The tendrils dragged Kyle up as he struggled against the restraints, all four of his limbs wrapped tightly. They lifted him above the gap, revealing a weird large overgrown tunnel whose walls were like the interior of a tree trunk. Kyle was surprised by the scale of the ‘tree’, noticing that he could not see the end of the ‘trunk’ on either way.
Now’s not the time to be amazed. Kyle glanced at the source of the tendrils, noticing that it was a grotesque mass of flesh that seemed to be an amalgamation of the mineral ants, a weird bulbous creation that pulsated with a heartbeat of sorts. It was guarded by nearly five dozen warrior mineral ants and two dozen venom-spitting hornets, along with a legion of normal mineral ants whose beady eyes were all locked onto Kyle.
It looked something akin to a living brain, albeit it was covered in moss green along with a weird insectoid eyeball mounted on the side. Kyle was not too disgusted, having seen worse in the Galactic Era. Life has a way of… making life.
The tendrils flipped Kyle upside down, hauling him closer to the insectoid eyeball, who observed him intently, twisting and examining him from all angles.
Kyle noticed traces of arcia engravings all over the interior of the translucent ‘brain’, pulsating like neurons while a continuous stream of mineral ants carried up chunks of the crystal outcrop, feeding into the gaping maw of the ‘brain’ at the top, a greenish-gas burping out with each convulsion.
At the centre of the brain was a golden crystal that was brimming with arcia energy. Kyle assumed it served as the heart of the brain, a core of sorts. Forget about being a xenobiologist. The bigger question is, how do I get out of this mess?
Both his weapons had been left behind at the crystal outcrop, leaving only the armour on his body along with the Aero Shoes and Necklace of Healing.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Item
[Aero Shoes (Basic)]
For swift feet
+4 AGI, +1 CHA
Active Skill: Sprint - Allows the wielder to move slightly faster
MP Cost per Activation: 2 MP
Duration: Fifteen seconds
Cooldown: One minute
The moment Kyle felt the jerk of the tendrils twist him around once more, he activated the aero shoes, causing the spin to be even faster than expected while he used his teeth to bite at the nearest tendril that was coiled around his right arm.
A jolt of pain arced through the nervous system of the brain, causing the maw to release an ungodly scream as one tendril involuntarily let go of Kyle’s right arm, freeing it and allowing him to wrestle the tendrils free.
Before he could get his left arm free, the tendrils suddenly slammed him to the ground, the three remaining tendrils keeping a tight grip on him as they swung him around, dragging him along the overgrown floor.
Kyle spotted a sharp wooden branch along the floor as his face was mashed against the ground. He grabbed hold of it and used it to stab at the tendrils repeatedly, the blood in his brain pumping loudly in his ears as he was flung at high speeds.
With a series of deep jabs, Kyle managed to free himself from the tendrils, prompting a dozen warrior mineral ants to rush at him in mid-air, attempting to tear him to pieces.
As Kyle fell, he twisted his body to dodge an incoming blade strike before grabbing onto the body of a warrior mineral ant and using it as a platform. Memorising where the previous groove was, he used his raw strength to dig in deep to the warrior mineral ant who flailed about in the air, unable to twist its arms enough to reach Kyle in its blind spot.
Kyle used his other hand to continuously chop at the arm, hitting it four times in rapid succession before pulling the blade free and stabbing it right into the head of the warrior mineral ant, before using its body and jumping off it to the next warrior mineral ant.
The next warrior slashed violently at Kyle, forcing him to block with the new black obsidian blade and being knocked towards the ground, crashing into the pile as the normal mineral ants began to swarm towards him, every former sense of apprehension lost under the coercion of the ‘brain’.
I have to take down the brain if I want the swarm to end! Kyle fended off the incoming tide of mineral ants, stabbing ferociously as he pushed himself to the limits. The mineral ants were not particularly intelligent, unable to execute advanced combat moves and merely throwing their bodies towards Kyle, making it easy for Kyle to kill them in one single blow.
With the experience learnt over the last twenty minutes of fighting, Kyle now knew exactly where to strike for an instant death to the ants. The bodies began to pile up around him, forcing him to change locations repeatedly to prevent being squashed by the numerous corpses. Each blow dealt meant that one ant died, allowing him to cull their numbers with ease as he danced and weaved through the legion, only stopped by the warrior mineral ants who intervened, along with the venom-spitting hornets who tried to nail him head-on.
By utilising proper positioning, he was able to always have a warrior ant between him and the incoming acid, using their bodies to block the attacks. Slowly but surely, he began to carve his way to the brain.
The moment he was within a meter, he could feel the same abrupt surge in the flow of arcia energy, all swirling towards the ‘brain’ that seemed to be charging up for something coming from its maw. It’s gearing up for another scream?!
Kyle would not be able to handle that scream point blank, his eardrums already forced to be healed by the Necklace of Healing. Like hell, I’ll let you. Negation Field!
