“We’re going to need you to lure a fire ant worker to this location. It should be just up ahead,” Finn explained. He motioned at his daughter. “Julia can provide the map data.” She promptly swiped at the air to bring up her map and push the information to the AI.
“Wait, did I hear that correctly? You want to use me as bait?” Daniel asked sharply, his form dancing anxiously.
Finn gave him a sharp look. “You don’t have a physical form, and as far as we can tell, you can’t die. There’s not much risk.”
“Says the person who will be sitting safely back here in the tunnel,” Daniel grumbled.
Rubbing at his temples, Finn wondered if Daniel’s emerging intelligence was such a good thing. The AI used to be one of the few people that simply followed his instructions – with a heavy emphasis on the past tense. Now it seemed like all three of his companions argued with him at every turn.
“I think I’m ready,” Kyyle reported a moment later, stepping back from the pit he had carved in the tunnel floor.
“Which is your cue to get moving,” Finn said, his eyes snapping to the AI. “Remain close to the edge of the tunnel entrance at first, don’t make any noise, and stay away from any fire mana crystals embedded in the walls. We need to test whether the ant can detect you based on heat alone. If that doesn’t work, then draw more attention to yourself.”
“By doing what exactly? Dancing in front of its face while shouting insults?” Daniel groused, sarcasm lacing his voice.
“Sounds good to me,” Finn answered with a grin. “Oh, and make sure you highlight joints and weak points on your way back. I want to be certain I have a clear target.”
“Of course, I’ll handle that while running for my life…”
With that, Daniel pulsed once and then set off down the tunnel. Although, Finn noted, the AI was moving slowly and weaving more than usual – perhaps a fire elemental’s equivalent of dragging his feet.
“Is it just me, or does Daniel seem to be getting a bit of an attitude?” Julia asked, sparing a confused glance at Finn.
Kyyle shrugged. “Maybe we’re witnessing fire elemental puberty or something.”
For his part, Finn wanted to deflect this line of thought. If Julia started digging too hard at how Daniel’s code was being altered, that would lead to quite a few questions that he wasn’t certain how to answer.
“Isn’t he based on your original programming, though?” Julia asked.
Finn sighed. “I’ve actually been messing with his code lately,” he replied smoothly. “I’ve been trying to make some improvements to my UI. They might have had some… unforeseen side effects.” When he looked at Julia again, he saw a skeptical look painted on her face, but she didn’t offer any follow-up questions.
Good, because we need to focus.
Finn used their remaining time wisely. He had Kyyle create a small column of earth and set the sawblade on its surface. Then he began to pre-cast Imbue Fire, his fingers winding through the gestures but hesitating before completing the spell. He needed to wait until the ant was nearly within range.
Kyyle took up a position to Finn’s left, his staff ready. He’d likely block off the tunnel with a thin barrier if they needed to retreat. For her part, Julia had pulled her daggers, the metal now coated in the familiar dark ore. It was a crude smelting job, but it might toughen the blades enough to break the ant’s chitin – or at least prevent her from destroying the knives in a single blow.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl, the seconds ticking past.
The only sound in the tunnel was their anxious breathing, the scrape of a foot across the dirt floor of the cave, and a cough as Kyyle cleared his throat.
Finn felt the ant before he saw it. It was just a faint tremor, small puffs of dust cascading from the tunnel walls. Then the rumbling grew more forceful, dull thumps echoing from the darkness. Suddenly, a ball of flame rocketed around the corner in front of them, streaking back toward the group.
“It’s coming!” Daniel shouted.
“Yeah, no shit,” Julia muttered, gripping her daggers more tightly.
For his part, Finn couldn’t spare the time to speak. As the ant came barreling towards them – its massive armored body awash in a thin coating of flame – he completed his spell. Fire soon engulfed the sawblade, and Finn’s fingers kept pushing more mana into the spell, rapidly ratcheting up to heat rank level 2.
