Upping The Ante

27. The Human Menace

I can’t afford to let the mage attack Tiny. If she’s able to disable him or even heavily wound him with her magic, we might lose our best chance to deal with those deadly fighters. Not to mention the terrible possibility Tiny might be killed!

Quick as a flash, I spin around to present my b-zone at the mage. My sudden energetic and rapid movement takes her completely by surprise, as merely seconds ago I’d been cut to ribbons by her magical barrage.

Victory is always decided by the one who thinks the fastest. Receive the famed produce of my commercial district!

POW! POW! POW!

At this close range, I don’t worry about aiming and rapidly punch out three blasts. The jets of acid streak through the air and impact hard against the mage. At this close range the physical force is almost enough to knock her off her feet. She manages to retain her balance by falling to one knee and using her staff to prop herself up, but by then the restrictive nature of the acid is already kicking in, making it difficult for her to move.

So long as she’s delayed from affecting the rest of the fight, then my purpose will be served. More than taking her out straight away I’m most concerned with stopping the dreadful slaughter of my siblings.

The warriors have been able to maintain a distance from the fearless workers, relying on the barrier to keep the ants from pressing forward and giving them the space to unleash their advanced sword skills. Slashing out arcs of energy, much like my own Shattering Bite skill, and carving apart three or more workers with every strike.

When I see the broken and destroyed remains of my family members littering the ground, my heart twists with pain. These warriors are too good at their work. Most of these workers are already dead, beyond what the queen’s healing can fix. They didn’t even have a chance to drag their damaged bodies clear of the fight.

Disrupting the warriors from striking at the colony is the number one priority.

Thankfully, my Gravity Spear is starting to take effect.

I’d been careful when constructing the spell to ensure the gravitational fields range was controlled, so as not to be too large. When the target of my spell realises he has an ethereal purple spear sticking through his guts, his first instinct seems to be to scream in horror, unaware that the true terror is yet to be unleashed.

The target itself feels nothing from the spell, no effect at all, but it isn’t long until the warriors nearby, most of whom are still facing the ravenous ant tide, begin to notice something is wrong.

Inexorably, the pulling force of the Gravity Spear begins to show its power. The warriors are finding themselves thrown off-balance, having to exert strength through their feet in order to resist this unknown pull. The disruption is so strong that the barrage of sword attacks ceases almost instantly as they try to identify this new threat.

To my shock, they remain disciplined, barking words and instructions to each other while they resist the building force with all of their might, gradually falling back to the source of the pull without losing their feet.

These guys must have some serious physical stats to be able to resist the gravity in this way. The calm way they dealt with this new situation worries me immensely. These warriors are so disciplined and powerful they can’t be ordinary, not to mention the mage I killed—not thinking about that too deeply just now!—was some ridiculous Level over 40!

Still, they’ve retreated and grouped up, which is nice of them.

[Tiny, smash those guys!]

After destroying the shield, Tiny has been impatiently waiting for it to completely dissolve before advancing. Now that I’ve given him a target, he bellows his anger, eyes blazing with wrath as he charges at the grouped-up warriors.

One of the soldiers barks a quick command and steps forward, glittering sword in one hand and imposing tower shield on the other. He really intends to face off against Tiny himself and leave the ants to his fellow soldiers.

Glancing at the mage who is yet to rise, I decide to gamble and leave her be for the time being so I can intervene and assist Tiny.

Skirting to one side, I open up the angle a little and unleash my potent range of products from the commercial district.

POW! POW!

Two rapid fire shots blast into the warrior, one catching him on the leg, the other hitting the side of his chest. Hopefully the restrictive properties and damage are enough to help Tiny batter his way through.

With a little momentum behind him, the giant ape unleashes his devastating fist straight on. The warrior doesn’t lose focus for a second and his eyes show no fear or surprise at all, even when my acid splashes him. Faced with the massive fist of Tiny, he shouts aggressively and steps forward like lightning, rotating his body and smashing his shield into Tiny’s arm, deflecting the blow.

Holy heck!

This guy is insane! He actually managed to defend himself against Tiny? I’d expected we’d be finding parts of him in the next postcode when that fist was unleashed. Clearly my Restrictive Acid isn’t enough to deal with him.

Tiny isn’t perturbed in the slightest. When his fist failed to destroy the target, he simply wound back his other hand and unleashed a vicious hook. His fist cuts through the air so fast, a shrill whistle rings in the ears of everyone in the clearing.

And there are subtle signs of Tiny winding up his electrical engine. Little sparks are beginning to appear on his body and the hair on his arms is rising.

Shockingly, this blow is also deflected but not quite as gracefully. Ducking low, the warrior braces his shield against his shoulder and angles it. The shield buckles when that colossal fist smashes into it, but it is successfully deflected, a solid imprint of one of Tiny’s knuckles left on the patterned metal.

The warrior’s whole body is rocked by the impact and it looks as if his bones have been rattled. Nonetheless he lashes out with his blade, opening a wound on Tiny’s chest.

I’ll have to let these two go at it and hope Tiny can hold his own, the rest of the soldiers are already preparing to unleash their skills upon the onrushing horde of ants. To my dismay, the queen herself has pushed to the front line. Fury blazes in her eyes as she marches over a carpet of her own destroyed offspring in order to attack their killers.

Dammit!

I really wish she wasn’t so damn brave. These guys will cut her apart!

Just as I’m preparing to leap and unleash my mandibles upon the clustered warriors, I notice another development in the corner of my eye. The female mage has stood up and her entire body is glowing softly with blue light. My acid is rapidly dissolving, lifting away from her robes and skin and fading away into the air.

ARGH!

Now this mage is going to start flinging spells everywhere again! I don’t want to get sliced up by that magic and I sure as hell don’t want to expose the workforce to it.

Making a split-second decision, I face off against the mage and begin weaving a Gravity Bolt as fast as I can, even as I Dash in to threaten her with my mandibles. She mustn’t get a chance to cast a spell!

As she sees me charge, her eyes flicker with panic and dart to her side. For some reason I get the feeling she isn’t worried about herself?