"Ambush warning! Ambush warning!"
A shrill cry rang out high above the Holy Blood Sealing Grounds. Big Potato, who had little interest in starships and felt awful staying with a bunch of Bloodfiends, had come out for some air. She beat her wings and swooped down from the sky, waving her arms as she shouted to a group of players who had also come out to clear their heads:
"The bugs are here! There are so many of them! Quick! Get ready to fight!"
"Huh?"
Sister Pomegranate raised an eyebrow and looked up in the direction Little Ashina had indicated. She was immediately dumbfounded as three dragon bugs dived out of the swirling Gobi sandstorm before her.
What the hell? Had the swarm gone crazy?
They'd mobilized such a massive force just to destroy this isolated mountain ruin hiding a starship? Hey, there was no way they could make up for the biomass they'd lose by plundering the players, you bastards!
"The bugs dug tunnels underground and poured in! Holy shit, now that the Dark Sheath's seal has been lifted, they can use their burrowing tactics again!"
A few seconds later, Cheche's scream rang out over player comms, proving that flying bugs weren't the only ones involved in this swarm's sudden attack. This was a textbook three-dimensional assault, just the kind of attack the swarm excelled at: imposing in scale and backed by a formidable army. Surrounding an isolated mountain with next to no defenses ought to have been a piece of cake.
The only problem was that they'd picked the wrong time to come.
If they'd come an hour earlier, they might really have caught their targets off guard.
After all, even a powerful figure like the Venerable Lord Paine might have been driven into a desperate situation by