The ant was in a full sprint, its legs smashing against the rock floor in a rhythmic thump that reminded him of a drumbeat. Its movements were also unsteady, occasionally sending the creature careening into the walls and shaving off chunks of stone. Finn certainly hoped the ants were deaf. If not, then this single worker was making enough noise to alert the whole damn Abyss.
As soon as the insect neared the edge of the makeshift pit, it simply raced out into open air, its momentum carrying its heavy body a short distance before it began to sink, soon crashing against the floor of the pit. The impact caused an explosion of dirt and debris to jet up into the air in a plume that soon obscured the ant from sight and filled the tunnel.
Luckily for Finn, Daniel had managed to highlight the ant’s joints. His eyes focused on the blue node at the base of the creature’s neck. The ant bucked and moved, shaking off the fall quickly and soon slamming its head against the stone wall beneath them. Each crash caused the dirt and stone to tremble and the small blue target to shift and jump erratically.
He’d get one shot at this.
It needed to be timed perfectly.
Finn could feel the fire mana simmering in his veins, pushing back at his doubt and hesitation. It urged him to launch the sawblade.
Yet he resisted the impulse. He needed a few more seconds. The blade began to spin in place, speeding up quickly until the glistening mandibles along its edge were merely a muted blur. The metal was also beginning to warm, glowing a soft red as Finn’s flames superheated the disc.
Aiming at a live target was much more tricky than the corpse. The creature bucked and moved, smashing its head against the wall of dirt below them before retreating. Finn took a deep breath, his mind going blank as he watched the ant repeat its usual routine. It head-butted the rock, stepped back, and shook its head as though briefly stunned by the blow.
Then it recovered and charged the wall again.
He’d have to time this just right.
Finn waited for the moment the ant was recovering from its last headbutt and preparing to wind up for another charge…
Now! Finn launched the blade.
The projectile rocketed through the cloud of debris and dust, Finn’s fingers twitching gently as he directed the blade with a delicate touch. It carved a furrow in the air that briefly revealed the fire ant worker.
The ant stumbled backward, shaking its head and revealing the armored ridge at the base of its neck. Finn took advantage of that window, the blade arcing upward slightly in the air. This shaved off some velocity in exchange for hitting the ant’s weak point. Then the disc sliced into chitin, letting out a screech of metal on metal. For a fraction of a second, the reinforced armor held, and Finn could feel doubt well in his stomach.
Would the sawblade be enough for the fire-imbued metal?
A moment later, the edge of the blade cut through and kept going, carving cleanly through the ant’s neck before crashing into the hardened chitin of its torso. The blade continued a few inches before smashing into the underside of the dark metal that coated the ant’s back, where it finally came to a stop, lodged firmly in the ant’s body.
For a moment, the creature stood in place, its movement stilling… and then stopping. Its torso and head were still awash in flames, and its antenna twitched.
Then its head fell free, crashing against the floor of the pit. Its body soon followed, the ground trembling as it slammed into the dirt and stone. Only a few seconds later, the flames along its back winked out with a faint hiss and streamers of smoke. The ant lay decapitated and unmoving.
“Well, shit,” Kyyle said i
n shock. “It worked.”
“You don’t have to sound so surprised,” Finn grumbled.
His eyes were on the pit, his thoughts troubled. Finn hopped down and approached the ant’s body. It was hot, the ambient heat not having had a chance to dissipate. Yet he ignored that, crouching beside the creature’s torso and examining where his blade had entered. With a gentle tug of his fingers, he urged the blade to come free, continuing to channel Imbue Fire.
Gradually, he managed to pull out the disc and dropped his spell.
A clump of metal and mandible dropped to the ground with a solid thunk.
Finn examined it closely. The mandible still looked like it was in okay shape, and he might be able to salvage it. Although, that was going to be a pain with the way the metal had melted down and warped around the diamond-like substance. He didn’t think it was the first strike that had destroyed the blade, but the second – likely a function of how the first blow had slowed the blade’s velocity and spin before it struck the ant’s reinforced armor head-on.
