Chapter 5

In a remote forest a hooded figure could be seen jumping at high speeds, the person stopped outside a clearing that had a large tree in the middle, the tree had a ginormous hive hanging on one of the branches. The unknown person pulled his hoodie down to reveal Clay in his demon hunter suit.

Pulling out his phone he checked the file Cady sent him and looked back at the hive, “this seems like the place, plus it reeks of demonic energy,” the young man exclaimed, as he put his phone back in his pocket. The boy scanned around the tree and found a couple of large red ants with wings, “I'll have to destroy the hive from the inside so I need something that'll pack a much bigger punch than my pistol and I need something that'll handle the ones outside,” Clay thought.

Giving it a bit of thought the young demon hunter decided on what to use as he raised both his hands and closed his eyes as a burst of black smoke emitted from his palms, the smoke soon transformed into a Barrett 50 Cal with a suppressor attached to the end and a Winchester shotgun. Clay gave a toothy grin as he leaned the shotgun on the tree before he went to one knee and took aim with the sniper.

The boy took a deep steady breath as he looked through the scope, his eyes glowed red and his irises diluted, checking where his targets were he started picking them off. After 10 minutes of shooting the guards outside the 50 Cal disappeared, the boy stood up and grabbed his Winchester and vanished in a puff of smoke.

***

Inside the hive bugs were flying around coming from the core to their set destinations, in one corridor while a bug flying by the wall exploded as Clay crashed inside. Rolling to a stop he pointed his Winchester at the big and blew its head off, standing up and cracking his neck the boy pulled his mask on while his eyes turned slited, raising his shotgun in front of him the demon hunter started advancing.

A few minutes in Clay heard something approaching towards him from the front, he stopped and leaned on the wall going to one knee when the fly came into vision he wasted no time to shoot it down, going back to his feet and continuing on his way. When Clay was about to turn a corner an ant bolted in front of him and tried to cut him with its claws but the hunter was able to jump out of the way, “God damn, you almost gave me a heart attack!” Clay shouted, dodging another attack.

Another ant came from behind the demon hunter and clawed at him at the same time as the other, the boy jumped into the air and spun horizontally making the attacks pass between him and landed back to the ground. Clay shot the first bug two times before quickly turning behind him and dropping onto a knee dodging another attack as he shot the other bug in the head.

Standing up and taking a breath Clay continued, he soon stopped at an edge and looked down to see a deep drop, sighing the boy focussed on his hearing. He deduced twelve ants awaiting down below, four were standing around the entrance of the drop, four were on the farther right and the last group were in the back.

Thinking about their positions the boy made a plan as he made two grenades with the use of the black smoke before he jumped down into the darkness. When he reached the ground he shot one of the bugs on the entrance, shattering its skull before pulling both pins of the grenade and throwing it to the two other groups, taking care of the other three ants on the entrance black smoke circled Clay as the grenades went off sheltering him from harm.

As the smoke cleared up he looked around to see that all the ants were dead, the demon hunter looked for the exit and went out of it. Walking for a while more and killing ants on the way the boy stopped when he reached a large room, looking around as something crashed into Clay at high speeds sending the young man flying into a wall with a loud thud.

“Damn that'll sting in the morning,” the boy hissed as he stood up only to be flung into another wall this time crashing through it. Coughing the boy rolled out the way as what even was attacking him smashed into the spot he was in previously, turning his head he found a small, thin black ant with wings and a noticeable mark on its back, “You must be one of the Queen's vanguards,” Clay said as he stood up and holstered his shotgun on his back.

“Seems like you're a speedy little shit, I'm too slow with my shotgun so I'll have you slice you all up.” Clay said as he pulled out his wakizashi and got into a stance, the ant wasted no time and shot himself at the demon hunter with a burst of speed trying to claw him but failed as the boy simply dogged it with ease.The ant turned around and tried to attack again but this time the lad blocked with his sword.

Clay grabbed onto one of the ant's legs and ripped it off, spinning and trying to cut its head off the ant dodged and flew a few meters away, throwing the leg away Clay rushed the ant with a fury of attacks but it kept on dodging them. The ant managed to land a hit on Clay's arm, it tried to go for the boy's stomach but the hunter managed to kick away.

Looking at his bleeding arm the lad felt a jolt of energy as he grinned under his mask, “yknow, you're the first to make me bleed in a while and for that I'll have to put in a little more effort,” Clay exclaimed as a black aura surrounded him, filling the room with its mist. The young man soon evaporated into the mist.

The ant tried to fly around in circles to blow away the mist but it was no use, “this is the end of the road for you little guy” Clay's voice came from every direction, the room was soon filled with a gushing sound and a thud could be heard as the ant's head and body fell on the ground. The mist disappeared as Clay cleaned his bloody blade before sheathing it and walking away, “If a vanguard is here that means I must be getting close to the Queen,” Clay said as he walked out of the room off to face more ants and potentially more vanguards.