A Head-On Clash of Steel and Blood

Night had grown utterly dense before the valley mouth. Mist piled up and churned at the wind gap, like a Black Tide blocked within a narrow breach. The ground was pitted and uneven, acid and mud mingling into dark streams. Bubbles constantly burst on the surface with gurgling sounds. The sour stench in the air seared their throats, and every breath felt like fire.

Fallen Ant Soldiers lay scattered across both sides of the breach. Some had split shells, their internal fluids spilled across the muddy ground and long corroded black. Others still twitched, their claws scraping instinctively before quickly stiffening. Broken stakes and shattered rocks lay piled among the corpses, turning the entire defensive line into ruins.

At the center of the ruins stood the Squad Leader-class Ant-Man. It was a full size larger than ordinary Soldier Ants, with broad shoulder plates and a heavy shell crisscrossed with cracks that still gleamed coldly. Spines stood erect along its back, and wounds on the sides of its neck still seeped fluid, yet none of that diminished its oppressive presence. Unlike ordinary Soldier Ants, its movements were not frenzied, but rhythmic and deliberate, as though it were consciously directing the surrounding swarm.

The Soldier Ants around it spread into an arc. Rather than rushing forward in a mob again, they kept relatively even distances, as though guarding it and awaiting orders. They growled in unison, not loudly, but wave after wave like a tide, making the tension in the air grow heavier.

Ryan stood inside the breach, mud and acid scars beneath his feet. His twin blades were covered in cracks, but their edges still glimmered with Aura. His sleeves had been corroded into tatters by acid, and the blood on his shoulder had dried into dark black stains. He breathed