The swarm had been interrupted, stopping the tide from overwhelming them in a stampede. But even with the attacks being rained down upon them from all sides, the ants were no pushovers. They charged with reckless abandon, set on closing their mandibles over something before they were killed, even when they were filled with steel or frozen solid.

It was like they had a directive in mind, to kill or be killed without hesitation for their Queen.

They numbered in what felt like the hundreds, with more still coming down the long approach to the castle. Like a reddish brown sea of death.

Leo was dancing between enemies, striking out with his Ice Stance activated. This stance gave him the most control, cooling his mind after the mental strain from his Stormforged Presence. Ellie was nearby, joining in with her own frosted breath, and newly acquired Frost Orbit. Small balls of frozen ice were being rocketed into antlings left and right, tearing holes through chitin.

Using Absolute Shatter at this point would be great, but also dangerous. There were far too many melee combatants nearby to just cause a massive detonation, even if it would be extremely effective.

“Hold strong!” Cecelia roared, swinging her sword through a nearby antling.

She was trying to hold morale. As everyone could see, the number of antlings far eclipsed the number of fighters but this wasn’t the first time they’d faced such odds. There had already been a few deaths, with nothing Leo could do about it. These antlings were between level fifty and sixty five, based on the few he actually identified.

They were also varied in terms of type. Some antlings stayed back, spitting acid, fire, or even spines. Others were armoured, pushing into the frontline of the fighters and causing disruption.

The formation of the ants after being broken by the aura waves had begun stabilising, which in turn made the fight through the swarm harder. Leo was doing his best to keep them corralled to avoid getting overrun, but they were slowly losing ground, despite everyone’s best efforts.

Of course, some of the fighters were holding back, keeping their strongest moves for when they managed to get to the Queen. Leo was included in that, keeping his Crownfall, which had been recharged, and his Call of the Storm, which hadn’t been used since the Cinder Bastion.

“Fall back!” Bjorn called as the ants regrouped and pushed harder, forcing the fighters to form a line again.

Leo ducked a swing from Cain, who had been recklessly cutting apart hordes of them without slowing.

“Watch it, you blender!” Leo called, spinning into a kick, a blade of wind rushing out and severing the limbs of a nearby armoured antling.

“Don’t get in my way!” Cain roared, already leaving.

“Such an asshole sometimes,” Leo muttered. “Maybe all the time, actually.”

He was forced to Spark Dash as a flaming glob of acid flew directly towards him. Lightning warped him upwards, a cloak keeping him aloft as he fired another kick.

Attacks started targeting him from below immediately—acid and spines mostly. Leo reversed his gravity in a sense, wind forcing him downwards as he used the last kick of Gale Talon in an axe kick.

Bit more oomph in this one, I think.

Fuel the Fire activated for the first time during the fight, steam rising as he dropped. Strength filled his leg muscle. He wasn’t entirely sure it would work this way, but he needed to cause some extra damage. It was about this time he really wished he’d not angered Ruby so much.

The kick sliced through a large horde of them before dissipating. The gap he made was filled instantly.

Landing, he took in the crowd of ants once more, and it was still beyond comprehension. The system who created this tutorial was either really bad at balancing, or this was meant to be as bloody and difficult as it currently was. Both answers were bad news and helped nothing.

Leo quickly dashed back to the frontline, leaving the inner swarm for now as he took out a few more ants on the way with Scarlet Impact.

“Cece,” Leo said, breathing somewhat staggered. The woman regarded him quickly. “I’m gonna use Crownfall.”

Cecelia took a second, looked upon the antlings, and then nodded.

“Crownfall!” Cecelia called, using her skill to alert everyone in the battle. They all knew what that meant after discussions and plans.

“Try to aim it a bit better this time,” she said plainly, retreating after.

Leo nodded and took off back into the swarm once again, dodging through mandibles, punching those that got close, and tossing a nearby smaller antling into its companions.

He needed some room and time to activate the ring. so he used Tailwind, pushing mana into the skill in order to force the antlings back. A gust of wind shot out around him. It created a small domain that the ants avoided for a brief moment while he held.

