Chapter 54

Thanks to the narrowed passage, we were able to completely block the entrance with undead ants, giving us, and especially Athena, the time needed to manage her stamina. Moreover, it turned out that these kin were not affected by acid, making stalling for time an impeccable strategy. Thanks to the undead ants sealing off the entrance completely, we safely slipped away to the food storage. "Phew, those zombie ants seem more useful than I thought." "No, we're not there yet. To be truly useful, I need to become stronger. That was just a temporary measure. My mana is all spent because of it. I need time to recover." From the moment of our escape, I was slowly refilling my mana from the seal, but the rate of recovery wasn't fast. That's understandable. Efficiency drops when you're on the move, and naturally, it's impossible to replenish all mana or magic power in a short time. If it were others, the recovery rate would have been slower; it's common for mages to be helpless after using up all their mana in battle. Therefore, distributing mana wisely is a fundamental skill for battle mages, keeping at least 20% in reserve for emergencies is a basic principle. However, I had poured all my mana into this without keeping the 20% reserve. It was because I trusted the two of them and believed in my recovery abilities. "I can support with a Dark Bolt in about 10 minutes." "That's quite long." "It's actually very fast." "Really?" Athena looked surprised at Kalia's words. Having experience as a knight, Kalia was quite knowledgeable about mages. "The offensive seems weaker than before. We should be able to settle things in the food storehouse since it's quite spacious." Then, one by one, the presences of undead ants began to disappear. "Tsk, already fallen?" Without backup, they're weak. This reinforced my belief that necromancers of that class aren't much use. I had chosen this path with confidence in my future. There's a reason why among black mages, few specialize in necromancy. 'But it bought us some time, at least.' In that time, Athena's breathing stabilized, and we could flee to a more advantageous location. "It seems the number has decreased significantly. Can I go a bit wild now?" Clearly, compared to Athena, Kalia had been holding back more to maintain the front line. "Should I just step up to the front?" After all, I didn't have much mana left, and I had brought a sword as a secondary weapon. So, stepping up to the front was possible. If I took the front, there would be no rear to protect, freeing Kalia to unleash fully. "You need not. Weren't you trying to establish yourself as a mage, not just in appearance but in essence?" "That's true." Indeed, now, as a mage, I'm more useful to the team. Kalia's skills have greatly improved, and Athena was pulling her weight. With the skeleton, the front line was sufficient. Therefore, what was needed now was a proper back line. I wasn't completely satisfied with my performance, but it wasn't to the extent that I couldn't function as a mage. "I won't collapse the front line. And I don't plan to go all out. There might be more of them left aside from these ones." There probably were. But it's highly likely they won't show themselves. 'The queen and her royal guards.' They would be in the deepest parts of the anthill, likely not to emerge until we invaded. "However, the more we fight, the more I feel the mana heart responding." If that's the case, I must cooperate. 'This is unexpected.' I thought my contribution would be merely preventing the fall of the territory, but it seems we might achieve an unexpected outcome. I immediately gave my permission. There was no need for thanks. She is my person, and her strength benefits me. When we faced them again. "...What is that?" For the first time, we saw Kalia unleash her full frenzy, as if everything before was merely child's play. At this level, my support was almost unnecessary. Thanks to Kalia's efforts, Athena's burden significantly decreased, and she could engage in battle more leisurely. 'If only she had fought like this from the start.' However, getting accustomed to the prolonged battle wasn't useless. ‘So, she was managing her stamina all this time….’ I realized anew how potent the mana heart was. She slashed, stomped, crushed, and demolished. The movements I saw were at least twice as fast as before, effortlessly controlling herself and sweeping through the battlefield, clearly demonstrating why knights are considered tactical weapons on the battlefield. Of course, most knights couldn't exhibit such prowess. Especially, the exceptional use of her well-repaired right leg for instantaneous high-speed movement made even me lose sight of Kalia for a moment. I took in Kalia's performance as much as I could. At my current level, I couldn't adequately support Kalia. But in the future, it will be different. I didn't intend to remain weaker than Kalia forever. Even if her prowess was a result of my support, I was determined to become stronger than her. ‘Even the 20% chance of success I had is gone now.' Now, a confrontation means certain defeat. She showed tremendous growth within a few hours, as if she had an epiphany. "Master!" The giant ents seemed to think this couldn't go on and began focusing their attacks on Kalia. Especially, the amount of acid spewed towards Kalia was alarming, even to Athena. Even with resistance to acid, that amount was threatening. But Kalia remained calm. She swiftly changed direction, pouring mana into the shield she wielded. Soon, her shield was enveloped in an aura. With a swoosh! She swung her shield against the pouring acid, countering it effectively. The strength enhanced by mana, along with the shield now enveloped in aura, effortlessly dispersed the incoming acid. Sssk. The corpses of giant ents, whose exoskeletons resisted the acid but whose insides were exposed and dead, began to dissolve in the acid. Kalia glanced at the ones who had shot the acid, then promptly started dealing with those nearby. It seemed she had no intention of disrupting the front line, as she had mentioned earlier. I discreetly checked my recovered magic power. 