—Sunforged party—

  The cave air was thick—not damp, not cold. Just heavy.

  As the Sunforged party walked deeper without hesitation, boots echoed against the stone.

  One of the members let out a low whistle.

  “So this is the ‘massive threat’ the guild warned about?”

  Another snorted. “It’s been empty since we got here.”

  Damien didn’t respond. His eyes stayed on the walls as he walked ahead, scanning the walls, ceiling, the ground, every detail. His grip rested on his sword—relaxed, but ready.

  Behind him, a member nudged another with a grin. “We should’ve taken that village escort job instead. Maybe that would’ve been comfortable.”

  “This is comfortable,” someone else replied. “We haven’t seen a single thing since entering.”

  “That’s probably because they’re dead already,” another joked. “Probably ran off before we came.”

  Laughter echoed through the cave.

  Suddenly Damien stopped walking.

  The sound of boots scuffing the stone died behind him.

  “…Why’d you stop?” one asked.

  Without answer, he crouched slightly, brushing his fingers against the ground.

  The dirt wasn’t loose. It was disturbed. Damien assessed the ground— the lines, grooves, and patterns left behind.

  He stood slowly. “They’re here.”

  One of the members rolled his eyes. “We’ve been here long enough. If something was here, we’d know.”

  Another pointed forward. “Look. Tunnel wide open ahead. Probably their nest. We rush in, wipe them out, and collect our reward.”

  Damien looked toward the wide tunnel ahead.

  The silence wasn’t natural. Even caves had sound—dripping water, shifting stones. This one had nothing.

  He felt it before fully understanding it.

  “…Spread out,” he said calmly. “Watch your surroundings.”

  “Oh come on,” one groaned. “What harm could we face?”

  Another added, “You worry too much.”

  Damien didn’t argue. He simply moved forward.

  The tunnel widened into a chamber. Large and circular, with uneven stone walls, it was empty. Completely empty.

  One member smirked. “Told you.”

  One walked toward the center of the chamber, planting his boot firmly into the ground.

  The sound that followed was faint.

  A crack.

  Damien’s eyes sharpened as he drew his blade.

  The ground beneath rumbled as something massive surged upward from below. Jaws already open, ready to snap.

  Before anyone could process it. Damien moved, in one clean motion, he cut the creature in half.

  Blood sprayed across the stone as the chamber erupted into chaos.

  More creatures emerged. From the walls. From beneath the cracked floor. From tunnels they hadn’t even seen.

  They didn’t rush. They spread out instead. Some cut off the tunnel behind them while others moved along the edges, closing gaps with quiet precision.

  Watching.

  Waiting.

  Damien stepped forward, weapon held tightly.

  “…Stay calm. Focus,” he said.

  Behind him, someone whispered.

  “This wasn’t random…was it?”

  “...Hold formation,” Damien said calmly.

  The Sunforged members tightened into a circle, shields and weapons rising together.

  Swords rang against the ant’s jaws as they tested the perimeter instead of charging through it.

  One member swung too wide. His blade scraped across an ant’s mandibles instead of cutting through.

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  A piercing screech echoed.

  “—Tch! These things are tougher than they look!”

  Another shifted his footing. “...There’s more than before.”

  Damien wasn’t watching the front anymore.

  “Smart… too smart,” Damien thought.

  “They're testing us,” he said quietly.

  One member scoffed. “They're bugs. They—”

  An ant feinted left. Another struck from the right at the same time.

  The man barely caught it in time, grunting as his shield buckled under the impact.

  His voice wasn’t as steady as before—it was starting to crack.

  The circle tightened step by step—controlled. But shrinking.

  Damien flicked his eyes toward the tunnel behind him. It wasn’t as open as before. The swarm moved there now, blocking.

  His grip shifted slightly on his sword.

  “…Stay sharp.”

  Another clash. Another clean strike.

  His blade pierced straight through an ant’s head as the creature dropped instantly.

  But the gap closed just as quickly.

  More filled the space.

  Damien felt it—the weight of too many eyes watching him.

  The formation behind him shifted. Boots scraping the stone.

  Unease spreading through the formation.

  “…There’s… a lot of them.” Someone whispered.

