Mithril Ore

Apparently this cavern was the deepest part of this nest. After marking down the location on the map, Allen reverted all the deployed Summons to card form.

'This should do for the composition of the strike force. If they end up struggling, I can increase my Intelligence to raise the number of Summons I'm able to Share with.'

___

Vanguard Strike Force Against a Queen Armored Ant:

Beast D x 6

Bird D x 1

Insect D x 1

___

A Fish D buffed all eight Summons, then Allen Shared with them and sent them into the nest. He also Summoned a few more Beast Ds and ordered them to follow along behind the previous group, but this did not work out, as they were unable to see in the dark. There was no choice but to attempt the fight only with the Summons that he was Sharing with.

The strike force followed the twists and turns of the nest, traveling down countless branches. They walked for more than five kilometers total before finally reaching their destination. The monsters within had remained in the same positions as before.

'In boss fights, it's common sense to go for the weaker mobs first. The same applies in this world.'

Allen ordered the Beast Ds to first focus on taking down the normal armored ants. This cavern was naturally shrouded in complete darkness, but Allen—and his Summons, by extension—still had visual thanks to Bird D using Night Vision.

Once three Beast Ds got done in, Allen Summoned replacements and sent them down. Just like fighting orc kings, he was relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm the enemy. And once again, the strategy paid off.

'Okay, that's all the small fry taken care of. It's time for me to head down in person so I can get within fifty meters and Summon a whole bunch at once.'

Even at the end of Allen's campaign against the orc villages, he needed to send more than a hundred Beast Ds to kill one orc king. The Summons surrounded the monster to continuously attack it from all sides, with plenty of replacements ready to step up and take the places of those that got killed.

Allen intended on using the same strategy this time, but because the battlefield was five kilometers underground, he had to go down himself.

To save time, Allen brought only a Bird D and two Beast Ds along as he charged into the nest. As he could not see a thing inside, he relied solely on the Night Vision sight that he was Sharing with the Bird D. It gave him a much clearer view than a torch or illumination magic tool would have.

'I almost feel like I'm controlling my own body in over-the-shoulder mode.'

Even while Allen himself was dashing through the passages, the remaining Beast Ds down below continued attacking the queen armored ant.

'She isn't all that fast, but it looks like aiming for her head is quite dangerous.'

The monster's head was covered with a tough exoskeleton and equipped with giant, vicious mandibles. There was no reason to insist on aiming for that part when the monster's soft abdomen protruded from its shell.

Consequently, the three remaining Beast Ds focused their attacks on the abdomen, using Crush repeatedly. In response, the queen shuddered violently, slamming one of the Beast Ds against the far wall and reducing it to bubbles of light with one powerful strike of her mandibles.

'Oof, one down. But I think we've got this. It's taking her way too long to kill a single Beast D.'

The queen armored ant's Agility was clearly far lower than that of an orc king, which could move incredibly fast and wield a halberd. Before long, Allen reached the large cavern where the battle was taking place.

'The enemy is moving sluggishly! Teddys, CHAAAARGE!'

"ROOOOAAAAARRRRRR!"

The twenty-plus Beast Ds that Allen Summoned all at once roared at the top of their lungs, shaking the cavern, before thundering forward as a single wave of muscles, fangs, and claws. The enemy was superior in rank and the Beast Ds could not see for themselves, but the target was huge, and after figuring out where it was, the Beast Ds began spamming their Ability.

Every time the queen armored ant shuddered, one of the Summons got punted to the wall of the cavern. But their attacks still fell like relentless and inexorable rain.

'Is this all a queen armored ant can do? This isn't as challenging as I expected.'

Soon, one of the Summons dealt the killing blow. The monster's long torso tore open, spilling white liquid all over the ground.

"Clack clack clack!"

The queen armored ant raised her head high and screamed loudly, then fell over. Her body's convulsions ended up causing more white liquid to gush out.

'Ah, she died.'

It was a bit anticlimactic how easily the boss monster itself died, but the clearing of the nest had taken a whole day.

Even if Allen headed back to Granvelle City now, the gates would probably be closed by the time he arrived. In other words, he would have to stay at the village for another night.

'Ugh, tonight's gonna be an unexcused night out. I hope Mr. Sebas doesn't get mad at me for it. Would apologizing the way Mr. Rickel does lessen my sentence?'

Allen had feared that if he did not press the attack today and left halfway through, the armored ants might recover their numbers. To prevent that from happening, he had prioritized killing the queen armored ant, but an infraction was an infraction. He recalled how he had seen Rickel apologize before and imagined himself doing the same.

