18 Chapter 17
"A Psionic Blue Ant... quite odd seeing one here of all places"
After the fight, me and Evee tried checking the Ant's dead body for any clues. But as expected, other than a rotting corpse. We didn't find anything that was useful.
"Odd?.. Are Psionic Blue Ants that uncommon in this area?"
"Not quite, you can find them, pretty much everywhere in the lower parts. But them being here, is the odd part"
"How so?"
"We've been using this area, for agronomic purposes in the past years or so. And we essentially have never seen or encounter any Psionic Blue Ants in this area"
"You reckon that this has something to do with the disappearance of this Bobby person?"
"Now that you mention, Its highly likely that it's the case"
"So.. We should investigate this, right away?"
"We should. This Bobby person was supposedly ordered by sir Richard to do task, before us. So, we can probably find some equipment's if we search the area"
"Right..."
"We should probably also stick together. We can never know if there are more Ant's wandering this place"
And with that we began our search for any clues, that might lead to Bobby. Leaving our capturing equipment's for safety, we search every nook and corner of the area. What we mostly managed to find in our search were more rabbit holes and mushrooms.
Not wanting to be dissuade with our findings, we began to widen our searches. Doing said change of searching yielded in good results. For we finally manage to find some clues in an area far from we were.
"Cages, with Cave Bunnies and a trap. This most likely Bobby's equipment's"
Scanning the area, I managed to find ominous blood in the ground.
"There's blood here"
"Where?"
"Here"
Taking a closer look at the blood, we manage to noticed that It forms a trail. Seeing this, we began speculating of event's that probably lead to this case.
"This Bobby person probably got attacked in here"
"I have bad feeling about this"
"We can't really help it. Just prepare your weapon, we might encounter some Ants in the way"
"Right..."
Preparing our weapons, we began to carefully follow the blood trail. Not wanting to be jumped by an Ant again, I made it a priority to scan the area before proceeding. Following the blood, we essentially arrived at an area with a facility not far away.
The facility looked abandoned from what I see, and oddly enough it also has a dock just right in the lake's water.
"Is this-"
"Two Ants ahead, don't make any sound"
Getting dragged by Evee, we managed to fully hide our presence to the two Ants not far from us. From where their positioned, I highly doubt that we can easily get passed from both of them.
"What now?"
"I guess.. We have no choice but to fight"
"Are you serious! There's two of those things in there"
"We can't get pass those two if we don't kill them"
"Aren't those creatures blind, can't we just get pass them with that"
"Bad idea, if we don't kill those two now. They'll just add to the nuisance if we ever get in a fight with more of them"
"And you're sure, that fighting them won't attract more of them?"
"...Fine.. what's your idea, then?"
Stuck in our current dilemma, I began thinking of any idea on how to handle the situation. Knowing that they easily get attracted by any sound, an idea was formed in my head.
"How fast can you kill both of those creatures, if you can attack in a surprise?"
"...I'm certain that I can easily decapitate an Ants head in a surprise attack. But I highly doubt that it's fast enough to prevent the other Ant from reacting"
"I see... I guess I have no choice"
"What are you planning?"
"My plan is to basically attract those two in here. After which we quickly kill them before they can do anything"
"...Not a bad idea, but how do we prevent the other ant from doing anything"
"When they're close enough from where we are. You quickly kill the closest Ant, while I try to control the other Ant's mind. That might prevent the other Ant in reacting in any way"
"Are you sure that you're fast enough to control a Psionic Blue Ant?"
"I highly doubt it, but all I need to do is just give you enough time to kill both Ants. So stunning one using my ability is probably is something that I can do"
"Probably?.. You're sounding as if you never used your ability before"
"...To be honest, my only experience of using my ability is through a plant. I never once used it in a living creature"
"Wait... so you're a total beginner, then!"
"...Yep"
"Then how can I be sure that this plan will work?"
"Just trust me, I have full experience of getting hit by a Thought Control Psionic Attack once. So, I know how it fucks with anyone's head"
-Sigh
"I guess I have no choice. Just don't this mess up, otherwise an Ant's head is not the only thing that going to fly in this place"
"R-right..."
