The group advanced cautiously. Angel's warning about the lack of the temple's regular occupants had put them all on edge. Where before, Sunset would be in awe at the faded grandeur of ancient human culture, now she expected each shadow and each small sound, be it crumbling rocks under her boots or the wind whistling in between the gaps in the walls to mean an imminent attack.

The soft jungle floor eventually gave way to large slabs of rock that made the road into the temple itself, although this did not stop trees and other vegetation from taking root in the nooks and crannies of the structure, deforming it in some parts, and completely collapsing it in others. Regular rain had built a solid amount of moss on walls and other surfaces, with only few interior parts exempt from the soft vegetation.

Once they reached deeper into the structure, however, the plants receded and it resembled more of what it had probably originally looked like, reaching out to to the sky, like a jagged bone, with sun-bleached rocks carved into complicated scenarios of gods, mortals and myths.

They had spread a little, to make themselves less of an obvious target. Elena, using her impressive stealth, was a little ahead and above—the structure was designed in such a way that she could sneak around at a higher level, providing her with a better vantage point, and better angles for shooting her Vector Rifle if needed.

Mox and Sunset followed Angel, keeping their eyes and senses focused on their surroundings. Earlier, despite the noise they made, the jungle hadn't cared. Now, it was silent. Monkeys being infamous for their rambunctious personalities it was a little bit unnerving to have them all be gone.

Thinking of this, Sunset looked up at where Elena hid, tilting her head curiously, but the Reaper shrugged. There was no sign of the previous occupants.

Sunset summoned her magic and felt the blood magic enhance her sight, but other than small animals in the distance and the blood flow of her companions, she couldn't detect anything. From time to time, under the rock, she would spot an animal or two, faintly glowing before presumably delving deeper.

Still, she kept her spell going for the time being, not trusting their surroundings at all.

They proceeded with caution for about twenty minutes into the structure, peering into the dark corners, ears straining to catch any sound, but it appeared like they were on their own. Finally, when they had emerged from the first part of the temple into a large empty area, a zocalo of sorts, with other temples rising around them, Sunset took a quick glance around—once more only noticing the occasional heartbeat of small underground animals—sighed and raised her fist, motioning everyone to stop.

Rather than summon Elena down to their position, she turned on her headset, then looked at the Viper. "Okay, I really don't like this… how much farther in do we need to go?"

Angel hissed and motioned at the buildings, then above them, making Sunset grimace.

"For those of us that don't speak Parseltongue?" Elena called in from her location.

"If by that you mean Viper language, she said that the only way to reach our destination in time is to cut through the old temple," Sunset said.

"Somehow I had predicted this," Mox said with a shrug. "If we still have to go through, we might as well make haste. If something awaits in the shadows we will find it quicker, and if nothing remains, then we'll get through much faster."

Sunset nodded. It was time to face the music. Giving the signal, they moved on, it wasn't long before they heard the first noise… a skittering sound, echoing from somewhere in the ruins and a distant, echoing cry behind them.

They recognized it immediately.

"Chryssalids," Mox said, turning around and studying the area behind them. "They've surrounded us."

"But how?" Sunset muttered. She shook her head, motioning for them to move on. "This is not good… why are they here?"

Mox cleared his throat. "I have heard of several of the more… unpredictable of our forces sometimes also relinquishing the control of the elders. ADVENT would generally send several pods to hunt them down and eliminate them… it is possible, something similar happened here and they were unable to hunt them all down."

Angel's tongue tasted the air nervously. The skittering drew closer and then faded away, but there was no sign of the creatures themselves.

"So you mean to tell me," Sunset said, "that a chryssalid came here… and fed on and possibly poisoned the monkeys that lived here?"

"It is entirely possible." Mox nodded.

Sunset glanced at Angel. "How many monkeys are we talking about here?"

The Viper hissed softly and Sunset winced. "Thousands?"

"So where are they hiding?" Mox asked, before slowly looking down at the stone floor under them.

"Shit." Sunset said. Then she looked up. "Run." She started following her own advice, running to the nearest set of stone stairs. "To higher ground!"

As if the vibration from their running had reached them, several alien cries rose from all around—and under them—and just as she was about to reach the stone stairs, the ground exploded in front of her, with two large scythe-like appendages stabbing down and piercing the rock in front of her to pull up the rest of the chryssalid out.

A shot echoed in the old temple, drowning the screeches for an instant, and the chryssalid's head snapped back from direct hit from Elena's gun. It wasn't enough to kill the creature, but it was for Sunset to grab her sword from its harness and slice down with as much strength as she could.

The creature exploded in a shower of blood, splattering all over Sunset. Behind her, she heard more stone break and screeches and shots as more chrysalids emerged from under them.

Angel and Mox were shooting anything that moved as soon as it emerged from the ground. Most of the Chryssalids were smaller in size than the one that had tried to jump Sunset, and would usually go down with a shot or sword slice, however they were extremely fast and soon Mox was sporting a few cuts of his own, courtesy of the insectile scythes.

"These small ones seem to have already reached their maturity," Mox shouted, throwing down one and smashing its head in with the heel of his boot before shooting another one.

Elena's shots took down one, and then another.

"Any poison?"

"Not from them!" Mox replied.

"Bigger ones on your six," Elena informed them dryly.

"We need to get out of here... " Sunset said, slowly backing away, raising her shard gun to blow off the head of the nearest one. She got lucky and avoided the first sweep of the next one's scythes, but the follow up hit in the right spot between her armor links to leave a painful cut on her stomach.

She could feel the poison slowly spreading, and focused her magic on the injury, fighting it back. "Guys, we need to escape!"

Angel hissed something angrily.

"I know you know!"

More cracks and showers of stone around them announced the arrival of even more chryssalids. Sunset was pushed back, until she was back to back with Angel and Mox. She put her gun away and started slashing as many chryssalids as she could with her sword, rather than wasting ammo.

"Sunset!" for the first time since the fight started Elena sounded worried. "The ground!"

Rather than seeing it, Sunset felt it. Whatever was under the plaza where they stood was, it wasn't holding well the weight of several tons of stone, alien insects breaking through it and the trampling.

The ground under them buckled, giving pause even to the chryssalids. The aliens and resistance fighters looked at each other as the whole temple shook. The ground seemed to sink a little, but through sheer luck, the center held and the pressure of the rock slabs kept them in place.

"Nobody move…" Sunset whispered. The larger of the chryssalids chittered softly, seeming to understand her words and agree with her order.

"This is not going to hold…" Mox warned.

"We might still make it if there's no more attacks…" Sunset said. The chryssalids didn't seem to understand her per se, but it seemed to somehow sense that she wasn't to attack.

"Chryssalids are unpredictable and not trustworthy…" Mox warned.

"Maybe," Sunset conceded, looking straight at the largest of her enemies. "But they would have to be pretty stupid to do something like that right now."

It was then that four consecutive explosions of rock bursting out around them happened, and four large chrysallids landed from the newly-formed holes, screeching in defiance.

The ground shook, and Sunset glared at them. "Stupid, stupid, chryssalids!" she shouted just as the whole plaza collapsed under them.