The Antventure Begins

71. Too Effective?

The second trap is almost halfway done when another crashing thud, followed by a furious roar, pulls me from my digging trance. A visitor has decided to grace my humble hotel! Welcome, dear guest. Manuel, take their bags!

Chortling to myself, I crawl out of my second pitfall and rush to the first. Tiny is standing up in his tree abode, excitedly staring at the hapless monster caught in the pit. The little ape is practically drooling, he’s become so hungry.

I get that you’re hungry, little guy, but really! Try to maintain a little dignity.

As much as I try to ignore it, my stomach is also growling. After all this digging, I’ve worked up quite the appetite.

Approaching the side, I peer down to see exactly what monster I’ve managed to reel in this time.

Greeting me from the bottom is a particularly furious looking giant centipede. The centipede begins to right itself after a mess of sticks and foliage tangled in its legs.

This guy again, huh.

Where once upon a time I felt hugely threatened by the massive centipedes, I just can’t muster the same fear for them anymore. They might be larger than the original Claw Centipedes, they still remain fairly stupid with limited ways to attack. In fact, due to its increased size and reduced mobility, the most threatening weapon of the Claw Centipede, its poison spike, is rendered almost completely useless against me.

POW!

I dispense justice in the form of acid from my business zone before leaping directly into the pit to do battle.

There were several reasons why I thought pitfalls would be a safer way to hunt in the current forest. One is the ability to isolate the fight somewhere the sound and scent of battle would be somewhat muted. Combined with the natural advantage of battling against a monster after it’s fallen and become entangled, this method seemed promising.

So far, it has proven to be effective. I’ll be interested to see if I can finish this battle quickly enough without drawing any further monsters from the surroundings.

Just as the centipede rights itself, my acid rains down, entangling legs that had only moments ago become free. Hissing furiously, the centipede writhes and twists in knots as the pain and discomfort mounts. At this time, I land directly onto the carapace of my prey, gripping tightly with my claws, pushing my Enhanced Grip skill to the limit.

Take this you lively bug, Piercing Chomp!

CRUNCH!

My mandibles pierce into the carapace like a hot knife into a refrigerated spread of some kind, savaging the internals of the centipede.

The monster shrieks in agony and attempts to use its body to bash me into the wall.

Slam!

Ouch! Damn centipede, receive the bite of truth.

CRUNCH!

My Diamond Carapace absorbed almost all of the impact, so very little actual damage was received from that desperate manoeuvre. What concerns me is the noise attracting more monsters to the scene. I retaliate with another bite.

This time, having already punctured the enemy’s defences, I utilise Crushing Bite to inflict maximum damage, my mandibles ripping deep into muscle and organs of the centipede.

The centipede loses most of its fight, unable to properly move the latter half of its body, there is little it can do to avoid fatal damage.

[You have defeated a Level 6 Adult Claw Centipede.]

[You have gained XP.]

Nice!

Quick as a flash I move to secure the Biomass, dragging it into my prepared side tunnel and out of sight. Crawling out of the pitfall, I reset the screen except for one small section. I’m hoping this will prevent the smell from escaping too much and make my hiding place a little harder to find. Claws crossed it works out.

Having taken these measures, I retreat back into the trap, bringing Tiny down so we can finally sate our hunger. Down in the dark tunnel we greedily chow down. Tiny in particular shows his vastly increased appetite after going hungry for too long.

Yes. Eat, my young ape, eat, and grow strong. You’ll pay me back in labour eventually. I’ll work you like a slave—an adorable chimp slave!

After completing our meal I’ve gained one Biomass, which brings my current total to four. Just one more and I’ll be able to upgrade yet another body part to +5. Excitement builds for what sort of upgrades I’ll be able to choose from for the Regenerative Healing Gland!

I think of Tiny at this moment. This little guy must have eaten something like fifteen, maybe even twenty points of Biomass since I reconstructed him. Where have all those points gone?

The little ape notices me staring and stops wiping his bat face with the back of his arm, staring back at me curiously.

I can’t detect any change to his fur or hands. His eyes look the same. No noticeable difference in his arms or legs. Has the Biomass been spent or is it all being saved up? Maybe he can’t spend it until he matures to a certain point? He certainly couldn’t be called anything like fully grown at this stage.

Well, not much I can do about it at this point. I’ll just have to keep feeding him and see what happens.

We were undisturbed during our meal, something for which I am extremely grateful. I couldn’t recover the mouse bait. I think the centipede dove on it and ripped it to shreds as it fell. After making sure Tiny was securely positioned in his tree, I reset the first trap. It will probably take longer to get another sucker to slip into my pitfall, so I’ll get back to work on the second one.

Could we have saved some of the centipede to use as bait? Yes, yes we could. Did we do that? No.

We were pretty hungry.

A few hours later the second trap was finished despite a few interruptions. A gang of unevolved centipedes, a croca-beast and the elusive dog-snake, which I’d not seen moving around before, passed through the area. Sadly, none of these monsters fell into my clutches so I simply hid myself away, emerging once they’d gone by and happily continuing my work.

I’ve also managed to achieve yet another Level in Excavation! It’s quite pleasant to gain Levels without having to risk my own life for a change.

Once the second pitfall was completed, I didn’t immediately cover it, instead adding another off-shoot tunnel. While I was at it, I decided to join the two tunnels together. I mean, why not? This necessitated a lot more digging and effort, particularly when I ran into a rather stubborn block of stone which required me to use my Infused Mandibles to cut through.

Eventually the two traps were joined at the bottom of the pitfalls by a somewhat winding tunnel roughly thirty metres long.

Holy heck, that took ages. Now I’m bloody starving again…

CRASH!

ROAR!

What the dickens! Another customer?

I rush down my narrow tunnel to the original trap where a furious croca-beast thrashes and twists its way out of the vines and branches used to secure the cover. Success! Another visitor to the pitfall hotel. You can check in, Mr Crocodile, but you can never leave.

Exploding out of the tunnel, I utilise my speed to harness the element of surprise. A huge part of my trap strategy is to finish every battle swiftly to avoid unnecessary noise.

Thankfully the monster hasn’t had any time to survey its surroundings and hasn’t even noticed the small tunnel. The last thing this croca-beast expected to see was a worker ant rushing at it, mandibles shining with Infused Mana ready to bite!

Crushing Bite!

SNAP!

Closing my mandibles with ferocious force the mighty croc wails in distress as its leg is directly shorn through. Your scales may as well be papier-mâché in the face of the Mana Infused Mandibles!

With one leg severed, the croc falls to the ground, the narrow confines making it extremely difficult for the monster to orient itself. For me, this terrain is perfect. After my initial strike I sprint past and straight up the wall, trying to gain the high ground.

It’s over now!

I fire a blast of acid at the creature, who by this time is surely wondering what it did wrong in a previous life to deserve this kind of treatment. Just an innocent croc monster out for a walk in the forest, and now this. Down a leg and covered in acid at the bottom of a pit.

Not to worry, these circumstances won’t be troubling you for long!

I fire a second blast, treating the beast to another helping of the restricting property. Unable to stand, covered in acid and completely furious, the croc has no choice but to succumb to my finishing bite.

[You have defeated a Level 3 Infant Garralosh.]

[You have gained XP.]

Standing over the defeated croc, I can’t help but think, isn’t this working super well?