Day 1

After resting for a while and discussing our future plans, we went out to achieve our first objective; reaching the top of the mountain. Returning into the tunnels, we made our way up.

There wasn’t a lot of resistance on our way, and in a few minutes we saw another exit from the mountain. Stepping into the light, we saw the forest from even higher and that the tunnels ended on a small plateau that was about fifteen square meters big.

The ground was very even compared to the rest of the mountain and even if this wasn’t the top of the mountain it was very close and most importantly without any ants. It seemed like Clay’s assumption about the ants having abandoned this mountain was true.

The small plateau had a few trees and bushes but not a single animal, fruit or anything else edible. The ants must have eaten that mountain clean before moving on. We inspected the plateau for a while longer before deciding that this would suffice as our first base.

It wasn’t very big, but it didn’t have to be. We only needed a place where we could return too and the tunnels in the mountain were just too cramped not to speak about the stale air…

Day 2

We started construction on a little hut to give us protection from the elements and have a proper place to sleep under. Thankfully, we have the backpack from the woman. She was one of the few that carried the materials that were intended to be used to construct a shelter. The equipment included a hand axe, which was a huge help to fell the small trees on the plateau.

Yesterday, we already began by removing all the bushes in the way and clearing a space where our hut would eventually stand, but didn’t work further. We all needed to rest, especially Clay.

The night was rough but manageable thanks to our inhuman bodies. We just used the leaves on the floor as a mattress and some branches, covered in a thick layer of moss, as pillows.

After we awoke the next morning, we were all refreshed and ready to go. We discussed a little and came to the conclusion that we would split up. Dennis, Jake and Max would stay back, beginning with the construction of the framework of our hut, while Clay, Chris and I went back into the tunnels to venture the last stretch up the mountain.

We had to make sure that we were really safe from above. It would be terrible if we wanted to retread back but were obstructed by more ants coming from above.

It took us all day, but I’m pretty sure we got all of them hiding and squirming around the maze of tunnels that stretched through this upper part of the mountain. We marked every tunnel after clearing it and also used symbols to navigate.

At first, we thought we could try to make a map, but no one of us had any idea how we could draw a three-dimensional map of the complete mountain, so we just gave up on that idea and instead used various symbols to navigate.

Returning to the camp, we saw that the others had made some good progress, having already felled every tree and began debarking them and cutting them into the right sizes. Thank god Dennis is with us, without him, we would never be able to build a proper shelter.

Sadly, not all went well as the flashlight we used for exploring ran out of battery, which gave us another challenge – How the hell are we supposed to see in these tunnels?

But that would be a problem for the future, for now we will just rest…

Day 4

The progress with the hut is great, and the framework is already standing, now we only need proper walls and an actual roof over our head. Dennis built with the branches a framework that will eventually become our roof.

He told us that he wanted to use the bark as shingles, which is why that debarking took so long. They had to be very careful not to damage the bark too much, as Dennis planned for it to become our roof, which was the project for today.

We are stuck on this plateau and I don’t know if I should be crying or laughing. We are still alive and have no problem with food or water. Water is very annoying to gather as we have to go into the dark tunnels and grope around like moles.

There are a lot of spots where water is leaking and dripping down, but all these spaces are very small and only bring little water. I imagine that in hundreds of years a lot of stalactites will grow. Anyway, we resorted to having several places where we placed boles of wood that Dennis carved to gather this water.

It is a real shore, as we have to go every few hours to take the water, drink it and then return the boles. It is tedious, yes, but in return we have fresh water. As for food… we ate the ants. As Clay said, they are easy to consume and full of nutrients, but I’m still very much disgusted by the consistency. I never knew that meat could be this… soggy.

Nonetheless, it is food and keeps us full. The top priority for now is to find a way to properly navigate in the dark tunnels…

Day 7

I’m bored. We finished the construction of the hut to the best of our abilities. The roof is waterproof and the only thing lacking now are proper walls. We built a framework with branches similar to the one on the roof, which protected us a little from the wind, but didn’t really retain heat, for that we would need clay. We even have some in the tunnels, but sadly we lack the water to properly use it.

Currently, we drink every last drop our bowls can gather, but it's never enough. If the meat of the ants didn’t have that much liquid in them, I think we would have started to die of thirst by now.

The only good thing is that we aren’t so reliant on water and food, it seems like we could hold on a lot longer than thirty days without food, not that we lack any.

