The Antventure Begins

51. Royal Intervention

A hoard of workers surrounds her majesty, some of them even trying to pull her into the nest back to safety. She fills the narrow tunnel, easily able to resist any attempt to remove her from the battle.

Her intelligent eyes survey the field. There’s a glint of anger there in witnessing the invading monsters and her fallen children.

She chitters angrily and gradually light begins to build in her antennae, growing brighter and brighter. This is far more energy than she used when she healed me. What exactly is she going to do?

Her antennae are holding so much concentrated Mana, it hurts my eyes. Whatever this magic is, it’s going to be powerful!

With a snap of her jaws, she releases the pent-up energy and it floods into the tunnel. In an instant, all of the ants are bathed in light, the magic pouring into their bodies like water.

That freezing numb sensation explodes as my body drinks in more and more of the magic. My injured legs have grown so cold they are painful and they begin to regrow right before my very eyes! Slowly at first, and then with increasing speed the flesh extends farther and farther down as I continue to greedily pull in as much healing energy as I can get.

Injured ants are staggering to their feet and back into the fight as their wounds close and limbs regrow with astonishing speed.

What incredible magic! I have no idea how much MP was required to pour out a spell like that, but it must have been insanely high. I have to revise my opinion of just how advanced a monster a Queen Ant is, she must have a seriously powerful core in order to fuel this kind of magic. Of course, she has the benefit of the workers bringing all of the resources they can to her, but it’s still extremely impressive.

Along with her healing magic, the mere presence of the queen has energised the workers. They’ve redoubled their ferocity, perhaps driven by an instinct to protect her at all costs.

From my perch on the wall, I watch as workers push forward relentlessly, biting, spraying acid, not even serious wounds stopping them anymore.

My legs have almost fully regrown, and my acid gland has also increased its production rate, enough for me to fire off two more shots.

I aim farther back into the darkness of the tunnel and unleash two blasts. That distance is the very limit of my range, and I can’t be too accurate. Hopefully the painful acid will cause the Berserkers to strike out at each other, making my life a whole lot easier.

[Improved Acid Shot (II) has reached Level 5.]

Nothing?

Do I have to raise it to Level ten before I can upgrade it now? Makes sense, I guess… I need to stop expecting the system in this world to make things easy for me.

Empty of acid and with my legs regrown, it’s time to get back into the fight.

The queen is not advancing and putting herself at risk, but staying back, watching her colony go into battle in defence of their home. I’m glad she isn’t going forward. The tunnel is too narrow for her to fight properly in this place anyway.

I move onto the ceiling and start making my way back to the front.

With their deep-set eyes being located relatively low on their bodies, I don’t think these monsters are able to look up very well. This proves true as I manage to sneak my way past the frontline. Beneath me, ants are swarming over their enemies, their numbers too large for the distracted and raging Berserkers to effectively keep off. Workers are climbing the walls, slipping under clawed feet and latching on with powerful mandibles, dragging the monsters down.

It feels like the tide is starting to turn.

If I can disrupt the enemy in the back, then life will get easier for the ants at the front as they make their way forward.

The acid attacks I launched have caused ample chaos already. Several Berserkers are heavily wounded and others are shrieking, arm blades slick with gore after lashing out at those around them.

I choose my moment carefully and drop down onto the back of one of the monsters, directly behind its upright torso.

I’ve really never seen anything like these monsters. A horrible mishmash of parts assembled into an insane killing machine. Something like this could only be the product of this underground realm. I cannot imagine nature producing a creature like this. What terrible intellect designed this madness?

Time to put the Infused Mandibles to work once more!

Mana floods out of my core and into my jaws, charging them with energy.

Crushing Bite!

The charged mandibles shear directly through the creature’s flesh, creating a massive wound directly in the monster’s back. Ichor gushes out, coating my head in the horrible stuff. The monster shrieks with ear shattering noise and desperately tries to throw me off.

My Grip won’t be denied and I hold on to Bite again. More and more Crushing Bites rip into the creature until it stops moving.

[Crushing Bite (II) has reached Level 5.]

[You have defeated a Level 11 Four Clawed Berserker.]

[You have gained XP.]

[You have reached Level 6. One Skill Point awarded.]

So much experience! These creatures must be advanced to have such high Levels and to improve my skills so rapidly.

The monster behind the most recent victim is distracted, battling against its neighbour. When the creature swings its massive blades, I hurl myself forward, running underneath it and ripping into its leg.

This time a Piercing Chomp!

My mandibles dig deep into the limb, the sharper parts penetrating right down to the bone.

The victim immediately rears up, stomping the ground with its clawed feet but I’ve already moved on towards its rear legs.

Chomp!

[Piercing Chomp (II) has reached Level 2.]

With massive wounds on two legs, the Berserker cannot properly maintain its balance and gradually falls to one side, slamming into the monster behind it.

That creature roars and begins to lash out, rampaging amongst its own kind.

These creatures are incapable of working together in a group. More to the point, they don’t seem to be the type of monster that would cooperate in the first place. They aren’t social insects after all. Why the heck are there so many making their way up here?

Eager to get the experience, I continue to Bite into the monster until I can deal lethal damage.

[You have defeated a Level 8 Four Blade Berserker.]

[You have gained XP.]

Not quite enough to raise my Level all at once, eh?

Complete chaos has swept through the ranks of the enemy at this point. They are killing each other almost faster than the ants can bring them down. Since the queen appeared, the battle has been one sided, the sheer number of ants doing enough damage to send the attackers into disarray.

I continue to run interference, chomping at a leg here and there to knock monsters over or send them into a frenzy.

I gain another Level in Piercing Chomp as I do and manage to finish off one more of the beasts, giving me Level seven before the madness finally ends.

The tunnel is filled with Berserker bodies. Many ants have fallen, though not nearly as many as I’d feared at least. The queen’s healing was able to save dozens of workers who had been wounded right at the beginning of the fight.

Workers are already starting to harvest the incredible wealth of Biomass around us, picking over the food, breaking pieces off and carrying them back to the colony or devouring it then and there, filling their social stomachs.

In all there were twenty-one invaders. Where they had come from or why they advanced up this tunnel from down below I don’t know. Were they forced out of their normal area and seeking food and safety higher up? These guys were certainly high Levelled, evolved monsters, not something I would expect to see here.

To tell the truth, I want to collapse this tunnel. If creatures like that can reach us by climbing up here, then I want to put a stop to it. My only worry is that workers would just open it up again…

I hear a squeaking sound next to me and I turn to see Tiny tugging at one of my legs.

Hey there, little guy, glad to see you were able to stay safe!

He is looking at the food around us with greed lighting up his eyes. Actually, I think he’s drooling.

C’mon, man… There’s no need for… just eat, would you!

I push him towards his meal with one leg. When he looks back at me, I push him again and he seems to get the picture, leaping forward to consume the Biomass.

Considering the sheer amount of Biomass here, this could be a massive boon for the colony. Many ants will be able to mutate, and the remainder of food will fuel the growth of the next generation.

Glancing back up the tunnel, the queen is nowhere in sight. She probably retreated into the nest and is preparing to lay a ton of eggs. The workers are going to be busy for a while.

Despite being completely exhausted, I drag myself over and start to eat.

I need to stock up on as much Biomass as I can.