Chapter 104: The War Council
“It looks like they are expanding their nest underground, moving downward. We believe they are digging toward the Nexus Vein,” one of the earth mages reported to the group who was sitting around a table.
Twelve hours had passed since the hive appeared, and they had made some discoveries. The ants were called [Ayn Hivebeasts] and the three types they encountered so far were called Ayn Worker, Ayn Guard, and the green acid shooters were actually called Ayn Vomitors.
After the initial clash they quickly learned that there was an enormous number of beasts inside the large structure, as they kept pouring out as they fought. But the moment they retreated, so did the Ants. But just a few minutes after Zac and the demons stopped their assault the digging was resumed according to the earth mages.
They were currently holding a war council while two regiments led by Ogras’ four generals were keeping the ants busy. They needed to figure out a strategy for this new horde, as their old one wouldn’t work. Most of their preparations were in vain as the new monsters didn’t seem interested in attacking the town. The wall stood unassaulted and the arrays couldn’t reach the hive due to the distance.
Zac almost felt that the System specifically chose this type of challenge since the last wave almost felt like a gift of experience and money rather than a challenge. Certainly, the last waves were tough, but never to the point of true desperation.
“That’s it then? We’ll head in and destroy it today,” Zac said with a frown.
The Nexus Vein was the lifeblood of his island. It created the crystals in the mine and the high concentration of Cosmic Energy in the atmosphere. Anything from cultivation to crafting to even farming would be far more efficient in this area. If he bought an island-wide gathering array in the future it would truly become a paradise. He couldn’t risk his city’s foundations just for the opportunity to farm some insects.
“Wait a bit,” Ogras hastily interjected. “We also have concluded that during our attacks they are stopping their excavation-work to meet our attacks. We can simply farm them without risking the vein as long as we keep the attacks going, letting you keep your lead against the other humans,” he added.
It was a fair point, but Zac had a feeling that it was more about the contribution points for the Fruit of Ascension than letting him gain levels. Besides, he held a commanding lead over the others as it was, and didn’t really need to gain levels at the moment. He was fast approaching the first bottleneck at level 75.
Zac mainly needed to improve his Dao-insights at the moment. He already possessed a rare class, and his goal was to upgrade it into an E-Rank Epic class. His only options at the moment were Rare or Epic, as the rarity couldn’t downgrade when reaching the next tiers. He already knew that his situation was pretty bad since the multi-verse was full of examples of geniuses whose cultivation journey got cut short since they couldn’t upgrade their special classes.
Still, he didn’t want to give up his advantages. Upgrading to a rare class wasn’t the best option. He tread the path of the elite, spearheading the powerhouses of Earth. Since he was already locked into this path he would go all the way, and keep upgrading the rarity of the class. He knew that Early Stage Seeds were not enough for an Epic class, so it was time to upgrade his Daos. If that was at the expense of his lead in levels, so be it. He wouldn’t limit his future achievements just to become the first person to reach E-Rank Class.
“Constantly attacking out in the open is different from defending on top of a wall. We will not be able to last as we did during the wolf-hordes. Besides, we do not know whether the insects will grow stronger over time like the wolves did, and it is safe to nip the problem in the bud,” Zac said.
To be honest, safety concerns weren’t the only reason he wanted to end this horde quickly. He just had a taste of freedom and adventure as he explored in search of his hometown. He was loath to spend the next four weeks slaughtering insects. He knew that the gain of nexus coins would be huge, but he would still net good income if he sent people down into the mines instead.
He was also even more anxious to get home after seeing the life of civilians in Fort Roger. Emily would have met a miserable fate unless he was there, and worry over his friends and family was starting to keep him up at night. He even had trouble focusing during meditation, as the intrusive ‘what-ifs’ kept popping up in his head.
“Three weeks. Let us fight and farm for three weeks, and after that we will invade the hive,” Ogras entreated.
“It’s too long. You can have ten days. After that I’m heading in,” Zac flatly refused. That would leave him three weeks to travel the world before the final wave, twice what he had last time.
“Bah, you’re throwing away a great opportunity,” Ogras muttered in discontent.
Zac only rolled his eyes at the demon. What they gained from the quest was already great, and they shouldn’t get greedy. The longer they waited the more weird things could crop up.
“Did Calrin find any information about the beasts?” Zac asked as he changed the subject.
“He did manage to buy a short missive about the [Ayr Hivebeasts]. They are an extremely prolific species led by hive-queens. As long as they have enough cosmic energy the queens can almost indefinitely spawn soldiers. The stronger the queen the mightier warriors it can birth, and more types as well,” Adran answered. Since he wasn’t part of the fighting force he tried to help the war efforts by gathering information.
“There are examples of the beasts’ insatiable expansion, completely infesting a planet if left alone. We believe that the threat will be over when we manage to kill the queen. After that no more beasts will spawn, and we can simply slowly exterminate the survivors. Killing the queen will likely mark this horde as completed as well,” he continued.
“How strong is the queen?” Zac asked.
“It should be E-Grade Class equivalent. It might also have a few bodyguards close to that in power for protection,” Adran answered.
