The afternoon calm was violently shattered as the ground beneath Team 0's feet cracked open with a deafening roar. From the depths emerged ants of a monstrous variety, their glossy exoskeletons a sinister mix of reddish and black hues, large enough to tower over a man. Their pincers snapped menacingly with enough strength to be capable of shearing metal in half. Skittering angrily, they launched at the team with a primal ferocity.
Having had a few seconds of warning, Team 0 sprang into action. James immediately sought to exploit his psychic prowess against the insects, trying to end the fight before it could even begin.
To his dismay, he discovered an unexpected resistance; the ants' minds were somehow fortified against psychic intrusion. Their emotions were plain to see, but there was a jumbled mess of a net that connected them and shielded every ant from external manipulation. Attacking one mind was equivalent to attacking the entire nest, and despite his skill, he wasn’t up to that kind of feat yet. This revelation forced James into the fray, relying on brute force.
The ants, while lacking the sophisticated power of their human adversaries, compensated with sheer aggression. Uncaring of the Awakeners' response, the monsters went in for the kill, making no attempt at a balanced approach.
James, channeling raw mana, physically overpowered two of the creatures, his hands crushing their armored bodies with a visceral satisfaction that belied the gravity of their situation. He sent them flying back into the teeming mass, dark ichor staining his battlesuit. He followed through, not allowing the monsters to recover.
More power than he would have liked was required to kill them, as the carapace protecting them was hardy and seemed to insulate their insides from external mana. Still, with a bit of effort, he crushed their heads, leaving twitching bodies behind.
I can sustain this rhythm for a long time since my stats are so much higher than they were, but we might be in trouble if there is anything stronger than these.
Knowing the strategic advantage of employing a formation, Daniel manipulated the battlefield with glowing barriers to direct several ants toward Maria. He placed himself squarely on the opposite side, thus cutting off any avenue of escape.
The monsters, however, had no intention of running away. Rather, they didn't even stop to test the barriers, immediately changing direction to attack the two humans.
With precision and controlled fury, Maria unleashed a mighty conflagration that rapidly blackened the exoskeletons, boiled the monster's internal organs, and reduced the ants to charred remnants. The air was thick with the acrid scent of their demise. Daniel used his shield to vent the flames that reached his position up and away from him. Then, he gave the redhead a thumbs-up to show that he was okay.
Meanwhile, Ezekiel and Lauren, a duo in perfect sync, combined their talents to dismantle the remaining threats. Ezekiel quickly cast several debuffs and weakened the ants, rendering them more vulnerable. Lauren, swift and merciless, danced around the creatures, her blades slicing through their weakened armor with ease. She found purchase where the joints were and removed each limb until the monsters could no longer move.
With the ants dealt with, Team 0 regrouped and assessed the devastation that had erupted in a few dozen seconds. The parking lot was broken beyond repair, and the cement was still bubbling where Maria had unleashed her Talent. Debris from the ants' explosive entrance was everywhere, and some had even hit the nearby store, though luckily, it only looked to have suffered cosmetic damage.
"These things are naaaasty." Ezekiel complained even as he drove his knife into a twitching corpse, wanting to ensure there would be no surprise second round.
"Is it me, or were they pretty strong? I wouldn't say they are at the top of E-rank, but considering that this was supposed to be a middle-of-the-road dungeon, if this is the vanguard, I don't want to meet the rest." Lauren said. Then, turning her head, she asked, "Oi James, everything ok?"
Having paled dramatically, James fumbled with his pockets and took out his phone. He initiated an emergency broadcast without hesitation, calling for immediate support from higher-ranked Awakeners.
Fucking hell. How many are there? Fuck, it's at least a hundred. And they are moving fast. Ok, it's pretty obvious that this whole dungeon was fucked from the beginning and that someone either dropped the ball or wants us dead, but that doesn't mean we can just let it spill.
He had asked for help only twice in his career, and neither of those times did he feel as much urgency as he did now. "There is a horde of about a hundred of these ants rapidly closing the distance. They'll be here in a couple of minutes, maybe a little more, only because there are too many of them, and they can't fit through the tunnels all at once." He revealed.
Stolen story; please report.
The others swore angrily, knowing that despite their initial victory, fighting that many ants all at once was likely beyond them.
"We have to hold them off until help arrives,” James commanded, his voice cutting through the chaos. "But we cannot do so here. We need to get into the tunnels; otherwise, they'll swarm us."
Grimly, the others agreed. Allowing hundreds of ants to spill to the surface would mean letting the residential neighborhoods nearby fall into chaos as the monsters tore through the unprotected humans. Their decision made, Team 0 allowed themselves a minute to put on their gas masks - fighting in tunnels alongside a Fire Mage was a good way of dying of asphyxiation, despite their diminished need for air - and rapidly descended into the shadowy maw that had opened beneath the parking lot. The tunnels, carved out by the monstrous ants, stretched dark and ominous before them. The air was thick with the scent of earth and something faintly acrid.
