Half the length of Mateo's spear pierced the Queen's neck just as a lightning spell crackled to life, taking out a pair of Behemoths advancing on Nymh, who was putting up the fight of her life. The cacophony of sound seemed to shrink away when overpowered by a screech from the Queen.

  Milla cupped her hands over her ears, wincing. "How is it making that sound? Ants aren't supposed to have mouths! Or vocal cords, for that matter!"

  "This one does," Luke said, but the words didn't make it far before being drowned out.

  Loose stones and more gravel fell from the ceiling as the queen wriggled, her many legs thrashing against the sides of the tunnel. As Luke looked up to see if they needed to move out of the way of any falling debris, he saw something else dropping from the top of the tunnel.

  "Mateo?" he asked.

  Luke: "Hannah! Can you catch Mateo?"

  Hannah: "Hold on."

  Luke ran toward where Mateo would land. Milla followed. Together, they dodged ants, both dead and living, but his sister soon fell behind, unable to keep up. Frustrated, Luke had to stop and wait, or risk Milla being cut off.

  Hannah: "Got him. He has a hole through his chest."

  Luke: "How did that happen?"

  They rounded a large boulder surrounded by puddles of ooze from the Queen's wound, and found Mateo on the ground next to it, Hannah standing over their fallen comrade.

  "Is he?" Milla asked.

  Luke reached out with Threads of Mana, tending to the wound. "He's alive."

  With everything that'd been going on, and his use of Weaver's Renewal earlier, his mana still hadn't regenerated past eighty percent. Still, he had to use the skill again, even if it would land him below thirty percent. A small part of Mateo's heart was gone, as well as a piece of his right lung. The sliver on Mateo's health bar wouldn't keep him alive for long.

  A warm glow surrounded the Lancer, and the health bar ticked up.

  Luke turned to Milla and saw her casting a spell he hadn't seen before. It was similar to her usual healing method, except this one was channeled, and she held on while Mateo's health fluctuated, his insides knitting themselves back together.

  "Nice," Luke breathed, nodding in approval.

  "What happened?" Hannah asked, looking up at the still irate queen.

  "Don't know," Luke said. "Mateo attacked, and then he fell."

  Mateo stirred, blinking, then his eyes went wide, and he managed a croaking word, "Something."

  "Huh?" Hannah grunted, leaning in over Mateo.

  A sharp, spear-like weapon slammed into Hannah from behind, piercing through her chest. The tip pushed aside her robe, showing a dull, earth-brown color. Shadows danced around the exit wound, and she raised an eyebrow. "What the?"

  The weapon disappeared, and the hole in Hannah's chest closed without her showing any signs of being injured.

  "What was that?" Milla asked, her eyes wide.

  She frowned then, and the warm glow around Mateo ceased. Blood bloomed in her side, staining her white T-shirt red. Touching her side, face going pale, she fell to her knees with a cry. Another blow through her shoulder pushed her to the ground, and Luke leapt to her side.

  The Healer's Moment froze everything.

  As Luke reached out with Threads of Mana, he extended Weaver's Perception in all directions, trying to make sense of what they were up against. Finding nothing, he focused on bringing his sister back from the brink of death. Neither attack hit anything critical, so, for once, he used Needle of Life to stitch her back together, closing both wounds. While healing, Luke also took a moment to shield Milla's and his own vital organs with Guardian Weave. That took some mana, but it would be well worth it, he told himself. For good measure, he decided it was time to test another skill.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Lifeweaver's Sacrifice [Toggleable - Mana Cost: Low]: Absorb damage from anyone touched by your threads.

  Leaving a thread connecting himself to Milla as The Healer's Moment timed out, Luke stood and turned toward Nymh. "Nymh! Get over here! Now!"

  "What the hell was that?" Hannah asked.

  "Ant," Mateo croaked.

  Luke bent down and used Lifeweaver's Sacrifice again, deciding it would be preferable for him to take damage himself rather than Mateo suffering more wounds like that. Having the healing mana contained in his meta-heart maxed out, Luke was confident he could withstand quite a bit of punishment.

  Feeling around her shoulder and side, Milla winced. "What ant?"

