The Antventure Begins

107. Counter Attack

The monster behind me has ripped itself free and is approaching its already skewered prey.

Unfortunately for you, standing behind me is not a good place to be.

POW! POW! POW!

Firing blindly, I rapid fire three shots, splashing the unfortunate monster all over.

Ha! Take that, moron!

Reeling in pain as the acid burns furiously away at its flesh, the creature pulls itself backwards, simultaneously ripping the spike out of my body. My mind completely blanks out due to the sheer agony tearing at my psyche. That one stings!

Activate the Limb Regeneration Gland!

As the regenerative fluid courses through my body, hopefully closing over the holes I have above and below the abdomen, I can finally turn to face my adversary.

Able to stab me straight through the Diamond Carapace, this creature must have some serious chops.

What looms before me is truly a nightmare beast. Two enormous elongated, double-jointed arms protrude from the front of the body, each limb tipped with needle points that glitter in the light. Suspended between these two limbs is a withered, tattered body with a curling, hooked tail dragging across the ground.

Come on now, monster! That doesn’t even look practical.

My Health, which had plummeted down to half after being pierced, is recovering rapidly as my healing gland does its work. One heck of a good purchase, that!

Eyeballing my foe, I feint left and right, trying to buy a few more precious seconds for my wounds to close. My enemy hesitates then screeches horribly, its tube-like mouth distending to ridiculous proportions before it raises one spear-tipped limb and slams it down at me.

The Restrictive Acid is doing its work! The creature is so much faster than it looks. Those fearsomely pointed arms flash through the air and plunge deep into the earth as if sliding into warm butter.

I was barely able to dodge that strike. Only by flinging myself to one side was I able to avoid it by the slimmest of margins! Despite looking so distorted, this monster really means business. That speed and penetrating power are a serious threat, able to stab straight through my sturdy defences.

If I continue playing for time, I might just end up getting stabbed through the head. Go for the attack!

When the creature is retracting its arm, I lunge, channelling Mana into my mandibles.

CRUNCH!

Summoning my strength, I bring my jaws down on the offending arm with a vicious Crushing Bite. My mandibles clamp down before the beast can retract its fearsome weapon. With satisfaction, my mandibles rip and tear, but I’m disappointed they didn’t cut straight through. Not even the Infused Mandibles were up to that task!

The monster rears back, hissing sharply in pain.

Ha! How do you like—it smashes down with its other arm.

Whoa, there!

Flinging myself to the right, I’m able to narrowly dodge. How is this thing so fast? When the arm raises, there’s almost no time to dodge because I’ve never seen the thing come down! It’s like it just teleports into the ground.

This must be a skill or mutation of some kind. Even with my Restrictive Acid covering the creature, it can still muster this level of speed. If I hadn’t hit with the acid, I’d probably be dead right now, speared through the head by a limb I never saw move.

Part of me shudders in fear just thinking about that scenario. The terrors of the Dungeon really are innumerable. How is a humble ant colony supposed to survive?

Thanks to my compound vision, I can see the colony hard at work at this moment.

They aren’t advancing out of the escape tunnel, which is good news, but holding the line, two hundred workers strong, devouring any monster that dares to approach the wall of ant-kind blocking the entrance.

Good on you, colony! Keep up the good work.

Tiny’s rampage continues. His new form is fearsomely strong, blasting out electricity and using his sheer physical force to smash his opponents to paste. He can’t keep it up indefinitely, though. Wounds are already cut into him and his electrical energy isn’t inexhaustible. That blast he sent out across the room must have cost him dearly, as the sparks radiating off him have dimmed considerably since.

The wave shows no sign of abating either. New heat sources are growing in the walls and monsters are already filling the nest to the brim. This is truly going to be an endless wave of monsters. Formo wasn’t kidding. If anything, he might have understated the danger!

I have to deal with this tough enemy and see what I can do about the situation here in the chamber. If the ants can’t keep digging, we’ll eventually be overwhelmed. The colony has many numbers, but not enough to fight this never-ending flood of nightmare beasts.

I change the Mana I’m channelling into my mandibles, flipping the switch and bringing out my gravitational energy instead. Before the creature has time to rebalance, I reach out with the energy and latch on.

Why don’t you come over and say hello at my kind of range, beastie boy?

YOINK!

Haha! Have I sabotaged your plans?

The monster freezes in shock as it suddenly rockets through the air. Completely unprepared for such a sudden flight, it’s guard is wide open.

CRUSHING BITE!

Crunch!

Digging in my feet to arrest the momentum of the creature as it slams into me, I bring my mandibles down directly on my enemy’s face. At this close range, tiny gem-like eyes surrounding the tube mouth are visible. As if the body were studded with little rubies. Each of those dozens of eyes is wide with terror as my jaws clamp down harder and harder, crushing the flesh even as it cracks the bone.

Have another!

CRUSHING BITE!

With a horrific squelch, the monster’s flesh is compacted as whatever skeleton it had shatters under the force of my bite.

[You have defeated a Level 1 Nocte Cuspide Vermem.]

[You have gained XP.]

Muahahaha! Take that!

Seriously though, aren’t these things too strong for Level 1? You just hatched out of the wall, you should be weak as a kitten!

Swiftly checking my surroundings, there isn’t anything about to stab me in the face, so I take a chance and chomp down on a few mouthfuls of food.

I need to keep healing myself!

[You have consumed a new source of Bioamass, Nocte Cuspide Vermem. One Biomass awarded.]

[Basic Profile of the Nocte Cuspide Vermem unlocked.]

[Nocte Cuspide Vermem: Night-Spear Worm. This darkness-affiliated monster has low mobility to a lack of limbs but compensates with extreme power and speed possessed by its two stabbing arms. Beware the piercing power of these spears, they are capable of punching through all but the toughest defence!]

Yeah, thanks for that. I think I’d worked out that last bit for myself actually…

After a few more mouthfuls I gain another Biomass point but I’m forced to stop eating as more monsters close in on my position. Not necessarily looking to fight, but posing enough of a threat that I can’t continue to leisurely enjoy a meal.

Rude things. No manners here in the Dungeon, none at all.

With one more point, I could have mutated my Gravity Gland to +4! I’m not sure if that would have helped much right now, but I’ll take anything I can get at this point.

I need to try and settle this situation as best I can. What I can do? I can’t blindly fire off Gravity Bombs in this narrow space. I could hit Tiny, or collapse the ceiling on myself, or get caught in the bomb myself!

What a death that would be, sucked into your own black hole of doom…

PASS!

I don’t really have any other tricks.

Ok, Anthony, it might be time to experiment with Gravitational Energy and Mana Shaping! Hopefully something good happens.