The Call of the Depths

by Just_a_Mantis

Summary:

Queen Elizant II has received a report from the Termite Kingdom - their citizens have been acting strange, claiming to be having weird dreams and feeling a calling towards somewhere deep within the Forsaken Lands.
Those who have heeded this calling have not returned.

And so Team Snakemouth has been assigned to head to this mysterious location, and figure out what is happening.
Little did they know they'd find an entire fallen kingdom along the way.

Notes:

Hi there! This is my first time publishing fanfic, as well as my first time writing any of these characters, so forgive me if they're a bit ooc.
English is also not my first language, do correct me if I misspell something or use a word wrong. I'm open to any sort of criticism.

A small note in regards to the character tags:
A lot of characters appear in this fic, I'd argue it's the majority of Hollow Knight characters as well as a good portion of Bug Fables characters.
I don't want to flood the tags, so I only tagged people who are majorly important for the story, minor appearences will not be tagged.

Also, the story focus a lot on major spoilers for both games, if you still want to see what happens for yourself I'd reccomend not reading this fic.
With that out of the way, let's get into it!

Chapter 1: A Death Sentence

 It was a very, very dark morning.
 Not because the sun wasn't shining, but instead because of a fog. A fog so intense that Team Snakemouth could barely see at this point, it seemed to be trying to make them disappear, and if it continued to increase in density, maybe it would succeed.

 Not many bugs had ever gone this far into the Forsaken Lands, mostly because eventually there was just nothing there, well, nothing but the cold wind and the ever present fog.
 But it was reported that many bugs that had been in the Termite Kingdom had left the safety of its walls, many of which claimed they had felt a calling - whether this was a calling for adventure, research, or whatever else varied on the bug -, though that was usually the last thing they were ever seen saying.
 For none of those bugs ever returned.

 The problem got worse as time went on, with more and more bugs feeling this calling, but now it had reached an all time high. Many had started reporting weird dreams, it was very consistent between all of them.
 A tall, bright orange, winged figure. A fallen kingdom. Another figure, held high above the ground by chains, their eyes had a orange tint to them. And dream catcher shapes.
 Eventually, the entire kingdom had entered lockdown, no one could enter, no one could leave.
 Even the docks were sealed so no one could leave through the water either. 

 The termites had tried to solve this on their own, but it was no use. Many of the guards who tried to scout the area never returned either, and those who did would say they had found nothing, and they would be gone much like the others soon enough.
 Reluctantly, the King and Queen reported this to Queen Elizant II, of the Ant Kingdom.
 She too sent scouts, but much was the same, so she eventually gave up and decided on a much, much tougher choice.

 "Team Snakemouth..." she began, her royal blades looked at her expectantly, it had been too long since she had assigned them a mission personally,  "I have a favour to ask you, and I hope you are able to succeed..."
 She gave them the briefing, and only a day later, the team was off.

 They were all divided on the quest itself, however.
 Vi was sure she was just handed a death sentence and made sure the others knew how not into this idea she was. Kabbu was concerned for all those bugs and was willing to help, he had promised the other two he would not allow neither of them to get hurt. And Leif... well, he seemed mostly unbothered,  seemingly only a tad disappointed he wasn't able to bring Chompy - as requested by Professor Honeycomb and Hawk.
 Though, they all had to agree with Vi deep down

 It did sound like a death sentence, somewhat.

 They heard it was gonna be a few days travel, if they didn't stay too long at wherever this "calling" was, then they'd be only about a week away. Though they packed for two weeks, just in case.
 Before hitting the road, they decided to ask as many questions as possible at the Termite Kingdom, it was very awkward to talk with a guard through a large door, though they managed to mark on the map where this calling felt like it was coming from, according to the citizen's reports. And soon, they were off.

 

 It had been an entire day already.