That small moment was all he needed. His hand rose into the air, activating Crownfall. The instant it activated, Leo did not need to be there anymore, booking it out of there with all the effort he could afford.

Wyrmstep activated and Leo found himself rushing through the air as mana developed above him. Ellie appeared beside him, looking absolutely delighted by all this. She was covered in green ichor, a few cuts and scrapes but nothing serious. The green ichor had been frozen, likely by her Frost Shroud skill.

Leo found himself smiling back at the little dragon. Even with the deaths and injury, and likely the end of all of them, he was in his element.

The pair decimated the poor antling that was the target of their Wyrmstep, Leo kicking its head into Ellie’s waiting jaws where she clamped down with a Crushing Bite—chomp.

Half of its face was now missing as it twitched on the ground. Ellie spat out the remaining clump just in time for Leo to turn and witness the cataclysm he was raining upon these insects.

It started slowly, as it always did, mana gathering above into the blue, cloudless sky. The next part consisted of it forming into red spheres, becoming larger and more numerous over a few seconds. That was the moment the antlings noticed, and whatever danger sense they possessed was warned.

“Incoming!!” Leo yelled, and quickly realised that Cain… might not have gotten the message.

Uh oh.

The sky fell.

Raining hot chunks of molten mana cascaded across the approaching tide like he’d just called in an airstrike. Notifications were flooding in as the area was carpet bombed. Chunks of antling flew everywhere before they were incinerated. Leo watched the spectacle for what it was, completely outrageous for something on an item.

The antlings nearby weren’t affected, but were quickly taken out due to lack of support. This was a much needed breathing time for the fighters, who used it to take potions, request healing, or just pray.

Leo was about to kick an antlings head off when a figure suddenly appeared above it, cutting it apart with twin hatchets. One look at the figure made him wince.

Cain was scorched and mostly green, like he’d just bathed in flaming green jello. He looked extremely pissed, eye twitching as he stared down the man who had rained fire on him.

“Sorry?” Leo offered, but it fell on deaf ears.

Cain ignored him, walking over to Matilda, who healed him shortly after.

Could have gone worse. Leo shrugged, taking in the scene before him.

After taking out so many of the creatures at once, there was a chance to move right now. To take a squad, push through the tide, and take out the Queen that lay within. The only issue with that was the strength of these antlings was more than anticipated.

It was a true last defense of the enemy forces, and they were giving it their all to work together and kill the intruders. The only reason they hadn’t been overwhelmed so far was due to their strongest members. If those members ran off to slay the Queen, it would only be a matter of time before the weaker people were overrun and killed.

Leo’s Crownfall had inflicted massive damage due to how clustered they all were, killing what must have been over fifty antlings easily. Now that the antlings were regrouping, they would need maybe one or two more big area attacks to ensure some increased survival for those who would be left below.

“We need to go!” Cecelia suddenly said, pulling Leo from his strategic thoughts.

“We can’t,” Leo argued. “If we leave now, everyone else will die.”

“If we don’t stop that Queen from sending this endless tide then we’re all dead anyway.”

Leo grumbled, considering his options. If she was going now, he had to go with her. That wasn’t just him tooting his own horn. He was needed. Relied on.

Call of the Storm was their best bet.

But he really didn’t want to resort to it, not to mention so quickly. It was his emergency button that he hated pressing now.

“Fine,” Leo said. “But before we do, let's try and group them up again. I’ll use the storm.”

Cecelia frowned. “You need to save that for the Queen.”

“That’s the deal Cece. If you want to fight the Queen now, I’m using it,” Leo said.

The tip of her tongue loosely pressed against her canine, before recalling it sharply.

“Group them up! We’re hitting them hard again,” she roared.

Leo smiled somewhat sadly. It had to be done.

Ashley ran up to him, realising what Cecelia had planned. “Are you using it?” she asked, worried.

“Yeah. We need to kill as many as we can before we leave. This is our best bet considering our lack of area attacks.”

“I could use my army?” Ashley asked.

Leo shook his head. “It’s better to save it for the Queen.”

