After a basic scouting of his vicinity, Arthur was dejected to find no possessable corpse whatsoever. There were no interesting insects, no birds, and no animals.
The coast, albeit quiet and empty, felt eerie and isolated from everything else.
Arthur felt as if he had stepped into a separate domain.
Using [Mist of Decay], he glided in the air and crept closer to the nearest mountain, which was, at least, over 500 meters in height.
There was a noticeable lack of flora and the earth was riddled with circular holes.
Arthur tentatively looked down and inspected one of the holes, but he saw only a looming darkness beckoning him to jump in.
After a momentary deliberation, he conjured a barrier around himself then jumped down with the help of the thick green mist.
[Sanguis Barrier] did provide a bit of illumination, but it wasn’t nearly enough to see what was ahead.
Arthur took out one of the commodities used by explorers: Light Lamp. It was literally a minuscule lamp that could be tied to a piece of clothing. It was self-powered by a reserve of Mana and it provided a decent amount of light around it.
Arthur kept going deeper and deeper until he reached the end of the hole, which was a cold surface and a big intersection housing no less than 10 paths.
However, his uneventful venture had quickly come to an end as his vision flashed red, followed thereafter by the appearance of multiple pairs of violet lusters from all directions.
Seeing human-sized ants with thick carapces charged at him from all directions, Arthur kept the barrier then used [Enhanced Spell] along with [Black Swirl].
The blast of Black Mana took the form of an intangible swirling darkness, strikingly similar to Joshua’s vortex but considerably weaker.
Nevertheless, the spell worked wonders and halted the Cydian Ants’ charge.
With the targets momentarily immobilised, Arthur switched to the Pyromancy he had acquired from Verno and enhanced it before unleashing a burst of flames all around him.
The vermillion flames were hot and powerful as they enveloped everything, including the writing ants.
However, much to the parasite’s surprise, the insects had barely sustained any substantial damage. Their bodies twitched before they regained their senses and attacked.
With so many enemies, there was barely any room to move around, much less escape, therefore, Arthur opted to stay at the same place and unleash more devastating spells.
[Freeze] was cast, turning the ground into ice and letting out a misty freezing aura.
The highly-resistant Cydian Ants were unbothered by the Ice-aspected spell as they rammed their large oblong-shaped black heads into the parasite.
Four of them hit him at the same time, but Arthur’s body turned squishy and elastic thanks to [Slime Me Not].
For five seconds, he was practically impervious to physical attacks and capable of retaliating.
Green mist spiralled around him as he shrouded his body then used [Enhanced Spell] to strengthen [Infernal Cry].
The demonic shrill, unexpectedly, had a strong effect on the Cydian Ants. Their bodies fell to the ground, seemingly disoriented and in great pain.
‘It’s sound! They’re vulnerable to high-pitched sounds.’
Now that he figured out one of their weak points, Arthur grinned and continuously used [Infernal Cry].
The Mana cost of the skill was relatively high, nevertheless, he was willing to expend it for such a use as the Cydian Ants remained on the ground, their antennas intensely shaking.
By the 6th [Infernal Cry], the 8 Cydian Ants around Arthur were on the ground, incapable of recovering. Their bodies were unscathed, but their minds were not.
Powerless in front of the interloper, the Cydian Ants, even with their impressive defensive capabilities, could not protect themselves.
Arthur first used [Wither Touch] on them then ended their lives with an enhanced [Icicle], which pierced through their thick carapaces and impaled them to the half-scorched half-frozen ground.
Alas, the parasite wasn’t afforded a moment when more ants appeared from the dark paths, their arrival signaled by their glowing purple eyes.
Seeing so many come at him, Arthur unhesitantly discarded his body and possessed one of the ants.
The System Notifications filled his view, but he ignored them and stood up, cautiously looking at the approaching ants. They seemed confused to see the invader suddenly fall to the ground, but that was all. Using their elongated and protruding sharp pincers, they ripped the human body into shreds before gobbling it up in seconds.
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‘They’re not that intelligent, fortunately.’
Arthur watched his ‘kin’ rapidly disperse, each one running toward one of the paths as if nothing happened. All that was left in the intersection were what was left of his previous’ host clothes and the untouched magical bag a distance away.
The period of urgency and danger had passed and Arthur finally had time to collect his thoughts and think things through.
‘The stat increase is surprisingly low. I guess most of their perks come from their skills… a pity.’
*[Nocturnal Vision(Passive Lv6): The ability to see clearly in dark places.
This skill is unique to the host type: Cydian Ant]
*[Genetic Mutation(Passive Lv5): Physical stats increased by 20%
This skill is unique to the host type: Cydian Ant]
*[Magic Resistance has leveled up!]*
*[Magic Resistance has leveled up!]*
*[Titanium Carapace(Passive Lv7): Reduces all incoming physical damage by 90%
This skill will take effect on all hosts equipped with a carapace.]