 

  “...Ugh… do you think we are close already, Kabbu?” Vi asked, she sloppily held her beemerang in her hand. Though since she had her back arched, causing her to lean forward quite a bit, her weapon was so low to the ground it was scraping it, leaving a dusty trail behind. She was also walking slower than usual, “I’m tired… and hungry” she groaned.
 “We are very hungry too…” Leif agreed with a nod, though he also seemed noticeably tired, with his antenna hanging low from his head, he still managed to walk faster than the other two, somehow.

 “I... I don't know” Kabbu admitted, "There doesn't seem to be much of anything around here..."
 “Oh golly gee! I wonder why?” Vi rolled her eyes, “We haven’t seen anything but each other for a whole day! And it’s only been getting worse and worse!” she waved her arms around to further emphasize her point, though neither of her teammates could see much of it.

 “I… I’m sure it’ll clear up soon enough, don’t worry!” Kabbu insisted, he tried to look around, looking for any sort of landmark. But it was no use, he could barely see his fellow teammates
 “It better, we don’t want to end up some thing’s dinner because we can't see." Leif chimed in.
 "Nothing has attacked us for quite a while, I doubt a monster big enough to eat us could live in a place that has so little life. There isn't even any foliage." Kabbu pointed out.
 Leif was quick to retort, "That's more reason to why there could be something here. It could have eaten everything around, and it's now starving. It could very well be the reason why bugs are coming here, too".
 "... I hadn't considered it could be a creature." Kabbu admited, he shuddered at the thought.
 "Great, so now we're gonna get eaten" Vi sighed.

 "... Well, if anything happens, we could always freez- Ow!!" Leif was interrupted by his own squeal, and the sound of something thumbling to the floor.
 “Leif?!” both Kabbu and Vi exclaimed, the beetle sped up and rushed to his friend's position “Are you ok?!” he asked, his eyes wide, his trembling hands close to his chest.
 The moth laid on the floor, Kabbu could hear a small hiss coming from him as he got closer, “We are fine… it was just a rock”, he rubbed his hands against his forehead, and started to get up. Kabbu offered his hand to help, to which Leif accepted.

 Vi walked up to them, and she saw there a rock that stood at about double of Kabbu's height, while she was still concerned, she couldn't help but laugh "Did you really just got smacked in the face by a wall? In the middle of nowhere?".
 Leif rolled his eyes "Well, we can't really see much of what is ahead, you could have hit a wall too" he pointed out.
 "Hah, no way! I'd have easily avoided it!" Vi replied placing her hands on her hips in an incredibly smug pose.

 "Hold on a second" Kabbu examined the rock itself, it had a pattern etched onto it, almost like a creature's shape, though there was nothing there. "Have any of you seen anything like this before?" He brushed his claws on top of it, it had a strangely rough texture to it.
 The other two looked closer, and neither recognized it.

 "At least it's something new" Vi pointed out, "It was starting to get boring here".
 Kabbu walked around the rock, and very soon the ground felt different, instead of a dusty, fairly straight floor with barely any obstacles, it was hard rock, it felt scattered, as if something had broken it and then tried to put it back together "The ground here is different, we must be getting close".
 "So... we'll get to eat soon?" Leif asked, a tired smile on his face.
 Kabbu sighed "Yes, yes we are", he smiled back.

 “Well what are we waiting for then? Let’s go!” Vi cheered, she quickly walked ahead and very quickly also smacked her face against a tall rock.

 

 The team pressed forward, they took note of how quickly the fog was dissipating, and now they could see ahead better.
 There were more of those rocks about, some of them were entire walls filled with various different shapes, and they seemed to be leading them somewhere, as if it was a trail.
 Eventually, they found what could only be describe as an absolutely enormous mountain, with more of these spiraling shapes and rocks on it. As well as a small hole near the bottom, while they could pass through it, the taller bugs would have to crouch.
 A light wind seemed to be coming from the entrance, it also seemed to be the reason why the fog had cleared, though it was just around the area, the team still couldn't see the sky or the top of the mountain itself.