More important is that we finally have found a way to navigate in the tunnels. It was really simple, in fact. Dennis had the idea to use the tree sap from all the trees we cut down as fuel for torches.

We would just grab a stick, wrap a piece of cloth or even bark that we bind with plant fibers that we used to make something resembling a rope, and we had our torch. It wasn’t anything pretty, but it got the job done.

Covering the cloth or bark in tree sap and then igniting it with the flint and steel from the backpack of the woman, we had our own makeshift torch. It wasn’t even that bad, as it gave us light for about an hour, which was plenty enough to gather water or do a small exploration.

Since the battery ran out, five days ago we didn’t really explore much besides our usual spots to gather water, so it was time we finally continued exploring these networks of tunnels.

Day 8

Today was an eventful day. With our huge achievement of a torch, we were finally able to continue exploring the tunnels. In the end, we decided that only I and Clay will do this exploration.

I’m the strongest fighter if I strengthen myself with my aura, and Clay is the only one who can use his aura to sense the surroundings. Having only the two of us would make us a lot more mobile, especially considering how narrow these tunnels can get.

Any more than two people, and we would have trouble in fighting and would stand each other more in the way than help. Sadly, the same doesn’t apply to the ants as they can use the walls and ceilings freely, while we are limited to the ground.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

It was also today that I finally understood what a pain in the ass these ants are to fight. I also fought them before, but today was on another scale in both numbers and tactics. I can’t really believe it myself, but one of the groups we fought today had something I call “commander”.

It was the first ant of the fourth rank we faced since scaling this mountain and compared to the already strong soldier ants of the third rank, these things are more intelligent, you could even say cunning.

It ordered the other ants around and even used battle tactics like switching the opponents we fought to exhaust us and retain their energy as much as possible. There was an opportunity at one point that I used to break through their formation, and I tried to quickly kill that commander in the hope it would break their formation.

Sadly, one of the soldier ants didn’t even think a second before it threw itself before my blade, sacrificing itself to give the other ants the time they needed to regroup and recover their formation.

This forced us to kill every single ant before we were able to kill their commander. This was the first time I had to face such intelligent beasts. The only thing comparable were the wolves, but they didn’t use anything like formations.

They swarmed us like furious beasts, that were driven by instinct and not tactics. The only one intelligent enough would be the alpha wolf I killed, but even he didn’t order his army to take on formations.

This lets me wondering where these ants even learned how to use tactics like this. There are still way too many unanswered questions and as times goes on it feels like every time we resolve one question another two take its place.

By now, most of us have given up to try and make sense of the situation, everyone except Clay. He was always an interesting guy, but hard to talk to. That was at least what I believed, as he only stayed with Chris all the time, but it turns out that he was socially just a little awkward.

After spending a whole day with him, I’m suddenly very interested in him. He is like a mystery that I have to resolve, like some of the puzzles I had as a kid. For starters, Clay is someone who questions absolutely everything.

This is a little annoying to speak the truth, but I have never seen a person that questions so much. Why aren’t the tunnels collapsing? How can the ants use formations? Why I’m able to withstand the strengthening of aura for so long? What is the scale of the ants, and where is their queen? How do we preserve the bodies of the ants?

It seems like his questions have no ends and his curiosity knows no bounds. I think we really had luck, even after all that happened. We have the perfect group.

I can protect everyone with my strength, Jake has a good head filled with tactics and strategies, while Clay provides endless ideas no matter how desperate the situation seems. Max keeps the morale high by motivating everyone to push further, while Dennis uses his knowledge about nature and craftsmanship to guarantee our survival out here. Lastly there is Chris who is very silent but helps where he can and is good at scouting and keeping watch of the surroundings.

I think there isn’t a better group to survive this shithole. We have to think positively and motivate ourselves when we want to keep our sanity. Right now the number of ants seem endless and the task of returning to the city impossible, but I believe that with enough time and persistence we are going to make it back.

Anyway, after exploring as far as we could, Clay and I returned to our small plateau, carrying the commander ant with us. Clay said he wanted to “look” for something, what ever that is.

We also started to smoke some of the meat of the ants to make sure we have enough before their bodies start to actively decay. Some of the first ants we killed are starting to smell foul and bloat like balloons.

This caused their previously perfect suited exoskeleton to deform, bend and break. It was actually helpful because we were able to see at one glance where the exoskeleton was at its thinnest.

