?


    Ra had seen the monsters herself but the horror they embodied was impossible to describe with words.


    ording to her, the things that would attack the base had the appearance of ants, except for the fact that each of them was almost two meters tall. Their bodies were covered in a jet-ck carapace that seemed to absorb the light around them, creating the illusion of a thin veil of ck smoke surrounding them. Their six limbs were like long sharp spikes stabbing into the ground with such ferocity that they left holes behind as they advanced, but nothing was more frightening than the mandibles attached to their heads, with a length of more than a meter and jagged ends that threatened to rip apart anything that came close.


    The antennas over their heads moved frantically as if searching for something. Many would point in the humans'' direction only for the monster to let out a pain inducing screech and elerate its advance.


    Seeing the monstrosities was like seeing death itself. What''s worse was that there were hundreds of them. Maybe even thousands. The swarm seemed like it could trample the human survivors with ease and that crushed all the resolve the bravest of them might have had.


    "Venti," Sam spoke into hismunicator. "Put up a barrier around those things."


    [Understood.]


    Four invisible walls shimmered into existence encasing the swarm of giant insects. Sam patiently waited for the moment they crush into them, curious about what kind of reaction they will have, however the first in line began to slow down, and so did the ones behind them. After a few seconds, the entire swarm halted their advance. Sam realized that they sensed the barrier in that instant, however nothing could''ve prepared him for what would happen next.


    The monsters screeched once more sending chills down everyone''s spines. Once the horrible sound faded, orange sparks of light began to ignite over the creatures'' heads. The sparks soon took shape, turning into small squares before morphing into strange symbols only a few in the crowd ever saw.


    "It can''t be…" Ichigo murmured in a low voice.


    "Ra said nothing about this…"


    Runes appeared above the monsters forming one halo after the others. They were all identical, each one having six to seven symbols. Sam realized that he hadn''t seen any of those formations before, and just when he began to wonder what effect they might have the giant ants began moving again.


    The orange runes began spinning and at the same time a white glow covered the monsters'' front legs and mandibles. The first line soon reached the invisible wall of Venti''s barrier and when they did they all mmed into it, standing up on their hind legs and violently striking with the white covered mandibles and legs.


    For a moment nothing seemed to happen, but Sam didn''t allow himself to rx. Soon enough his fears came to life as strange cracks began to appear through the air as if a clear ss wall was slowly crumbling with each strike from the swarm.


    As if to confirm his suspicion, the wall suddenly shattered and the pieces began falling to the ground. The barrier, made from a Valkyrie''s force field, was shattered into hundreds of pieces as if it was nothing but a thinyer of ss.


    "Venti, put another one." He gave another order. "Juni, prepare your Proton Cannon."


    [[Understood]] the two Valkyries replied in unison.


    Sam was about to turn to David with a request. He wanted him to inform the leaders of the human forces to retreat, something he should''ve done much sooner. Not only is the enemy capable of using runes, but they''re also able to break through barriers as if they were nothing. That fact alone made them a danger to Valkyries. Humans couldn''t hope to survive an encounter with those monsters.


    "No…" Nino said, gazing at the army of giant ants. "This won''t work…"


    By the time Sam noticed it, the Japanese doll was already on the move. Her halo came into existence and a red spear formed in her hand. She teleported across to the battlefield, reaching the monsters before Venti created the second barrier.


    "Nino! What are you doing!!?" Sam shouted.


    [I don''t know why, but… I don''t think energy sts will work on those things…] She replied in a calm voice.


    "What do you mean they won-"


    Nino went on the move before he could finish his question. She spun her spear around then held it firmly in her hands. Her body began to glow with the light blue color of the force field at its maximum output, but then the faint aura began to spread to her weapon as well.


    One of the monsters was already upon her, raising its glowing sharp arms intending on skewering her alive. Nino was unbothered by its horrifying appearance as the bloodlust that seemed to be flooding from it and the rest of its kind. With a graceful motion, her spear danced around her small frame, its de severing the ant''s arms before slicing its head off and bisecting the rest of its body.


    Cut into half a dozen pieces, the giant ant disappeared in a puff of smoke. Before anyone could understand what was happening the young Valkyrie went on to kill another ant, then another, then another. She was moving through the swarm with such ease, her spear causing clouds of ck smoke to appear with each ark it drew.


    It took Sam a moment to understand what was going on, but when he did he quickly gave themand to the rest of the Valkyries guarding all of the four gates.


    "Everyone listen very well! Energy sts are ineffective against the ck monsters!" He spoke into hismunicator. "You have to use melee weapons along with a fully charged force field! That''s the only way to deal with giant ants!"


    Sam wasn''t sure why he decided that there was no other solution to their ant problem, however something told him that he should just trust the judgment of the girl who didn''t hesitate to jump into the fray.