Kyle snuck to the hill and carefully peeked at the ant’s nest.
“There are barely any of them,” he commented as he saw fewer than ten ants scurrying around the hole.
“Several of their warriors died,” Theodor answered. “They have retreated into their nest.”
When Kyle looked at the nest, he felt mixed emotions.
He was scared.
But he was also excited.
It was so dangerous.
But it was also so enticing.
“No stupid ideas,” Theodor said. “Just do it by the book. Take them out one at a time.”
Kyle nodded. “No stupid ideas,” he confirmed.
“Good,” Theodor answered.
Kyle took a deep breath.
BANG!
And he charged forward!
His feet left deep imprints in the wasteland as his powerful body pushed him forward with incredible strength.
Yet, just after running for two seconds, Kyle’s nose wrinkled as he smelled something vile and disgusting.
“Deterrence pheromones,” Theodor said, seeing Kyle’s expression. “It tells beasts that coming here is a bad idea.”
Kyle gritted his teeth.
It was not easy to resist the smell.
His sense of smell was already more powerful than a normal human’s senses, and he felt like he was breathing in acid fumes.
In a way, it smelled a bit similar to how the ants tasted.
The ants noticed Kyle quickly and started to charge at him.
The scout ants retreated into the nest while the warriors ran at him.
Kyle jumped to the side and ran in a zig-zagging motion away from them.
Because of that, he was slower than them, but the ants also scattered.
BANG!
Suddenly, the ground below Kyle exploded as he stopped retreating and charged right at one of them.
Green Wind Ether gathered around Kyle’s hammer.
BOOOM!
He hit one of the ant’s pincers, completely destroying it.
The pincer’s fragments scattered across the wasteland, and the ant fell to the side.
In a fluid motion, Kyle lifted his hammer again and buried its pick deep into the ant’s head.
BANG!
He jumped back immediately after as the other ants approached.
After his jump, he turned around and started fleeing again.
He had learned that backing away would make him slower than the ants, and they would be able to surround him quickly.
Kyle’s eyes watched for any openings as he started to breathe more heavily.
He was sprinting, swinging his hammer, and activating Air Current. All of that consumed Ether.
A moment later, he saw one of the ants swerving out to the right.
His eyes narrowed, and Kyle exploded towards the ant.
BOOOM!
The hammer cracked the pincers into pieces, but Kyle immediately had to retreat after.
This time, he didn’t have an opportunity to finish the ant off.
Some seconds later, he got another opportunity and destroyed another ant’s pincers.
As he killed his second ant, Kyle started to feel different.
He still felt that they were dangerous, but this was different from before.
Before, it was like he was looking at somebody who didn’t like him, and that person carried a gun in a holster.
Now, it felt more like looking at a loaded gun lying on a counter.
Seeing a loaded gun on a counter was intimidating.
This thing could kill you easily!
And yet, it would do nothing as long as nobody touched it.
It was a different kind of danger.
One could also call it respect.
Yes, he respected the ants’ power, but he didn’t fear it.
Because Kyle knew that he was stronger.
BOOOOM!
Kyle killed another ant before jumping back with practiced ease.
His breathing had become quite heavy by now.
That was when he noticed that the number of ants hadn’t decreased.
He had already killed seven of them!
Yet, the number of ants seemed to actually have increased.
’They are sending more of their warriors at me,’ Kyle thought.
The next moment, Kyle turned around and ran away from the nest.
He was too exhausted to withstand the tide.
Sure, he could probably kill all of them, but it was not a safe bet.
What if even more ants appeared?
’Do it by the book,’ Kyle thought. ’If you’re exhausted, retreat.’
He charged over the hill again, and the ants followed him.
Yet, shortly after they passed the hill, they all stopped.
They held their pincers to the sky and loudly snapped them several times.
Kyle stopped running, his breath ragged.
After a while, the ants turned around and retreated back into their nest.
“How was that?” Kyle asked after a couple of seconds.
“No complaints,” Theodor said.
’This might actually be the first time Theodor doesn’t have some kind of criticism,’ Kyle thought as a small smirk appeared on his face.
“There is a lot you can improve,” Theodor added, “but it was acceptable enough.”
“Sure thing, Boss,” Kyle said with a small chuckle.
’You know. You’re not all bad, Fantasy Land,’ Kyle thought.
The next moment, he approached one of the corpses from earlier and forced the disgusting insect juice down his throat.
It tasted horrendous, but it gave him energy.
After refilling his Ether, Kyle walked to the hill again.
This time, he only saw two scouts near the nest.
There were no warriors.
’But I saw a bunch of them earlier. They are probably all inside the nest,’ he thought.
“Is there anything I should pay attention to inside the nest?” Kyle asked.
“Don’t get surrounded. Don’t let them block your escape route. Be careful of the environment. The walls are most likely fortified, and your mining weapon will have some difficulties penetrating them,” Theodor explained.
Kyle nodded and looked at the nest.
The nest was essentially just a hole in the ground, which was about five meters wide.
The ants were not small, and they needed space to move.
Kyle jogged towards the nest.
He knew that he wouldn’t be able to catch the scouts in time, which was why he wasn’t even trying to get them.
Of course, the scouts immediately retreated into the nest.
Kyle stopped in front of the hole and looked inside.
And then…
The door closed.