Boundless Evolution: The Summoning Beast

The command cut through their fatigue, and the party scrambled into motion. Veyra, bloodied from her shoulder wound, gritted her teeth as she forced her bow back across her chest. Each step jarred the injury, but she pushed forward, refusing to let it slow her.

Ash stayed close to her side, shadows flickering protectively, while Tholn covered their rear, his blades cutting down drones that lunged in pursuit.

Yvren lingered at the rear, his staff glowing faintly as he made sure every member of the party had entered the tunnel. He refused to turn his back until the three were safely within.

Only then did he follow, steps steady despite the swarm pressing behind them, his presence buying the others the precious moments they needed to escape.

Together they retreated, boots pounding against the resin-cracked floor, fleeing back toward the narrow tunnel from which they had first emerged.

The hum pursued them, vibrating through the walls, a reminder that the Nest was not done with them yet.

The oppressive vibration gnawed at their bones, and with every echo came the scuttling chorus of reinforcements.

Red eyes winked into existence behind them, spilling forward like a tide. The swarm pressed harder, mandibles clattering as the first wave charged down the narrowing passage.

Having run about fifty metres into the tunnel, Yvren lifted his staff slightly as his voice cut through the din, "The tunnel narrows here—use it! Their numbers mean less when they can only come two or three at a time. We should buy Kalrek some more time."

The party wheeled into formation almost by instinct.

Ash and Tholn shifted to the front, blades flashing in the close quarters, their strikes sharper and more desperate in the confined space. Veyra leaned against the wall to steady herself, loosing shafts down the cramped corridor, each arrow finding its mark with brutal precision despite the pain lacing her movements. Yvren's staff flared, bursts of light staggering the beetles that tried to push past their dying kin.

For a moment, the tight walls became a shield rather than a trap, the press of the swarm slowed by their own bulk.

The air was thick with the stench of resin and the metallic tang of blood, every breath scraping raw in their throats as they pushed themselves harder.

The swarm pressed harder, their endless numbers clawing against the fragile defense the party had formed.

For every kill, more bodies surged forward, the pressure mounting with every second as the group was quickly pushed back despite each kill.

Veyra's composure cracked, her voice breaking into the chaos.

"Too many," she hissed, loosing an arrow backward. Her breath caught as pain lanced through her wound, her draw weaker than before.

The shaft cracked into the nearest drone, but for every one that fell, three more clambered over its body.

"Hold fast, Veyra!" Tholn barked, stepping in front of her long enough to cut down another beetle, "You bleed, but you still stand."

Yvren threw his staff back, a flare of light blasting the passage and staggering the swarm, buying them only seconds before the shadows of the beetles closing in reappeared.

[Ding! 46/50]

Ash clenched his teeth, the system's counter burning in his mind as he switched between killing and retreating.

Somewhere far ahead of them, Kalrek pressed one last rune into the tunnel wall.

The sigil flared to life with a bright, searing glow, its lines crawling outward like cracks of molten lightning across the resin. Kalrek's hand lingered against it, trembling, before falling away. The effort ripped the breath from his chest, leaving him drained beyond measure.

With a groan he collapsed onto the resin floor, chest heaving as sweat poured down his face, soaking his collar and matting his hair.

Dozens of runes pulsed faintly on the tunnel walls around him, their glow proof of the work he had forced from his trembling hands.

He gasped out, voice cracking, "I… am so tired!"

For a long moment he simply lay there, staring at the ceiling with glassy eyes, the rhythm of the Nest's hum rattling his bones.

His fingers twitched at another rune stone still clutched in his palm, but they felt heavier than iron.

A bitter laugh escaped him, hoarse and dry, "All this work, and I'll end up a smear on the wall anyway."

Just then the ground rumbled, a faint vibration like the stirrings of life.

A distant stampede rolled from the depths of the Nest, and Kalrek's head snapped up, eyes wide. He dragged himself to his elbows, fear paling his face.

Yet beneath the fear was recognition—the thunder had been part of the plan all along, the party meant to time their retreat with the tide of beasts so it could only mean that they were making their way to him now. His lips curled in a strained grin.

"It's time," he whispered hoarsely, though his body shook with fatigue.

The sound grew louder—THRUM, THRUM, SKREEEEE!—a tide of legs and mandibles echoing closer.

Kalrek clenched his jaw, forcing his shaky legs beneath him.