  And for the first time, Damien realized something far more dangerous than the ants themselves.

  The others had begun to hesitate.

  The ants waited. Their bodies shifting as their legs clicked against the stone in rhythm.

  Damien noticed immediately. He adjusted his grip, tracking their movements while keeping his posture steady as the tension thickened.

  “Maintain formation,” he said calmly.

  This time, no one dared to make a joke.

  The earlier confidence that had filled the chamber was gone, replaced by the sound of uneven breathing and boots scraping nervously against the ground.

  The first ants moved in, not in a wave, but small numbers, as if testing their defenses.

  Damien’s blade flashed, cutting one cleanly in half before it could reach them.

  Another fell to the others.

  For a brief moment, it seemed managed—until the gaps they created filled faster than they could clear them.

  They did not attack Damien, but attacked the others.

  One lunged toward the shaky one, forcing him to stumble back as his blade barely caught the mandibles in time.

  Another circled behind the one with the shield, slamming into his guard with enough force to make him grunt.

  “They’re targeting us,” someone said, panic beginning to creep into his voice.

  Damien didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

  The ants were not trying to overwhelm them all at once.

  The circle tightened as more ants emerged from the cracks in the walls.

  Every ant they killed was replaced instantly. The line never thinned.

  The sound of steel striking grew more frantic.

  One of the members breathing had grown loud and uneven, his earlier composure completely gone.

  “Damien…” he said, his voice no longer steady. “…There’s too many.”

  Damien cut another ant down with a single, precise strike before answering.

  “Hold your ground.”

  It wasn’t said harshly nor did he shout, instead, he simply stated.

  But this time, no one found reassurance in it.

  Behind him, the shield guy staggered slightly as his injured leg struggled to support his weight.

  The formation shifted—only slightly, but it was enough.

  The ants immediately exploited it as two rushed the opening at once.

  Damien intercepted one instantly, his blade splitting it apart but the second one slipped through just far enough to force others back a step.

  Before focusing on the other ant, Damien heard it.

  Footsteps, but not ones of repositioning. But retreating.

  He glanced back just enough to see one stepping away from the formation, his face pale, his sword trembling slightly in his hand.

  Damien saw it in their eyes, before the words were ever spoken.

  They were no longer looking at the ants.

  They were looking at the exit.

  “I’m not dying here,” he said. “This Isn't worth it.”

  The words that came out were quiet, but in the silence of the chamber, they sounded deafening.

  One guy hesitated.

  Another looked between Damien and the tunnel behind him.

  The ants continued pressing forward.

  Damien straightened slightly.

  “Return to formation,” he said.

  His voice remained calm, steady and unshaken.

  But this time… they didn’t listen.

  One turned and began moving toward the tunnel.

  Another followed a second later.

  The last lingered for only a moment longer before retreating as well.

  None of them met Damien’s eyes as they left.

  None of them said anything else.

  They simply chose themselves.

  Damien glanced back at them only a fraction of a second before turning back to the ants.

  His grip tightened slightly around his sword.

  Not from fear.

  But from understanding.

  He was alone now.

  And yet, the ants did not rush him. They waited.

  The formation collapsed the moment the first man ran.

  The members of the Sunforged party took off, their boots scraping frantically against the stones as they fled without looking back. One dragged his wounded leg behind him, his shield clattering uselessly against the wall.

  Damien did not call out to them.

  He didn’t even bother to turn his head.

  He had already known they would run.

  The ants surged forward immediately, filling the space the formation had abandoned. Mandibles clicked in rhythmic pulses as they crawled over the bodies of their fallen, climbing over their own without hesitation to reach him.

  Damien exhaled slowly, steadying himself, and raised his sword.

  His blade moved in a single, clean, precise arc as three ants split apart mid-advance, their bodies collapsing.

  He didn’t block as the swarm closed in tighter.

  He stepped back once, stopping only when his shoulders brushed against the cold stone behind him. Nowhere to retreat, no formation to watch his surroundings, and no one left to stand beside him.

  Only himself, and the swarm.

  He lowered the sword slightly, not in surrender, but in preparation.

  His thumb brushed the pommel of his sword, the small, unconscious tic he had carried since he was young.

  Then, quietly, beneath the constant clicking of the ants, a thought surfaced.

