Chương 64: 1.3.20 - The Queen's Gambit (2)

"Cover!" was all I managed to shout when I saw the Queen spit that glob of acid at us. Randell stomped on the ground and sent an Earth Wall flying up from the ground in front of us. Shards of clay that the ants used to build their nest flew aside with the forced expulsion of earth. Randell's quick reflexes saved us from becoming a melted puddle — a fate shared by soldiers splashed with Xenomorph blood in the movie Aliens.

While the wall stopped the momentum of the flying glob of acid, the acid quickly ate through the wall, leaving a puddle of acid that was slowly sizzling away near us. Some of the teams were late in reacting to the acid attacks due to the poor visibility in the cavern. Having noticed that, Waldo sent his orb of light high up to the middle of the cavern and cranked up the intensity. The whole cavern went white, like someone had thrown the switch on a set of stadium lights.

I had expected it to be big due to the size of the ants, but seeing it in person was a different thing. The ceiling was thirty to forty feet high, packed with the same layered clay the ants had lined the tunnels with. The floor ran out past where the light could properly reach. Everything in between was black chitin. I tried to estimate how many ants there were but I stopped counting past two dozen.

While their numbers weren't as high as in a normal ant colony, the ants still outnumbered the adventurers and soldiers from the Falden manor combined. The Queen sat in the middle, its abdomen bloated and pale while the rest of its body was covered in black chitin plates that looked thicker than those of the other ants. Its front four legs had already adapted to be curved, claw-like weapons made for bisecting rather than walking.

The moment the visibility improved, there was a marked difference in performance by the various teams fighting in the cavern. Some discarded their torches while some fire mages put out the orbs of fire glowing nearby and focused solely on firing spells at their targets. The improved visibility also allowed some of the ants to notice us, immediately causing two ants nearby to approach us.

No longer having the protection of a narrow tunnel, Randell started channeling two thick walls in front of us, leaving only enough room for a single ant to come through. Since we could no longer summon walls from the ceiling as it was too far up, I relied on my double cast of Lightning Bolt to break through the worker ant's clay spit and paralyze it before taking it down.

The dead worker ants' bodies had the added benefit of creating a barrier the other ants had to get through, giving us more time to kill the ants one at a time. Even though we could take down the ants, I was quickly depleting my limited reserves — even after consuming a Basic Mana potion. Alas, all good things must come to an end. One of the Queen's acid spits fell on one of the walls, melting it through in seconds.

Before Randell had time to summon another Earth Wall, another ant took the opportunity to rush in through the gap. Randell rushed up with his Stone Skin armor to keep it occupied while I tried to finish off another worker ant.

"Watch out from the top!" Waldo, who was focused on the orb near the ceiling, spotted one of the larger soldier ants crawling towards us using the ceiling. Its spiked and hooked legs jammed into the ceiling with every step, keeping it attached to the top as it crawled towards us. Dry little showers of clay came down behind it with every step. The soldier ant was not just larger. Its mandibles were larger and thicker, and the spikes on its legs looked more like daggers than parts that belonged on an insect.

By the time I saw it, it was already almost on us. I only had time to utter three syllables before I fired my primed spell at it instead of the worker ant in front of us.

"Randell RUN!" I fired my Lightning Bolt at the soldier ant on the ceiling, causing it to convulse briefly. That was all I needed though as the soldier ant lost its grip on the ceiling and came crashing down, squashing the worker ant in front of us. Randell was able to jump back with my warning after he used a quick Ground Spike to stall the ant. Unfortunately for us, the soldier ant that fell down did more than just squash the worker ant.

The ant's chitin was somehow impervious to the Queen's acid spit, and its body sent some of the acid flying at us. Annie was able to conjure a quick film of water that held the acid at bay, keeping herself safe along with me and Waldo, who were beside her. Randell, who was further away, was not so lucky. Some of the acid ate through his Stone Skin armor and the gambeson on his back.

He could not remove his armor in time and some of the acid eventually landed on his back, releasing a sickening metallic scent of cooked meat. Seeing that my Lightning Bolt spell only paralyzed it for a bit, I took the opportunity while the soldier ant was still upside down to throw one of the daggers strapped across my chest at its eye. The aim was garbage, I had never thrown a single dagger in my life. Despite my developed muscles, I lacked the dexterity that came with practice.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. What I had though was the ability to manipulate metal. Specifically, creating magnetic fields to guide the trajectory of the dagger. Recalling what I did in my duel with Fallic, I used Lightning Manipulation to correct the poor angle caused by my lack of skill. I then accelerated the speed through a series of magnetic fields lined up in the direction of the flying dagger.

