The air inside the hive was thick with the nauseating stench of decaying flesh and ozone, a cloying blend that clung to Ha-eun's throat like melting syrup.
She struggled to keep her composure, the overwhelming atmosphere making her feel as if she had stumbled into an alien spaceship rather than a battleground.
The floor beneath her boots felt spongy and warm, coated in a glowing slime that hissed softly as it came into contact with the blood still oozing from her wounds.
Above her, the ceiling squirmed with Voidborn sacs.
Translucent blobs pulsating like infected hearts, each containing a grotesque, half-formed humanoid figure.
Their distorted faces pressed against the membranes, mouths wide open in silent screams, eyes milky and unseeing.
Ugh, she thought, the sight of those abominations turning her stomach.
Ha-eun's breath caught in her throat as she beheld a creature that had burst from its sac, a horrifying mockery of her face stretched over a skeletal frame. It was as if she were watching her likeness come to life in a nightmare.
"Don't look at them," she cursed at it, desperation tinging her voice.
Vega, ever the pragmatist, began reloading her rifle with cartridges that glowed an eerie blue. "Focus on the exits. There's always a weak point in these damned hives."
"Easy for you to say," Ha-eun muttered, pressing a hand to her thigh where the wound throbbed painfully.
"They're wearing my face! How am I supposed to calm down?"
Her blood, dark and glistening, only hastened the spread of infection, her shoulder taking on an unusual pallor as she felt herself transforming into something monstrous.
In a moment of practicality, she ripped a strip from her clothing to cover the wound, a temporary fix for her agony. Yet, the pain in her back from the Voidborn's attack persisted, a constant reminder of her perilous state.
She cast a proper glance at Vega, taking in the girl's almost ethereal appearance after enduring such life-and-death situations.
Vega looked to be nearly thirteen, draped in a ragged hood, wielding an antique rifle from 1836. Her long hair contrasted sharply with her unnaturally pale skin, as if someone had painted her as a cruel joke. One of her eyes sparkled like a small golden sun, illuminating her otherwise cold gaze.
"Get used to it." The Architect loves its little jokes,"
Vega replied, her golden eyes flicking toward Ha-eun, assessing her.
"That was such a funny joke that my head nearly flew off just a minute ago," Ha-eun muttered, sarcasm lacing her words.
Suddenly, a sac ruptured with a wet pop, and another larva fell to the floor, its limbs twitching uncontrollably.
The creature turned its head, jaw distorting as it emitted a guttural screech that echoed throughout the chamber.
Instinct took over as Ha-eun reacted, adrenaline coursing through her veins.
The larva lunged, its nails slashing through the air where she had just stood. She rolled, her infected arm swinging the knife she gripped tightly, aiming for the creature.
The knife found its mark, splitting the creature's torso open and sending a spray of acidic saliva that melted her jacket.
"Shit, now I have no more jacket!" she cursed, throwing her ruined clothes aside.
"Behind you!" Vega barked, urgency in her tone.
Ha-eun spun around to see two more larvae skittering across the ceiling, their movements erratic and insect-like.
Vega fired her rifle, the rounds exploding into crackling nets of blue energy that pinned the creatures to the wall. They thrashed and hissed as the nets seared through their flesh.
"Aim for the cores!" Vega tossed Ha-eun a pistol, the grip warm and vibrating.
"They're weaker than the adults!"
Ha-eun caught it, her resolve hardening.
She fired at a larva's chest, the shot piercing through its core in a burst of violet sparks. The creature collapsed, twitching, but more swarmed toward them.
The larvae worked in a relentless cycle, driving Ha-eun and Vega closer to the hive's pulsing center. One of them spat a glob of acid, grazing Ha-eun's shoulder and melting through both fabric and flesh.
She bit her lip to suppress a scream.
"Vega! We're cornered!" she warned, panic rising in her voice.
"Then un-corner us!" Vega commanded, slamming a cartridge into the floor.
