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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Hey, why don’t you just reveal to Thea that you’re a Warlock?” Athena suddenly asked.
“What’s this about all of a sudden?” I responded, puzzled.
“We’ve gotten close enough now, and Thea feels greatly indebted to you. Above all, I think you have a point. I want to assign a guard to protect Thea.”
“You want me to assign my undead as Thea’s guard?”
“Yeah. Is that not possible?”
“You want me to advertise that I’m a Warlock in the middle of the castle?”
“You can hide it, like in the basement like last time. Tell Thea to go underground when she’s in danger…”
“As if she could escape that far with no power.”
Athena’s suggestion, hastily made amidst her anxiousness, had too many flaws.
Thea was definitely a significant weakness for Athena.
Still, the fact that she naturally thought of having my undead guard Thea showed how much she trusted me.
‘Well, using undead as guards is a pretty useful method.’
Although many of them had unpleasant appearances, no creatures were as loyal as the undead.
“If you’re really worried, wait a bit,” I said.
“Why? Do you have a method?”
“It will take a long time, but there is a way if I grow stronger in the future.”
If I developed the specter further, I could make it conceal its presence.
At that level, exerting physical force would be easy, so playing the role of a secret guard wouldn’t be difficult.
“Really!?” Athena exclaimed.
“However, it won’t be able to alleviate her loneliness. It would be better to have her make friends instead.”
“No way. I can’t trust people.”
“That’s overprotection.”
“Her life is at stake. How can I not overprotect her?”
I understood.
They had experienced a tearful separation once, and when Athena found Thea, she had become a slave.
“Really what should I do…?” Athena muttered.
Her worries didn’t end until we arrived at Evergreen Forest Village.
“Welcome, Sir Knight,” the village chief greeted us.
“It’s been a while,” I responded.
I was tired of correcting him that I wasn’t a knight.
He must have already known.
He was just trying to flatter me, so what was the point of mentioning it?
“By the way, you look quite gaunt,” the chief remarked.
“It’s because the food situation isn’t good,” I explained.
Given the state of the castle, the condition of the frontier villages was obvious even without seeing it.
I clicked my tongue and informed the village chief of the purpose of our visit and the authority I possessed.
“To the ant nest… with the people of the territory? Most of the young men have already been conscripted…”
‘No wonder they gave me the authority…’
It seemed they had already taken all the useful ones.
I felt deceived.
‘No, this is definitely a scam.’
They didn’t even give me a single hint about this beforehand.
My opinion of the lord, which was already low, plummeted vertically.
“I’m not planning to use them for combat. I intend to have them bring back the corpses if the extermination succeeds. Oh, by the way, Giant Ants are edible.”
“You mean… as food?” the chief asked.
“I will use my discretion to release food to Evergreen Forest Village first.”
The lord couldn’t say anything to me about that.
“Please give us your orders anytime, Sir Knight,” the chief responded.
After receiving a definitive answer from the village chief and resting well, we headed to the entrance of the ant nest.
We knew the exact location and had thoroughly prepared, so there were no delays.
We didn’t particularly encounter any monsters on the way, so it didn’t take long to arrive.
“Over there…” Athena said, looking at a shallow mound of dirt.
The entrance to the ant nest was behind a barrier they had made out of dirt and rocks.
It could be seen as similar to how ordinary ants also build walls around their entrances using dirt or sand grains.
However, Giant Ants were incomparably larger than those ants, so their barrier was also quite high.
It was at least 1.5m tall at a rough glance.
“I don’t see any ants beyond the wall?” Athena wondered.
“It gets deeper as you go inside, so you won’t see them unless you approach and look,” I explained.
There was a possibility of soldier ants acting as gatekeepers.
‘Of course, most of them will be blocking the entrance from the inside of the hole.’
“I’m planning to place the skeleton at the very front. I’ll let the specter move freely. The inside of the ant nest might not be that narrow, but we’ll have to see.”
The size of Giant Ants varied greatly, but including their antennae, their height was close to 1m, and their length easily exceeded 1m, taller than an average person.
Therefore, the inside of the ant nest wouldn’t be so narrow that it would be impossible to move around.
Their eyesight was extremely poor, and they mostly identified others through smell, antennae, and sound.
Their unique way of communicating through pheromones was similar to ordinary ants.
“There are also ones that shoot acid, so be careful. It won’t be a big problem if it hits the equipment, but places like the eyes can be dangerous. Kayla should be fine, but…”
If the acid landed on iron, there would be some corrosion, but it wouldn’t be severe.
We had also applied a protective coating.
However, if it got on the skin, especially the eyes, there was a possibility of blindness in the worst case.
“So I’m in danger. You’ll be in the rear anyway. You said you’d support with attack magic and curse magic, right?” Athena asked.
It wasn’t for nothing that mana allowed humans to surpass their limits.
If one possessed a high level of mana, they would develop resistance to such toxins, and for Kayla, who had even gained a mana heart, even being hit by the acid of Giant Ants wouldn’t be a big problem.
“Especially, even if the ant nest doesn’t hinder movement that much, it won’t be enough for you to run around freely. It might be possible in a room, but it will be difficult in the passages,” I explained.
“Got it, I’ll be careful,” Athena responded.
Still, unlike before when she supported from the rear with a crossbow, this time she planned to fight properly next to Kayla with the skeleton.
Kayla, as her teacher, had certified that Athena would be fine to that extent, and indeed, Athena’s skills had improved a lot compared to the past.
