Even if this raid yielded nothing but fresh meat to roast over open flame, the silver-skinned Moblin would consider it a rousing success.

He licked along his snout, ichor still dripping from his protruding fangs from his latest kill; a whimpering, shrill little thing that squirmed satisfyingly as he crunched down on its tough carapace. There were many others scurrying about, of all shapes and sizes, and he hoped they'd all be as tasty.

A trio of Bokoblins under his command jeered as they cornered two of the bugs against the wreckage of what must've been one of their homes, the rain plinking off of the debris. The cornered bugs were both small. One was just as round as the one he'd devoured, and was holding a pickaxe. They were hiding terrified behind the tiniest bug he'd seen yet, small enough to fit between his blunted claws, glistening eyes as big as hydromelons and a stick barely even worthy to be called kindling in hand.

The leader of the Bokoblins looked back at him, barely contained bloodlust held back to pay him his dues. The Moblin barked in agreement; he had just had his fill, so he allowed them the pleasure.

The Bokoblins pounced, and the Moblin was sprayed with blood. The Bokoblin's blood, that was.

The Moblin looked on in shock as the tiny bug moved, form blurring between the trio of Boboblins like a whirlwind of death. A simple sharpened stick off of the ground was enough to reduce the Bokoblins to corpses within seconds, their hides punctured with dozens of new holes.

The bug looked down at the monsters they had just slain with cool disinterest, before they turned their gaze towards the Moblin. With a flourish of their claw, the stick spun rapidly in the air, shedding the blood that coated it in a violent arc. Behind them, the other bug continued to shudder.

The Moblin overcame his shock and roared, spittle, blood, and rainwater flying from his mouth as he raised his club. He was a silver, a veteran of Ganon's army, blessed by the King of Evil himself! He would not fall to an insignificant–

Sly rode the mountain of dead flesh down as the monster collapsed, his stick embedded deep inside of its eye socket. He decided to leave it there rather than retrieve it, the end would be horribly splintered by now.

Instead, Sly turned to the young miner that he had been shielding and said "Miss Myla, are you alright?"

The miner shook in place, her trembling not abating even with the death of the monsters threatening her.

"O-oh, yes. Yes! T-thank you."

Sly buzzed in response, saying, "Then get to cover. Stay inside. This is no place for young maidens who cannot fight."

Myla mumbled her thanks and scrambled off towards an intact house, while Sly spotted another pair of monsters, these ones dragging a geo chest between them. He picked up a new stick from the debris that littered the muddy ground and dashed forwards.

A pity his shop was halfway across town; if he'd had his nail, this would've been much easier. Ah well, the monsters were unskilled brutes anyways. They weren't worthy of his nail.

The Great Nailsage dove forwards with a battlecry.

. . .

"Ogrim! There you are! Retreat to the village center, rally the defenders, we need to establish a defensive line!" shouted Hornet. The elderly Dung Beetle complied, moving away from the black giant he had just killed and bellowing Hornet's order to all in range. Hornet didn't wait around to help; she trusted the old knight to do his best to defend Dirtmouth, and there were more places that she was needed.

She ran with desperate speed towards the streets where the fighting was fiercest, and was soon engaged with a pair of horned monsters. Light illuminated Dirtmouth as fire split the sky open, a booming roll of noise drowned out everything else. Only for a moment though, as the sounds of battle, death, and rain soon returned.

"If you can hear me, retreat! Abandon your houses, make your way back towards the center of the village, we'll hold them there! Pass the message on!" Hornet cried out as she dueled with the monsters, her needle taking one of their arms. Hornet's cry was picked up by several other bugs, former sentries by the looks of them, and she drove her needle through the thorax of one of the monsters.

The other one bellowed in rage, and Hornet dodged a heavy blow from its club, her needle remaining stuck in the corpse's thorax. She recovered quickly though, and jumped forwards, wrapping a line of silk around her claws and looping it around the beast's neck several times. It tried to swat at her, but she jumped off of it, using the full force of her weight to pull down.

The monster's head snapped audibly, and it slid to the ground with a wet gurgle.

