The day after completing the goblin subjugation quest, Rei and Set were back on the highway. Unlike before, however, they weren't soaring through the clouds; they were traveling on foot like ordinary travelers.
In truth, Rei had intended to fly again, but Ranga had stopped him at the city gates with a request: refrain from flying near the city or landing on the main road. Apparently, when Set had touched down on the highway the previous day, it had sent a number of merchants and travelers fleeing in terror, leading to a mountain of complaints.
Since Rei only had to avoid taking off near the city and landing on the highway itself, he decided to do Ranga a favor and accept the restriction.
"Now then, our goal today is the Soldier Ant subjugation..."
Rei recalled the details of the request posted at the guild.
Over the past few days, Soldier Ants had been sighted frequently near the city—though "near" in this case meant within a few hours' walk. The quest involved culling these monsters, and the proof of subjugation was the dagger-like protrusion on their backs. Each part fetched five copper coins, roughly double the bounty on a goblin.
According to the guild receptionist, it was likely that a Queen Ant had moved into the area near the City of Gilm due to a "nest splitting" event. She had been firm in her warning: while Soldier Ants were Rank F, a Queen Ant was Rank C. Rei was strictly ordered not to engage one if he found it.
(Rank C... I looked it up, and a Water Bear is also Rank C. If that's the case, its magic stone should definitely allow either Set or the Death Scythe to learn a new skill. No reason not to go for it.)
With that thought in mind, he scanned the surroundings for any sign of his prey as he and Set moved down the highway.
Every so often, Set would let out a low rumble from the back of its throat, as if asking why they weren't taking to the skies. Rei simply stroked its back to soothe it as they continued.
They encountered a few other travelers along the way, but most of them froze the moment they saw Set’s massive form. Once Rei and the gryphon passed, they would break into a full sprint toward the safety of the City of Gilm.
"Gurururururu!"
About an hour into their walk, Rei’s focus had begun to drift due to the monotonous scenery, but Set’s growl instantly snapped him back into combat mode.
He readied the Death Scythe and scanned the area. A dark shape lurked in the bushes at the side of the road before stepping into view.
"Here they come!"
The black silhouette belonged to a Soldier Ant. The monster had spotted them as well and began threateningly clicking its massive, pincer-like mandibles.
"Gigigigigi!"
Aside from its size, the monster looked almost exactly like an ordinary ant. The only notable difference was the dagger-shaped protrusion rising from its back.
"Gigi!"
With a short cry, the Soldier Ant charged. It rushed straight for Rei, intending to snap him in two with its sharp mandibles, but its speed was nothing to write home about. To Rei, the Rare Species of goblin he had fought the day before was a far more dangerous opponent.
"Hah!"
Rei channeled magic power into the Death Scythe and cleaved the Soldier Ant in half just as it opened its jaws to bite.
Normally, a Soldier Ant can continue to function even after losing a limb, but being bisected was a different story. Its legs twitched convulsively for a few moments before it finally went still.
"Gruu!"
One was down, but four more immediately swarmed out from the bushes.
Rei clicked his tongue at the sight. "Set, Fire Breath!"
"Gururu!"
Set let out a high-pitched cry and opened its beak. In the next instant, a stream of fire erupted from its mouth. This was the skill it had acquired from the Rare Species goblin’s magic stone, but because it was only Level 1, the breath was thin and had a range of only two or three meters.
Even so, the flames dealt significant damage. While not enough to kill them instantly, it certainly slowed the ants down.
And no matter how many there were, a slowed Soldier Ant was no longer a threat. They were no longer monsters to be fought; they were simply prey.
"Haaah!"
Rei channeled magic power through the Death Scythe, decapitating one and splitting the torso of another. He used the shaft of the weapon to launch one into the air before cleaving it vertically with the blade.
Set was equally efficient, using Water Ball to rupture the heads of its enemies or concentrating its Fire Breath on a single target until it was reduced to ash. It pierced through carapaces with its powerful beak and tore off heads with its talons.
Within minutes, the battle was over. More than thirty Soldier Ants lay dead, their fluids and severed parts littering the ground.
"Gururururururu!"
Set let out a triumphant roar, while Rei remained alert for any reinforcements. However, several minutes passed, and the bushes remained still.
"Looks like that was the whole group."
Rei finally let out a sigh of relief. He asked Set to keep watch while he began the work of harvesting the magic stones and the proof of subjugation protrusions.
He found that the ants Set had incinerated with Fire Breath were completely charred, making it impossible to recover anything. Similarly, those whose bodies had been ruptured by Water Ball were too mangled to salvage.
(If the attack is too powerful, I lose the materials. I'll have to be more careful next time.)
He pulled Monster Dismantling: Beginner Edition from the Misty Ring and flipped to the section on Soldier Ants.
According to the book, the harvestable materials were the antennae, which could be used for medicine, and the abdominal carapace, which was used for armor.
The antennae were easy enough to remove with his Bronze Knife, but the abdominal carapace proved difficult. He tried to slip the knife into the gaps to peel it away, but he lacked the finesse described in the manual. Even though the carapace remained intact, chunks of abdominal meat kept sticking to it.
After some struggle, he finally managed to remove the carapaces and stored everything in the Misty Ring.