 Leif was the first one to approach the hole, he reached his hand out as if he could touch the breeze, “... It’s faint, very faint, but we can feel magic in this wind”. When he retreated his hand, his claws were dirty with dust and sand.
 "Do you think that's what’s been calling the termites?” Kabbu asked, looking at his companion, he looked rather concerned.
 “Could be” Leif nodded, he rubbed the dust between his claws, “If we were to guess, the air in there isn't great".
 Vi groaned “Great, now we also have to go inside a dusty old cave” she waved to the inside of the cave, grimacing when she felt dust on her own claws, she quickly shook it off.
 “Maybe you should go first, Vi” Leif smirked towards her, his normally fairly expressionless face filled with as much playfulness as it could muster, which wasn't much, but it was more than the moth usually managed. Perhaps he was getting better at expressions.

 Although Vi was visibly annoyed, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed, she couldn't help but smile at that, “I don't know Leif, ‘dusty old cave’ sounds more like your thing” she snarked back, that had earned a small laugh from Kabbu.
 “... Heh, guess you're right” Leif said with a nod, a small smile on his face.

 They all turned to stare at the cave again, they couldn't see anything in there, it was as if it could absorb what little light was outside.
 So Kabbu puffed out his chest and readjusted his posture, he was now standing at his full height again, instead of leaning forwards like his teammates. They were all tired and quite scared, though none of them would admit it yet, and he felt like he had to put on a brave face. Even though his hands were shaking, his eyes were wide, and his elytra vibrated ever so slightly.

 “Well then, team!” he announced, his voice louder by just a fraction, “Let's find out what's going on here, and whatever it is, we'll–”
 “Kick its ass!!”
 “Freeze it!”
 The other two interrupted, Leif conjured a ball of ice for emphasis.
 “...Sure! We'll fight it!” he nodded.

 “I sure hope there's something to fight down there!” Vi said, she grabbed her boomerang and held it slightly above her head, in a pose that much resembled her battle stance, “I've been itching to hit something for so long!”
 “... But we fought several Forsaken Lands creatures on the way here?” Leif pointed out.
 “Yeah, but those are boooring ! I want a real fight! Like the old times!”
 “Vi, we fought the Wasp King just a few months ago… do you really want to go through all that trouble again?” Kabbu looked straight at her, a stern look in his face
 “I mean, yeah sure it was hard, but it was also a lot of fun!”
 “Vi, several bug lives were in danger! We shouldn't want anything like that to happen ever again!”
 “... Yeah, but-”

 “We are getting sidetracked” Leif caught their attention before they stayed in that conversation for too long. It wouldn't be the first time it happened. “We think it's best if we get going now”, the moth was the first to enter the cave, using the same ice ball from earlier as a small source of light - how ice was able to shine, they had no idea.
 Though, it did little on the outside, and he quickly disappeared into the darkness.
 His fellow companions shuddered, Vi stepped forward, followed by Kabbu.

 And soon, they all were swallowed by the eerily dark cave.

 …

 Deep into the cavern's depths, in a far away city, a little cloaked bug had just destroyed the first seal.
 A scream was shortly heard in a temple - if that was a scream of fear, joy, or agony, nobody knew. As the sound resonated within the caves, loud enough for many surrounding creatures to hear it, and for the ones further away to feel it, an orange fog eminated from within.

 The infection continued to spread.

Chapter 2: Into the Depths

Notes:

Hi again! Hope you had an amazing new year and holidays! :D
It's currently 4am as I'm posting this chapter lol

 They couldn’t see much of anything, Leif’s light did little to illuminate the path ahead.
 They all thought they were very much blinded by the fog outside, but this was on a whole other level. Had they known they were going to venture this deep into some cave, they’d most certainly brought a non magical source of light. They could barely see the walls at this point.

