Lucius spent the next twenty minutes getting acquainted with his enhanced underground speed. Receiving such a rapid increase was difficult to adjust to, even for someone with such high dexterity. If it hadn't been for Whisper constantly helping him slow down or dodge to the side mid-air, he would have certainly collided with more than one mushroom stalk by now. However, he wasn't irritated in the slightest, being way faster was a good problem to have, after all.
Thankfully, he managed to adapt in less than half an hour and hastily continued his exploration of the massive alien cavern with renewed confidence in his ability to face whatever obstacles might come his way.
He was having some trouble maintaining a proper course through the strange landscape. It was difficult to keep his bearings without a sun, moon, or stars in the sky to help orient him. Lucius was forced to climb to the tops of nearby mushrooms a few times to make sure he was moving in the correct direction.
Holding onto a thin length of shadows, Lucius rose to the top of a particularly large mushroom, hopping onto the bowl-like head of the fungus as he double-checked his position. He had crossed about half the distance to the anthill by now, and it had taken around ten minutes.
Lucius took a few mouthfuls of water as he watched the ants tirelessly moving about their domain in the distance.
"Good thing my speed is so enhanced down here; otherwise, I wouldn't have much hope of making it back to the anomaly over this far a distance before it closed—if I’m even able to slay the summoner, that is."
As Lucius rested for a moment at the top of the mushroom, a strange change began to take place in the world around him as a faint blue glow spread through the distant cavern. The glow began in one area far beyond his line of sight, but quickly surged closer and closer to Lucius like a wave.
Lucius dropped his water bottle and took a step backward as the wave of light rapidly approached, having no time to hide, he merely held his arms out over his head as the wave washed over him. Only after the light reached his position, did he finally realize what was happening—the enormous fungi filling the cavern seemed to possess some form of bioluminescence, it was triggered in unison on every large mushroom as if daytime had come to the underground. It wasn’t very bright, but it was enough to make maintaining his night vision uncomfortable.
Letting out a relieved chuckle as he picked up his spilled water bottle, the purple glow in Lucius' eyes receded and he gazed back out over the glowing blue cavern before him. He stood in place, mesmerized by the beauty of the strange landscape. Unfortunately, the next moment pulled him out of his reverie, quickly reminding him of the dangerous nature of the world around him.
Warning! C-Class threat detected!
"What?!"
As Lucius shifted his vision toward the sensation of the threat, he noticed a great plume of dust rising in the distance, it happened to be quite close to where the anthill was located. As he continued to observe, he saw that the ants seemed to have been provoked by something. Their casual foraging behavior had stopped, replaced by intense and aggressive movements.
The large insects rushed toward the cloud of dust, their antennae twitching madly as they clacked their mandibles in irritation. As the dust cloud drifted away, Lucius saw what looked like a giant hornet holding one of the smaller ants between its mandibles. The dust cloud had been created by the beating of the massive hornet's wings as it swooped down to attack its prey. The fact that the hornet attacked the moment the cavern lit up with bioluminescence wasn't lost on Lucius, and he made a mental note of that detail.
"It must rely on the light to hunt..."
The smaller insect twitched and flailed, trying to free itself from the bite, but as the mandibles of its much larger enemy clamped down on its abdomen, the smaller creature was torn in half and tumbled lifelessly to the ground alongside it's emptying inner organs.
The powerful hornet gathered the largest piece of its prey, leaving the remainder on the ground before taking flight once again, a second dust cloud rising around it as it narrowly avoided the counterattack of the angry ants swarming toward it from the ground. Lucius watched as the hornet circled above the anthill a few times, as if mocking the futile efforts of the lesser insects, before buzzing off toward the far side of the cavern with it's breakfast.
The deafening vibration from the hornet’s wings as it moved away at full speed was so loud that Lucius could feel it in his chest even from such a distance away. He let out a breath of relief as the deadly monster disappeared from sight, allowing him to take a moment to consider what he had just witnessed. As he did so, the seed of idea began to sprout in his mind.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Whisper sensed Lucius' intentions and immediately began cautioning against the dangerous plan.
"That is an exceedingly deadly idea you’ve just come up with. I hope you reconsider. There are more than enough ants for our training purposes. There’s no need to put yourself within attack range of that C-Class monster."
Lucius didn’t respond, simply motioning for Whisper to lower him down from the mushroom, but the sly grin never left the corner of his mouth.
As Lucius reached the ground, he picked up another target with Sense Danger. This one was a lone F-Class creature moving in his direction, and as Lucius got close enough to catch a glimpse of it, his guess was confirmed.
“There’s our first target. Whisper, make sure it doesn’t escape if my first attack isn’t lethal. The last thing we need is a swarm of its buddies surrounding the area.”
He continued moving toward the creature, swiftly positioning himself in the path of the approaching enemy. Lucius held Matriarch's Fury out before him, and the moment the ant came within striking distance, he dashed forward.
Lucius left nothing to chance, immediately activating Flicker before clenching his fist and driving his knuckles into the unsuspecting creature’s armored back with Sundering Strike. The blow was so powerful that it lifted Lucius a few inches off the ground, while at the same time creating a small impact wave that spread out in all directions from Lucius' fist while viciously crushing the ant’s body against the earth. Long cracks spiderwebbed out from the impact point on the carapace, and thick, yellowish-green liquid began oozing from the fissures in the ant's armor.
Without pause, Lucius continued his attack as he snapped his sword forward and pierced through the newly opened cracks, skewering the insect a half dozen times in succession before the effects of Flicker faded away.
You have defeated Formica Sub Terra, level 16.
Through effort, you have gained +1 to the Stamina attribute.
You have reached level 24. You have 8 attribute points available for distribution.
Lucius clenched his fist in joy as he quickly collected the body of his slain foe, taking in deep lungfuls of air to regain his breath after the momentary burst of exertion.
"How lucky father—you leveled up and earned a point in stamina from the first opponent!"
Lucius nodded as he responded.
"Yeah, but that was a small one, and it was already level 16. These ants are much stronger than I suspected. We’re going to have to be even more careful not to get surrounded. One or two is no problem—even six probably wouldn’t be too big an issue—but any more than that, and we could end up dead."
"Well, you’d be dead. I’d just get turned back into an egg."
Lucius raised an eyebrow at the comment, glancing toward his small companion.
"You really want the next person to bind you to be an ant? Hope you like staring at dirt walls with no one to talk to forever."
Lucius smiled as he watched Whisper's eyes shoot open wide, rapidly shaking his miniature head at the unpleasant idea. The duo moved deeper into the mushroom forest as Whisper discarded the distasteful thoughts and moved into the storage ring to begin to consume the body of the slain ant. Lucius' eyes narrowed slightly in satisfaction as he savored the feeling of vitality flowing through his veins, strengthening his flesh and spreading power throughout his entire body.
After the pleasant sensation passed, Lucius pulled up his status to check how much Vitality he had gained from the creature’s blood.
Strength 40(45)
Vitality 26(31) Dexterity 40(45)
Intelligence 5(15) Creativity 6(16) Luck 1(6)
Stamina 23(26) Magic Power 4(9) Magic Resist 6(11) ... ... Free Attribute 8
"Tsk. Only one point. Oh well. There are plenty of ants around here—if we can gain one point from each of them, that would be quite the haul."
Lucius and Whisper moved through the forest of mushrooms once again, both wearing hungry looks as they advanced toward their next target.