33.

“How many of these things are we running today?” Bianca panted as she leaned up against the dirt wall. They were on their third monster nest of the day and she was looking ragged. Santi, for once, wasn’t smeared in offal. He had been letting his newly evolved teammates take the brunt of the fighting. Most of the monsters were below level twenty-five and those that weren’t were quickly dispatched by the team.

They weren’t gaining levels, but they were gaining cohesion and improving their teamwork with every passing fight. They were almost to the bare minimum standard he’d accept. Almost.

“Scouts have this and one more found in the area. We finish this one and take a break, and then we hit the next one. Next one should be a bit tougher. Get levels for real.”

“Oh, thank god. I thought we weren’t going to get anything after this run,” Cameron said with a tired sigh. He had been pushing himself as hard and fast as possible. His skills being used whenever he managed to regenerate his mana to use them.

That’s why they were all posted on the side of an ant tunnel waiting for everyone to regenerate their mana. Santi’s use of spells worked in his favor as they fit his affinity. They were superbly efficient and didn’t burn through his mana pool like some of the other’s did.

“Yeah, need to work on the teamwork. We’re sloppy.”

“Getting better,” Cam refuted. He and Chloe were the cornerstone of their teamwork. Everything revolved around their frontliners. If they fell back, then everyone needed to fall back. If they pushed, everyone pushed. If one went forward and one went back, everyone died.

“Good gets people killed. Perfection keeps us alive.”

“Amen. Let’s get moving then.” Cam rose up, rolling his shoulders to loosen up before heading down the tunnel. Chloe kept close to him and Bianca behind her. Daniel and Hana had disappeared ten minutes ago to scout further down. Chad just grumbled as the tight confines of the tunnel kept him from being able to exert his powers to their fullest.

It would be a good exercise for him to practice in non-ideal circumstances. The pony sized ants were a bad matchup for him. The small nest was nearly cleared, with only the queen's chamber in the heart of the colony and the tunnels leading to it left. Santi hadn’t been able to scout these tunnels as easily as he had the mausoleum, but he had a fair understanding of the nest.

This monster den was one that had been in the original timeline. It had been a bit smaller back then, but it was in the same spot. A few minutes longer and then they’d be entering the final battle for the nest. The nest should be built around a large earth natural treasure that was in the queen's room.

Cam stayed partially crouched as he worked his way down the tunnel, using the light from a few glowsticks to navigate the dark tunnels. With their newly advanced stats they didn’t need as much light to see. Santi lagged behind them all, keeping his senses focused behind them to make sure they weren’t ambushed.

A scuttling shape emerged from the dark, wide bulbous head swinging back and forth while pincers snapped close around a golden shield. The pincers couldn’t pierce Cam’s projection, and he twisted the creature’s head to the side. Bianca slid between them and her macuahuitl sliced through its neck like butter.

Cam waited a moment as the pincers flexed in death spasms, then dropped his shielding spell and kicked the head out of the way. The rest of the body was pushed to the side and they had to turn sideways as they walked down the tunnel.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The next ant came quickly, Chloe reacting first. Her axe splitting the beast’s head before it could reach Cam. Chloe’s belief that if everything was dead, they couldn’t make it to the backline, continued to be a defining trait. If she wasn’t so sturdy she would be in the same camp as Bianca as a damage dealer rather than a frontline fighter.

Seven minutes and two more ants later, none of the ants lasted long, they came to the entrance of the chamber. It was twice as wide and tall as the tunnels. The walls were smooth and hard covered in a type of secretions that hardened the walls. Santi was really beginning to think they were getting the cohesion down that would be required for tougher dens.

“Carefully now,” Santi cautioned as Cameron walked in. Cam kept his head on a swivel as he walked in, Chloe a half step behind him. Bianca followed them, then Santi and Chad last. Daniel and Hana still hadn’t announced their presence but Santi knew they were there.

The queen was squatting over a sack of eggs, hive tenders all around her. The queen’s purple chitin shone darkly in the green light while the hive tenders pale grub chitin seemed soft and pallid. Dozens of small tenders scattered toward the far reaches of the cavern as the queen rose to her full height.

The ground rumbled as she announced her displeasure. Spears of earth erupting out and flying toward them as the queen charged forward. Cam’s shield caught two of the five spears and Chloe’s axe chopped down two more in a stygian blur. Santi used [Gust] to sweep the last out of the way.

Cam ran forward, projecting his shield skill in front of the charging queen. She ran right through the golden barrier without slowing and Cam grunted as the skill broke prematurely. Chloe drifted left to pincer the beast and the ant swung her lead leg at her.

She chopped at it, shearing through chitin and leaving a foot long chunk of leg on the ground. A wedge of soft dirt erupted out of the earth and caught Chloe in the gut, throwing her backward across the cavern.

Santi threw a [Crosscurrent-Orb] at the creature’s eye and watched with joy as it exploded into a pulpy mess. Chad’s arrow hit the other eye and the creature stumbled back, vibrating in rage as it was blinded. Bianca followed behind Cam as he charged, pressing the attack and not letting the queen regroup.

His hatchet chopped into a leg and Bianca sliced the leg that Chloe had hurt, shaving another foot off of it. Blood was pouring out of the wound, spraying about as the queen waved the severed limb around. Santi threw up an [Air Shield] over his head and watched as blood hit it and was thrown to the side. On Chad.

The archer spluttered but fired his next arrow, creating a crater in the ant's head. He shot Santi a venomous look as he pulled another arrow free of his quiver. Santi just smiled nicely at him, Chad’s earlier prying into his personal life now avenged.

Chloe got back to her feet and charged, using the wedge of earth to vault into the air, axe above her head. She came down like the wrath of god, skills wreathing her axe as she cut deep into the ant queen's head. The queen staggered as her legs became weak, slamming into the wall of the cavern as Chloe’s skill took half of the queen’s head.

Still wasn’t dead yet. Her vitality was monstrous, relying on her earth treasure to pull forth the stability of the world. Cam kept moving forward, pushing the queen against the wall as Bianca began to carve it apart. Chloe hung back, her skills spent, ready to intervene if anything happened. Chad sent another arrow into the queen's mangled head and the thing finally slumped to the ground.

Daniel and Hana were in the middle of looting everything that wasn’t nailed down. They had killed the hive helpers with a brutality that could only be exerted by a superior leveled being on a weaker one. The two of them hadn’t helped in killing the boss of the hive, but they had killed a number of the weaker drones. Santi could pick out the corpses where they had been slain leading into the cavern.

Ant Hive Queen lvl. 28

Not bad at all. Nobody had gained levels from working to kill it, but they were showing more and more cohesion. The next nest would be the real test. Santi thought that their teamwork was good enough to get it done. If not, he could always shore them up and clear the nest himself.

“Next nest is the last one?” Bianca asked as she walked away from the dead queen. Cam just sat down on the ground and uncorked his water bottle and waited. Chad wandered over to look at his ruined arrows, none of them recoverable. Santi hoped he would get a loot box weapon soon. When the Pillar of Civilization landed it would help shore up these problems.

“Yeah, we’re almost done. Has anyone checked the ranking lately?” Santi asked. They hadn’t cleared many nests after the original duo, but they had been doing well on the local list.

Cam’s eyes unfocused as he looked off into space. A big grin split his face and he looked over to them.

“You’re going to want to take a look at it.”