Yujin swung his sword at high speed. His sword was coated with his mana. It sliced the bodies of the armored ants easily.
He then put back his sword in its sheath. He held the handle with a calm expression while looking at the armored ants in front of him. He couldn't see their appearance clearly because of the darkness but he could grasp their movement through the sound they were making.
Dozen armored ants then rushed towards him.
"[Drawing Sword Techniques]..."
Yujin slowly pulled out his sword and when the armored ants arrived in front of him, he pulled it at high speed. The air vibrated because of his sheer speed.
Swoosh!
The thick armor of the ants was sliced like a piece of paper. It easily broke apart and dozen armored ants fell at the same time.
"[First Strike: Speeding Slash]..."
Yujin fixed his posture and waved his sword. A small figure materialized on his sword. It was his spirit, Alophy.
"Jin, you're strong... I think you could defeat that arrogant Randolf if you use my power." Alophy said to Yujin with an excited expression.
"Why do you want me to defeat him?" Yujin sighed and asked Alophy.
"That man is a pervert. He looked at me as if I'm a valuable possession." Alophy said in an annoyed tone.
"Pervert?" Yujin glanced at Alophy as he couldn't understand the meaning of her words.
"Yeah, yeah, defeat that man for me. I wanted to see his despair look." Alophy nodded her head like a chicken.
"Let's talk later... They are already here." Yujin said as he turned his head and tightly gripped his sword. The armored ants were going to come at him once again. Just like what Souta said, they have an enormous advantage in terms of numbers.
...
Souta and the rest met a large number of armored ants on their way to the queen's room.
It's already been twenty minutes since they entered this dungeon. They found that this dungeon had a lot of paths like a maze. Luckily for them, Lynn could sense the presence of the ant's queen. It was a huge advantage to them.
When the ants realized that Souta's group was going towards the queen, an enormous amount of armored ants kept coming at them without stopping.
Alice and Souta were killing those armored ants left and right while Lumilia and Lynn kept heading towards the queen's room. The two didn't need to fight at all as their role was to guide them towards the queen's room. They could leave all the battle to Alice, and Souta.
After a few minutes, Lumilia suggested to change their formation. She placed Souta in front to protect Lynn while she and Alice were in the back as the number of ants that appeared in front of them grew larger. Much larger than the ones in the back.
"They are weak but their number is unbelievable!" Lumilia said as she kept slashing the armored ants with her sword that were charging towards them.
"I could only agree with you," Alice muttered as she pierced the armored ants using her spear.
Their coordination was great as they managed to build up some trust in each other in the past few days.
The two of them were stopping the armored ants on the back. While Souta was in the front slicing every ant. He was moving forwards with Lynn's instruction.
The system prompts kept ringing in his head as he killed every ant in his way. The exp he received from one armored ant wasn't that high but it was better than nothing as their number wasn't low.
The souls of these armored ants kept surging into his earring. Their souls were filling up the earring and Souta would be able to use the effect of [Harvester of the Souls] if they killed a little more armored ants.
"Souta, we're close," Lynn shouted at Souta so that he could hear her words.
Souta paused and asked her, "Can you sense the distance?"
"I couldn't accurately sense it but I estimate that we're fifty meters away from the queen," Lynn said to him.
"Good job." Souta smiled as his mana started to cover his body. He then bent his knees and charged forward.
Boom!
He rushed ahead while sweeping out all the armored ants in front of him. The bodies of the armored ants were torn apart as Souta effortlessly swung his sword.
"Hmm...?" Souta squinted his eyes as he saw a wall in front of him. There two paths on both of his sides but Lynn sensed that the queen was fifty meters straight.
He looked back and saw that he already run twenty meters and a little bit more he would get that ant queen. He imbued his mana in the vajra sword and slashed the thick walls.
Boom!
The walls crumbled down under his sheer power. Souta didn't want to go around just to meet the queen. He would create his own path towards the ant queen.
"Class rep, I'll leave the rest to you!" Souta shouted before he went forward.
"I understand!" Lumilia replied as she dashed in front of Lynn and protected her from the armored ants. She could leave the back to Alice as she knew that Alice wouldn't have any problem with a bunch of armored ants.
"I wanted to help too, Mila," Lynn said to her friend.
"It's okay. You already help us by finding the ant queen." Lumilia replied to her friend as she casted a spell that killed the ants in front of her.
...
Swoosh!
Souta arrived in a wide and dark space. At the center of the place, a five-meter tall ant stood while looking at Souta.
This was the ant queen of the armored ants. A second evolution monster at the moment.
"Okay, bring out all the ants here." Souta grinned and said. A second evolution monster was nothing to him.
Although he could easily kill a second evolution monster, he still couldn't kill a third evolution monster with his strength. The disparity between the second and third evolution was so large. That's why some of the players called the third evolution monster the "true monster".
The ant queen screeched loudly and numerous ants poured out of every path.
[Triple Muscle Strengthening], [Agility Boost], [Strength Boost], and [Cat's Speed]
Souta used his spells and skills that could increase his stats. Without waiting for them, he rushed towards the ants and started his massacre.
As time passed by the armored ants gradually decrease in numbers.
After half an hour, the ant queen was the only one left in front of Souta. All the armored ants have been killed by him. Piles of monster carcasses blocked all the escape path of the ant queen.
"Just die..." Souta muttered as shadows emerged from the ground and bound the body of the ant queen. He walked towards the ant queen and used [Crimson Moon] skill to kill it.
He then heard several notifications in his mind indicating that he completed the quest. For completing the challenge, the Adventurers Guild's quest, and clearing the dungeon. He received one skill point for each quest.
"That was tiring..." Souta muttered with a sigh. He drained a quarter of his stamina by swinging his sword nonstop. He could still fight the other students with his remaining stamina. He was sure about it.
He looked at his system and saw the rewards that he received. A bunch of skill points, free attribute points, and experience points.
With his total skill points, Souta could level up the [Gravitational Ball] to level 4. It was good for him. He knew that he would become a Battle Mage first before he reached the level requirements of his next evolution.
He also should gather the materials he needed for his next evolution. He will leave it in his expedition in the Forest of Eternal Light. That way he would be able to prepare his and Yuko's third evolution.
Speaking of leveling up, in the past few days of hunting monsters and completing the quest, Souta found himself close to leveling up once again. He guessed that his level would increase by the time before they finished the outdoor training.
The expedition in the Forest of Eternal Light was important for him. He would get the other part of the [Soul Blood Earring] and the evolution requirements for him and Yuko.
...
Souta's group went back to the Ibish village after they completed their challenge. It was a whole lot of experience for the students as this was their first time clearing a dungeon, though it was a low-level dungeon.
Lumilia, Lynn, and Yujin waited for their classmates as they prepared themselves for the attack of the other class. While Souta didn't stay with them as he wandered around the dungeons that his classmates cleared to collect the souls of the dead monsters.
He managed to fill up the soul requirement. Without hesitation, he used it to increase his Intelligence attribute making his base Int 390 points.
His earring was filled halfway because of the enormous amount of souls. If the challenges were to clear a dungeon every day then Souta would collect all the souls of the monsters that his classmates killed.
...
Several figures were flying through the sky at high speed. They were tearing the air with their sheer speed. The direction they were heading was the Night Light Forest.
In just a few hours, they would reach their destination.