“All you need to do is stay on the ledge and fire down shots,” Jason insisted, voice a bit too loud for what was meant to be a stealth operation. Alex was barely paying attention to the noble’s words, more focused on leading the party towards one of the massive room’s two entryways. While none of the temporary group members had been excited about the prospect of taking on such a large force, Jason, himself, and the cat, were all open to participating. It wasn’t exactly ideal, but in someways, things were finally going to plan. At least they had been, until Ronald made it clear he wanted nothing to do with such a large-scale clash.
Alex might have believed the archer if he’d decided to leave then and there. He for sure understood the man’s point of view; unless you held a faith in Jason’s party only the noble himself held, taking on the fight as is probably seemed like suicide. Alex, and even the cat, had ways to quickly cut and run when things got rough. Not only had Ronald not shown to possess anything similar, but he was also the only person in the group who required a limited resource to have any impact in combat. Jason might have claimed the archer could just sit back and shoot, but his diminished arrow pool meant he would be out of ammo long before all the creatures were dead.
With all that said, hanging back, or even splitting with a set of directions might have been for the best, but Alex was pretty sure Ronald’s reluctance was mostly subterfuge. He didn’t know what the man had to gain from the show. It was possible he’d concluded that Jason was a noble, just as Alex had, and was trying to gain something from it; but the fact that he hadn’t split off yet, suggested he wasn’t nearly as unwilling as he acted. Deciding against interfering in their negotiation, the planestrider shifted focus back to the battle down below. Barely two minutes had passed since the fight started, but as Alex had learned recently, that was a long time in a life-or-death battle. Luckily for everyone, it seemed Jason’s companions had made good use of it.
The group’s skill was an obvious part of the reason, but it turned out the odds weren’t as skewed as anyone had initially thought. There were easily a couple hundred creatures in the room, but only fifty or so of them were Kidree; the majority being molars that didn’t seem keen about fighting alongside the lizards. Upon noticing the party, the insectivores had immediately retreated, scurrying into a corner of the room to huddle among one another in piles.
Like the professionals they were, the noble’s party members took the shift in stride. The group’s coordinator, and current frontliner due to Jason’s absence, was the first into the fray. The large woman ran forward screaming, her yell only adding to the chaos as she halved the distance in an instant. Arriving before many of the lizards even registered her presence, she swung her weapon as if it was a feather, the thick blade appearing light as it hacked through one kidree then continued on to maim another.
With how quickly she’d removed the reptiles from the fight, the warrior might have been able to solo the entire room. But whether help was necessary was unimportant to her group, they were only a half step behind her, and ready to supply it. The second to enter the fray was someone Alex didn’t know, Jason had only really mentioned the woman, and that had been during his explanation of checkpoints. This new person was short, very short when compared to the great sword wielder, and sported no visible weapons of their own. Expanding Sixth Sense slightly to get a better view, Alex watched as the figure burst out with a flurry of kicks and punches. They were some sort of martial artist, the sheer nerve of which surprised the assassin.
In a world like this, he thought everyone would use a weapon. Hell, he was of the mind that the more weapons he could use the better off he would be, but this person forwent them entirely. Fist met claw and fist won, their small form moving faster than Sixth Sense could process with a wall in between them. Turning his attention from the close quarter combatants, he looked at the other two members of the party, both seeming to be magic casters of some sort.
One Alex was certain was a healer. They hadn’t needed to use their ability yet, but he could feel the similarities between their magic and what the others had used on him back during the beast wave. A bit more confident as he realized the party had a healer, Alex tried to figure out what role the final member of their group held, but failed to do so before they were near the entrance.
Jason was the first inside, his sprint heedless of danger as he tried to carve a path to his companions. Ronald, surprisingly, was the second to take up arms, darting up to a ledge he could fire from, quickly followed by the feline’s disappearing act. Alex had missed whatever consensus the men had come too, but it seemed the archer had received what he’d wanted. Seeing he was the only one left, Alex let out a small yawn as he withdrew his weapons, a smile he didn’t even notice adorning his face.
“This is Casey,” The group leader, Julie, introduced once the fighting was over. David over there is who you have to thank for the healing, and the one currently talking to the molars is Piper.”