Hornet left the silk around the monster's neck and dashed towards her needle, wrenching it out of the dead beast. She bounded up on top of a house and took a brief moment to examine the battlefield.

The rain made it difficult to see, but it looked like a fifth of Dirtmouth had fallen to the invaders. The element of surprise had allowed the beasts to push deeper inward than was acceptable. Hornet clacked her pedipalps in anger, then straightened up as she spotted another black giant in the distance, this one with a brown stalk in claw that it used to smash a house apart with impunity.

Hornet hissed and leapt off of the house, jumping from one rooftop to another as she made her way towards the giant. The weakness was the eye, according to Cornifer and Iselda. She could work with that.

She threw her needle forwards with a cry, but the beast shifted at the last moment and her needle slammed into its neck instead of its eye. It bellowed in anger and pain, and Hornet wrenched her needle back to her, catching it by the rain-soaked handle with ease. The beast slammed a claw over its eye, protecting its weak-spot, and it began to shamble towards her.

"Alright, new plan." she muttered to herself, and Hornet withdrew three spikeballs from the pouch under her cloak. She scattered them on the ground and they burst open just in time for the black giant to step on them. It roared in pain once again and tumbled to the ground, claws moving away from its eye to the new wound it had suffered.

Hornet didn't give it the chance to recover. She ran forwards and drove her needle into its eye until only the handle remained. The beast spasmed and moaned as it died, and she wrenched it out, the blade coated in gore that was washed off by the rain.

She leapt atop the giant and raised her needle.

"Retreat and report to Ogrim! We'll hold them at the village center! Spread the word!"

. . .

The Grimmchild cackled as he lit up yet another of the strange floating not-bugs. Their long robes were damp with water, but the red flame he spat was no mortal blaze. They tried to strike at him with yellow energy that hissed and crackled, but the Grimmchild danced out of the way, the ancestral memory of combat instilled into him by his very nature.

"Ash and fire, burn and blacken, stoke the pyre, blaze with passion. Burn and writhe and be devoured, dance and die under my power." The song of the Nightmare Heart thrummed through the Grimmchild's mind as he flew through the air, searching for his next target.

Quirrel, meanwhile, took a moment to catch his breath underneath an intact awning. While he wasn't an old bug persay, he was getting on in years, and for every monster that he killed another popped up immediately after. The mud and rain made moving on the ground a slog, and he was beginning to tire.

A crashing sound drew Quirrel's attention, and he pushed himself forwards to investigate.

Thankfully, this wasn't yet another monster; no, this was a bug arriving to help, one that Quirrel had never seen before. A massive bug; though not as large as the Hollow Knight, they beat the vessel in sheer size, their carapace red and covered by a fluffy cloak. Their greatnail was massive as well, as large as Quirrel, and it pulped monsters as the bug spun in place rapidly.

"Gyasoooo!"

The call echoed throughout Dirtmouth, and Quirrel recognized it as the traditional battlecry of the Nailmasters. How interesting.

Quirrel saw one of the floating monsters pointing its yellow staff at the newcomer's back, unbeknownst to the large bug, and he leapt into battle without a second thought.

"Kasaah!"

Quirrel's nail parted cloth, shell, and flesh with equal ease, and he landed behind the Nailmaster, breathing heavily. His flash-step technique took a lot out of him, and he had already been winded.

"Ah, the help is appreciated there. You look like you've not much left, though! Let Mato take care of it, friend."

Quirrel shook himself and said, "I can still fight, Nailmaster."

The two shared a look, and Mato nodded in assent.

"Very well. I heard the cry travelling around Dirtmouth before I met you. The Queen orders everyone to retreat to the center of the village. There's still stragglers though; care to assist me in holding off these foul beasts until the common folk can fall back?"

Quirrel hefted his nail and nodded.

. . .

The Lynel growled as it duelled with the large black bug. Sparks flew as his sword slammed into the thin blade that his opponent wielded, and the Lynel pushed down with the full force of his strength, trying to snap the other's sword.

