TL Note: Author doesn’t seem to know Western names well so to avoid confusion.
Ian = Female mage
Melinda = Male priest (dead)
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I was quickly sapping the vitality of the tree I was holding. As it weakened I was able to easily push it down to the ground.
Wham!
It fell down with a loud thud. I repeated the same process with other trees until I had several pieces of timber. I leaned them up against each other to form what looked like a small pyramid. My intention was to make an Native American style teepee.
"Fireshock"
I used the spell to lightly burn the leaves and twigs on the floor. Fireshock wasn"t very powerful so there was no real combustion, but it was useful in this situation for cleaning and disinfecting possible bacteria. I picked out some large leaves from outside and lay them down on the floor to make it more comfortable. Unfortunately, as soon as I had grabbed them they lost their vitality and color, but they still did an ok job.
I then decided to look to its defenses, I chose to make a deep chasm by using my magic.
"Inferno!"
[Inferno level 1 ➢ 2]
An intense flame storm burnt through the earth, sucking up all the oxygen. The result was a hole which was about 7~8 meters deep and 5 meters wide. It was deep enough to hopefully offer some sort of protection. I expected the 5 meters would be too far for the termites to jump and the heat from the inferno had melted and hardened the walls of the moat making it very smooth and slippery.
I waited for my mana to recover before continuing with inferno to completely circle the teepee"s perimeter with a deep ring. I then picked up some leftover trees and created a small bridge to be able to cross. The result was a small fortress which was virtually impenetrable by simply moving the bridge from the inside. To make it easier for the feeble mage to move the bridge herself, I placed a large round support beam in the middle to act as a pivot and by simply turning the bridge 90 degrees, she could isolate herself from the other side.
I then went back to fetch her.
"Huh? Where did she go?"
She was nowhere to be found and it was almost sunset, I worried she would be attacked by monsters.
Kueeeeeeek!
The baby dragon cried in hunger, I threw it a piece of termite meat which it quickly gobbled it up before climbing up on me to go back to sleep.
I started walking around, searching for her when I heard some water rustling in the distance.
"Ah right I never asked if she was thirsty!"
I remembered that all the water I had squeezed from the moss had long been finished. Walking towards the stream I came upon a scene of a naked woman washing in the water. "Oh, would she be embarra.s.sed because I saw her?"
I turned my head, intending to look away.
"Who are you?" the mage asked, not bothering to cover herself up at all.
"Oh! It"s mister. I"m sorry I was so dirty I just had to go for a wash."
I simply pointed to her clothes lying on the side of the stream.
"Aaaaah! I"m Naked! Look away!"
I turned around, giving her the chance to get dressed.
"Oh, seems like being a skeleton, I am no longer attracted to women. Despite seeing the body of a beautiful naked woman I didn"t feel any emotions, it"s really too unfortunate. If this had happened in my previous life, I would have shouted, Lucky!!! But now, it just felt like I was observing a nice painting, devoid of any s.e.xual emotions. Seems my mentality has changed greatly according to my species.
"Mister I"m dressed."
Her clothes stuck to her wet skin, emphasizing her curvaceous body.
I lead the way letting her follow at a distance.
"Was her name Ian?"
I somewhat remember the priest calling her that, but because I wasn"t able to speak I would probably never call her by name.
There were many bugs in the forest, thankfully because of my Lifesteal, none would approach me.
"Ouch! Go away! Go away!"
She was beating back the bugs, I hadn"t bothered to implement any countermeasures for them back in the teepee.
"I wonder if it will be ok?"
By the time we arrived to the small fort the sun had all but set, I pointed to the bridge signalling her to cross. Once she was on the other side I pushed the bridge over, effectively cutting off all access from the outside. I grabbed some trees nearby, allowing some time for my lifesteal to weaken their vitality before throwing them in the hole.
"Fireball"
After a few spells, the timber caught fire adding another layer of defense.
"This should be safe for a while."
Having ensured her safety in the teepee, I was ready to move on to the next step. As I walked away I noticed Ian staring at me until I melted into the darkness.
Crouched down, I was staring at a huge muddy hill up ahead, It was my next target.
When I had originally come to this place, looking down from the tunnel entrance I had seen 3 of these mud hills. I kept this in mind when choosing the teepee"s location and was constantly scouting, after the white termite"s skirmishes, they would drag their comrade"s bodies back to the hill.
These three mud hills must be the homes of the termites, the rulers of this small, unusual area and my goal was to take them out. Termites are a kind of insect so coexistence isn"t possible, the only solution is extermination and if it also provides some experience points , then all the better. However, I was unsure of their numbers so I was engaging in a little reconnaissance.
It would be a huge help If I could learn their fighting habits and I had previously seen them fight each other so it was a great chance.
"Found some."
Even during the night they continued to fight. They would fight in small teams of 3~4 along with some airborne ones as well.
"Seems they also have flying termites."
(Author Note – Termites are much bigger than c.o.c.kroaches but their habits are almost same. Termites also have a king which is different from an ant"s hierarchy.)
I used my Identification skill to observe their status window. The land termites were between levels 15-24 while their flying counterparts were stronger from level 25-29. The airborne ones also had an ability to spit out a certain liquid. Having once witnessed it burn through another termite"s exoskeleton I concluded it must be some kind of powerful acid. Their damage is around 50-100 so if I"m confronting 3 or 4 it would be hard to stay alive.
I opened up my status page.
