Kyle blinked a couple of times.
Door?
Just now, a big and flat stone appeared inside the hole and blocked the entrance.
“They have doors?” Kyle asked.
“They don’t even know how to fight properly,” Theodor said with annoyance. “What makes you think they can construct a door?”
“Then, what’s that?” Kyle asked, pointing at the stone.
“I know a bit about wildlife, but I’m not familiar with all their intricacies,” Theodor said. “But I can tell you with certainty that ants can’t use a door, even less construct one.”
“Then, again, what’s that?” Kyle asked.
“I already answered that question, imbecile,” Theodor answered.
Kyle rolled his eyes.
Then, he lifted his hammer.
“Well, time to find out.”
Wind Ether gathered around his hammer, and Kyle struck down with all of his power.
BOOOOM!
The door shook and vibrated.
It was pushed back for about half a meter.
Then, it moved forward again and blocked the entrance.
Kyle looked at the tunnel with surprise.
’That’s a hard door!’
’However…’
Kyle spun his hammer so that the pick pointed to the front.
’I specialize in breaking hard stuff!’
Then, he struck the middle of the door with the pick.
CRACK!
The “door” had already been weakened by the formation on Kyle’s hammer, and when he struck it with the pick, its center cracked into pieces.
A bunch of bug juice exploded out of the center, covering Kyle.
Then, the “door” fell backward, opening a crack.
“An ant?” Kyle asked.
“Apparently,” Theodor answered.
Kyle put his pick at the edge of the “door” and hooked it.
Then, he pulled.
What Kyle pulled out was a big ant with a… very big head.
“Wait, that was literally just a head?” he asked, looking at the corpse.
Theodor didn’t need to answer.
As Kyle looked at the corpse, a new door blocked the entrance.
“Oh, you want to play that game?” Kyle asked.
“They’re not playing a game,” Theodor answered.
Kyle rolled his eyes. “It’s a phrase.”
Kyle licked a bit of the disgusting bug juice to recover his Ether and readied his hammer again.
BANG!
One strike with the flat side to weaken the material.
CRK!
And a strike with the pick killed the next door-ant.
He pulled that one out as well.
Just to see a third door.
“Oh ho ho, you think that will stop me?” Kyle asked.
BANG! CRACK!
He hooked out the third door ant.
Just for a fourth door to appear.
BANG! CRACK!
“Bring in the next one!” Kyle shouted.
But then, no more door-ants appeared.
Instead, he saw a couple of ants retreating inside the dark nest.
Kyle couldn’t help smirking.
They were scared.
’Good! Fuck them! They attacked me first!’
’I just wanted to go south, but nooooo, you had to attack me.’
’Fuck you and your fucking nest!’
Kyle entered the nest, and his mind calmed down.
He was now in their territory.
As he walked through the first tunnel, he saw several more tunnels.
But he didn’t see any ants.
“Where should I go?” Kyle asked.
“Sense the Ether in the air,” Theodor answered with annoyance.
It was like Theodor was annoyed with how stupid Kyle was… which was probably the truth.
Kyle closed his eyes and tried to sense the Ether.
He hadn’t done that before, but he quickly learned how to do it.
’It’s similar to my Ore Sense. It’s just not as accurate.’
He sensed a bunch of Ether coming from one tunnel and a bit of Ether coming from others.
’Have to keep my back safe,’ he thought as he went into one of the tunnels with less Ether.
He walked to the end of the tunnel and saw two ants standing in an opening.
They were scout ants.
The two scout ants just looked at Kyle, not moving.
When Kyle saw that, he smirked.
“You were the fuckers that sent all the warriors at me, right?” he asked.
He slowly walked forward.
“No backup from your warriors?” he asked.
One of the scouts charged forward, trying to hit Kyle with their pincers.
Yet, they were much smaller than the warrior ants.
BANG!
Kyle’s hammer hit the ant, crashing it against the wall and shaking the entire room.
The other scout took to the ceiling to run past Kyle.
BANG!
But Kyle caught the ant with his hammer and crashed it against the wall as well.
Both of them were dead.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Kyle said, looking at the two smashed corpses.
“They can’t hear you,” Theodor commented dryly.
“Just let me be cool for once,” Kyle grumbled.
“Cool? You just killed two beasts that are far weaker than you. You can talk big when you take care of the warriors,” Theodor said.
Kyle rolled his eyes.
“Fine.”
Then, he turned around to the main tunnel and sensed the Ether in the air again.
He followed another tunnel and found another scout.
This repeated a couple of times.
“How many ants did I kill so far?” Kyle asked.
“Around 35, including the ones outside,” Theodor said.
“You said there are anywhere between 50 and 100 ants, right?” Kyle asked.
“More like 50 and 75,” Theodor said. “The nest is smaller than expected.”
Kyle smirked. “Halfway done, then.”
Theodor didn’t answer.
Kyle continued walking deeper into the nest.
As he approached a corner, his instincts suddenly shouted at him.
He jumped back immediately, and moments later, the pincers of an ant warrior came around the corner.
Then, more and more pincers appeared.
’Seems like I’m close to the queen,’ Kyle thought as he retreated.
Sure enough, a tide of ant warriors came out of the tunnel in front of Kyle.
BOOOM!
Kyle broke the pincers of the warrior in front of him before jumping back.
That was when he noticed a second warrior crawling on the ceiling.
Two warriors could fit through the tunnel at the same time as long as one walked on the ground and the other on the ceiling.
“Max two ants at once, huh?” Kyle shouted.
BOOOM!
He hit the warrior ant on the ceiling, which fell on top of the ant warrior below it.
“You want to make it easy for me?!” Kyle shouted.
“This is not your territory!”
“This is my territory!”
BOOOM!