James led the way, his psychic senses extended, trying to gauge the movements of the ants still hidden in the darkness. The sound of their approach was a constant, unnerving rumble that echoed off the walls.
The tunnels were a claustrophobic nightmare, the ceilings low enough to force Daniel and James to stoop occasionally. Roots from the surface world punctured the ceiling in places, dangling like a dead man's fingers. The walls were uneven, with the occasional gleam of something metallic embedded within - remnants of whatever the ants considered food or threat.
Maria walked purposefully next to James, her hands glowing with a light that pushed back the shadows. Luckily, the tunnel soon widened enough that they could all stand upright, with a couple of feet of space above even Daniel's head.
Had this been too narrow, we would have had to allow them to get to the surface, and I don't think we would have been able to stop them from escaping at that point. No, it's better to fight them here where we can see them all.
As the first ant came to the edge of Maria's light, a palpable tension gripped Team 0. These were scouts, smaller than the ones they had encountered above but no less dangerous given their numbers. Their pincers clicked in anticipation, the sound unnervingly loud in the confined space.
Maria didn't hesitate. With a growl of defiance, she summoned her full power. Before the team's awed eyes, a dragon construct of pure flame took shape. It was serpentine and massive, its scales a dance of fire and embers. With a roar, it unleashed a torrent of flames upon the advancing ants.
The heat was immediate and overwhelming, the air shimmering as the temperature soared. The ants caught in the dragon's breath didn't stand a chance; they were incinerated upon contact, their bodies turning to ash before they could even react.
"Can you vent the smoke away?" Ezekiel asked James. "The masks are enough not to choke, but I can't see shit."
James grunted in agreement and grabbed the air with his telekinesis, beginning the process of freeing the tunnel of the smoke.
Had I been alone, I would have kept it here. I don't know if fumigating ants is a thing, but it certainly cannot hurt. Still, the others don't have my senses, so it's better to get rid of it.
Soon after, the rest of the horde reached them. They didn't hesitate at the sight of the dead vanguard, fear something entirely alien to the creatures.
Maria took the challenge and commanded her construct to restart its assault. Fire bloomed again into the tunnel as the dragon roared, and death came to the ants. She kept it up for two minutes, turning the tunnels into a smoldering hellscape, the ground bubbling, the air filled with the stench of charred chitin.
Eventually, she had to relent, the effort of maintaining such a powerful construct taking its toll. Sweat beaded on her forehead, her breaths coming in heavy pants. The dragon dissipated, leaving behind a tunnel that looked more like the aftermath of a volcanic eruption than a battlefield.
James did his best to push the smoke out, preventing it from obscuring their sight, though some still remained, giving the atmosphere a hazy quality.
"Fuck me, that was cool,” Ezekiel muttered, even as his hands began to glow. He pressed them to Maria's forehead, who sighed in relief at the budding headache being removed.
"I don't think I can do that again soon without drinking a potion, but I got a lot of them, right? It earned me a level, " the redhead shared.
"At this point, I don't know if we should bother holding back with our supplies. Being overly cautious with potions is just as bad as using too many. We have brought them for emergencies like this." Lauren commented.
"There are more coming." James interrupted grimly. As the smoke cleared, more ants became visible, undeterred by the fate of their brethren, charging through the molten ground. The first few fell immediately, their limbs burning as soon as they touched the lava, but in a show of insectile pragmatism, their brethren kept moving forward, the dead bodies becoming a bridge for others to cross.
James stepped forward. His psychic abilities might have found resistance in the ants' minds, but his telekinesis was as effective as ever. Moving quickly, he focused his power, creating invisible walls to impede the ants' advance. The creatures, driven by a single-minded purpose, threw themselves at the obstacles, their number large enough that the frontline was squashed against the psychic barrier without the possibility of moving.
Despite the boiling ground, which took the lives of several ants, more kept coming, their bodies stacking upon each other, creating a grotesque bridge of limbs and chitin. James's telekinesis slowed them, but it was clear this was a temporary solution.
James felt the weight of leadership heavy on his shoulders. They fought hard and had called for reinforcements, but now it was a battle against time.
They will push through soon enough; when they do, we'll have to fight them for who knows how long. I sent the emergency broadcast, so reinforcements should be coming soon, but something tells me it won't be that easy. No, it's better to prepare to fight these ants by ourselves.
"Ez! Cast a rule to make them clumsier and weaker. If we can make them get into each other's way, we'll have an easier time." He ordered while keeping an eye on the amassing force before them. "Daniel, I'm going to drop my wall soon. I want you to limit how many of them can reach us. We'll have to switch after a while, but for the moment, I'll be the frontline. Lauren, use the shadows to slow them down as much as possible. Reinforcements should be coming, but that doesn't mean we can allow even a single one of these fuckers to pass. Let's fucking do this!"
"Yes, Sir!" His teammates yelled as they prepared to face the horde.