The Antventure Begins

32. Seeking but not Finding

The fireball streaks out of sight like a meteor. The result of the spell doesn’t remain a mystery for long as a tremendous tremor rocks the ground, accompanied by a massive explosion lighting the area with a brilliant flash of light.

The roars and screams of monsters below fill the air. That blast must have wounded quite a number and aggravated a heck of a lot more. The other four humans are chuckling to each other as they brandish their weapons and begin to advance down the hill towards the lake.

The spell caster remains. I think it’s female. I’m finding it hard to tell, perhaps my eyes are still too poor to discern those details. She begins to prepare more spells, not quite of the same size as before, conjuring flaming lances out of thin air and sending them streaking into the monsters below.

It feels strange to see the peace of the lake broken in this way.

I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised, right?

Imagining that humans had come across a valuable resource. Would they share it? If they had the strength to take and monopolise it, would they leave it be and allow others to use it? I don’t think they would. They would lie in ambush and kill those who came. They would build fences and walls to keep others out. They would keep everything they could to themselves and grow their strength in order to continue taking and keeping even more.

The monsters here in this place are very stupid. If we look at the stats in the system, I can imagine most monsters I’ve seen have a Cunning less than ten. They can be tricked, baited, and easily trapped.

For some reason they don’t even think of taking and controlling the resource that is the Mana lake. They don’t even fight there, ensuring that they themselves and others can benefit. From a human standpoint, it’s stupid.

Not to mention, what are monsters to humans anyway? Just resources and experience. If I’d been born a human, I’d be doing exactly what they’re doing, right? I’d be attacking monsters and gaining XP, taking their cores to sell, and celebrating.

But I wasn’t born a human in this world.

I was born something else.

A monster.

And for some reason, seeing these humans here, breaking the peace of the lake…

It just really ticks me off. I don’t think too much, I just turn, take aim, and fire.

POW!

Sizzling acid streaks through the air directly towards the female mage. I’ve directed at the back of her head.

Splash!

The acid impacts a barrier of some kind, spreading over the surface to reveal a spherical, invisible shield covering the mage and protecting her from harm.

Startled, she turns around, trying to locate the source of this surprise attack. I’ve already buried myself back into the vegetation, completely hidden from view. I’m nervous she’ll be able to detect me using a spell of crystal like the guards in the upper cavern, but after staring hard at the terrain, she returns her focus to the battle happening below.

POW!

Once again acid arcs through the air, splattering over the barrier. The acid audibly sizzles in its attempt to chew through that layer of protection. The mage turns fiercely and launches a jet of fire from her hand, scorching the area behind her, sweeping the flame around like a flamethrower to burn away any cover close to her.

I’m not that close.

Still, the searing flames twinge my still healing antennae. Good lord that’s hot! I’m not even sure what it is I want to achieve with this intervention… I just wanted her to stop bombarding the monsters below.

Well, mission successful I guess, Anthony, what the heck are you going to do now?

The mage is still observing the flaming wreckage of the forest, trying to identify the pesky source of these acid attacks.

And I am not about to show my adorable face!

The mage is visibly irritated but her attention is quickly dragged back to the battle below. Her allies are probably relying on her support in their fight against the monsters, and she cannot afford to have her attention diverted.

Now that her back is to me, I take a little time to reposition myself, darting out of my cover to move slightly farther away. I dive in amongst the roots of a nearby tree and observe my target again.

She’s returned to conjuring the brilliant lances of flame and sending them flying into her targets. The lances begin as a hovering ball of dense fire before they streak forward, accelerating until they resemble a long spear of pure heat.

Just as she is about to cast again, I take aim and fire.

[Improved Acid Shot (II) has reached Level 2.]

Nice!

From this extended range my aim is less perfect, but the majority of the acid still splatters against that invisible barrier, eating away at the mage’s defences.

What I didn’t expect is what happens next.

With an audible shattering sound, the barrier vanishes and the acid covering the surface immediately drops through, a small portion of it falling directly onto the mage.

She cries in rage as the acid begins eating into her robes and tries to brush away the offending acid and protect herself from further damage.

I actually didn’t expect I’d be able to harm this mage at all. Seeing my acid doing its deadly work against a human is somewhat more shocking to me than I expected. Without the support of the magic bombardment from above, I imagine the other four fighters below will be having a harder time of it. My main objective has been accomplished in that the mage has stopped working. I decide to try and sneak out to see what is happening down by the lake.

Moving carefully, I emerge from my hiding place and sneak about in a wide arc, keeping a good distance away from the mage and the path her allies would take on their return. Skirting around the hill, I make my way back towards the side of the lake.

It’s a scene of devastation.

Dozens of monsters have already been slain on the edge of the water, some had clearly tried to charge up the hill only to be killed by the mage’s four allies without achieving anything.

The monsters on this side of the lake have already been routed, those prepared to charge and fight are dead while the more discreet creatures made good on their escape as soon as they could.

The humans are picking through the bodies now, using long knives they had strapped to their legs to open up the creatures. No doubt in search of their cores, cursing when their search fails or chuckling merrily when they pocket the shining, gem-like material.

The mage has made her way down the hill to her allies, and they laugh as she angrily speaks and gestures towards the hill, probably explaining the sneak attacks I performed.

One of the others, a particularly large warrior looking type, pulls what appears to be a bottle or flask from a carry bag on his hip and passes it to his wounded ally who gratefully accepts and drinks it.

Perhaps a healing potion?

Once they have completed their harvest of cores the five of them group up and make their way over the hill. Their silhouettes blur into obscurity the farther away they move and disappear once they crest the peak.

The edge of the lake and the distance up the hill are strewn with dead monsters and I feel numb.

As a former human and a current monster, what exactly is the morality of this world?

Regardless, there is a wealth of Biomass here and no monster would approve letting it go to waste. I’ll eat first, then think later.