The Antventure Begins

4. The First Prey

I’m so… so hungry!

Perched here on the roof of the cavern, claws dug into the cold rock, there’s only one thought in my mind.

Food.

All the delicious things I was able to eat in my previous life are spinning through my mind: chocolate, cake, steak, bread. Yes, even bread. And the hunger is making my mind play tricks on me. The last time I saw a croca-beast I swore it looked like a cow and nearly leapt at it from the ceiling.

The centipedes are looking more and more like a tangle of noodles. I have to solve this situation before I get myself killed chomping on something I shouldn’t.

Two days. Two. Whole. Days.

Studied every aspect of this end of the cavern in excruciating detail. I’ve spent so long hanging upside down over the water basin that I nearly fell asleep and dropped into the water. That would be a swim I wouldn’t enjoy…

A welcome side effect of spending all my time this way has been my Stealth Levelling up to four! And thanks to spending my downtime digging away at my hiding place, my Digging reached Level three.

Muahahahaha!

I prepare, I grow, I hunger!

Sigh.

I know… these skills are pretty much useless, okay? I’ll take anything I can get at this stage. Hopefully, I’ll be able to conquer my first prey soon.

My antennae twitch. The target is close, I can smell them. Concentrating, I try to focus my eyes. I’m currently positioned away from the pool in a very dark area of the cavern. The snaking light-veins along the walls are far apart here, allowing deep shadows to exist.

My chosen prey has been using the wall on this side of the cavern as a resting place, crawling down to get a drink once each day. An isolated creature with a predictable movement path I think I can defeat. This creature is so damn rare and—Wait, I see it!

Cautiously, the armoured lizard moves down. Because it nests amongst the rocks towards the top of the wall, I haven’t been able to see clearly enough to identify exactly where, so I couldn’t tell when it started moving, but I have it now. This is the time to execute my plan.

Moving as quickly as I can while still being Stealthy, I scramble towards the darkness above the creature. My stomach is rumbling, demanding all the speed I can muster.

Don’t worry stomach, I won’t let you down. Just need to get in the right position to strike.

Luckily, the armoured lizard moves fairly slow, especially on the vertical surface. It’s almost directly below me now, facing away. The large spines protruding from its back look so solid, as if made of stone. Man, I bet it would sting to get poked with one of those.

I can’t start thinking negative now, my stomach is counting on me!

Slowly, oh so slowly, I move above the target. My eyes are the eyes of the hunter, the eagle, the tiger. The timing of my pounce will be everything…

Now!

In a flash, I flip my body around, take aim and fire my acid spray directly at the target. The liquid falls through the air at tremendous speed, splashing against the rock and covering the armoured lizard’s feet. A flawless strike.

Ha! My secret target practice over the last couple days has paid off.

The creature cries out in pain as the acid burns its legs. It tries to turn and find its attacker, but I’m already moving, racing down the wall behind it, all thought of stealth abandoned.

Now my plan enters the second phase. The lizard sees my approach and tries to bring its fangs to bare, tilting the fearsome spines forward to cover as much of its body as it can. This is the wrong battleground for you, lizard. You want to battle me here on the wall? With my incredible Grip Skill at Level three, this wall is no challenge. Also, I’m nimble and light, while you’re heavy and slow. With your feet burning from acid, how well can you possibly manoeuvre here?

Yet still you want to face me and court death!

Despite saying that, I’m still terrified. My first hunt. First battle! I cannot fail here or my life may be over. Focus. The lizard is bracing itself for a close-range attack, but just before I close in, I turn and blast the lizard with acid once more.

Ha, ha! Didn’t expect that, did you?

Gripping the wall, I furiously scrabble my six legs to reorient myself. The lizard growls and hisses as acid continues to burn at its feet and now face. It won’t be finished from just this however. My acid is still weak and not nearly strong enough to defeat this creature on its own.

We begin an awkward dance on the wall, the lizard trying to thrust with its fangs or spines before retreating, and me snapping with my mandibles, hoping to crunch down on a leg or the face.

The sounds of our fight bounce off the rock walls and pillars of stone, vibrating the air against my antennae. There’s been more than one fight over the last few days that were settled by new challengers entering the fray when the original combatants grew weary. I can’t allow this to drag out!

As we joust back and forth, the lizard is beginning to breathe heavily, the energy required to support its body here on the wall while fighting is taking a toll. It’s nearly time.

Growing desperate, the lizard suddenly lunges, its spikes rushing directly towards my still pitiful eyes. I have to dodge! A flash of inspiration strikes and I snap my feet farther apart, bringing my body closer to the wall. To grip the wall at this sort of angle takes all the strength my tiny claws can muster, but it works and the spikes pass just over my head.

A chance!

Before the lizard can retreat, I dart forward, mandibles wide, and snap, crunching them closed on its head. My foe releases a pained growl as my jaws squeeze tight, but I harden my heart to its pain.

I’m sorry, lizard, you must become my food!

Now for the final phase. I gather my strength, prepare my heart and leap!

With its head gripped in my mandibles, I sail over its body. The lizard’s scaly feet tipped with claws scrabble and scrape at the stone, but burned with acid and worn out from fighting, they simply cannot muster the strength to hold the lizard along with my added weight.

So, we fall.

Crash!

The impact momentarily stuns me and I release the grasp I have on my enemy. All according to the plan. Lying on my back I’m vulnerable, I must get back on my feet. My six legs begin waving frantically in the air, and I resort to rolling back and forth before I’m finally able to get my feet under me.

Focusing my eyes, my pitiful prey has fallen into a much more difficult predicament than I did! Its long spines and hard shell have plunged directly into the pitfall trap I painstakingly dug after the last visit this lizard made to the water pool.

Muahahahahaaa!

Do you see that, you stupid lizard? This is the ingenuity of the human mind combined with my Level three Digging abilities! I purposefully made the soil loose and soft at the bottom of the trap so those long spines would sink into the earth and trap you, feet all in the air unable to escape. Indeed, before my blurry eyes, my prey is trapped, its feet waving uselessly as it tries and fails to roll over.

This is the strategy I obsessed over for two days. Using all my abilities together, shooting acid, fighting on walls, my mandibles, my human intellect and even my Digging skill, to be able to triumph over the enemy.

Even so, to cause the lizard to fall onto its back, I was forced into a dangerous manoeuvre. Thankfully it had such regular habits and travelled on the same path each time, otherwise my efforts would have been for nought.

With the prey incapacitated I start to lose my tension. Using the last of my acid, I fire off two more shots, right into the soft belly of the lizard.

[Acid Shot has increased to Level 2.]

So quickly? Perhaps my skills increase more rapidly when used in a combat situation as opposed to more casual use. Still, my Stealth skill took so much time to Level up even when hiding from multiple creatures for hours on end.

Something to ponder after I fill my protesting stomach.

I hoped that using the acid to finish off the lizard would spare me from having to try and Bite the creature to death, but nature is not that kind. After enduring the cries of the pitiful thing for ten minutes I harden my resolve and use my mandibles to… uh… finish the job.

[Bite has increased to Level 3.]

Having to take a life is a bit depressing, but getting a skill Level feels so rewarding!