The next group of ants to come for us is smaller than the last, comprised of about thirty defender ants and only three of the support ants behind them. We kill them the same way we did the last group. I portal behind the group, killing the support ants and then working my way from the back to the front. Daniel and Corvax act as our frontline, crushing and smashing their way through the horde until the last ant falls.
I collect the mana crystals from the three support ants and add them to my growing collection. We quickly move on from the second wave of ants, as we didn’t use nearly as much mana on them as we did on the first. Soon enough, after avoiding all the dead ends and navigating through the winding tunnels, my spatial perception comes across a large cavern in front of us. I urge the group forward so that I can get a better view of the inside of the cavern.
The cavern is massive, nearly fifty feet tall, and over a hundred and fifty feet from wall to wall, in a rough dome shape. It only has two tunnels leading into it, the one we are in and one on the opposite side, currently guarded by a multitude of ants.
Two massive horse-sized ants sit in the middle of the room, blocking the path from our tunnel to the entrance of the next one. About fifteen defender ants are protecting three more support ants at the back, near the other tunnel. All of the ants are facing the tunnel we’re in, clearly waiting for us to enter.
“New ants in the cavern up ahead, huge ones, two of them. They also have some supports and defenders waiting at the back.” I say as I draw out a simple map of the room on the tunnel floor.
“I will take on one of the big ones.” Corvax says immediately, his tone giving no room for discussion.
“Daniel and I should be able to take out the other one if we work together.”
“What about this group here?” Daniel says while pointing to the group of support and defender ants.
“I think we should start our attack there. I’ll open a portal above them so you can weaken them with a few wide-spread shots and then engage the big ones with Corvax, while I jump through the portal and finish the last of the small ones. After I finish them off, I will help you kill the big one.”
Daniel gives me a slightly surprised look. “Are you sure you want to do that? We can try to distract the big ones, but if they decide to go for you, you’ll be cornered.”
I give him a dismissive wave along with a small smirk. “It’ll be fine. If the big ones decide to turn around, just hit them in the back until they forget about me. It shouldn’t take me too long to finish up and join the main fight anyways, and I don’t want to fight one of the big ones while it has a buff from the support ants.”
“Okay, if you’re so confident you can do it with your fancy new portals, let’s do it.” Daniel says with a smile of his own.
We hammer out an exact plan before we start, which should hopefully raise our chances of success. Daniel makes some last-minute changes to his gauntlet, reinforcing the knuckle spikes, while Corvax gives his axe a few practice swings and stretches out his arms. I use the time to make another improvised mana flashbang, this time using one of the crystals from the ant, which should make it quite a bit more potent. A few minutes later, once we are all ready, we start the plan.
I open a portal thirty feet above the support ants and their group of defenders, seemingly unnoticed by any of them. Daniel sticks his hands through the portal, both holding his shotgun-like wide-spread shots, and fires them one after the other.
The cavern erupts with the cracks of small pieces of iron breaking the sound barrier and screaming toward their targets. Two of the supporting ants die immediately, and most of the defender ants join them, not even knowing where the attack came from. Daniel and Corvax round the corner of our tunnel and enter the cavern, yelling loudly to get the attention of the remaining ants.
As soon as I see the two big ants focus on my comrades, I drop through the portal, boosting my legs and back with mana, and bracing myself for the thirty-foot drop. I land on top of the last support ant and one of the dead defender ants, driving my sword blade into the living ant as I reach the ground, killing it.
The remaining defender ants take a few moments to look around before they start trying to swarm me, but I am already back on my feet and moving again by this point. The last few small ants die swiftly to my sword and dagger, most already having been injured by Daniel's shots, making them remarkably easy to take out. After I pull my blade free of the last one, I focus on my allies, figuring out which one to help first.
Corvax is in a pseudo grappling match with his ant. His lower arms are keeping the ant's mandibles from taking bites out of him, while his upper arms are pummeling the ant in the head, his axe lying discarded a few feet to his right. He seems to be holding it off pretty well, and his punches cause the ant to stagger a bit. It lets out a high-pitched screech each time one lands hard enough to send small cracks along its exoskeleton.
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I look over to Daniel, who is currently running away from his ant, which makes me want to go help him, until I take a good look at the ant. It’s missing one of its front legs, which looks like it was blown off by a particularly powerful shot, causing it to move pretty slow. The ant isn’t stupid, however, as every time Daniel turns around to shoot it, it either manages to dodge the shot or angles its body so it only hits the most armored places.
Daniel looks like he has it under control for now, so I turn to Corvax and start walking up behind his ant while activating [Space Control], creating a rift right above the ant's neck. Just like with the support ants, the big one releases a burst of mana at my rift, destabilizing it and causing it to collapse. I try again from higher up this time, ten feet, and find that it works this time. They must use mana internally more than externally, which is probably why they are much stronger and tougher than the rest.
Before I know it, I turn the rift into a stable portal and jump through, landing on the ant's back. Its back is made of several plates of chitin with small gaps in between, widening when it moves in certain ways. The ant notices me as soon as I land and starts trying to throw me off like a bucking bronco while also getting pummeled by Corvax. I plunge my sword into the gap between two plates, causing the beast to let out an ear-piercing screech and throw Corvax to the side, focusing all of its wrath on the annoying pest now on its back, me.
I hold onto the sword for dear life as the ant thrashes around with far more vigor than I ever would have expected an insect to have, even if it is the size of a horse. It stampedes all around the cavern, and I barely manage to keep a grip on my sword before it crashes into the other ant, finally throwing me off in the collision. I hit the ground hard, some of my bones cracking under the stress. The wind gets knocked out of me, and I feel a sharp pain in my ribs, probably meaning one or more is broken and maybe even stabbing into something.
