Setting: The Portal, 10:45 PM PST, 1km south west of the queen

  A faint chill ran down TJ’s spine as she mentally went through the plan again, a sensation she couldn’t place. Shaking the sensation away, she refocused on the plan, helping Elias secure the [Mana Bombs] to the bases of buildings flanking the street, their twisted, organic-metal frames groaning under their own weight. The bombs’ faint purple glow pulsed in rhythm with the Void’s eerie ambiance, a reminder of the chaos we were about to unleash. Once the traps were set, TJ hiked north, circling behind the Queen to join Michael and Alicia. In the dim violet-tinged light, they made eye contact, a silent agreement passing between them, and knelt down to wait, hidden against the warped skyline.

  Minutes passed as the teams 1 and 2 got into position, comms crackling with overlapping chatter. “Team 1 in place.” Dennis reported, his voice tense but steady.

  “Team 2, ready to cover” Elias responded, drones hovering. Dennis began the assault, standing and firing his [Mana Rifle] at the mantises on the edge of the swarm. The glowing rounds streaked through the darkness, punching through black-purple carapaces, dropping several bugs in a spray of black ichor. The swarm reacted immediately, trampling their fallen siblings, their screeches a deafening cacophony as they surged forward. Coogy stayed close by, and the sentry-dog opened up with more [Mana Darts] ripping into the thickening horde, growing larger and edging closer. When they reached the half-way point, Dennis called out over comms, “Smoke rounds, now! Team 1, fall back!”.

  [Mortar Bots] began chuffing rounds every three seconds, sending a cascade of grenades that exploded into thick clouds of smoke, followed by dozens of anti personnel rounds, shredding mantis bodies and stopping the charge.

  Elias was not idle during this, his drone strafing and harassing all along the edges of the approaching mass. Any mantis attempting to separate from the group were immediately set upon by the tiny death machines, ripped apart by high velocity rounds. Smoke popped just as the team was in a full sprint. As they passed Elias, Dennis slowed just enough to flash a wild grin, his [Mana Rifle] still smoking, “Hey dude, bet you $100 I kill more than your drones and you combined!!”

  “You’re on Himman Sen Nom!! Just don’t die, you meat-head!!” Elias screamed at his friend.

  Elias fired his rifle like TJ taught him. Pick his target. Breath in, squeeze the trigger. Let the kick surprise you. Over and over. God I suck at this, he thought watching shot after shot graze or miss the charging mass. Groaning at himself, he flicked new commands at his drones, deciding to amp things up. The drones spread themselves in front of the bugs, hovering a few meters over their heads.

  “Ping em,” Elias said, commanding the drones to use [Pulse Command]. A bubble of static exploded from the drone, blue and orange mana splintering into innumerable motes, paralyzing anything they touched. The charging group turned into a pile of writhing and screeching mantises. Emptying his magazine into the crowd, he ordered another sweep, watching bugs fall in droves from his drones and slightly more accurate shooting.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  ”Nice one cute-nerd!! Watch this.” Lisa giggled in his ear. “[Ice Prison] motherfuckers!!” Throwing a flat sphere of blue-white mana at the stampeding bugs. The sphere arced over the front of the group and shrieked like breaking glass as it landed. Clouds of white mana billowed around the mantises, freezing them in place, a sheen of ice covering their bodies. When the bugs charging from behind struck them, their frozen bodies shattered, shards of black stained ice spraying in their wake.

  ”Displace!!” Lisa yelled, signaling Dennis to get ready to take the next group. They ran past Dennis, Elias taunting back, “That’s 36 for me!!”

  “Bull!! Shit!! I am ordering a recount.” Dennis screamed back, emptying his rifle at the oncoming horde. Two more transitions and the two teams converged at the edge of the kill zone. The mantises were still charging, but had now started testing the edges of the paths, only to be obliterated by mines and mortars. Each mine would blast a dozen or more mantis bodies away, disrupting the flow and causing more to build up from behind. Marcus, watching through the optics on his monitor drones flying above the battlefield, ordered his bots to rain down more mines in the same area, re-seeding it for the next wave.

  A ping in his HUD notified Marcus of the moment they had waited for, the main body of the swarm had begun heading into the trap. Thousands of mantises flowed down the 700 meter path like a black-purple river. “Get ready, the full swarm is engaging.” Marcus said over the comm.

  The swarm roared down the rubble filled avenue, straight at the now combined team. The bots unleashed a relentless barrage of mortar rounds, each explosion a hammer blow from the heavens, shredding mantises in droves. Black ichor pooled on the glittering ground, the air thick with the acrid stench of their blood.

  Elias, more comfortable with firing his rifle, began to hit more than miss. His drones were much better, the mantises rarely reached them, their claws slashing at empty air. Two drones popped and sparked, gashes and dents the result of sweeping too close.

  Lisa launched spears of ice, each one tripping, trapping or freezing any mantis they struck. Frozen choke points funneled the swarm into tighter groups for the bots to obliterate. Dennis and the sentry-drone, fired mana rounds, sparking and popping against the mantis’ hide, ripping into them mercilessly.

  All of it was pebbles against a tidal wave, each second adding hundreds more targets. The only reason the team wasn’t overrun were the mines, each blast sending mantis parts flying into nearby groups, the swarm attacking itself as much as the team. Dennis and Coogy handled every mantis that came near, Coogy trapping with his incredible strength and speed, Dennis smashing with his strength and bat. “I’m blowing the buildings in five seconds, when I hit 1, get down.” Marcus ordered, immediately counting down.

  Dennis swung down onto the mantis, cracking its head open like a melon. “Coogy, back to cover!” Dennis ordered, running backwards covering the beast’s retreat. Dennis continued standing and swiping at two mantis warriors nearby when Marcus said 1. Dennis swung down, striking the exposed side of the mantis bearing down on him as the world went white, then black.

  The bombs were attached to weight bearing columns inside eight buildings along the road. Two full blocks of buildings exploded. The front of the buildings and everything within 10 meters was vaporized. The buildings themselves momentarily lifted from the ground as they were blasted skyward, crashing back down, sending tons of metal and concrete raining down on sixty thousand mantises. Dennis was thrown backward along with the mantis he just killed, crashing down and rolling into a heap, unconscious.