So the ants are still there, waiting on the mountains but not entering the plains. Car and bus-sized nightmarish monsters with their dead-like eyes are crawling creepily over the rocky surface of the mountains or anthills or whatever it is. Even though they have no human-like eyes, I keep getting the feeling that all of them are staring at me.

Hundreds of them are there. Fewer than when we were running away and I already see a few of them leaving, maybe to call more friends.

There are even flying ones that are currently on the ground.

Good.

I breathe in and use the Mana Regulator to increase the amount of mana my heart is getting, and I start feeling kinetic energy flow through my body. As always, it threatens to tear it apart the moment there is too much of it, but I accept the feeling. I got used to it and, after dealing with the energy time and time again, I welcome it.

I [Focus], and the world loses its colors. Useless thoughts disappear, and there is only me, my skills, and the enemies against me.

Armor forms around my body. The effect of [Initiate of Pride] makes it more beautiful. It's not to the point where it becomes overdecorated; it just seems masterfully crafted, simple, effective, and somewhat deadly.

More mana flows into the armor, and it takes on a dark blue hue with light blue wisps flowing through it.

Then I start turning all kinetic energy into thermal and fill ten or so mana javelins that float over me with that thermal energy. The pale blue projectiles start glowing with a dark yellow color that seems like cracks go through them.

I decide that first, I will test my new passive that heals me the more heat I have, and I will try to improve my flames.

When I charge towards them, the ants do not attack; they just wait. But the moment I step on one of the mountains, they charge at me. Not all at once, but in smaller groups. Smart monsters know that there isn't enough space for all of them.

The first ant dies the moment my javelin pierces through its head, and it then explodes into flames near another ant, hurting it badly.

[You have defeated an Ant Warrior - lvl 95]

Flame explodes in front of me like a flamethrower, scorching and melting another ant.

[You have defeated an Ant Warrior - lvl 92]

Two more attack from behind my back, and two javelins kill them. One of the javelins kills another ant in the explosion.

In quick succession, I use the javelins to target more ants, mainly flying ones. Before shooting them, I fill them with more thermal energy, so that when they explode, they kill more ants.

Ant monsters are big and quick; there are a lot of them, but it's not a problem. I continue to move quicker than they are able to, and when they get closer, my flames melt them, making them flail on the ground. The ones using ranged attacks, I kill with mana projectiles.

The ants are not as dangerous. Sure, they have high stats most likely, and they are quite massive, but their biggest advantage is their numbers and amazing coordination. It's like someone is leading them, or they are communicating in a way I can't notice.

After killing most likely a hundred of them, I get the notification and also shards.

A new quest appears:

Side quest: Defeat 200 ants.

Reward: 10 shards

A few more ants later, another notification pops up.

[Lvl 125 > Lvl 126]

Good, so now then. Let's see if I can get to level 150 quickly and upgrade my Primary Class finally.

I feel gravity pulling on me much harder as I fly over the mountains. The new kind of ants that I met prove themselves to be quite annoying.

Smaller than Ant Warriors but the same shade of red. Their heads are a bit bigger, and they love to use some kind of gravity skill to make me heavier. In the notification, they are called Gravity Ants.

Yup, the system doesn't bother to come up with a cooler name for them.

But this time there are too many of them; probably a few tens of gravity ants are able to target my body, and I come crashing down. My strengthened body doesn't take any damage, and the armor also helps, but the moment I stand up, I feel intense pressure pulling me back to the ground.

A new variation appears: Stone Ants. They just crawl from the ground. There are no tunnels; they just phase through the earth like it's not there.

I try to move, but the pressure intensifies even more, and I feel myself crashing down.

Stone Ants quickly reach me, and a few dozen of them surround me, biting on my armor, which resists them, and I take no damage. Yet they continue, and stronger and stronger ants start appearing, some of them even reaching close to level 140.

Cracks start to appear on my armor, and soon I feel the bites on my skin. Yet I am durable. The mana, my constructs, make my body even stronger than the armor that I made, and there is barely any damage; only sometimes do they draw some blood.

So I lower my defenses a bit and keep collecting kinetic energy inside my body.

Wounds collect, and more blood is drawn. Deep cuts and bites appear on my limbs, on my neck as they try to bite off my head, and more and more ants surround us. A hundred, two hundred. They create a circle and wait for their opportunity while gravity ants hold me.

My blood seems to excite them even more, and the ones that draw blood twitch their antennae excitedly. The monsters communicate soundlessly between themselves.

Soon it reaches the point that I'm sure my body is impossible to see through all these ants, so I flip the imaginary switch. All the kinetic energy that I was collecting immediately turns into thermal, and brilliant golden flames explode into the area like a giant wave, melting every monster in their way.