She nodded after a beat, calling after him as he started jogging. “Be careful.”

“Who needs careful when I have you?” He gave her a broad smile as he turned, jogging backwards a few steps.

She shook her head and was off again quickly to help someone else who was still fighting.

The fighters who had taken a short breather had downed a potion of some variety and ran back in to help the corralling. All the melee’s were forming a semi circle in an attempt to push back, or at least group them up as much as they possibly could before retreating.

Leo was in that group, hitting ants into other ants as they tumbled across the paving, blasting a few back with a gust of wind, or just having Ellie coat them in flames until they retreated back.

It took a few minutes of reckless fighting, but by the time they could get no more ants grouped up, Leo was ready.

Jumping back a few steps, Leo closed his eyes and dug deep. His breath was steady. His heartbeat began slowing until it was a calm pulsing rhythm that helped to centre him. Ellie stood guard while he tackled the storm within him that desperately wanted to escape.

Leo touched the thread of power within him that was linked to his bloodline. The thread that had appeared when Iskarion had formed the pact with him, attached to the Storm’s Guidance skill. A way of harnessing it.

It pulsed like a drum as the power started to be released, Leo already felt the strain at just a small fragment of the energy being let free. It had been a lot of levels since he’d used this last, not to mention each time he used it, the skill got stronger and more uncontrollable.

Oh fuck, this is going to suck.

The storm started its release, slowly running down his arms, ready to unleash as soon as he activated the skill fully. This was just the prep that helped him control it better, albeit barely.

He opened his eyes. Then, he leapt into the air, his strong legs and Tailwind taking him high enough to aim downwards—center mass. A Cloak of Wind draped over his shoulders, stopping him from falling like a rock.

A prickle of danger rose within him, but he ignored it. It was probably the storm anyway.

“I’m ready!” he called, voice bellowing out over the crowd.

“Fall back!” Cecelia called in response, using some kind of skill that aided retreat.

People ran extremely fast in the opposite direction, giving Leo the room to unleash his attack.

Just as he was about to fire it, hands fully extended. A sort of shimmering haze started coating the area around the antlings. It was faint, but Leo could sense it. Sort of like looking at a mirage.

It multiplied, expanding rapidly until all the ants were coated in some kind of hazy, uncoloured miasma. It could have been a defense skill of the Queen, so Leo needed to fire now.

“Cinder Cataclysm!” A voice suddenly called, igniting his own thoughts as he witnessed true devastation.

The very air itself. Ignited.

The haze covering the crowded up antlings burst into flame that stuck to the ants like hot glue. It roared into an inferno that had Leo shielding his eyes, and even Spark Dashing backwards as the flames grew brighter and hotter, spreading across any living entity it touched.

The air was being set alight, spreading like wildfire. Leo buried his storm, forcing it back into its—now even looser—cage. He spotted Ellie, coated in frost, uncaring as the fire approached. Leo’s eyes widened in alarm, worried about his companion.

“Ellie, get back!” he called, barely audible over the roaring inferno.

The dragon’s expression was one of utter giddiness.

Confusion was the first thing that came to mind until he watched her eyes glow a bright dark blue. The little dragon, barely more than a month old, roared for the first time, loud and infused with power.

And the fire listened.

The fire in the air around her was spreading further still like an avalanche, but Ellie was holding it back, completely stopping it from going any further. Somehow, when Leo approached, not a single hint of fire or heat was touching them. It was held back like an invisible wall had been erected.

A shield of light erupted in front of them. It formed between them and the fire as Ashley ran up in worry. She’d seen Ellie standing in front of a wall of fire and hurriedly approached.

“What’s happening?” she asked quickly. “Was this you!?”

“You think I can do something like this? I just punch things!” Leo argued.

“I—” She paused, holding her chin. “That’s true.”

“Only one person I know is capable of something this reckless,” Leo said, staring into the flames that licked against the white barrier.

A second later, from those same flames, a woman clad in a fiery red robe that matched the shade of her hair walked out without a care in the world. She twirled her red locks with a devilish smirk on her face.

“Hello.”