Mostly Standard grades, the Enthipid horde was larger than any Calli had seen. Crawling alongside the walls, and floors, they began to trample over the flower field in the distance, a tide of black washing over the cavern.

  “Gridlock formation!” a cry rang out from the back. Calli turned around to see a tall man dressed in an ornate cloak giving out orders. A congregation of shamans and what looked to be soldiers of a kind, dressed minimally and each carrying a strange curved blade made of Bastion metal began to pour out from the village’s entrance. Each warrior began to stab markings placed on the floor around the village, and Aio felt an odd sensation in the air, though he couldn’t quite tell what it was.

  The remaining warriors, which numbered in the dozens, began to stand alongside Calli and the mercenaries, each watching the Enthipid horde with eyes cold as a predator stalking its prey. They carried axes, different from the first group of warriors, and the shimmering glow of Johrei emanated from the axes. It was a strange weapon choice, given the inflexibility of axes when one chooses to extend or retract the blade using Johrei, but axes did provide a marked advantage against Enthipids in that their striking power was stronger than that of a blade of similar build.

  As the first wave of subterranean Enthipids began to crawl up the slope leading to the village, Calli’s gun began to whir. She unleashed a barrage of gunfire which tore through the initial ranks of Enthipids, the sound of crackling thunder emanating from the wake of each bullet. Though effective, bullets didn’t kill the Enthipids immediately and slowly but surely, the ranks began to ease forward.

  “They’re coming up the slope!” Calli bellowed. In that instance, Gravel ran up towards the first of the horde, blade in hand. With a honed slash, he cleaved through the first of the creatures as it raised its arms to attack. Luckily, the defenses of Standard-Grades were much weaker than their Elite counterparts, making them unable to withstand most Johrei-based weaponry, and even conventional weaponry of the same caliber.

  Some Enthipids began to zip through the others, and appeared to be of slimmer design.

  “A few speed-based ones are pushing through the ranks,” List said casually. A few of the axemen, for lack of a better term, moved to intercept. A few of the Enthipids managed to dodge the initial swings, getting a few slashes in on these otherwise lightly armored men. Fortunately, their cloaks were lined with light Johrei protection, giving them enough protection to survive the initial hits. Using the opportunities afforded them, swaths of Enthipids fell to the axemen, their bodies breaking under the weight of the Johrei-enhanced strikes.

  Shamans in the back began muttering prayers, and their unified chants could be heard clearly through raucous of the approaching army. Calli, unperturbed continued to gun down more Enthipids until hear ammunition began running out.

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  “Cover me,” she told List, as Calli began to reload. Nodding, List moved forward, small blade in hand. She dashed in against a larger Enthipid, whose steps appeared to rock the floor beneath her and moved in to strike. Just as she did so, she felt a crack beneath her ribs. Looking down, she saw a long tail pierce her through the stomach, and she began to cough up blood. Calli looked on in shock. Ready to forego her reloading to help List out, she noticed List stab her blade into the creature’s tail, and continue to stab it until the Enthipid cried out and dropped her to the floor.

  She rushed in again, blood trailing beneath her and Calli got a quick glimpse at where she was punctured. She sword the tail bore deep within her stomach, but her skin looked almost…untouched.

  This time, List got a hit on one of the creature’s eyes, and the Enthipid bellowed loudly as a strange dark blood gushed from its socket. Again, List was thrown aside as a loud crack from a nearby arm swing fractured her arm and parts of her right rib. She landed on the ground, and before Calli had time to process what just happened, a speed-based Enthipid closed in on her. Lunging to bite Calli, the creature immediately dropped dead as an extended Johrei blade pierced through it from behind, the blade’s tip reaching past its mouth, almost hitting Calli’s face, before retracting again. The creature dropped with a thud on the floor.

  “Sorry, I let that one get too close,” List said. Whatever blood or injuries Calli noticed on her before seemed to fade from her and Calli, starting to piece together the situation, began to remove the magazine of her gun, wringing a new magazine in place as List ran out to meet the strength-based Enthipid which had knocked her aside again.

  Axemen held off the remaining crowd of Enthipids, beating back the horde with movements indicative of trained veterans. They weren’t as heavily equipped as hunters were, but they definitely dealt with subterranean Enthipids before, given their level of awareness of these particular Enthipids and their particular attack patterns and natural weaponry.

  “It’s a little late to say this, Calli, but you might be the only long-range support we have at the moment,” Gravel said, as he held himself in place, blocking the strikes of a strength-based Enthipid. Another axeman rushed in to cleave the head off of the creature while it was distracted. The man nodded and Gravel nodded back, moving forward into the fray.

  Just as Calli got her magazine settled in, she lifted up her gatling again, ready for the next barrage. However, the floor began to rumble as the eyes of everyone locked in on a looming shadow coming forth from the distance. A larger Enthipid, four front legs at least twice the length of its body, with claws at the front, began to scurry forward on its six hind legs, the back two of which were much larger than the rest, and seemed to exude power. A large tail, like a scorpion’s was raised up behind its abdomen, but instead of a stinger, it carried a strange cavity located at its center surrounded by spikes curled around it in a segmented, chalice-like pattern. Ribbons of loose, black carapace flowed from the segments of its carapace, and it had almost a majestic feel to it.

  Calli would find out later from the villagers, that this creature was an Elite Enthipid that has plagued the underground for as long as most of its inhabitants could remember.

  And so, the Monarch of the Deep, began to turn the tides of battle.