 Leif was the one to take the lead once more, though he was walking much more carefully and slowly than before, Vi was following him closely, her beemerang at the ready, while Kabbu kept looking behind them on occasion, just in case something snuck up on them.
 None of them had uttered a single word since they stepped inside the cave, there was no time for any sort of witty banter when they were on high alert.

 They felt like the whole world had grown much louder, they could hear the ever present howling wind, the crawling and scurrying of inoffensive lesser bugs, the echo of droplets hitting the rocky ground beneath.
 However, none of it was as concerning the shuffling that had followed them for quite a while now, it sounded like a spider was crawling up on the ceiling above them, though when Leif suddenly reacted by shining a light on the ceiling or shooting an ice spike above, there was nothing there.

 Eventually, they found a small nook in a wall while examining their surroundings, it wasn't the most spacious or cozy of places, for it was quite dusty, and there were some pointy stalactites they'd have to avoid if they wanted to remain stab-free. Not really the best place for a camp, but it was late and they were all tired, they had avoided resting for hours now, and they all struggled to keep their eyes open, their legs were sore and their eyes stung, the dust constantly hitting their faces not helping that last fact.
 Vi was the first one to decide to actually enter the small hole, immediately unwrapping her sleeping bag, made from leaf and silkmoth silk, and laying on it.
 Soon, they were all cooped up in there, Kabbu managed to build a small campfire, he'd gathered his cooking supplies and had started cooking a stew - the recipe of which was taught by none other than Jayde. Meanwhile, even though he dozed off for a few seconds from time to time, Leif was keeping watch, ready to block the entrance in case anything tried to attack them.

 For a few minutes, only the sounds of the crackling fire, bubbling water and passing wind could be heard. None of them dared to speak yet, even if they felt somewhat safer. The air around them felt tense, and they felt like it was hard to breathe, even though nothing had actually changed.
 Maybe it was some sort of anticipation, they hadn't seen anything more than rock, dust, and small lesser bugs. But they still felt like there was danger, like something was about to strike them, like if they felt their guards down, they all would...
 ...
 Vi couldn't take the silence anymore.

 “...This place creeps me out” she whispered , it was strange to finally say something after hours, but she just couldn’t handle it any longer, she wanted to occupy her head with anything she could. “Do we really have to, you know, do this? Can’t we just go back and say we couldn’t find anything?” she turned away from the wall, instead now facing Kabbu.
 The beetle sighed, “I think it’s terrifying too... but we can’t just let those bugs suffer because we were too scared to do something! This problem could get worse soon, and affect all of Bugaria”.
  He reached into his bag, grabbing a bowl from it and pouring some stew for himself. The other two quickly got their own bowls, only now realizing how hungry they actually were. Kabbu poured some for them too. It was really hot, Vi had to put it on the floor so she could sit and wait until it cooled down.

 "And if anything", he continued, "this fear only helps to solidify how much they actually need our help!".
 Vi sighed, "Maybe... but we could disappear like all of the others did too, we should head home while we still can before that happens, right? I-It's not like I don't care about them! I just... I don't...", she had trouble finishing her sentence, having to take a deep breath just to manage it, "... I don't want to die here too".
 "Vi, you aren't going to die here!" Kabbu placed a hand on her shoulders, giving her a reassuring pat and smile, "I promise, none of us are going to die here. I'm not going to let it happen".

 Vi could feel he was being honest, but she couldn't help but think how much he could actually do when they figured out what actually was happening here, no matter how much she tried, and how much she wanted to, she couldn't really believe him.
 Though, she didn't have it in her to tell him that, so she smiled back at him - although it seemed quite fake, she wasn't good at hiding her emotions. "... Yeah, thank you, Kabbu". She held the bowl of stew in her hands again and started eating, it felt cool enough already, maybe Leif had cooled it down himself, she forgot she could've asked him.

