23. Soldier ants

"Hey, I can't believe you decided to risk exposing all of our secrets just for a lousy piece of paper."

Flora scoffed at my remark.

"It's a magic scroll, not just some 'piece of paper'."

Flora and I were a little ways behind the rest, so we could have a chat.

"Does it sell for a lot of gold?"

"Yes, but I'll learn the spell."

"Don't you make your own spells?"

"Yes, of course I do, but I'm not arrogant enough to say that I don't need others spells - that's how you end up dead. Besides, not all of us have it so easy learning spells."

"I guess you have a point there."

"Just one?"

"How do you learn spells the regular way anyway? Do you just open it, and let it be absorbed into your mind?"

"Are you stupid? No, you don't just open it. Magic isn't just mana, magic is the set of directions you follow to get to your destination."

"Huh...?"

"Gods! The spell tells you how to shape the mana, it's why we use chants. You remember I told you what happens if you're not ready for a spell, right?"

"Boom."

"Exactly, if you don't give mana a path to leave your body, it's still activated and will find a way out - violently. It's why most mages just stick to one type of magic that they're proficient in."

"Wait, you do more than one type

of magic though."

"Yes, because like I've said before, I'm a fucking genius."

"So, if you're born with the affinity for wind, you can't ever use other magic?"

"Yes and no. It's hard, and you might end up killing yourself, but with hard work people have been known to use other magic.

I just came out perfect.

That spell I used to out Erin was a clairvoyance spell, those causality spells are the hardest to learn."

"Why?"

"Because while attack spells are simple - albeit powerful - affect spells, those that actually affect causality take more power - hence the longer chant. To be honest there are even longer chants, some take a whole week straight without breaks."

I stopped in my tracks for a second, when I heard that.

"Which ones are those!"

"Necromancy or spirit magic mostly. Both are incredibly powerful, but I would never use those though."

I thought about riding into battle astride my Griffin battle-mount, leading an army of the undead.

"Why not? Zombies are awesome."

She rolled her eyes before answering me.

"To use either you either need to make a deal or a pact.

Either way you can, and most likely will, get fucked over.

With demon deals they'll try any sort of loophole they can to get you to pay the price and not get the power, they'll send a human to kill you early or... something else.

As for spirit or even divine pacts they will take away your power at the most inopportune time if your morals don't align exactly with theirs.

Like, if you think a rapist that gets raped is justice, but they don't, they will wait until you're good into a fight to the death and take their powers back.

Or it could be that they want you to wipe out a city, but you refuse, so they engineer your family's death or downfall - whatever tickles their fancy.

Point is, I don't like borrowing power, it's always better to have your own power."

That makes sense.

Too bad, no army of the dead for me then.

"I see, so what spell is it? I mean I'm just gonna get it anyway."

"It's called encapsulating ice, and from what I can gather you can use it to make armor, a shield, or you either entrap or crush your enemies."

"Ooh, that does sound cool."

"I know right! I can't wait to try it out."

"Still, you shouldn't have agreed to taking her down with us."

"You're the one who rushed in to save her."

"That's different, I saved her because it was the right thing to do. And just because I saved her, does not mean I trust her."

"Please, you would've let her tag along anyways. Just look at the melons she calls tits."

"That's incredibly sexist, not all men lose their ability to think when a glorious rack is in front of them."

"Please, you'd jump her in an instant if you were human again."

"Men don't just fuck the first woman we see - at least most don't.

I mean, what if she's a crazy bitch who likes chopping off dicks to hang on a necklace.

Or maybe, has a husband who's a crime boss and will chop you into little pieces starting with your dick. Or maybe, she has a weird biting fetish and she'll bite off yo..."

"I get it! And what's with all of the examples being about you losing your dick?"

"It's the worst case scenario."

Obviously.

"What if she broke your c4 vertebrae and paralyzed you for life?"

I thought about that for while.

"Would my dick still work?"

Flora's face was hilarious.

"What are y'all talking about?"

Lyra had come from the front with the others to us.

"We were just talking about the spell you gave us."

"I still can't get over the fact you can talk. The first time I saw you I thought you were going to try to eat me, when you didn't follow me I assumed some beastmaster must have tamed you. I felt a little silly Running a way like that."

When she spoke she leaned over exposing a large amount of cleavage.

"Don't be, I can be little scary if you don't know me. Hehehe."

Please God, don't give her a reason to move.

< What about not every man loses the ability to think when confronted with a glorious rack?>

Shut up Patty.

I can think just fine, I'm just appreciating the view.

