Maximus sat next to Tereza, feeling the most relaxed beside the beast-loving woman. Jane made him uncomfortable with her constant talking, and Lennox had an odd energy to him, like a seasoned fighter yet short-fused and erratic. He couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was about him that gave him such an uneasy feeling.
“Say, Red, how do you have so many abilities? You couldn’t have farmed enough points to unlock them all in fifty days, right?” Jane questioned, making Lennox turn as well, clearly expecting an answer.
“Hah, no, not at all. Most of my skills I received by doing quests or from Skill Stones,” Maximus lied through his teeth.
“Are you one of the Skill Hunters then?” Lennox asked coldly.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve had my own share of dealing with those psychos. Just before entering the Wildlands, we fought a group led by a man with a white snake symbol on his neck. I think his name was Toby. We managed to kill two of them, a large red-haired man and an assassin woman,” Maximus explained, presenting it as something anyone could confirm if asked.
“You dealt with the White Snake?” Lennox asked, astonished.
“Oh, you know of him? I hadn’t heard anything about him before Bastion of Hope. He attacked us while we were fighting my friend Vesper here,” Maximus replied innocently.
“I’ve heard that since he took over the Hunters two months ago, they’ve become much more active,” Lennox said simply.
“Oh, I didn’t know that. But again, I’m working alone,” Maximus shrugged.
“Say, Red, did you train in one of those trial preparation facilities for the rich kids? It’s rare to find someone so relaxed in these damn conditions. Or are you just a psycho like our Tereza here?” Jane asked with a chuckle.
“You could say that I was trained and prepared for this my whole life. How about you guys?” Maximus asked. Well, not like I’m lying now, am I?
“My family has a guild in Ireland, but we’re originally from the States. I’ve been training for a long time now. The main reason I took this class was to strengthen my family’s guild,” Jane explained.
“I’ve been training as well for quite a while,” Lennox nodded.
“And Tereza here, she’s just a natural,” Jane added, hugging her playfully.
“How do you communicate?” Maximus asked.
“Oh, show him, Ter-ter,” Jane nudged her.
Tereza sighed and took out a small whiteboard and a marker.
“Hi, I’m Tereza. I’ve been stuck with these maniacs for a while now. You have a nice wolf. :)” she wrote on the board and smiled.
“Oho, well, isn’t that practical!” Maximus observed the whiteboard. Could use one myself, he thought.
“How long do you think you’ll need to recover?” Maximus added.
“Give me half an hour,” Lennox said, as Tereza nodded in agreement.
“I didn’t spend much mana, so I’ll be ready whenever,” Jane added.
“Alright, I’ll prepare as well then,” Maximus nodded and opened up the notifications.
Skill Barkskin (F) is ready to evolve.
The skill has a predetermined evolution path.
Skill Barkskin (F) has evolved into the skill Oaken Husk (E)
Oaken Husk (E) – Transform your skin into dense, ancient oaken bark. Lowers physical damage received by 25% and grant Stagger Resistance, preventing weaker attacks from interrupting your spellcasting or channeling. If used within a spirit-rich area such as your Dread Hollow or Sanctuary zones, increase the defense by an additional 10%. Cost: 90 Spirit.
Hmmm, another one with a predetermined path, but this is very useful regardless, and I can try to adjust the bark properties as needed!
He then created a handful of Cinder Seeds. “Here, take a couple each. They provide resource regeneration and grant a slight healing boon for a short duration. Should come in handy in case of emergencies,” Maximus offered.
Tereza and Jane each took a handful, while Lennox hesitated for a moment. “It’s not poison if that’s what you’re thinking,” Maximus chuckled.
“Fine. Give me a few,” Lennox finally accepted the offer and grabbed some, storing them away.
“Hey, Red, where are you from, by the way?” Jane asked curiously.
“I cannot say,” Maximus replied simply.
“Jane, people have their reasons. You should be careful about asking for personal information,” Lennox lectured.
“Don’t worry, it’s not an issue. I just dislike talking about my home,” Maximus replied more quietly.
Tereza walked up to him and gave him a side hug as she sat next to him and Vesper, gently patting his back with a soft smile.
“Boss, she really is nice, isn’t she?” Vesper added.
“I like the blonde more. Much more meat on her bones,” Silex cut in.
Oh, you two… Maximus chuckled inwardly.
Like that, the group rested for half an hour before steeling themselves to face the ant queen, who had taken over an enormous stretch of the Wildlands, forcing even Astrae to offer unbelievable rewards.
***
Maximus scanned the last chamber deep within the ant nest, and his jaw dropped at what he saw.
An enormous ant, at least ten meters tall and just as wide, lay in the largest chamber so far. She rested in the center of the room, and behind her were countless thousands of translucent amber eggs, twitching as the ants within slowly grew, while a large light crystal dropped from the ceiling, looking like a small island of light, warming the whole hatchery.
“There is an enormous ant inside, and it looks like it cannot move. Keep attacks ranged and try to bring her down fast,” Maximus suggested.
“Who put you in charge?” Lennox cut in.
“I have information on the ant. Listen up,” Lennox added, taking over the conversation. “She has an enormous health pool, so we will need to damage her constantly while keeping our distance. She can attack by vomiting acid and poison in a cone-like range, which will cover most of the area she targets, so keep moving at all times,” Lennox spoke confidently.
“If I may ask, how do you know all this? For twenty years, these ants have been expanding, undefeated,” Maximus cut in.
“Yes, boss, exactly. He is hiding something,” Vesper nodded.
“Doesn’t mean nobody tried to defeat her, right? Only that they failed. I gathered this information from survivors in the outside world,” Lennox said calmly.
“Alright, let’s hear the rest then,” Maximus allowed him to continue.
