The cave was pitch-black.
There were no sources of light; anything that might have glowed had been cleared away by the Worker Ants.
However, for Velin's squad, the darkness was not an obstacle, but an ally.
Ola and the Knights under his command had taken Velin's custom-brewed Glimmer Potion, granting them blurry night vision even in the absolute darkness.
They formed the first line of defense, standing perfectly still.
Beneath their helmets, their vision was enhanced by another "sense"—through a Hivemind Terminal, everyone could receive Sarah's insectoid perception, a kind of "tremorsense" based on vibrations and air currents.
In this shared picture, the cave's outline was formed by countless lines and ripples.
Teammates appeared as stable, glowing beacons, the cave walls were silent boundaries, and Barrett's six Scouts were like ripples blending into the background, lurking behind rocks on the high flanks.
