In the midst of my mind, a certain discussion was taking place between my tenant and the ant queen. Both of them had talked about the events, that had unfolded right in front of them. Though their focus lied entirely elsewhere.
" What even was the outcome of the mission he gave you?" a slightly annoyed voice said.
The ant queen was surprised, it was a first, that he asked her about a mission given by her reckless host.
" Sir, his hypothesis had been correct. The Observer views this world through the interaction of the Magic particles. I have been discovered the moment, I touched the ground. None of the strategies he came up with, work as the magic particles are too small."
" What else?" the voice did not seem to be surprised by the statement of the queen ant, it had been in his expectations.
" The other objectives were a great success as well. I could confirm, that our matter is capable of binding the mana particles. This interference was done on a small scale and covered up by the actions I had used as I scouted the area. During my scouting mission, I discovered many positions of interest." the ant queen said without a change of expression.
" His plan will lead to a lot of trouble" The strange voice had turned solemn, as he thought about the future complications arising out of the endeavour of his partner. Despite his worries, he could not prevent a small chuckle from escaping his lips.
" But I have seen enough of his past life to know, that the Observer is in for a rude awakening if it does not respect this human. This brat is truly nefarious even by my standards."
The ant queen looked surprised after hearing about this judgement. He was a creature, that had existed for countless ages and yet he viewed this human so highly, that truly baffled her. She could not get her head around the fact, that such a lowly life form, was evaluated that way.
" Sir, please excuse my curiosity, but what exactly makes this human special? In my eyes, he does not offer anything besides his knowledge.
" His knowledge certainly is very intriguing, but it is not the thing I have set my eyes upon. This is the very first body, I have been in that seems to deny every magic it comes into contact with. A being without mana, something this world has never seen. I am getting excited just thinking about all the possibilities."
He was giggling as he spoke about all the prospects his current body has to offer. This general excitement filled the space with a strange vibe.
The ant queen did not know how long it had been since she saw him react like that. Was it after the final victory against his nemesis or was it after he resisted the heavenly thunder after angering the heavens?
The laughing continued loudly, without any care in the world.
" It truly had been long since I felt so agitated. I had forgotten this kind of feeling, but this world has much more to offer than I had initially expected."
The ant queen did not want to disturb this happy occasion but the circumstances did not allow to avoid the inevitable anymore.
" Sir, please do not forget about the compensation he has demanded."
The cheerful atmosphere turned into a chilling one in a matter of seconds. It was obvious, that he did not like the words the ant queen had just spoken.
" That bastard, he may hide behind his fancy words and smile but on the inside, he is rotten to the core."
The anger in his voice nearly became tangible and his breathing was heavy and forceful. The ant queen could understand his response, that demand was utterly humiliating for him. But he had to honour it because the consequences were way worse for both sides.
" What's wrong with his mind, to make me into his personal jukebox. As if I did not have anything better to do, than repeating sounds whenever he wants. Does it look like an entity like me, should be used like an idiotic tool? It's absolutely irritating, this hateful wretch.
This deal was made, back than her host briefly lost his consciousness after the explosion from one of his experiments.
His demands were quite simple, he asked his partner to take over his body for a brief period of time, in order to fool the Observer. He brought up several options, that he would need and kept on stressing the importance of these measures.
After a fierce negotiation, they agreed on the following conditions.
1 Her host had to show him memories, that caused huge emotional stimuli.
2 Should his partner refuse to hand over the control of his body, he would take it back by force. Afterwards, his partner would lose access to all memories and future knowledge.
3 He was allowed to utilize the abilities of the other party if he paid with memories of equal value.
4 This contract needed both parties to agree before becoming void.
At the point the contract had been signed, the ant queen wondered why her host agreed so quickly to the terms written in it. The expression on his face should have been a foreboding sign, but she thought his panicked acts where a result of his body falling to his doom.
That madman was not worried about his safety, but that his "partner" would recognize the huge blunder he was about to commit. After the treaty had been signed his expression turned unsightly and he turned around to avoid any mishaps but both of them caught wind of it and an ominous feeling overcame them.
The rest was history as the mistake came back to haunt them, the moment he demanded to use his voice to play the sounds of one of his memories. The phrasing of "equal value" came back to mind This act is some simple, that it could be done effortlessly. Yet it was the only thing he asked for.
This selfish human cleary exploits this loophole and takes advantage of the fact, that this deed has next to no worth. In fact, granting it access to the memory was already considered an exchange of equal value. Asking for anything more was ruthlessly smacked down and met with contempt.
This bad memory had just been suppressed by him and yet it came back with even more force. What use could he even take from repeating the sounds of these memories? Effectively nothing had changed for his partner but he was taken advantage off over and over him as long as this contract was still active.
There was no hope for this contract to turn void, as his host would be truly dumb to give away his favourable position for free. Sadly, he knew, that he had not seen the end of it yet. This brat surely had a lot more schemes in his devious mind.
