Once the first Blade Ant was confirmed dead, Roman suddenly noticed a handful more emerging from the giant ground tower, lining up and charging towards him with a speed that left no room for underestimating them.
Compared to ordinary ants back in the real world, these ones were far bigger and considerably faster. They moved at roughly half the speed of a rabbit, and in a group like the one charging at him right now, that was more than enough to be dangerous.
What Roman did first was step back a few metres to create space, drawing from the strategic teachings back at the academy, and then he went straight to picking them off from a distance.
With [Fireball] activated, which he figured would be the most effective choice in this situation, the quest to destroy the Blade Ant Colony began.
FWOOSH!
FWOOSH!
FWOOSH!
First came the swift launch of the fireballs, each one streaking through the dark air like a small comet.
CRAAASH!
CRAAASH!
CRAAASH!
And then the impact, the sharp crack of fire meeting exoskeleton, and the aggressive Blade Ants burning where they stood.
[You have killed a Levelless Ordinary Monster, Soldier Blade Ant. +10 EXP gained.]
[You have killed a Levelless Ordinary Monster, Soldier Blade Ant. +10 EXP gained.]
[You have killed a Levelless Ordinary Monster, Soldier Blade Ant. +10 EXP gained.]
[No drops delivered.]
[Talent Skill Triggered!]
[Do you wish to collect the Souls of the three Soldier Blade Ants?]
"No."
Roman had to refuse at that point, because he knew the slot limit would be reached quickly. With such a limited allowance, filling it up with Blade Ant souls didn't seem wise, so he figured declining was the right call.
Soon, countless more Blade Ants charged out, and Roman continued to kill.
FWOOSH!
FWOOSH!
CRAAASH!
CRAAASH!
[You have killed a Level 1 Ordinary Monster, Soldier Blade Ant. +15 EXP gained.]
[You have killed a Level 1 Ordinary Monster, Soldier Blade Ant. +15 EXP gained.]
[No drops delivered.]
[Talent Skill Triggered!]
[Do you wish to collect the Souls of the two Soldier Blade Ants?]
It didn't take long before he started noticing Level 1 Blade Ants mixed in among the groups, and the good thing was that they were giving more EXP than the Level 0 ones, which was expected.
So far he had been using [Fireball] continuously, and there hadn't been a single cooldown pause the way most low rank skills typically demanded. It got to a point where Roman began to wonder about it, until he spotted a blinking line at the top of his Profession stats.
[No cooldown due to 100% Profession Mastery.]
That was when he understood even more about what the Legendary Blessing truly meant, even though he still had no idea where it had come from.
Roman continued to cut down more Blade Ants, and the more he killed, the more higher-leveled ones came rushing out from the ground tower.
[You have killed a Level 2 Ordinary Monster, Soldier Blade Ant. +20 EXP gained.]
[You have killed a Level 3 Ordinary Monster, Soldier Blade Ant. +25 EXP gained.]
[You have killed a Level 5 Ordinary Monster, Soldier Blade Ant. +40 EXP gained.]
[No drops delivered!]
All these kills were delivering steadily advancing EXP, but there were no drops so far, which was understandable.
It was pretty rare to get a drop from a low-leveled Ordinary Monster, especially from a Blade Ant. Until he got to the Queen, Roman was certainly not expecting anything.
FWOOSH!
FWOOSH!
FWOOSH!
The siege of the Shredding Ground continued, and at one point, Roman grew tired of launching individual strikes at each ant one by one.
He paused and gave it a quick thought.
"Instead of letting them keep coming out, why not strike the ground tower itself?"
Roman figured that could save him a lot of stress. A direct assault on the tower might collapse a good number of them inside, and whatever survived would be the ones left to deal with.
Without wasting much time, he executed the plan.
[Fireball] strikes rained down on the ground tower, and with each hit, the packed earth structure received a deep, scorched wound that didn't close. The surface cracked and crumbled under the heat, chunks of dried soil breaking off and collapsing inward.
More strikes followed, and soon, Blade Ants with noticeably bigger and tougher exoskeletons began emerging from the lower base of the crumbling tower. Their blades were wider and their bodies were built heavier, moving with the kind of aggression that made it clear these ones were not ordinary soldiers.
They were faster too, their red eyes gleaming despite the fact that they were completely blind. They were tracking him purely by scent, and they were not slowing down.
Roman quickly realised he had double the work now. While he dealt with the red-eyed ants charging at him, he kept delivering strikes to the tower at the same time, and with some hard work, both fronts were holding.
FWOOSH!
CRAAASH!
FWOOSH!
CRAAASH!
[You have killed a Level 8 Ordinary Monster, Protector Blade Ant. +60 EXP gained.]
[You have killed a Level 8 Ordinary Monster, Protector Blade Ant. +60 EXP gained.]
[You have killed a Level 8 Ordinary Monster, Protector Blade Ant. +60 EXP gained.]
