Light show

I refuse to die here.

At least not to a bunch of bugs.

I haven't even seen the damn surface yet!

MY DREAM OF SHOWING THE WORLD MY GREATNESS HAS YET TO BE FULFILLED!!!

As if they could read my thoughts, the monster ants began screeching and growling again as if they were spitting insults at me. One particularly big and shiny ant lifted its head above the crowd and screeched a series of sounds towards me as if it was calling me stupid. I don't speak monster ant but he's definitely making fun of me, I can feel it in my nonexistent guts.

The heck did you just say to me!?!?

Wah- It just insulted me again!!

I swear it called me a baldie this time!!!

YOU'RE THE BALDIE YOU EGGHEAD!! YOU PROBABLY LIVED YOUR WHOLE LIFE BEING SINGLE!!!!

Pissed at the ugly insect, I picked up an extravagant-looking golden candleholder off from the ground. I enchanted it with「Imbue Light」before hurling it towards the ant as if I was telling it to screw off to its ugly mother. The candleholder landed square on its headshell and proceeded to burn the creature before falling to the ground. My way of returning the monster ant's kind remark goes through and it screeches in pain and anger. It crushed the candle holder under its foot and charged toward me in a frenzy, knocking its smaller kin out of the way.

*SCREEEECH!!!*

COME AT ME ANTHONY!!!

The big monster ant continued its run-up before leaping into the air and opening its huge circular mouth, its front legs forward as it approached. In response, I swing Arontdite overhead as it shined in white light and made contact with the ant's leap attack.

*SLASH!!!*

Like a hot knife through butter, the sword slashed through the ant's shell with ease and cleaved the giant ant clean in half. The two halves of the monster ant landed behind me and melted before dissolving into the air as blue sparkling mana. As if the death of their big sibling was a signal, the surrounding ants charged while others remained behind to shoot purple spikes at me. I swung my adamantite axe horizontally to protect myself. Surprisingly, not only did the imbued axe itself evaporate the spikes but so did the wide white aura from the enhancing magic that surrounded it, effectively creating a shield against the volley of spikes. Seeing this, I rotated my axe and swung it so that the flat side of the head would destroy the spikes in the air like a fly swatter.

Amazing.

Maybe I should make a shield soon...

*SLASH!!* *SLASH!!* *BAM!!!*

More and more ants charged and threw themselves towards me as I constantly swung my weapons side to side. Pieces of sliced up and smashed ants flew into the air as a slaughter-fest began.

The impact made by light magic was astonishing. A minute ago I was being pressed and backed into a corner by the swarm. Now with the help of magic, I'm able to hold my ground and consistently widdle down their numbers. Why the heck did I not use this earlier!? I almost want to wack myself in the head!

Well to be fair, I only picked up magic very recently...

With the improvement of the situation boosting my morale, I flip through the spellbook floating in the air hoping to find a spell that can help me get out of the disadvantageous situation. I quickly chose a useful-looking spell and cast it with haste.

「Light's Protection」

Suddenly, the mysterious sound of a bell rang gently out of nowhere, and golden specks of light appeared near me before merging together into shields. These shields locked together side by side around me like a crown before emitting golden light that shrouded me, forming into a spheric barrier. More incoming spikes caught my attention as they whizzed through the air towards me and impacted the shield that protected me. The spikes shattered into the air and vanished away as specks of blue light.

The horde of monsters grew angrier and angrier by the minute. Their growing frustration was visible as they growled, spat, and clawed at the ground. As their kin fell, another moved up to take its place. The process was repeated over and over again for the next few minutes. I soon approached my next obstacle.

Mana.

My weapon, life force... It's running out!!!

How the heck am I suppose to refill my mana?!?

I can't catch a break since I'm surrounded.

And I need to keep injecting mana into my weapons or the light buff will run out.

Damn it!

These bugs don't drop anything for me to absorb since they melt and evaporate into the air when they die.

Heresy! What sorcery is this!?!

And I still have so many more to kill, it's as if it's endless.

To be exact the amount I still need to kill is...

「Mana Sense」

Is...

Eh?

Wait, What?

Why is the whole cave an ant?

