Chapter Twenty-Three: Medium-Sized Hive

As the game approached the forty-minute mark, some of the more capable players began turning their attention to the medium-sized insect nests. However, tackling these nests proved far more challenging than the ordinary ones, for very few players could stand toe-to-toe with the boss-level creatures. Moreover, before confronting the leader, there were still numerous smaller foes, including two sub-bosses, that needed to be cleared—a task even the formidable Ember found somewhat taxing.

“Fortunately, the Shadow Devourer insects occupying the school are in their ant form, which is fairly mediocre in every aspect. Otherwise, the difficulty would have been considerably higher,” Ember mused.

After slaying a burly elite ant resembling a bulldog, Ember fended off a staggering number of ordinary Shadow Devourer ants while retreating to a safe spot to recover. Gazing at the indistinct insect nest and the ceaseless stream of regular ants, a tinge of greedy longing crept into his heart. “If only I had an area-of-effect skill,” he sighed.

Speaking of area skills, Ember couldn't help but recall Not Sword Immortal, who had acquired the sweeping sword technique during the initial trials, while he himself had veered further down the path of single-target attacks—perhaps even slightly off course.

“I wonder when I’ll run into someone familiar. If only I had a trustworthy companion, I wouldn't have to fight alone...” He shook his head lightly, dispelling the thought. Restored in strength and health, Ember resumed his solo assault on the Shadow Devourer nest. The ordinary minions posed no real threat, but their overwhelming numbers caused negative effects. To improve efficiency, Ember switched to the Direwolf Gauntlets to prevent accidentally triggering the headshot stick skill during his rapid kills, which would otherwise waste twenty percent of his stamina and prolong the battle.

After three or four minutes of back-and-forth fighting, Ember finally glimpsed the end. The once blackened school no longer spewed ordinary ants, and only two elite ants remained.

“You two, come at me together! I've already taken down six of you; consider this your chance to struggle,” Ember challenged.

It wasn’t that Ember underestimated the ant-form Shadow Devourers but that the spider-mantis forms were not only superior but also boasted better skills than these dark ants that merely charged blindly.

—

Name: Enhanced Juvenile Shadow Devourer (Elite)
Health: 85/85
Attack Level: Weak (12)
Defense Level: Weak (12)
Attack Speed: Normal
Alert Range: Normal
Skill: Ram
Description: Ant-form Shadow Devourers with mediocre combat ability, relying mainly on numbers to overwhelm.

—

The ram skill resembled a charge, both having secondary damage mechanisms. However, the charge had almost no wind-up time as it was a continuous effect. The ram activated immediately with a distinct wind-up. Moreover, these clumsy ants with low agility telegraphed their moves clearly. When they retracted their heads, a simple dodge sufficed—no difficulty at all. Otherwise, Ember wouldn’t have been able to effortlessly kill six elite ants amid a swarm of ordinary Shadow Devourers.

To avoid damage overflow, Ember kept his gauntlets equipped and took on two elites at once. The gauntlets’ mastery boosted damage by fifty percent, and with the Direwolf Gauntlets’ impact effect, each strike dealt a steady thirty points of damage. It only took three hits to fell an elite ant, allowing Ember to win without injury in no time.

“The grunts outside are finally cleared!” Ember clapped his hands and stepped into the school building, entering the perilous core area.

“The dried corpse’s will said that Anna, who possesses special abilities, is somewhere inside the school. Now the question is: where should I start looking?”

—

Passing through one chaotic, empty classroom after another, Ember felt completely at a loss. Almost everything here had been destroyed by the ants, and it was a miracle the school building remained intact. After a while without finding Anna, he stumbled upon two massive ant queens—boss-level creatures—in a classroom with a huge hole in the center of the floor.

The ant queens resembled the spider queens in appearance, enormous in size, their bloated abdomens nearly touching the ceiling. These two bosses squeezed together, occupying nearly eighty percent of the classroom space, leaving little room to move freely.

Curiously, despite the cramped quarters, the two queens avoided the large pit in the center. Standing by the classroom door, Ember felt slight tremors emanating from underground, making it hard not to think of the unseen leader boss.

“Better take out the ant queens first; it’ll make dealing with the ant leader easier,” Ember resolved, activating his Eye of Detection and swiftly preparing for battle.

—

Name: Juvenile Shadow Devourer Queen (Sub-boss)
Health: 170/170
Attack Level: Average (18)
Defense Level: Average (18)
Attack Speed: Normal
Alert Range: Normal
Skills: Ram, Gnaw
Description: See above.

