Ackster leaped up as soon as he decided it wasn't viable to try and fight it out. He saw both that it had been a wise choice and a potential escape route. The army of ants had completely overtaken their previously grassy surroundings. The rippling waves of brown chitin carapace were enough to send shivers down Ackster's spine, especially when he thought of how he hadn't noticed anything until it was too late.
But the ants weren't only in the way of their retreat from the Cloven Grasslands. They were the way.
They were more than hard and strong enough to carry Ackster's and Karandiel's combined weight, so Ackster jumped from ant to ant as he tried to look for an end to the army. But no matter where he looked, he only saw ants, ants, and more ants.
It was close to making him despair. But he didn't stop running or think about giving up. With all that he had gone through already and with everything he had left to do to secure his future, a couple of overgrown ants wouldn't be enough to stop him. He wouldn't let them stop him.
It was just that it felt like he would starve to death before they could reach the end. That was unless he could start munching on the ants. However, there were at least two problems with that.
Their armor made it difficult to access the edible and nutritious parts of the ants. And Ackster was still carrying Karandiel.
Ackster ran across the backs of the ants, avoiding their snapping mandibles, as he thought about what he could do.
"Any ideas?"
At least the situation was under enough control to ask Karandiel what she thought. Since she was a former angel, she might know something, even if she had lost her angelic powers.
"Change how you're carrying me first."
Karandiel grumbled out her displeasure in one quick sentence between bounces so she didn't accidentally bite her tongue.
Ackster grunted his assent before spinning her around and putting Karandiel on his back. She latched her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist so that his hands were free.
Although the situation was under relative control, it was still too dire for Ackster to think about how Karandiel was holding on to him or how soft it was.
"Damn!"
Karandiel swore as soon as she got a proper look at what they were dealing with.
She leaned her head in close to Ackster. The ants were noisy, but they weren't too loud to hear what the other was saying. She just did it while adjusting her grip so Ackster would be a little more comfortable.
"You got a plan for this?"
"Well, they aren't that strong individually."
"I guess."
Karandiel couldn't agree or disagree. She couldn't properly assess the ants' individual strength. But even if she could, it wouldn't matter, would it? After all, there were several million of them, at least.
"No time for details, but I could do it."
"Do what?"
"Defeat them."
"Don't be ridiculous."
"I guess I am. But I'm dead serious. I fight and recover by eating what I fight. With this many ants, it would take a while, but it wouldn't be impossible."
"But…?"
"But I'm not alone."
Ackster gave Karandiel a sideways glance.
"Right…."
Karandiel's mood sank. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this powerless. Well, as long as she excluded when her god cast her down from heaven. She had been selected as an angel for her outstanding power and faith. Even before that, she had always been the one others relied on.
She didn't know how long it had been, but her time in the divine realm had also never been an issue for her. She had been at ease most of the time except for the period leading up to her fall. She had never worried about whether she would survive or not ever since her youth, which felt like it had been an eternity ago.
Yet, here she was, clinging onto a random man's back, hoping it was all a bad dream. She knew it wasn't. And she knew that it was her fault that Ackster couldn't defeat the ants.
She had realized that the ants were moving below Ackster's feet. Even if he ran for an eternity, the ants' movements would keep him trapped until he died from exhaustion or starvation. And if she had realized it, so had Ackster, hopefully.
Karandiel's powerlessness forced her to accept that she was a burden. Without her, Ackster wouldn't be struggling trying to find a solution or way out of this ocean of ants.
She clutched Ackster tighter, wondering if she should do the opposite and let go. She didn't want to die, and her dispute with her god stemmed from the unnecessary deaths of humans in the first place.
Yet here she was, about to bring an ordinary man, who selflessly offered to help and guide her during her stay in the mortal world, with her to the embrace of death. She really was a failure. She hadn't done anything as an angel, and on her first day back in Millmeria, she was about to die and get an innocent man killed.
In that case, wouldn't it be better if she died first and let that innocent man do his best to continue living?
'No.'
Karandiel shook her head.
'That's not why I fought with My—...with Yillister.'
"Book of Convictions. Third Volume. Chapter One. Selfish selflessness."
Karandiel's voice rang out—further than it should have with how weak she was. Her words thrummed with power as a book appeared in front of her.
It was bound with white leather and had golden linings. 'Book of Convictions III' was written on the front with golden ink that gleamed in the late night's moon and starlight.
It flipped open on its own and revealed a blank first page. Golden ink gradually seeped into the page and filled it with, first, a header. 'Selfish selflessness.'
Then came a quick recounting of the chain of events that led up to her current situation.
Karandiel finished off the chapter with, 'There is nothing wrong with being weak, with being helped, with being protected. But, if in doing so, one is bringing down the ones with strength, the ones helping, the ones protecting, one ought to stop wallowing in self-loathing, pity, and apathy. Even if only to ease the burdens on others, do naught but protect oneself.'
Karandiel let go of the white, golden-tipped quill that had somehow appeared in her hand. As she let go, it and the book, now closed after she finished the first chapter, disappeared into thin air.
With the Book of Conviction's disappearance, a golden light spread around Karandiel and enveloped her in a dome of translucent light.
"Now, Brian, go wild."
Karandiel spoke and got her words to Ackster right before the dome closed in front of her and pushed her off Ackster's back, and sealed itself around her, isolating her from the outside world.