Chapter 54:

Titus looked down to his left, precisely two feet behind his ankle, where the little bastard always stayed. He was shocked to find that Tony's near-constant presence was gone. Never mind that the ant's strange stillness, lack of noise, hard chitin, and general face that could only be described as terrifying and disturbing, the little bastard had grown on Titus. It was taking to training better than any dog Titus had ever had, which considering how many he'd owned, was quite something. Tony showed a loyalty that was, frankly, a little bit disturbing. If the thing could talk, Titus was sure it would be a zealot.

How much of that was due to the System fucking with his mind through his companion bond with the creature, giving it his feelings and emotions? Not to mention the thoughts that were sometimes pushed through the link to Titus in a generally vague yet insistent way. They were nothing like the faint sense of emotions and location he got from Alice. Titus couldn't really fault himself for getting a little bit attached after such a connection. So when he looked over to see Tony's striped orange and black carapace in the pile of black ants in fungus whirling, he didn't hesitate for a second before charging in to rescue his pet.

It might have been a stupid or impulsive decision, but Titus didn't think so. It was clear they needed to get past this obstacle, and this might be their only real chance.

As Titus ran, he reflected on how grateful he was that it was just the Fungus Wartling standing in front of him, with the Fungus King nearly on the other side of the cavern. The Fungus King would have certainly been the highest-level monster they'd ever faced. The only time they'd ever beaten anything close to its level was due to luck at the very, very beginning with their weaponry or unavoidable fights. Or the Kraken they had fought when crossing the ocean—that had been pure desperation and a bit of luck. He was relatively certain that the boat's propellers had done a decent amount of damage themselves, letting Alice and Titus mostly just finish off the monster.

But this? Well, the Fungus King might not have been possible, but this Wartling? The ants were certainly doing something. Titus could only see Tony's back end as the rascal was literally digging a tunnel through the beast. Titus wanted to hurl his weapon. A volley of pilums—or even spears that wouldn't return—would do wonders to a giant monster like this. The target was large enough that he could barely hope to miss, especially at this range. Still, he would probably end up entirely wiping out the horde of helpers they had. So he gripped the spear and, as he came in, used it more like a scythe.

Luckily, the spear had a relatively long two-foot blade sharpened on both sides, and he could slash. He coordinated his slashes so that bits and pieces of the fungus came off. As he attempted to intersect where Tony was going and prevent the crazy ant from getting himself into too much trouble, Titus felt flashes and a trickle of satisfaction come from Alice as the fungus monster's clumsy swipes of its long limbs slowed perceptibly many times in the next couple of seconds as Alice unloaded her wand.

Titus couldn't help but smile. She was coming along nicely. Her battle instincts weren't perfect, but it was impossible to tell how much the System was helping. Even without that he wouldn't have hesitated to call her a prodigy any other time. If he'd been in charge of any armies, he would have definitely fast-tracked her towards some officer roles—something special with small-group tactics, maybe.

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Tony eventually was uncovered by Titus' hacking and slashing, and without missing a beat, the little ant fell into coordination with him. Every slash of his spear was met with a corresponding chomp of the mandibles, ripping away the pieces before Titus could finish a second or third strike to cut them away. So Titus simply left the cleanup to Tony as the ant used flicks of his head to throw away the pieces, clearing a path.

Together, they carved deeper into the monstrosity that was slowly flailing at them. Other ants held on, weighing down its limbs or attempting to do something similar—ripping small chunks off of it and carrying them away from the battle.

***

Alice tucked her wand into her belt, all the stored charges emptied. She could feel the strain in her mana for now. Putting away the wand was a hard choice to make as she could have kept filling it with her own reserves, but that was slow and expensive. Still, she wasn't sure if that was the best decision. But they needed to do more damage and fast.

Instead, she went about making sure that any of the Fungus Wartlings in her range were under the effects of [Life Drain], ensuring that no ants or Titus were affected. The resources trickled in, but with so many powerful creatures in range of her, well, it added up. It might not be powerful enough to fully sustain her, but she was able to cast a new [Mana Bolt] every couple of seconds. Along with the gains from her drain and the mana she was simulating from the magic Faraday cage she had brought with her, it was a sizable influx.

The pull trying to steal her mana was now incredibly strong. However, her amulet was still doing a good job of insulating her from it. Soon, though, she wouldn't have anything to draw on besides her own internal reserves, so she kept up a steady barrage as they slowly ate away at the Fungus Wartling in front of them. She didn't feel the need to blast through her stores incredibly fast, just keeping up the steady progress and making sure that any attacks at Tony and Titus were met with a well-placed [Mana Bolt], blowing off sections of tendrils and limbs flailing toward them.

Alice was far enough away from the combat that she could keep an eye on the rest of the room. Ants were swarming in at a steady stream, almost overloading the capacity of the tunnels entering. They were slowly making a difference. The Wartlings weren't moving nearly as much and were simply trying to deal with all the ants surrounding them. But the Fungus King was not hampered nearly the same amount. It was writhing in a roiling mass, chewing up ants like a meat grinder, spitting bits of chitin and guts everywhere as it scissored even larger soldiers between its limbs and various tendrils of fungus.

The Fungus King moved over towards one of the other Wartlings and began to clean it off. Alice kept an eye on them as she continued working on removing the obstruction in front of them. Ants continually attacked the King, but they were killed almost as quickly as they got there. They managed a few sprays of acid and maybe a chomp, removing a small bit of fungus or hanging on, but soon they were crushed and knocked off. Slowly, the two fungus monsters moved on to the next one, killing ants by the dozen.

Alice knew they were on a timer. If the Fungus King ended up over here, they were doomed. She tried to calculate the rate of its advancement. There were seven Wartlings between them and the King, and each one took a decent amount of time to free, plus the travel time. They had maybe three to four minutes. Alice looked at the progress they were making. The fungus was noticeably smaller and full of holes, but she had no idea how much more it could take or if they could just get around it.

Gritting her teeth, Alice increased the output of her spells, slowly and steadily starting to eat into her resources as blast after blast tore away massive pieces of fungal flesh from the creature blocking their way.