As the negation field spread out in a radius, a warrior mineral ant that was diving towards him suddenly lost control of its wings, crashing to the ground while the ‘brain’ recoiled in pain, the arcia energy going completely haywire within its body, the flow now turbulent and trying to push against its constraints within. The golden core itself was showing signs of stress, the ‘brain’ unable to bear the pain.
Every flying mineral ant in a five-meter radius around Kyle all nosedived, their wings completely unable to function like before. I was beginning to think it was unnatural for them to be able to fly – so they were relying on engravings on the wings.
Kyle quickly reached the surface of the ‘brain’, immediately ducking as a tendril swiped at him. With a roar, Kyle thrust the blade deep into the ‘brain’, beginning to run around it and dragging the blade as it carved along the surface. He avoided swipes and stopped to punch a few mineral ants who got too close.
The translucent innards of the ‘brain’ began to spill outwards, the gelatinous blob deflating as the tendrils flailed crazily, even crushing some of its own mineral ants as it desperately tried to stop Kyle from attacking. Kyle reached the joint of the tendrils and chopped them off in one fell swoop, allowing him full reign.
None of the venom-spitting wasps dared to fire their acid globs at Kyle – the mineral ants were immune to it, but the ‘brain’ was not. As such, Kyle only had to fend off the warrior mineral ants, whose actions were heavily limited by the negation field preventing them from using their wings normally to approach.
Kyle continued to cut at the surface and dug in deep, eventually chopping enough to reach the golden core in the centre. Plunging his hand in, he grabbed onto the core, yanking it out as visible pulses of arcia energy surged outwards through what remained of the ‘brain’.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Item
[Artificial Hive Core]
Rule the horde with a single thought
Active Skill: Control (Basic) – Ability to control up to a dozen mineral ants permanently as long as wielded
Improves their stats
Cost: 5 MP per mark
Duration: Permanent
Cooldown: None
Cancel Negation Field!
The negation field ended abruptly, allowing the warrior ants to regain flight once again and swoop in at Kyle.
Penchant for Violence! Aero Shoes!
Kyle’s figure became a blur as he immediately rushed at the nearest warrior mineral ant on the ground, channelling the arcia energy into the Artificial Hive Core. Kyle did not know how the marking system worked just yet, so he simply had the core and his hands touch the body of the ant.
A small golden streak of arcia energy lanced outwards from the hive core, the tendril snaking into the warrior mineral ant as its body violently shuddered and collapsed to the floor. Kyle had no time to figure out if it worked or not, quickly avoiding three venomous spits that were aimed right at him.
His feet squashed the remnants of the brain as he parried a few more warrior mineral ants, repeating the process on them. Even if it did not work, the golden tendril seemed to be a one-hit knockout, which was more than good enough for him. However, the MP consumption was dangerously high, with his internal arcia energy storage nearing depletion. Once I mark all twelve, that would be 60 MP.
Kyle was about to give up when the first warrior ant he marked suddenly skittered back to life, automatically attacking the nearby mineral ants and gutting them with ferocity. With his method of marking confirmed, he marked a total of eight warrior mineral ants before riding one of them up to the venom-spitting hornets, leaping onto them and marking them as well.
Soon, he had four of them marked, all of them now fighting alongside him against the remaining mineral ants who were lacking leadership and confused, the ‘brain’ no longer around to guide and control them.
The mineral ants on the crystal outcrop began to lose coordination, quickly flying back out through the gaping hole in the ceiling while Kyle continuously killed as many as he could before they could escape.
Not all of the marked ants survived, prompting Kyle to continuously replace them with those tenacious enough to remain behind or those dumb enough. Within minutes, Kyle had cleaned up the battle, with more than half of the swarm retreating down into the darkness far beyond what Kyle’s eyes could perceive.
Returning back to the crystal outcrop, which was now free of mineral ants, he rode the marked ants in, earning himself a barrage of rock spikes and energy beams. Kyle mentally commanded the ants, allowing them to quickly land on the flat top of the outcrop to avoid being exposed to all the spikes.
“Ranged, fire at the ceiling: target energy beam spiders. Warrior ants, deflect rock spikes now!” Kyle ordered as the familiar rejuvenation effect of the crystalised arcia began to surge through his body, replenishing the MP he had used.
The rapid restoration expanded his internal arcia energy storage and affinity even further, allowing him to properly visualise it and feel it with even more intimacy than ever before.
The stark contrast between his near-depleted state and his now refuelling state gave a new insight as to how much better and more efficient he could be in the management of his arcia energy. It was as though a sudden epiphany had struck him right in the head as the rock spikes and energy beams were deflected by the warrior ants who stood guard around him. His muscles felt invigorated while his senses were heightened closer to before the debilitating poison from Nox had hit him.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
Title Obtained
[Arcia Reinforcement – Stage 1]
Unique Title Applied from Arcian’s Passive Skill
+10 STR, +10 DEX, +10 INT, +10 VIT, +10 HP, +10 MP, +10 STA
+10% reduction in arcia activation cost
+10% improvement in duration of arcia skills
+5% affinity with arcia energy
“Time to clean up this trial.”