"That's the bare minimum for the quest. Now I just have to find the Queen Ant, but..."
Rei sighed as he looked at the thirty-odd corpses scattered about. If this was just a scouting party, he didn't even want to think about how many ants he would have to cut through to reach the Queen.
The Soldier Ants themselves were weak—he had wiped out thirty of them in minutes—but the problem was fatigue. He wasn't tired now, but what if he had to repeat that battle ten or twenty times?
Rei and Set were both stronger than average, but they didn't have infinite stamina. If they grew sluggish, they would take hits. They might be ageless, but they weren't immortal.
Still, the prospect of a C-Rank magic stone from the Queen Ant was too tempting to ignore.
"What's the best way to do this...?"
As he poked the thorax of a dead ant with the shaft of his scythe, something about the carapace struck him as odd.
(What is it? Why does this feel wrong? This carapace is normal... size aside, it looks just like a regular ant. But... wait!)
He finally realized the source of his confusion. When ants undergo a nest split, the ones that leave are usually "winged ants"—alates. But the Soldier Ants lying in front of him didn't have a single wing between them.
(Does that mean the ants in Elgin don't develop wings for nest splitting? Or is this just a flightless species? Either way, this is my chance.)
It would be optimistic to assume the Queen Ant didn't have winged guards, but at the very least, these Soldier Ants were grounded. Rather than trekking through the forest and fighting through a sea of ants, it made more sense to fly with Set and launch a surprise attack from above.
According to the guild receptionist, a swarm would lose its cohesion once the Queen Ant was killed, causing the individual ants to scatter. While this would temporarily increase the number of stray Soldier Ants around Gilm, it was far better than having a coordinated swarm led by a boss.
"Set."
"Guru?"
Set, who had been pecking at a carcass while keeping watch, turned its head curiously.
"We're going to search for the Queen Ant from the air. Then we'll dive in for a surprise attack and finish her in one move."
"Guru!"
Set nodded and crouched down. Rei climbed onto its back, Death Scythe in hand.
"Gururururururu!"
With a loud cry and a short head start, Set beat its eagle wings. They rose rapidly into the sky, the gryphon seemingly kicking the air itself to gain altitude. Rei smiled as he looked down and saw another swarm of Soldier Ants crawling toward the site of their previous battle. By taking to the sky, they had successfully avoided a war of attrition.
"It'll take them a while to find where we were, but if we'd stayed, we would have been surrounded. I'm glad I made the call when I did."
"Guru," Set chirped in agreement.
Rei stroked its neck as he scanned the grasslands and thin woods stretching along the highway from above.
After about twenty minutes of searching, they had spotted various monsters, but the Queen Ant remained elusive.
"I guess she's not going to make it that easy."
"Guru... Gururu!"
Set started to let out a comforting trill, but it shifted into a sharp, wary cry halfway through.
The reason was immediately clear. Enemies were emerging from the woods below. They were a size larger than the Soldier Ants, and more importantly, they had wings. Five of them were flying in a straight line toward Set.
"They can fly, and they're bigger than the soldiers. 'Imperial Ants,' maybe? Well, an enemy's an enemy. Let's go, Set!"
"Gururururururu!"
Set let out a roar and flapped its wings, charging head-on toward the approaching Imperial Ants.
As the distance closed, Set took the initiative.
"Gururu!"
A Water Ball materialized near its face and shot toward the lead ant.
"Gigigigigi!"
The lead Imperial Ant tilted its body to evade, but the one directly behind it wasn't so lucky. The Water Ball hit it square in the face and exploded, rupturing its upper body and sending it plummeting to the ground.
"Four left."
Rei began to chant.
"Gather, O flames. You are the individual, yet the swarm. The swarm, yet the individual. Reveal your form at my command."
As the incantation ended, a mass of fire about a meter wide formed at the tip of the Death Scythe. Rei swung the weapon with all his might, and the flame shot toward the remaining four ants.
The projectile was only about half as fast as Set's Water Ball, appearing almost sluggish. The Imperial Ants easily dispersed to avoid it, but that was exactly what Rei wanted.
"Blooming Flame Flower!"
The moment Rei triggered the spell, the mass of fire exploded. Dozens of fist-sized fireballs were scattered in every direction at high speed.
"Gigigigigigigi!"
The spell was modeled after a firework; while the individual fireballs weren't incredibly powerful, they were more than enough to incinerate the ants' wings. Two more Imperial Ants went into a tailspin as their wings were burnt to cinders. They were thirty meters up; they wouldn't survive the fall.
That left only two.
"Gruu!"
One was crushed by Set's talons.
"Hah!"
The other was sliced clean in two by the blade of Rei's Death Scythe.
"Alright, now to find the Queen..."
Just as Rei spoke, a massive screech tore through the air.
"Gigigigigigigigigigiii!"
The source of the sound was near a large tree about thirty meters ahead. There stood a monster so massive it made the Soldier Ants and Imperial Ants look like insects by comparison.
"The Queen Ant."
"Gruu!"
Set gave a sharp cry of agreement. Rei smiled and patted its neck.
"Alright. Let's do this!"
"Gurururururururu!"
Set let out a piercing cry and tucked its wings, diving straight toward the Queen Ant below.