The ants came charging in their bodies flickering with green light as they brought their legs forwards towards Franz, Eric, Dan, and the Captain. Their formation bunched into a circle to prevent anyone from getting fully overwhelmed on any side, but the numbers of the enemies worked against them. Luckily the size of the creatures and their numbers affected them as well. Only two were able to attack any one person at a time, without crowding themselves out. So, the party wasn't just buried in bodies immediately, but it wouldn't take long for it to happen. The Captain was trying to move them around as they felled ant after ant. The creatures surprisingly easy to deal with with a full party of 20 plus, but the Queen ant was just watching what was going on. Which made him extremely concerned since her abilities would likely allow her to shape earth to a degree. Considering how they were trapped in the courtyard in the first place.
Duran spun his fingers in complex gestures while firing off his [Frost Lance] skill when he had the time, or saw a major threat to one of the others. His skill with scripted magic wasn't the strongest of the mages in the Hold, but it was his spatial awareness that made him a good fit. Along with his ability to focus on several things at once. Which is the only reason he was able to script while moving and throwing out the occasional spell skill. He tried to aim the skill to help clear a way for them to run, since the ants would move out of the way it was pointing. He was able to nudge the spell out of direction right before he released it. Allowing for him to still hit at least one of the big creatures and create a slowing effect on the ones closest to his target. The fact that they had green glows made him think they were nature or earth aligned, since they were being very affected by his element. Then, his fingers twisted the last of the complex glyphs into his spell, and he raised the shimmering orb of magic into the air.
"Get close!" He shouted at everyone, and even the ants surged forward. Then, a flare of blue-purple light and they were all on the outside of the castle, and feeling a bit dazed. A screech could be heard from beyond the walls they had just teleported out from. Duran fell to the ground his Will spent on the casting of that spell, but had been their only chance to get out alive and fall back. The sounds of the ground rumbling were clear signs that the ant's were not happy their meal had been taken away.
"Grab the mage and fall back!" The Captain shouted to the others, who looked just as dazed, though he noted that the scouts weren't with them, "Just move!" And the other guards shook their heads before grabbing the fallen man and retreating.
----
Marcos and Ragast looked around at the ants surging in at them and the fact the others were gone, before a spike of earth slammed into Marcos pinning him to nearby wall. A flash of nostalgia hit him as he remembered this happening before. Though he thought it might have been a tree last time, and he saw Ragast just standing with a blank look on her face. As the ants tore her body apart, and oddly little blood was splattered around the scene. It almost looked like her body had melted instead of being torn apart. Now, he just looked on as the ants flickered their lights around him, and then all he knew was darkness.
----
The guards and the Captain had spent hours fighting the ants that smashed against the stone fort in the woods. The other soldiers there had worried looks on their faces as they glanced around at the piles of dead monsters. Their forms slowly turning into gravel instead of just rotting flesh, and it was highly concerning to all around. Monsters were sources of materials outside of experience, and the fact that the gravel they became was all but worthless made the dungeon just a serious risk. Plus, none of the monsters seemed to be hiding any items within them like loot. Most of the Dungeons around the Realm would have random pieces of bloody gear inside the bodies or appear around the corpses of enough dead ones. Yet, these were just like any horde of wild beast and left nothing but their own remains. Duran had been out for a little while, but had woken up after a few hours to help with identifying the bodies. He said they were some kind of elemental beast, and if they could be magically preserved they would be useful and valuable. Yet, it was a process they he was only able to perform on a few of the dozens if not a hundred bodies. It was examining one of the preserved bodies that the Captain found him.
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"I need to know why your spell failed to bring the two scouts out." He asked without preamble, this was too important. Duran looked up at him with tired eyes.
"We just survived a near-death experience were I had to sacrifice a full level to cast a teleport spell and what? You want me to explain how complex magic can mess up sometimes? I don't think there is enough time to give you the basics of the education you would need to understand that." The man said bitingly, his tone angry and harsh. Clearly he was stretched thin from all the anxiety of the day, and the Captain could understand that. He wasn't faring too well with how everything turned out either. Dungeons were always supposed to be passable, there had to be a path through to the end. Yet, that ambush felt like it was designed to crush with overwhelming force, and while the monsters weren't a huge problem on their own. In the horde they were in, along with the Queen, it was something that would have been impossible for anyone under level 75. He didn't even feel like it was worth much to bait a few out to the fort to farm them for experience. Since it seemed like they gave almost none, which was even more odd unless they were all created through some kind of summoning spell by the Queen. He had to shake himself from the thoughts, they were drifting too much with his exhaustion.
"No, I was hoping you could give a simple answer that I could relay to the Lady upon our return." He replied, trying to keep his tiredness from his voice, though he knew it was in his eyes. Duran just deflated, there was no other word for it. The man just seemed to shrink in on himself, and more in shame it seemed than anger or regret.
"Honestly....I just don't know... The spell is a standard script to send humans a few hundred feet in a direction and not into objects." He started slowly, "While simple, all magic involving teleporting and space are heavily complex and often the System takes a level or two to cast one." He then looked up into the eyes of the Captain, and something in them sent a spike of alarm through the man.
"Unless.. unless they weren't human." He said, his gaze sharpening on the Captain, "They were human weren't they Captain." The way he said the man's title almost feeling like a slap. Though his own realization on the matter had started him sweating. Were all those that they found in the dungeons were they some kind of skill, clone, or perhaps a rebel in disguise?
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I pulled my perception away from the little fort in the forest with a frown. It would appear that Yana's clever idea for the dungeon entrance was successful, but also showed me something far more interesting. Since I remembered killing those two humans before, and when they had died they didn't turn into mana and flow into the sky. Luckily I had caught the man in a web of my own mana, which was far easier now that the "System" was basically non-functioning again. I hadn't realized the chains it had put onto my floors for creatures and complex traps, and the most interesting thing was the rate I was expanding was far higher as well. I had transformed my maze floor into something more like a prologue to the story my other floors were supposed to convey, and had been getting good input from Yana as he had been going to the fort near my dungeon. Even in disguise he had figured out a lot of useful things, like how to weave certain kinds of metal into stone work more effectively. Also how to cure wood and infuse it with fire mana to make it stronger.
Now he was standing in the chamber where we had created the odd pulsing orb beneath my core. The thing that had given me my freedoms back, and almost removed the instincts as well. I focused in as he was staring at the shifting mass of complex mana with intense eyes.
"Mother, I think this is a ghost."