 The rest of night went as silently as it did before, Kabbu switched the watch duty with Leif, as the moth could barely keep conscious anymore, the constant use of magic wearing him down considerably.
 Nothing much had happened, aside from the three small pillbug-like creatures, one of them had a slightly different face marking from the others, and the beetle knew Leif would've absolutely loved that one had he been awake to see it.
  Though, even if it was rather uneventful, Kabbu felt something constantly watching him, at some point, he was sure he'd seen glowing orange eyes at the corner of his vision.

 It was probably nothing... he hoped.

 …

 He had stayed up the whole night. His vision was blurry and he was yawning quite a lot, his legs somehow felt even more sore than they had the night before, which made it quite hard to move around.
 Leif and Vi had asked him if he wanted to rest, they could let him sleep while the both of them kept watch, but he just waved them off - he didn’t want to trouble his team, besides, if he rested they'd be forced to be in that horrible cave for even longer than they already were. He might be pressing on, but that didn't mean he wasn't scared either.
  Something, deep within him told him they had to get out of there as soon as possible, and this feeling was only intensifying as they went further.

 Besides, the sooner they found the missing termites, the better.

 Eventually, they saw glowing mushrooms littering the walls and floors of the cave, which allowed Leif to stop using his magic for the moment. Vi let out an audible sigh of relief, being able to see around them felt much like having a weight lifted from their shoulders, making them relax somewhat.
 Kabbu gawked in awe when they saw mushrooms much larger than they'd seen in Bugaria. Leif teased Vi, telling her she wouldn't be able to fly near its top, to which she proudly proved him wrong, earning a playfully annoyed roll of the moth's eyes and lighthearted laughter from Kabbu.

 It was almost like they'd completely forgotten where they were, they continued on almost as if they were taking a stroll through the Ant Kingdom's outskirts.
  That is, until they saw a body lying on the floor not too far ahead.
 A termite.

 Kabbu rushed forward, kneeling down beside them and checking for any sign they could still be alive - but it was no use, their body felt absolutely frigid to the touch, and it was like their joints didn't work anymore, if Kabbu forced it he'd probably break off their limbs.
 He pushed himself up, his demeanor completely changing in an instant, almost like the life was drained from him too.

 "That poor termite..." He whispered, as he stood beside them, paying his respects, "Maybe... maybe we should bury them?".
 "No" Leif said bluntly, "We have to identify them first, and what caused their death", he approached the corpse himself, looking for anything he could find about them.

 Meanwhile, Vi simply looked ahead, trying her best to ignore the dead bug near her, as well as the same thoughts she had last night.
 Though, that didn't quite work, as she quickly realized that wasn't the only dead termite around, as her eyes focused on the odd shapes shrouded in darkness, she realized those too, were corpses.
 About three or four of them.

 Suddenly, she had a lot of trouble breathing, her wings vibrated ever so slightly as she fought the urge to flee, her antennae stood straigh up atop her head, and her wide eyes went unblinking for several moments. She took a few steps back and pointed towards what she had just seen.
 "W-We should probably identify them, too".

 The others looked away from the termite that laid near them, to face where Vi had pointed too, only for them to be just as shocked and terrified as she was.

 ...

 As they followed the trail of bodies, it only seemed like the amount increased.
 Vi and Kabbu would search for whatever belongings they could find, whilst Leif attempted to figure out the reason for their deaths. And with increasing horror, he realized all of them were the same.

 A big bite mark, usually located on the bug's neck or abdomen. A mark he very much recognized - for he had one of his own, albeit much smaller and unnoticeable than the ones he found on the dead termites.
 He couldn't help but shudder each time, all those memories from so long ago flooding back, of him being scared and alone trapped on a web, not being able to do much more than watch as its weaver approached. Memories of Snakemouth Den, as he found his body wrapped in a web. And many other memories, both from his creation and his death.