"What are you doing back here?"

(Jurea )

Jurea stomped her way back to us.

"I just wanted to talk some more with your tame."

"Well, I don't trust you, so you're going to stay close enough to me that I can whack you with my hammer."

Dang it!

"Of course, after you."

Before she walked back up to the front with Jurea, she waved at me.

"Eew, you don't think she's one of those freaks that like to fuck monsters do you?"

As I watched her ass sway back and forth as she walked away, I only had one thought.

I can only hope.

____________________________

We set up camp for the night, that is if it even is night.

There is no real way to tell time down here, with the lack of a sun and all.

But luckily for them I have a pretty good internal clock, plus there are other ways for me to tell time.

< You mean the fact that Flora has a miniature hourglass. >

Shut up Patty.

Flora was studying her scroll still, Eric was making dinner while Lyra watched, and Jurea was on look-out duty.

I was about get some much-needed shut-eye when Lyra got up and came over to me.

"How are you doing?"

"Just fine."

"May I sit?"

"It's a free country."

"Huh?"

Shit.

"Sorry, that's a phrase I learned from my master. You can sit."

She sat right down next to me.

"I wanted to thank you for saving me, I didn't even know monsters could heal others."

"Yeah, I'm pretty special."

"Has your master taught you about ranks and tiers yet?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"I'm just wondering how strong you'd have to be to take down that wasp."

"I'm le....er....a second tier, most of us are except Jurea. She's already a Mid-rank."

< You know for someone you don't trust, you sure are giving her a lot of information. >

It's called being friendly, something you know nothing about.

< And if she was a fat old man, would you be so friendly?>

Shut up Patty.

"Am I boring you?"

Lyra had cocked her head playfully.

"Huh? No, I was just lost in thought."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Random monster stuff, you

wouldn't get it."

Damn it! Ain't no coming back from that.

"Okay."

Wait, she brought that?!

"So, how long are y'all going to be coming to this dungeon?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just that if you want, there are higher ranked dungeons out there that can make you rank up faster."

"I don't think we'll be leaving this dungeon anytime soon, those other ones are more dangerous and farther away after all."

She leaned in real close.

"But doesn't a little danger thrill you?"

Is she... coming on to me? God I always knew you were on my side.

"Well, I am very strong, and have a ton of stamina."

I tensed up, not too much that it would appear that I'm trying, but just enough.

"I bet you... oomph!"

A spear landed right on her stomach, Jurea had tossed it hard.

"Your turn to watch, make yourself

useful."

"Are you sure she has to? After all, she did pay us."

Please say no, please say no.

"She paid Flora, if she wants my protection, she'll have to pull her weight same as anyone else."

Lyra looked at me, and I swear a look of disappointment crossed her face.

< Are you sure you're not just imagining things?>

Shut up Patty.

"You're right, of course. I'll be going, it was nice talking with you."

She got up and left.

Why God?! Whhhhhy?!

< Did you ever think that maybe Anaviotis is your God's little sister or something, and he hates your guts now? You know because you goosed her. >

There's no way God is related to that bitch, she a devil.

"What were you talking about with her?"

Jurea had her arms crossed, and her eyes narrowed.

Yeah, I know a trap when I hear one.

"Nothing much, pop a seat."

She sat down next to me.

"I think you should avoid talking to her."

Jurea was staring daggers at Lyra's back.

"Why? She's a part of our party now, at least temporarily, we should try to get along."

"I just don't ..."

"Trust her?"

"Like her."

Okay, time to change the subject I guess.

"So, you never told me why you're an adventurer."

She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, and gave me a side glance.

"You never asked before."

"If you don't want to talk about it it's fine, I was just curious."

"No, it's okay, I want to. The reason is because I just didn't want to be like my parents. I know that makes me sound like a bad daughter."

"No, I get it, everyone wants to do their own thing."

She looked upwards.

"No, you don't. I was fine with what they did for a living, I just don't want to be weak like my parents."

She just sat there for a couple of minutes saying nothing, and I just sat there too.

"You know what my family does right?"

Of course she knows I know, Flora talks about it as often as she can, she just wants a sound board.

"Yeah, I do."

"We cleaned the shit of other people while those same people looked down on us, but I didn't care.

To me they were my family and we were happy, and that was all that mattered.

My kind wasn't allowed to be in the cities or around regular people at regular times of the day, so we lived in our own little village only leaving at night to do our jobs.

