While Makoa grumbled and complained about how Kyle seemingly was doing all of this on a whim, Kyle kept his mind set on the goal even as they were hunted down through the slums in the night, encircled by soldiers who were supported by large blinding arctech spotlights from the walls.
Their light swept across the corrugated metal roofs and reflected upon the myriad of skirmishes breaking out all over the slums as the soldiers were beset on all sides as well, harassed by the locals in any way, shape, or form.
“What’s taking so long? Why can’t we capture that rabble-rouser – what’s his name again?” The same officer in charge of the local soldiers fumed as he stood on top of the walls next to a spotlight manned by a soldier.
“Makoa of Desham, sir. We’re having a hard time pushing through the slums; the people are highly supportive of his actions.”
“Is he even a local?”
“Not sure. His name does not show up on the list of residents, but we have quite a few undocumented slum dwellers.”
“Force our way through. And I want every coin stolen to be taken back from the slum dwellers. Do what you have to do.”
“But sir, they are using kids to block us.”
“And?” The officer turned to glare at the soldier. “Relay the damn order! Any challenge to our authority must be met with force! Not an inch will be given to these criminals!”
The fighting in the slums got more intense as the soldiers were instructed to shove the slum dwellers out of the way.
“Obstruction of a military operation is a serious offence; back off now, or I’ll be forced to shoot!” A soldier on the ground yelled as his squad members tried to force back a mob that was clogging up the entire main street. “The money that Makoa of Desham has distributed is illegal!”
“Fuck off! You know nothing of our plight!”
“Get out of here! You’re just dogs for the rich pigs!”
Some of the soldiers partially agreed with the slum dwellers but could not disobey the orders from above without being punished themselves. Eventually, they took out simple metal sticks, beating up any slum dweller that got close. The beaten-up slum dwellers were robbed of their coins, legal or illegal.
Once the soldiers no longer held back, the mob scattered like rats, hiding in the crevices between the dilapidated huts and uncovered shitholes to avoid being captured. No one wanted to lose the coins that they had collected from Makoa, scampering away into the darkness.
However, the local soldiers were more than adept at flushing them out, the spotlights easily revealing the slum dwellers’ locations from above while spotters relayed their locations to squads on the ground. With the limited area of the slums only being about two dozen urban blocks, the soldiers simply began sweeping in from the edges, slowly searching and grabbing back the coins.
Kyle and Makoa were still running as fast as they could, this time led by Kyle towards an unspecified location. “I thought you would save them, considering how much you riled them up.” Makoa remarked.
“That’s not the purpose. Over here.” Kyle motioned into a grim-looking square makeshift metal shelter, where an old man was lying down flat on a ragged piece of fabric placed on metal that served as his bedding. If Makoa did not know any better, he would have assumed the man was dead.
“Thanks, old man.” Kyle grabbed the old man’s hand and passed him three coins, prompting the old man to get off his ‘bed’ suddenly and push it to the side, revealing a makeshift tunnel right underneath.
So this is how he got into the town… Makoa was under the impression that Kyle had smuggled himself in like he did: through a smuggling service that had him packed tightly in a crate of Poair Leaves. The two of them quickly entered the tunnel, sliding down the sloped shaft as the old man covered the tunnel again, acting like nothing had happened.
The sloped shaft was short and small, bottoming out into a tunnel where Makoa had to crouch and move. They shuffled in hunchback formation for what seemed like an eternity, the muscles on Makoa’s legs and neck beginning to strain significantly.
“Where the fuck are we heading to?”
“Out of Desham, of course.”
“After throwing away all of our coins?! What?” Makoa lamented the hard earned coins that he had stolen from the restaurant. I staked out that place for a week!
“We’ll get them back easily.”
Just as Kyle said that, a chittering sound could be heard coming from within the tunnel, the vibrations getting louder with time. Suddenly, the loose rock wall in front of Kyle broke apart, revealing two mineral ants whose feelers began to graze his face.
“ARGH! WHY ARE THEY HERE!” Makoa screamed, patting his body for a weapon but soon realised he had none. However, Kyle seemed utterly unfazed, instead seemingly silent as the mineral ants entered a staring competition with him.
With a jolt, the mineral ants began to move backwards, allowing Kyle to step into the newly formed tunnel that was much larger and allowed him to stand, albeit in a cramped vertical environment. His shoulders still touched the walls, but it was better than nothing. Makoa was flabbergasted, following Kyle in astonishment as he watched the seemingly docile mineral ants respond to Kyle’s orders.
Kyle had ordered the mineral ants to focus on the first kilometre leading out of Desham, splitting up the eight warrior mineral ants and having them dig in parallel. Only now were the sections beginning to be linked up, each ant having dug about 125 metres in 24 hours. Extremely impressive.
The tunnelling rate was dependent on the type of soil, and Kyle had the tunnel made fairly shallow, just a few meters underneath the farmlands through the loosely packed soil.
They soon reached the end of the first kilometre, the tunnel leading upwards into an abandoned pig farm’s barn, the smell pervasive as horrendous. It was in here where the excavated soil and rock were being piled up, along with the eight warrior mineral ants waiting for Kyle in formation.
Are you fucking telling me Kyle got even stronger after Tenar? WHAT? Makoa was at a sheer loss for words, unable to comprehend how Kyle had even managed to retain control of the mineral ants. Makoa was no stranger to them, having participated in a few extermination campaigns during his service in the military.
