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(AS) B2 - Lesson 50: "You Might Need A Bigger Boat..."
🕑 Added 2024-08-25 00:25:00 +0000 UTC
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“… Are you certain this will work?” Robert asked as he eyed their newest ‘companion’ with a frown. When the three former bandits had brought the newcomer out from behind the large command tent, the team of Adventurers hadn’t been sure how to feel.
On one hand, it wasn’t another bandit. On the other…
Robert stared at the massive ant standing beside the tent. It was one of the large soldiers that had harassed them on the way to the dungeon. They had yet to see any inside the dungeon proper, but the creature still made him nervous. He could imagine the damage such a beast could cause if it broke free from the Dungeon Core’s control while their guard was down.
Robert found his hand drifting to the hilt of his sword every time the creature so much as twitched. He didn’t miss the way Garrelt’s eyes tracked the ant as well. Maggy, however…
“This is amazing!” the bubbly girl practically squealed. One hand traced the various ridged of the ant’s carapace as the other rapidly made notes in the floating notebook in front of her. Dozens of minute bursts of Mana and Spirit Energy flashed across Robert’s senses. He wasn’t quite sure what she was doing, but the control she demonstrated was astounding, even to him.
For as flighty, air-headed and ignorant of how the world worked as the girl seemed at times, it was easy to forget she was one of the peak geniuses of her generation.
“I’ve heard that dungeon’s bred their own spirit beasts, but this is beyond anything I could have ever imagined! I’ve dissected Demon Ants before, and while it might look like one on the surface, this thing might as well be an entirely different species!” As Maggy spoke, her voice became more and more animated.
“Its like its internal structure has been optimized to an absurd degree. And some of these organs… I couldn’t even begin to tell you what they do!” Maggy suddenly hugged the ant. “Oh! What I wouldn’t do to get you in the lab.”
Five humans and a goblin watched the scene with a flat stare, before Hugo turned to Robert and spoke, everyone leaving the young mage to her… moment.
“It should be fine. Mr. Alpha had us keep this one away from the slimes for this very purpose,” He said with a nod.
Bill, standing next to the ant, slapped its side and gave the Adventurers a thumbs up. “That’s right! Little Billy Jr. is harmless!”
“Billy Jr?” said Claude, an eyebrow raised.
Bill spun and pointed his finger at the other man. “You be quiet! You have your scripts. Let me have my ants, dang it!”
No sooner had the words left his mouth, did ‘Billy Jr. lean down and clamp the man’s helmeted head between its mandible. It then lifted the man off the ground and walked away.
“Jr! Drop! I said drop!” Bill screamed as he flailed about, trying to undo the straps to his helmet. “I told you before, I’m not a larva! put me down this instant, young lady!”
Hugo sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “The Dungeon Core has told me he will be personally directing the ant during the mission. You have my assurance that things will go smoothly. All you and your team have to do is observe and let us handle the rest.”
Robert stared off after the ant as it carried Bill away, Maggy chasing after them. “… Right.” He then turned back to Hugo and asked, “What exactly is the plan?”
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Three Hours Later
The group crowded together in the camouflaged bunker, several hundred yards from the river. Through a glass window — which Hugo claimed was invisible from the other side — they stared at a large muddy hill the size of a small castle with a deep cavernous entrance carved in its side. Behind the hill, a large lake had formed where the river’s water pooled before continuing its journey downstream.
“So this is the place, then? The drake’s den?” asked Garrelt.
Hugo nodded. “That’s right. The den itself is a natural part of the dungeon, though the drake has added to it since its… escape.” He gestured to the muddy hill and Robert could just make out a quivering mass resting on top. As they watched, a small piece pinched off and fell to the ground. The newborn mud slime then slinked off, disappearing into the forest undergrowth.
“Gross…” said Maggy in response.
Hugo lifted a strange artifact and pressed a button.
“We’re ready, Bill. Get moving,” he said.
“I’m coming!” came the response through the artifact, as if it were a communication jade, though Robert sensed no energy flux.
A moment later, a large shadow emerged from the treeline. A solider ant slowly walked into the brighter mosslight of the river, followed closely by Bill.
