Three days later, they climbed over a large hill and came to a sudden, jarring halt. Before them lay a landscape that had been stripped of its very soul.
Where a dense, emerald canopy once drowned the world in shadow, there was now only a searing expanse of copper earth and the skeletal remains of various beasts. As far as the eye could see, the horizon was broken by mounds of excavated soil, towering, rust-colored pyramids that dwarfed once-lush trees.
The trees looked nothing like they used to and now resembled naked pillars, bone-white and scarred, chewed clean of bark and leaf. Every branch had been systematically stripped away, leaving behind a forest of tooth-marked masts that poked at the sky like the ribs of a giant, buried beast.
The humid, melodic pulse of the jungle was gone, replaced by a dry, suffocating stillness. It felt less like a rainforest and more like a sun-bleached desert, the only sound being the distant, rhythmic clicking of mandibles echoing through the hollow valley.
“Bloody hell…” Silex gasped in his bad posh accent.
Vesper’s face grew serious as his eyes ignited with restrained rage. “It would seem that they have expanded again. By the looks of things, they will swallow everything,” Vesper said lowly.
Before Maximus could say anything, Astrae whispered.
Quest Created: Defeat the Silent Queen and stop the Bronze Scourge that is devouring the First Plane.
Rewards: 10 Talent Points, Dryade’s Blessing, Temporary Return Ticket
Alert: If accepted, temporary permission will be granted to access the Tracker function.
Accept? Yes?
Yes?
Yes?
Yes?
Seeing this, Maximus suddenly burst into loud laughter.
“That’s it; he lost it. It’s official,” Silex gasped.
“Well, look at you, Astrae. So, you cannot personally influence these trial planes, huh? Sooo, you would need old Maximus’s help, it would seem. Well, the rewards are tempting, but I’d need more than this. Give me a way to use mana, come on, anything will do!” Maximus offered with a sharp grin.
Reward updated!
Rewards: 10 Talent Points, Dryade’s Blessing, Temporary Return Ticket, Heavenly Body Method
“A body-forging method I haven’t heard about?!” Maximus frowned. “Damn you, you really know how to pull my strings.” He sighed. “I accept.”
Silex moved a step back, staring at him suspiciously.
“Silex, you oversized baby, I didn’t lose my mind, okay? The system that created this whole place just gave me a mission to stop the ant queen. It would seem that if we stop her, the ants will stop devouring everything,” Maximus explained.
“Sounds good to me. When do we start?” Vesper said coldly.
“Will you be alright? Painful memories can make us do unwise things, oftentimes, you know?” Maximus leaned and locked eyes with him.
“Boss, I… I just want to have my vengeance. I want to see them squirm and die like the insects they are. This wrath within me… it’s boiling over,” Vesper whispered, his eyes trembling.
Maximus pulled him into a firm embrace and whispered, “I know it all too well, my friend. In a fit of rage, I’ve turned armies of men into nothing but ashes; I’ve brought down dragons and obliterated my own kin, and in the end, I’ve ended the one who gave birth to my entire race.” Maximus let out a long, ragged sigh. “I know that pain all too well, so let us go and bring destruction, let us roar with the fury of a dying sun, but let us live, and keep control of who we are, alright?” He smiled and squeezed him tighter before standing up.
Vesper stood there, his eyes locked onto Maximus, before bowing his head. “I will follow you to the ends of time, boss, just give me this,” he said, his voice trembling.
“Silex,” Maximus clapped his hands, “how about we go kill some ants? You haven’t tried baked ants, have you?” Maximus winked at Vesper.
“Oh! I have not! Let us go murder some ants and have ourselves a feast!” Silex roared, over the top even for him, but he felt like he had to do something to ease the heavy tension.
Vesper cracked a small smile at the mad croc. “Hah, let’s go feed our lizard!”
They descended the hill and entered the pillaged region, and as they did, a faint map appeared in the corner of Maximus’s vision, a thin red line marking a path toward his target. Now this is a useful function. How about you leave this after the quest? Maximus asked, yet Astrae remained silent. Was worth asking. He shrugged and followed the map.
***
Sprout attempted to scan the area, but the lack of any proper network of roots and plants, long ago devoured by the ants, made his skill nearly useless, only allowing him to sense a few meters around.
“It’s alright, buddy. We will manage,” Maximus comforted the spirit and picked him up while he began sending weak ripples of spirit energy outward, trying to establish at least some form of detection.
Unfortunately, this crude sensing did not breach the underground, and twenty minutes later, a swarm of ants burst from below, snapping with their mandibles as their bronze bodies gleamed like precious metal under the harsh sun.
Seeing the ants, Vesper released Howling Echo, blasting them backward before howling once more to apply the buffs and debuffs.
Silex assisted as well, raising a large wave and riding it straight into the swarm as he whipped with his tail and snapped at their armored bodies.
Maximus activated Dread Hollow while Sprout merged into the ground, taking control of bramble tendrils and vines that lashed out at the ants, binding them before squeezing out their spirit energy.
Standing still, Maximus summoned all three Spectral Wolves to guard him as more and more ants poured from the tunnels below.
