Published at 10th of August 2023 11:24 am

Chapter 101: Grand Exit

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Kyle picked up his dropped pulverizer and makeshift obsidian blade, leaping off the top of the crystal outcrop into the dozens of rock spiders that were now fully aimed at him.

Protect! Divert! Lift!

The order was split up immediately amongst the controlled mineral ants, forming a vanguard formation around Kyle as one mineral and latched onto the back of Kyle, carrying him down while the mineral ants at the front deflected the incoming rock spikes.

A series of energy beams slammed into a controlled warrior mineral ant, the energy beam causing the surface of the armour to sizzle but it did not penetrate. The artificial hive core seems to boost their capabilities by a significant amount.

Kyle was released right on top of a large rock spider, landing on the surface with a straightforward swing of the pulverizer, pummeling the surface in rapid succession. Continuous shocks pulsated through the interior of the large rock spider, causing the internals to fracture and shatter from the high stress and sudden vibrations.

One controlled venom-spitting wasp fired a glob of acid, which immediately dissolved right through a leg of the large rock spider, allowing Kyle to kill it easily.

[System Message]

Killed [Territorial Rock Defender], +1000 EXP

Despite the overwhelming firepower Kyle now had with the dozen controlled mineral ants, the tide of rock spiders did not seem to abet, continuously having its number replenished.

[System Message]

Killed [Spike Rock Spider], +298 EXP

I’m nearly halfway through to the point of 0 EXP – what was the trial clear condition again?

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

System Message

[Trial of Persistence]

The prince lies in wait

Clear Conditions: Break

The previous Trial of the Horde had a unique flavour text as well, related to something about ‘the mother is displeased’. With the final boss being a queen spider, albeit controlled by three medium-class slovesa, Kyle suspected that the trial might have something to do with the prince.

When they say that it was lying in wait, does it mean that it is planning to ambush us?

Kyle’s eyes scanned the room as he continuously fought against the incoming horde of rock spiders, unable to spot anything that could serve as an ambush point. He had already been ambushed from above by the ‘brain’, but he got a feeling that the mineral ants were not part of the trial.

A few mineral ant stragglers still fought in localised skirmishes across the cavern, especially around the base of the crystal outcrop. A lone warrior mineral ant stabbed four blades deep into a rock spider, gutting it before chopping away at the surface of the crystal outcrop, shovelling as many crystals as it could into its mouth now that it was no longer commanded by the ‘brain’.

Kyle spotted an unusual concentration of arcia energy in a general direction as the warrior mineral ant clutched its head; its body began to swell disproportionately as the crystalised arcia energy began to infuse it with even greater amounts.

The ambient arcia energy swirled around it while it grew larger in size, towering up to four meters in height as it let out a hearty roar, the click of its humongous mandibles cracking like thunder across the cavern. Its greedy eyes looked towards the crystal outcrop, intuitively aware of the source of its newfound power and wanting more.

Gripping his pulverizer tightly, Kyle was about to charge forward when suddenly a rumbling beneath his feet threatened to topple him over, the entire ground fracturing into plates like an earthquake with a significant bulge moving around underneath. Soon, the ground burst out right underneath the evolved warrior mineral ant, five sharp rock claws expanding before clamping down right on the mineral ant, piercing straight into its armour shell like tofu.

The claws pulled right back down into the ground, forcing the mineral ant to be slammed against the ground as it struggled against the claws, which were as rigid as diamonds. The claws continued to retract into the ground, crushing against it and squeezing its armour shell tightly till it was nearly about to burst.

Like a balloon pop, the mineral ant burst outwards in two directions as the innards were squeezed right out of it, splattering the nearby brawlers and area in a coat of grey mush. Kyle squinted as he changed track, noticing something wrong with the claw.

If my newfound ability to sense arcia energy flow is correct – the claw originated from inside the crystal outcrop. Kyle began to slowly comprehend the objective of the trial: they wanted him to break it.

A slight hesitation rose from within him. The crystal outcrop was an extremely dense source of arcia energy – if he had access to it, he could accelerate his Arcia Reinforcement by leaps and bounds with no doubt. He did not know what the outcome would be if he broke it. Let’s grind for a bit more before –

The Arcian instincts in him now roared louder than ever, prompting him to jump out of the way as he avoided one of the rock claws that suddenly jutted out from the ground, nearly impaling him from below. Kyle swung the pulverizer with as much force as he could muster then, impacting the claw to no effect as a ringing sensation sent waves of numbness through his limbs, his wrist on the verge of dropping the pulverizer.

Yet another claw lashed out of the fragmented ground, with Kyle leaping from plate to plate, the entire cavern now a veritable mishmash of broken ground chunks that were angled randomly. At the back of the cavern, Feldon clung onto a piece of the ground, his legs dangling as he tried to clamber onto the top.

Looks like I don’t have the luxury of grinding, then. Kyle did not assume he had infinite strength – he still needed to eat and rest, forcing him to focus on cracking the crystal outcrop regardless.

With a mental command, the same vanguard of mineral ants formed around him, lifting him up high above the ground as the claws tried to attack him, forming a chain of spikes that jutted out from the ground, impaling ants and spiders alike.

Landing into a roll on the top of the outcrop, Kyle lifted the pulverizer as high as possible.

Penchant for Violence!

