Chapter 166: The Chittering Tunnels (1)

The tunnels stank of rot and chitin dust.

Reidar stood at the front line where the main passage widened into a chamber carved by claws rather than tools.

The ceiling stretched thirty feet overhead, draped with cobwebs that glowed faintly in the torchlight carried by some survivors.

The Razorwing Skitterers had made this place home, and their presence showed in every scratch mark, every dried husk of previous prey.

The Chittering Tunnels themselves were a claustrophobic nightmare, a network of damp, narrow passages carved deep into the earth.

The only light came from the glow of the torches and summoned creatures everyone conjured thanks to Reidar, plus the occasional flash of a spell when they were not in combat.

Reidar had multiplied the raid members’ fighting force tenfold. The two hundred survivors were now the core of an army that numbered over two thousand.

The enemy, though, was strong compared to the average survivor.

The Razorwing Skitterers were not merely giant cockroaches.

They were ugly, disgusting, and haunting giant cockroaches. Each one was six feet long, armored, oily and with an iridescent brown carapace that deflected blades and most of the skills the raid used.

Cockroaches were bad already when they were tiny, but cockroaches like these were nightmarish.

They also had two smaller, scythe-like appendages twitching near their clicking mandibles.

What was worse was that those things could also fly, which was the reason why the group had been able to find their nest so easily. The wings weren’t just used to do that but also to perform dashes that could disembowel a survivor before they could raise their shield.

That was why Reidar also shared Group Rally and Circle of Renewal with the raid members. In fact, hundreds of circles were around them, healing the survivors and the summoned creatures alike each second.

The Spectral Knights formed the vanguard, while the rift-sprites kept the back.

Behind the knights, the Ironsides kept pushing, with Helga at their head.

[Helga’s Warhammer strikes Elite Razorwing Skitterer for 4900 Physical Damage.]

[Elite Razorwing Skitterer—level 79—defeated!]

“Push!” Helga said. “Crush these bugs! For the points!”

Flanking the Ironsides on both sides were Aldric’s Sun Chasers. They cleared the smaller, intersecting tunnel entrances.

They were acting as the flank guards, after all, and had to make sure that no swarm could burst from a side passage and hit the main force’s vulnerable sides.

Aldric himself stood on the left flank, holding his spear and cursing the fact that Reidar had chosen the Ironsides to lead this first quest, which inevitably led to fewer C.L.A.S.P. and survival points for the Sun Chasers he was leading. Of course, it would be their turn to lead on the following quest.

In the rear were Seraphine’s archers. Reidar hadn’t learned yet what her group was called, but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that they had turned the dark tunnel behind the enemy main forces into a kill zone.

This group was more than just archers. Arrows trailed fire, ice, and pulsing golden light, which meant they actually favored skills to summon different kinds of arrows and bolts for their bows and crossbows. Some of them even had mana weapons.

[Seraphine’s Frost Arrow strikes Elite Razorwing Skitterer for 3300 Ice Damage.]

[Elite Razorwing Skitterer—level 84—defeated.]

Reidar realized they were a high-damage, low-defense group. They prioritized agility, accuracy, and speed over brute strength and resilience.

The summoning skills he’d shared were a godsend for them. A perimeter of spectral knights stood guard around the archers intercepting any Skitterers that slipped past the heavily armored front line. This allowed Seraphine’s group to focus entirely on raining death down on the chittering horde.

Reidar noticed how the archer group used their summoning skills differently from him, or better, for another purpose.

While Reidar used them for basically everything, using different kinds of summoned creatures to do different roles, since Seraphine’s group focused on archery and ranged fights, they needed the summons to keep them safe in close quarters.

Doing this gave them breathing room while they pelted enemies from a distance and killed whatever was far enough.

The rest of the survivors were scattered, with smaller groups either joining Helga or Aldric. Of course, some went with Seraphine’s group of ranged fighters, who instead were far in the rear, dishing out death with each bolt or arrow they used.

Even those smaller groups, ranging from levels 50 to 70, were fighting with a ferocity Reidar had not expected. The monsters were a genuine threat to them, but the presence of the summons had changed the equation.

But despite this, they were not fighting a desperate battle for survival; they were farming. With spectral tanks holding the line, they could focus on dealing damage, learning attack patterns, and, most importantly, earning C.L.A.S.P. Points.

A Level 62 survivor, one of Helga’s men, buried his axe in a Skitterer’s head.

[Level 65 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

They were getting a lot given the level disparity, which made Reidar smile since it meant he would get even more in the end.

The man roared in triumph and moved to the next target; his eyes reflected the thrill of the hunt he was feeling.

Reidar then checked the quest’s progress.