*[Titanium Bones(Passive Lv3): Reduces all incoming damage by 5%]
*[Stealth Movement(Passive Lv4)] has taken effect]*
*[Tenacity(Passive Lv5) has taken effect]*
*[Magic Beast(Passive Lv5) has taken effect]*
*[Sickening Life(Passive) has taken effect]*
Arthur was slightly unimpressed by the obtained skills, albeit the fact they granted him almost impenetrable defense. It was due to the downside of them being only applicable to the Cydian Ants.
Nevertheless, with so many passives becoming effective and his already high physical stats, he was bursting with power.
[Nocturnal Vision] helped him navigate through the tunnels and see clearly amidst the ominous darkness. Furthermore, whenever he stumbled upon a small group of Cydian Ants, he would attack.
Admittedly, continuously ramming onto them and using his pincers to attack was a simple and somewhat inefficient tactic, however, he was considerably stronger than them.
Even with their strong carapaces and their numerical advantage, they fell one after the other.
It was a bit exhausting, but Arthur rejoiced to see so many targets.
Within five hours, he had possessed over 40 Cydian Ants. The stat increase was almost negligible, but his skill levels rose to the point that he no longer had to worry about getting injured while possessing a Cydian Ant.
‘This is good and all, but I need to find their Queen or something stronger. The normal ones do not suffice for ‘Last Possession’.’
----------------------------------------
The colony of Cydian Ants had constructed a veritable labyrinth underneath the mountain range. It spanned for dozens of kilometers, complex and difficult to navigate.
At first, Arthur tried to map out an efficient route, but he was lost soon after.
The Cydian Ants’ pincers were able to easily dig through the soft and hard dirt and rock, so leaving the tunnels by directly going upwards was a possibility. However, Arthur’s objective was to locate a stronger variation to possess. Still, having a possible exit route was better than being trapped here and perpetually wandering the intricate web of well-dug tunnels and holes.
For three days straight, Arthur kept looking around while killing any small group of Cydian Ants he encountered. His stats were rising at a slow pace and, at some point, the increase became practically non-existent.
It was then that he had discovered from one of the downsides of repeated possession of the same host-type. Strangely enough, such a ‘side-effect’ didn’t appear when possessing humans, but that could have been explained by the Cydian Ants' physiological homogeneity.
All the Cydian Ants he encountered and possessed looked the same and had the same skills.
After he had enough of the dull fighting, Arthur began using the tunnels that led downwards, hoping that he might reach their nest.
Surprisingly, it took him one whole day of going down, either through already dug tunnels or holes or by using the pincers to create a safe route.
His body thudded against the soft ground and his purple eyeballs rolled left and right as they scrutinized the odd surroundings.
‘It’s man-made constructs. The Cydian Empire of the mermaid, perhaps? No…’
The black and golden metals, the innumerable amount of pipes inters-secting on the walls and the ceiling, the unique architecture… it was all familiar to Arthur. He had seen a place similar to this once during his travels.
‘Arman-made? Here? But how? There was no mention of it.’
The corridor on which he landed was wide and illuminated by lamps integrated into the ceiling. There were dozens of Cydian Ants walking one behind the other, all heading toward one direction.
Moreover, Arthur noticed a new variation of the insects; They were no bigger than a human’s hand, were dark red and had a total of six legs. They resembled the Carpenter Ants, but they were bigger and differently-colored.
Arthur’s abrupt appearance didn’t perturb the insects as they kept walking in an orderly fashion, seemingly in a daze.
The parasite squeezed himself in the line and followed them, curious about what laid at the end of the big corridor.
It was no secret that there existed a lot of Arman Ruins scattered all around Astria, however, they were hard to find or infiltrate due to the dangerous mechanism defending it around the clock.
‘Come to think of it, I wasn’t able to fully explore the facility under the Maga Venari Village. Only one gate was opened.’
The parasite marched with the ants for half an hour before they reached a truly enormous room. The ceiling was dozens of meters above the ants, but what astonished Arthur was the ridiculous amount of Cydian Ants present there.
Cydian Ants, Carpenter Ants, and even a couple of giant green ants that were moving big rubble out of the room.
‘They’re either being magically controlled by something or the Queen is sentient enough to conduct such a big-scale operation.’
Arthur’s eyes fell on a gate strikingly similar to the one he had seen in the past. It was, likewise, sealed shut, but there thousands of Carpenter Ants glued to it, nibbling at the black and golden metal, taking tiny chunks with each bite.
A third of the gate was gone, but there was still much of it left. It was several meters thick, and over 10 meters in height, towering over everything else.
The room was no smaller than a football field, filled to the brim with Cydian Ants moved systematically like robots. They moved the rubble and cleared the way.
Soon enough, as he followed them, Arthur noticed a humanoid silhouette standing near the gate. It seemed to be overseeing the ants and standing motionlessly like a statue.
It had the frame of a human, albeit a bit short, but it definitely didn’t look like one. From head to toe, it was covered in a bronze and silvery material resembling armor, and its head was a big double-horned dark brown helmet.
Its eyes were just two horizontal silver slits that let out a subtle purple glow.
Even at a glance, Arthur was certain it was stronger than the rest.