Jason raced towards the infirmary, carrying the unconscious girl in his arms. He noticed more and more blood gushing out, even though he had created a tourniquet with his shirt around her bicep. She needed proper first aid immediately.
The entire campus was in complete chaos, people were screaming, smoke was coming from buildings, and bodies were laying on the ground dead. These monster like insects were causing carnage, attacking everything in site.
Luckily Jason knew the way to the infirmary as he'd been there before when one of his friends forgot their inhaler and was having breathing problems.
With the rebar rod tucked into his belt he continued making his way towards help. As he surveyed the area in front of him, he saw two black ants attempting to break their way into the infirmary.
"This must have something to do with the system, I suspect the mana must have transformed the medicine, and they're attracted to the scent" Jason deduced to himself.
As he slowly approached them from behind, about 20 meters away he noticed the same window hovering above the ants head
1 x Level 5 Worker Ant
1 x Level 7 Worker Ant
Jason slowly crept closer when out of nowhere colored lights appeared on the two ants, there were more on the lower leveled ant, mainly situated where it's ligaments, and joints were positioned as well as on it's eyes. However the stronger Ant only had two faint lights on it's eyes.
Understanding the situation, Jason realized it must have something to do with his passive ability he received - being able to detect weak points.
What riddled him is why one ant had more weak points than the other. Once he read the description he realized:
(Hunter's Instinct Level 1 - Enhances combat ability, reaction speed, and the detection of weak points)
A hunter will have great difficultly killing something that's much stronger than it, this skill is mainly intended for hunting things around the same level or weaker than him. "This is a really good skill! Now I can determine if something is worth fighting or not - if an enemy is too strong, it's better for me to run away. However, this girl needs help, and I'm interested to see what's so important in the infirmary."
As he resolved his heart, Jason placed the injured girl on a patch of grass, which was instantly stained red, and equipped the rebar rod from the side of his belt line.
Next, he slowly crept up to the side of the level 5 ant and swung as hard as possible at the white light that appeared on it's leg joint.
In an instant the Ant erupted in pain, shrieking intensely as its back most left leg spasmed and swelled. It could hardly move as it struggled to stand
Filled with a sense of accomplishment and power, Jason intended to finish the battle quickly by piercing the level 5 worker Ant through it's eyes. As he leapt forward to land the final strike he was instantly overcome with a sense of grave danger.
He pulled back barely missing the *SNAPPPPP* of the Level 7 worker ant's mandibles.
"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT" Jason's heart was pounding, his adrenaline spiking as he understood how lucky he was to still be alive with his head attached.
He took a step back to calm himself and create distance, while realizing that the passive ability saved him, thanks to the enhanced combat ability he was able to react to the deadly attack.
"There's no way that's something a level 7 Ant can do right? It's got to be an ability" Jason thought to himself, instantly feeling the pressure as he didn't know how to deal with it.
Unfortunately, for Jason, the enraged Ant wasn't planning on giving him time to think as it charged towards him once more.
Jason sidestepped the oncoming Ant, and thrust his rod towards the only weak point he saw - the eyes.
However, the level 7 Ant was faster than Jason, and instantly tilted it's head, letting the rebar rod smack against it's hard exoskeleton rather than hitting it's intended target.
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Having successfully avoided the attack, the level 7 Worker ant used it's skill "Crunch" summoning it's mana to empower it's mandible.
Jason saw the Ant's mandible suddenly turn white and knew how dangerous this attack was, he leapt back barely avoiding the attack as he heard the loud snapping from in front of his face.
The ant did not stop there though, it continued charging straight towards Jason hoping to crush his body between it's pincers. Jason rolled under the attack and to the side before swinging the rod towards the Ants legs in a similar fashion as he did to the weaker one, however the attack simply bounced off the Ants legs.
This seemed to greatly anger the Ant as such a weak being managed to strike it's body. It instantly charged up it's Crunch ability and launched itself towards Jason.
"Huh, only half of it's pincer is glowing white... is it running out of mana?" Jason thought to himself.