  He had always known it would end like this. Alone.

  He hadn’t thought about that day in years.

  His father’s hand forcing the Sunforged crest into his shoulders.

  The grip had been firm. “You’ll carry the name.”

  Not I believe in you. Not I’m proud of you.

  It hadn’t been a choice.

  Through every mission. Through every arrogant teammate.

  Through every silent night spent staring at the ceiling, wondering if the name he carried had really been his.

  He never asked to lead, never asked to be the one who stayed behind.

  But someone always had to, and it wasn’t going to be them. It was him.

  Every time.

  The ants closed within striking distance.

  Damien raised his sword one final time, as his breathing slowed.

  If this is how it ends… at least the village had been protected long enough for someone else to finish the job, he thought.

  He tightened his grip and waited.

  As the ants started to creep in.

  If this was where it ended—

  Before Damien could finish his thoughts, a scream tore through the chamber that caught both the ants and Damien off guard.

  Rok and Elias rushed in, shouting.

  They jumped and raised their weapons next to their sides as they yelled.

  A massive club came first, in a wide, merciless swing that caught three ants mid-step and sent them flying.

  Bodies slammed into the walls as the fluids sprayed everywhere.

  Rok landed heavy in the center of the chamber, club already rising again.

  Behind him, Elias moved.

  There was no time to think.

  The head of the hammer glowed faintly, emitting unstable static light.

  I saw Damien’s eyes narrow slightly as he watched.

  Rok’s next swing crushed two more ants flat.

  I stepped forward, hammer low, the static flaring as I swung.

  The arc connected with an ant's head, causing it to jerk sideways and drop.

  The ant swarm started to scatter, their formation breaking for the first time since we arrived.

  Damien lowered his sword slightly—not relaxed, but not attacking either. Like he was studying us.

  He watched me swing again, hammer connecting with another ant.

  The hammer’s static light flared up.

  He watched Rok grab an ant by the mandibles and slam it into the ground so hard it made a crack in the stone.

  He watched the ants hesitate, the first since the fight began.

  Then, without a word, Damien stepped forward.

  His blade flashed once, clean and precise, killing an ant that had snuck up behind Rok.

  The creature split cleanly in half and dropped.

  Somehow, the three of us began moving together, not perfectly—but not clumsy either.

  Rok’s raw power cleared lanes while my hammer’s static light made chaos.

  Damien stepped into every opening Rok and I created, striking cleanly every time.

  The ants kept attacking—but they weren’t overwhelming us anymore.

  The last ant screeched, before lunging at me.

  Before I could strike it down, Damien intercepted it mid-air, piercing through the head.

  The body dropped between us as silence followed.

  Dust settled as I heard raspy breaths.

  The chamber was still.

  Damien lowered his sword slowly and scanned the room.

  I followed his gaze.

  Ant bodies covered the stone floor.

  He turned toward the tunnel’s entrance where his party had fled.

  Damien looked like he was about to say something.

  Then he saw us.

  I looked down at the ground while Rok was scratching his neck.

  He studied us in silence, I risked a glance at his eyes, and my composure cracked immediately.

  I chuckled nervously as Rok mimicked me.

  “Speak your mind,” He said calmly.

  “So… funny story…” I said, giving Damien an awkward look.

  “While running up, we might’ve…ran into something.”

  A small pause.

  “…Rok may have… accidentally knocked out some… familiar faces.”

  Silence.

  Rok nodded once, completely unbothered.

  “They moved suddenly.”

  I winced.

  “…He thought they were ants.”

  Another quiet pause filled the cave as Damien stared at us both.

  His eyes rested on us, sharp and unreadable.

  “…Are they alive?” He asked.

  His voice was calm.

  I nodded quickly. “I-I think so.”

  A small pause followed.

  Damien turned away, “…Then it doesn’t matter,” he said, already walking deeper into the cave.

  I couldn’t help but stare blankly.

  Noticing this, Damien glanced back at us, holding his sword behind himself.

  “Are you coming?”

  “Can we?” I asked.

  Damien didn’t answer as he continued to look.

  “I mean, it’d be an honor to.” I said.

  Rok and I quickly followed behind Damien as he led us deeper into the cave.