'But for now, let's strip away the queen armored ant's shell. Then I'll bring it back and apologize.'

There was little point in overthinking things. Allen produced the illuminating magic tool from Storage and twisted the dial to turn it on. It was true that he could see through Bird D's Night Vision, but it was hard to see what he was doing from over his shoulder. Harvesting was best done with his own eyes.

However, when Allen approached the monster to confirm its state, a powerful stench assaulted his nose.

'Ugh, that stinks so bad!'

The sour, acidic smell was coming from the fluids that had leaked from the queen armored ant. It was so intense that Allen thought he would be hit with a debuff from smelling it one too many times.

'Still, it was pretty strange how sluggish the boss's movements were. Was she under the weather today?'

As the queen armored ant was classified as a Rank B monster, Allen had expected it to be as formidable as a murdergalsh. The actual fight, however, had ended in no time at all. He mulled over whether this specific monster just happened to be a weak one or if it was the species as a whole.

'Oh! Is it because she was exhausted from laying too many eggs?'

Over the past two months, Allen had killed more than five thousand armored ants. If what Raven had said about a nest being home to around a thousand was true, that meant this queen had birthed more than four thousand eggs in that short period of time. Perhaps exhaustion was the reason she had died so easily.

'Hmm, so monsters need to eat and sleep, and can become weakened. The Bird Ds did find pupa and eggs throughout the nest too. Catching them when they're not in perfect condition can make a big difference.'

This was basically Allen's takeaway for the day.

***

'All right, let's get the harvesting done and head back.'

Not wanting to stay down there any longer than necessary, Allen got to work. Thanks to his beloved mithril sword, harvesting the queen armored ant went easily. It did not take long before he had secured both the magic stone and shell.

'Oh right, mithril ore. That's important. I should look around a bit.'

It was said that there was a possibility there were exposed mithril ore veins in the tunnels inside an armored ant nest. For all he knew, there might be one in this very cavern.

'Well, this should do.'

He had never seen mithril before, so he grabbed ten lumps of rock that seemed reflective under the light of his magic tool and threw them into Storage to include in his report to Sebas afterward.

'Okay, time to go.'

Having finished doing everything he needed to do, Allen started making his way back upward, dragging the queen armored ant's shell behind him.

***

After staying at the smelting village for another night, he then returned to Granvelle City the next morning.

It was around noon when he finally reached the mansion. Right before turning the final corner, he took out the rocks that might or might not be mithril, put them into a jute bag, and slung the bag over his shoulder.

'First things first: apologize to Mr. Sebas.'

Allen had wanted to get a one-on-one with the butler first thing to apologize for staying out last night without permission.

However, it turned out Sebas had already headed to the dining room on the second floor. So Allen left the queen armored ant's shell in the garden and headed up.

"Please excuse me," he said as he entered the dining room. Everyone within turned to look at him.

Cecil was the first to react. "Do you know how late you are, Allen?!"

"I'm truly sorry, milady. I am back now."

It was the Baron, not Sebas, who questioned Allen. "Allen, tell us why you could not make it back yesterday."

"Yes, my lord. I have been attacking the same armored ant nest in the foothills of the White Dragon Mountains for the past two months. Yesterday, my efforts finally paid off, and I saw it as an opportunity to get at the Queen armored ant. I was worried that if I did not press my attack, she would spawn more armored ants again. So I prioritized killing her and finished too late in the night to make it back in time. I am deeply sorry."

After explaining his circumstances, Allen bowed with his waist at a ninety-degree angle. This was the Rickel-style apology that he had seen being used quite often.

"Hm? Did you say Queen armored ant?"

"Yes, my lord. I brought her shell back. It's in the garden right now."

The Baron looked at Sebas with a blank face. Sebas, in turn, returned the look with a blank expression of his own.

The two of them continued looking at each other blankly for a few more moments before the Baron turned back towards Allen.

"I'm sorry, Allen. I'm afraid I did not quite catch the meaning of what you just said. Could you repeat it to me one more time?"

'I thought I was pretty clear in my explanation. Is he angry at me? I'm not sure I get it, but I guess I'll do it again more thoroughly.'

After Allen went through the account of what had happened once more, the Baron, who still looked very confused, attempted to sum the entire story up in his own words.

"So, you're saying that you defeated a Queen armored ant and completely cleared out an entire armored ant nest all by yourself?"