This didn’t give us any information we didn’t already know, but it was interesting to see nonetheless. At least, we could confirm that the part between the head and the thorax really was their weakness and the quickest way to kill them.

Interestingly enough, as smart as the commander ant was, it wasn’t really that much stronger compared to the ones of the third rank, which is unusual as every other rank four beast we fought before was several times stronger compared to its third rank.

The more we learn, about the changes of the animals, the harder it gets to find the structure and system behind all of this. But that are questions for the future, for now we just have to survive and get back safely.

Day 23

It already has been over three weeks since we were stuck on this mountain, and today is also the day when we finally fully cleared this mountain of every ant and can call it our own.

During this time, a lot has happened, the most noteworthy being that Jake finally reached with our help the third rank and that Max reached the fourth. He was already relatively close to this rank and with the seemingly endless supply of ants to kill he didn’t face any problems.

Both of their transformations went on without many complications, apart from Jake taking a little longer than most do for their third rank. Our small group of six now contained three people of the third- and three of the fourth rank, which was a force to be reckoned with.

During this time I switched between Clay, Chris and Max when it came to exploring the tunnels as they were the ones with the highest battle skills and chance of survival. In the beginning, we went as a group to make sure Max could safely reach the fourth rank, but afterward we only went as pairs.

Dennis wasn’t happy with that as he wanted to also help in killing the ants, but Chris prohibited him to go anywhere near dying beasts. Dennis struggled a lot during his transformation to the third rank, and Chris fears that the fourth one might kill him.

Jake carries a similar risk, but his transformation wasn’t as bad as the one Dennis underwent. Clay has the theory that some people need longer to adapt to this new energy and with enough time should be able to advance to higher ranks, but for that they have to reduce the amount of energy they absorb as much as possible.

This means that we have to be careful that Dennis and Jake don’t absorb any more energy and keep them away from fights as much as possible, to Dennis annoyance.

Over the past few days, a thing that became ever more noticeable was the boredom that was setting in. Apart from the occasional fighting, there isn’t really much to do. Dennis just passed his time by carving and building all sorts of things.

By now we live relatively comfortable in our small cramped hut that is by now filled with all sorts of furniture. Clay had the idea a few days ago to make wooden swords and let Dennis and Jake train together.

Jake needed training with the sword and Dennis would be lifted from his boredom, so that was the thing they did the past few days, to the annoyance of Jake. He really hates fighting and wants to avoid it as much as possible, which isn’t easy when there is nowhere to run.

I find it good that he finally is forced to train with the sword. Before, there was too much other stuff he had to do at the church and was too important to force to some training when he was more needed for the logistics and organization than fighting.

But I believe that everyone needs to try and do their best to get stronger. We are stronger in a group, but you can’t always expect there to be people capable of protecting you to be around. In this new age, it's important that you can fend for yourself if you want to survive.

With the mountain cleared of ants, we finally have the opportunity to return to the city. That is at least what I wished for if there weren’t the uncountable ants squirming around hidden under the roof of trees.

We don’t know how many there are, but since our forced stay here, the activity in the forest we could observe increased several times. The only place that stood out from this scenery was the huge black, parched land that stretched for at least two kilometers circularly.

The place where Solaire sacrificed his life is the only place where no ant was to be seen. It seemed like they feared this region after experiencing the drastic loses

This was good news for us, as that could only mean that their losses were so great that they feared it could happen again. They probably didn’t understand how this explosion occurred, so they are just avoiding the region all together.

To go back to the city, we have to go in that direction and can use this region to hopefully return unobstructed to the village where we rested before. The problem being that the vicinity around the mountain we are staying on is often used by ants as a route to travel along.

There is a distance of about one and half kilometer that we have to cross before reaching the safe zone that Solaire created through his sacrifice. This patch of land is practically swarmed with singular or small group of ants.

We would need to avoid being detected by them. Because if not we would quickly be surrounded and eventually killed. Even if we are individually strong, there is a limit to how many a single person can kill.

We are still thinking about a solution to this, but I’m sure we will find one. The ants are, thankfully without a commander, stupid and dull. They don’t use their senses that much and don’t investigate anything as long as their work isn’t distributed, or they stumble over prey.

So the situation isn’t hopeless, and I still believe that we will be able to return eventually. The question is if the others are even still there, because if they did what Solaire asked them to, then they are currently making their way through the forest to reach the next city.

But I have to still return nonetheless. Mia is still in the city and I will return to get here no matter what…