A few days later the party was as deep as the fifth dungeon floor. Their current objective was an [Armoured Ant]. They were at it for hours already, the monster alluded them. It was always like that, when one needed a specific thing or monster to be found it would not show up.
Incidentally, they have avoided going to the mushroom forest. The [Armoured Ant] was always found somewhere in the tunnels guarding an entrance.
“Finally!” Demi-Ura exclaimed as she stepped out of the shadows.
“You found it?”
She nodded to Sargon and motioned to follow.
They squeezed through a small crack in the wall which led to another tunnel. The tunnel was much rounder than the usual, it didn’t look like a natural formation but more like it was dug out. The monstrous ant was guarding one of the entrances leading further down.
“Just what we need. Okay, let’s do it like we practised!” Sargon was pumped up.
“Yeah“ “Yes“ “*Nod*”
Everyone took their respective positions. Sargon was at the front holding his trusty coa, just behind him was Tasha aiming peculiar weapon she bought yesterday, Lilith and Demi-Ura were staying at the very back ready to support Sargon at any time. The tunnel was too narrow so the monster could not be surrounded like the last time; Sargon had to charge it on his own.
So, he did just so. The blade of his weapon glistered in the bluish light of the cave crystals. His knuckles were white from the strength of his grip, he was determined to do some serious damage with the very first blow.
“[Confuse]” Demi-Ura cast one of the oldest spells she knew.
It took hold affecting the orange sized ant brain, confusing it for a breathiest moment. Sargon was given chance to act boldly and he did just so, he charged under the towering ant sliding beneath it. Then he swung his newly sharpened blade at one of its leg joints with a yell. “Ahhh!” As he finished exhaling, he was already out at the other end by ant’s lower body.
The joint was less protected from the inner side than the outer side and he had managed to decapitate one of the ant’s legs. A broad smile was plastered on Sarongs face, not just because he injured the ant so quickly, but because he obtained a new skill [Charge].
At the moment he was behind the ant, meaning that there was no-one to protect their ranged fighters. Confuse was wearing out and the monster will be able to attack the group at any time. This was not a problem, however, as this was within the plan they had.
Tasha loaded her peculiar weapon with a bolt. What she held in her hand was a prototype of a crossbow. It wasn't the first prototype and not the last, but still, it was made skilfully and was functional to some extent. It was still not a particularly popular contraption, people saw it inferior to a bow. The crossbow was heavier, slow to load, the range was shorter than that of a bow and it was useless against enemies behind cover or a wall. However, it was well suited for the dungeon. The tunnels were narrow and tended to bend so the range will never be a problem, and even if it took ages to load the crossbow was easy to aim and packed quite a punch. In Tasha’s eyes, it was a perfect weapon for her.
Just as the ant monster could snap out from confusion a bolt pierced its left eye expelling a large squirt of jelly-like substance into the air. This, of course, angered the ant and it hissed in dissatisfaction ready to charge at the one who injured it.
“No, you don’t! [Taunt]” Sargon invoked his skill with a slap to the ant’s armoured butt.
Even if his slap was powerful he didn’t even chip the armour, however, he got the monster's attention. The [Armoured Ant] turned towards him ignoring the three women completely. Sargon jumped away from sharp mandibles which closed way too close to his body for him to feel comfortable about it. He had to keep it distracted while others did their thing.
This time it was Demi-Ura’s turn to shine. While Sargon distracted the ant she was concentrating her magic within her body. She was preparing a superior version of [Dark Blast] so it took time, but it was worth it.
“Here it comes, [Blast]” She warned Sargon so he has time to distance himself in case she misfires.
A ball of dark energy whizzed past the air while pulsating, it was three times the size of normal and three times as powerful. The blast was aimed at the monster legs, the ball hit the rear leg by a joint snapping it in half and then it continued its path. Demi-Ura gasped after seeing it, she didn't expect her magic to continue after the first leg. Lucky to them it didn't fly where Sargon was, the magic hit the ant at its side. The ball of energy exploded spewing out dark energy. As a result of the blast, the middle leg and the remnants of the other two were torn off the ant completely making the monster fall on its side.
No one was expecting this and were looking at it with their mouths agape.
“Maybe we should have done this from the very beginning?” Sargon offered still amazed at the destruction.
Well, the blast didn't destroy or shatter the armour of the insect but the shock of the blast was powerful enough to rip the joints and separate the legs from its body.
Demi-Ura nodded twice; she was happy with her performance.
“It can’t move at all!” Tasha was still amazed. “Can I get some practice?” She asked seeing an opportunity.
“Just don’t get too close.” Lilith warned her with a genuine worry on her face.
Tasha circled around the ant towards its head careful not to get too close. Then she loaded her crossbow with another bolt and aimed towards its other eye. She fired, the bolt pierced the eye, the ant shrieked in pain; it was still alive. The bearskin did not stop there, she loaded another bolt and shot it at the monster’s mouth. Mandibles closed deflecting the bold, but she didn't stop there, she continued practising at her living target. It was cruel to torture an animal like that, but this was the way of an adventurer, live targets gave her more experience than a practice dummy, the experience she so much needed.
