'By the dead gods! I'm in hell!'
Sam ducked, letting the giant claw pass over him. Pushing himself off the ground, he rushed toward the pincer and slid under it, emerging from the other side.
But on the other side, another pincer was already waiting for him, its sharp legs aimed at him.
Before it could strike, though, an ethereal spear flashed. Two of its legs cracked apart, the imbalance alone forcing the pincer to topple down. The previous pincer turned behind, its claws opened wide apart. But by then, Sam was already gone.
As he ran past another pincer, Conrad appeared beside him. He seemed tired, not physically, but mentally.
His core ability seemed far more taxing now than they had thought. His gaze was still as sharp as ever, sharper even. His movements, meanwhile, were those of a seasoned veteran. It was enough to tell anyone that he was a few years older than the rest of them.
But deep below that facade, he knew that Conrad was barely keeping it together.
After all, both their abilities needed them to maintain their focus.
Buckling his knees, he jumped above another pincer's body. The beast itself, on the other hand, didn't seem to like its prey standing over it, at least not when he was still alive.
Its claw rushed toward him like a hungry crocodile, its maw ready to mince him till there was nothing left.
'Crap—'
Right as it was just a few inches away, the claw stopped, or rather, the pincer ceased all movements. Sam stared at the trembling claw, his eyes wide with horror.
"What are you doing, Sam?! Keep moving!"
Dean pushed him forward in a gruff tone. The sword in his hand, dripping with pincer innards. His entire body was covered in all sorts of dirt and cracked chitin, clinging to him with the sticky innards of the several pincers he had slain on their way here.
The sword in his hand, meanwhile, had a faint crimson glow below all the muddy hue.
Sam gulped and nodded before catching up with Conrad again.
Their goal was simple—to run as fast as possible to the other side of the nest.
Of course, the residents of the nest weren't obligated to let them pass through so easily. One after another, towering pincers would block their path. Their colossal claws were enough to scare him into running in the opposite direction.
The raw cacophony of the pincers crashing into each other, the sound of their mechanical legs, the clicking of their horrific claws, and god knew what else made him feel like he was being tortured.
On the other side of the battlefield, Lian was stuck in a free-for-all against the entirety of the pincer. The chaos was palpable. He was bloodied all over, several scars marring his body. Yet, there was a gleeful grin plastered on his face as he crushed one pincer after another. Unlike his usual calm demeanor, this was a completely new side to him.
Despite being on the other side of the nest, the sheer density of the rabid beasts was domineering. However, Lian didn't seem to mind the company at all.
'... Whatever happened to saving energy?'
All the while, he maintained the enchantment he had bestowed on his brother's sword, letting him cut through the abomination's resilient chitin like apples. And his brother, being the warmongering knucklehead he was, jumped on every pincer that crossed their paths instead of running past it.
"Damn it! I told him to take it easy. Why does he have to run off to his death every single time?!"
Conrad looked at the approaching pincer with a weary gaze. But before it could come near them, Dean flashed past them and pierced its eyes with his sword, pushing it as deep as he could.
Pulling it out in a single motion, he darted off toward the next pincer that posed a threat.
"Well, at least we can catch our breath in the meantime…"
Conrad's dry voice was concerning, but Sam already had his hands full.
But he was certain that the pressure on Conrad's mind was far greater than he could even imagine.
At its core, Conrad's ability was something about mapping the battlefield. With each step he took, the area before him was ingrained in his mind like a virtual map. But that was not all, as every entity in that area was also registered in that virtual map, allowing him to dodge a pincer's leg without even looking at it.
His ability wasn't as omniscient as it sounded, though, at least not here, right now. With the countless pincers spread across the entire nest, his senses were instinctively logging them inside his head.
It was a surprise that his brain hadn't burst apart by now, not that he would like to see that happen.
'Heck… focus, Sam, focus. This is no time to be worrying about Conrad when my own—'
Before he could complete the thought, a sole pincer appeared out of nowhere.
It swung its giant claw in a circular motion. Sam tilted his body ever so slightly, escaping the blow by an inch. Unfortunately, Conrad couldn't react in time. He had seen the attack coming, yet couldn't move his body in time.
Dean was further ahead, unable to help them even if he could. Sam was there, but he wasn't fast enough to react.
Clang!
The claw crashed into something. No… something crashed into the claw instead, throwing it back. The emerald chitin reverberated, making the enormous pincer lose its balance for a brief moment.
It was as if time itself had slowed down, letting Sam witness what was happening.
Just as the pincer was about to regain his standing, Conrad twisted his torso, thrusting the tip of his spear right between its bead-like eyes. The spear pierced the chitin like butter, pushing itself deeper still.
The pincer froze and then fell, crushing its feet under its own body weight.
Panting aggressively, Conrad lowered his head. There, a few meters away from him, a pincer's leg was lodged in the ground. Green fluid oozed out of the countless cracks all over it.
Both of them turned to where Lian was supposed to be. He was already someplace else, dodging a pincer while getting grazed by another's claw. They didn't know how, but Lian had somehow managed to save them while being surrounded by dozens of pincers who were hell-bent on devouring him alive.
Conrad gasped in disbelief.
"And here I was… thinking he's a rookie."
Sam clenched his slack jaw, coming back to his senses. It had all happened so fast that he was still unable to register everything that had just happened.
They didn't have the luxury of waiting, though. The pincers nearest to them had already noticed their presence, crawling their way at an unimaginable speed.
Without wasting another second, the two of them took off again, tracing Dean by following the carcasses he left in his wake.
The pincers fully occupied Lian, while Evelin and Celia were out there somewhere, engaged in a heated battle against the Queen.
Dean was progressing decisively, having already covered a long distance since they had entered the nest.
But the clock was ticking. Lian wasn't going to last forever, and there was no telling whether Evelin would be able to succeed or not.
They needed to hurry. Otherwise, Sam was unsure of his own safety by the end of it.