The people outside were amazed and Commander Apex looked at Kael. "I don’t know an Initiate can control earth technique like that."

"If you watch very well, Commander, you’ll see that the spikes are not thick. They are thin, and some even broke off; that’s reasonable for his level."

"But?" The Commander asked.

"I think his core is already ready to advance, he just needs more essence to refine the outside and then a trigger. It’ll take a few months still."

The Commander stroked his chin, then studied the Crypt Master. Will he turn those kids into Masters? "In just eight months? Impressive. But those are just footworkers of the nest."

Inside, Catena finally took his first look at the monsters; they were short, the same height as him, with thin bony legs and the head of an insect with two long claws.

"Oh...." he controlled the stones and returned the spikes, feeling the rush of essence settle on him. He picked his way among the monsters’ corpses and made his way deeper. "What do I know about insect monsters? They form a colony with the queen, boss at the center, and...."

He stopped walking as he felt a tiny vibration from the ground. "Ah! More monsters to fight."

He kept walking, a formation held tight in his mind and his essence ready. But above all, he forged his legs with essence and got ready.

Then he saw them. These new monsters are not like the previous workers. They have thicker bodies, and their hands are seen with sharp, jagged edges.

There were up to fifteen of them, and Catena knew if they rushed him, then it was over. "I’ll have to use some of my essence again." He put his hand on the wall and powered his formation; he poured essence into it, and then he manipulated the stones.

He made added pillars in the tunnel in front of him. "This will make the passage tight enough that I should be able to handle them one by one. Alright then, let’s see what you have for me, monsters!"

Outside Azaroth watched with a small amazed smile, thinking. ’So Catena wants to fight this in a smart way, good. He’s not rushing things.’

He walked forward, and just as the first monster was about to force its way inside, Catena jumped forward and slammed his two weapons on the monster’s head.

The Kaido soldier flinched back as its chest cracked and leaked yellow blood. The monster fell into the others, and they hissed at each other as another took its place in the narrow gap. Catena felt the essence of the dead monster, and he couldn’t help but smile. "Here I go!"

That was how he took care of them by eliminating them one after the other until the ground was covered in body parts and soaked with yellow blood.

He was breathing a bit hard when he was done, but with the essence so thick in the air from all the dead monsters, he did one thing that seemed sensible. Catena sat down and did a bit of meditation by taking in the essence and adding it to his core.

He was still doing this when he felt something...a group of something came his way at incredible speed. He opened his eyes as his body went on alert mode.

Bam! He wasn’t fast enough and a kick to the chest sent him flying back. He slammed into the wall and bounced back but he quickly regained himself and covered himself with essence.

Pain made his eyes focus on his enemies sharply, there were three of them. Monsters just like insects, but unlike the others, they were lanky and had transparent wings on their backs that lifted them from the ground.

They had the body that allowed for mobility and their strength was far above that of those he’d been fighting since. "This is going to be tough." His chest was still stinging from that kick.

And since he didn’t make the tunnel smaller in this part it meant the three of them would have space to move around as they liked. As if on cue, the monsters took flight and shot toward him like released arrows.

Catena paused, then he covered his two hands with essence and swung his two chains at the same time; with a sharp whirring sound, the two balls bashed the air with a silver streak and created a wall of moving shields around him as he continued to swing faster.

Catena laughed. "How will you be able to get to me? We will both stay here until one of us tires! Yes, I’m taking a defensive position!"

Outside, Commander Apex shook his head. "Taking a defensive position like that? That’s a bad idea for the elite Kaido soldiers; their job is to eliminate threats against their queen. They work independently, and there are only three of them. Huh?"

Apex noticed Azaroth looking at him and he explained. "The three elite soldiers have an ability in their eyes; they can see in patterns, they can trace movements with their eyes at a very rapid pace."

Azaroth didn’t know that, and he wondered what would happen now; how would Catena react to this? 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Catena was getting a bit tired from swinging his chains around; it was a defensive technique that was meant only to be used for a while, not something to use continuously.

The three monsters buzzed around the shield and watched him without making any move, they focused entirely on him. But once they got him, they made their move.

"Huh?" Catena thought when he suddenly saw one of the monsters in front of him inside the shield; the monster brought down its clawed hand with brutal swiftness.

What saved Catena was that since he’d already covered his hands with essence he was able to take the hit by crossing his hands in front of him.

The force drove him back, and he dropped the shield, the two chains tangling; just then, the three monsters jumped him together!