AN: Again, sorry for the extremely late release. School is currently taking up all of my free time, leaving me almost none to write or edit. Aside from that, I'm also guilty of starting a collaboration fic with Donkeymonsterz. I'm going to be honest with you: It's going to delay the releases, but I'll try to release chapter normally starting next week.

When we exited the house the sun was already rising, causing the cold environment outside to slowly warm up.

A few dewdrops were glistening atop the road of destruction, displaying how beautiful nature could be if it’s not trying to kill you.

I breathed the fresh morning air in, mentally preparing myself for an exhausting day.

A flash illuminated the nearly barren walls of the road of destruction. Owen silently went to the spot the house used to stand on, shoving its miniature form into the little leather pouch hanging at his waist.

I sighed, wanting to enjoy the moment, but I knew that doing so would only mean unnecessary danger. We’ve already stayed in the same place for quite a few hours, so I’m pretty sure there are at least some curious ants in the area. No need to let our scent leak out and possibly attract some of

them.

Do ants even track by their sense of smell? I remember reading that they use their antennas to smell pheromones or something, so this isn’t that unlikely.

“What are we standing around for? We should leave as soon as possible.” Greta, who seemed to have enjoyed the wait the least, suddenly spoke up.

She dashed forward, not leaving us any other choice but to follow her.

“Can’t she leave us any time to enjoy ourselves for a while?” I muttered, having already caught up to her.

No other words were exchanged as we got into formation again and began to closely monitor our surroundings for any ants that were getting too close.

----------------------------------

“Another group coming from the right.” Greta whispered.

I nodded, proceeding to crouch even lower.

“Ready?” I asked around, wanting to confirm whether they were truly comfortable with the gamble I was about to make with our lives at the stake.

Frank scanned the surroundings, preferring to have his eyes closed as they would only be unnecessary distraction.

He sighed, obviously not very reassured by my words earlier.

“You sure that you want to try this? If you mess up, we’ll probably die.” He fidgeted around a bit.

It had been a few hours since we set off and we’ve already gotten quite a bit closer to the forest. Unfortunately, this also meant that the ants have become more and more numerous for some reason.

We’re probably nearing their nest or something similar, but I don’t remember Teacher ever warning us about ants.

Until now, I wasn’t sure whether or not I should test my theory on their perception being mainly centred around smell, but the situation has forced my hands.

If it goes on like this, we’ll probably end up being discovered quite soon.

And then attacked by a frightening amount of ants.

“I don’t know John, aren’t there any other, preferably safer way to test this theory of yours?” Owen asked hesitantly.

“Of course there are, but if this works then we won’t have to worry about being discovered any time soon.” I reassured him, but he didn’t look very convinced. Neither did the others, for that matter.

But at least they trusted me enough to not stop me from doing so from the start. Or maybe it’s just that they know the situation as well as I do and have no other solutions.

I exhaled nearly all the breath in my lungs. My palms were already full of sweat and I could faintly start to smell an unpleasant smell coming from my armpits.

Calm down John. You can do this.

I inhaled, my eyes becoming more focused with every passing second.

“Okay, on Greta’s sign.” I stated rather than ordered. Everyone present already knew what to do.

It was completely silent apart from the sounds that the group of ants nearby caused.

I held my breath.

Despite all my efforts, I couldn’t calm myself completely. Too much was at risk.

“S-“ Greta seemed to have bit on her tongue, which didn’t serve to make any of our tense selves any calmer.

“Concentrate for fucks sake!” I hissed, maybe a bit more venomously than I had intended to. She sent a glare filled with killing intent my way, showing that I had gone a bit too far.

She laid both of her hands on her still childish chest, showing that puberty hadn’t hit her yet. Breathing in and out a few times, she finally managed to calm herself down a bit.

I wish that I could stop being so fucking nervous as easily as her.

“Start.” She said, this time without any interruption.

Air erupted from all my pores, forming into a small bubble of air that enveloped me. The air from the inside cycled to the outside, where it came back with small bits of fresh air.

The used air that was expelled also contained my smell, causing me to have to be careful to not spread it in a high concentration.

