Chương 14: Colony (1)

Rowan's mace came down on the ant's head, cracking its carapace as it struggled against the chains that bound it. He struck again and again, relentlessly battering the worker's exoskeleton. Then, finally, the insect let out one last shudder before collapsing to the ground. [You have slain Worker Ant - Level 3] [Level 3 → Level 4] Rowan smiled as he looked at the notifications. Then, he turned and looked about. All around him lay the corpses of half a dozen other worker ants.

The insects had become far more common once he'd delved deeper into their territory, and avoiding them had been a nightmare. Still, he'd managed, at least until a few minutes ago. Unable to find a path that didn't put him on a collision course with any workers, he'd chosen a tunnel with just two ants in it. Of course, though, it couldn't be so easy. Just as he'd finished off the original insects, a group of two had stumbled upon him. And after that, yet another duo had found him, slowly wittling him down.

The series of fights had been his first time facing multiple ants at once, but given how all but the last had been level 2, it really wasn't that bad. Now, still panting, he looked down at the corpses. He'd gotten away unscathed, but he was still experiencing something he hadn't felt since he'd spent way too much mana to activate [Bind] against the soldier ant. His mana was running low. He could still use the skill once, maybe twice if his target was particularly weak, but that was it.

So, after a moment of thought, Rowan tossed the free point from his level up into mana. The encounter was still good overall, though. Not only had he gained a level, but he was halfway to recieving his next set of rations; he'd killed four ants while his legs had been incapacitated, and had just finished off another six. His food stores weren't yet a problem, but his water certainly was. Rowan was tempted to go straight back to killing and hunt down the rest of the ants he needed, but that would be too risky.

Instead, he slunk through the tunnels until he arrived at a small cave that seemed mostly barren. Even the moss there was less plentiful, with only a few patches here and there. Hopefully, that meant the ants wouldn't come looking. Even better, in the wall of the cave were several cracks, one of which was wide and tall enough for Rowan to fit into it and deep enough to hide him from any ants that might pass by.

Now, he needed to rest and replenish his mana, both things that sleep could achieve—actually, he wasn't sure if sleep actually did anything to his mana regeneration, but he was tired nonetheless. He would've loved to return to the relative safety of the large cavern near where he'd gotten his class, but Rowan couldn't. After all, he was already completely lost. So he clambered into the crack in the stone wall, making himself as comfortable as he could, and let sleep take him.

— Rowan woke to the clicking of mandibles. Lots of them. Blinking awake, he jerked upward—or at least he tried to. He barely choked back a cry of pain as his forhead struck the stone ceiling; he'd forgotten he was in the crack. Still, it was good he'd chosen to sleep within it, or he'd have been found already. His chains were still giving off a faint light, but it seemed that they hadn't noticed it. The ants probably thought it was just the same light that all of the moss gave off.

Taking care not to make too much noise, he twisted so he could better see what was going on. There were four worker ants in total, and while three were on the other side of the cave, one was but a few feet from him. Stolen novel; please report. As for what they were doing… Rowan wasn't sure. And so, he watched. After a minute of observation, he thought he knew what the workers were doing. Farming. On second thought, 'farming' wasn't the best term for it. Still, they seemed to be cultivating the moss.

On the floor of the cave was a pile of the luminescent plant, and every few seconds, one of the assembled workers made its way over to it, grabbing a small bunch with its mandibles. Then, the insect would return to the walls of the cave, placing the moss within the small cracks and crevices or on especially rough patches of stone. As Rowan watched, he frowned. Was that really how moss worked? Could you just plop it onto a rock and have it grow? He shook his head. It didn't really matter.

What did matter, however, was that the ant closest to him was slowly making its way towards the crack he was hidden in. And once it tried to plant moss on the stone, only to find him in the way, there was no doubt it would notice him. He would've already attempted to escape and fight off the workers if not for the ant looming at the cave mouth. Standing there, unmoving, was a soldier ant. As for what it was doing, Rowan couldn't be sure, but he had his suspicions.

After another second, he realized it was probably taking a nap. Even ants had to sleep sometimes, right? Nodding, he prepared himself. He had to capitalize on this opportunity, and he likely didn't have long; with his boosted stats, he didn't need to sleep as often, so that likely meant the insect wouldn't have to rest for too long either. Still, he didn't attack straight away. Instead, he waited for the closest worker to turn and head back to the pile of moss. Then, he struck.

As steel shells formed around the chains binding him, he slid out of the crack. Unlike when he usually activated [Bind], he didn't speak it out loud. There was no reason not to take advantage of the ants' unawareness. But he didn't do what he normally did with the skill. Instead of having all of the seemingly neverending chains wrap around a single target, he tried to split them.

[Bind lvl 3 → Bind lvl 4] The vast majority of the chains rushed towards the soldier ant, with only a few moving to hold off the nearest worker. As his chains did their work, Rowan charged the soldier. It was awkward to move quickly, given how his chains were attached to him, but he made it work. He didn't need fine movements, after all. As he reached it, the soldier ant stirred, trying to escape the grasp of the mana-infused chains, but it was far too late.

The metal links had already bound its mandibles as even more snaked around its body. Diverting some more of his focus to the chains, Rowan decided to try something new, commanding one of them to bind two of the ant's legs together. The oversized insect stumbled, and before it could recover, he was upon it. He went straight for a killing blow, not wasting any time trying to break through its hard carapace.

The ant still struggled against the chains, but it couldn't break them; Rowan was far stronger now than when he'd faced the first soldier ant. With a growl, he drove the mace into the insect's multifaceted eye, gritting his teeth as ichor splashed across his chest. But it wasn't over yet.

He pushed the weapon deeper and deeper, and when he couldn't push it any further, he pulled it out, only to plunge it back in a mere moment later, using the momentum to break through whatever was resisting his efforts to put the creature down. The ant wasn't quite dead as it twitched pathetically on the floor, but Rowan was out of time. Behind him, the three workers who weren't bound by his chains approached, mandibles clicking.

As they grew near, he retracted the chains that bound the incapacitated soldier, redirecting them towards the newest threats. The steel links wrapped around the lead ant, focusing on the creature's weak links. Then, as he drove another surge of mana into the chains, he clenched his fist, commanding them to squeeze. He put all of his willpower behind it, straining with effort. The ant shuddered, collapsing to the floor as its body warred with Rowan's chains. But, in the end, it wasn't a battle it could win.

The insect let out one last shudder before it gave out beneath the pressure of the chains. [You have slain Worker Ant - Level 2] [Bind lvl 4 → Bind lvl 5] Rowan commanded the chains to move to the next target, ready to crush them—nothing happened. His confusion turned to horror as he watched the steel of his chains begin to crack, small bits breaking off before fading into wisps of blue smoke. He was out of mana.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," He muttered, cursing himself for his stupidity. He'd been nearly out of mana before he'd gone to sleep in the crevace, and he thought it'd only been a few hours since then. Of course his mana hadn't fully regenerated. Still, he made quick work of the remaining three worker ants—one of which had broken free from the chains binding it now that he was out of mana.

[You have slain Worker Ant - Level 3] [You have slain Worker Ant - Level 2] [You have slain Worker Ant - Level 2] But as he turned, ready to finish off the soldier ant, he froze. There, blocking his only exit, was an absolute behemoth of a creature. [Ironclad Ant - Level 10]