“Damn ants!” the rat-woman muttered, so ignoring that it was she who had led them to that tunnel, and who had provoked them.

She used her power to reinforce the spells, as she hoped they would tire and leave. However, if there is something that characterize ants, that something is persistence.

At first, she had been confident, but little by little that confidence had been crumbling, along with the protection spells. She blew up one of those spells, thus damaging the surrounding ants, but, far from intimidating them, they continued to attack the rock with the same intensity.

She possessed many artifacts that contained different types of magic, and that she could use to hide her trace, or create protection spells. However, the mage was running out of them, and the ants were still there, at the only entrance, at the only exit.

Panic had seized her, so she forgot about the dryad that was slowly bleeding to death. It was when a small hole was opened that she began to tremble. That trembling became uncontrollable when an ant’s leg appeared.

Unable to control herself, she desperately cast an electrical spell against the leg. It spread throughout the ant, so causing it to convulse and lose its balance, but it also damaged what was left of the protective spells.

She breathed relieved, somewhat more confident. The mage believed that she had managed to repel them, that she could face them easily. However, it didn’t take long for another ant to take up the baton of the first, which was still recovering.

The hole began to enlarge, and cracks appeared in the stone that was blocking the entrance, until it collapsed.

Terrified, the rat-woman took a couple of steps back. Luckily for her, the entrance was too small for these ants, but they soon began the work of enlarging it. If they were experts at something, it was at digging.

Life Detection was unable to penetrate the stone and spells, so they didn’t know what could be behind the wall that the ants were hitting. What they did know was that to move on, they had to get rid of them. If not, they would end up caught between two fronts.

Goldmi preferred not to squander mana, as her reserves, though not critical, were low. So, she got off the lynx, and started shooting her remaining normal arrows, which were aimed at the ants’ eyes. Meanwhile, the lynx advanced towards them.

Several of the huge insects turned and attacked them, though they could only do so in pairs. Goldmi busied herself with blinding and confusing the ants, while her sister attacked fiercely, annihilating one ant after another.

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The elf reserved mana and energy to deal with those that were coming from behind. At first, it was easy, as they came little by little, but soon they began to increase in number.

Meanwhile, those that faced the lynx had been decreasing, so they decided that they could try to make their way. The archer advanced, while creating several Wind Abysses along the way to hold back and damage those which were coming. She then turned and attacked the ants with arrows first, but then joined her sister in melee.

She reserved the mana to summon a couple of Twisters, and buy more time as they advanced. Meanwhile, she used her energy to finish off an ant that had fallen to the ground, as its legs had been severed by the jaws of her sister.

Then, they saw how another ant also fell to the ground, as it had been attacked by some kind of spell, and how another took its place. When they finished with two more ants, that one had already made a hole and was trying to widen it.

Meanwhile, three of the wind traps had been activated by the arriving ants, and only two more remained to hold them back. It was then that the two sisters looked at each other.

“Let’s go,” the elf suggested.

“Go first,” the lynx exhorted.

She caught the attention of the ants, while the elf again used the two Camouflaging skills to infiltrate the ants and reach the hole.

The first thing she saw was the rat-woman, who looked terrified, and who became totally paralyzed after perceiving a figure entering the hole. Despite Camouflage, there was light inside that small cave. So, the contrast plus the elf’s movement was enough to be discovered.

Goldmi glanced at the woman for a moment, but soon her eyes went to the figure that was lying down, and from who blood was being drawn.

Her gaze returned to the rat-woman, who took a step back. Not only had the Camouflage dispersed, but the elf’s gaze was filled with anger.

The archer took a step forward, bow in hand. She crossed the hole, and dodged the ant that wanted to reach her from behind. Arrows shot out of the bow at the mage, who reacted in time to raise a shield.

“A mage. It’s more efficient at melee,” Goldmi muttered to herself, while remembering the knowledge of the game, the advice of Eldi and, above all, of Gjaki. If anyone was an expert in one-on-one, it was Gjaki.

She fired three Slow Arrows, not only because they were more powerful, but because they were slow. Next, she put away the bow, and lunged at her enemy with Lunge while wielding sword and dagger, at the same time that the arrows arrived.

The shield stopped the blow. It even held against Multi Sword Thrust, but only the first time. Although terrified, the mage reacted with Sea of Lightning, a close-range electrical attack. To confront it, the elf relied on Serpent’s Attack and Cyclonic Barrier. The first dodges, blocks and attacks. The second is capable of blocking or weakening a few attacks.

Goldmi gritted her teeth to withstand the remnants of the electricity that had struck her. They were like little cramps, because only few of them arrived, and were already weakened. In turn, she drove the sword deep into the rat-woman’s shoulder.

“Aaaaargh!” the mage yelled, but managed to step back and pull out the sword. However, she was bleeding profusely.

She looked up at the dryad, as she was thinking of using her as a hostage, but a Wind Push knocked her off balance. Immediately, a shadow lunged toward her, grabbed her neck with her powerful jaws, and shattered her bones.

As soon as her sister had disappeared through the opening, the lynx had dodged the ants to reach it. She had entered just in time to finish off the mage.