‘Still, Kayla said it’s a waste to give her the spirit medicine yet.’
Thanks to the spirit medicine, not only did Kayla fix her leg, but her body also underwent restructuring and she even gained a mana heart.
Therefore, she highly valued the worth of the spirit medicine I possessed, and that’s why she gave the opinion that it was too wasteful for Athena to use at her current level.
Although Athena’s mana control skills had noticeably improved, considering the value of the spirit medicine, it was still far from enough.
In fact, looking at the results, it wasn’t an ordinary spirit medicine, and I also agreed with Kayla’s opinion.
Hence, Athena had not taken the spirit medicine at present.
“Should we check first?” I said.
I immediately took out the specter and sent it up into the sky.
Unfortunately, as a 3rd Class, I couldn’t share senses, including sight, through the undead.
However, the undead could still read my will to some extent, so indirect confirmation was possible.
After surveilling like that, I reported the result.
“It says there’s none?”
The specter circled around as if agreeing.
“Good work,” I praised.
-Woong.
Responding to my words with a slight vibration, the specter quietly stood behind me.
“It seems they’re inside,” I deduced.
The specter hadn’t checked the interior.
We would be going in anyway, and it couldn’t communicate in detail to convey the exact situation.
‘It’s obvious. The ants will just be swarming inside.’
Stamina would be important.
Unfortunately, only I could recover fatigue by receiving the energy absorbed by the specter.
The skeleton didn’t know fatigue, so the two of them would have to manage their stamina on their own.
“Then, let’s go,” I declared.
We were already fully prepared.
We immediately crossed the barrier made of dirt and rocks and headed inside.
As expected, the pit deepened as we went down, and there was a fairly large hole at the innermost part.
Still, it was slightly above the ground level.
“Isn’t it blocked? What’s that?” Athena asked.
“A soldier ant,” I answered.
“That’s an ant?”
It was a gatekeeper ant, a type of soldier ant.
Its head was abnormally large, allowing it to block the entrance like that.
At a glance, it looked like a black wall, but that was the head of the gatekeeper ant.
‘The exoskeleton is also quite sturdy.’
When other ants return from scouting or hunting and knock on the door, these guys confirm friend or foe through pheromones and open it for them.
Of course, they wouldn’t open it even if we knocked.
Therefore, we had to kill it to enter the inside.
And that would be the signal for the start of the battle.
Even though we had reached the entrance, they remained motionless.
I summoned the skeleton and looked at Kayla.
“Cut it down,” I ordered.
Sring.
Kayla drew her sword and coated it with aura.
‘Hmm…’
Her aura was deeper in color and more distinct in form than Rankbink’s.
In terms of level, it was intermediate.
She couldn’t properly utilize the mana heart yet, but even so, she would be able to gain an advantage against experts of the same rank.
‘If she can draw out a high-level aura even for a moment, she’ll quickly rise once she starts properly handling the mana heart.’
I thought it wouldn’t be a dream for her to become a Master.
While I was briefly lost in thought, Kayla, who had already moved to the entrance, swung her sword.
Chwaaak!
Following Kayla’s sword strike, the entrance to the ant nest opened, and transparent bodily fluids splattered around.
Drrrr.
“Huh? What’s that sound?” Athena asked.
“A danger signal,” I explained.
The main communication method of Giant Ants was through pheromones, but they also conveyed simple intentions through strange sounds that only they understood.
I knew they mainly made the sound by scraping their exoskeletons.
It seemed the gatekeeper ant had sprayed a danger signal just before dying.
‘If it made a sound, it must have also sprayed pheromones.’
They would probably quickly assume a combat stance inside.
“Let’s go in,” I said.
The skeleton entered first, followed by Kayla and Athena, and then I followed.
Shining the lantern, I could confirm that it was indeed a fairly large passage.
Kik.
There was already a Giant Ant that had arrived, presumed to be a worker ant based on its appearance.
Its jaws were small, and its exoskeleton wasn’t as robust compared to soldier ants.
It seemed to be the one that was in the closest room.
The skeleton rushed towards the opponent without hesitation.
Tak, tak!
The Giant Ant raised its body and clashed its jaws in a threatening manner, but there was no way the skeleton would be intimidated by that.
Skak.
Rather, by exposing all its weak points, the Giant Ant was instantly killed as the skeleton’s sword strike cleanly severed its vulnerable joint.
‘For zombification… it doesn’t seem very useful.’
Ants could also be raised with Animate Dead, but it didn’t seem like it would be of much help.
Its body was also severed.
I could make and attach it to heal it for use, but it was too inefficient.
‘Hmm… as expected, there’s no need for strength enhancement. It’s easy if you just target the weak points.’
This time, the enhancement I had given to the skeleton was to increase its body’s durability.
Even without actually enhancing its strength, by targeting the joint, it was able to easily kill the Giant Ant.
“Surprisingly, they die easily…” Athena remarked.
“Their individual abilities are much lower,” I explained.
The Giant Ants in this area had nothing special about them.
The only threatening aspect was their sheer numbers.
The fact that they didn’t know fear was also quite an advantage.
‘Once the order is given, they’ll keep rushing in.’
When I explained that point, tension rose on Athena’s face once again.
Thud thud thud.
“They’re coming,” I said.
In just a moment after dealing with the first one, we could feel the vibrations of a tremendous number of ants approaching.
It seemed all the ones in the nearby rooms had rushed over, as there were quite a lot of them.
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