We reach the area with flooring that is impossible to destroy, and most of the important people are already around there. There are even a dozen lynthari wearing the same black armor, each of them around level 200. Unlike most of the lynthari we met until now, they are calm and serious.

“How is it, Myrra?” I catch her to the side.

“Oh, this? This is nothing. Even if a hundred times more ants attacked, we would be fine, feral one, and soon all of them will be dealt with. We just don’t know what the intention was. Whatever it is, this means war.” Myrra is also wearing beautiful armor that I immediately identify as epic equipment, most likely mid-grade.

It's multiple pieces of armor that seem to be tailored for her, and she must have been wearing it under her clothes even as we went against the Living Tree.

“And the tree?” I ask.

“Soon, we will send scouts there. They will use arrays all around the old capital and some that are even further, and try to find out where it is. Meanwhile, we did send more to all sides from Virelia, in case the calamity heads here.”

Her tail twitches, and even while talking to me, she listens to other people and lynthari talking a bit further from us, “I will be leading our enforcers,” she gestures at the group of twelve lynthari warriors, all in black armor, “Obelia, Isola will be coming too, and even other two of the five guilds will send some elites while we keep some powers here. You are coming too?”

“Yes, me, Tess, and Lily.”

“I see, it's good to have a healer with us. Thalen is too important, so he will stay in the city.”

“Nathaniel Gwyn, can I have a moment of your time?” I hear a soft voice next to me and when I look, the matriarch stands there.

No one else seems to be able to see her, no matter if lynthari or human.

Out of nowhere expression on Myrra´s face changes and she leaves in the middle of the sentence to talk to other humans, the same other lynthari that unknowingly create a circle with me and the matriarch in the middle, yet no one seems to see us or realize it.

“You knew why the ants were coming to Virela,” I immediately throw at her.

There is no smile on her face, but her canines show, “Why do you think so?”

“You are manipulating people and lynthari in the city. You hid all mentions about the possibility of mind manipulation; that's why we didn't find anything about it,” they are all suspicions I came to over weeks and months, “And that's why you kept watching us ever since we came. You and the ants both, for some reason, want people with abilities similar to yours.”

“You really are fun,” she smiles, and I don't even notice how but she stands in front of me, her nails against my neck, moving over it.

A smile climbs onto her face, “The Colony has [Hive Mind] while my skill is [Kin Control],” she tilts her head and creates another scratch on my neck, “They don't enter my territory, and I don't poke theirs. But you and your guild ruined it. That black-haired woman with green eyes seems to have a really irresistible skill. I wanted to slowly examine it, but I underestimated how much the Colony wants it."

I reach to grab her hand, but my hand passes through the air, and she stands a bit further away from me.

“You know, even though me and the Colony have such skills that give us immense powers, we live in constant worry that someone with a stronger one comes and takes over the network we’ve built and destroys everyone connected to it,” she says.

The ants never were after me; they sensed the use of Sophie’s [Manipulation], the Twins’ [Connection], and Isabella’s [Empathy], all of them mind skills and similar to theirs. They most likely went after Biscuit, and I still remember the huge number of ant corpses around him. Yet, he didn't seem to be their priority, and neither did Isabella.

Not killing them means that they want to use them somehow, probably to deal with the Matriarch or have an advantage over her or straight up evolve [Hive Mind] to take over. The Matriarch probably wanted to do the same; she just didn't expect the ants to get there so secretly without her noticing.

“You want to either kill or get back my group members,” I say.

“Yes, leaving them with the Colony is too dangerous. But can you guess why don't mind telling you all of it?”

“You are Eris, aren’t you?”

The matriarch's smile broadens, her sharp canines coming into view.

“As expected from my underling,” Eris, a redheaded lynthari child, materializes from the rift. She waves and smiles at me and then takes a step towards the Matriarch.

When they touch, a wave of mana covers their bodies, and the figure of the Matriarch grows while Eris disappears, both replaced by a lynthari who isn’t as short as the Matriarch but even a bit taller than Myrra. She has the same red hair as the Matriarch and Eris and, instead of one tail, there are two fox-like ones.

“You did it just for fun, didn't you?” I ask.

“Yes,” the voice now is a bit different from either of them, a skill that allowed the Matriarch to split her body into two, “You might not believe it, but I really like humans. That’s why I made all these rules and that’s why other lynthari like to observe you as well, affected by my personality.”If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

She is now much stronger than before. Her mana is wild and dangerous, her body bears tremendous strength, and each of her movements feels like those of an apex predator.

“Underling,” she says, a word sounding weird when said by her, “I kept this,” she shows me a toy I bought for her at the auction. “You still somewhat irritate me, but you are fun and nice in a weird way; you remind me of someone. It’s silly, I know, but I like you treating me like a kid; it made me remember times when I was young."

Her eyes cloud for a moment, a memory flashing behind, "The times when nothing mattered, and I could just explore the world, laugh, and have fun without any responsibilities. I miss that.”

She touches my shoulder, “Go and save your friends, and by doing that stop the Colony from evolving." Taking two steps back she looks at me questioningly.

“For me to do that, you will need to cancel your weird field... boss,” I tell her.