He bit his lip as he examined the angle of attack. Ideally, he could avoid the blade slamming into the ant’s torso. Unfortunately, the angle needed to hit the joint at the base of the ant’s neck made it difficult to avoid that second blow. He might be able to stop the sawblade just after the first strike, but Finn would only have a fraction of a second after it cut through the ant’s neck.
That seemed impossible – even with his reflexes.
Which meant his sawblades were a one-time-use weapon.
“Shit,” he muttered.
“What is it?” Julia asked, approaching Finn.
“Well, the good news is that we have an easier way of killing the ants,” Finn replied. “The bad news is that taking out a live ant ruins the blade.” He shook his head. “Maybe if I made the disc smaller, I could get two blades per ant…” He trailed off, half talking to himself as he glanced at the mandibles attached to the decapitated head resting on the floor. He was already mentally designing some modifications.
“Either way, it sounds like there’s only one real solution,” Julia observed, stooping and snatching the ruined sawblade from the ground. Finn glanced at her questioningly. “We’re going to have to go hunt some more ants.”
She waved at the tunnel. “Lucky for us, there are plenty of tunnels left to explore.”
Chapter 22 - Militant
Bilel’s Journal – Entry 95
While previously I have concentrated on studying the destruction of a Najima and the effects of foreign mana on the damaged limb, I believe it’s time to shift the focus of my research.
My studies have indicated that the Najima are unique in that they store and contain mana without physically transforming the caster’s body. Yet why is that the case? And more importantly, why are our Najima capable of converting the ambient mana in the world to a specific affinity? To-date, I have seen little evidence of this phenomenon in other mundane objects or living creatures. The best corollary might be a warded crystal, but even then, the passive conversion is painfully slow, taking weeks to charge even a small crystal.
I have resolved to study the Najima more carefully in a healthy subject, although first, I will need to attempt to heal my own arm.
***
“Holy shit,” Kyyle muttered, tugging at his collar. Sweat streamed down his face as he scanned the room in front of them.
“Holy flaming shit might be more accurate,” Julia retorted in a dry tone.
The group was perched next to a dense cluster of fire crystals that towered nearly six feet in the air. The ambient heat from the gems was oppressive, but they had firmly established that the ants couldn’t physically see – at least, not in the traditional sense. They seemed to only be able to sense mana with their antennae. On top of that, the ants didn’t really respond to noise, so there was little need to conceal their conversation.
As a result, when the group was near the lava lakes or fire crystals, they were effectively invisible to the ants. It made the deposits convenient – if a bit dangerous. If they happened to attract attention, it meant that they were standing beside a mound of explosives…
“This is bad,” Finn murmured, watching the creatures crawl across the cavern.
Which might have been the understatement of the day.
Finn’s map hovered in the corner of his vision, a floating three-dimensional projection of the maze-like series of tunnels they had explored over the last few days in-game. They had searched a large swathe of passages and connecting caves, all of them residing to the east of the central shaft of the Abyss.
What was more unusual was that the lower levels of the Abyss all seemed to be comprised exclusively of chambers and passages carved by the ants. The walls all bore the symmetric marks of their mandibles. Finn couldn’t help but note the similarities between the structure of the ant-made tunnels and mine shafts. They were formed in a winding, grid-like fashion, and they had witnessed more than a few of the workers tearing at a vein of the dark ore. Maybe the ants were searching for that metal? Although, it wasn’t obvious what purpose the material served other than to reinforce their armor.
What was unique about the large cavern hovering before them was its size. It was one of the first major intersections they had discovered, spanning 50 yards across and broken into multiple, tiered levels. Finn spotted at least six adjoining tunnels, turning the space into a hub of sorts. The room itself was illuminated in a soft orange glow as a result of a river of magma that ran its length. The ants had carved out makeshift rock bridges across the chasm. That showed a level of ingenuity that was at stark odds with the way the workers tended to rush them blindly.
