"Let's see, I think this is it"

I found an object shaped like a hollow bull's horn, it feels like it's made of ivory but its color is a reddish-brown, both the inside and the outside are covered in a multitude of very small mana circuits, I couldn't even see them until I looked closely.

"This must be the so-called 'horn of the earth'"

I was hoping that I could learn something about that mysterious monster by studying this thing, but the circuits engraved are all very outdated and complicated, however, I can feel it absorbing earth mana from the surroundings, and yet, it's almost empty right now, so it really was used to create a monster recently...

I guess I'll just try to figure it out later when I have more time, right now I need to see how that dragon is doing.

When I step outside, I see him lying on the ground. Did he fall asleep while he was looking for the monster? What a lazy guy.

Taking a closer look, it seems like he has a lump on his head, so he got knocked out? I know that he's actually supposed to be really strong, but all he's done since I meet him is get beaten up, so my impression of him is getting very low.

But where's the monster hiding? I can still sense it and yet it's nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, you! You're the one who made that monster, right? Do you know what it is?"

The demon woman seems to want to run away, but she's not going anywhere unless I want her to.

"I don't know, I only activated the horn and all the mana poured out of it and condensed a bit further away, but I didn't see the monster at all"

So the monster was invisible even at the moment of its creation?

"Ufufu, look at that, even that dragon was no match for the monster, you and the humans in that town are already as good as dead!"

"You do realize that if it kills me it will go after you next, do you?"

"Well... you are actually pretty strong, maybe you can beat it"

Well, I'll need to find it first.

"Huh?"

What's this? There's something beneath my foot that's pushing against it.

"Whaaat!?"

I just got sent flying backward more than ten meters, causing me to fall on my butt, what in the world was that?

Oh, it seems like there's actually something there, I think that's the monster, and it is... an ant.

And I don't mean that the monster is a giant ant or anything like that, I mean an ant, a regular one, around one centimeter long, that's... not what I was expecting.

No wonder I wasn't able to find it if it's that small, and not only that but it also moves really fast, I already lost track of it again. At least I was able to check its level with my appraisal stone, 333... is this the strongest ant in the world?

"Ouch!"

It just smacked me on the head from behind! When did it get there? It seems like it is much faster than I am.

But you should not underestimate my eyesight and hearing, if I focus, I can actually see the ants on the ground and even hear them moving, this monster ant is rather stealthy considering how fast it is moving, but it won't get away from me so easily.

'Gravity bomb'

Gravity bomb is a spell designed to be extremely difficult to dodge, an implosion of dark mana drags everything in a radius of 50 meters towards its center, and it all happens as fast as a normal explosion type spell, but it doesn't actually have anything to do with manipulating gravity so the name is a bit questionable...

And yet, the ant manages to escape its range rather easily, its speed and reaction time are much better than I thought, it runs faster than the spell can suck it in...

'Gravity bomb'

'Gravity bomb'

'Gravity bomb'

No matter how many times I try, I cannot land a single hit, and now it seems like it just dug itself underground so I won't be able to see where it is anymore, but I still feel its mana just a bit further ahead.

Normally everyone would assume that a bigger monster would be tougher to fight, but that's because greater size usually means greater strength, but if an opponent is going to be strong anyway, a smaller size simply means that it will be harder to hit, and this monster's stats and skills seem to be focused on speed and evasion, I need to think of a better strategy...

Maybe the best way to do this would be to just use a spell with an area of effect so large that it won't be able to escape in time, I have spells that can destroy an entire mountain in one shot after all, but I cannot use such a powerful spell in this place, the town is too close and there might be people wandering nearby, also the dragon and the demon woman are still near, so instead I'll use...

'Swamp terrain'

By using a greater amount of mana I can increase the area that turns into sludge, by using the greatest amount the spell can accept, I can affect a radius of 300 meters around me, not even that annoying bug will be able to escape this.

Ah, look, there it is, it's standing on top of the sludge not too far away from me. Wait... it's standing on top of the sludge... and walking on it...

How!? Why isn't it sinking!? Is it because of its low weight? And why are both the ant and the surface of the sludge getting higher and higher?

Oh, I just realized that I'm actually the one who's sinking, making the sludge appear on an area with me at the center obviously means that I will also get caught in it, by the time I noticed, I've already reached the bottom and I'm trapped up to just below my chest.

Uh, I need to cancel my spell before the ant...

"Ouch!"

It just used earth magic to throw a rock at my head! It's taking advantage of the fact that I can't move!

"Ouch! Hey! What are you doing!? Uf! Stop that! Agh!"

It seems like it realized that hitting my head was not going to accomplish anything so now it's aiming for my chest, is it trying to make me die from embarrassment?

This is making it difficult to focus on undoing my magic, so it manages to hit me quite a few times, fortunately, its attack power does not seem to be as great as its evasion so I don't really get hurt, it truly seems to be a highly specialized monster.

When I finally get out, it just stops in front of me and seems to be looking up as if waiting for me to do something else, is it making fun of me?

"That's it, you're getting stomped"

I use flesh shaping to reinforce my right leg and stomp down on the ant with all my strength, the impact leaves a large crater on the ground and causes a small earthquake, but the ant just jumps to the left to dodge.

I keep trying to stomp it again and again with no success, until it finally grabs my left foot and trips me, causing me to faceplant on the ground.

"This is starting to get a bit frustrating..."

Is someone trying to pull a prank on me or something? I've already fought a hero, an army of demons, and a dragon, and yet, the most difficult opponent I've had so far is an ant of all things, I'm feeling really miserable right now...

"Hey! Where do you think you're going!?"

That stupid bug is running away from me? It is trying to escape after all of that?

It really runs fast, I even had to form my wings to keep up with it, but I won't let it get away.

"Hey! Mistress! Do you need help?"

"Oh! You got back up already?"

"Of course! There's no way that a few stones would be enough to take me down! But mistress... I had no idea that you could fly"

"I can, but I get tired quickly"

Alright, I need to calm down, even if it is difficult to hit that thing, its attack power is too low for it to be able to defeat me either, and now I have someone else helping me, all I have to do is be patient and keep trying until I find a way to kill it, it's not like anything bad will happen if I take a long time to do it.

Wait... isn't that the town? When did we make it here?

Oh no, that monster is about to go inside.

"Mistress... isn't this bad?"

"Yes, really bad"

I need to kill that ant somehow before it hurts someone...

forli

If there are other authors here, is it normal for fights to end up being much longer than expected? I was going to do the entire thing in one chapter but it was actually enough for two.