The sun had barely risen, yet a shadow darker than midnight spread across the city. From the depths of the underground tunnels, hundreds of millions of aberrant insects marched in perfect formation, a living tide of carapaced bodies, chittering wings, and glinting mandibles. The weaklings surged ahead like a crawling, writhing ocean, the stronger units forming an impenetrable middle line, and the Abyss-Chaos-infused children, led by the Hive Queen, held the very center of the formation, radiating power that made the ground tremble with every step.
The city streets shook as buildings quivered, windows shattering under the force of the advancing swarm. Trees snapped like twigs, and the pavements cracked under the weight of millions of coordinated feet. Ordinary citizens fled in terror, screaming, as the tide of abomination approached with unstoppable momentum. Even the sky seemed to darken unnaturally, clouded with the energy radiating from the Hive Queen and her brood.
At the central plaza, where the city guild hall had been hastily reinforced, the masters of every guild and the strongest hunters had gathered. Their expressions were grave, their hands gripping their weapons as they prepared for the worst. Swords glimmered, staffs pulsed with elemental energy, and hunters exchanged silent nods—this was no ordinary threat.
"Hundreds of millions… and they're coordinated," whispered Guildmaster Veylan, his eyes scanning the advancing swarm. "And the Hive Queen… she's in the center."
"Do you think parley is possible?" another guildmaster asked.
Before the Queen could respond, a ripple of psychic energy spread through the swarm. The Abyss-Chaos units and the central children pulsed in unison. The Queen's mind projected a single command: "No mercy. The hunter who destroyed my kingdom will pay, and all who protect him shall fall."
The Queen hovered slightly above her brood, her eyes fixed on the cityscape. She had prepared for negotiation, for showing her strength without unnecessary slaughter—but the humans in front of her, with their weapons raised, their magic bristling, their determination glaring back at her, forced her hand. She clenched her claws, sending a psychic pulse through her brood. Chaos and abyssal energy radiated outward, shimmering like a black sun.
The city erupted in chaos. Buildings exploded under the relentless surge of insect bodies. Glass shattered in rain-like torrents, debris flew like shrapnel, and the air was filled with the metallic screech of chittering mandibles. Even the seasoned hunters faltered at the first wave. The weakest aberrants—numbers in the hundreds of millions—poured into the streets, trampling anything in their path, forcing hunters to split their focus and stretch their formations to breaking points.
The stronger units moved in disciplined lines behind the weaklings, their claws slicing through stone and reinforced steel. The Abyss-Chaos children in the rear radiated waves of energy, creating tremors and ruptures with every step. The Queen herself hovered at the center, her presence a nexus of terrifying authority. Around her, her brood mirrored her movements perfectly, every twitch and beat of their wings directed by her psychic will.
Lunaria watched from the guild hall, his expression unreadable, eyes narrowed. He could feel the abyssal and chaotic energy emanating from the brood at the center of the swarm—it rivaled even his own fused ultimate skill. Every instinct screamed that this was the apex of the Hive Queen's power, the culmination of centuries of vengeance.
> [Warning: Abyss-Chaos output exceeds city-level threat threshold.]
He drew his sword, letting his hair flow freely behind him. His ultimate skill hummed in response, instincts and energy aligning. The system's voice echoed softly:
> [Lunaria Vale, Diamond-Ranked Mission detected. Estimated swarm population: hundreds of millions. Threat level: Catastrophic.]
The hunters in the plaza, numbering in the hundreds, formed a desperate line at the edge of the advancing swarm. Spells ignited the air, arrows and bullets cut through the weaker aberrants, but for every one destroyed, ten more pressed forward. Even S-ranked hunters struggled to contain the flood. The orchestration of destruction was almost elegant—calculated, precise, terrifying. The Queen's psychic control ensured that no unit faltered, no formation broke.
The Queen's brood in the center pulsed with energy. The Abyss-Chaos children beat their wings, generating gusts that toppled buildings and sent shards of concrete slicing through the air. Every pulse was synchronized with the psychic commands of the Hive Queen. She whispered again, directing her children with perfect precision:
"Strike with precision. Protect the nucleus. Crush them if they dare to resist."
Despite the overwhelming numbers, a wave of resistance emerged from the hunters. Silver and Diamond-ranked hunters unleashed their skills, cutting swaths through the weaklings. Some of the strongest S-ranked hunters coordinated attacks with Lunaria, whose presence radiated authority and power. But the swarm adjusted instantly. Weak units were replaced seamlessly; the middle ranks shifted to fill gaps. The Abyss-Chaos units at the center emitted waves of destructive energy that shattered entire city blocks with a single sweep of their limbs.
The Queen watched, her mandibles clicking softly, as the humans attempted to negotiate by holding the line. Her psychic voice echoed through her swarm:
"No mercy. Let them feel the cost of defiance."
The ground trembled as a massive cluster of Abyss-Chaos children surged forward, targeting the guild hall. The humans fought valiantly, unleashing all their power, but the concentrated force of the Queen's central units was relentless. Buildings collapsed in cascading ruins, streets were swallowed by fissures, and panic swept through the remaining population.
Above the chaos, the Queen hovered gracefully, feeding energy into her brood, her psychic reach stretching across the battlefield. Her brood's movements were a symphony of destruction: weaklings rolling over the ruins, middle units flanking and cutting off escape routes, Abyss-Chaos units pulsing with lethal energy at the center.
Lunaria stepped forward, sensing the rhythm of the battlefield, reading the Queen's psychic patterns in real time. He whispered the name of his fused ultimate skill, letting shadow and chaos converge in deadly elegance. With each strike, he danced among the swarm, annihilating the weaklings with precision, carving pathways for the hunters to regroup, but even he could sense the growing power of the Abyss-Chaos nucleus in the Queen's center.
The city itself became a war-torn stage, each explosion, collapse, and pulse of energy orchestrated in a terrifying ballet of destruction. The hunters' orchestration clashed against the Hive Queen's, each side pushing their limits, each maneuver precise yet chaotic, elegant yet brutal. The swarm's sheer scale and the coordination of the Queen and her brood made even the Diamond-ranked hunters tremble with the weight of inevitability.
And through it all, the Hive Queen hovered, nurturing her brood while directing millions of aberrants with perfect synchronization, her eyes fixed on the hunter who had destroyed her previous kingdom. The war had begun—not just a battle for survival, but a test of supremacy, precision, and the raw destructive potential of chaos and abyss combined.