Mutations: Heightened Perimeter Eyes +20; Oracle Antennae +20; Mana Binding Acid +15; Tough Rapid Osmotic Legs +20; Bright Empowered Mandibles +20; Hardened True Diamond Carapace +20; Potent Regrowth Regeneration Gland +20; Loquacious Pheromone Gland +15; Expansive Gravity Magic Gland +15; Indomitable Coordination Cortex +20; Supportive Healing Inner Carapace Plating +20; Selective Gluttonous Stomach +20
Species: Dispersed Mind Ant (Formica Sapiens)
Skill Points: 13
Biomass: 7
All of my goals are currently within reach! Just two more Levels in Severing Bite and I’ll be able to prompt the System for the Skill fusion. And ONE. MORE. LEVEL.
Just one!
I’m so damn stressed! Just let me fight some stupid monsters already. I need to evolve!
Wait…
HAP!
BOOM!
Missed again, you stupid lizard! Shove off already. I throw myself onto my back and wiggle aggressively at the sky. Scry THAT you reptile—Gah! Whoops!
BOOM!
Haha! Getting mad, are you? Not liking my dominance display? I’ve got plenty more where that came from.
Oh boy… The clouds are starting to gather. Think it’s time to move on. I gather myself and skitter around the horde toward the location I sense Tiny and Crinis operating. I’d asked them to fight away from me in the hopes we could split up the mage servants, but it hasn’t worked. The horde is seemingly happy to absorb the massive losses my two pets are able to inflict. So long as I’m kept at arm’s length.
Which means they’re getting some great experience and raising their Skill Levels, which is great. Just a shame it didn’t help me to do the same. Ugh! I’m tired of going around these stupid mages to get at the horde. With their very own eye in the sky, I just haven’t been able to get a hold of them. Nightfall is approaching, and the horde is expected to reach the colony sometime tomorrow. I’m running out of time!
Wait a second. Maybe I’m thinking about this situation all wrong. What if I didn’t try and avoid the servants to get to the horde, but avoid the horde and try to get at the servants? After all, the servants are perfectly prepared to step forward and fight me. I don’t have any trouble at all getting into a scrap with them. It’s not an easy fight by any means. With the exception of that one time, I haven’t actually been trying to fight them, just keep away from them.
If you won’t let me get experience from the horde, then I’ll just have to take it from your servants, Mr Ka’armodo. I can hardly be blamed that it’s come to this.
Gwehehehehehe.
How am I going to do it? I’ll need help, that’s for sure. Tiny and Crinis will have to group up with me. Maybe even Isaac and his group. They might be able to provide some ranged fire support. It’s risky, though. The second the Lizard Wizard realises what I’m doing, they’re going to come down on me hard. Even harder than they have before.
And I’ll need to be quick. If the fight drags on, there’s a good chance Garralosh will wander over, and that’s not something I’m prepared to deal with right now.
One last roll of the dice to Level up. Let’s see how this goes.
113. C’mere!
Putting the servants on the defensive is only phase one of the plan, and it appears to be working. There are five here at the moment, and possibly more still in hiding, but so long as we’re careful, we should be fine. It’s rare that every mage comes when I turn up. In fact, the one time they did, we just turned around and ran off. However, it seems the Lizard Wizard can’t spare them and that remains the only time I’ve seen all of them in the field at once, luckily for us.
[Don’t let yourselves get roasted,] I warn my pets.
I wouldn’t put it past either of them to go too far and try to tank a few spells in order to help me. It’s a wonderful spirit. I’m just not willing to risk the health of my pets for something as small as this. If this attempt doesn’t succeed, we’ll try again until either we succeed or die trying.
[I’m being careful, Master,] Crinis assures me.
[Grrrrr,] Tiny grunts.
Time to put more pressure on these mages!
I continue to blitz around with Dash, which rapidly drains my stamina. I don’t have much of a choice. What with the fireballs and infernos that are being conjured around me. Even so, I manage to find the time to squeeze off a cheeky shot from the business district. A bit of guerrilla marketing, if you will.
POW! POW! POW!
All three shots hammer home onto the hastily raised shield of one mage who has the enjoyable experience of their line of sight being covered with a sticky, adhesive acid that begins to bubble and hiss as it eats away the magical protection that surrounds them. Nasty!
Another mage hampered. Another step closer to the ultimate victory. Now for the next one. Rolling underneath a jet of flame, nearly catching my own antennae on fire, I spin expertly and fire once again.
POW! POW! POW!
Three more blasts of acid, one more inconvenienced mage!
The mage servants are having a hard time maintaining their barrage against the imminent threats to their lives. The pressure has begun to ease off wonderfully, allowing me to comfortably fire my last three shots.
POW! POW! POW!
With three mages tied down by acid, and Tiny and Crinis occupying one each—Crinis extends even more tentacles, completely covering her victim from view—that leaves me with just one mage with an unobstructed view of the fight. Let’s call that mage, Biomass A. Even with the hood up and full body robes preventing me from seeing them directly, I can tell that Biomass A is feeling nervous as I alter the angle of my run and close in on them.
My antennae tingles and I jump high just in time for another jet of flame to pass underneath me. Close, but no cigar! I wonder why these mages rely on Fire Magic so much in fights like this. They clearly have other options, but fire seems to be their go to. A question I’ll never get answered, I suppose. Ah well.
Once I get close enough, I put my two sub-brains to work. Filled with malicious intent, my smaller minds begin to activate the External Mana Manipulation Skill they’ve become so familiar with over the last week or so, and begin to try and drain away the Mana that sustains the barrier around my friend, Biomass A.
The body language of my target becomes frantic the second the mage feels what I’m doing. They desperately attempt fending off my physical body as well as the intruding tendrils of my sub-brains that are busy deconstructing their spell.
Gwehehehehe… Yessss. Struggle all you want. It won’t help, my dear friend, Biomass A. I shall taste the sweet, sweet experience that is contained within you nest-attacking slaves soon enough!
I mean, I kind of feel sorry for the Setsulah on one claw. They don’t really have a choice in what they get up to, magically bound slaves that they are. Ultimately though, what does it matter? Willing or not, they’ve been doing their darned best to kill me. I’m certain they’ll do the same to the colony when they get there. Heck, they already did it to Liria and all of its people!
Uh oh. Here we go, then. Big daddy—or mommy, I shouldn’t assume—Lizard Wizard is getting mad now that I’m directly attacking its servants. The storm overhead is brewing and it’s looking like a big one.