[ Elite Giant Ant — Level 29 ]
"Incoming boss-type!" Ryuzen warned, shifting his stance. "Felix, aim for the joints! Rudos, reinforce the front! Irina, pull some of the smaller ones away — Venus, with me!"
The Elite charged, tearing through two thick tree roots as if they were paper. Ryuzen met it head-on, his sword clashing against its mandibles with a metallic screech. Sparks flew. The sheer force sent him sliding back a step, but he planted his feet and pushed forward.
Venus darted to the side, ducking under a swinging leg. Her fist smashed into the joint with a crack, forcing the limb to buckle. She followed up with a rapid series of blows to the thorax, her gloves denting the armor-like plates. The Elite screeched and twisted toward her, but she was already gone, rolling under its body to come up behind it.
Meanwhile, the lesser ants swarmed again, threatening to overrun the others. Felix's arrows thinned their numbers, Irina's quick movements kept them distracted, and Rudos's magic strengthened every blow from their weapons.
The Elite lunged at Ryuzen, snapping its mandibles. He sidestepped, letting its momentum carry it forward, then slashed upward in a brutal arc. His blade carved a deep gash into its face, ichor spraying across the moss.
"Push now!" he shouted.
Venus roared in response, vaulting onto the creature's back. She slammed her fists down like sledgehammers, each strike sending tremors through its body. Chitin cracked and split under her relentless assault. Felix's arrow pierced its left eye, making it thrash violently.
A single strike from its leg caught Ryuzen in the ribs, throwing him against a tree. Pain flared hot, but he forced himself back to his feet, teeth gritted.
He dashed forward again, hissword glowing faintly as he channeled all his strength into a final strike. Venus timed her movement perfectly — as Ryuzen's blade slashed through its neck, she drove both fists into the wound with a crushing impact, severing the last of its connection.
The Elite Ant convulsed, its legs twitching before it collapsed with a thunderous crash. The forest went still, save for the heavy breathing of the Legion members.
Thirty minutes had passed since the battle began.
Around them, the forest floor was a graveyard of ants. Not a single Legion member had fallen, though some bore shallow cuts and bruises.
Ryuzen stood over the Elite's corpse, his blade dripping with black ichor. "Collect the loot and cores. We regroup in five," he ordered. His voice was calm, but his blood was still burning from the fight.
Venus smirked, wiping ichor from her gloves. "Not bad, Captain. But next time, I'm taking its head myself."
He sheathed his sword without even glancing her way.
"Then you'd better hit harder next time, Venus."
Venus snorted but said nothing, flexing her gloved fists.
The others shared quiet smiles, their earlier tension replaced by the small rush of victory. The coordinated assault had worked better than expected. Felix leaned on his bow, Irina stretched her aching arms, and even Rudos gave an approving nod.
By the time the last ant corpse stopped twitching, most of them had gained one or two levels. Ryuzen, too, felt the familiar surge of energy within his core — but this time, the system's voice told him something different.
[ Level Up: +80 Attribute Points ]
A faint frown crossed his face. Normally, a level would give him sixty points. The extra twenty were not random — he could feel it. The reason pulsed deep in his veins.
His second bloodline.
It wasn't simply a matter of possessing more than one. In most cases, bloodlines that drew on the same source of power wouldn't grant extra growth. But the one he had absorbed from the Darkness Race didn't share the same origin as his first.
Mana and Nether. Two opposing forces, forced into coexistence within his body. Instead of rejecting each other, they had tempered his physique into something unique, an alloy of energy that allowed him to draw strength from both at once.
It was rare. Maybe even impossible for anyone else. But for Ryuzen, it was reality.
And he intended to see just how far that reality could be pushed.
After storing away the skill books, monster cores, and anything else worth keeping, the group resumed their march deeper into the Chrysalis Forest. The air grew heavier with each step, the sweet, damp scent of moss now laced with something more pungent — the acidic musk of insect brood chambers.
"Hey Felix," Rudos said as they navigated through a tangle of roots. "What do you think the boss will be?"
Felix ran a hand through his hair, casually brushing away a few specks of dried ichor. He shot Rudos a sidelong glance.
"You need to ask? Obviously, it'll be their Queen. Probably hidden deep in the hive where we can't just snipe her."
"Yes, I also think so," Irina chimed in, her eyes bright with anticipation.
But then her gaze slid toward the front of the group — toward Ryuzen, who walked with his usual calm, Venus close beside him. Irina's lips pressed together, her earlier excitement dimming. She wanted to speak to him, maybe ask his thoughts on the coming battle, but every time she found the chance, Venus was already there. Talking, walking, matching his pace.
That constant presence stirred a quiet frustration in Irina's chest, one she didn't fully understand but couldn't ignore.
Suddenly, a faint tremor passed under their feet, snapping her from her thoughts.
"…Did you feel that?" Felix asked, lowering his voice.
They all did. The vibrations were steady, almost rhythmic, echoing through the ground like the pulse of something massive moving beneath them.
Ryuzen stopped, his golden eyes narrowing.
"We're close. Stay sharp."
They followed the tremors, weaving deeper into the forest until the trees thinned and the ground sloped downward into a yawning pit. A foul, humid wind drifted up from within, carrying the reek of decaying leaves and acid. The pit walls were lined with hardened resin, streaked with black and amber, forming grotesque, organic patterns that glistened in the dim light.
"This is it," Ryuzen said, voice low but firm. "The hive."
Venus tightened the straps of her gloves, knuckles cracking. Felix nocked an arrow of condensed blood, the crimson tip pulsing faintly. Rudos muttered an incantation, the faint shimmer of a barrier forming around them, while Irina's eyes scanned every shadow.
They descended carefully, boots crunching over a mixture of soil, resin, and brittle carapace fragments. The tunnels twisted like a labyrinth, lit only by the pale glow of fungus sprouting from the walls. The deeper they went, the warmer and more oppressive the air became, and the chittering of unseen ants echoed from every direction.
At last, the passage opened into a vast chamber. The ceiling arched high above, and from it hung hundreds of resin sacs — some holding twitching larvae, others split open with their contents already gone.
In the center, atop a mound of hardened resin, she waited.