In the moments when the Little Brown Bat’s piercing scream shot through him, Adon’s body writhed painfully. The exposure to that horrid sound at such close range was much more than a little caterpillar could be expected to endure stoically. He held on to the thornbush as best he could, but that was all he could do.
The bat used the opening when Adon was almost paralyzed to fling itself away from the source of its pain.
It sprung away from the bush where it had suffered its injuries and then began frantically flapping its wings, trying to escape.
Adon shook his head to clear it, then stared after the bat. But he needed a moment before he realized what he was seeing.
Wait, is he running away? Holy crap! I really did win!
He quickly aimed and fired a burst of silk from his spinner, but the bat bobbed up slightly in the air, and the webbing just barely missed it.
Adon cut the strand loose and fired again, but the bat had moved further away now. Adon realized it was out of range.
Darn it! Still, wow, I totally beat the bat in that fight. I’m awesome!
He looked after the bat and saw that it was flying slowly now. Crookedly, with herky-jerky movements.
I really messed him up, Adon realized.
He threw himself from the side of the bush and then rolled as he landed on the ground. Now was his chance to feast on some of that upper hierarchy flesh. He pursued the bat with vigor and energy, running quickly across the ground without bothering to use Color Change I. If anything approached him, he would activate the Adaptation and run away, but for the moment, he needed all his energy and attention on following his prey.
It might not be flying very well now, but the bat was still flying. Even with its spasmodic movements, it was still covering ground very quickly. And it wasn’t leaving much of a blood trail, Adon noted. Only occasional droplets. The spines were doing damage, but probably mostly because of their venom rather than depth of penetration.
And he knew that if he let himself lose sight of the monster, he wouldn’t be able to find it again. Tracking down a bat at night would probably be an expression for something next to impossible, if it weren’t such an uncommon problem to have, he thought. Better not lose him.
Adon kept pursuing the bat even as it led him away from the direction he wanted to travel, but he didn’t lose track of where he was this time. Following the faltering flying creature wasn’t nearly as demanding on his attention as continuously focusing on his body’s coloration had been.
He had no confidence that he could prevail if the bat winged its way all the way back to whatever cave it had emerged from, but he didn’t think that was going to be an issue.
He’s slowing down and losing altitude. It was what Adon had hoped and expected. After all, he’d landed spines in the bat’s wings, torso, neck, and even one eye. Venomous spines. I’ve never actually seen how effective the venom is when I don’t get to land a real killing blow. But now I’m glad I spent the points to upgrade it twice.
The bat lurched in the air and suddenly careened toward the earth. But as Adon raced to catch up, the creature fluttered its wings in a panicked flurry until it reached almost the height it had lost.
It’s only a matter of time now, though, he thought.
The bat continued flying, Adon in hot pursuit, for a few more feet. Finally, though, it plummeted down and crashed into a fallen tree.
Adon approached cautiously. He thought he saw some small shapes moving on the log the bat had landed on.
It wasn’t until he got a little closer that he realized what he saw.
Ants. They’re really active during the day and at night? No wonder they save more food for winter than grasshoppers.
But realizing that they were just ants made Adon quicken his pace. There was no way he would let those greedy creatures steal his kill. And he wouldn’t be scared away even if the whole colony came to try and take the bat away.
Though these ants did look slightly bigger than he remembered.
Better get in close before they start laying down scent trails. Even as he thought it, a few ants were clearly trailing away from the bat, walking along the log in the opposite direction. There was only one reason Adon could think that they were moving away from this dying creature.
They’re already putting down their scent. That’s annoying. Oh well... The clock is ticking. Given how big the bat is, I’ll be dealing with an army soon. Need to get in there and take my prize.
But the surface of the log was practically crawling with the creatures, he realized. The log lay in a shadowy part of the garden, so Adon couldn’t see it clearly from further away, but the surface of the log around the bat was covered in ants.
It’s like he aimed to crash into a place where a bunch of these stupid scavengers are congregating, Adon thought irritably. There had to be dozens of them.
Contrary to that thought, as he watched, the bat began to struggle with the ants. They seemed to have injected new life into the seemingly dying mammal. It flailed its big wings, squishing some ants and knocking others away. When it raised its wings, Adon saw that there were some ants that had attached themselves to the bottom of those limbs. They were clearly trying to chew through the connective webbing, which would cripple the bat.
Well, there’s no way the bat can lose unless he succumbs to my venom. I’ll just let them weaken him a little and—
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Bang!
There was a sound like a tiny explosion, and an ant that had climbed onto the bat’s head was suddenly no more. In its place, a coating of what looked to be a kind of thick, viscous, pale yellow liquid covered the bat’s forehead and eyes, apparently blinding it.
“Screeeeeeeeeeee!”
The bat let loose another harsh screech that made Adon wince. The ants paused too, and a couple of them spontaneously detonated, too far away from the bat to do any damage—as if the sound had struck them like a physical blow.
Adon was still getting over the fact that these creatures could blow themselves up.
Freaking self-destructing ants now?! Why don’t I seem to run into any normal animals anymore? He had never thought he’d miss the Ladybug Larva, but he was dangerously close to feeling nostalgia for the time when his biggest problem was a heavily armored bug. That’s really what I’ve been preparing to fight. Not, uh, this, whatever this is…
He used Identify on one of them.