“Okay, what does it look like, what are its powers?” Zac probed further.
“Actually, the large construct we see is not a structure, but the queen herself. The Ayr Hivebeasts live inside their queen’s body for the most part, and the queen slowly grows to accommodate a larger population. The digging we hear is the insects making room for her body expanding down into the ground,” Adran answered with a grimace.
Everyone’s eyebrows rose in surprise at this.
“How the hell do we kill something that large?” Ogras asked with a frown.
“Apparently it has a core somewhere inside. You need to get inside to its core-room and destroy it, and it will die. The exact details were unclear in the missive we obtained though,” Adran said with a sigh.
“Good job. See if you can find out anything else, as long as the information doesn’t become too expensive,” Zac said.
That the huge construct was an actual being didn’t change much in Zac’s opinion. They’d still farm for ten days, after which Zac would enter, and drag Ogras with him no matter if he was willing or not. Inside they would find the boss and kill or destroy it.
With that everything was settled, and Ogras immediately set out with a company of soldiers, loath to miss even a single Contribution Point. Zac stayed put since he would be needed to relieve Ogras when he ran out of steam so that they could put continuous pressure on the insects. He really didn’t want that huge queen-beast to get her hands on his Nexus Vein, so no expansion could be allowed. And who knew if the hive queen would have some strange mutation from getting too close to the vein.
As the days passed an advance-wall was erected. It was nowhere the size of the regular wall, but it would allow some protection while retreating. The craftsmen also refitted a few of the siege machines so that they would be able to attack the hive queen. However, the large boulders and bolts only bounced off the black structure without as much as leaving a mark.
Zac tried as well, and ran up to the structure with his movement skill and slammed into it with a Dao-Empowered [Chop]. It was effective, creating a large scar, but the response was horrifying. It was like the ants turned crazy and surged against the demons in a frenzy.
The mantis-things actually started throwing the Vomitors in retaliation, and as they sailed through the air they overcharged themselves much in the same way as the suicide attack the demons possessed. Zac was forced to expend most of his cosmic energy in a short time, furiously throwing out projectiles in order to clear the rabid waves. But he still got a few acid burns on his face and hands that would take time to heal, as most of the Vomitors were hurled in his direction.
Seeing that Zac’s swing only made a small crack on the gigantic structure they knew that a siege wasn’t really possible against this thing, and they’d have to enter the tunnels if they wanted to kill the queen.
On the seventh day Zac’s fears were realized, as a new foe started emerging out of the hive along with its three siblings. It was called Ayn Titan and was a hulking insect at over three meters tall. Its shell was at least twice as thick as on the others, and it was impossible to penetrate for most of the demons.
They were forced to slowly whittle it down by first disabling its legs by attacking the joints, all while avoiding its terrifying smashes with its claw-like front arms. Since the thing was so heavy its mobility was quite bad and if they fell down with broken legs they stayed down. After it was downed it seemed the simplest method to kill it was to just boil its head in a fireball.
If Zac or Ogras were present they could penetrate or crush their skulls instead. However, the time it took to kill the titans increased the pressure as the ants unceasingly kept pouring out of the hive. There were no breaks, no lulls, just constant unrelenting battle. The only reason they weren’t overrun in just a day or two was the fact that the monsters were quite weak, and even the siege machines they brought had no trouble killing the footsoldiers.
The only thing strong about them was their carapaces’ sturdiness, but that wouldn’t impede the skilled warriors overly much. In the few cases that they were starting to get overrun Zac or Ogras would unleash their most powerful area attacks. Zac simply threw out his huge edges that created large swathes of death and destruction.
As for Ogras, he created a sea of shadows that moved across the battlefield, where dozens of spears unceasingly sprung up to kill everything around. It wasn’t an attack that Zac had seen before, and he suspected that the demon made a breakthrough with either a skill or his Dao some time recently.
With his new skill the demon’s killing speed was terrifying, and almost eclipsed Zac’s own speed, which was doubly impressive since he no longer suffered from an energy shortage. Zac was shocked by the display of power, as he knew that the power of the demons was still limited by the System.
There were a few more who excelled at area battle such as Alea and Rivea, the pyromancer who learned the Seed of Tinder during the wolf waves. Her fire kept spreading among the ants and was particularly deadly to them. It simply stuck to their carapaces and slowly cooked the beasts, and from there spread to their brethren.
The windfall was so great that Zac relented and actually prolonged the farm-fest another day much to the delight of the demons. Ogras was like a storm, grinding his contribution points at a furious pace.
Zac had thought that this kind of situation was something unique, but he was surprised to find out that most large forces in the multiverse kept zones and forests that were a bit like this, teeming with monsters. It provided their young and their soldiers with ample training and outlet for growth, and the clan didn’t need to provide any salary as access to the farming zones were benefits enough to join the army. The elders of the clan took care of the evolved monsters, and immediately rooted out any beast that got too strong.
But all good things must end. The eleventh day approached, and the core warriors started to rest up and prepare their aces. Tomorrow they would assault the hive.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