—

“Attributes are still quite mediocre. Compared to elite ants, the ram skill isn’t enhanced; they just have an additional attack,” Ember noted after examining the ant queens’ stats.

Switching to his active soft-bodied bio-arms, Ember burst in through the classroom’s back door, catching the ant queen off guard and landing a headshot strike.

[Notification: You dealt 35 points of damage to the sub-boss “Juvenile Shadow Devourer Queen.”] (42 - 18 / 2.5)

[Notification: The sub-boss’s agility is below six, rendering it unable to ignore the level “average” Slowness status, reducing attack and movement speed by 25% for the next five seconds.]

[Notification: The sub-boss’s agility is below five, unable to ignore the level “average” Paralysis status, with a chance to interrupt its actions over the next three seconds.]

Crack! Crack!

Startled, the ant queen immediately counterattacked, opening her gigantic mandibles in an attempt to bite Ember in two. At that moment, the paralysis effect triggered, causing her body to tremble uncontrollably and interrupting her Gnaw skill. Seizing the opportunity, Ember unleashed a furious barrage of strikes, chipping away over a hundred points of her health before dodging the queen’s fierce ram.

Boom!

The back door of the classroom, long deformed, was smashed in by one of the queens. The other queen seemed prompted by this to drag her massive abdomen and attempt to flank Ember by circumventing the front entrance. However, these two sub-bosses were typical thick-headed brutes; the queen ramming the door had her head protruding outside, but her body was completely stuck.

Usually, the queens’ food was delivered through the back door by smaller elite ants. The extensively cleared front door was just barely wide enough for their bloated bodies to pass freely.

Taking advantage of the stuck queen, Ember immediately confronted the other sub-boss charging from the front.

The overly simple combat pattern made the duel almost effortless. Both ram and gnaw had obvious wind-up animations, and with their slow speed, Ember easily controlled the fight’s rhythm. To him, the existence of ant-form Shadow Devourers was merely to provide contribution and items for ordinary players, helping them grow stronger to eventually face the more formidable mantis-spiders.

“So, is the ant leader the same?” Ember wondered.

After effortlessly dispatching one ant queen, he proceeded to kill the other, now badly wounded.

The extension effect of his active soft-bodied bio-arms gave Ember greater attack range than the ant queens, simplifying the battle further. Upon defeating the second queen, he finally accumulated enough contribution to receive a long-awaited level-up notification.

[Notification: Your level has increased to ten. You have gained one core attribute point and one important attribute point. You may enhance your attributes in the character menu.]

[Notification: The advanced trial is not yet available during the beta phase. You may complete the Life Transformation after the official launch.]

[Notification: Becoming the Sun’s Eldest Daughter’s Guardian Knight during this “Killing Island” trial is equivalent to passing the advanced trial with the highest evaluation.]

[Notification: The advanced trial’s clearance rating will directly impact your attributes and strength. Please proceed with caution.]

“Advanced trial?” Ember’s thoughts stirred. Even if he were reluctant to compete for the knight title, he wouldn’t have a choice; completing the trial with the highest rating would save him a great deal of effort.

Boom... Boom...

The tremors beneath the ground suddenly intensified. Ember realized that killing the two sub-bosses must have provoked the ant leader’s emergence. Yet before he could confront the leader, another system alert popped up.

[Alert: Detected abnormal activity in the island’s dark veil. All new arrivals, please heighten vigilance and immediately evacuate the dark veil storm!]

It had appeared again.

Ember glanced at the game timer—it had just passed forty-five minutes. The island’s highly intelligent map now displayed the storm zone. The once half-destroyed Maple Leaf Town was now completely swallowed. Soon, the area around the school would also be razed, but at least, it seemed safe until the next dark veil storm arrived.

Putting his mind at ease, Ember leaned against the classroom’s back door, eyes fixed on the black pit in the floor’s center, from which thick dark veil continuously poured. Simultaneously, the ground’s trembling grew more violent, scattering pebbles everywhere, forcing Ember to abandon his earlier underestimation of the ant-form Shadow Devourers.

Even if they were no match for the spider-mantis, they were undeniably formidable leaders.

Boom! Boom!

The subterranean tremors were so fierce that Ember suddenly realized staying put was unwise. He immediately retreated without hesitation, narrowly escaping a deadly calamity.

Just a second after he left, the corridor floor explosively burst upward. Reinforced concrete and steel rebars shattered like paper, unable to block a colossal creature bursting from below.

Through the swirling dust, Ember barely made out the monster’s silhouette and couldn’t help but wonder: was the adversary he was about to face an ant or a wild bull?