The small group of darklings advances toward the boy from his front, their maws wide open, exposing the large curved fangs within.

Behind him more and more darklings were beginning to separate from the swarm and rush toward him, attracted by the pheromones of their dead brethren.

“That’s right, just keep coming like that.”

Most of the swarm was still circling beneath the drones. He had to attract its attention toward himself for his plan to work.

He lets the darklings on both sides get close to him, his blood coated blade ready in his arms.

As soon as they get within range they stop, forming a tight encirclement around him with their claws extended back.

The boy keeps his eyes peeled on the color and patterns of their auras, ready to react to any spike in their aether.

One by one they start bringing their claws down on him, determined to pierce their foe into smithereens.

With his perception enhanced beyond limit from SPD aether infusion, he notes the trajectory of their stabs in slow motion and evades accordingly.

The darklings’ claws stab into the empty floor as he dodges all incoming attacks by tilting and swerving his body out of the way. Their fiery red claws passing inches from his face, chest, shoulder, and back.

He knew where and when each attack was going to come from because their aetherial auras made it that obvious.

Just before these darklings brought down a claw, their red ATK aether would concentrate and spike over their claws, a pretty big hint during combat.

This information combined with the fact that they had very little SPD aether made them too easy to evade.

Standing in the middle of the encirclement, he lets all of their attacks flow past him and into the floor.

A couple of the darklings get their claws stuck and attempt to yank them out, giving him a nice opportunity to counter attack.

While tilting his body out of the way of some incoming attacks, he raises the hilt of his sword up to the side of his head, positioning into a stance to unleash quick stabs.

The SPD and ATK aether in his arms radiate strongly as he targets the stuck darklings’ domes.

Without breaking his evading rhythm, he snaps his arms forward, extending the blade with a fast movement that swiftly punctures the struggling darkling.

Immediately without pausing, he smoothly retracts his arms, getting back into his stance before impaling the dome of the stuck darkling beside the now-dead one.

The motion happens so fast, none of the other darklings could’ve stopped it in spite of their relentless attacks.

The impaled darklings collapse to the floor like automatons with lost power.

Oblivious, or perhaps indifferent to their brethrens demise, the remaining darklings in the encirclement retract their claws to deliver another stabbing session.

“Let’s move out of the circle now.”

Before they can attack again the boy leaps toward the collapsed bodies of the dead darklings. Placing both feet on the pierced solid domes of their tough exoskeleton, he bounces off of them as if they were jumping platforms.

His ATK aether was now at a point where just the slightest push could let him take off in the air.

He flies just over the encirclement and lands behind one of the darklings that was attacking him.

With a quick flick of his sword, he dismembers two pairs of its hindlegs cleanly, bringing down its grotesque mass.

The darkling drops with an angry insect screech and he stabs it through the back of its dome. The blade tears out of its bloody maw on the other side and he quickly twists it before pushing up, slicing through the top of its dome.

He turns to look at the rest of the swarm but is quickly interrupted by more remnant darklings from the failed encirclement.

“There’s way too many of them. Do they feel any fear or hesitation?”

They scuttle toward him around the sides of the dead darkling in front of him with their raised claws.

In response, the boy flicks black blood off his blade before pointing at them with the tip. The experia of the dead darkling flows into him smoothly.

Getting close to him, the first darkling brings its claws down toward his face with perfect aim, despite having no eyes.

This time he doesn’t just evade the attack but instead counterattacks directly. In a single smooth step forward, he ducks under the stab and cleaves the bug in two with a quick horizontal slash.

Experia and black blood gushes out of the sliced darkling but he has no time to observe.

The next one was already coming in from the other side with its snapping maw. He slightly tilts his body to the left to evade the swipe of its claw and delivers a sharp diagonal upward slash that not only separates its right claw but also a part of its dome.

Before its body hits the floor, the next darkling suddenly comes in from his left and swipes both claws down on his head.

Its claws never make it to his head as he severs both of them by rotating his blade over his head with a quick flick of the hilt. The searing pain from losing both limbs causes the darkling to screech but he quickly stabs it in the dome before any sound comes out.

While pulling out his blade he glances at his side, only to discover another incoming stab.

Quickly retracting his sword, he ducks beneath the attack and jumps over the darkling, landing close to the large mass of the shuffling swarm that was still busy circling beneath the security drones.

“Even after killing so many, they’re still not coming after me.”

He doesn’t get any time to ponder, however, as a group of 4 darklings that were encircling him earlier rush at him from the front.

