The Antventure Begins

76. I Can’t Bear it

When Tiny notices I’m about to overtake him, he speeds up. Stop it, you stupid ape! I’m trying to save your damn life.

Oblivious to my good intentions, Tiny is sprinting with all his ape might, grinning from ear to ear and screeching out his simple-minded lust for battle.

Bless you, you idiot.

Gritting my mandibles tight, I exert every ounce of my strength into my legs, moving them so quickly they flicker in my eyesight. Is this the legendary shadow step technique?

It’s enough. Triumph surging in my heart, I pass my ape companion at the last possible moment and break out of the tunnel and into the open pit.

Ha ha! Take that, Tiny, you slug!

Oh right, the bear.

Before I have a chance to throw the brakes on, I smash into the bear, effectively head butting it rather close to the eye, and quite hard due to my impressive momentum. The bear of course is extremely impressed by this action and attempts to repay me by levering its face out of the dirt and biting my head off.

Duck!

The massive jaws snap shut directly over my head. Thankfully, I’ve learned from experience and pull my antennae down when I duck. I’m not losing my antennae this time!

Now I’m face to face with a truly terrifying and enormous bear monster. The scale of the monster is truly impressive. This thing is probably the same size as a full size Tiny or the titan-croc, but is likely even more massive. I suspect this thing weighs more than those monsters. It’s packing some serious heft.

Watch out! Paw!

Leaping back, I manage to avoid a fearsome swipe of the beast’s paw, the claws whistling past my face.

At least the monster is considerably restrained in this pit, it’s massive upper body and head occupy almost all the available space, making it rather crowded now that Tiny and I have joined the fray.

It would be nice if I try and build up a Mana ball to blast this thing. But with Tiny deciding to engage in the melee, I have to stick in close quarters to divert its attention. In these narrow confines, I can only make use of my finest ant-like qualities to make the best of this situation.

Scrabbling up the wall, I make my way out of the reach of those fearsome teeth and begin to charge up my Infused Mandibles. Waves of Mana flow from my core, streaming through my body and charging my mandibles with vibrant energy.

Hope you’re ready for this, bear!

Crushing Bite!

THUNK!

Holy bristling eyebrows of the white wizard, that is tough!

When I snap my mandibles on the bear’s hide, right on his flank, it’s like I’m digging into a tree trunk with a knife! This bear is tougher than anything I’ve come across so far. I can’t bite through it, even with Infused Mandibles!

The bear roars indignantly in response to my attempted wounding and struggles even more violently to free itself, managing to push its paws under its face and start to lever his head out of the dirt.

I’m not sure where Tiny has got to, no doubt punching the bear in the eyeball or something else horrifically dangerous. In order to keep the monster distracted I keep biting, hoping to carve through this creature’s ridiculously thick hide!

Using the Piercing Chomp this time, I bite again at the monster’s side.

THUNK!

What the heck is this bear made of!

His hide feels as tough as nails. My mandibles, aided by the bonus penetrating power of the Piercing Bite can dig deeper than before, but I still don’t feel as if I’m getting meaningful internal damage to this monster.

This guy’s a tank.

From the other side of the bear, above the constant grunting and growls, I can hear the chirping crackle of electricity. Tiny’s warmed up his fists and is ready to go to work!

There comes a thumping and the entire body of the bear flashes with electrical light. The bear groans and slumps momentarily as the potent energy rips through its body.

Nice, Tiny! I’ll give him another chomp!

THUNK!

Dammit!

I think I was able to bite a little deeper that time, but this bear is a tough nut to crack. I try to pull more Mana from my core, drawing it out faster and faster before I pack it into my mandibles, causing the light they give off to be more intense each passing second.

As the bear makes more headway in extricating itself, I decide to jump off the wall and clamber onto its back. I latch onto the beast’s fur with all six of my claws, holding fast even as I’m rocked back and forth. From this vantage point, its hind legs are getting a decent hold of the ground outside the pit, allowing the monster to pull itself out more effectively. It won’t be long now until this guy is free.

If possible, I need to deal some damage before then.

I pour more and more of my Mana into my mandibles, causing them to crackle with intense power. I swear my face feels like it’s on fire. I don’t think this is particularly safe…

Taking care not to hit Tiny, who continues to fling lightning punches into the bear’s side, I aim and quickly fire off some rapid acid shots!

POW! POW! POW!

How do you like that?

To be honest, this bear doesn’t seem to mind all that much. The Restrictive Acid is doing its job, hardening and sticking to everything that it hit. It’s sizzling and biting into the creature’s hide on its right side and front leg. Only the bear doesn’t respond in any meaningful way.

I think he’s too strong for the restriction to be effective and his hide is too thick for the acid to deal any real damage.

If this bit doesn’t work, then I hope I can grab Tiny in my mandibles and drag him into the tunnel where the bear can’t follow, because we might be snowed!

My last-ditch effort is gearing up to be the Forceful Mana shout, but I’m not sure I can fight this creature head on and condense enough Mana to do the kind of damage we need.

Whatever, just bite now and worry about the rest after!

Piercing Chomp!

CRUNCH!

Snapping down so hard the muscles in my head positively creak, my mandibles gouge into the bear, meeting the incredible resistance that had frustrated me so far. They keep going, biting deep.

Finally!

[Piercing Chomp (II) has reached Level 4.]

This time I got a reaction.

The bear bellows in outrage and violently twists itself left and right, redoubling its efforts to extract itself. Pushing hard with its front legs and lowering its back, it manages to lever enough momentum to drag the top half of its body up, pressing its paws into the pitfall wall to prevent falling in again.

Time for one more Piercing Chomp!

CRUNCH!

Every part of my face is screaming, and I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve focused too much Mana or that I’m on the verge of pulling a face muscle. My mandibles bite home, ripping through the bear and lacerating muscle and bone.

The bear roars furiously and slumps down slightly in response to my assault, giving Tiny just enough time to ready himself in the bottom of the pit. He charges himself up with electricity until it crackles over his arms like writhing electric eels before leaping and delivering a two-handed punch directly to the belly of the bear.

I have two thoughts at this moment. First, good job, Tiny, that looks so awesome. Second, don’t you dare steal the last hit from me, you cheeky ape!

As the electrical attack zaps straight through the beast, stunning it and causing tremendous internal damage, I pull everything I can from my core, desperate for one last strike.

The place where I’ve bitten the bear twice now is looking quite rough. The bear’s brown and green hide is torn and punctured, offering far less protection.

This will be the last strike. I really don’t think my mandibles can take any more Mana. I swear they’re starting to give off smoke!

Crushing Bite!

Tearing straight through the monster’s defence, my mandibles exhibit unparalleled crushing force, tearing through bone and organs without mercy. I ram my face into the wound, giving myself a truly unpleasant eyeful while allowing my mandibles to reach as deep into the bear’s vitals as possible.

This had better work!

My mandibles can take no more and the flow of Mana from my core slows before stopping entirely. I’ve spent almost all my Mana on these few bite attacks!

But it worked.

[You have defeated a Level 14 Ursus Terra Tyrannos.]

[You have gained XP.]

[You have reached Level 10. One Skill Point Awarded.]

[You have reached the Level cap. Evolution menu available.]

Take that, Tiny. The XP is mine!