The shadows of leaves danced under the moonlight, and the breeze created a haunting melody as John moved vigilantly. A heavy weight of worry pressed on his chest, and every rustle of leaves kept John on his toes.
The closer he got to the dungeon, the more his thoughts were clouded with uncertainty. Suddenly pausing, John's ears twitched as he looked to his right. 'I just heard something.'
Step by step, he got closer to the source of the sound. John's eyes widened, his skin prickling with unease. Before him was a group of ants, each the size of a fist. They scurried in unnatural ways. Their mandibles were clicking regularly, making unsettling noises. Their back gave a metallic gleam in the soft moonlight, while their sinister eyes glowed with malicious red light. Their antennae twitched in uncanny coordination. Their hissing noise while moving made his skin crawl.
'Did the whole colony—mutate... or just this group?!'
Taking quiet steps back, John backtracked his footsteps with sweat on his back. 'What should I do now? Should I call for backup?' His heart raced as he pondered his next move.
He racked his brain to think of an idea; looking all around, suddenly his eyes lit up. 'I can climb a tree and look from above to see how many of them.' John began to climb a nearby tall tree, looking from above, his sight extended to the horizon.
Changing his Smart-Lenses to Night-Vision, the whole world turned into shades of green, and the trees turned to white color. Shifting his attributes to flexibility, John's idea was to move from tree to tree to survey the mutated ants. (AGL:16→ 11, FLX:10.5 →15.5.)
'I didn't try this before, but it shouldn't be difficult… I think!' John took a deep breath before exhaling softly. He waited for the breeze to come; once he felt it, he jumped to the adjacent tree.
"Uh oh!" The thick branch he jumped to started to tremble violently, causing John to sway. His arms flailing wildly as he fought to maintain his balance on the violently shaking branch. "Oh no!" His heart pounded against his chest as the shaking almost made him lose footing.
'Oh yes! ' Just as he stabilized himself, he heard the sound of the branch creaking under his weight.
' Oh God, no!'
He pushed off with all his strength, diving forward. The broken branch crashed to the forest floor below as he barely got the time to hug the tree trunk. ' Phew, that was close.'
The scent of damp wood and leaves filled his nostrils as he looked down. He saw one of the ants leave its group and go toward the fallen branch. 'Sh– !'
John moved his body around until he found a stable footing. He traced the ant movement with his eyes, seeing it coming closer and closer. He grabbed the bow, nocked an arrow, and waited.
Aiming, John took a deep breath and held it. Just as he was about to release the string, the ant stopped, and its antennae moved in an erratic pattern before going in a different direction. John still focused on it and saw it piercing with one of its legs, a leafy ground. Then, a squealing sound echoed in the surroundings.
A small rabbit was trying to run, but it was held strongly by the ant as it excreted some liquid, which made the rabbit twitching but immobile. The ant began to eat the rabbit, and more ants came to its way wanting to share the meal.
John swallowed in nervousness, seeing this scene. But not forgetting his intention, he began counting the ants. ' one, two, three... seven, eight...'
After counting, he exhaled in relief. The mutated ants were only 23—not a whole colony as he feared at first. After the ants ate all the small rabbits in the nest. They moved around, not in any purposeful way.
'They are small, and there are not many of them. I will shoot them from above; it's safer and better.' John strategies in his mind while drawing the bow to its limits, making it a crescent shape. Readying his mind, he took a deep breath, and his eyes sharpened. Concentrating on the ants below, the first arrow was shot with a whoosh.
Before the ants discovered one of them died, another ant was impaled to the ground with its sister. A wave of arrows, as deadly rain from the sky, each pierced an ant, implanting them to the earth. They frantically scurried, desperate to escape, but John's merciless arrows haunted them one by one.
As he released another volley, the ants' desperate attempts to escape only made them easier targets.
After only one minute, all the mutated ants were pierced by an arrow. Climbing down the tree with a sense of accomplishment, John found the ants still squirming even after the arrows went through. them, making his hair stand out from the creepy scene. After cutting them again one by one with his sword, they finally lay still.
'Phew, I thought it would be harder.' John's sigh of relief was audible as he collected his arrows from the dead bodies.
After scanning the mutant ants and sending their data to Henry, he resumed his journey, searching for the dungeon.
Moving deeper, John shifted his attributes to agility. (FlX: 15.5→10.5, AGL 11→ 16)
Suddenly, all John senses screamed at him to duck. Without taking a second to think, he threw himself into the ground, rolling. Before he registered, a flying shadow hit the ground where he had just been. Getting up, John saw a huge, demonic version of what was once an owl flying out of sight.
The mutant owl's flight was absolutely silent, contrary to its huge body. Its feathers, a mix of gray and black, made it more impossible to spot it in the dark night. Even normal owls had large, forward-facing eyes with intense gazes. But the owl John faced now had eyes that could only be described as bloodlusting red. Its beak appeared normal at first, but when it opened, it split into four parts, each lined with fangs. Its talons, once merely sharp, now gleamed with a dangerous, lethal edge. Its coos now sound more like ghost cries.
John's face turned grave, spinning in cycles, trying to locate this abomination of a bird. He unsheathed his sword, his hand turning white from his firm grip.
His senses gave him another severe warning. Heading the warning, John rolled one more time in the ground. The owl flew away again after its second failed attempt, casting a shadow on the ground as it disappeared between the trees and its leaves.
John's forehead filled with sweat traced along his face, dripping to the ground. Every cell of his body was in a tense state, telling him to never lower his guard. His eyes darted, looking all around him, desperate to spot this predator. ' What the—! How do I fight what I can't see?'