Exploding Carpenter Ant (Sentry)
Of course you are. Where the hell was I reincarnated to, Australia?!
The bat continued flailing around wildly, but the ants he struck this time exploded, with more of the same results as before, this time spreading the goo along the bottom of its wings.
While some ants were blowing themselves up just to weaken the enemy, others continued gnawing away at the webbing holding the bat’s wings together. The ants were losing individuals of their group quickly, but occasional reinforcements crawled up the side of the log to replace them almost as fast. The direction of the battle rapidly began to make itself clear.
Oh my Goddess, Adon thought. I’ve weakened the bat so much that he’s actually going to lose!
The time for spectating was over, then. Adon had two choices now: he could walk away and hope the ants didn’t notice him there and follow, or he could get aggressively involved in this fight right now. Though the bat was still moving, its moves had been weak ever since it dropped out of the air. Soon it wouldn’t be fighting at all.
No, that’s my meal, Adon decided. I hunted it myself! No one else gets to eat it.
He turned his back on the ants, twisted his head around to aim, and then fired a flurry of spines into the melee. Ants popped everywhere. Almost all of the spines struck targets, and the ants seemed to be primed to explode on impact with anything right now.
Something that fights with projectiles is kind of a strong counter to them, he thought. I’m in luck.
Then he turned his body so that his right side faced the ants and fired again. More ants exploded, and the broadside was even more destructive than the first attack had been. Since it didn’t seem to matter where Adon hit, his inability to carefully aim each individual spine was a non-factor here.
Only a couple of ants remained at that point, and they charged at the bat—the obvious culprit in the destruction of their kin—and instantly blew themselves up.
The bat let out a weak “Screeeee…” Almost as if to say, It wasn’t my fault! I wasn’t even supposed to be here… This sonic attack was so weak that it didn’t even bother Adon.
He quickly closed the distance.
Judging by the way the bat is moving, that stuff is both painful to the touch and gluey in texture. Fortunately, it’s only on his lower wings and his head as far as I can see. The wings were massive. In fact, they were the reason why the bat had seemed so large and frightening to Adon when he saw it in the air; otherwise, it was only a bit bigger than him at this point. But Adon thought most of the nutritional value would be in the parts covered in fur. Not sure I can eat the stuff covered in that goo anyway, so I’ll cut its wings off as best I can.
As he got within striking range, the bat tried to throw another clumsy wing swipe, clearly intended for whatever was running towards it—Adon. Fortunately, it was completely blind, weakened, and off-balance as a result of the glue weighing its wings down and sticking the ends of them to the log.
The monster still only barely missed hitting Adon with a wing that would have surely knocked him flat. The momentum from the sweeping blow carried the bat forward so that it fell down the side of the log, only stopped from hitting the ground by the glue that stuck its wings to the wood.
The bat ended up in a quasi-crucifixion pose, squealing weakly and flailing with its legs, its wings no longer mobile.
Thanks for restraining yourself for me, Adon thought. Makes my job a little easier. I need to take it out before more of those ants appear, or I could end up fighting an army along with my meal.
He crawled up the side of the log and walked around to the back of the bat, carefully stepping around the thick pools of congealed goo. He stepped in between the bat’s wings until he stood directly behind the head. Then Adon bent down and used his mandible to stab the bat in the neck.
It was his first time using Acid Fangs I.
“Screeeeeeeee!”
The bat let out a final death wail. It wiggled and writhed in its death throes for a few seconds and finally lay still.
Really, I’m not just glad that I’m the one who gets to eat you, Adon thought. I think dying a little more quickly, like this, is probably better for you as well. At least compared with however the ants would have killed you.
And speak of the devil! He heard a skittering coming from multiple sides then.
Adon turned his head to look around. There were a half dozen ants coming at him from behind, and another half dozen coming at him from the side.
I still have enough spines, he thought. He turned and quickly fired an indiscriminate volley from his left side into the ants behind him. He still had an extra few seconds to deal with the ants coming from the side; they were starting from further away.
Four of the six attacking ants exploded, and their gluey substance trapped the other two.
Adon turned his back to the other six ants and shot out a burst of his sticky silk. Only one was hit, but that one exploded—These things are on a hair trigger, Adon observed—and trapped the nearest two with it. Adon had time to fire another silk burst that struck two more in the face, but it hit when they were only a few centimeters away from him.
They exploded too close to Adon. Some of the gluey substance landed on him this time, along with the other ant, which exploded upon being struck with the debris at such close range.
Ugh! That’s absolutely disgusting. Why is this their go-to move? I’m so glad I wasn’t reincarnated as a eusocial insect…
Adon struggled to lift his legs and move forward, but he had to actually shed his skin and leave the old layer behind to escape.
That does it, then. If any more of those ants show up, I’m just going to run. Their glue is really strong, and I’m not strong enough to break free from it yet. I could actually die here, thanks to their insane willingness to sacrifice themselves for the colony.
Finally, he was able to walk again. He moved toward the bat’s left wing where the glue anchored it to the log, and he began using his mandibles to cut along the gluey line.