He released Starlight Shower, and as the burning rain descended over the land, each falling comet incinerated the weaker ants into dust. He whispered, “Grow,” and poured ambient spirit into the tendrils summoned by Dread Hollow.
The bramble tendrils surged in size, growing to four meters in length and half a meter thick as they began swatting ants aside like flies under Sprout’s precise guidance.
“Embi, we need you!” Maximus called, summoning him to enhance their damage by 10% while he spat fireballs onto the already burning swarm.
“Now then, time to test the new skill,” Maximus said calmly as he activated Nature’s Blight.
A large orb of green flames gathered above his head, resembling a miniature emerald sun. He raised his staff and pointed toward the tunnels from which the ants crawled before releasing it.
The orb shot forward and detonated in an explosion of viridian fire, amplified further by the lingering Starlight. The surviving ants writhed and convulsed as Sprout’s tendrils drained them, feeding their stolen energy back into Maximus.
On the other side, Vesper and his pack tore through the swarm, ripping ants apart, while Silex reveled in chaos, until one of the ants sprayed acid across his back, forcing him to unleash Aqua Jet in rage, cleaving through anything in its path.
Seeing Silex hurt, Maximus cast Cyclone Shell and Rejuvenation over him before shifting into his full Werewolf form. His body surged into a crimson lupine shape, claws gleaming dark red as he lunged into the swarm surrounding Vesper.
He seized one ant by the thorax and tore it apart, spilling thick, green, viscous liquid across the ground.
The others swarmed him, but he remained composed and activated something new, Iron Body. His crimson fur darkened into metallic black, and his claws elongated further, gleaming with deadly edge.
He let out a fierce howl as a crushing sense of power settled into his body, and he began tearing through the frenzied ants, some attempting to melt him with acid while others tried to overwhelm him.
But Maximus remained calm, and beneath that calm, a deep, burning rage simmered, guiding every strike with absolute precision and confidence that he was the strongest one there.
Vesper noticed Maximus’s form and allowed himself a faint smile before unleashing a barrage of bloody crystal projectiles that detonated in waves of crushing force across the battlefield.
The battle raged for another fifteen minutes before the last of the ants finally fell, leaving behind a mound of corpses as large as a hill and a river of dark green, oozing blood flowing into the tunnels below.
You have defeated: [Bronze Scourge Ant Lv. 25] x 78
Battle Tokens earned: 1150
Maximus howled victoriously and sat on the ground, his form returning to his human shape. This time, my personality shifted again, but I was more in control… yet my urge to kill was even stronger than in the Werecroc form. Could it be influenced by these two? Is this the Shapeshifter path, a path of becoming one with your beasts? Maximus wondered as Silex spat something onto the ground, an ant’s head rolling with its antennae still twitching.
“What are you doing?” Maximus sighed.
“They are nasty. No meat, just sludge and crispy skeleton,” Silex gagged, clearly offended.
Maximus ignored him and turned to Vesper. “How are you?”
“Good. This was ten times simpler with you here, boss. If only we had you back then…” He trailed off with a quiet sigh.
“They are lower level than us, but their sheer numbers are quite astonishing. No wonder they have overtaken the Wildlands,” Maximus said, inhaling slowly. “For now, let us rest here. The flames should scare away any other ants while we recover.”
The two beasts nodded while Embi and Sprout climbed over the pile of bodies, Sprout carefully collecting cores.
Maximus shook his head with a faint smile at the odd duo.
***
While they recovered, Maximus took out his wasp egg and poured some of the ambient spirit energy into it, something he had taken to doing whenever they stopped to rest.
[Energy to hatch: 52%]
Slowly but surely. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind having you hatch sooner… The more, the merrier. Maximus smiled faintly as he stored the egg away, then checked his supplies. One bottle of potion left, and not even a full one. It’ll have to do for now. Rejuvenation is also close to evolving… I should spend a point to raise it now. Better to be ready before another battle.
He checked his Talent Points and smiled before investing one into Rejuvenation.
[Talent Points: 63]
Skill leveled up [Rejuvenation (F) Level 20]
Skill Rejuvenation (F) is ready to evolve.
The skill has a predetermined evolution path.
Skill Rejuvenation (F) has evolved into the skill Nurturing Grasp (E)
Alert: Skill Rejuvenation (F) has reached its final form.
Nurturing Grasp (E) – Summon the hands of Mother Nature to instantly heal your target for 20% of their maximum health. Can be used multiple times on the same target, but each consecutive use loses half of its potency. If another healing effect is applied to the target, increase its effectiveness by 5% per stack. Cost: 225 Spirit.
Finally, a proper healing spell, shame that it is as far as this one goes... Now, with this, I’m much more comfortable. I’ll leave Barkskin to level naturally, and that should be enough for now.
“We’re moving into their underground territory now. Walking mindlessly on the surface is just an invitation to be ambushed again. This way, we can at least see them coming, and the map is pointing downward as well,” Maximus said.
The two beasts nodded but remained silent as they descended first, with Maximus and his two spirits following behind, Maximus using his spirit senses as a crude radar as they advanced deeper into the tunnels.