These were the Protectors, which meant he was getting closer to the point where the Queen would show herself.
She was definitely the boss of the territory, and surely this was when Roman would be expecting a drop. He was already hoping it would be a valuable one.
The Protector Blade Ants were more numerous than he had expected though. They moved almost like a second wave of soldiers on their own, but they weren't causing him as much trouble as they should have.
Roman was having a genuinely good fight with them, and thanks to the unlimited strikes from the Legendary Blessing, he had gotten much further than he would have otherwise.
Everything was making sense, and he was actually enjoying himself. If he said he had ever expected hunting to be this much fun, he would be lying.
[You have leveled up. Level 0 » Level 1.]
[Level: 1 {366/700}.]
Finally, no longer Levelless, and that alone was enough to bring a smile to his face.
"At least there's some progress," he muttered to himself.
He glanced at the interface and noticed that another target had been flagged. Roman heaved a sigh and faced the already crumbling ground tower.
"Let's get going."
With a determined look on his face, Roman carried on until he had wiped out every last Protector Blade Ant.
Through all of it, he hadn't backed down or given himself even a moment of rest. Why would he, when getting back to the outpost on time was on his mind? It was dark, and staying out too long wouldn't be ideal.
Roman knew that.
After patiently clearing the remaining colony, the last figure finally made her appearance.
[Monster Name: Blade Ant Queen, Ruler of the Shredding Ground. Queen of the Blade Ant Colony.]
[Rank: Ordinary.]
[Level: 15.]
[Traits: Speed, Blade Spray, Colony Command.]
She was three times the size of any Soldier he had faced all night. Her body was a deep, almost metallic black, her thick armoured shell catching the faint moonlight like polished stone. The blades on her mandibles were long and curved, built not for speed but for destruction, and a slow red pulse throbbed from her abdomen as her eyes, glowing and furious, locked onto Roman.
"Colony Command? Well, your colony's gone," Roman scoffed, staring her down with a mocking smile.
SHUU...
SHUU...
SHUU...
But while he was busy making a joke about one of her traits, a sharp rapid sound cut through the air from the Queen's direction.
Roman's eyes snapped forward just in time to see a scattered volley of short razor-sharp blades launching toward him at incredible speed, spreading wide as they came.
His heart seized when he understood that dodging wasn't going to work here.
The blades were coming in a scattered formation, and even if he used [Fireball] to counter some of them, he wouldn't be able to stop the majority. He was going to get hit, and he knew it.
In that moment when he needed to act fast, something came to his mind.
He didn't waste a second.
[Anti Balance Activated.]
Since it was an air-based skill, Roman trusted it could redirect the incoming blades entirely.
WHOOOOSH!
A powerful burst of compressed air erupted from his position, and the blades scattered wide, every single one of them veering off course. The shockwave reached the Blade Ant Queen as well, staggering her back several steps and nearly sending her into a roll.
Not giving her a single moment to recover, Roman charged forward with [Fireball] already burning in his palm.
The only moment the Blade Ant Queen realised it was meeting its end was when Roman was already too close, and all it could manage was to raise its bladed mandibles. That was exactly where Roman made sure the first fireball landed.
FWOOSH!
FWOOSH!
FWOOSH!
FWOOSH!
FWOOSH!
Five clean strikes, one after another, and there was no doubt about the outcome.
Roman watched her burn, and he couldn't hide how satisfied he felt about finishing the task he had given himself on a whim.
[You have killed a Level 15 Ordinary Monster, Blade Ant Queen. +300 EXP gained.]
[Common drop delivered!]
[Drop: Blade Queen's Mandible Shard.]
A glowing, flame-coloured material shaped like a curved blade fragment materialised at the spot where the Queen had fallen, catching the dark air with a faint amber shimmer.
Roman shrugged since he had no idea what it was worth yet. He picked it up and added it to his Possession stat.
[Talent Skill Triggered!]
[Do you wish to...]
While Roman was deciding whether to collect the Blade Ant Queen's soul, he flinched at the sight of a silhouette in the distance.
He turned and looked properly, and for a moment he wondered if it was a monster. A humanoid monster, even, because what he was looking at had the shape of a person, and that made very little sense.
Norman had already urged the rookies not to hunt at night, and apart from his own stubborn self, he hadn't imagined anyone else would ignore that advice.
So who was that?
Roman had to gather himself before he finally managed to speak, and even then his voice came out unsteady.
"Hey! Who are you?"
The moment the words left his mouth, the silhouette vanished instantly, like it had never been there at all.
That did absolutely nothing to settle his nerves.
[You have leveled up. Level 1 » Level 2!]
[Do you wish to collect the Soul of the Blade Ant Queen?]
"Yes."
While he accepted the collection, his eyes kept moving carefully around the surrounding darkness, not wanting to be caught off guard.
Because if things ended that way, he would have been far better off staying back at the outpost.