Chapter 17: Ant Colony

Chirp.. chirp...

The sound of birds chirping could be heard outside the window.

"Wake up, Zaine! it's morning!" Amy called out to Zaine.

It was their first time in a proper place to sleep. Zaine decided to make the fullest of it, seeing the long journey ahead.

"Wake up!" Amy lifts the blanket covering Zaine, demanding he get up and prepare for the day.

Zaine finally decides to wake up and get ready. A few moments after, they come to the tavern, indulge themselves with breakfast, and leave the inn soon after.

Zaine and Amy head out to the Adventurer's Guild, where a chattering of people can be heard inside.

Creaks...

Zaine opened the door to the Adventurers Guild. Crowds of people line up to take quests for the day. Zaine follows the people there and starts queueing.

After a short while, it was finally time for them to talk to the receptionist. Zaine had thought about the quests that he wanted to take.

Zaine hoped that the quest was still available. Finally, after queueing for a while, he is greeted by the receptionist, the same guy who greeted him yesterday.

"Hello there, welcome to the Adventurers Guild. What can I do with you today?" Asked the receptionist while he stopped cleaning his table.

"Can I see the quest for today?" Ask Zaine, with a nervous look on his face.

"Here you are. Please take a look." Said the receptionist while taking out papers containing the available quests.

Zaine scrambles through the paper in search of the one he had seen yesterday.

"Ah, found it!" Zaine takes the paper and hands it to the receptionist. "This is still available, right?" Said Zaine while showing it to the receptionist.

"Wait, let me just verify it real quick," The receptionist walks back and returns soon after.

"Yes, it's available. Here are the locations of the quest, is that it?"

"Yes, thank you very much." Said Zaine.

They both soon leave with a map, ready to set out and do the quest.

Once outside the village safe zone, they mounted on the Ent Zaine had summoned. They both head on to the designated place.

The map leads them to an abandoned city filled with rubles.

They approached an abandoned underground parking lot when a Giant Ant suddenly came out from the inside.

The battle started as Zaine summoned some Spectral Giantess to defeat the Giant Ants.

{Killed a Giant Ant}

{You Receive 1 Giant Ant Soul}

{You can summon Giant Ant}

The Ants are no match for the Spectral Giantess, and Zaine collects the pieces of its head as proof of his quests.

Zaine spends a few hours there, letting his summons finish the ants living there. They explore deeper together while collecting the Giant Ant's remains. Inside, the underground parking lot has been infested by Giant Ants.

They slowly exterminate the Ants and push them back, coming closer and closer to the core part of the ant colony.

{You Have Level Up}

The levels Zaine earn is very low, but it's still something.

They finally reached the furthest place they could. There seems to be a hole in the wall, with a diameter of around 1 meter. Zaine peeked inside the dark room. He saw threads hanging from the ceiling, with cocoons which are Giant Ant eggs.

Zaine takes a deep breath before demolishing the wall.

{Do you want to enter (Giant Ant Queen Nest)?}

{YES / NO}

"YES!"

Upon entering, cold air enveloped the place, creating a chilling feeling on their skin.

The dark place made it hard for them to see, Amy used his staff to cast a flash, and the room turned bright.

They are both shocked at the sight of a Giant Ant, the biggest they have seen so far, standing on its 6 feet, glaring at them.

Soon the cocoon starts falling and opening up, revealing giant ants, slowly swarming them with numbers.

Zaine summons a few spectral Giantess and a group of giants to try and defeat the ants.

Amy enhances Zaine's power, making his summons even more powerful.

The Ants that had just hatched felt different than the ants from before, with less stature but much higher power.

The Spectral Giantesses defeat most of the giant ant soldiers, but the Giant fails to do so and gets annihilated in the process.

Seeing the even-match Spectral Giantess and Ants fight, Zaine summons his strongest. The original Giantess.

Zaine can't afford to lose with it on the field.

It charged through the ants, killing most of them in a swift motion, leaving a few left. Together with the spectral giantesses, they rush through the place to get close to the ant queen.

The Ant Queen is a monster with a minimum requirement of level 50 to defeat. It can summon giant ants, similar to the ability of the giantess. The ant queen has fast speed and high damage output. A lot of people avoid an encounter with it.

Zaine knows this ability of the Ant Queen, and after much thinking, he decides to fight it.

The battle reaches a climax as both parties rush head-on.