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Monster gurgled in pained shrieks spitting transparent insect blood; a few of the bolts were stuck in its fleshy mouth. Tasha had run out of bolts, she had only ten, and it was time to end the monster’s misery.
“How do we do this now? Does Demi or Lilith want to practise?” Tasha asked.
“No.” Demi-Ura refused, knowing that it was best to conserve her mana.
“There is nothing I can do with it.” Lilith said somewhat dejected, she was only a healer but it displeased her that she still can't injure the ant.
“Well, then I will do it.”
Sargon approached blinded ant from the side and jammed his weapon towards its neck. He pushed and twisted a couple of times, he could do that since he didn't need to worry about the ant retaliating. The head separated from the body and rolled on the floor, its neck leaked sticky ant blood.
“Eww…” Tasha was not pleased with the sight.
“Let's get this armour off. This is what we came for after all.” Sargon braced himself taking out the crowbar.
He wedged it at special places where the chitin plates connected and with Lilith’s help he pried it away from the monster's body.
After the flesh was exposed, Demi-Ura ripped through it with her tail looking for the monster core. It took them a good hour of work to process the corpse but finally, they had quite a few large pieces of chitin and an unusually large monster core.
“Are we done or are we… going to see what it was guarding?” Tasha was curious what was past the entrance [Armoured Ant] was protecting.
“It would be best to play it safe and go back. We got what we came here for.” Lilith responded to Tasha who was already ignoring her and pacing towards the entrance leading down.
“We check.” Demi-Ura too wanted to proceed.
“Three against one.”
Lilith frowned at Sargon slightly annoyed that he didn't take her side. Sargon noticed her stiff and displeased face so he responded “Just a small peak and then we will head back.”
They set the chitin plates aside for later and headed in the tunnel the ant was guarding. The passage got even more narrow and dark than the one they came from. That uncomfortable darkness didn't last long as the tunnel was quite short. Soon enough the party reached a huge dome-shaped room carved into the rock. A few blue crystals illuminated hundred of ant eggs sitting on the ground and waiting to hatch. A few small workers, the ones like in first and second floors, were tending to the eggs.
“Nice!” Sargon rubbed his hands together.
Demi-Ura nodded, she too was pleased about the find.
“Eggs? Like the ones you told me before?” Lilith didn’t seem so happy about the find. “I don’t think we can carry any back, not when we have that armour to haul.” She added.
“Oh no, we won’t be carrying them. It's smash time!” Sargon said while slapping the leathery egg shell with the flat of his coa splattering the contents all around.
“Eww.” Tasha looked with both horror and displeasure, she didn't appreciate the sight.
“You do it for the experience.” Demi-Ura tried to explain while positioning an egg next to Lilith “Kick it.” She said taking a step back away from it.
Lilith kicked an egg with no hesitation, her sharp claws pierced its shell and splattered the contents.
“This is quite fun.” She had to agree. Once again she learned that she likes that sort of destruction. Something she would have never known if she stayed as a temple priestess.
“You too Tasha. You can practise your shooting here, maybe even learn a new skill.”
He didn't need to say it twice, the beastkin loaded the weapon and aimed at one of the eggs at the distance firing the bolt. The projectile pierced its soft shell continuing its path to the next egg.
The eggs were kicked, stomped and smashed left and right. Sargon and Demi-Ura stood there barely able to contain themselves, they too wanted to join in but their new party companions needed that experience more.
Lilith had once pristine dress covered in various liquids and juices, she was breathing heavily out of exertion. Tasha too was tired from all the running she had to do to retrieve her bolts, not to mention the fact that the crossbow took some strength to arm. Out of a few hundred, there were only a handful of the eggs left.
Sargon had a bugging feeling he was forgetting something.
“We don’t need to save any since we are not harvesting them… so what it is?” He asked no one in particular, trying to jog his memory.
He looked around once more, gauging his surroundings. The cave was safe, there was no sign of enemies, yet he still expected to see one.
“Enemy…” finally the gears in his brain began to spin but he was not there yet.
Just before his mind gears could click Tasha destroyed the last egg. The sealing began to rumble and spew dust out of it. Sargon had finally made the connection. His last encounter with a terrifying enemy was not bad luck, he had summoned it then he had destroyed the last egg. He was not too sure about that then but now this was obvious.
“Run!” He warned the girls.
They didn’t need that warning and had been already running; the sound and dust coming from the top made it clear that something was up.
A huge monster came down crashing with a cloud of debris. It was black in colour and many times bigger than the previous monsters he had faced before. If he remembered correctly not only it had menacing looking jaw but could spit corrosive liquid. They had triggered an [Event] and summoned [Ant Guardian].