Thirty seconds after Wain entered the dungeon, he encountered his first opponents. These ants were different from the previous ones. They were slightly smaller, the growths on their paws were not as sharp, but they were several times more.
At that moment, they were digging something into the walls of the cave. They were small pebbles that they were carrying somewhere. When Wain saw them, he pulled his gun out of its ring and shot one of them in the head.
The ant's head exploded like a watermelon, and the white soul headed for Wain.
[Soul of Demonic Ant-Man (Destroyed)
Chronicle: Primary
Rating: Common]
When the other ants saw Wain, they quickly ran away. It was their lair, but they had orders not to fight anyone. Their task was only to gather resources. It was up to the other ants to deal with the invaders. The worker ants would only attack Wain if he approached the center of the lair. But, before that, he had to fight some pretty serious opponents.
"What a big guy, they've got a real army here," Wain muttered as he looked at the big ant coming his way.
It was the Sentinel Ant, his attacking abilities were not as great as the Soldier Ant, but his defense was high. He would fight Wain and hold him back while the other ants bombard Wain from afar.
Behind the Sentinel Ants were four Arrow Ants, each with an ample supply of acid in their belly, which they could fire in any direction. Wain was surprised by this kind of organization, even in ants.
"Let's see how well you shoot." Mumbled Wain and fired four accurate shots.
However, the Arrow Ants were able to dodge thanks to their instincts. They ducked, and the massive bullets flew a few centimeters from their bodies.
In the next moment, each of the ants fired a bullet composed of acid. The bullets flew very fast, but Wain had no trouble dodging. His stats were much higher than those of a mere human. He was very fast and agile.
"Damn, I thought I'd be able to conserve a full supply of energy before I got to the center of the lair." Mumbled Wain and used the Destruction Sword.
The dark sword appeared over the Arrow Ants and chopped their heads off in a couple of seconds. Wain swung his arm, and the dark sword came down on the Sentinel Ants, but to his surprise, the sword could not penetrate the monster's sturdy armor.
Wain tried to wound the Sentinel Ant by aiming at the less protected areas, but he was unsuccessful. At the same time, the monster ran toward him. Its front paws were very large and strong. It was going to grab Wain with them and crush him.
Wain could have used Lightning Lizard's Dash and tried to hurt the monster that way, but he didn't want to waste extra energy. He had another way to kill this ant without serious energy loss.
When the Sentinel Ant almost reached Wain, the Ring of Damned glowed, and a grenade appeared in Wain's hands.
At the very last moment, he dodged the ant's massive paws and shoved the grenade into its mouth. The effect was immediate, and a few seconds later, the monster's head exploded into pieces.
"I didn't go to the gun store for nothing after all. Unlikely bullets would have harmed this ant, but it can't survive the explosion of a grenade inside its body." Wain said contentedly, looking at the soul flying toward him.
[Soul of Demonic Sentinel Ant (Damaged)
Chronicle: Primary
Rating: Common]
'Great, at least something useful.' Wain thought and crushed the soul.
[You have acquired the Soul Essence of Demonic Sentinel Ant level 7. Strength +2, Stamina +2]
'Not bad, I'm getting stronger and stronger. But, given their numbers, I'll probably have to kill quite a few of these ants to get a lot of characteristics. Thought Wain and moved on.
The worker ants ran away. They weren't going to fight Wain until they received a direct order from the leadership.
Wain had quite a few weapons, but he only had twenty grenades. He had to spend them wisely because rifles couldn't penetrate the tough armor of even an ordinary, mutated ant.
'I need to improve the Destruction Sword somehow. Increasingly I encounter creatures whose armor I can't penetrate. In that case, I have no use for swordsmanship if my weapon cannot wound my opponent.' Thought Wain.
The next moment he saw a horde of Demonic Ants coming towards him. Among them were several Sentinel Ants and quite a few Soldier Ants. They were smaller than the Sentinel Ants, but they had powerful jaws and sharp forelegs.
The Sentinel Ants would take attacks on themselves, while the Soldier Ants would attack Wain. Their jaws were powerful enough to cut Wain in two.
'Hmm, there are about twenty of them, and five of them are Sentinel Ants. I'll have to spend all my grenades on killing them.' Thought Wain, and the ring on his hand glowed brightly.
Five grenades appeared in his hand, and he threw them all in the direction of the ants. Then he did the same, using up all the remaining grenades. Wain was not going to risk himself to save an extra grenade.
The grenades were consumables that Wain didn't mind wasting at the right moment.
Seconds later, several explosions rang out. The cave shook, stone shards and purple crystals broke off and fell down. Many Demon Ants were killed, but two Soldier Ants survived.
"They had their backs to the Sentinel Ants and therefore were able to survive. Isn't it selfish to expose a comrade to a blow to survive yourself?" Wain said with a smirk and swung his hand.
The dark sword stabbed into the heads of the surviving ants one by one and killed them.
Unfortunately, Wain didn't get a single soul above the quality of Destroyed. However, when he crushed the last soul, he saw several messages.
[You have leveled up to level 7. You get 3 status points to distribute freely]
[You get Common Rating Spiritual Box]
Wain assumed that he should have leveled up soon, but he didn't expect to get the Spiritual Box now.
Wain immediately opened a small, white box, and he received a sphere, black and green, with various patterns on it.
[Demonic Ant's Acid Bomb (Primary Chronicle, Common Rating)
This bomb is filled with a very corrosive acid rare Demonic Ant. This acid can melt even very strong steel. All creatures whose Stamina is less than 25 will take heavy damage. Blast Radius - 10 meters]
Wain tossed the bomb overhead, then caught it and moved it to the Ring of Damned.
"Not bad, that's what I need," Wain said contentedly and moved on.
He was pleased with the item he received. Expendable items couldn't compare in usefulness to any equipment or skill, but they mostly didn't require energy to use. By using this bomb, Wain would kill many enemies without expending his energy. Sure, he only had one bomb, but it was enough to win some battle.
Wain spent the next ten minutes fighting the ants attacking him. They were not serious opponents, and Wain dealt with them easily, although he used Lightning Lizard's Dash a few times.
Eventually, Wain stopped facing the ants. He didn't know the reason but decided to move on through the cave.
'I've already fought quite a few ants, but it doesn't feel like a whole colony. I keep walking down one cave, and I haven't yet encountered any branches or passages to other caves. It's very strange.' Wain thought and suddenly came to a vertical descent.
This descent was at a 90-degree angle and was perfectly straight, except for the small bumps left by the ants' paws.
"If I go down now, I probably won't come back up the same way. Unlike ants, I can't climb walls... although... I do have one option." Wain muttered and waved his hand.
He decided to descend, but the descent was very deep over thirty meters. Even considering his stats, Wain would not survive a fall from such a great height.