Shadow Slave

Sunny was buried under a moving carpet of dark beetles. His armor was being chewed through, and a few of them had already gotten inside somehow, their razor-sharp mandibles sinking into his flesh.

'C-crap...'

For a moment, his thoughts were scattered, but the sudden pulse of pain cleared them. Blinded, Sunny shuddered and tried to move. his hand to cover the eye slits of his helmet's featureless mask...

It was too late.

One of the insects had already crawled through. Since Sunny could not see anything, he only realized it when something cold and slithering brushed against his nose. l-le instantly closed his eyes, and a split second later, a sharp pain pierced his face as one of his cheeks was torn open.

A repulsed hiss escaped through Sunny's lips.

Jerking his head, he felt the beetle fall down, and then caught it with his mouth, crushing the bastard between his teeth. It felt like chewing on steel, but the resilient shell broke with an appalling crunch, filling his mouth with sharp fragments and an indescribably bitter taste.

'Argh!'

Finally, he managed to free his hand from underneath the mass of beetles and covered the eye slits with it, then struggled to stand up. Sunny managed to rise to his knees, but at that moment, a new wave of beetles smashed into his chest, throwing him back down.

It felt as though he was drowning.

A crushing weight of the endless river of creatures pressed him down, making it hard to breathe. With each second, there were more and more of them, and the weight grew more unbearable...

in the dark cave, the seething darkness that consisted of countless myriads of tiny insects was rising like a tidal wave, already flooding most of the tunnels. The uninterrupted surface of wriggling black insects was slowly crawling higher and higher, the shards of the broken sphere already disappearing beneath them. The rustling httm of tiny feet scraping against stone turned into a rumbling roar.

...Then, a hand in an armored gauntlet broke through the surface, the chemical flare grasped by it igniting with intense scarlet flame.

pushed himself through the squirming mass of dark beetles and managed to rise to his feet with a stagger. Even standing, he was waist-deep in the rushing river of the black shells. As several of them continued to bite into his flesh, he briefly looked around. It took him a split second to take in the sight of the underground cave, which was painted crimson by his last flare and swiftly drowning in the tide of

all that

it have to be

flare in his hand stuttered, the stream of red flame it was spewing

dove into

dark beetles, and was instantly swallowed by it, the

***

loaded into the vehicles, and waiting for the Captain to return. Minute passed after minute,

the Rhino, Luster was sitting quietly in the pilot's seat. Professor Obel and Beth were in the lounge area, discussing something

into the floor, shattering one of the robust alloy chairs in the clangor of metal. All they

and jumping to his feet, Sunny wasted a second to catch his balance, and

the hell are you waiting for?! Drive! Go as fast as you

shuddered, and streams of dust fell from the tunnel's roof. Luster's eyes widened, and he sent the

was shouting, things were seriously,

Professor Obel both rose, startled by Sunny's sudden

"What..."

threw a hand

"Stop! Don't get closer!"

promptly followed. Inside the APC, the Undying Chain disappeared into a rain of

was almost no blood in sight. Several tiny black insects fell to the floor, and were promptly

even more, and then bent over, vomiting a mouthful of

a step forward, looking around in search of a medkit with a worried

"What is going on?"