I Became an Ant Lord, So I Built a Hive Full of Beauties

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Pain rang his arms and hips. No deep cuts. He shoved the nearest man hard and made him crash into his friend. He bought himself two heartbeats. It was enough.

Kai thought, I will start killing them. I wanted to spare some, but they are not yielding. They keep pointing their spears. Fine. I will kill all and leave one or two alive. His eyes narrowed. The part of him that had been waiting for permission woke up.

Azhara took two more men from the edge. She saw the captain square up again and she did not try to shoot him. She shot the man behind him whose spear angle would have made the captain's next step perfect. That man went down holding his leg and the captain had to step wrong. It saved Kai a bruise that would have slowed him.

"Thank you," Kai breathed, not out loud, and felt the soul road carry the thought back to her.

"Do not thank me," Azhara breathed back. "Enemy incoming. Cut them down, sir."

He cut.

He drove the butt of his spear into a chest. He swung the blade across a throat guard and left a ringing scrape without blood. He slipped, caught himself, and used the slip to fall into a man's legs and take them out. He took a point on his shoulder and used the pain to drive his head into another man's jaw. The jaw broke. The man went limp. Kai let him fall and turned.

[System Notification: You have slain a Four-Star Soldier. +40 Experience.]

The captain tried for the ankle again. Kai lifted a fraction later than the first time and brought the blade down on the captain's shaft. Wood groaned. The captain pulled back before it snapped. He stepped in quickly and slammed his forearm into Kai's throat. It bounced. Kai's armor was ready. Kai slammed his own forearm into the side of the captain's helm. The helmet dented. The captain laughed under his breath.

"Good," the captain said, almost admiring. "You are worth the walk."

"You are in my way," Kai said.

They hit each other again.

Sand flew. Steel rang. Men grunted and cursed. The line thinned around the edges where Azhara cut it like a quiet knife. The center held because the captain made it hold. He took a jab meant for the man next to him and gave one back that made Kai's ribs sing. Kai felt the sting and let it wake the part of him that wanted to end this. He fed that part enough to keep it fierce and not enough to make it blind.

He saw the runner reach the far saddle and drop out of sight toward the camp. The road to Miryam shortened and filled with teeth. He knew this fight had to break soon or it would turn slow and chew his time.

He let the world sharpen.

He stepped into the captain's space and locked the man's spear between his arm and his ribs. He yanked and shoved at the same time. The spear tore free from the captain's hands. Kai flipped it and threw it backward over his shoulder into the night. The captain went for a knife and found his belt empty because he had given that knife to the man who cut the net weights earlier and had not taken a new one. His eyes flicked for one heartbeat to his left where a four-star held a blade. Kai saw the flick and punished it. He slammed his palm into the captain's chest and shoved him into his own men. Three went down under him like pins. The line bent.

[System Notification: You have slain a Four-Star Soldier. +40 Experience.]

"Now," Azhara whispered, not to Kai but to the night, and shifted position again.

The four-stars on the left tried to wrap around Kai's flank. He did not give them the angle. He stepped into them instead. He broke a spear in two with his hands. He used the broken half like a hook, dragged a shield down, and drove the other half into the sand to trip the man behind it. He kept moving. He did not give them a shape they could draw.

[System Notification: You have slain a Four-Star Soldier. +40 Experience.]

The captain spat sand and came up with someone else's spear. He plunged back in without waiting for breath. He aimed for Kai's heart and hit hard. Kai turned the point with a twist of his torso and let it skate along the plate. The blade scored chitin. He swung the butt of his own spear and crushed the captain's hand. The man did not drop the weapon. He howled through teeth and held on.

They locked again. They ground against each other like two stones that refuse to turn into sand. The four-stars jabbed whenever there was a gap. Azhara killed the ones who made gaps for the wrong reasons. She took a breath and moved. She kept the soul road open like he asked. If she saw an ambush she would cut it. If she could not, she would call him.

Silvershadow felt the camp wake in a different way. That meant the runner had spoken. That meant the vice general would start to pull the rope that would tighten on this saddle. He slid a hand into the sand and drew a second tiny scratch, this one pointing south. If Kai needed to slip the net, that was the lane where the dunes made a small river in the night. He pressed his lips to the sand and blew once, a breath no one would hear. It was not a signal. It was a promise.

Alka tilted a feather and bled air off her wing. She saw the line like a pale worm on the dark sand. She saw the way the men moved at the end when they got tired and angry. She held herself still. She waited for the pull in the cord.