'It should be possible now.' Identifying the location of the soldier ants that fired the acid, I calculated that I could reach them. They seemed incapable of continuous fire, shaking in place. 'Are they gathering more acid?' I needed to reduce their numbers before that. Once again, I channeled magic into my staff, amplified it into a formation, and immediately uttered the incantation. A black sphere formed and shot out in a straight line rapidly. The magic hit the soldier ants squarely, causing a massive explosion. Boom! Where the dust settled, only the traces of those obliterated remained. 'Tsk, not all of them?' Still, more than half were reduced. Being clustered around the tunnel worked to their disadvantage, resulting in substantial damage. With the long-range support gone, Kalia was unstoppable, and the food storage became a massacre site filled with giant ent corpses. Screech... Crunch. Kalia stomped down, crushing the last one completely. Thanks to her effort, Athena, who finished the battle comfortably, murmured, "They never run away, do they?" "That's how they are." "But, Master, how did you suddenly become so strong? It's because of that mana heart, right?" "That's the biggest reason. And... this helped, too." Responding to Athena's question, Kalia pointed to her right foot. "I've realized its usefulness as I used it more. Especially the strength, it's no joke. It's difficult to control, but the sudden speed is incomparable to my left foot." "The outer appearance is human, but your right ankle has been grafted with Lycanthrope physiology. It didn't fully mesh due to a failure in the combination process, but it belonged to an extraordinary being in its lifetime." The ability to control it, despite its difficulty, was a testament to Kalia’s own capabilities. The smooth integration was thanks to the restructuring of her body. "So, it seems this second wave is over... What will you do now? Will you go outside for a rest before returning?" "How's your stamina?" "I'm still okay. The mana heart definitely enhanced my aura and physical abilities, making it easier. I've used less than half of my mana." Looking at Athena, she shrugged and said, "What have I done to be tired? I feel much better than before." "In that case, rather than going up for a rest, let's just recover my magic here and continue. It would take too much time to leave this in such a state." Most of the strewn giant ent corpses were intended for food. Leaving them torn apart and destroyed for too long could make the hunted unusable as food. We would have prioritized safety if our condition was truly dire, but considering Kalia's recently demonstrated capability, we didn't seem to be in much danger. 'If there's additional force, we can fight once more, and if not, we can escape then.' If only the queen and her royal guard remain, it's fine to recover inside before proceeding. Having decided, we moved to a relatively better spot and rested. In the meantime, I sent Spectres to check what else was around. I might not know the specifics, but at least we could find out if there was anything else. During this time, Athena bombarded Kalia with questions, and Kalia, seemingly undisturbed by this, answered them all, helping Athena to properly assimilate her field experience. Around the time my magic recovered, the Spectres returned with their scouting results. "It seems there are no giant ents nearby. If there are, they don't plan to come here." "Then we'll have to look for them." "Right. And the queen is still likely in the deepest chamber." Having decided to move, we passed through the carnage of giant bodies and explored the depths of the den. "Ugh, lots of larvae." Like the food storage, the ant den had rooms for various purposes. Rooms filled with larvae, eggs, and pupae undergoing metamorphosis were separated, along with trash cans for dead giant ents and leftover garbage. "Huh? There are ones with wings too?" "...Those are the males. Not much to say about their combat ability." Amidst this, we found and eradicated a room of male giant ents lounging around. Despite going quite deep, aside from the males, there wasn’t much else in sight. There were a few more food storages, but no other giant ents were visible. 'I thought there would be more. I expected a bit more.' Even so, it wouldn't have been an issue. Although Kalia showed monstrous prowess, we would have eventually killed all comers in time, even if she had not reached this level of movement. There wouldn't have been a problem even if there were more. I hadn’t brought a secondary weapon for nothing. Had I joined the front line while recovering magic, and then provided support again after recovery, more enemies wouldn’t have posed an issue. 'It wasn’t for nothing that we came here.' The challenge dramatically dropped due to Kalia's awakening, however. It wasn’t a small number we had dealt with. A quick estimate showed we dealt with over 300. 'That should feed the entire territory for a month.' Considering the entire population of the territory is under 2000, With larvae, eggs, and pupae, we could confidently feed them for a month. After a while of descending, we finally arrived at what seemed to be the queen's chamber. "...The ones guarding, they don't look ordinary, do they?" Each one appeared twice the size of those we had battled before, and their exoskeletons were noticeably darker in color. 'Did they ingest minerals or something?' There shouldn't be any mines around here... They seemed to have noticed us as well, taking a threatening posture as they guarded the entrance. The amusing part was, unlike the others, they didn't rush to attack us first. 'Are they surrendering?' It seemed like they were willing to stand by and let us plunder the interior.