 Only when Kabbu reached out with a reassuring pat on the shoulder did he realize how fast he was breathing now. He took a deep breath, slowly gathering his thoughts, “...This one seems to have been eaten by a spider too. Their insides must be almost completely hollowed out...”.
 “...Gross” Vi said again, both honestly and as a way to try and calm down Leif somehow. Though it didn't seem to work.
  “Don’t say that, Vi! Such disrespect…!” Kabbu scolded her. "... So there is a spider lurking about, right?"

  “That's correct, yes”, the moth looked around, trying to find any signs of it anywhere. He found high up in the ceiling some spiderwebs, though those seemed to be too small for whatever had caused this rampage.
 "... So... it's a spider then, we figured it out! A spider somehow called them all here, and now we can leave, right?" Vi said, already starting to head back through where they came, though Kabbu gently held her arm, stopping her.
 "No, not yet, Vi. We're not sure if it's the spider yet, it could be something else", he let go of her.

 "It could be the spider, remember the Peacock Spider?" Leif pointed out.
 "Yeah, but... something feels off, I don't think that's it. Besides, none of them said anything about music."

 Leif and Vi nodded in agreement, the bee reluctantly stepping back to where she once stood.
 "We'll have to keep going, we'll find something-"

 "Help..."
 They all froze, as a voice echo ed through the corridors, They all turned to face the darkest tunnel from the fork in the road there was ahead, from where the voice came from.
 "Somebody... please, help..."
 With no hesitation, Kabbu ran after it, Leif followed shortly behind, while Vi took a moment to gather her courage.

  They darted through increasingly tight corridors and long hallways, the voice ever present, growing louder as they got closer. Sometimes there was another fork, and they'd have to wait to hear it again.
 Though, they were so focused none of them saw the increasing number of bodies, particularly the ones that hang from the cavern’s ceiling in cobwebs.
  Eventually, they finally found them.

 They had reached a dead end, where a termite warrior stood at the center of the room, their back against the entrance, and while some of the glowing mushrooms were present, they were not enough to illuminate the bug standing in front of them.
 The room was somewhat circular in shape, its walls reached high up, and it seemed like the ceiling was open, it was probably a hole in some other tunnel.

 Kabbu placed his hands on his knees and panted loudly, VI gasped for air and Leif leaned against the wall to keep himself from falling, they had ran around for quite a bit.
 The beetle stepped forward, waving his hand in a greeting, “H-hello, we are… explorers…!" he took a deep breath, still not having recovered from running for so long, "W-We heard you... and we are here to... help...!”.
  The termite slowly turned to look towards them, silently watching. Their eyes unblinking as they seemed to twitch uncomfortably, a creaking sound each time they did.
  “Is… is something wrong? Are you ok?” Kabbu asked, his voice full of worry, “We have some first aid with us, if you need it…”
  Still, they kept watching.

 “... I don’t think they’re fine” Vi took some steps back, gripping her beemerang tightly.
 “They’re not" Leif interjected, "Something is wrong, we have to leave-!”
  Just then, the tunnel behind them closed with a loud clack, some sort of hardened web seemed to block the entrance. The Team looked back at it in shock, and when they turned to face the termite, it roared, its head twisting uncomfortably, the body contorting and deforming to make place for a spine-like exoskeleton, its ribcage filled with a strange looking orange goo.
  Wings emerged from its back, eight legs sprouted from around the ribcage, its long tail raised over its back, a stinger=like point to it and once again - while raising its front legs, the shapeshifting, flying spider roared again.

 Kabbu and Vi couldn’t help but scream along with it, too, their eyes widening and their hearts skipping a beat.
  “ BY THE HOLY JAWS OF THE QUEEN WHAT IS THAT ?!” Kabbu screamed, he ran backwards, slamming his back against the hardened webs - thankfully, they weren’t sticky enough to trap him there.
  “ IS THAT A MIMIC SPIDER?! ” Vi waved her arms about, she had dropped her beemerang.