"Come on, you bastard, you've survived worse," he muttered to himself as he slowly rose to his feet.

Then his gaze caught movement down the tunnel. Figures... Familiar figures...

Relief flickered in his eyes, his crooked grin returning for a fleeting heartbeat.

"Finally! Took you long enough," he rasped, voice low but firm as he straightened with effort, "It's about time you arrived, because—"

His words cut off as his eyes landed on Veyra. Blood soaking her sleeve, her face tight with pain yet unbroken. The grin drained from his face like water from a cracked jar.

The bite in his tone wasn't mockery this time, but something sharper—anger edged with fear. Kalrek's gaze hardened, his usual levity gone as the weight of what pressed behind them finally settled on his shoulders.

He looked over the whole group, eyes scanning their battered forms, then snapped his focus to Ash.

"Ash!" Kalrek rasped, voice hoarse but sharp, "use your clones. Carry them and create as much of a distance as you can."

Ash blinked at him, chest still heaving, but he gave a curt nod, shadows surging around him as Shadows of the Pack activated once again, clones bursting into being, flickering with dark aether.

The clones surged ahead, carrying Yvren and Tholn, while Ash bore Veyra himself. Their shadowy forms flickered against the walls as they broke away from the beetle swarm while rapidly closing the distance to Kalrek.

Riven bounded alongside, a dark guardian in the chaos. Within moments they reached him, their ragged breaths echoing through the tunnel.

Together, the battered party surged forward once more, carried now by Ash's shadows and what scraps of strength remained in them.

Tholn slowed as he caught sight of Kalrek, relief slipping briefly over his tired face. But his words carried a warning edge: "We're here, Kalrek. Be prepared—trouble's right behind us."

Yvren's eyes narrowed, measuring the glowing runes on the walls around them, "I trust you're ready to act."

Kalrek only snorted, but his shoulders stiffened, his voice dropping colder as his gaze turned to Veyra first, "Damn it… you're hurt."

Veyra gritted her teeth in Ash's arms, glaring at Kalrek, "Don't you dare look at me like I'm broken. I can still fight."

Yet, despite her defiance, there was a flicker in her eyes—a brief warmth at the edge of his concern. It wasn't gratitude spoken aloud, but the smallest nod she gave him before turning her gaze back toward the swarm.

Riven snarled low but bounded toward Kalrek, pressing close to his side as if to guard him. Kalrek rested a hand briefly on the beast's fur, and when he looked back up, he caught the flicker of warmth in Veyra's eyes despite her glare.

He recognized it instantly, and for once, his grin didn't falter.

"Hah. Didn't think you had it in you to care," he muttered, voice carrying both sarcasm and something heavier.

He straightened, rolling his shoulders despite the exhaustion weighing him down.

"Alright," he called to Ash, the crooked smile snapping back into place, "wait for my signal. When I give it, we retreat. Until then…"

Kalrek swung himself up onto Riven's back, the beast growling low as the two turned to face the oncoming swarm.

His crooked grin twisted wider, shadows of exhaustion failing to dim the spark of mischief in his eyes.

"Alright, you bastards," he muttered, as he the aether in his body began to course through his veins, "Let's see how you like this."

His hands lifted, fingers twitching as aether coursed through his veins.

This time, instead of reaching out into his pouch to pull out another stone, he traced sigils into the air itself, the glowing lines hanging like firebrands in the dark.

The tunnel drank in the light greedily, and a heartbeat later the runes he had carved earlier began to glow in sequence—THRUM, THRUM, THRUM—their outlines pulsing with gathering power.

Slowly, the faint lines brightened, green and violet arcs twitching at the edges like lightning preparing to strike, weaving together but not yet unleashed.

The beetles shrieked as they closed in, their charge slowing as the trap's ominous glow filled the tunnel.

Resin walls shuddered beneath the hum of the runes, each pulse like a drumbeat of dread.

Kalrek, atop Riven, raised his hands, directing the glow with sweeping gestures, every shimmer painting his grin in the flickering light as if he were conducting a deadly symphony yet to reach its crescendo.

"A new chance for Kalrek the Rune Master to shine?" he leaned forward on Riven's back, eyes gleaming with a feral spark, "Hehe... watch me."

His hands carved sharper sigils into the air, aether surging violently as his grin widened, "Rune Web: Shatter Spasm!"