Looking at the brat, that was currently bashing his fist into the skull of a fox, left a bad taste in his mouth. This brat was a savage with no respect for anything. Why exactly was he using the corpse of the wolf as a weapon to kill the other monsters?
There are so many viable options and he chooses the most distasteful one. He got the feeling, that confining this brat into this space was a safety measure. After a vicious battle, the brat was biting into the corpses madly consuming what was in front of him. The ant queen had disappeared from his side and was now eating the carcasses as well.
A lot of monsters would have to fall in order to satisfy the demand for nutrition. With the brats focus being elsewhere he had enough time to review the memories once again to find any valuable information.
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Blasting music in my head while fighting those creatures was a pleasant feeling. I felt just like Rocky as I heard the Eye of the tiger. Giving a 1-2 combination left the wolf in front of me in a daze. Finishing it with a vicious haymaker after weaving 2 of its attacks. Licking the blood from my hands was invoking a great feeling on my tongue leaving me wanting more.
Looking at the spoils of victory in front of my eyes I had close to a minute to consume as much of the wolf before it disappeared again. While uncooked meat tastes horrible, I was left with no other choice because there was not enough time to cook it.
After devouring as much meat as possible, I had to make a choice. This situation could not go on this way. The pressure from the magic increased by the seconds and the monsters were getting stronger as well. This is what the Observer warned me about. I guess my vacation was pretty short-lived as busy times were coming up.
Solving this problem with brute force was not possible anymore. At least not with my current strength. If those players felt like fish in water, then I felt like a fish in cement facing the ever-increasing level of mana.
Sadly, the monsters were not considerate enough to wait for me and began to rush forward madly. The bones began to crack and the muscles ached under this level of stress. I lost my biggest edge over these monsters, as I could hardly take advantage out of my speed anymore.
It was only a matter of time before a serious injury occurred. It was unavoidable, so it came as no surprise to me as I was bitten by a wolf in my left calf. Its bite was deep, even affecting my muscle tissue. It was the first wound, I received today, that hindered my fighting.
I grabbed the wolf and used him as a shield to block the upcoming attacks from these monsters. They were paying no concern about the wolf and these attacks caused some deadly injuries. The wolf did not even have time to free itself from my grasp, as my claws were deeply embedded in its flesh.
With one wolf down, I looked at my surroundings to gauge my options Currently they were 4 monsters lively monsters surrounding me. The meatshield in my hands was already deceased. The biggest obstacle was the bear, that was sprinting at me flashing its teeth. The other 3 creatures were monsters I have not seen till now they resembled lizards but had the body of a snake. This weird hybrid was quite fast but they did not pose any threat to me as of now.
I throw my body to the side in order to escape the paws, that was coming at me full of force. I escaped the vicious blow but was bitten by 2 of small lizards instead as they coiled around my arms in order to prevent any movement from my limbs. The last one had tangled itself around my neck trying to cut off my bloodstream. This entanglement was nicely executed exploiting several weaknesses of the human anatomy.
But I am not that much of a human anymore. I managed to rip free my right arm by biting through its thick skin. Some of my teeth shattered upon impact, but that was a sacrifice I had to make with my right arm free I launched my next attack at the bear, who came rushing at me again.
This time I aimed for its temple with my sharp nails and landed a solid hit. The nails sunk into its head but not deep enough to cause any real damage. The bear was not too impressed by my attack and began to throw its left paw onto my body. Trying to dodge, I noticed in sheer horror, that my nails are stuck.
The attack hit me straight on my chest and I was launched backwards. The nails broke with a loud sound under the force of that blow. Upon landing on the ground, I was forced to spit out blood. It truly had been a long time I received a wound like this from a blow. Even my ribcage was caved in a little.
My body was still a lot weaker than I had expected. Previously It might have been enough, but as of now, I can not take hits as I used to without worry.
My first action was to get rid of the lizards constricting my movement. With one swift motion, I ripped the lizard on my other arm straight off. Afterwards, I moved my arms towards the lizard on my neck and turned its head around so I could blow warm air into its mouth.
This was a pure gamble, as I did not know whether the lizard would react like the snakes I know from Earth. Luckily enough it was the same and the snake let go of its restriction. Without enough to celebrate my newfound freedom I had to react once again to an attack that came towards me.
I ducked under the paw aimed at my head and put the snake around its jaw before pulling downwards. This movement caused the bear's head to come down, where I held both ends of the snake with one of my hands. The other hand was lifted and used to punch at the nails that were still embedded in its flesh. It was a tense situation, but those nails finally found their target after they entered the brain.
The ending of this fight was a bit anticlimactic. I dragged the limp corpse of the bear and threw it into the ward to clear a path for me. It was the right moment to back off and recuperate my wounds. After successfully passing the lake with only one or 2 fish still being stuck on my flesh I sat down and watched in delight as these monsters ran into the water in their fury.
I have to get stronger and prepare if I want to be able to kill these monsters. So let me start with the push-ups as I used to do back then.
Let me see the absolute limit my body can reach.