 Leif, however, stood there, simply staring with wide eyes at the beast that had now taken flight. He quickly got his bearings and readied himself, spawning a small spike of ice, “No, this is different! Focus now! It's probably quite strong!” .
 He analyzed the spider for a moment, making mental notes of every single one of its features, "Vi, bring it down if you can! Kabbu, its strange belly seems to be its weak spot! Focus on it!"

 They nodded, Vi quickly reached for her weapon, throwing it at the flying target.
 Though, it didn’t budge, she tried again, but it still managed to keep flying, “I-I don't think I can bring it down!” she shouted, bracing herself as it charged at her.
  While it was close to the ground, Kabbu rammed towards it, though it was far faster than he predicted, his tired, trembling legs and blurry vision didn't help either, he missed its glowing middle by only a small amount, leaving not much other than a shallow scratch on its chitin.

 Leif threw the ball of ice to the ground, it soon stabbed the creature right in the middle of its ribcage, freezing it momentarily, but otherwise, it did nothing. The strange, thick liquid quickly recovring itself.
 When it took flight again, it shook and screeched, making several droplets of the strange liquid fall, dropping and spreading it around in high velocity. While the other two managed to avoid it, Kabbu barely stumbling out of the way, Leif wasn't fast enough.
  It managed to hit him square on his chest, the impact making him fall to the floor.
  It burned, like it was somehow acidic, hissing in pain as he felt it slipping through the cracks in his chitin.

  “Leif!” Kabbu screamed, he ran towards the moth to help him, but right then the creature charged towards the beetle.
  He had barely realized it was there. And it hit him hard, As he was falling, it hit him again with its tail, hitting his head against the floor.
 A nd right then, it was as if the world had suddenly turned to slow motion, as Kabbu's face hit the ground, he felt a strong pain on his horn. Then, the sound of something else hitting the floor with a tingle.

 ...Was that…?

 Then, the rest of his body hit the ground too, and while his chest ached, it didn't match the pain on his head. He rubbed his forehead, where it hurt the most, only to find his horn was gone.
 Kabbu panicked, darting his eyes around the place in an attempt to find it, to no avail.

 He felt completely helpless, when he saw Leif get up, one of his hands clutching his wings while the other spawned another ice spike. He tried to freeze the creature again before it could hit Vi, who although looked completely ready and determined, still had a clear expression of fear, her back glued against a wall, her wings vibrating and her hands shaking.
 Though, in the last second, right when the spike was about to emerge from the floor, Leif missed, the ice instead flying towards the wall. Immediately after, he started shaking frantically, falling to the floor while he mumbled something in roach language, completely losing control of his body.

  The spider snatched Vi's left leg off the floor, lifting her in the air. It ignored the beemerang that had just hit its face.
 Perhaps, Vi was right, he thought.

 ... This was a death sentence.

 …

 His nail sliced through another Deephunter as he explored.
 He had already found the ancient village he heard about, as well as the old stag tunnel. Now he was looking for some more areas he might’ve missed, taking a moment to look through the map he’d bought from Cornifer.

 With a hum, he realized he really hadn’t gone through that particular tunnel yet, so with no delay, that's where the pillbug headed.
 Pretty soon, he found an area with large mushrooms, larger than any other he’d seen so far - of course, not counting any in the Fungal Wastes.
  A bug’s corpse laid among them, perhaps a warrior? He wondered, what could’ve brought them here? Fame? Riches? What was there for a warrior to seek out in a land filled with so many beasts other than glory?

 He continued forwards, finding little to see other than one of those strange blue cocoons - lifeblood, was it called? He wondered what those did exactly, he knew it was taboo in Hallownest - when had he heard it was taboo, again?
 Right as he was about to leave, though, he heard screaming coming from below.
 But it wasn' t like one of an infected creature. He heard no hissing or growling, these screams seemed much more desperate instead.

 A survivor?
 Looking around for its source, he found a small hole he could crawl through, many mushrooms seemed to head that way, perhaps that was where the ruckus was coming from?
  Carefully, he went through, and as he reached the other side, he was immediately faced with a large hole, where a fight occurred.