“Is he… crying?” Robert asked, incredulously. Sure enough, Bill and the ant had stopped just past the treeline, and the man was animatedly speaking to the creature, his shoulders heaving slightly as he wiped his face with his sleeve.
Hugo sighed and again spoke into the artifact, “Bill, get on with it! We still have other stuff to do!”
Bill flinched and reached, or his own artifact clipped to his belt. He raised it to his mouth, and the man’s voice spoke out of Hugo’s artifact, “I said I’m coming! Just…” the man sobbed slightly, “… just give me a minute, damn it!” The man clipped his artifact back to his belt, then lunged forward, hugging the ant’s carapace, before spinning around and dashing back into the woods, one arm over his eyes.
The massive solider ant only cocked its head once and turned toward the drake’s den with no further prompting or prodding. It crossed the hundred meters of open terrain between the treeline and the den unimpeded. Then, with little ceremony, it crawled through the cavern opening and disappeared into the shadows in the back of the den.
Several seconds passed, and when nothing more happened, Maggy softly whispered, “Are… we waiting on som—”
ROOOOOOAAAAAARRRR!
An earsplitting roar shook the area. Even from this distance, those in the bunker could feel the sound in their bones. The next moment, there was a deep boom from within the den, and something shot out of the entrance. The soldier ant flew for several dozen meters, before crashing hard and rolling for several more. Well… most of it did.
The ant was in a terrible state; its armor-like carapace was cracked in half a dozen places and a long gash nearly cut its thorax in two. It struggled to stand on several broken legs and nearly did so, before a second shadow erupted from the den. This second shadow covered the distance between the den and the ant in the blink of an eye, and the ground shook as a massive foot slammed the struggling ant back to the ground.
Robert frowned as he caught his first look at their objective.
Garrelt gave a low whistle. “Wooow, now that’s a big girl,” he said, verbalizing what everyone else in the bunker was thinking.
Big was an understatement. If the soldier ant was the size of a carriage, then the Mud Drake they were looking at was easily the size of a modest house, utterly dwarfing the giant insect. As if to emphasize that point, the Mud Drake leaned down and grabbed the ant’s head between its massive jaws. It pulled and the ant’s head was ripped away with seemingly little effort.
The Mud Drake then tossed the head away and gave another air shaking roar toward the forest, as if daring any more ants to barge into its home uninvited.
The reaction in the bunker was mixed. Maggy was staring at the creature as if it was a nightmare given flesh, while Garrelt grinned wider than Robert had ever seen the man do so before. Antchaser and the former bandit’s reactions were muted in comparison. Robert could still see the weariness and fear in their eyes, but it was born from recognition of a creature far beyond them, not one of surprise or shock. As if the creature was already a daily part of life. Sure, you respected it, but the awe had long lost its effect.
As for Robert, he remained stone faced as he reevaluated what exactly they had gotten themselves into. Left alone, a Mud Drake like this had the potential to grow into a creature known as a Kigendoro. They were powerful draconic creatures of earth and water that were feared more as natural disasters than spirit beasts. A single Kigendoro, if unchecked, could turn an entire valley into a festering swamp in as little as a year.
Moreover, given its size, he suspected the creature was at least [Elemental Dominance], maybe even nearing [Core Condensing]. As a peak [Spiritual Awakening] Cultivator of some talent, Robert felt he could handle a typical early [Elemental Dominance] spirit beast. More so if he was supported by the rest of the expedition. But one with dragon blood? And possibly close to forming its Spirit Core? Things would be… tricky, to say the least. The only question was, would the possible rewards be worth the effort? Lucky for them, the Dungeon Core wanted the creature captured, not killed, which, ironically made things a bit easier for such a powerful spirit beast.
Even so…
As the Mud Drake tore pieces of the ant off and chewed on them, Robert sighed and stood.
“I think I’ve seen everything I need to…” he turned to look at the rest of his party and continued, “Let us head back and bring what we’ve learned to the others. Hopefully, Bert hasn’t gotten into too much trouble.”
Comments
JulesBeHere
Good chapter!