He slammed the head down, the shock reverberating through the entire structure, with loose arcia crystals falling off the side, sprinkling down to the ground in a brilliant shower. The straggler ants lunged for the free food that was falling while the rock spiders tried to deter them.

The battle on the ground hardly mattered to Kyle as he delivered yet another blow, the intervals between hits decreasing as he sped up, eventually hitting a total of thirty times.

On the thirty-first strike, he slammed down, forming a large crack line that stemmed from the centre and snaked towards the edges in opposite directions, cracking the entire crystal outcrop open like a fruit chopped in half.

Where’s the prince? Kyle quickly looked at the interior, noticing a single brilliant crystal that was covered in resplendent engravings that pulsated, the largest that caught Kyle’s eyes. Kyle dropped down with the assistance of a mineral ant, quickly stretching out his hand to yank it out from the crystal outcrop.

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Item

[Advanced-Quality Arcia Crystal]

Not only pure but highly compressed due to geological processes unknown to man

Unknown Usage

The crystal was the size of his hand, but Kyle could sense that this was nearly close to a thousand times denser than the one that Feldon had previously stolen. This is the jackpot!

However, before Kyle could celebrate obtaining such a powerful energy source, he felt like something was slightly missing. If that’s not the prince - then?

The crystal outcrop crashed into the ground, its two halves toppling over and squashing any unfortunate mineral ant or rock spider too slow to get out of its way. The same earthquake as before rumbled through the cavern, prompting Kyle to order a warrior ant to hoist him up quickly.

Move there! Kyle motioned towards the struggling Feldon, who was confused to see Kyle being carried by the mineral ants. He assumed Kyle had been captured by the enemy, brainwashed in some way or another. “You were supposed to kill them all, not join them!”

“Shut up and come with me!” Kyle urged, just as he swerved out of the way as the frequency of claw stabs from the ground began to increase rapidly.

Another warrior ant grabbed Feldon from behind before he could protest, carrying him screaming as they ducked and weaved at high flying speeds, dodging the rock claws that were nearly the size of pillars now.

Aim for the hole in the ceiling! Kyle was confident now that there was no chance he was going to beat that trial, with the sheer amount of rock claws protruding outwards now numbering close to a hundred.

As they blocked a barrage of rock spikes and endured a torrent of energy beams, they soon made it back to the hole, soaring far above the now shattered rocky outcrop.

The ground beneath the two fallen halves of the outcrop gave way, revealing a large worm-like maw with rows upon rows of jagged teeth that lunged upwards to consume the crystal outcrop in one single bite, the tip nearly missing Kyle as they flew above.

“WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THAT?” Feldon exclaimed as his legs dangled wildly, panicking.

Bring us out to the surface! Kyle gave a generic order to the ants, hoping that they would know the way to the surface. Surprisingly, they began to move in an orderly fashion, with the warriors at the front and rear, along with the venom-spitting hornets forming the centre guard, ready to engage at range.

They zoomed down the large overgrown tree trunk, flying past lost ants who were jostling with others over scraps of arcia crystals, reaching a section of the trunk where there were multiple shafts leading upwards.

As they rushed down one of the paths, continuously going up, Feldon had already passed out from the panicking and novel experience of flying with no control. Kyle did not mind, treating it as his own exosuit and using the mineral ant on his back to serve as the thrusters.

The group moved in sync, controlled by Kyle’s mind as he read their thoughts and instincts. It seems like they really do know where the surface is.

Glancing upwards, he soon noticed a small speck of lines as the vines and flowers that grew along the shaft was like a blur to him, the surging air around him only informing him that they were closer to the surface than ever before.

The group finally burst out into the sunlight, coming out through the rotten trunk of a humongous tree, the interior having been long hollowed out. The wings of the mineral ant buzzed strongly, beating an air draft that buffeted the leaves of the trees.

Instead of flying over the tree line, Kyle had the mineral ants drop them close to the floor of the forest, hugging the dense foilage and myriad tree roots that snaked through the landscape.

Feldon was dropped unceremoniously, the shock rudely awakening him as he choked on a glob of saliva, coughing violently. Kyle heaved heavily, exhausted from the non-stop fighting so far. He had barely managed to rest since the race evolution, which had taken quite a toll on him. That, coupled with the debilitating poison, dragged out the fight much longer than it should have. If I were at peak strength – that crystal outcrop would’ve been cracked in three hits instead of thirty.

For now, Kyle’s survival instinct was still running at full pace, his brain trying to figure out where they were now. Were they even still in Versia, or did the dungeon exit lead him a completely other direction?

Instead of asking the mineral ant to fly him up high, he decided to scale the highest tree nearby he could find. I don’t know who’s watching the sky, if any. With the imminent war between Versia and Yual, if this is the border, I would be tracked down immediately.

Peeping his head out from beyond the leafy branches, he saw the forest seemed to stretch for miles on either end. In the far distance, he could see slight signs of human civilisation, a small clearing in the forest where there were no trees and a few smoke chimneys that had white plumes soaring to the sky.

Dropping back down to the ground, he quickly hauled the still coughing Feldon on the back of a mineral ant before mounting one himself, moving by land towards the signs. “Where… where are we going?” Feldon weakly asked, his head still spinning from the flying.

“To find our allies and get what I was promised.”

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