Name: Chompy
Gender: N/A
Status: Normal
Type: Skeleton/ Undead
Cla.s.s: Lich
Rank: H+
Level: 1/60
HP: 121/121
MP: 120/120
Attack: 10 (++++)
Defense: 102 (+2)
Agility: 12
Intelligence: 32
Luck: 6
Charisma: 3
✧ Unique Skills
[Resurrection Lv 1] [Night Vision Lv1] [Falling resistance Lv1] [Magic Chanting Max]
[Fire Shock Max] [Lesser Slow Max] [Fireball Lv8] [Acid Resistance Lv1] [Identification Lv1]
[Sage"s Wisdom Lv1] [Weapon Enchant Lv3] [Armor Enchant Lv3] [Sunlight Resistance Lv1] [Physical Resistance Lv1] [Inferno Lv2] [Water Sphere Lv1] [Necromancy Lv1]
[Lifesteal Lv1] [(MP Regeneration Lv1]
✧ t.i.tles
[Rat Trapper] [Hit-and-Run] [Savior Lv2] [Coldhearted Lv2] [Dragon Slayer Lv1]
[Ant Exterminator Lv2]
At the moment my MP was quite low, but it was still quite a bit easier to continuously use spells because of the increased regeneration. I was now able to spam Fireshock non stop and never worry about running out of mana. I could use a Fireball about every 10 seconds, but Inferno had high mana cost at 50 MP, so it was still quite difficult at the moment. My higher dps spells still required some hit-and-run tactics.
From what I had observed, the termites health could range from 300-700 depending on their levels so in worse case scenarios that would be almost 10 Fireb.a.l.l.s at roughly 80 damage each or 5 Inferno at about 150 damage. My biggest worry at the moment were those flying termites because I had no way of dealing with their acid spit.
I used Armor Enchant. As I had learned in my fight with the dragon, it seemed to give some acid resistant properties.
"Do I have a chance?"
I didn"t worry about dying because I could simply revive, but if they were to split my body up into different pieces, then there was a chance I"d be alive but unable to move or fight back, it would be a terrible kind of torture. Also, I was currently only level one so considering what I learned from Sage"s Wisdom there was a chance for resurrection to fail at lower levels so this was a very dangerous period for me.
I first looked for a small group separated from the rest.
"Found them."
There had originally been 4 or 5 fighting, but now there was only one which was seriously wounded and two in ok shape. I made a quick judgement to engage and casted some spells.
"Slow! Slow! Slow!"
They all turned to look at me momentarily before resuming their fight.
"Well this is insulting, aren"t you supposed to run away or something?"
I checked their Status page to confirm their condition. The wounded one was at 120 HP and the other two were quite healthy at 210 and 230 HP.
"Fireball! Fireball!"
I sent the two healthy ones a fireball apiece, they finally stopped their fighting as they seemingly decided to take me seriously. Still, it was too late for them as I had begun chanting.
"Inferno!"
[+144 experience points]
[+288 experience points]
[+576 experience points]
[Acquired ｟t.i.tle:Exterminator｠ Lv3]
[Level increased 1 ➢ 2]
"Wait what? I gained so much experience but only leveled up once?"
It looked like the Lich required far more experience to level up, if it had been previously with those three kills I would have hit level 4 or 5. No reason to give up though, it just means I need to grind some more experience.
I kept searching for a group of stragglers as I let my MP regenerate.
"Here"s some!"
This time there were a total of 4 fighting a 2 versus 2.
"Slow! Slow! Slow! Slow!"
They turn to look at me, so are they going to fight each other again?
"Oh… what?"
Unexpectedly they all chose to charge to me but their healths were within the 210-230 range which was still manageable.
"Fireball! Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!"
I hit each of their chests with a Fireball and checked their statuses to make sure they were under 150 health.
"Inferno!"
Kueeeeeeek!
The baby dragon on my back finally woke up, did it get up because it"s hungry?
Kaa-Boom!
[+144 experience points]
[+288 experience points]
[+576 experience points]
[+1152 experience points]
[Acquired ｟Ant Exterminator｠ Lv4]
[Level increased 2 ➢ 3]
The Inferno had burnt them to ashes.
"Phew, I was so surprised"
Shik shik shick!
I heard the sound of countless termites rushing towards my position and became worried. Thinking back it seemed like the dragon and the termites were mortal enemies so hearing the sound of a baby dragon might have enraged them.
Kueeeeeeek!
The young dragon was still crying and seemed to be complaining with whiny yelps. It helped the termites to lock onto their target.
"d.a.m.n!"
I threw the last piece of termite to it and began to run away.
"There"s no way I can fight against those numbers but I don"t think I can escape, what to do?"
The termites had caught the scent of a dragon and were not far behind. The only escape route is the tunnel and I should choose my path carefully because otherwise I will lead them to Gwyn and Ian"s hideout.
I could also sacrifice the dragon, but that would mean giving up my fantasy dream of being a dragonrider! I kept trying to find a solution for so many termites but it was proving difficult. The sulfur gases could possibly take out a couple hundred and if I use inferno in tight pa.s.sages where they are stacked together I can maybe take out another hundred but, looking back I noticed I"m being pursued by a swarm of thousands. I can"t seem to find a way out of this one.
"d.a.m.n! How can there be thousands, just what do these guys eat?" Climbing up to the tunnel I could only think of escaping when faced with such an impossible scenario.