A look of shock is quickly replaced by a bright, joyful smile on her face, “Make me proud, my dear underling,” the field that made others unaware of her crumbles, and she says one more word, unfitting her majestic appearance, “nya.”

Obelia leads, closely followed by Isola and a few more elites from the big guilds. A bit further, Myrra runs with twelve enforcers, and behind them, our small group of three.

We are heading towards the old mines and the array that leads to the heart of the colony and the lab where the Calamity was created to serve as a bioweapon during the war.

This floor is called Waning Realm, meaning a realm that used to be powerful but now is just a shadow of its glorious self; a realm defeated by invaders of lynthari, and in the war, both sides suffered terrible losses. Dead Absolutes and Champions, destroyed cities. Terrible Calamities used for the war, now all weakened in this waning world.

No matter how we look at it, the lynthari are invaders here, yet can they even blame the current generation that has no idea about that, with only Eris, the Matriarch, knowing about it?

It's for other people to deal with. For me, it doesn’t matter, and I'm not a person to decide. And to be honest, I don’t care. Right now, I just want my group members back, to fulfill the promise I gave to Izzy.

It doesn’t take much longer, and we reach the mines and, moving as quickly as possible, we reach the door and then the room with the array.

Obelia and a few of her guild members quickly get to activate it, and I observe our group. A hundred or so lynthari and people. One of the strongest from Virelia, and even the array has to be changed a bit to allow transporting us all, and that's what they are doing.

A few lynthari work with Obelia and are using some items that even Obelia looks at with surprise.

I watch them work and wonder if that will be enough. Even though this is probably what Eris wanted to do ever since we found the array and where it leads. A quick and deadly force of elites sent to deal with the core of the Colony. A queen, a strong ant that leads them all. Whatever it is.

There must be someone like Eris, an ant that similarly controls the Colony through [Hive Mind]. An ant that got terrified by Sophie’s [Manipulation], and now wants to use it to strengthen itself.

I turn to Tess, “Try to calm down; your mana is seeping out.”

The expression she has is proof of her worry, and impatience. I'm sure she is constantly checking the number of members of our group in the Community, hoping it doesn’t go down.

Instead of answering me, she only nods and clenches her teeth, and I can see her mana slowly calming down.

So, I check the gear I have with me. My newest epic weapon, the Tree Obliterator 9000, may not be very useful there, since it's designed to be effective against a single, larger target, and will take some time to activate. I also have a few mana batteries, the one I got from the Arcane Archer included, and an upper-grade rare armor I got from the auction. An orb filled with thermal energy floats near me, and I continue to fill it with more. My mana is full; my reservoir is full.

Tess's [Stormcrown] is also floating over her head, and she keeps storing Primordial lightning inside it. She has two epic items on her, the Abyssal Anchor and the spear we just bought not long ago.

Lily also has an epic bow with her, the one we got from the Arcane Archer, and multiple pieces of mid or upper-grade rare equipment.

As I try to move Lily reaches me and puts her hand on mine, “Nathaniel,” she says and she puts the crown into my hand. The one we got from the 3rd floor.

Crown of Eternal Vigilance (Epic): This finely crafted crown used to be seamlessly linked to the Saint, but now bears an imperfect connection to a novice healer, enabling the wearer to receive healing powers from them.

After examining it I look at her. “Just in case,” she says, her eyes determined.

“Miss Myrra, we are ready,” Obelia stands up from the array and, taking a few steps, she hands an item used to activate it to Myrra. “They might detect us the moment we pass through, so we should immediately shield ourselves so they can’t do it too accurately.”

“Obelia, do you know why we didn’t deal with the Colony as of now?” Myrra asks instead, putting the item away and fixing her armor.

Twelve lynthari elites, the enforcers, surround her, doing the same, and dozens of skills activate, strengthening their bodies, making their mana flow.

Every one of them is much more dangerous than Elydor, either at or way over Isola's level of strength, not only in pure level, but just sheer amount of experience and control over their skills.

After Obelia shakes her head, Myrra continues, “The Colony and even their leader aren't that strong or high-leveled. Their advantage is the insane numbers and cooperation they have through [Hive Mind]. Not even once were we able to push deep into their territory to be able to deal with their leadership, but now? We will get to the heart of their territory, kill their leader while preventing them from evolving, and then we will use this,” she shows us a small sphere of brilliant blue light.

She continues, “This is a return sphere made by the Matriarch herself. It's only one way and it will create a rift to allow us to the place where the sphere was created, to Virelia.”

Myrra puts the sphere under her armor, “We have one hour before the sphere dissipates under the spatial defenses the Colony did set up, so keep that in mind.”

Enforcers step into the circle that is now increased in size, all sorts of effects sizzling on their skin, tails moving calmly, and ears perked up. Tall with great equipment that is just a step away from epic, they look imposing.

“One hour should be enough to have some fun,” Isola also steps inside the circle, seemingly not imposed by the lynthari. On her skin, tattoo-like circuits appear and start shining.

“Let's not waste more time,” I also step in, closely followed by Tess and Lily.

Following suit, the rest of our group gets in, and Myrra’s eyes meet mine.

Then the array activates, and with the feeling of falling, the scenery around us changes.