No, let me correct myself...

Instead of sensing the hundreds of monster ants individually through their mana, I'm picking up signals of dense mana everywhere. If you were to look at it from above, instead of hundreds of tiny dots that represented each monster ant, it would appear as if the whole cave was highlighted.

That can't be right.

Is this skill defective?

Do I need to slap it a few times for it to work!?!?

I swear it always works when my parents do it...

WAIT, NOW ISN'T THE TIME IDIOT!!!

「Life Form Detector」

Synchronising with the「Arcane Mapping」mapping skill, hundreds of dots began appearing in my mind map. The information matches with what I see visually but I still didn't understand why my「Mana Sense」was acting weird. As I was trying to figure out the reason, another monster ant lunged towards me. Instinctively, I swiped my battle axe horizontally and cleaved the bug in half. Under my watchful gaze, the two halves of the ant fell onto the ground and began to evaporate. The reason finally clicked in my head as I watched the blue particles fly up into the surroundings.

The mana is in the air!

The amount of mana in the air is so thick that「Mana Sense」doesn't work properly!

As if discovering this had triggered something, hunger began to well up inside me. The same hunger that I had experienced when I found my very first monster core. The light emitted from my light-composed body begins to flicker softly from mana exhaustion. The searing pain from the lack of mana in my body pushes my natural instincts and urges me to absorb the source of the stimulation.

I'm really feeling the urge...

It should work, right?

Not like I actually have a choice.

Please work!!!

「Mana Extraction」

Like a dry dam filling up with water, I felt the mana from the surrounding area rush in. The pain from lack of mana quickly receded and the light from my body brightened up with brilliant lime colour. Comfort and relief washed away the stress and anxiety that filled up my mind as mana continued to flow in.

...

haha.

HAHAHA!!

I know I've felt this sensation many times before.

But for some reason this time its... amazing!!!

That amount of growth and mana I'm gaining from this is crazy. Even if there are so many of them, the gain I'm getting from this is nonsensical.

It's like I just gained a few weeks' worth of core absorbing.

Is this monster swarm a blessing in disguise!?!?

I haven't even absorbed all the mana in the air yet and I'm already in top condition. My body feels like it's brimming with energy. I feel like I could do anything right now...

Channelling my mana, a giant polearm made from light begins to form from the tip of the blade to the butt of the staff. It radiated with brilliant light as I continued to pour mana into the spell before launching it into the swarm.

「Piercing Light Spear」

*BOOM!!*

The spell flew into the swarm, clearing everything in its wake and decimating any ant it came into contact with. The spear of light landed on the ground at the other end of the cave and what was left on its path was a trail of shattered ant parts that quickly dissolved into the air as mana. In a matter of moments, an enormous gap was created down the middle of the swarm and the swarm had lost a large chunk of its monsters. Feeling the pain from casting the spell, I quickly used my skill.

「Mana Extraction」

And just like that, the large chunk of mana I just spent is all back and my mana capacity has expanded once again.

This kinda feels like cheating doesn't it...

I floated there and watched as the swarm of monster ants instinctively moved in to fill in the gap that was created. They growled and screeched angrily as they once again advanced forward to surround me.

Even after seeing what I did they still didn't run.

I guess that's the personality of an insect swarm for you.

Killing some only makes the rest angrier.

I do feel sorry for them though.

Honestly, any predator would feel the same if they were placed in the same shoes as the ants.

Your hunt was going smoothly and just as you were about to finish up, your prey suddenly turns the tables on you and starts wiping you out...

But sadly I don't care.

Cus I'm fricken getting out of here alive!

Feeling energetic, my fighting spirit continued to soar through the ceiling as two more「Piercing Light Spear」spells formed beside me. The hundreds of monster ants charged in and met the two destructive spells head-on.

For the next hour, countless ants threw themselves into the jaws of death. Giant flashes of light and explosions filled the cave. Monster parts flew everywhere and evaporated as I continued to swing my weapons repeatedly. Little by little, the horde of monster ants shrunk.

When the battle ended, the only things that were left in the messy and damaged cave was me, my treasures, and the air that was brimming with mana...