Surprisingly, though, the blade didn't break, despite its slimness. The bug was somehow holding his strength back with only one hand, and when he tried to kick the bug, it moved its leg out of the way and headbutted him. The Lynel General jumped backwards and stored his sword on his back. Perhaps it was time to change tactics.

Hollow strode towards the strangely shaped monster with implacable determination, greatnail grasped tightly in their claws. It had been strong, much stronger than Hollow had anticipated, but they had been stronger still.

The monster withdrew another weapon, one that Hollow didn't recognize the function of. When the weapon began to spark with yellow light, Hollow moved into a parry stance.

The crackling projectile was fast, but Hollow was faster. They deflected it to the side, sending the attack towards a smaller monster. The resulting blast of yellow energy (not unlike the electricity exhibited by charged lumaflies) engulfed the unfortunate recipient, cooking them in their shell.

Hollow, in the meantime, felt their claw go numb, and their greatnail dropped from their grasp. Curious; the energy had disabling properties. That was annoying, they only had the one arm. No matter–they had other weapons at their disposal.

The monster laughed, seeing that Hollow was without their weapon, and it drew back another shot.

Hollow held up their stump and concentrated. It took longer than they were used to, but within a moment tendrils of liquid Void sprouted from their stump and raced over to their opponent. The tendrils seized the other's weapon, breaking it into pieces and tossing them to the side. The beast, though, managed to dodge their attack, and it withdrew its sword once again and roared in anger.

Hollow retracted the Void tendrils and responded in kind.

A vast un-sound of pure nothing echoed throughout Dirtmouth. All noises ceased to exist as if they never were. Silence overcame everything as fire split the sky, the grand booming sound that usually followed not present, a thousand eyes lighting up with quiet light.

At this unspeakable horror, the forces of Ganon ran. Hundreds had already been slain by bugs that fought like they were possessed by the hero himself, and the sheer wrongness of the silent scream broke their spirits. This was not normal. This wasn't supposed to happen.

The Lynel, for his part, recovered after a few seconds of shock. He brandished his blade and charged at the large black bug with desperation. If he could kill this one, what was clearly the leader of this town, his forces could still have a chance to win!

The Lynel's blade flashed through the air, cutting towards the exposed body of the black bug. The fool wasn't even attempting to guard themselves…

And suddenly the bug wasn't there anymore, and the Lynel's eyes bulged out of his head. A weight suddenly fell on his back, and his hooves slammed into the muddy ground.

Hollow steadied themself and reached up, clutching the monster's head with their claw. Their digits encircled the beast's face, clenching under the chin and grasping firmly. The monster waved its nail around, panicked, but it was loath to swing at it's own face, and it couldn't seem to hit Hollow from their position on its back.

Hollow began to pull, bracing themselves against the beast by clenching their legs. The struggles of the monster grew more fervent, and it tried to cut Hollow's hand off. They angled their head so that the blade caught in their horns.

Then, before the monster could recover, they twisted sharply and heaved with all of their strength.

The head of the monster came off with a meaty snap, and the body fell to the ground dead.

Hollow dismounted the now dead beast, and they looked around. What few monsters that had remained after their roar turned to run upon seeing Hollow's defeat of what was presumably their leader. The minds of the remaining Bokoblins, Moblins, and Lizalfos were consumed by fearful gibbering over the power of the insectoid demon they had seen.

Hollow tossed the detached head away and picked up their greatnail. There might still be invaders scattered throughout Dirtmouth.

They would find them. They would end them.

Cold fury flooded their being as they began to hunt.

Author's Note:

Hey, I know it's been almost three weeks, but here's a chapter. Sorry it took so long, I've been on my yearly Modded Minecraft spree (Enigmatica 2 Expert, for those who want to know) and I've been putting this off.

Future updates for the next months or two are going to be sporadic. We're entering the process of moving soon, to a new place after our last one burned down. I will try to post a few chapters if I find the time and inspiration tho.

Is this too gruesome for y'all? I tried not to go TOO in depth on the visceral descriptions, but I wanted to show just how nasty combat can be, especially combat with monsters that now have physical forms, and bugs who are used to Hallownest. If it's too much I'll add a content warning to the start of the chapter.