Oh, and the cavern was literally crawling with the insects. At least five ants were visible from their position – far more than the group had tried to tackle at once.
“What are they doing over there?” Kyyle asked, pointing to a cluster of crystals along the far wall.
Finn could see that three ants hovered near the gems and seemed to be chewing on the crystals. As they looked on, the third ant shambled over to a nearby lava lake, rolled onto its back, and pushed itself toward the magma, swiftly warming the metal that coated its exoskeleton until it glowed bright red. A few seconds later, it stood and returned to the crystals. The other ants promptly began placing gems on the ant’s back, quickly setting the crystals into the soft metal in densely packed rows before it could cool.
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” Finn replied quietly.
His fingers brushed the discs attached to his hip. They had managed to down a few more worker-ants, and he had improved on his design for the sawblades. The discs were now smaller, and he could usually make two or three depending on the size of the ant. His ammo was still limited, but he supposed it was a workable solution as long as he was careful.
“Maybe placing the gems like that makes them stronger?” Kyyle suggested. “That’s what we’ve seen on the other workers – like they’re using the ambient mana to power that flame aura and strengthen their armor.”
“That’s a LOT of crystals, though,” Julia replied. “Usually, the workers only embed one or two clusters. They don’t cover their entire back. Hell, that would be dangerous since it would only take one stray brush against a cavern wall to ignite them.”
“Maybe they’re collecting the gems for some other purpose then,” Kyyle replied slowly, tapping at his console and sparing the occasional glance at the ants. “They seem to be gathering the ore too. And that’s pretty typical behavior for ants – they harvest materials and return them to their central nesting area.”
Finn was nodding along with that explanation. “If that’s the case, then this isn’t the primary colony. These seem more like mining tunnels.”
Kyyle winced. “You might be right. We could be at the fringes of the colony. If they’re anything like earth-born ants, there’s probably a breeding chamber, incubation area, maybe even a few storage caves for food and materials.”
&nbs
p; The earth mage closed his eyes, rubbing at his temples. “Although, if you keep going down that line of reasoning… shit,” he muttered.
Finn just nodded. He’d already reached a similar conclusion.
“What?” Julia asked, glancing between the earth mage and Finn.
“Well, real-world ants have multiple roles,” Kyyle offered. “Like ‘workers’ and ‘soldiers.’ They also typically have a queen. Except we haven’t seen any eggs or reproductive mechanism. In short, we haven’t seen any other ant variants.”
Julia’s eyes widened ever so slightly. “Okay, but you’re assuming this is realistic. This is still a game world. They could just spawn in from nothing when the instance resets, and we might only be facing the workers,” she offered weakly.
Finn and Kyyle stared at her with incredulous expressions.
“Yeah, okay. I get it. The game is super realistic. A girl can hope, though.”
Finn wiped at his brow. “Either way, we need to decide how to proceed. I say we draw them back into our typical pit trap. The narrow tunnel should act as a choke point, regardless of their numbers. As long as they come at us one-by-one, we should be fine.”
Kyyle and Julia both seemed skeptical. They looked worn and tired, sweat dripping down their cheeks. They had been at this for days already, and they could all use a break. The relentless stress of searching the tunnels, gradually inching their way forward as they built more traps, had begun to take its toll. This area was clearly a high-level zone, and they were barely scratching by as it was.
On the other hand, he doubted it was going to get any easier. They needed to keep moving. With the level difference, every dead ant provided a decent amount of experience, which meant better stats and upgraded skills. Plus, each corpse meant more materials and one less enemy between them and the upper levels of the Abyss.
This was a marathon – not a sprint.
“Come on,” Finn urged them, slinking back toward the tunnel. “Let’s get into our positions.” With weary nods, the others followed his lead, drifting back into the darkness.
Awaken Online- Flame Page 22