I hear a loud crack, and then Daniel shouts my name, trying to get my attention. Now is not the time to lose concentration. I need to focus. I push my spatial perception out once again while I try to stand up, groaning at the pain of my foolish decision to mount the ant. Daniel and Corvax are halfway across the room, running toward me, and by extension the ants as well, as all three of us are right next to each other.
The ant Daniel was fighting is less than five feet away from me now, and it realizes the situation at the same time I do. Its front leg, the one Daniel didn’t blow off, shoots forward, aimed at me. I have no time to react, as I haven’t even fully stood up yet, so I just boost mana throughout my entire body and take the hit, flying backwards a few feet and landing on my back.
The mana boost helps me maintain my focus more than anything, letting me act as soon as I come to a stop. The five-legged ant charges me, probably hoping to end me quickly so it can go after the other two. With only a few seconds before the ant gets to me, I do the only thing I can do to get away. Start making a portal.
I push a steady flow of mana into [Space Control], ignoring the panic and fear that has built up inside of me. Those only lead to sloppy skill usage. I start crawling backwards, and by the time the ant is about to reach me, the portal opens up behind me and I pass through, ending up on the other end of the cavern.
The ant doesn’t stop when I go through, however. It rushes forward and sticks its head through my portal, grabbing my right foot in its mandibles as soon as it’s through. I feel my foot start to crack and immediately boost it with mana to strengthen it, hoping it will last long enough for my next move to kill the ant.
I start to ‘sharpen’ the inside edge of my portal, making it thinner and thinner as the density also increases. Soon I reach a limit and can sharpen it no more. I close the portal next, guiding it to close around the ant’s neck equally, cutting into all sides at once, freeing the ant’s head from its body, and my foot from its grasp. The ant's head falls to the ground with the loud thud of chitin on stone.
I turn my attention to my two comrades and the last ant, who are all locked into a deathmatch, paying no attention to me. The last ant is facing Corvax, who now wields his axe with reckless abandon, swinging at any opening the ant gives, often taking just as much damage as he gives. Daniel uses the openings Corvax creates by shooting at spots with little or no armor, while occasionally hitting it in the legs or joints with his hammer.
After a minute of them fighting the beast, Corvax manages to split the exoskeleton protecting its head open, and a burst of mana directly into its brain, courtesy of the axe's enchantment, finishes it off. I still lay in the same spot, watching the fight through my spatial perception, as turning to watch it with my eyes would bring too much pain.
Scanning my body with my mana and spatial senses, I’m able to see the full extent of my injuries. My foot is only fractured, not broken, most likely thanks to my quick thinking with the portal decapitation more than the mana boosting. Two of my ribs are shattered, and several more are broken, but only on my right side, thankfully. The back of my head is bleeding from a small wound I didn’t even notice, and my left wrist is also fractured, most likely from when the ant was trying to get me off of its back. Overall, it could be worse, I guess.
A few minutes later Daniel joins me, placing a rough crystal on the floor next to me. Upon seeing the rough sphere, nearly an inch in diameter, it feels like some of my pain is whisked away as my magical net worth increases. This crystal is the biggest one I’ve seen yet, with a mesmerizing deep orange color. I pick it up and run my mana through it, feeling another jump in mana capacity and transfer rate from the other crystals.
A smile is plastered on my face as I speak, even though it hurts to do so. “If this is what one of these ants has, imagine what kind of crystal is in one of those bears.”
Daniel starts laughing loudly, clearly irritating his own wounds as his hands quickly shoot to his side and his expression turns slightly pained. “I thought you were dead for a second there, and then that ant's head just kind of fell off. So you can use portals as an attack now?”
“Do you have any potions? Some of my ribs turned to sand after I got hit. And yes, but it takes so much mana to do it. I’m running on fumes right now.” I manage to get out while finishing my examination of the new crystal. The bits of flesh still clinging to it need to be cleaned off, but that can wait for later.
"No potions," Daniel says somberly. "But Merrick has some, if he ever decides to 'teach' us again."
Corvax joins us later, after cutting out the second crystal from the ant they killed and also giving it to me. “Daniel and I decided that you get both of them, as we couldn’t have won that fight without you.”
The red, four-armed alien looks as menacing as he ever has, covered in his own blood and numerous small wounds. His movements and facial expressions show no pain, even though one of his arms hangs limply at his side.
I give a skeptical look to Daniel. “It’s not because you don’t know how to engrave them and make them actually usable?”
“Well, that might have something to do with it. Just keep this generous act in mind for the next time we craft some more items. My gauntlet could use another upgrade.” He says with a playful tone.
“So, is that the end?” Corvax asks us, excitement visible on his face.
“Let me check,” I say as I push my spatial perception into the tunnel across from the one we entered.
After a short distance, the tunnel curves, and then it curves again before leading into another room, much smaller than the cavern we are currently in. I can immediately feel mana flowing through an inscription on the floor, and upon closer examination, it looks just like the array that brought us here, likely meaning it’s the exit. There are also three chests sitting upon a stone ledge carved into one wall. The rest of the room is empty, not a single ant inside. I tell the others what I see, and after little deliberation, we decide to grab the chests and finally get out of here.
I manage to get up to my feet with Daniel's help, who also assists me in walking, as each step brings more tears to my eyes. I manage to fight through the pain, however, knowing that each step I take is one more step towards that sweet, sweet dungeon loot.