<Quest progress: 3,247 out of 4,000 Razorwing Skitterers defeated. We are almost there to complete this.>

What was better was that it took him less than half a day to reach that point, which meant Reidar’s fame and the trust the others had in him soared. Something like this would have been impossible to believe in if recounted.

Lena and Jake had joined the fray, moving just behind the Ironsides. For them, the monsters were trivial, far too weak to grant C.L.A.S.P. Points, but the Survival Points were still valuable.

Lena moved like a dancer, her blades finding the gaps in the Skitterers’ armor with lethal precision. An Elite, Level 70, burst from the wall, its razor wings buzzing as it lunged for her. Lena didn’t even pause. She spun, her left dagger plunging into its multi-faceted eye while her right severed its antenna.

[Critical Hit!]

[Level 70 Elite Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

[You have gained 0 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 68 Survival Points.]

It was not a lot to earn, but it was still better than nothing. Lena was teaching Jake how to fight. It wasn’t like she was that much better than him. They were fresh survivors, and they were still learning, but Lena still had significant experience compared to the kid, and her proficiencies gave her insights she hoped Jake would pick up on.

Jake himself fought with less grace but equal determination, if not far more. He wanted to get strong enough for him to take care of himself and even help Reidar more than simply summoning monsters.

He stood near Lena, flanked by his own spectral knight. He was growing, which Reidar could only be happy about.

[Level 62 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

[You have gained 0 C.L.A.S.P. Points.]

[You have earned 91 survival points.]

Reidar himself acted as the overlord of the battle. He was the commander, the support, and the failsafe.

“Movement ahead,” one of Helga’s fighters said.

The clicking renewed then, not that it really ever stopped, but it grew dimmer the more the raid party killed the monsters.

Reidar raised his eyes. “Here they come.”

More of the Razorwing Skitterers burst from the tunnel ahead in a chittering wave.

The front rank of spectral knights braced. The Skitterers hit them and tried to swarm over the shields.

[Spectral Knight strikes Level 63 Razorwing Skitterer for 847 slashing damage.]

[Spectral Knight strikes Level 65 Razorwing Skitterer for 921 slashing damage.]

Helga’s hammer came down on a Skitterer’s head, crushing its exoskeleton with a wet crunch.

[Helga Grimstad strikes Level 64 Razorwing Skitterer for 1,243 blunt damage.]

The creature’s body crumpled, ichor spraying across the stone floor. Then more died.

[Level 64 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

[Level 78 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

[Level 83 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

Reidar grimaced as he saw the battle. The monsters were too weak to give him meaningful C.L.A.S.P. points, and he was just getting few survival points since most of the damage was done by the summoned creatures the survivors brought on the battlefield thanks to his trait. It meant that Reidar was still the MVP, the one who got most of the job, but it was indirect. He himself was doing nothing but wait and share skills each time it was needed.

The raid members fought, and they did it well. Despite everything Reidar had seen, these guys knew how to fight, which made him more hopeful people like them would be protecting Kingsgate and Creamont, bringing safety to his family.

They used their summoned creatures to create chokepoints, funneling the Skitterers into kill zones where multiple fighters could strike at once. These were tactics some of them shared, as they happened to have joined the army in the past, so these combat strategies were deeply cherished, especially by Reidar, who had a lot to earn from this point of view.

More arrows rained down from the rear. Seraphine’s archers were strong, which explained why Helga and Aldric feared them so much. The result was a constant stream of projectiles that picked off any Skitterer trying to flank the main force.

Reidar channeled mana through his wand and unleashed a firebolt into the tunnel mouth, where more Skitterers poured in just to get more mana from arcane leech. The explosion lit the chamber, sending burning chitin fragments everywhere.

[Firebolt strikes Level 61 Razorwing Skitterer for 2,341 fire damage.]

[Firebolt strikes Level 63 Razorwing Skitterer for 2,287 fire damage.]

[Firebolt strikes Level 64 Razorwing Skitterer for 2,419 fire damage.]

Three more notifications appeared as the burning creatures died.

[Level 61 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

…

[Level 63 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

…

[Level 64 Razorwing Skitterer defeated.]

…

At that point, Jake went deep into the enemy lines, flanked by Lena. The kid had summoned a small squad of Spectral knights that fought nearby.

[Quest Progress Updated: 3,498/4,000 Razorwing Skitterers defeated.]

Reidar checked the notification as another wave of Skitterers rushed them from a side passage. The survivors were cutting through the horde, but the monsters kept coming.

“Push forward,” Helga roared. “We’re close.”

The raid advanced deeper into the tunnel network, leaving corpses in its wake.

There hadn’t been a single casualty so far. Seraphine’s voice reached Aldric, Helga, and Reidar. “More are coming from above.”

Reidar looked up. Dozens of Skitterers clung to the ceiling, ready to drop on the raiders below. They got quickly killed.

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