  "Something fast," Luke said. "Too fast."

  Nymh was making her way over to them, not arguing for once, but it was slow going wading through ant carcasses and living ones trying to bite her legs off. Luna followed, still shrouded in invisibility. Another attack struck Milla, who cried out in pain as the round, piercing wound opened up Luke's thigh.

  Healing it with Needle of Life to keep his store of healing mana topped up, he numbed the nerves to deal with the pain as he looked around. "Is it the Queen doing this somehow?"

  Mateo grunted as he got to his feet. "I will deal the Queen another wound. This time, it will be a mortal one!"

  "No," Hannah said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Stay close."

  Still soaring through the air, Penny looked like she had slammed into something. With a shriek of pain, she dropped, falling to the ground not far from where the group stood.

  "Hannah," Luke said.

  Hannah ceased her attacks on the horde of ants still trying to reach the group, nodded, and replied while falling into her own shadow. "I've got her."

  At that point, Mateo was back in full force, flowing among the monsters, killing them with ease.

  Penny: "Fucking ouch! A little help?"

  The two women emerged from Luke's shadow, and he got to work healing another wound, this time a little too close to the neck. Another inch, and Penny would've been dead before she knew what hit her.

  "Dammit," he muttered, using Guardian Weave on her as well, before including everyone except for Hannah in Lifeweaver's Sacrifice. After all that, holding on to so many guardian weaves, a good sixty percent of Luke's mana pool was gone, reserved. "This isn't good."

  "Deal with the Queen first?" Hannah asked.

  Penny raised her arms over her head, more pissed off than scared. "Way ahead of you!"

  Come on, storm, ignite!

  I won’t lose this fight!

  End her. Right. Tonight!

  Luke shielded his eyes as brightness overpowered his vision. Even with his eyes closed and his arm covering his face, motes of light danced on the inside of his eyelids. With the sound still ringing in his ears, another wound opened up, this time straight through his chest. The attack was meant for Penny, but Lifeweaver's Sacrifice was putting in the work. The attack would have pierced his heart if not for Guardian Weave. Instead, the weapon stopped and withdrew. If the monster had pushed, the weave would have crumbled, but it seemed their attacker valued speed and used a hit-and-run sort of tactic to stay out of their reach.

  "What the hell?" Penny shouted.

  Ant parts and ichor rained down over them, and Luke looked up with the others. "What happened?"

  Penny pointed at the queen, her finger trembling. "A bunch of ant corpses just appeared in front of the Queen, protecting her from my blast!"

  "Invisibility!" Nymh shouted as she kept up her defense, killing ants threatening to swarm the group.

  Luke looked around, seeing no hint of their attack. "I don't think so."

  "Of course it's invisibility!" she asserted.

  "I can see Integrated and monsters in stealth," Luke explained. "This isn't that."

  Another wound opened up in Luke's arm, almost taking the whole damn thing off, and another in his leg. At this point, he'd numbed all pain in his body. No point being in agony when trying to think of some way out of this mess. As if it weren't bad enough, the Queen was up to something as well. The faint glow of green inside her had intensified, and her middle section was brightening as well. The streaks of light in the walls were dimming as the Queen brightened. She was pulling some sort of energy from the wall. Perhaps she wasn't stuck at all. Maybe, just maybe, she was just where she wanted to be.

  "This is bad," Penny said, launching another bolt of lightning at the Queen. This one was blocked as well.

  Luke searched his mind and interface for a solution, and found it.

  "Luna. Use that skill on me. Show me the future."

  Not emerging from stealth, she whispered, "It doesn't quite work like that."

  "Just do it," Luke said. "I've got an idea."

  The spellweave formed in front of her forehead and soon sank into Luke, who saw a small icon representing the buff in his interface.

  Far Sight: A glimpse of what is to come.

  Dizziness made him a little nauseous. Letting out a small burp into the back of his hand, Luke did his best to make sense of what he was seeing. The effect was slight and could be measured in milliseconds rather than seconds, but it really did show him where the ants were going to be.

  "This is amazing."

  Now, it was time to find the speedster.