The Antventure Begins

58. Hungry Like the Wolf Dragon

The acid sizzles as it arcs through the air towards the two prowling Wolf Dragons. It’s unfortunate they had their backs to me and I wasn’t able to aim for their faces. Still, with a satisfying splash my first salvo hits just above the front left leg of my target.

Just after the first shot lands, I launch my second.

POW!

Without time to aim carefully, this shot isn’t nearly as accurate, catching the second monster on the flank.

Both creatures snarl viciously as the acid begins its deadly work, sticking and hardening, and eating into their body.

I’m satisfied with the first shot, catching the Wolf Dragon just above its leg will hopefully restrict its mobility, something these monsters have in spades. The second is a little unfortunate, but with the time restraints I wasn’t prepared to take the risk and potentially miss completely, so I aimed for a much broader area.

I don’t want to underestimate these creatures. They look powerful and extremely fast, with their long legs and powerfully built bodies, I’m sure they would outpace me on open ground. I’m aiming to use my acid to maximum effect by restraining their speed and getting early damage in before they close in on me.

Once they recover from their initial shock the monsters spring apart and run into the woods, roaring as the acid slowly bites into them.

Thankfully the first target I hit is already showing slightly reduced speed, that one leg not moving as freely as before. They are constantly scanning their surroundings with all of their senses. Since these guys are part-wolf, I assume they’ve inherited a powerful sense of smell. I highly doubt they have those large snouts for nothing!

Fortunately, my Stealth displays its strength. I remain as still as possible, maximising the benefit of my skill and the two large monsters are unable to pinpoint my location. Even with having a good idea where the shots came from based on the impact they experienced.

Still as a harmless mouse I wait, perched amongst the branches towards the top of the tree. The targets start prowling and rumbling growls are emitted as they stalk the area, hunting for my trail.

Haha! Exactly as planned.

Now that my enemies have been kind enough to slow down, I once again take careful aim, looking over my shoulder to direct my acid.

POW!

Bullseye!

The Wolf Dragon howls in agony as my acid splatters directly into its face, covering its eyes and nose before sticking and hardening, destroying its senses.

Take that, you stupid dog!

Swinging its head in frustration, the monster tries to swipe away the acid with its paws. When that fails it starts to furiously rub its head into the vegetation and dirt in a frantic effort to remove the hateful stuff.

Sorry, wolf, my Restrictive Acid isn’t so easy to get rid of!

My last shot has revealed my location at last and the second hound glares up into the tree.

Hello down there!

The wolf bunches its legs, preparing to leap, but then it surprises me by lunging and swinging its tail with ferocious force. That strange metallic tail crashes into the tree. At the moment of impact is a tremendous crack, and before my boggling eyes the trunk of the tree shatters.

Are you serious! He smashed straight through this trunk in one strike. Not that I have time to think about that, I’m falling! Before the tree hits the ground, I throw myself clear, using all of my legs to push off as hard as I can. Hopefully I managed to propel myself far enough that I make it clear of the crash zone.

Poor Tiny is thrown from my back when I hit the ground and roll, yelping in indignation as he smacks into the dirt. Hopefully he’ll be ok, I don’t have enough time to worry about my small ape companion at the present moment. I’m terrified a rather large part-wolf, part-dragon monster may be about to pounce and smash my head in with its bizarrely potent tail!

When I finally manage to right myself and take in my surroundings, I am once again surprised.

Where the hell did these guys come from!

Emerging from the forest are the most demonic looking rabbits I’ve ever seen. Bristling black fur, gleaming red eyes, savagely muscled frames, and instead of the usual charming rabbit front teeth, vicious fangs protrude from a hungry maw.

What’s more, there are dozens of them.

Leaping out of the woods the creatures are slightly smaller than me but still larger than a hatchling worker. They pounce upon the two Wolf Dragons, gnawing and biting at the much larger creatures. Some jump with their powerful hind legs, turn in the air and deliver powerful kicks to the flanks of the monsters.

Hey, those are mine!

It seems the sound of combat has drawn out more monsters from the woods to steal the Biomass out from under my very nose. I should probably have expected this. The forest is so packed full of monsters now that fighting almost anywhere is bound to draw attention.

I’m not prepared to give up my hunt to these pesky poaching rabbits. No matter how evil they look!

With the small horde of rabbits swarming over the larger hounds, there’s not much time remaining before they manage to overpower the already weakened wolf monsters. Against these sorts of numbers, I don’t have much choice. It’s time to summon the colony!

Stopping only to pick up Tiny and make sure he’s secure on my back, I run back towards the ant hill, dropping a food trail the entire way.

I don’t stop when I reach the nest either, I climb all the way up the ant hill and down into the tunnel dropping the trail the entire way. After running down the tunnel a ways, I run all the way back, laying down a second layer of pheromones to strengthen the scent, further motivating my siblings.

I’m hoping that by running down into the nest I’ll be able to attract more of the workers deeper in, amassing a larger force more quickly. I need all of the ants I can get as fast as possible!

Bursting out of the top of the hill I sprint into the woods, overlaying my own trail all the way. A few workers have already begun sniffing about, making their way along the path. I breeze past them, running at full tilt with Tiny hooting in delight.

Chaos reigns on the scene of the battle. The two Wolf Dragons are in bad shape, bleeding heavily from a number of bite wounds all over their bodies.

The rabbits have also paid a price. These Wolf Dragons are evolved monsters after all, they need to be respected. The broken bodies of several rabbits litter the ground here and there, torn by claw and fang or smashed to a pulp by the incredible strength of those tails.

I don’t have time to hesitate. If I wait, the rabbits might finish of the prey before I get a chance.

Charge!

I barrel into the fight like a tank, knocking aside the smaller rabbits with my weight and momentum, throwing myself towards the most heavily wounded wolf monster. The beast is in a terrible state, my acid having burned into its face, resulting in it being almost incapable of defending itself against the predations of the nimble rabbits.

I’ll put you out of your misery!

The monster hears me coming and turns to face my onslaught. There is little it can do. Without slowing, I hurl myself directly for the monster’s throat, latching on with my mandibles.

Crushing Bite!