Episode 516 Ants in the Desert

We surveyed the shrine-like building and its surroundings. Aside from the out-of-place rattles, it really did look like a shrine.

　The main shrine building with its unique warped roof, approach, and torii gate are the shrine itself, and the forest of giant trees surrounding the main shrine gives the illusion that it has existed since ancient times.

I don't see any stairs to the nineteenth layer."

　I let out a sigh and turn my attention to the rattle. It looks like there are numerous white balls in that thing. I wonder what those white balls will bring to adventurers?

What are you thinking?"

I kept thinking, "If that rattle had been a white ball, what would it have been?"

When you say white ball, is it a hazing? Surely it must be a tawashi?

　It seems that in Métis, the scheme of hazing = tawashi has been established.

　I walked out of the torii gate and searched around. He found another narrow path just before the place where he had fought the guardian demon. This path was about 50 meters away from the path that led to the shrine.

This may be the way to the stairs."

Let's just see."

　We followed the path we had discovered and found a staircase between two huge trees about two kilometers down the road.

"Phew, I think I can finally get to the nineteenth layer."

　We descend the stairs and reach the nineteenth level. There, the desert spreads out, and three huge horn-like rocks can be seen in the distance.

I think there is something at those three rocks.

　When Elmore stepped into the desert sand, a huge ant lion-like monster emerged from the sand and attempted to sever Elmore with its huge scissor-like jaws.

　Elmore activates his "Crash Sword" and uses a spatial vibration blade to cut the monster, which looks to be about two meters long, in half.

Are you okay?"

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　I called out to him, and Elmore nodded.

I was surprised to see such a monster so close to the entrance.

"Hmmm, even Métis can be surprised."

'I know it's not the human way to be surprised, but I was surprised and my thinking speed accelerated.'

　I didn't know that magical intelligence accelerates its thinking speed when startled. I guess they are surprised differently because they don't have a pounding heart like humans do.

Given the fact that there are demons in a place like this, I wonder if the place is crawling with them like the ant jungle is now?"

The term "ant lion larvae" refers to the larvae of the mayfly, right? I believe that was an insect that made a mortar-shaped trap in the sand and caught the ants that fell into it.

They look like them," he said. However, a real ant lionfish is a small insect about one centimeter long.

　I used my D-particle sensor and magic sensing to search for the presence of demons. Then I sensed demons lurking everywhere.

　I take out my multi-appraisal goggles, put them on, and launch "Javelin" into the desert. A spear of D-particles pierces the ground and raises a cloud of dust.

　At that moment, the same demon as before jumped out from the sand. When I examined the demon with my multi-appraisal goggles, it was labeled "Deyesart Hitman. It is said to mean "Desert Hitman.

　It's not a daisy-chaser hitman, it's still an ant farm. The guy had no prey nearby, so he dove back into the sand. Apparently, he has bad eyesight.

They seem to recognize the other party by vibration and sound."

What do we do?"

There are too many of them to keep going while taking them down, so we'll take the hover vehicles."

　I took out my hover vehicle, climbed in, and we set off. I fly at an altitude of four meters because there are seemingly countless ants down there.

　cord (e.g. corduroy)

ridge (in field)

The team is flying through the desert, up and down as if it were a hover-vehicle, heading for the three rocks. I think to myself, "If we are an adventuring team without hover vehicles, we'll have to use armored vehicle-like vehicles to trample through the ant-holes as we go.

　We arrived at Sanbon Iwa. It is a structure of three horn-like rocks rising above a large boulder.

　When we got off the hover vehicle and went to the center of the three rocks, we easily found a staircase. It seems that this nineteenth layer is an area that can be easily conquered if one can manage to get past the ant hell.

　I went down the stairs and arrived at the 20th level. I looked around and saw a mountain in front of me. Since there were no demons in the sky, I decided to observe them from above. I put Elmore and Tamegoro in the shadows and activated "Wing.

　Observed the mountain from above in the D-particle wing. The mountain has a large mortar-shaped caldera, and I expect that there is probably a middle boss room and a transfer room in the caldera.

　It is a mountain about 300 meters high and covered with trees, but it seems to be dangerous because there are signs of demons in some places. Sometimes this presence would disappear. When I approached the mountain, I found that the presence was that of a Dark Lizardman.

You've gone into the shadows. That's why you're losing your presence."

　I found it easy to kill them when I attacked them with my "Guided Brit." After hunting about three of them and getting a shadow magic stone and twelve kilos of shadow clay, I went inward over the outer rim of the caldera and found two things.

　I saw an entrance that appeared to be a transfer room on the inner slope of the caldera, and a huge dome-shaped building in the center. The middle boss must be there.

　Landing near a domed building, I pulled Elmore and Tamegoro out of the shadows and peeked inside through the building's entrance. The boss inside was a lizardman-like monster with three horns.

　I took out my multi-appraisal goggles to examine it and found that it was labeled "King Lizardman. Moreover, it was said to be a demon that specializes in high-speed combat and can use the magic "Hermes Speed" of the magical armament magic.

　Hermes Speed" is a magic that increases speed tenfold. I can only increase my speed up to eight times as fast as I am stable, so if I fight, I may be killed in an instant.

What do we do?"

one or eight

pick

I think it's too dangerous to fight with them. I guess we'll call it a day and retreat."

I think that's a good idea."

　We moved from the transfer room to the first layer and back to the ground.