The Antventure Begins

59. The First War of the Hill

My Crushing Bite crunches with a sickening force directly on the poor beast’s throat, destroying it immediately.

[You have defeated a Level 4 Crevit Lupus Draco.]

[You have gained XP.]

[Basic profile of Crevit Lupus Draco unlocked.]

[Crevit Lupus Draco: Grown Wolf Dragon. The evolved form of the cub, this larger, more powerful creature has a greatly increased Might, allowing it to strike brutally with its scaled tail.]

Not enough experience to give me a Level, but the low Level of the monster makes me hopeful it might have given up an evolution and condensed a core, not that I have time to extract it right now.

Final blow dealt, I am immediately set upon by a definitively un-fluffy horde of rabbits. I’m not too worried about their assault since my shiny Diamond Carapace will repel their efforts. Its incredible hardness is Gandalf guaranteed!

I am swiftly disabused of that notion as several rabbits bare their notably long fangs and manage to puncture my shiny hide ever so slightly. What the hell? I’m supposed to be as hard as a diamond! Is this false advertising?

Small stinging pains remain wherever the rabbits have bitten me and I quickly check my status to confirm exactly how much Health I’ve lost.

Phew!

Thankfully the damage is minimal, just four HP, but I’m still fairly shocked to see those fangs are able to defeat my sturdy carapace. This isn’t good. Those little buggers are going to be able to rip right into the workers when they arrive.

My concern is a beat too late as my siblings have responded to my pheromone trail. Upon seeing the conflict, they throw themselves into battle, rushing in to bite savagely at the first rabbit they see.

Damn workers! Can’t you hesitate, even for a second?

Now I’m terrified my actions are going to put a significant number of my colony brethren six feet under, not in a digging sense but in a burial one. Dammit, Anthony! Get in there and help your people!

Ignoring the rabbit monsters who are literally hanging off me, I charge out of the centre of the battle to where the ants have begun to fight. Tiny starts pounding the rabbits in their face with his little fists with all the strength he can summon. He doesn’t seem to be doing much damage, but at least some of the rabbits are irritated enough to let go.

Nice assist, little buddy!

Reaching the ants, I spot a steady stream of reinforcements arriving from the hill. Roughly twenty ants are here already, moving to the nearest enemy and latching on with their mandibles, causing many rabbits to shriek painfully and lash out with their powerful hind legs.

A few ant hatchlings are sent flying before I even get in position to help.

I wince when they crash into the ground. One poor sap even collided with a tree. Hopefully they can last long enough for the queen to heal them. I’ll take them myself as soon as I’m able!

Once at the front line, I lash out left and right with my mandibles.

Crushing Bite! Crushing Bite!

Two rabbits are heavily wounded when my powerful jaws clamp down on them with vicious force, snapping bones and shredding muscle. I’ll leave them to the others to finish off as the fight is quickly escalating. More and more ants are engaging the enemy and the black rabbit monsters are causing savage wounds with every bite.

With a little breathing space behind me I turn my head slightly to get a quick look and then blast out another jet of acid, catching an advancing rabbit directly in the chest.

Trying to sneak up on me, you little varmint? Let my acid take a bite out of you!

My unfortunate victim screeches in a high-pitched whine that grates on my ears. I thought rabbits were supposed to be quiet creatures. Apparently, they don’t like acid. Who knew?

I swear more rabbits have arrived since this combat began. I thought I’d only seen around twelve, but there must be at least twenty across the field.

The remaining Wolf Dragon is snarling a constant low growl as it continues to lash at the monsters around it with tail and fangs. Since all of those creatures are demon rabbits, I’ll happily leave it to its business and turn my attention back to assisting my fellow ants.

More and more small puncture wounds appear in my carapace with every charge through the combat, acting as a living shield to my smaller brethren. I’m starting to hope these blasted fangs aren’t poisoned, or I might really be in trouble.

Crushing Bite!

I manage to latch onto a rabbit right around the neck as it was distracted by other workers gathering around it. The creature struggles, kicking out with its powerful hind legs directly into my thorax beneath my head. The impact of the kick rocks me backwards but the shock is readily absorbed by my powerful carapace and I manage to maintain my Grip.

Say goodnight, bunny of the burning hells!

CRUNCH!

My two mandibles meet each other in the middle, having shorn through what had before kept them apart.

[You have defeated a Level 3 Dens Sanguinem Leporis.]

[You have gained XP.]

Ignoring the fight continuing immediately around me, I take a moment to chomp down on the rabbit I just finished off.

[You have consumed a new source of Biomass: Dens Sanguinem Leporis. One Biomass awarded.]

[Basic Profile of Dens Sanguinem Leporis unlocked.]

[Dens Sanguinem Leporis: Blood Tooth Rabbit. This monster is known for its affinity to shadow and the powerful fangs capable of draining Health from the victims of its bites.]

Wait a minute… likes shadows and dark places, long life-draining fangs… are you telling me these are vampire rabbits?

I mean… Really!

Checking my status, I’ve lost over twelve HP so far, most of it chip damage from the repeated punctures these damned fanged bunnies have inflicted. Engaging my Regenerative Gland, I welcome the icy burst that washes through my body, closing over holes in my carapace and restoring my Health to near full.

The battle continues to rage around me. More and more ants arrive every second, perhaps as many as fifty now. The rabbits are finding themselves pressed back as the sheer swarm of the colony is providing more targets than they can comfortably deal with.

Ha! You damn demon rabbits of Hades! Behold the power of our colony!

Three hatchlings battle a rabbit together, each of them latched on with mandibles, pinning it down and restricting its movement. The three smaller ants are desperately holding on, their legs splayed and claws dug hard into the ground as the stronger rabbit monster thrashes in a wild attempt to set itself free.

I’ll help you, young’uns. I leap forward and bring my mandibles down on the rabbit in a vicious strike, biting deep into the monster’s hide.

[You have defeated a Level 2 Blood Tooth Rabbit.][You have gained XP.]

The three hatchlings don’t even spare me a glance, let alone a friendly wave of the antennae in thanks before they rush off in search of another target.

Shouldn’t have expected anything different, I suppose.

At this moment, as all around me monstrous insects do vicious battle against large black, red eyed rabbits, I had to think that something was truly odd going on in this world.

It’s also at this moment a veritable flood of centipedes breaks into the battle from the surrounding woods.