The pheromones linger within the environment, an undeniable manifestation of the presence that emitted them.

A presence I know all too well.

Although I cannot see her, I simply know that she is positioned somewhere behind Gioras' troops.

Just how can this be?!

I find myself moving closer, back out of the tunnel, to see more of what transpires there.

Naturally, I make sure to stay behind our defensive line.

But I need to know what is happening!

From what I can gather of the situation, it seems like reinforcements arrived directly at Gioras' back.

As we should be able to defend a little while longer with what is left of our troops, this means he's pincered and thus basically done for strategically.

"To think you'd arrive at the most crucial moment. Seems like I'm completely out of my luck." (G)

"Did you trulye belieeve wee wouldn't notice troop movemEnts of such magnietude? Considerieng the amount of reesources we applied to the sole cause of surveyieng the surface that's actuallye insultieng." (L)

"I thought you concentrated on the vicinity of the capital." (G)

"That was onlye in thee beginning. Once thee news of what happEned reeached the whole swarm wee used everye available reesource. A single lost princEss outweighs thee cost of any Effort we're capable of pursuing. But naturallye I would sEnd out scouts to inform mee about anye noteworthy hostile forcEs. Especieally, your 'army' had to be surveeiled. But that doesn't mean wee wouldn't keeep track of unusual movementz of your unitz. Such forcEs suddenlye entering thee underworld speeaks enough!" (L)

Liseti's speech got better.

Nonetheless, it's still terribly shrill on the ears.

But I assume Gioras has more pressing matters than his hurting ears.

"What happened to my men? I left a whole contingent to guard the entrance. How can it be that you overcame them without our notice?" (G)

"I feear your human top speeed is no match for hunteers ien full sprint!" (L)

Uh, I don't envy those people.

Hunted to death in the dark by small killer predators.

There are nicer ways to go.

"That's too bad. Men! Hold this corridor! Don't let any of these creatures through! Plug it up with their corpses!" (G)

"Very wEll! Humanz who lieke to surrEnder can do so! Wee won't botheer huntieng thEm down. Everyevone else wiell meeet their End now!" (L)

At this, pheromones of giant magnitude fill the cave.

All of them carry the order to attack, received and emitted anew by any drone that is affected so not even a single one will miss it.

Even some drones of Chera's escort seem affected, but a shrill pheromone order from Chera, who I now find right at my side, calls them back, as we cannot afford to lose our last line of defense.

To the credit of the human army, no one tries to run.

They probably wouldn't even know where from here.

Nonetheless, the tide of the fight completely changed now.

If before the humans were slowly advancing against our defensive forces, who were solely intent on stalling them, now they fight the ferocious onslaught of a much greater army of insect claws and mandibles.

At one point, the humans are driven back from the tunnel and an ever-spreading circle of insects expands from the entrance.

"Up the hill! Take the princesses! It's our only chance!" (G)

Now the orders change and they desperately try to advance to our position.

I suppose if they could get their hands on us, they might use that as leverage to have our troops retreat and use their remaining earth mages to escape to the surface through our very own tunnel.

Confronted with this, I become slightly nervous.

(E)

(C)

She doesn't seem willing to give in on this.

Which would be nothing new, considering her character.

For now, it seems like the rest of our escort prevails.

On the other side, their earth mages conjure short walls as temporary barriers that directly get overrun, while others erect sharp stone pillars that promptly turn into cushions by countless skewered bodies.

But this makes those on the other end only more ferocious to claim their assumed only chance.

Suddenly, more holes open all around the walls and Formicea rush out of these.

Climbing on the walls or flying if they can, they dawn upon the battlefield.

Liseti's other forces have arrived on the field.

The emerging messengers don't directly descend on the enemy but instead make a beeline directly to our position.

Then I notice something that makes me perplexed.

"Princess, I'm, with, you!" (M)

"M-Miru?" (E)

My guard!

The drones of my royal guard are with them!

Even Miru, who I presumed dead, stands before me.

She's missing an arm and has nasty gashes in her carapace, but it's definitely her!

"Y-you're alive?!" (E)

"I, couldn't die, without, redeeming, my, failure." (M)

Yeah, that's her.

There's no way for the human soldiers to overcome the shield of flying units that forms around us in time.

Eventually, all that remains of Gioras' army is surrounded and at our force's mercy.

"Ie would suggEzt you gieve up now and just maybee Ie won't anniehilate your unitz. I'd lieke to spare your drones who are about to diee for theeir master's lost cause." (L)

I can attest to that.

Liseti might be harsh, but she's not a liar.

"What if I tell you that I'd like to see this to the end instead of surrendering?" (G)

"I'd reespond that thies would be incrediebly foolish. Your troopz are worn and tiered, theeir mEntal stAte quEstionable at bEst, thee human condition of not nEcEssarilye submitting to a siengle cause playieng into thies. Wee brought as manye as wee could! As close as you mieght see yourself to achieeving your goal, I don't seee reeasonable chances of actually succeeeding." (L)

"Oh, I still have some assets left." (G)

Assets?

In terms of weapons, I can only think about his bombs.

Is he threatening to blow up all of us?

"You're talkieng about your dEtonators? I alreeady started countermeeasures. At thiez moment, we're creating more tunnElz to your posietion. Mye forcezz are vaasst!" (L)

That means any moment now this cave will be invaded from all sides.

I doubt Gioras can evade this.

As far as I know Liseti, she wouldn't hold back on the extent of units she's bringing if she's daring to show up personally.

We're talking about numbers he can't win against.

"Grmble"

"Well, no. I had something entirely else in mind. Let me show you!" (G)

At this, Gioras gives way and reveals a huge pile of explosive charges at the base of the wall.

If those go up all at once we're gonna have a problem.

"Don't let yourself be fooled by the small size. All of these are magically enhanced fire detonators. And let me tell you, they can pack quite a punch." (G)

"So you want to use thEem now against us?" (L)

"Oh no! You see, our fight seems to have weakened the structural integrity of this cave system by quite a bit. So, rather than using it as a weapon, I hereby threaten each and every single one of your fiends to dare challenge me if they want me to collapse the ceiling on the heads of your all-so-precious princesses!" (G)

Would it?

The earth grumbles, but we might survive the blast.

Especially, as all the units next to us form a protective shield to keep us safe.

Also, Chera wasn't as stupid to let her drones stop working on our top priority, which is the tunnel out of here.

"...That would eend you as wEll." (L)

"Oh, it seems like you still fail to understand how humans think. Prepare the charges!" (G)

Shit!

If they explode this might kill us.

"Verye wEll!!!" (L)

Liseti apparently isn't willing to de-escalate this situation any more than Gioras was until now.

"GRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Suddenly, the loudest growl I've ever heard echoes through the cave.

(C)

(E)

(C)

Suddenly, the walls of the huge cave burst, a colossal black shape entering through the opening.

A being so impossibly huge that nothing can compare to it.

Segmented patterns of oddly scaled flesh show and suddenly take over half of the space of the cave I can see.

Then it turns in our direction and I look at its front.

A huge, circular maw, filled with rows upon rows of rotating black spikes.

Terror incarnate!

And a worm!

Shit...