Endless Swarm (Part 2)

As the fight dragged on and on, Grant mindlessly slaughtered his way through ant after ant while honing his sword skills to the best of his abilities.

Even without formal training or any guidance at all for that matter, Grant was gradually finding his way.

His skills, although much improved since he began to fight the ants, were still a far cry from someone who had trained for tens of years.

That didn't matter to Grant at the moment though, because he had almost always used brute force to win fights and had never truly appreciated what it meant to wield and master a weapon.

To him before, his sword had always been nothing more than a means to an end; a way to kill more efficiently.

He was gradually beginning to understand that although that may be true, wielding a sword could also be something beautiful.

In a way, it was an art form that he had neglected to truly appreciate before this moment.

As if enlightened by the idea, Grant felt himself enter into an even more tranquil state than he had already been in.

Sure, his life hung in the balance and he could very well die, but he ignored that fact because he knew that if he could somehow connect his strength with that of an efficient and calculated fighting style, the possibilities would be endless.

And for him to accomplish such a feat, he needed to fight, and toe the line between life and death while he did it.

He was reminded of a quote that he had seen online once, 'You will never know your limits until you push yourself to them.'

At the moment that resonated greatly with him.

While it may appear to outsiders as if Grant was fighting to the absolute limits of his mental and physical capacities; to him, it felt more like he was on auto pilot and something was guiding him forward.

As he fought on and on, the feeling became more and more profound.

He wasn't quite sure what was happening, but he knew that if he could just hold on to the feeling for a little while longer, he may find answers to questions he didn't even know to ask.

Unfortunately for Grant, his tranquility was shattered in an instant when the ground began to shake violently enough where he had to focus more on remaining stable on his feet than how he was swinging his sword.

Angered at the sudden interruption, he glanced in the direction of the cause and spoke sarcastically.

"You finally decided to make your move, eh Anthony? I was starting to think you had turned to stone."

Although Grant had been lost in his training, he had never neglected the larger ants at the back of the horde. Whenever his field of vision would pass by the direction that they were standing, he would make sure to focus on them for a moment.

Not having moved since the beginning of the fight, Grant had started to believe that they would wait until all of the smaller and weaker monsters were dead before engaging.

Even before Grant could completely wipe out the horde though, the giant ant finally moved for the first time since the fight began.

Outside of Grant's expectations though, the large ant wasn't stepping towards Grant, it was actually moving away from him.

"I have underestimated you, the inhabitants of this planet. I believed that these weak and mindless drone ants would be enough to kill all of you so called humans.

I have miscalculated.

I will return another day, with more fodder and greater preparation. That will be when you will die.

I am sorry, but I will have to let you live for a little while longer.

Mother will be upset that I have failed my mission.."

Grant who was still fighting against the so called 'drone ants', was startled by the sudden voice that appeared within his mind, "Holy shit Anthony! You can talk!"

"Of course I can talk. What kind of uncivilized Enlightened Tier entity would I be if I was incapable of speech?

Besides, we are hive creatures who live to serve Mother.

In her wisdom, she has brought us from our home planet of Gelvaemia to conquer this world.

Which unfortunately for you unevolved swill, will mean your death.

Pathetic as you are, it is unfortunate..

Ah how rude, I did not introduce myself. I am Luunkrets."

Even while fighting and knowing that now wasn't the time, Grant couldn't help but laugh at the giant ant before taking a few verbal jabs at the creature.

"Are you okay man? You sound depressed.

One minute you're apologizing, the next minute you're cursing both me and my race.

And I'm sorry to say, but I won't remember that... why don't I call you Anthony?"

Although Grant couldn't decipher the 'facial' expressions of an ant, if ants were even capable of making facial expressions, but it was rather obvious that the last comment was enough to make the ant angry.

A palpable pressure suddenly radiated throughout the area.

"You will address me by the name that Mother has given me. It is an honor only beholden to a few and I will not let a weak creature such as you desecrate that."

Even with the pressure being exuded by Anthony, Grant was none too concerned if the encounter devolved into a fight.

Especially since he had been expecting that ever since he saw the ant. He had already estimated its strength based on the aura it exuded and had confidence that he could take it on if he had too.

Grant even while fighting the smaller cannon fodder, prepared himself for the ant to engage him in its anger, but alas, it was not the ultimate outcome.

After he finished saying his piece, Anthony slowly turned away from Grant and took a few steps forward before disappearing out of sight.

Grant wasn't exactly sure how he managed it; but if he had to wager a guess, their was probably a tunnel of some sort dug not far from where Anthony had been standing.

[Well.. guess Anthony is going to be one of our first opponents in the area... it's a shame really, he seemed like a nice guy.

Don't you think so Sherlock?]

{Should you really be concerned with that right now?

You're literally in the middle of fighting monsters as we speak...

And he left behind the five medium sized ants that, although they don't appear to be Enlightened Tier monsters per-se, they are clearly not any weaker than that.}

[What? How can you be an Enlightened Tier entity without actually being an Enlightened Tier entity?

Unless they are like me and killed enemies stronger than them to absorb an unusually high amounts of stats.

Which seems unlikely given that their are five of them standing there.]

{Have you ignored literally every notification that appeared while you were fighting?}

[Yeah I have, why?]

{Because if I am correct, you will find the answer to your question there.}

Sure enough, the explanation for why the monsters had the strength they did without actually being Enlightened Tier monsters became clear the moment that Grant checked the first notification.

{Congratulations on killing Mindless Drone Ant - Summoned Monster Level 20.

You have gained no experience.

You have absorbed +0 Strength, +0 Agility, +0 Health, +0 Stamina and +0 Mana.}

Although tranquility had dominated Grant's conscious a mere ten minutes before, after reading through the notification, he was suddenly enraged.

"ALL OF THAT FOR NOTHING?! GET BACK HERE ANTHONY!!!

I'M GOING TO KILL YOU AND GET THE EXPERIENCE I DESERVE FOR ALL MY HARD WORK!"

No matter how much he hooted and hollered though, Anthony never reemerged from where he had disappeared.

Since he had no choice and although they were the very reason that he was enraged, Grant took his anger out on the surrounding ants.

[Sherlock, how the fuck is this fair?! You're telling me that someone can summon an army of thousands of monsters and force people to fight them for literally no return at all on their effort?!]

{When has The Path ever been fair?

And besides, can you say with certainty that the fight you had and are still engaged in, has been meaningless?}

[I'll admit that it has allowed me to hone my sword skills and allowed me to touch the very boundaries of the art of swordsmanship, but I've been fighting here for what feels like hours and I get nothing in return?! That's bullshit!]

{You really are an idiot you know that?

Read the rest of the notifications you received while you were fighting.. I can tell just from the way you were fighting that you have reaped rewards far greater than you will understand; at least for now.}

[I never claimed to be smart you know? Calling me an idiot just proves that you don't pay attention either. Jackass.]

While going back and forth with Sherlock, Grant once again opened his notifications and slowly scrolled through the list.