Since the majority of the swarm was behind him, he did not have any space to dodge backward but that wasn’t really a problem for him.

These darklings were pathetically weak. They definitely had a higher aether count than the rats he had faced and yet, he had more trouble with them.

“The rats had strategy, they planned their assaults. They knew when to attack and when to retreat. These bugs act more like robots than living animals. It’s just the same attack over and over.”

Their attacks and movements were highly predictable and easy to intercept, although their sheer numbers more than made up for that weakness.  

Ultimately, they didn’t really need any strategy with numbers like that which, ironically, made them easier to deal with.

Using a straight forward linear path, the small group rushes into him with their claws raised high just like their dead brethren.

A small dance ensues where the boy swerves away from a darkling’s attack before unleashing his own counterattack that kills the darkling.

“What was it again? Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”

He ducks and weaves out of the way of each incoming darkling, landing quick slashes that severs their exoskeletons apart.

The group of darklings start dropping gradually with every swing of his sword until he’s facing the last remaining one from the earlier group.

It swipes its claw at him and he tilts his body out of the way but suddenly he feels the sensation of another incoming attack from behind.

With no time to turn around or counterattack, he quickly jumps up to evade. In the air his eyes fall on the few darklings that had separated from the swarm and silently gathered behind him.

Sensing the pheromone trail now leading up, three of them jump after him with their claws extended out for latching on.

The boy sees them spring up toward him and he rotates his body until he is upside down in the air.

Readying his sword, he dives toward the incoming group, slicing through the claws and exoskeletons of all three darklings.

He lands into a crouch in front of the darkling that was attacking him earlier and slices through its legs, bringing it down.

It screeches from pain but still manages to bring its attacking claws down on his head.

Quickly rolling out of the way of the two stabbing claws, he swings his sword up and cleaves the darkling in a straight line from its middle.

Rising up to his feet, he quickly scans around for more incoming attacks but there is no other darkling around him.

“I didn’t even see that attack from behind but I knew it was coming.”

This was the second time that he had felt this kind of sensation of an approaching attack. Initially he had no idea how it happened but now he had some basic idea.

“This is the work of ACC aether isn’t it.”

The description of the aether was crystal clear in his memory.

Accura (ACC)

The part of aether that expands the person’s awareness around his surroundings. This aether part allows the person to perceive attacks without sight and help them attack with pinpoint precision.

 

“I really need to learn to use this aether, there’s no doubt its going to prove useful.”

Finally free from the relentless assault, he peers ahead and sees the swarm still mindlessly encircling beneath the drones, but something is different.

There were just 5 drones still actively hovering and shooting at the darklings instead of the 7 previously.

They had taken down two more drones and he hadn’t even noticed on account of all the attacks he was busy evading.

“This is not good, if things stay like this then all the drones will be gone.”

The drones were literally doing the heavy lifting by attracting the aggression of the entire swarm and this was making it easier for him to fight it.

Without them it would be just him and the swarm and something told him that fight wouldn’t be as easy.

“I’ve butchered so many of them why aren’t they coming for me?”

He had spilled enough black blood to paint an entire wall of the chamber and yet they were still laser focused on the drones.

“What is it that’s pulling their attention?”

As if to answer his question, a small section of darklings in the center of the swarm get into spraying position with their heads down and rears up. Together they spray fine black liquid that hovers in the air, forming a curtain of fine mist.

A drone passes through the mist and as soon as it does so, all the darklings in the swarm start following its trajectory with their eyeless domes, as if they could see it now.

Realization dawns on the boy.

“Of course, it’s the fucking mist. It acts like a tracking agent. Should’ve realized it the first time……I need to jump through that mist if I want to get their attention.”

Simply killing them was only attracting a few of their numbers, but something like this could pull the entire swarm after him.

There was just one problem.

The mist was in the thick center of the swarm, just above the sprawling mess of black legs, fangs, and claws.

He would have to cross the entire length of the swarm to get to it.

The boy takes a deep inhale and exhales slowly. He glances down at his suit, speaking to it through his thoughts.

“You’ve protected me from certain death countless times by now. Really hope you can protect me from this one too buddy.”

Steeling his resolve, he channels the full extent of his ATK and SPD aether, combining them into the familiar mixture of golden maroon aura.

His blade shines brightly, its aura burning even more fiercely with the surging infusion of aether.

“*Sigh* This is not a good idea.” He remarks with a slight grin.