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Nodding as he shook hands with the taller woman, her large hand swallowing his, Alex wondered why Jason had been so adamant about everyone participating in the fight. With the eight of them going all out, it hadn’t taken long for them to wrap things up. That was mostly due to Julie and Casey, the frontliners making quick work of any lizards in range, but by the end even the cat had managed to kill a couple of the kidree. She’d ended up injured after the fight, the first ones Alex had seen her take, but before he could get over there to help, David had her back in tip-top shape. The whole thing was both an exercise in humility, and gave Alex a bit of hope. If he had a team like this to assault the kings with, maybe, just maybe…
“Alex, Alex,”
“Huh,” the assassin responded dumbly, Jason’s calls snapping him out of his daydream.
“I was just telling Julie about the deal we made after saving me. Do you want to get going in a bit.”
“Oh, I-” Alex looked between the noble and his party leader, then at the others closing in on their conversation. Taking a moment to bring the information up, he checked the timer on his ant hill quest, ignoring the other notifications he’d received for the moment.
***
Quest
Tutorial Quest – Main – Subquest 2.1: King of The (Ant) Hill
Generals Killed (3/5)
Time Remaining: 01:03:32 (Day Fourteen, 4:22 A.M.)
***
Jason technically still had 11 more hours of his time under the deal they’d made, and it would take a similar amount of time until he could rely on Planar Phase again. The only question was how Alex was meant to portray his desire to remain without being too honest.
“Are you sure you want to go already? We still have a while before Jason was meant to lead me topside.” He tried to keep his voice nonchalant, as if he was asking about the weather, but on the inside, greed was overtaking him. Forget just the ant dungeon, he’d killed around ten kidree alone, and assisted in killing another fifteen. If they found a few more large contingents of the beasts, he could get to the next level in a matter of hours. The healer alone represented a degree of safety he’d never experienced at his current power level, though Julie’s next words told him it wasn’t one he’d have for much longer.
“No need, I appreciate what you have done for Jason, we all do, delaying you further would be disrespectful. Besides, if a group this large was to roam the stronghold they might start sending some kidrock, and I don’t plan on fighting them this run.”
A ‘why not?’ died on Alex’s tongue, and he could only nod in agreement. “Sure, no problem with me.”
Seeing they had their next steps figured out, Julie called for a brief rest, the combined parties meant to set out within the hour.
“Why do you smell familiar?”
Alex turned from his conversation with the martial artist to see who’d spoken, a bit caught off by their words. It was Piper, the woman who had been talking to the moles until recently. Julie had introduced her from a far, explaining that she had the ability to speak to creatures of all types. Alex had silently wondered if it was a skill similar to comprehend but hadn’t mentioned it. He just knew it wasn’t all the woman could do.
She had illusion magic, similar to Jason, though on a much larger scale. Rather than engage in close quarter fighting, she hung back, summoning figments of the others that distracted and dazed their opponents upon death. Alex was pretty sure her and Jason were related. He could see similarities in their facial features and both had the same reddish brown hair, but currently he had no clue what she was talking about.
“Hi, I’m Alex, nice to meet you.” There was a brief pause, then he asked, “Who do I smell like?”
The woman was young, maybe not even eighteen, her childish face scrunching up as she frowned. Instead of answering, she began to sniff at him, the almost amiable chat immediately becoming awkward.
Alex spent a moment looking around for help, but no one seemed willing to interfere, and definitely not on his behalf. Jason had a pensive look, and Julie seemed actively interested. The others didn’t look to care very much, but he could almost feel the environment in the area change. It wasn’t necessarily danger per se, but the general sense of camaraderie that had formed after the fight seemed to fade. The only person he still believed to be entirely on his side was the cat, and as much as he’d come to like the small creature, she’d be useless if things came to blows. Preparing to use every escape ability he had if necessary, he considered who he smelled like, let alone how it could be anyone this girl knew.
Nearly half a minute passed and Alex had his mental finger ready to activate Planar Phase, when she finally stopped, shock clear on her face.
“Uncle, you smell like Uncle G!”
Internally debating the name, he tried not to let his own surprise show at the revelation. There had been two men he’d met recently whose names had started with the letter G. One had been a pleasant, if boisterous, older beastman, while the other had tortured him, then been subsequently killed, by him. Alex tried to rely on acting to hold on his emotions, but something of his thoughts must have bled through to his face because he caught Julie putting a hand on her prone blade through, Sixth Sense.
If she attacked, he was fucked, but escaping the group would be just as difficult as trying to survive their assault.
“Who’s your Uncle,” Alex said, trying to keep any trace of fear from his voice. “I’ve been out here for a while and met quite a few people.”
Her frown deepened into anger, and Alex wondered what he could have said wrong.
“My Uncle is dead.”