The shadows were surprised by the outcome of the battle, and continued to watch. They concluded that the easiest way to finish their mission was for the elf and the beast to get to the dryad and kill the kidnapper. They supposed they would take her out later. If the dryad died, so much the better, but the priority was getting them out of there.

They watched as the elf disarmed the barrier, and entered the cave. Then, they followed them, at a distance and with caution. In fact, they even had to dodge a Wind Abyss. Although at their level it would barely tickle them, they couldn’t afford to be discovered.

Her hood had fallen off as she sped through the tunnels, so discovering a rat-woman who was wanted by her people to judge her for her crimes. In her quest for eternal life, she had even sacrificed children, as she had hoped that their blood would be the answer.

She was scared, and had almost run out of mana while ambushing her enemies. Besides, the huge beast’s attack had terrified and wounded her. She had taken refuge in the cave and taken a potion, while waiting for her companions to take care of their enemies. However, one after another, the pieces of the necklace linked to the life force of her allies had been breaking up. When the last did, she panicked and started running.

She carried the unconscious dryad in her arms, since she was unable to abandon the treasure that she had worked so hard to obtain. She was rushing up the narrow tunnels that led outside, as that was the way back they had planned.

Her initial plan was to bleed the dryad there, and then leave, but now she had no choice but to run. Although she knew that she couldn’t go to the outside with the dryad, as they would be discovered as soon as a single root detected her aura.

“You’ve led me to this situation. It’s your fault that I have to resort to this method,” she told herself, angrily.

She approached a wall that they had carefully sealed months ago, in addition to placing multiple spells to prevent it from being reopened. Then, they had taken care to clear the tunnel of its inhabitants, one by one, once reinforcements could no longer arrive. Now, she was going to do the reverse process.

She carefully dismantled the spells, as well as placed a new one, one that would break the wall in less than a minute. She also left many others on the ground. Immediately, she continued on through the long ascending tunnel that led outside, where she, for the moment, couldn’t go. Her objective was a small side cavern where she could take care of her hostage.

When they heard the explosion, Goldmi frowned. When they heard smaller ones, it increased her concern. They feared that their enemy had collapsed the tunnel, so preventing them from following her in the short term.

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However, when they got close, she detected various life forms. They soon discovered that this life forms were huge red ants, whose lowest level was 46, and which attacked them as soon as they were noticed.

The ants had detected the explosion, and had come to investigate. The firsts to arrive were damaged by successive explosions, for which they considered that they were under attack. When elf and lynx appeared, they were branded as enemies, so giving them no choice but to fight.

The first few were a bit tricky, but they soon learned how to deal with them. They were large and imposing, but their greatest strength was in their numbers. However, no more than two could fit in the tunnel.

The archer tried Glowing Touch, Purifying Touch, or Light Arrows to see if they had any effect on them, but these were living beings, not corrupted or mana ones, so they were ineffective.

Slow Arrow could easily hit due to the wide body and narrow tunnel, though not with precision, so she chose to alternate Ethereal, Wind, and normal arrows. She first mutilated the antennas, so blinding them. Then, she focused on ending them.

A Wind Ring were damaging the nearest ants, while the lynx continually attacked the legs, dodged their Stomps and moved away from their jaws and acid. She provoked them, to prevent them from advancing. She was trying to immobilize them by disabling their legs one by one, while her sister was piercing them from range.

They soon realized that, by leaving the corpse of one, they only had to deal with the other, as it wasn’t quick for those behind to remove the remains. Though they were able to walk over the corpse, they soon accumulated enough to plug half a tunnel.

When one fell in the area they wanted clear, an assistant collected the remains and cleaned for the next one to arrive. Meanwhile, another was continuously recovering arrows.

“This is tiring. I don’t desire anyone to go through this,” the elf murmured, while wiping the sweat from her face.

They had been there for hours, and had lost count of how many they had brought down. They didn’t fear for their safety, as both believed they had it quite controlled, but they feared for the dryad’s. In fact, if one of them was too tired, they could let the entire tunnel blockade, and wait for them to break through. Or even take turns to rest.

“It’d be entertaining if we weren’t in a hurry…” replied the feline.

Another problem that the elf had was that the arrows were wearing out. Although the assistant picked them up, they were increasingly deteriorated. She could use mana ones, but it was slower, since her pool wasn’t unlimited.

However, they were also leveling up quite fast, due to the continuous stream of enemies between 46 and 49. Therefore, at each new level, she had new arrows.

It is true that she had new equipment only every 5 levels. At level 45, in the game, she had long ago found her companions, and been instructed that it was a waste to buy it at each level. However, arrows were continually being consumed, so she had acquired those. Therefore, she still had a few, but it was getting harder and harder to level up, so the available arrows were decreasing. She could use the lower level ones, but they were also less effective.

They only needed about ten ants to reach level 46, both due to the difference in level and the accumulated progress. For 47, it was slightly less than thirty ants. For 48, they killed about sixty. To reach the current level, 49, they needed more than a hundred. They were beginning to wonder if the ants would end. It was something someone else would wonder about in the future as well.