On the dark, deep street, the sudden screech of metal scraping across the ground made one's scalp prickle. It was especially chilling when the sound struck the eardrums like a dense shower of rain.
Lian suddenly screamed, "Look, quick! What is that thing!?" Brando turned around and saw the little girl with oversized glasses covering her mouth in horror and pointing into the distance. In that direction stood a collapsed building—a massive metal structure had been blown apart from within, and heaps of metal wreckage and broken glass had buried an intersection. Dust covered the ruins, as though they had slumbered in the river of history for ages. Now, countless beetle-shaped creatures were pouring out from between the ruins like a spreading black trickle, surging toward them.
These beetles were about the size of soccer balls and resembled stag beetles of the order Coleoptera. Their hardened wing cases were covered in dark-red patterns, and a pair of compound eyes glimmered with dim red light in the darkness. Most striking of all were their enormous mouthparts—over a foot long, like a pair of blades.
The moment they were discovered, hundreds upon thousands of insects spread their wing cases in unison. The air seemed to ignite with a piercing whistle, and a black wall rose before everyone in an instant. A black storm rushed toward them.
"Nightmare Insect larvae!" Aloz cried out.
Brando stepped forward, pointing the tip of the longsword in his hand toward them. A dazzling light shone from the tip, and a translucent hexagonal net descended from the sky. The Nightmare Insects immediately struck it like raindrops, then crackled and fell all over the ground.
He turned around and shouted sternly at everyone, "Run—!"
Only after everyone looked around did they realize that, at some point, those disgusting creatures