Not just one field, but multiple, spaced along the flight path. I timed each one to collapse as the steel passed through it, handing the dagger to the next field in line. I felt it more than I saw it, as I felt the mana leaving me in a few short bursts rather than one continuous drag. The dagger's flight path corrected and I saw the dagger pick up speed as it flew through each magnetic field. Holy shit, it worked.

While it was nowhere near as strong as Mark II, I had replicated the concept of a coil gun using spur of the moment inspiration. The dagger embedded itself in the ant's eye, causing it to thrash about wildly. I took a few seconds to charge up a Lightning Bolt before firing it at the dagger that was sticking out of its eye. Channeling my spell through the dagger to fry its brain. The ant convulsed for a bit, before its body started twitching again.

Its bladed legs swinging about due to the residual nervous response in its system.

"Are you alright, Randell?" I asked when I saw the burn marks on his back. Annie had already conjured another blob of water to wash the acid off his back. I quickly uncorked another bottle of Basic Healing potion and splashed half on his back, while offering the other half for him to drink.

"This will be your last potion for a while, can you stand?" I bent down beside him. The flailing legs of the soldier ant also had the added benefit of keeping the other worker ants away from us for the time being. Instead of answering, Randell used his sword for support and stood up with some difficulty.

"I've got an idea but it'll require quite a bit of mana from you. Do you have enough reserves?" I asked as I steadied him.

"Just say it" Randell nodded his head.

"Pass all our water skins to Annie first" I said while chucking my own water skin from my belt to Annie.

"I need you to conjure a platform, sort of like an Earth Wall but round and thick enough for all 4 of us to stand on. I need you to channel it while we're standing on it and send it up to at least 10 feet high." I explained briefly.

"Annie, your water screen earlier gave me an idea. You'll be our primary defense against the Queen's acid attacks. You not only need to protect us but also the Earth Wall we're standing on. You'll need to conjure a bit more water on top of the water skins we just passed to you." Annie only gave a nod of acknowledgement while trying to catch her breath.

"Let's do it. Leave the other ants to me." We stood close as Randell placed both his hands on the ground, concentrating on raising a column of earth beneath us. The ground shuddered, then gave a lurch that dropped the other three of us to one knee, after which it smoothed out into a slow grinding push. Dirt sheeted off the edges and rained down on the bodies of the ants we left below. As we slowly got higher, I focused on ants that were coming in our direction.

I fired Lightning Bolts at them, focusing on paralyzing them rather than taking them out right away. A few globs of acid flew our way as we rose up but I trusted Annie to cover us while I focused on preventing any ants from approaching us before we got high enough. Once we got high enough, I gave Randell a few seconds' break before I told him the game plan. We did not quite reach 10 feet like I wanted but it was close enough. It gave us enough height to not be rammed down by one of the worker ants.

I had gotten the idea to use high ground after I saw the soldier ant climb above us.

"Conserve your mana and just use Ground Spikes to throw any ants that try to climb on the pillar. First loosen the spots their feet are in contact with before knocking them off. You'll need to refill the spots where the earth has been loosened though so we don't collapse."

"What will you do?" Randell asked while he tried to catch his breath.

"I'll focus on paralyzing the ants the other teams are fighting to increase their efficiency. The increased range will weaken my spell but I just need to paralyze them long enough for the other teams to finish them off. We need to create an opening for Roderic and his team" I explained quickly. There were no further words needed as we got to executing the plan. For minutes, I focused on scanning the battlefield to identify opportunities when a moment of paralysis would create the opening needed.

I also focused on teams that were at risk of being overwhelmed, either through too many worker ants converging on their locations or having to engage with a soldier ant while there was more than one worker ant. Through a well-timed Lightning Bolt, I saved one team's front liner from being bisected by a soldier ant. I created an opportunity for another fire mage to shoot a Fire Bolt between an ant's mandibles.

We eventually thinned the entourage of ants around the Queen enough for Roderic's team to break free and engage the Queen directly. I watched them go in from the top of the pillar. Their formation was shaped like a wedge, with Roderic at point. Their Earth mage used the stone constructs to push the bodies of worker and soldier ants they had slain to create a clear path to the Queen. Roderic's team engaging the Queen had an immediate effect on the rest of the battlefield.

The acid attacks that were responsible for the most injuries and casualties for the surrounding parties were suddenly focused on them. I saw the Air Mage in Roderic's team channel a gust of wind, sending a glob that was heading for them flying back at the Queen. The acid just splashed harmlessly on its chitin and hissed when it dropped to the ground. Roderic arrived right in front of the Queen, expression calm and fearless despite the monstrosity being more than double his height.

Several soldier ants broke away from the nearby parties, heading right for Roderic and his team.