Preparing to begin our plan, I began picking some rocks in the area. With her sword and position ready, all Evee needed was the signal to go. Throwing the rocks from where we were, A noise of rocks hitting each other, echoed loudly in the area. Sensing said noise, the ants began moving closer from where we were.
-Growwwllll...
Almost there..
.
.
.
After a few seconds of waiting, the Ants finally moved closer to our vicinity. Seeing the moment that we waited, finally occur. We began our plan of quickly killing both ants, right away.
"Reinforcement"
Coating her sword with psionic energy, Evee quickly move's in her feet and aims her attack at the head of the unsuspecting Ant. Not wanting to fall behind, I also began my attack at the other Ant.
Dominate Mind.
Activating my ability at the Ant, a weird feeling quickly arouses inside of me. Feeling like a part of me is fighting for control, I can describe my current experience to be surreal. Knowing the consciences of me messing this up, I began innerly fighting hard for control of the Ant's mind.
-Slash
Successfully decapitating the Ant's head, Evee quickly focused her aim at the other ant. Due to it being occupied by my ability, the Ant wasn't able to do anything but stand dumbfoundedly. With the opportunity that I have given, Evee was quickly able to decapitate the other Ant's head. Successfully eliminating both threats in a quick manner.
"Good job, new recruit"
"...R-right"
Despite the encounter being quick, I felt that the fight took longer than the normal. Exhaustion can be seen through me as I pant to regain some breath, my inexperience with my ability probably has something to do with it.
"No more Ant's in sight... I guess we're finally safe"
Scanning the area to be sure, I found nothing out of usual. I guess we can finally relax for a moment.
"What.. N-now?"
"We follow the blood trail; it seems that it goes straight to the abandoned facility"
"I see... The door's oddly open. You reckon that some Ant's already entered the place?"
"We just have to see for ourselves. Let's just hope that they aren't already munching on the person we're looking for"
After a bit of rest, we finally decided to enter the abandoned facility. As to what we'll encounter inside. To us, It's a total mystery.
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Entering the facility, we were greeted with a ton of debris and destroyed Items.
"Quite a cozy place... I wonder what happened here, to leave it in ruins"
"It's looks will make sense, if you know what treasures lay behind these ruins"
"What?"
"Historic information, technologies and even powerful artifacts. Are the rare treasures that lucky explorers tend find in these abandoned facilities. I wonder what upbringing you experienced to not know this information"
"Let's not dwell into someone's life, shall we?"
"I don't really care, but you're already cementing to be weird a fellow in my mind"
"Sure.. But treasures, eh? Quite a surprise to see one, in abandoned places"
"Many wonder the same thing.. People missing is already a weird stretch, but abandoned facilities with items left behind. It's quite intriguing"
"Hmm.. On the topic of treasures, mind I ask what makes them valuable?"
"Well... for one, the artifacts that we do find in these abandoned facilities tend to contain mysterious powers which tend to be helpful and quite deadly. A famous example of an artifact would be the Shadow Stone by the Invisible Burglar"
"Invisible Burglar.. I've heard that his quite an infamous thief that got caught 2 years ago"
"Right. An infamous thief who boldly stole many valuable things from many factions of South Terracore. It was a mystery on how he keeps getting away with many things, until he was caught and his artifact was unraveled"
"I see... so that's what artifacts are. Quite an unlucky person to get caught, despite having a stone that makes him invisible. Don't you think?"
'Who knows.. But with that said. I'm pretty sure that you finally understand, what makes artifacts valuable"
"Quite so. But what about both Historic Information and Technologies"
"Historic Information basically reveals knowledge and information about the mysterious past of Terracore and Terratech. Depending on how valuable the information is, the information uncovered tend to sell for great sums on research organizations and factions with interest. And as for technologies, due to how advance the Terratech technologies are. Said technologies value the most out of all treasures and also societal changing, once manufactured"
"I see... So these abandoned facilities are like treasure trove's, waiting to be uncovered"
"Indeed. That's why many factions all over Terracore, fight for any territories that they can find. With buildings that contain valuable and world changing things, who wouldn't want to take it for their own"
Hearing Evee's explanations. I manage to learn more about this world works. Faction's fighting over territories that contains valuable and world changing resources, it's quite an interesting yet not uncommon power struggle. Despite how different this world is and mine. I guess the nature of humans never change.
