The stench of iron and rot thickened the deeper they went. The cavern narrowed, twisting into passages lined with faint green cracks that pulsed like veins. Webbed sacs dangled overhead, some twitching faintly as if something inside pressed against the walls.
The cadets shifted nervously, blades and staves raised.
Instructor Hwang lifted a hand, halting the line. His voice cut across the silence, steady and hard.
"Listen well. This place isn't called the Hollow Nest for nothing."
He jabbed a finger toward the ceiling. "Those sacs? Egglings. Step too close and they'll burst. Weak, but fast enough to swarm you. Ignore them unless you want your face chewed off."
Several students swallowed audibly.
"The mantises you've fought so far were scouts. The deeper you go, the larger they get. Burrowers strike from underground—watch your feet. The husks littering the ground? Don't trip. They'll snap and give your position away."
One cadet raised a trembling hand. "S-sir… what about the boss?"
Hwang's gaze hardened.
"The Mantid Drone Lord," he said grimly. "Harder shell than a knight's tower shield. Acidic spit that'll melt steel. Its carapace has weak points—if you can find them. Fail, and you'll be fertilizer before you scream."
The students went pale.
Hwang's eyes swept the group. "Remember: use your heads, not just your skills. System shortcuts can blind you. Look, think, and strike. Or you'll end up another husk on this floor."
His words hung heavy. For a moment, only the faint scratching of unseen claws echoed in the dark.
Rin glanced at the corpses littering the stone, their shells split at unnatural angles. His grip tightened on his blade.
Weak points. Always weak points.
And his eyes had been trained for seventy years to find them.
…
Instructor Hwang's words echoed in the cadets' heads as the faint scratching grew louder.
From the shadows ahead came a screech so sharp it rattled their bones. The Drone Lord crawled into view, towering above them, carapace gleaming with venom, egg sacs bursting faintly behind its jagged frame.
Its many eyes glowed with hunger.
And though dozens of students stood ready, its gaze fixed only on Rin.
Codex Record
> On the Hollow Nest — "Do not fear swarms, for swarms are noise. Fear the silence of the queen, for only then does the hive show its truth."