The Antventure Begins

47. On the Hunt with my Brethren

Running along the trail, I decide to quickly spend the Biomass I have in order to slightly improve my abilities. If I’m heading into another massive battle against gigantic monsters, I want to be at my best. I’ll leave the three Skill Points until later. Hopefully once I master Mana Manipulation, I’ll be able to purchase more magic based skills. At the very least I want to upgrade a few organs.

With three points to spend I upgrade my Regenerative Gland to +1 and then my Carapace to +2. Getting a little tougher and more survivable seems like a good move.

Although I do want to save up and get my Mandibles to +5 so I can choose an upgrade… I’ll have to do that next time.

Enduring the painful itching of mutation I race off down the trail with other ants boiling out of the hill behind me and my cheerfully yelping mini bat-gorilla on my back.

Exactly how I’ll be able to fight with this fellow around I’m not sure, but I guess I’ll figure it out as I go. Hopefully he’ll be smart enough not to get himself killed. If he were to die in a stupid way, it would double the pain of losing that monster core!

I intend to get some work out of you, mini-ape. You need to pay me back on my investment.

The wall on the outer edge of this open space rises before us. Wow. This feels like it’s a long way from the lake. Exactly how far from the nest are these guys wandering? There’s a small tunnel opening in the wall, maybe a cave, and ants are bustling at the entrance, battling against something inside. It looks like we’re raiding a monster nest. Judging by the size of the opening it shouldn’t be anything too massive. I charge towards the fight, ready to assist my brethren.

The noise and din of monster battle fills my ears; growling, roaring and thudding impacts from our opponents and an almost eerie silence from the ants as they endlessly advance.

You guys seriously don’t care about your own lives, do you?

I can minimise casualties if I get myself to the frontline. Brushing aside my smaller siblings I bull my way in until I come face to face with our foe: a pack of Wolf Dragon cubs that have made their home here in this cave.

There must be eight or nine of them in here! Several ants have already suffered severe damage from the fearsome impact generated by those muscular tails. Things are different than the last time I faced these guys in battle. I’m no longer scared of these unevolved monsters, particularly with an army of thirty allies behind me.

Charge!

Sensing the battle atmosphere, the little chap on my back is no longer giggling but snarling and glaring at our foes, gripping my back with all his strength and keeping his head down as he tries to intimidate the enemy with his squeaky, high-pitched voice.

Maybe when you’re a bit bigger they’ll be frightened of you, but not yet little guy…

With my improved Toughness and Regenerative Gland ready to go, I don’t care about taking a bit of damage and I push into the enemy, snapping and biting to draw aggro onto me.

A nearby cub tries to bring its tail around for a devastating smash but…

Crushing Bite!

The offending tail is caught in my mandibles. Take this! Chomp! My powerful mandibles tear through the thick muscle and sever the tail completely.

Ha!

Some of the hounds turn to bite and scratch at me, inflicting minor damage. That’s easily shrugged off and my chaos continues to rain in the enemy formation.

Bite!

I catch another wolf by the leg, crushing the limb and reducing the enemy’s mobility drastically. Shrugging off a few more blows I push past the line of foes and activate my Regenerative Gland.

The freezing sensation explodes within my body, spreading throughout my form within seconds, closing over my scratches and replenishing my HP. Now that I’ve broken through the enemy line, they are perfect targets for my acid!

POW! POW! POW! POW!

At point-blank range I blast acid into the cubs ranks, sending them into a frenzy as the burning fluid begins its deadly work. As soon as it impacts, the acid hardens, restricting their movement and slowing them down.

My reckless charge has forced the wolves to focus on me, exposing their backs to the rest of the invasion force who capitalise by pressing forward, literally climbing over each other to latch onto their enemies and bring them down.

The Wolf Dragons have been scattered and isolated, allowing the more numerous ants to maximise the advantage of their numbers.

I hover around the fights, lunging forward to deal the occasional Bite but letting the rest of the workers do the bulk of the work. At least this way they get to Level their skills. However, I need to be sure I manage to secure my own reward.

Crushing Bite!

Dashing toward a heavily wounded wolf, I deliver the final blow!

[You have defeated a Level 4 Wolf Dragon Cub.]

[You have gained XP.]

And another!

[You have defeated a Level 2 Wolf Dragon Cub.]

[You have gained XP.]

If the workers are annoyed at me stealing the experience, they don’t show it, relentlessly going about their tasks without pause.

I drag away first one and then the other bodies of my own kills, ensuring I secure Biomass for myself. I don’t expect I’ll be able to get much from these guys, seeing as they haven’t evolved yet, but something is better than nothing.

Seeing the food before him the little guy cannot resist his hunger and leaps, tearing into the food with his tiny fangs. I’m not too fussed, he can’t eat that much, and this food won’t help me a great deal anyway.

After eating I manage to gain two Biomass, which is consistent with my expectations. My assumption is that I gain only half the Biomass from a source that has evolved less than I have, that fraction may even shrink further if I were to consume a Wolf Dragon Cub after evolving again, perhaps down to a quarter.

Which means as I evolve, I’ll need to hunt tougher and tougher prey if I want to accrue Biomass at a decent pace. Which means I need to ensure each evolution is fully reinforced by a maximised core so I don’t fall behind in strength.

The little guy has finished up and scrambled onto my back again. I’m going to have to come up with a name for this little guy if this is going to continue. I’m not sure I can call him anything that would suit a small and cute creature like he is now if he’s going to grow up and be massive like the ape the core came from.

I don’t know… Tiny?

Sure, why not? It’ll be appropriate when he’s small and ironic if he ever grows up to be massive. It isn’t like I can verbally call him by his name anyway, this is purely for my own internal use.

With Tiny on board and the work here in the cave done, I decide to venture out in search of more prey. The rest of the workers have cleaned up the area, dragging the Biomass and any wounded ants back to the nest for healing. Looks like they’re smart enough to recognise the queen can heal their allies until they’re strong enough to regenerate their own Health.

Quite the successful raid for the colony. The first of many!

With Tiny firmly on board, I take a roundabout path back to the nest, hoping I can encounter something else to fight. I briefly consider putting my two Biomass into upgrading my Regenerative Gland, but I decide to hold on. Upgrading my mandibles could give me a huge boost to my offensive abilities. It will be worth saving and finding out.

There’s a lot of activity around me. There seems to be more than the usual number of monsters moving around in the open, at least from my limited experience. I don’t want to tangle with a large group of unevolved monsters, I’d rather find something that has evolved once so I get a decent reward in terms of Biomass.

And I have found just the thing.