I scattered it around a large, conical area behind me, aiming to leave as few clues that I was ever here as possible.

I looked at the others, my mana vision confirming that things were proceeding just as planned and no one had any problems with the technique.

Although this could be called a form of telekinesis, it was possible due to the relatively low density of “air”. Whatever the hell the mix in this atmosphere contains is still a mystery to me, so I’ll just call it that.

But it wasn’t that easy either. Air in high volumes is still quite heavy and as such harder to control, which is made even harder by the distinct lack of discernible form.

I had to saturate the air I released with quite a bit of water to even distinguish from the normal air that was surrounding around me.

Now that I think about it, it’s a mystery how we’re even able to use such complex manoeuvres.

It should be impossible with even my level of expertise, but who am I to complain? I’ll take whichever good thing is thrown my way.

I grabbed some of the many dried up roots which started to decorate the walls of the road of destruction at some point and proceeded to carefully pull myself up.

Abnormally vibrant green grass covered the ground, interrupted by many even brighter trees. The trend of the grass and trees containing more and more mana hadn’t changed, but since they didn’t pose a threat I have come to ignore it in favour of the ants, who could easily overwhelm and kill us if we aren’t careful.

The insects slowly got into view as I crept up to them. They were workers, as I had come to call the most common ones that were smaller and weaker than their stronger counterparts, which I called warriors.

There were five of them, every single one seeming to move into some random direction, but by now I knew that it only seemed like that. These beasts never do anything without a purpose, whatever it may be.

I crouched down again and sneaked closer until I was barely three meters away from one of them.

*Badum* *Badum* *Badumbadumbadum*

My heart started accelerating at a furious pace when I saw that it suddenly turned around. We stopped, fearing that it had discovered us.

The wiry, black frame of the beast that towered over any of us took an eternity to come closer, its antennae moving around chaotically.

Has it noticed us? But why isn’t it attacking us then?

It moved so agonizingly slowly that the time between each step took seemed like an eternity.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

There was just a meter of distance between us and the ant now.

*Badumbadumbadumbadumbadum*

The blood was already starting to rush into my head. My heart, beating so loudly that I was surprised that no one else was able to hear it, only pumped faster with every step it took.

I could see its sharp and long pinchers swaying to the side with every step that took it closer to me.

Its beady eyes were completely unreadable. They seemed to be unfocused, but if my theory is true then they just weren’t relying on them a lot.

Suddenly its antennas sharply whipped around, sending a slight whistling sound into the air.

Shit shit shit shitshitshitshit! It has noticed us!

I moved my hands to the side, preparing myself for a fight to break out in this very second.

Fortunately though, the antennas were pointing into another direction and the ant itself hadn’t taken any action against our presence.

A breath, which seemed to have gotten stuck in my throat at some point, was released as I sighed in relief.

God fucking damnit, this was too fucking close.

A hand touched my shoulder, causing me to turn around.

I saw Frank gesturing for us to turn back. He sent me a relieved look that begged me to never do that again, which I sent back.

This wasn’t easy for me either. I’ll never do something like this again if it can be avoided.

Greta had resumed sending death glares at me, but they weren’t able to do anything to the good mood I was in.

It has worked! Now we finally have a way to escape their notice!

Using the same route, we returned to our residence, which was our emergency backup in case the plan failed.

“John, you fucking asshole!” Greta insulted me with suppressed volume.

I gave her an apologetic look. “Look, I was pretty nervous, okay?”

“Still, it was pretty mean.” Owen interjected from the sides.

I rolled my eyes at him. Seriously? I thought he was on my side.

“Apologize.” Greta crossed her arms, not moving a bit from her spot.

I sighed. “Sorry, okay? I mean it.” Following up with my best puppy eyes, I knew she would forgive me before a full minute had passed.

She kept staring at me, but finally wavered after a few seconds under the unceasing onslaught of the purest concentration of cuteness that I could muster.

“John, never do that again.” Frank said, patting my shoulder and giving me a meaningful look.

I raised an eyebrow. “Why? It’s obviously quite effective.”

“Just,” He exhaled loudly, the stench from his mouth threatening to overwhelm me. By the founders, what did he eat when I wasn’t looking?