He stepped out of range, dodging the strike again before returning an attack of his own which the ant simply deflected with it's tough exoskeleton.
"There's nothing I can do it's just got higher agility than me, fortunately it seems to be running out of mana though."
Jason came up with a plan in order to survive. He instantly ran towards the first ant, who's back leg was still spasming all over the place, and swung with all his might at the other rear leg.
*KRAAAHHHHH* The ant erupted in pain as it's leg was destroyed at the base.
"Time to finish this", Jason thrust the rebar rod through the ant's eyes, killing it in one go.
As the gaseous white light entered his body, he instantly felt rejuvenated. This newfound strength washing away his previous worries, however he had to end this battle quickly - the girl he rescued was getting paler by the minute.
System Notification: You have slain Level 5 Worker Ant:
+ 3 endurance, + 2 health, + 2 agility, + 0 mana, + 3 strength
Level Up! x 1
All stats + 1,
Jason's status window now looked like this:
Name: Jason Cole
Level: 4
Health: 8
Agility: 9
Endurance: 13
Strength: 11
Mana: 6
Unassigned Points: 6
With his increased strength, and refreshed energy levels, Jason decided to end the fight. As he looked towards the remaining ant he saw more of the bright lights appear on it's body, similar to how the ant he just killed looked.
He ripped the pincers from the dead ants jaw and held one in each hand. Equipped with more bruiser like weaponry, he dashed towards his opponent ready to strike.
The Level 7 Black ant shuddered as it felt more apprehensive towards fighting Jason after feeling his strength increase, alongside it's own reduced mana levels, but there was nowhere to hide out in the open like this. The ant let out a shriek and summoned the last of it's mana charging Crunch one final time, hoping to bite Jason's head off.
As his agility had increased by almost twofold after leveling up Jason saw the attack coming, easily stepping to the side dodging it, before returning a left hook of his own - pincer equipped - into the head of the Ant cracking it's exoskeleton immediately.
Jason chuckled to himself, while the Ant writhed in pain and embarrassment.
Now having the upper hand, Jason chuckled to himself and took the initiative to let off a barrage of attacks on the Ant, punishing it for trying to kill him.
With one final attack, Jason pierced the Ant through the head killing it, and once again the sweet sensation of the white gaseous light engulfed his body, empowering him bit by bit.
System Notification: You have slain Level 7 Worker Ant:
+ 3 endurance, + 3 health, + 3 agility, + 4 mana, + 3 strength
Level Up! x 2
All stats + 2,
Name: Jason Cole
Level: 6
Health: 13
Agility: 14
Endurance: 18
Strength: 16
Mana: 12
Unassigned Points: 10
Interestingly, something else dropped from the ants body. Jason hurried over and picked it up.
"What is this? it looks like a map" He thought to himself.
System Notification: Congratulations! You have found an explorers map, would you like to equip it?
"Uhm yes, what does it do?" Jason said aloud.
Instantly the map disappeared and a notification similar to the status window appeared which only Jason could see. A large map covering a 100 meter radius showed all nearby beings. Those weaker than him seemed to be represented by a green dot, anything around his strength was given a yellow, and anything much stronger was given a red dot.
"I can look at this later, the girl needs help" Jason decided. Jason rushed into the infirmary, the girl feeling lighter in his arms due to his strength. A panicked nurse turned to him, gripping a bloodstained cloth.
"Are you insane?! This whole place is a war zone!" Jason ignored her, laying the girl down. Her skin was pale, her breathing shallow.
The nurse hurried over, checking the wound before pausing. Relief crossed her face.
"You got her here just in time. Any later, and she’d be dead." She glanced at the makeshift tourniquet. "Are you a med student? That was well done."
Jason exhaled, glancing at the blood on his hands. "No, just a first aid course from some volunteering thing," he muttered.
The infirmary was barely holding together, shattered windows, empty shelves. It wouldn’t be safe for long.
He checked his mini-map only one red dot left in the 100 meter radius. It pulsed from the top of the science building.
Jason tightened his grip on the ant pincers. "I wonder what’s waiting for me up there," he muttered.
He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like the answer.