“Once the ant is down to half health, you’ll notice it as her shell starts falling off. Then she will begin attacking from underground with her lower half, which has a spike the size of a tree, and you will notice the ground shake before it erupts. At the same time, she will hatch her eggs and send suicidal ants at us, which will detonate in bursts of poison. This will continue until she falls under one quarter of her health, when she will try to flood the entire area with acid and melt us down,” Lennox finished.
“Hmm, alright, let’s say I believe you. How exactly did you plan on killing her with just three of you?” Maximus questioned.
“With this.” Lennox pulled out a hand-sized black gland-like object. “This is the venom sack of the Life-Eater Slug. We soak our weapons in it, and once she is saturated with enough venom, her health will begin to drop continuously for half an hour, which is more than enough time to focus on surviving while she dies,” Lennox explained proudly.
“Oh, so that’s why we had to hunt so many damn snails!” Jane clapped suddenly. “Let me tell you, he had us comb the entire region until we found enough slugs with properly developed glands. ‘Not every gland is strong enough, Jane,’” she said, mimicking him with air quotes.
“All thought out, huh. Alright, you sound confident enough. Let’s follow your lead then. Got any of those glands to spare?” Maximus asked.
“Yes, here, take this one. Apply it now and store the weapon so it doesn’t lose potency,” Lennox instructed.
Maximus nodded and, alongside Lennox, cut into the gland and smeared the venom over their weapons, while Tereza did the same with her arrows, of which she had hundreds.
After a while, they were all ready. “By the way, I also have some deadly poison bombs. Here, take two each,” Maximus offered his homemade Screaming Death. “Just pour mana into them and toss them.”
“You made these?” Lennox asked.
“I did, a while ago. Helped with the hordes,” Maximus admitted.
“You really are a versatile man,” Lennox added, storing the bombs, as did the other two, and they finally stepped into the massive chamber.
***
As they entered the chamber, an acidic scent mixed with the stench of rot and decomposing corpses that the ants stored within the queen’s lair struck them, and the very first inhale forced Jane to gag while all their eyes began to water. “Cursed, disgusting beasts,” Maximus cursed.
“I swear, Max, you always take me to shitty places,” Silex complained.
Maximus ignored him and steadied himself mentally at the sight of the enormous monstrosity before them. By the heavens, I have never seen such a large insect before. This ant could have devoured the World Tree within a month alongside its army. Just what kind of species is this, to grow and reproduce so fast?
Maximus stared and took a deep inhale; for the first time in a while, something had truly shaken him to his core. He inhaled again and conjured a Wind Spear, gripping it tightly while shifting his legs into those of a bear. “Everyone, back away. Let me test it first!” Maximus shouted as his arms shifted into crimson, lupine claws, and he summoned forth Embi.
The wind-conjured spear turned crimson as flames ignited brighter than ever thanks to the excess oxygen, and he used the power of his ursine legs to propel the spear forward at twisting, tearing speed.
Swish.
The spear flew and collided with something dozens of meters away before even touching the ant queen. The weapon exploded in a burst of wind and blazing fire before dissipating as though nothing had happened at all.
Maximus frowned and activated his World Sense, then cursed under his breath. “The heavens have a cruel sense of humor, it seems,” he muttered before raising his voice. “There is an enormous transparent barrier running through the ground and surrounding the queen and her eggs. Judging by the amount of mana seeping from the ant, it will be extremely difficult to break, if not outright impossible,” Maximus explained.
“Lennox, you moron, why didn’t you mention this?” Jane shouted furiously. He had led them deep into the nest with one key claim: that he knew how to defeat the boss.
“I didn’t know…” he muttered, his face drained of color. “Something changed. Things are not as they should be,” he added quietly.
“Alright, calm down, everyone. There must be a way to break through. Tereza, try your strongest arrow, and Lennox, I’ll cast a barrier on you. Go in fast, strike it as hard as you can, and pull back. Once the barrier is down, we proceed as planned,” Maximus instructed, naturally taking control.
The queen ignored them entirely and continued feeding, tearing into the corpses of what looked like massive, mud-brown rhinos.
They held their position near the back of the chamber, close to the exit, as Tereza took out a simple iron arrow and activated a skill. The arrow turned pitch black, like a living shadow, and as she loosed it, it shot forward and crashed into the barrier, exploding and leaving behind a spreading blotch of ink-like liquid that sprouted writhing tentacles and began slamming repeatedly into the barrier, yet it held firm.
She lowered her bow slightly and shook her head, deflated.
“Fuck it, let me try. Boost me with everything you’ve got,” Lennox said, his voice low and steady.
Maximus layered all his enhancements onto him, while Jane added Strength and Holy Damage, causing his massive silver greatsword to glow like a paladin’s weapon as his runes ignited and his body expanded in size.
He leapt forward and brought his blade down with all his might.
BOOM.
The barrier rippled violently and shook under the impact alongside the whole cavern, but it held, and that alone was enough to agitate the queen. She let out a deafening screech, forcing hundreds of her offspring to hatch instantly and surge forward toward Lennox and the others, their minds empty of everything but insatiable hunger.
“Well… shit,” Jane cursed as Lennox slashed horizontally into the ground, carving a deep crevice in an attempt to slow the oncoming tide as he ran back.
“Everyone, buy me time! I think I have an idea how to break the barrier!” Maximus shouted as he summoned Sprout’s puppet, and Vesper followed along with his pack and clone.
Silex growled loudly and raised a massive wave that crashed down toward the swarm, forcing Lennox to throw himself over it to avoid being crushed as well. “Tell your beast to pay attention,” Lennox growled as he landed.
“He did; he just doesn’t like you that much,” Maximus chuckled as he opened his interface.
“Damn right!” Silex roared as he spat Aqua Jet, while Vesper joined in with Bloody Globes.