“Don’t do that anymore. This sort of crazy test I mean. Ma always told me that stress is bad for your health, and this is definitely killing me!” He finished, proceeding to turn around and fling a loaf of bread into his mouth.

*Knock*

The sound that came from the front door caused all of us to turn around in surprise.

What the hell could be knocking at our door in this place?

I tentatively went forward, stopping in front of the closed door.

“Erm, is there anyone outside?” I asked, a mix of curiosity and fear filling my entire being.

“YOU BETTER LET ME IN YOU LITTLE SHITS! BY THE FUCKING SUN IF I DON’T BEAT SOME COMMON SENSE INTO YOUR RETARDED BRAINS I’M GOING TO EXPLODE FROM ANGER!” Teacher’s booming voice penetrated the walls, shocking us to the core.

My ears were ringing from the unbelievably high volume, but he continued before I could recover.

“I KNOW SOMEONE IS IN FRONT OF THE DOOR!” A boom could be heard as something smashed against the entrance.

“YOU THINK I CAN’T SMASH THIS LITTLE DOOR INTO PIECES IF YOU DON’T OPEN IT?” The booms continued on, the door shaking and creaking under the immense strain.

The hinges were vibrating every time, looking dangerously close to breaking into pieces by now.

“W-wait!” I shouted as soon as I recovered from the shock.

Rushing to the handle, I carefully opened it a bit.

I peered into the outside, discovering that Teacher was standing next to an elderly woman. Her piercing blue were calmly observing me, but I wasn’t able to detect any hint of hostility from her.

Despite wearing the same grey robe she was about half a head smaller than him, emitting a peaceful atmosphere. This stood in complete contrast with teacher, whose wrinkled face was flushed from anger.

A few veins were visibly pulsating and I could hear his ragged breathing.

My face paled when I remembered the few occasions that he had been so furious. The aftermath was anything but nice, especially due to the old principal having to step in to stop him from rampaging through the entire school.

She stretched her hand to the side, stopping Teacher’s furious frame from whatever he was about to do to me.

“Calm down dear, you’re frightening him” She chided.

*Gulp*

Dear? Could it be that someone with a temper as bad as Teacher’s was actually able to marry someone?

Wait, there’s something more important: She is actually able to stop him? Seriously? There is such a person in this world?

Teacher’s body relaxed a bit, but I could see that his fury hadn’t subsided a bit. “These brats obviously need to be dealt a lesson they will never forget! To actually venture out on their own and not wait for us to rescue them? Preposterous!” He said through gritted teeth, cracking his knuckles while doing so.

The woman rolled her eyes. “Of course, but we can get to that later. C’mon, admit it.” She smiled widely at him. “You’re pretty proud that they’ve been able to get this far, aren’t you?” The teasing tone in her voice was clearly audible, and if I didn’t know better I could have sworn that there was a feint tinge of red in Teacher’s face.

He stayed silent, his fury seeming to have vanished into hot air.

She then turned to me again, but I didn’t dare to meet her eyes this time. Anyone capable of taming someone like Teacher is someone to be feared.

“Would you be so kind to let us in? I promise that the pain you’ll experience will significantly lessen.” She asked me so sweetly that, combined with the promise of a reduced amount of pain, I was compelled to do so without any hesitation.

Glancing at the damaged hinges and cracks that were running through the door, I knew they would be able to come in regardless of whether I let them in or not.

If we’re already fucked then I’ll at least shorten the torture as much as possible.

Loud steps could be heard as the others, who had gathered around me, ran away as fast as possible.

I ignored the sinking feeling in the depths of my stomach and pushed the door open.

“Let’s get to work dear. We have to teach these naughty children how to behave properly.” She shouted far louder than necessary.

My vision blurred and before I even knew what was going on I was suddenly on top of a hard leg, my limbs barely touching the soft carpet.

I tried to move, but discovered that I wasn’t able to.

The voice of the woman came from above, seeming unconcerned with my futile attempts to free myself. “Don’t worry, I keep my promises.” Her voice was eerily calm for someone who was about to dish out a fuckton of pain.

She raised her hand, marking the start a session of hellish torture.

““AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH””