The hounds didn't break the circle, they danced away from the flames at first but very un-wolf-like they didn't flee at the threat of fire, the fire couldn't keep them at bay or break their circle.
But what was most surprising was that even though the flames were magical in nature the hounds were able to walk through them with only some singed fur that wasn't covered by Chitin, but as a whole they didn't seem to mind the flames at all.
The wolves who blocked the front of the group continued their tactics. They focused mostly on the giant, trying their best to feint him out and get in one good bite. As soon as they they see that huge
weapon begin to spin they would press forward to interrupt the attack and prevent another widespread strike.
The next challenge came from the second spell the hunter had cast. Two hounds prepared for a coordinated feint when they made the misstep on the trap spots, as quick as an arrow a stone spike shot up from the earth, the hounds heads could not move fast enough to avoid the trap from below and the spike found a soft spot under the hounds jaw and drove through the smaller bones on the underside of the skull, the hounds died with a spike through their brains, but the spike could not penetrate the roof of the skull of either
monster.
Down the eleven of their number the Swarm Hounds did not stop their circle but the flank paused their attacks to analyze the events to explain what happened to their comrade. A quick sniff told the hounds that magic was used, and in their collective memory they saw the human huntress cast the two spells and remembered the appearance of lights from the runes at several points on the ground between them and their prey.
Their own intelligence could not have comprehended this and seen a solution. As a collective mind with each other they are already more intelligent than a normal wolf pack, but intelligence beyond themselves, and even beyond Havilah, allowed the wolves to adapt to this new threat.
The hounds increased the pace of their circling strategy, the constant movement making it difficult to track where they were. Standing back to back their prey had a pretty good chance, especially with the giant able to cover the front with just his size alone, but the hounds were making it as difficult as possible for the giant to use his swinging weapon and were doing the best they could to not get caught up in direct combat with any of them.
As the circle closed the wolves would move faster, some of them triggered the spike traps, but being able to remember where they were they were able to avoid the spikes just enough to take the blow on their chitin shell. Another wolf died by the traps when a stone spike broke through a weak point in it's chitin and left the hound impaled on its side, but the swarm continued to move as they set off the traps one by one instead of trying to avoid them.
The hounds were not silent, they began clicking their mandibles loudly and the sound was like the sharp snap of a sword breaking, they created this sound as a defense against spells that required focus, disrupting spells already cast that required focus to keep functioning.
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Havilah made it to the surface at last, and now it was time to work.
The swarms of hounds spread out through the
ruins and began collecting materials, both genetic and construction based.
The Swarm
Devourers began moving about the area and a green ichor gushed from their mouths which they spread all over the area.
Havilah selected a green glowing seed and placed it on the slime covered broken stone area that was originally a town square. Once placed it was as if it reacted violently with the ground, it sprouted roots that gripped and shattered the stone as it burrowed down quickly into the soil, fed and nurtured by the slime it grew and grew, shattering stone and breaking the area until it sprouted up and became a massive ichor pool with which she could work to create genetic sequences and adaptations to the swarm.
The Swarm hounds returned with genetic material as well as large stone and other things for construction and building.
The devourers unloaded their cargo of chrysalis, placing them in and around the ichor pool. Then they began taking the collected building material and covering them with slime, they began placing and shaping the materials, building a large construct for the new base on the surface, as if they were bees building a giant hive. The construction would take a while, but even with the wind picking up and a dust storm rolling in on
The Forbidden City, they had time.
While the swarm worked Havilah selected a tiny chrysalis, inside she could see the formed shape of a bulbous insect, a little creation of hers called a Swarm Carrier, that would once again revolutionize evolution for the swarm. She placed the chrysalis on the ground. Once the ground was covered with slime from the workers, but now the slime has hardened into a hard shell like substance that was similar in function to a coral reef, it provided the ideal environment and sustenance for creatures of the swarm.
She attached the chrysalis to the ground and stood up, she lifted her hand at the small chrysalis and her hand began to glow green, something like slime came from the green glow and covered the chrysalis, making it glow green as well. She waited a moment before it took effect, the little bug inside the chrysalis began to split, and another complete insect was formed, it then split off from that chrysalis to form its own chrysalis, and the process repeated itself... hundreds of times... created hundreds of new chrysalis with these tiny insects, their combined chrysalis forming huge clusters.
Havilah turned from these clusters, they would continue to reproduce themselves without her guidance and she turned her attention to her other work as walls formed of rock, building matter and the coral substance quickly rose about her. Even as she worked the sun was gradually closed off and she was now inside a dome where creatures of the swarm can be created and birthed.
