Reign and the others had no idea about what was happening outside, all their attention was currently focused in front of them as the ants continued pouring out and attacking them. Reign truly wanted to know how many of them are in the tunnel, he was certain that they had killed over a hundred so far, perhaps even two hundred, but the wave of monsters seemed unstoppable, each time they killed one, another would take its place.
Even though their levels were higher and they were stronger compared to the ants, the sheer number of enemies was starting to pressure them, Tank was still using his dome to block any attacks, his forehead was starting to get covered in sweat as his mana was slowly starting to go lower and lower.
Even though an attack of an ant wasn’t enough to do any significant damage to the dome, when tens of them relentlessly attack it at any given moment, it starts becoming trouble. Reign and the others were also starting to feel tired, they had used their skills non-stop ever since entering the tunnel. They had to step on the many ant carcasses to progress deeper in the tunnel and there were even times when the carcasses turned out to be heavily wounded ants that tried to attack them.
The smell of burned flesh could be felt in the tunnel as Wolf’s flames roasted the ants in front of them, while Reign’s lightning shocked them until their bodies turned black and emitted smoke.
The others were busy as well, each second that passed in the tunnel was filled with sounds of battle and explosions. Shadow would use his [Shadow Daggers] and [Shadow Burst] together with controlling and killing the ants with [Shadow Bind] and [Shadow Spikes].
Greenie used his hammer to smash the enemies apart while using the [Crescent Kick] to cleave a couple of ants in half. Beast used his explosive arrows mostly, the tunnel was too small for him to use any of his other skills as they had a larger area of effect and could also hurt his teammates, from time to time he would also send out a [Wind Arrow] or a [Wind Piercing Arrow], which was a stronger version of the previous skill, with the effect of exploding at the end.
No matter what Beast did, it seemed that most of his skills would simply end up in explosions, which is fine, it is art after all. But seriously, the guy had no idea why this was happening as most of his skills were not suited for group battles. If any of his teammates were close to one of his exploding arrows then they would get caught up in the explosion as well.
Luckily his new bow and quiver had a function that allowed him to use mana to form his arrows as he wished. Their thickness, length, and even their toughness could be manipulated. Beast had still not completely gotten used to that as it took some concentration to do it. On the other hand, Laura was simply using her demonic powers while taking the life force of the dead ants in order to use it for stronger attacks.
Finally, they were able to see that the ants were getting sparser and sometime later they had finally managed to kill all of them. Over 300 ant carcasses were laid out on the floor of the tunnel, their insides painted the walls and ceiling of the tunnel as the party continued walking deeper in the tunnel.
As they finally arrived at the end they were greeted by a disgusting sight. The previous rocky cave that could be found at the end was transformed into something else. The rocks and minerals were gone as a thick layer of what one could only think of as flesh was present. There were about 10 ants present in the cave as they were all guarding a giant cocoon that hung from the ceiling. .𝓬ℴ𝓶
The anchor point was still there, of course, It had become larger ever since Reign and the others managed to take the second one, it turns out that once the same person conquers two anchor points, he or she can fuse them. The orc chieftain previously decided against it as he wanted to have additional bases and he thought that there was no need to be afraid of anyone stealing their anchor points. His way of thinking would have been fine if not for Reign and the others who had arrived in the town.
The anchor point was always situated outside the city and the safe zone, well, the safe zone was the city as the surroundings were not included in it. It served mostly to let others have a chance of conquering the territory, of course, there were certain conditions to be met for something like that.
The cocoon suddenly pulses with a great amount of force, even when being some 100 meters away from it, Reign and the others could still see the movement of the cocoon and the thing inside of it. Blood red eyes were staring at them with an incredible amount of hostility as the cocoon starts cracking.
“Guys, let’s go!” Reign says as he charges toward the cocoon immediately, his plan didn’t work perfectly however as the ants that stood between them and the cocoon moved to intercept him.
[ Lvl 35 Major Ant ]
The 3 meters long ants block Reign’s way as he suddenly jumps above them while both of his hands held a spear made of lightning. With great speed and precision, he throws the spears down at the two ants that had their mouth slightly open.
As the lightning spears explode into tens of bolts of lightning, the two huge ants curl up before frantically moving around, the strength of the lightning spears was great and it dealt some serious damage to them, especially since Reign managed to hit them in the open mouth.
He continues charging towards the cocoon while the other ants go after them, their way was blocked however as Shadow, Wolf and the others suddenly appeared between them and Reign. With fury, they immediately attack the ants in order to give Reign enough time to deal with whatever was in that cocoon.
The strength of the ants was great as even Wolf and Greenie had difficulty when it came to trading blows with them. Tank used his new shield to block and bash the horrible creatures as the others fought as well. The Major Ants were not a common monster, they were a variant specie and were incredibly strong, their mandibles were strong and sharp enough to cut through steel with ease and their speed was incredible as well, seeing one of these monsters charging at you was akin to seeing an SUV with a sharp mouth going full speed at you.
Fighting against ten of such monsters wasn’t easy but they would be enough to defeat them, albeit with some difficulties.
Suddenly the sound of metal colliding could be heard from the back as Reign was sent flying all the way back to the party. As he landed he looked at the front with a serious gaze before stepping forward.
“Fast fucker.” Reign says as he remembers what just happened, he had previously arrived at the cocoon and he immediately started attacking it. The defensive capabilities of the cocoon however shocked him as even his katana had difficulties cutting through it. Suddenly while attacking the cocoon a part of it broke and the monster inside of it sent an attack Reign’s way.
Even though he wasn’t hurt by the attack, being sent flying back was still incredible as the power behind that hit was something that Reign didn’t expect. The monster soon exited the cocoon and Reign had a grave face.
[ Lvl 40 Antoid ]
The being in front of him was definitely an ant, that much was sure as its mandibles clicked furiously after looking at Reign whilst its antennae twitched. The problem was that the monster in front of him was standing on two feet and had two arms. The way its body looked was exactly like that of a human’s.
Reign immediately used his black and white lightning as he charged toward the monster, he was feeling some pressure from this monster, and even though it wasn’t as strong as a boss, it was still something that could create trouble for him.
The monster responds to Reign as it blocks his attacks with its arms. The forearm of the ant had a sharp blade on one side that the ant used to block Reign’s attack, surprisingly the ant was able to respond to Reign’s incredible speed as well as it blocked and even attacked Reign during their brief confrontation.
The lightning that was erupting all around Reign managed to deal some damage to the ant however as the monster didn’t expect something like that to be present all the time. Even though the wounds were superficial, the longer the battle went on the worse it will get for it.