Three years later.
The labyrinthine honeycomb brood nest was a tangled maze. Great hives connected to smaller hives, divided further into main passageways, ventilation shafts, nurseries, collection chambers, cultivation chambers, dormitories, training rooms, and more.
With a boom, the Dark Hive King Sacred Ancestor was blasted from a main hive passageway by a single slap from the One-Ring True Spirit Wizard. This formidable Dark Sacred Ancestor, who had once even suppressed Black Isotta, was ultimately nothing more than a toy for the One-Ring True Spirit Wizard to knead and play with at will!
Yet the place where the Dark Hive King Sacred Ancestor fell was hollow. The Source of Darkness flashed, and the Dark Hive King Sacred Ancestor vanished once more, continuing to watch from afar.
"Master, that way!"
At the head of a troop of Demon-Hunting Wizards was a Level Five female Stigmata Wizard riding a swan. She pointed her magic staff toward a passage within the tangled honeycomb.
By now, under the relentless advance of the One-Ring True Spirit Wizard's Demon-Hunting Wizard Legion, heedless of losses, they had formally breached the hive's surface region. Wizards poured into this enormous hive in groups, launching a massive offensive, slaughtering freely as they wove through the maze of crisscrossing passages.
Victory was no longer beyond reach. They had to accomplish their objective!
"Hmph, it cannot escape."
The old witch bared a savage grin. She drew a circle in the air with her magic staff, while tricolor motes flashed from her other hand. After tracing a mysterious arc through the air, she began writing warping runes into empty space.
At the same time, a crack gradually widened within the circle. Matchsticks flew out one after another, joining together into a Matchstick Man.
With a squeak, one matchstick ignited, and the Dark Hive