When I was eight bandits got it in their heads that they needed more money that year - I don't know why, they probably couldn't rob enough people. So, they decided to take people from my village to sell as slaves. After all, who would care that there were a few less gong farmers to stink up the people's streets.

What made it worse was the fact that no one resisted, not as they beat, raped, or pillaged.

I watched as my parents kowtowed to those dogs as they raped my friends, and people I had known my entire life.

I snapped, I couldn't just sit by and watch anymore, so I did what they wouldn't - I stood up to them."

She stopped talking and just stared at the ground.

"You did the right thing."

I said, trying to comfort her.

"Did I? What followed was the worst beating of my life.

My parents begged them to forgive me and spare my life, but even then they didn't lift a single finger in defiance.

It was then that the leader of the bandits decided to make me a real woman as he put it.

After that, they decided to kill me as an example for any who would attack them in the future. Luckily for me, my ability had manifested during my beating earlier.

An ability manifesting before adulthood was unheard of before, but maybe the gods thought I was pitiful enough without being killed.

My ability at full strength back then was just about five times my normal strength, but it was enough to kill every single last one of those bastards.

After that, my parents couldn't look me in the eyes again.

I didn't blame them because I was a dirtied broken murderer, and they were gutless fish who couldn't protect their own kid.

After a year or so my master found me and took me away from my home to teach me how to fight, when I finished my training I roamed the country as a Low-rank adventurer. The rest of my story isn't that important."

Those bastards! If they weren't already dead, I'd kill them all. Some people don't deserve to breath.

"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to hear more."

"Are you sure? Dinner is probably going to be done soon."

"Somethings are more important, please continue."

We talked until it was my time for watch duty.

__________________________

It was three days later when we finally made it to the thirteenth floor.

In front of us were a squad of six solider ants.

I was expecting them to be bigger then their worker brethren, but not this big!

They were just a little bit smaller than that wasp we fought! They might not have the blade stinger like that wasp, but their mandibles are razor-sharp and curved upwards - perfect for beheading a lizardman.

On the end of their abdomen is a hole, and if the workers are anything to go by, that probably shoots acid.

< Sistren not brethren. >

What?

< The only males in an ant colony is the drones, which are just walking sperm donors basically. >

Shut up Patty!

"We have to take them down fast, so they can't alert the rest of the colony."

(Flora)

"Will your lighting trick you used on those carasbs work?"

(Eric)

"No, they are lightning resistant. From what I've heard, you have to hit the skinny parts that connect their body parts together. Of course, that's just to disable them, the first hit has to be on the upper left side of the abdomen."

"Why?"

(Jurea)

"That's where the ganglia for the pheromone glands are."

"Ganglia?"

(Eric)

"It's their second brain they use to control their pheromones. And pheromones are..."

"What they use to communicate to the rest of their kind."

Flora looked at Jurea in surprise.

"I didn't expect a shit farmer to know about pheromone glands."

"I have to know about them, how else was I going to cut them out.

Give those to an alchemist, and they can make you monster love pheromones that make them fuck your target to death. It's a shame I got to use them only once."

None, it should have been none!

"So, we have to hit six targets simultaneously or we're fucked. Slight problem with that, there are only four of us!"

"There's actually five of us, including me."

(Lyra)

"Yeah, the lady we had to rescue from a monster does not inspire too much confidence in attacking monsters."

(Flora)

"I told you, I can take care of myself."

"Guys, let me try something."

They quieted down so I could concentrate.

I activated my ability 'Empath Aura' and focused on all six of the ants.

The only emotion I felt off of them is an empty drive.

Like they'd kill or die if they had to, but there would be no enjoyment or disappointment just mission completed check the box and go home.

God, ants are weird.

I focused the aura to make them sleepy, they started to slow down.

I can feel them resisting the urge to sleep.

Aren't they mindless drones? This should be easy!

After five minutes they stopped moving and fell asleep, at least I think they did - it's hard to tell because they don't have eyelids.

"They're asleep."

"What'd you do?"

(Lyra)

"It's....a spell I know. "

< Great save. >

Thank you.

< I was being sarcastic. >

In that case, shut up Patty.

We all decided it would be best if Lyra didn't know I have extra abilities.

"Okay, if we're quiet, we can sneak up and kill th... where's Eric?"

I looked around and Eric was missing.

I looked back towards the ants, and there she was sneaking up to them - dagger drawn.

Damn! I think she's a ninja sometimes.

"Come on, we should follow her."

When Eric was still a decent bit away from the ants, the floor she was walking on gave way to a hole and she fell in.

"Aaaah!!"