 Three bugs were fighting against a fully grown Nosk, all eight legs, developed wings and stinger, with impressive size. Perhaps it was amongst the largest creature he'd faced since he entered Hallownest.
 “K-Kabbu! Look out!” One of them, the bee, screamed. She was using a strange looking V shaped contraption to keep herself standing, her left leg seemed twisted in a most odd and painful way. She hissed when she tried to stand on it, raising the contraption above her head as she gripped the wall so she wouldn't fall - was it a weapon, perhaps?
  Soon, the green beetle, who he assumed was Kabbu, dodged a stomp from the creature - good thing he did too, because that looks like it might’ve hurt quite a bit. His horn seemed to have been recently broken, as the place were it once was oozed hemolymph... a, there it was! He could see the horn wedged on the floor, near the opposite wall from the bee.
  In his arms, Kabbu held what looked like a trembling blue moth. He seemed to be speaking, but he couldn’t quite hear it. His wings were tainted with infection, which given his current state, the pillbug figured wasn’t a good sign.

 At least two of them seemed to not have a weapon, if the thing the bee was carrying even was one. How could they have gotten so deep in Hallownest without any? Strange...
 No matter, he jumped in the hole, gripping his nail tightly. He used one of the walls for impulse, slicing through one of the Nosk’s wings before it attempted to attack again, it screeched as he did so, turning to face him.

 The pillbug landed on the floor rather gracefully, waiting for it to get closer before he dodged it, stabbing it's core and slicing through it, infection oozing and dripping from the deep cut.
 He tried to be faster than the flying spider running and jumping around it, cutting and slicing through its legs, wings and core, as it uselessly tried to match his own speed.
 From his peripherical vision, he saw Kabbu run to the bee, gently laying the moth on the ground. Even though he had stopped trembling, he still spoke in what he figured was a foreign language, and his eyes weren't staring at anything in particular.
 The bee slid down to the floor and gripped her leg tightly, while the beetle looked through his bag.

 However, he got too distracted, the spider managed to get a lucky strike, slashing at his head with its stinger, though, it recoiled violently once it hit his mask.
 He used it as an opportunity, and punctured through its middle, stabbing with as much strength as he had, his nail went so deep it reached the other end. With a final slice, cutting the core in half, it roared, thrashed and screamed as infection exploded from it, making it blow up from within, leaving nothing but the head of the termite it was mimicking.

 He panted, taking a few seconds to rest before adjusting his mask and turning to the other bugs, who were all still in the same place, though the bee's leg was now in the process of being patched up. They looked at him in awe and confusion.
 The pillbug stepped forward towards them, he knelt, extending his free hand with a smile, “Hello there! I hope none of you are hurt too badly. I am Quirrel!”.

Notes:

Hope you enjoyed the read! I rewrote a huge chunk of this chapter twice, it's still not exactly how I wanted it to be, but I still liked how it ended up being :)
And yeah, I'll try to release a new chapter each week, specifically during Saturday/Sunday :D
Thank you for reading! Hope you have a good new year! See you next week :]

- SPOILERS BELOW -

I've always wondered why you never encounter Nosk's winged form outside of Godhome
I mean, you don't really see Sly or the other Nailmasters fighting either, but at least you see them outside of it. Winged Nosk seems like something else entirely.

So, I decided to think about how Nosk could work! I made "Nosk" an entire species instead of a single unique creature (this could also explain the "take a seat" guys in the Beast's Den). I took after how insect nypmhs work! So they get their wings when they reach their fully adult form! I also decided to keep its spideriness by giving its legs.
Hope this isn't too weird though, lol.

Notes:

Thank you for reading!
I'm writing this for fun, and I have a clear-ish idea of how I want it to end, so hopefully I'll actually finish the entire thing.

I don't want this to be too long, but let's see how that goes, lol.