Dozens, hundreds of notifications ring quickly after each other, and all but a few ants around me fall down dead. I boost my body and use [Resonance] to get rid of the annoying gravity skills' effects on me.

I slowly walk out of the area where the stones on the ground are melted, looking more like lava. There are hundreds of monstrous bodies around me. The area of effect is massive, and I feel a huge chunk of my mana disappear.

And in all of this, my injuries heal quickly. The blood stops flowing, cracked bones heal, and wounds close with speed visible to the naked eye. The effect is not as good as Lily's, but over time my newest passive heals my battered body easily.

I quickly locate the annoying gravity ants and rush at them. My sword slashes through them easily, even without me having to use my skills. It's that epic weapon whose connection to the saint of the third floor I cut with my black mana dagger.

When I'm done with the entire group, I am 10 shards richer and 1 level higher. A new side quest appeared this time with the goal of killing 300 ants for 15 shards.

I reduce the amount of mana my body leaks with the help of my Mantle and my control over it. To make it leak even less, I do Mana Circulation, and it continues to move mana through my circuits.

With such a reduced signature, I try hiding a bit to delve deeper into the mountains.

A day or two pass and even though I have fun hunting ants I decide to check the community.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - Yes, there are people in the city and something else… I would like to tell you, but Kim, Aaron, and Dennis keep telling me to keep it a secret to surprise you.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - You are making me curious.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - It won't hurt you; you will see. Anyway, the city is full of tall towers, and the situation here is… complicated. There were some problems, but now it's somewhat safe, and we are already looking for a place to sell some of the valuables the boys brought from the third floor.

Grumpy (Hell, group 4) - Nathaniel, Biscuit misses you; you should come here as soon as possible.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Who is Nathaniel?

Grumpy (Hell, group 4) - Oh… but Tess used our real names too!

Sset (Hell, group 4) - No, Noname is right. We should avoid using our real names. Right now, we are probably the only ones on the 4th floor, but some of them will surely clear it. I made a mistake.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Well, it probably doesn't matter anyway, but just in case. So you plan to set up the base and then go on quests outside of the city?

Sset (Hell, group 4) - Yes, the system gave us plenty of quests, and some of them even offered shards as rewards. There are a lot of monsters in the underground tunnels, plains nearby, or in the forest that's a bit further. So we will level up as well.

Noname (Hell, group 4) - Sounds good. I will connect again at the time we mentioned.

Sset (Hell, group 4) - Stay safe.

Grumpy (Hell, group 4) - Stay safe! (•◡•) /

I close the window and look toward one of the holes that are deeper than Mount Everest and a continuous stream of ants that continue to climb out of it. This time, most of them are either two question marks or close to it, meaning that hundreds of around level 150 ants crawl around, probably looking for me.

I open my mouth, and two orbs fly out. Orbs made of tricolored mana that already start turning white and are about to explode.

Some of the ants notice that, and tens of monsters turn to me with their lifeless-looking eyes as I sling two orbs toward them, feeling around half of my mana leaving my body.

A big group of a new variation does something that feels like combining their skills and targets one of the orbs, which gets slowly untangled by them and dissipates even before reaching them, just exploding halfway.

The second orb reaches them and hits something like a mana barrier that is kept up by another group of ants. Even though they try to stop it, the orb explodes and tears apart the barrier, and the shockwave followed by heat hits the monsters, scorching plenty of them and then sucking in more of them.

Bus-sized monsters are unable to resist the implosion, and their bodies get broken, folded, and pulled toward where the center of the orb is.

[Lvl 129 > Lvl 130]

I invest the stat points and use kinetic energy to push myself away from them, then continue to fly for around twenty minutes until I am sure I am far enough.

Then I start masking my presence again, hiding in the ever-present gaps on the side of the anthills, or whatever they are.

I watch my mana regenerate, and slowly I start creating another orb inside my mouth, an orb that I hide with Mantle and [Resonance]. It's easier to hide a small orb than to hide mana that would flow through my body. This time, I start storing thermal energy inside of it and watch as their scouts continue to fly around. I even feel pulses of mana searching the area.

More time passes like that, and when I am finally ready, I leave my hiding spot.

Then I feel movement and immediately use Symbiotic Transference to turn some of that thermal energy inside the orb into strengthening my body. Just in time to stop myself from being bitten in half.

I look down at the ant that is reaching my waist, and its massive mandibles bite into my body, drawing blood but unable to push more because of my strengthening.

[Phantom Ant - lvl ??]

The ant seems to be almost surprised and quickly lets go, and its body flickers, the monster turning invisible.

Oh, I see, my favorite kind of monster.

Before the ant disappears fully, I blow its head off with a short burst of concentrated thermal energy and send my senses into the area, looking for similar signatures I felt from the ant when it tried to turn invisible.

Immediately, I locate a few dozen of them all around me.