already loaded and ready.

„Jeez, I just don‘t want to lose the shield when I don‘t even know if the bet is active right now. I will just think it is.“

By blaster glowed, and every other hunter and soldiers drew out their weapon and artifacts.

„Goddammit, I told those idiots to warn us if the bugs get close enough to touch the walls!“ Vick shouted. „Men, stomp the kypseli! They are only bugs!“

The guy shouldn‘t underestimate them, their matriarch queen is highly intelligent I have heard.

I could finally see the buggers as they went down the wall, Twenty, fifty. No, hundreds of them were charging at us. Their pointy carapaces had glowing colors of purple, their mandibles were big and sharp, legs of four, all prickly and big as a torso. They sprouted tentacles from their abdomen, and some were holding on soldiers from the walls. Saliva dripped from their mouths, and they screeched that sounded like claws scratching on chalkboards, but thankfully not that loud to give the unpleasant feeling of the sound.

„I thought they were supposed to look like beetles!“ I said.

„Some do look like them, but the kypseli queen likely has changed her young looks. Maybe she got the idea of tentacles from squids or something,“ Amara responded.

„Or maybe she got some strange magazine from a summon like us.“

The kypseli were climbing down, and our barrels started heating up as we fired our weapons. They had hard carapaces, so it took a few shots to kill one of them.

Vick yelled at his soldiers, and they charged forth. Though many of them didn‘t have artifact weapons, they were actually causing great wounds against them. A kypseli screeched and tried to capture one of the soldiers with its tentacles, but only to be severed to a normal blade.

Some soldiers weren‘t that lucky, some swords were grabbed by the limbs and thrown away from the soldiers. And their bodies were ravaged as the kypseli pierced their armor with their legs, then with their sharp and long fangs.

One of the kypseli ran towards me, I quickly fired rounds at it, severing its tentacles. It screeched and lifted itself with two legs, showing its underbelly.

„Is that supposed to be some sort of taunt? It doesn‘t really work that great,“ I said, shooting my blaster at the unprotected area. Blood gushed out and it fell.

Amara fired her artifact, and her blaster bolt pierced through one of them, then it continued going to a second kypseli, taking that one out as well.

Her artifact was pointed down, and valves opened up to cool the barrel. A waft of smoke rose from the weapon.

Braxton had his duel wielded blasters and barraged the kypseli with continuous fire support. Ivona was doing her part as well, firing her arrows through the carapaces.

Only a few artifact hunters actually used their programs, but it didn‘t seem to be needed against the bugs.

Franek severed many legs of the kypseli, weakening them for the soldiers to go in. Swords sliced of limbs and then tore through open wounds. But some soldiers and artifact hunters fell, either by getting pierced my their pointy legs, or getting bitten to death. There were some who also were strangled to death by tentacles.

„This is boring, can‘t there be any tougher insects around? Can‘t the queen make some better ones already,“ Amara said.

„Don‘t blurt out something like that when we are defeating them easily, you‘ll be heard and we will have to fig. . .“

„The gates are being opened!“

„Are you joking!“ I yelled at the soldier.

The kypseli were opening the gates from our side, these guys really are smart after all. And lo and behold, there came an even bigger kypseli, it was the size of a truck, and it managed to squeeze through the gate. It had the same features as the other kypseli, but it held a big crystal in the middle of its abdomen. It glowed like a zettra stone, which it probably was. It also sprouted even more tentacles than the others.

„Crap, we have an artifact-kypseli to deal with!“ Vick shouted.

Artifact-kypseli? The hell are those?

The artifact-kypseli walked in with many other smaller ones, and the zettra crystal thrummed, its light flickered about. Then it quickly moved its body, like it was trying to throw the crystal off its back, but it was part of itself, so instead of it getting thrown off, a wave of light ejected from it and severed two soldiers‘ waist.

„Oh shit,“ I muttered.

„We must deal with it quickly! Bring out your programs you hunters!“ Vick shouted and looked at the artifact hunters.

Franek summoned up one of his programs, and his sword seemed to have elongated itself and gotten wider. He attacked the big kypseli and took one of its legs. It screeched as it fell, then the crystal started to flicker again.

„Get back! It‘s firing a program again!“

So these artifact-kypseli can use programs? But I don‘t see them use any artifact weapons. How would it use a program?

The zettra crystal reverberated, and I could see the surroundings start to pulsate, like the air itself vibrated with its rhythm. My ears suddenly felt a sharp pain, and everyone was blasted away from it, even the smaller kypseli had a hard time dodging the effect. I could have sworn I lost my hearing for a few seconds when I dropped to the ground. I do have this annoying ringing sound in my right ear.

„Hey, Braxton! Can‘t you use any explosive programs with your blasters?!“ I called.

„No can do,“ he said, still firing nonprogram shots.

I started using my explosive program, and its scales were coming off one by one. And as I was about to yell at Amara to kill the thing with one of her strong programs, she did just do that.

Her sniper heated up and made a sharp high pitch noise. Then as she pulled the trigger, the trail of the shot went straight to the head of the artifact-kypseli, and then a second after I could hear the aftermath of the weapon. A giant boom was heard, and its head exploded and was vaporized from existence. The zettra crystal faded, along with its natural color of purple disappeared as well, showing that its life was gone. The smaller kypseli turned to flee as they saw their big brother fall.

„Good, now that they don‘t have their big brother protecting them they basically just lost all hope of defeating us.“

I charged up my artifact with a zettra stone then holstered it. The soldiers were already gathering the dead. The most who have fallen were Stratos‘ soldiers, but there were also some artifact hunters casualties.

„Now that‘s over with, could we maybe start the extermination?“ Amara asked.

„Yeah yeah, once we gather enough people we can go, but we need to help clean up first,“ Franek said, giving Amara a glare as he went towards Vick.

So these bugs have just gotten much more interesting. They can apparently wield artifacts and summon up their own programs. They must be my favorite bug species in the entire galaxy. They do look rather fancy as well, except for those tentacles part, I don‘t like that. The queen might like that but I hope there aren‘t many with that feature.

I glanced up the wall and even took a look at the other side of it. There were spikes along its vertical axis, and even barbed wire were at the top and bottom, which were gracefully cut by the kypseli.

Those turrets look rather strong, how did the soldiers let them so close this easily? Maybe the kypseli queen just upgraded her swarm‘s armor or something. I will go and ask Vick or Franek about that later, I am going to collect the teeth of the bugs I slew. I think I got 15 or 20 of them.