The blast ripped a hole in the hive's skin, cold void air rushing in, carrying the stench of rot and ozone.
"Go! Now get inside!" Vega urged, hurrying after Ha-eun.
They fled through the hive's twisting pathways, the walls vibrating as the Architect's rage resonated through the structure.
"Where are we going?" Ha-eun panted, trying to match Vega's pace.
"The hive core. That's where it creates the Voidborns," Vega replied, glancing back at Ha-eun's infected shoulder, worry etched across her features.
Ha-eun's infected arm trembled, the affliction spreading faster than she had anticipated;
Her left shoulder was now half-covered in dark infection. Each step sent jolts of pain radiating up her leg, her body protesting against the strain.
How much longer can I last? she thought, the throbbing pain threatening to overwhelm her.
Vega looked back, her mutations creeping across her neck, her golden eyes dimming.
"Keep up, kid. If you die here, I'm not carrying your corpse."
"Great," Ha-eun hissed, firing blindly at the larvae that broke through their formation.
They burst into a cavernous chamber, its ceiling lost in shadow.
Below them stretched a pit of wriggling larvae, their collective screeches merging into an incessant buzz. At the center loomed the hive core, a pulsating orb of flesh and light, its roots intertwining with the hive itself.
"The hive's heart," Vega said, her voice grim. "Destroy it, and this whole place goes down."
"You first," Ha-eun muttered, eyeing the larvae crawling up the walls with trepidation.
Vega offered a tinny smirk. "Together."
"Yeah, together," Ha-eun replied, though uncertainty gnawed at her.
She wrestled with her doubts but pushed them aside, focusing on the immediate threat as they fought their way toward the hive core.
The larvae's attacks grew more frenzied, and Ha-eun's pistol overheated, its barrel melting into uselessness.
She discarded it, while Vega's rifle seemed to be running empty. In a moment of desperation, she swung it like a club, crushing skulls with brutal efficiency.
As they neared the hive core, its light became blinding. Ha-eun felt her blood boil, the hive's energy resonating within her, merging with her own.
"Now!" Vega shouted, giving Ha-eun a push that sent her barreling toward the hive's core.
As her arm plunged in, agony erupted like a white-hot fire, searing through her nerves and distorting her vision.
The hive let out a thunderous boom, and in an instant, the larvae within turned to ash.
"Move!"
Vega yanked her back just in time as the chamber began to collapse, the hive crumbling around them like a sandcastle under a rising tide.
They stumbled into the open air, the remnants of the hive disintegrating behind them in a cloud of dust and despair.
Ha-eun hit the ground, her infected arm smoking and charred. Vega crouched beside her, breaths coming in ragged gasps.
"Not bad," she said, tossing Ha-eun a canteen filled with a sticky, glowing fluid.
"What is this?" Ha-eun asked, eyeing the strange concoction suspiciously.
"Drink it. It'll stabilize the mutations," Vega urged.
Ha-eun took a swig, the liquid burning down her throat like a mix of soda and whiskey.
"What now?"
Vega pointed ahead, her expression steely.
The void in front of them rippled ominously, peeling back to reveal the true form of the Architect.
It looked like some twisted machine, but it pulsed with a life of its own, vibrating through the ground and forcing Ha-eun to stand her ground.
"YOU THINK THIS IS A VICTORY?" the Architect's voice boomed, shattering the eerie silence.
"YOU ARE A DISEASE. AND DISEASE MUST BE BURNED."
The very fabric of the void trembled.
From the chaos, a Revenant Prime emerged.
A titan crafted from the remnants of a thousand fallen Voidborn, its crown forged from an obsidian shard plucked right from the hive's core.
Ha-eun staggered to her feet, her body quaking but her spirit unbroken.
"Then let's start a f*cking wildfire," she declared, ready to fight back against the darkness.
And just like that, the battle wasn't over; it was just beginning.