Kyle ordered the mineral ants to cover up the entrance with the excavated soil before motioning to Makoa. “Get on.”
“Get on? Get on what?”
“This one.” Kyle patted one of the warrior mineral ants.
Makoa had half a mind to call Kyle mad, but he was not sure if that was even an accurate word to describe Kyle any longer. Either way, he was now stuck with Kyle, whether he liked it or not, so he begrudgingly got on top of the mineral ant, albeit warily as he slowly hooked his fingers around the crevices of the metal-like armour shell.
Return to base.
With the soldiers on the walls wholly occupied with searching for Makoa within the slums, none of the spotlights mounted on the top was watching the farms outside for any monster incursion from the Keru forest, allowing Kyle to easily make it back to the safety of the forest treeline.
They flew fast, covering the ten kilometres by swooping and swerving through the trees, with Makoa hanging on for dear life, his head nearly chopped off a few times by tree branches. Despite his prior apprehension, he had no choice but to hug the mineral ant, keeping his body low as the wind rushed over him.
Suddenly, his heart felt a drop as they descended onto the ground next to a purple tree stump, where there was a small inconspicuous entrance about four meters wide, allowing the mineral ants to fly into it. It was Kyle’s version of a launch tube, a fairly short one that was dug out for by the remaining venom-spitting hornets, though they were not as efficient as the warrior mineral ants at digging.
The mineral ants hovered over the large cavern that was composed of the new base, the air drafts buffeting the dust of the ceiling while they landed smoothly. Makoa felt something rise up within his stomach; his face contorted as he stumbled off the mineral ant, dizzy.
Kyle leapt off smoothly, walking up straight to Feldon, who was already waiting for him. Feldon gave Makoa a weird look, wondering who he was. However, he had long been used to Kyle bringing back new people, so he assumed Makoa was just another recruit Kyle had picked up from Desham.
“Boss, the mineral ants are a godsend, but we haven’t been able to find any crude iron of the sort. We did find a good clay deposit in a nearby river.”
“So, water and building materials are settled. I have a deal with a fixer in town.” Kyle explained the deal, with Feldon surprised.
“We don’t have any food supply here; how are we going to uphold our end of the deal?”
“There’s an entire forest five hundred kilometers wide filled to the brim with animals and monsters here – I don’t believe we can’t get food. Bring any member here who is willing to hunt.”
Feldon rounded up five members, which included Jaden, the young teenager who puffed out his chest as Kyle inspected them.
Kyle examined their muscles and body builds, determining what role would be the best for them in a hunting party. But, first of all, a test.
He held the Artificial Hive Core in his hand, wondering if he could delegate the authority of a mineral ant to another human individual. “Feldon, come here.”
Grabbing onto Feldon with one hand and a mineral ant head with another, he tried to activate the Artificial hive core in the same way that he used when he first converted them to his side.
Your second-in-command will be this human!
A golden strain shot out from the mineral ant, albeit a weaker one, and ran towards Feldon, who shivered as he felt the tingle run down his entire spine. “What the hell was that?”
“Okay, give it a try. Use your thoughts to command the mineral ants with a clear intention that it is an order.”
The five members watched in confusion as Feldon’s face strained, the veins on his forehead bulging slightly.
“You don’t have to think that hard. Just let it be natural.”
“Oh, right.”
Feldon simply looked at the mineral ant, raising his hand. “Paw!”
The mineral ant immediately shot out its front limb, placing it gently on Feldon’s palm like a dog.
Makoa nearly coughed out his last meal upon seeing that. A hidden tamer clan? What?!
Kyle ignored the fiasco erupting around Feldon. “Good. Each of you, repeat the same procedure with me.”
He passed the second-in-command position to all of the five members, assigning them an individual mineral ant who became akin to partners.
“For now, you will familiarise yourself with the command of the mineral ant. Take a day to get used to it.” Kyle ordered. “The final end goal is to have the mineral ant act as your weapon or a partner that can synchronise combat styles with you.”
The five members all whispered excitedly as they stood next to their mineral ants, with Jaden being nearly ecstatic.
“I need the mineral ants to begin mining. Work closely with them to hunt for iron ore – they need minerals such as those to eat, and loose rock and soil can only stave off their hunger for so long.” It’s been close to four days since they left the dungeon, with Kyle not entirely feeding them directly anything.
Kyle explained the direction to mine with the help of Feldon, who was experienced in expanding goblin dens and mining thanks to the operation in the Culdao Peaks. Leaving Feldon to it, he grabbed Makoa towards the makeshift armoury that they had now. Makoa was feeling slightly better now with his foot on stable ground, coming to terms with what was happening around him.
“So you’re going to have them hunt for food using the mineral ants?” Makoa asked while Kyle picked out his repeater, checking the number of projectiles he had on hand before slinging it behind his back.
“Exactly.”
“Impossible; you only have two days to train them and one day to transport the food.” Makoa could tell the villagers were ill-equipped to work with the mineral ants, and some of them were far too weak to fight any of the monsters in the forest.
Kyle sheathed the lightning sword used by Soren onto his waist while hefting his pulveriser up onto his shoulder. “That’s why it’s time for me to hunt.”
