Chapter 59 The first war of the hill
I can feel my crushing bite crunch down with sickening force directly on the poor beasts throat, destroying it immediately.
[You have defeated level 4 Crevit Lupus Draco]
[You have gained experience]
[Basic profile of Crevit Lupus Draco unlocked]
[Crevit Lupus Draco, Grown Wolf-Dragon, the evolved form of the cub, this larger, more powerful creature has a greatly increased Might, allowing it to strike brutally with its scaled tail]
Not enough experience to give me a level up but the low level of the monster makes me hopeful it might have given up an evolution and condensed a core, not that I have time to extract it right now.
As soon as I have dealt the final blow to the wolf-dragon I am immediately set upon by a definitively un-fluffy horde of rabbits. I"m not too worried about their a.s.sault since I a.s.sume that my shiny diamond carapace will repel their efforts, its incredible hardness is Gandalf guaranteed!
I am swiftly disabused of that notion as several rabbits bare their notably long fangs and manage to puncture my shiny hide ever so slightly. What the h.e.l.l?! I"m supposed to be hard as diamond Gandalf? Is this false advertising?
Small stinging pains can be felt wherever the rabbits have bitten me and I quickly check my status to confirm exactly how much damage I"ve taken.
Phew!
Thankfully the damage is minimal, just four Hp, but I"m still fairly shocked to see that those fangs are able to defeat my st.u.r.dy carapace. This isn"t good! Those little b.u.g.g.e.rs are going to be able to rip right into the workers when they arrive!
My concern is a beat too late as lots of workers have responded to my pheromone trail and upon seeing the conflict they immediately throw themselves into battle, rushing forward to latch bite savagely at the first rabbit they see.
d.a.m.n workers! Can"t you hesitate, even for a second?
Now I"m terrified that my actions here are going to put a significant number of my colony brethren six feet under, not in a digging sense but in a burial one. Dammit Anthony! Get in there and help out your people!
Ignoring the rabbit monsters who are literally hanging off me I turn and charge out of the center of the battle, making my way to where the ants have begun to fight. Tiny starts reaching out with his little fists and pounding the rabbits directly in the face with all the strength he can summon. He doesn"t seem to be doing much damage but at least some of the rabbits are irritated enough to let go!
Nice a.s.sist there little buddy!
When I reach the side of the ants there I already a steady stream of reinforcements arriving from the hill, roughly twenty ants are here already, moving towards the nearest enemy and latching on immediately with their mandibles, causing many rabbits to shriek painfully and lash out with their powerful hind legs.
I see a few ant hatchlings sent flying before I even get in position to help.
I wince when I hear them crash into the ground, one poor sap even colliding with a tree. I hope they are able to last long enough for the Queen to heal them. I"ll take them myself as soon as I"m able!
Once I reach the front line I start to lash out left and right with my mandibles.
Crushing Bite! Crushing Bite!
Two rabbits are immediately heavily wounded when my powerful jaws clamp down on them with vicious force, snapping bones and shredding muscle. I"ll leave them to the others to finish off as the fight is quickly escalating. More and more ants are engaging the enemy and the black rabbit monsters are lashing out, causing savage wounds with every bite.
With a little breathing s.p.a.ce behind me I turn my head slightly to get a quick look and then blast out another jet of acid, catching an advancing rabbit directly in the chest.
Trying to sneak up on me you little varmint?! Let my acid take a bite out of you!
My unfortunate victim begins to screech in a high pitched whine that immediately grates on my ears. I thought rabbits were supposed to be quiet creatures? Apparently they don"t like acid, who knew?
I swear more rabbits have arrived since this combat began, at first I thought I"d only seen around twelve but there must be at least twenty as I hastily survey the field.
The remaining wolf-dragon is snarling a constant low rumbling growl as it continues to lash at the monsters around it with tail and fang. Since all of those monsters are demon rabbits I"ll happily leave it to its business and turn my attention back to a.s.sisting my fellow ants.
More and more small puncture wounds appear in my carapace as I continue to charge through the combat, acting as a living shield to my smaller brethren. I"m starting to hope that these blasted fangs aren"t poisoned or I might really be in trouble!
Crushing bite!
I manage to latch onto a rabbit right around the neck as it was distracted by other workers gathering around it. The creature struggles desperately, kicking out with its powerful hind legs directly into my thorax beneath my head. The impact of the kick rocks me backwards but the shock is readily absorbed by my powerful carapace and I manage to maintain my grip.
Say goodnight, bunny of the burning h.e.l.ls!
CRUNCH.
My two mandibles meet each other in the middle, having shorn through what had before kept them apart.
[You have defeated a level 3 Dens Sanguinem Leporis]
[You have gained experience]
Ignoring the fight continuing immediately around me I take a brief moment to chomp down on the rabbit I just finished off.
[You have consumed a new source of Bioma.s.s, Dens Sanguinem Leporis one Bioma.s.s awarded]
[Basic Profile of Dens Sanguinem Leporis unlocked]
[Dens Sanguinem Leporis, Blood Tooth Rabbit. This monster is known for its affinity to shadow and the powerful fangs capable of draining health from the victims of its bites]
Wait a minute Gandalf… likes shadows and dark places, long life draining fangs… are you telling me these are vampire rabbits?
I mean….
Really!?
Checking my status I can see that I have lost over twelve Hp so far in this battle, most of it to chip damage from the repeated punctures these d.a.m.ned fanged bunnies have inflicted. Engaging my regeneration gland I welcome the icy burst that washes through my body, closing over holes in my carapace and restoring my Hp to near full.
The battle continues to rage around me. More and more ants are arriving at the battle, perhaps as many as fifty now and the rabbits are finding themselves pressed back as the sheer swarm of the colony is providing more targets than they can comfortably deal with.
Haha! You d.a.m.n demon rabbits of hades! Behold the power of colony!
Turning I can see three hatchlings battling a rabbit together, each of them latched on with mandibles and pulling at the rabbit, pinning it down and restricting its movement. The three smaller ants are desperately holding on, their legs splayed and claws dug hard into the ground as the stronger rabbit monster thrashes in a wild attempt to set itself free.
I"ll help you younguns". I leap forward and bring my mandibles down on the rabbit in a vicious strike, biting deep into the monsters hide.
[You have defeated level 2 Blood tooth rabbit]
[You have gained experience]
The three hatchlings don"t even spare me a glance, let alone a friendly wave of the antennae in thanks before they turn and rush off in search off another target to attack.
I shouldn"t have expected any different I suppose…
At this moment, as all around me monstrous insects do vicious battle against large black, red eyed rabbits I had to think that something was truly odd going on in this world.
It is also at this moment that, from the surrounding woods a veritable flood of centipedes breaks into the battle from the surrounding woods.