"We should stop wasting our time here and begin our search"
"Right..."
With our discussion over, we began our search for the missing Bobby. With our weapons ready in hand, we carefully look every room that stumble upon for any clues while scanning the area for any danger.
Seeing how everything seems to be too quiet, I began to worry about our situation.
"The blood trail seem to stop here"
"And no signs of any Ants either..."
"I guess we have no choice but to move below"
"This place has a basement?"
"A pretty large one, so be on the lookout"
Deciding that our next trip would be on the facility's basement, we began to made our way there. Seeing an open door with a long stairs to below, we descend down from the ground floor to the basement.
Arriving in there, we were meet with even more debris and broken-down machineries. The distinct look of broken-down machines made me wonder what was this place for. But to avoid making any noise, I hold that thought in my mind for later. And focused more on scanning the area.
"It's quite dark in here"
Aside from the things mentioned before, the place is also somewhat dark. With the absent of any physical light, maneuvering this place and proper scanning might be hard to do.
"Damn.. I forgot how dark this place was... Just be careful new recruit"
"Right... be careful as well"
Having no way of fixing the light problem, we decided to continue our search in the dark. From what I can see, the place is indeed what Evee said. From the size of the area and number of rooms, the place is indeed somewhat large.
Checking a random room in the place, I again was greeted with darkness and rubbles. No signs of any person or other creatures, either. Which was a shame. I hoping that this search would be over sooner or later.
"Nothing here"
"Same here either"
With no results in hand, we continue to do our task. Ever since we came into this area, I can't help but feel that we're being watched. As much as I would like to conform said situation, the area essentially being dark prevents me from doing that.
Wait... don't I have an Identification ability. Maybe I can check the place with that.
Despite me needing to focus on something, to be able to activate the ability. Manually pressing the ability icon itself, is indeed a hassle but neat at the same time.
I never knew that I would need this function again. I guess... all things do have their purposes.
Pressing the ability icon, my Identification ability was activated. Upon the activation, I was greeted by a ton text about the things that I see. Information about the rubbles, broken machines and even other things were displayed in my view. But due to lack of points in my Science Skills, the description of the things that I see were completely blank.
I can see quite nicely now.
Other than giving information about what I see. The ability also highlights the things that I'm currently seeing. The highlighted thing isn't really that visible, but it's clear enough to have an understanding of I'm seeing. Quite a handy bonus, if I say so myself.
Checking the area, I found nothing out of usual in the place. Maybe I was being paranoid... Not wanting to waste the ability, I began checking other areas to see if any dangers are present.
Hmmmm... Nothing.. I swear, that we're being watched from somewhere. I can feel it.
"That's a few rooms already checked. You found anything, new recruit?"
"Still nothing..."
-Sigh
With nothing new in hand, I began sighing in boredom. All this fighting and exploring is making me tired. With nothing to do, I began checking the ceilings above. Looking at the sky used to be a habit of mine, it's why I have a deep found of stars in the first place. But upon checking the area's ceiling, I was greeted with something out of the ordinary.
-Groooowwwllllll....
With the Identification ability active I was again greeted with a ton text. Things that I never expected were suddenly highlighted, leaving me deeply shocked. Familiar silhouettes roam from above and numbering in great quantity. Seeing what I'm seeing, I quickly knew that what I was seeing was a horde of Psionic Blue Ants. Knowing the implications of our current development, our situation suddenly went from fine to the worst case possible.
-Screeechhhh!!!!
"What was that!"
"Miss Evee, run!"
Knowing that we can't handle fighting this number of Psionic Ants. I decided to not engage in a fight and warned Evee to run.
But before we can even leave the area. The ants suddenly drop from above, essentially blocking many areas of the place along with the stairs to above.
The worst-case scenario has finally happened, and I can't think of what to do. Preoccupied of thinking of ways to handle our current situation, I wasn't able to noticed the approaching Ant.
-Screeeccchhhh!
Sharp claws readied with hostile intent. The ant aims it's attack right at me. Finally understanding my grave mistake, I was left defenseless as the Ant's attack quickly approach me.
.
.
.
"Watch out!!"
-End of Chapter 17
