Chapter 55: Terror Ant Mountain (2)
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Time passed and our group slowly climbed the mountain.

The Ant’s continuous attacks have never slowed, they only grew fiercer the higher we climbed. Nobody talked, everyone was fully focused. For an average group of people that would’ve been absolutely impossible.

They had been fighting full force for at least six hours. While there had been brief breaks when we manage to break through a major cluster of ants, more would arrive soon after.

In the vast majority of situations, battles would only last five to ten minutes at most.

Even with their impressive bodies and training, since the pressure is mainly forced onto the fifteen spear uses at the front of the formation, the spear warriors were quickly becoming exhausted. The number of Terror Ants that are making it past our first line of defense is slowly increasing.

Even still, everyone knew that slowing down would be infinitely more dangerous. One that happened, we would have to defend from all sides. At that point, moving back into a position where we could charge would almost impossible.

Suddenly, the situation went from bad to worse.

Sword Ki flew past completely missing an ant that already passed the spear warriors defensive line. Although the Sword Ki killed many ants behind it, it missed the most important one that had broken past the initial defensive line.

My face contorted and I stepped forward to intervene.

If I choose to shout out a warning, it would only draw every warriors attention and cause further flaws to appear in the formation.

Whether it was the spear warriors or sword warrior, they must have noticed the ant passed through the defensive line. They simple weren’t in a position where they could do anything about it.

The ant had immediately charged toward the nearest spear warrior. The ant’s red eyes glowed brighter as it increased its speed toward him.

It had already passed the point that the warrior’s spear could defend him from it.

Although, even if he could defend from it, he wouldn’t dare to.

A panicked defensive thrashing would only cause the formation to collapse and result in everyone’s death. If he suddenly stopped piercing forward, without preparations by others, many flaws would appear in the formation and too many ants would be able to make it past the formation.

He was forced to wait for his other tribe members to defend him. Unfortunately, the other tribal warriors were in a similar situation. Stopping to defend against the ant that had made it past the formation would only cause a cascade of flaws.

If they had any free members (beside my weak self), we wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.

Nobody beside myself was free enough to intervene to defend the spear warrior. I had to step forward in this situation.

Stabbing forward, I ran my wooden spear through it soft eye into its brain.

Under normal circumstances, such a strike would have done nothing. The ant could have easily avoided it.

The strike only succeeded because it hadn’t recognized me as a threat due to the Terrorious herb.

Despite having a spear stabbing through its brain, the Terror Ant used its remaining strength to stab its stringer into the spear warrior.

Damn it!

Pushing even further into it’s brain with my spear, I finished off the Terror Ant.

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done.

The spear warrior violently shook and collapsed to the floor. The newly created flaw in the formation caused havoc and the sword warriors were swiftly and skillfully picked up the slack.

I immediately rushed to the ground and attempted to pick the collapsed warrior up.

If he collapsed for any period of time and ended up getting left behind while everyone else continued to push forward, he would die a horrible death from being eaten alive by countless Terror Ants.

We cannot afford any losses this early on. Morale would be devastated.

This is turning out far more dangerous than I initially intended.

I’d assumed the great tribe would send their most powerful and skillful warriors. Apparently, they hadn’t sent their most powerful warriors.

However, before I could continue to complain, the poisoned spear warrior stood back and moved back into his place in the formation.

Meanwhile I briefly halted, dumbstruck by the scene.

That’s… not possible.

Even if his impressive physique allowed him to survive the venom… the pain would be debilitating. It would only lessen after several years of intense pain and, even then, the pain would only be reduced, it will never fully dissipate without a specially produced near impossible to find antidote.

It been well-documented that survivors of Terror Ant’s stings tend to go insane and most kill themselves from to escape the pain.

Although, logically, the venom shouldn’t take precedence as countless Terror Ants were charging toward us, it isn’t that simple to shrug off such intense pain.

Yet, ahead of me was such a scene.

Although he violently convulsed periodically and was far less effective as before, he still managed to stay in formation.

Still, everyone was already exhausted from fighting. Now that a speared warrior had been poisoned and weakened, the pressure on the other warriors had dramatically increased.

We barely have enough people as it is. The weakening of even one person, especially when everyone else is fatigued, causes a great deal of trouble.

Slowly down would reduce the pressure on the frontal assault warriors, but in turn, it would dramatically increase the pressure on our flanks and rear.

Unfortunately, we no longer had a choice.

If we didn’t slow down to reduce the pressure on the frontal warriors, the entire formation would collapse.

However, if we did slow down, the exhausted warriors on the flanks would have to deal with further pressure.

In either situation we lose.

I need to find a solution… before time makes our choice for us.

Searching the surrounding area, I quickly noted three possible solutions.

First, a cave or tunnel that would be a potential escape and was only a little bit further up the mountain. It easily noticeable because Terror Ants were constantly pouring out the entrance. That could allow us to shortcut the journey to the top of the mountain along with prevent ants from attacking our flanks allowing additional warriors to support the front and rear. Essentially, this option would allow us to fight from only two directions instead of four.

The downside to this is that we would be far more likely to get lost in the tunnel.

A side-tunnel such as this one is far less likely to lead to the queen and would be far more winding and connect to countless other tunnels.

We were heading toward the entrance at the top because it is usually one of the first tunnels created resulting in it having a straighter path to their queen.

Second, a nearby cliff that we had moved to avoid.

The cliff is extremely steep and sharp rocks were jutting out. It would be difficult for even Terror Ants to climb it. Thus, if we could reach the top of the cliff, the amount of energy needed to defend our rear would be minimal.

This would provide a relatively safe place to rest for a period of time. The sword warriors would be able to easily defend an immobile location indefinitely. This would allow the spear warrior to rest and recover strength before we set off toward the peak.

It’s the best option for recovery and to move forward toward the queen.

Immediately, though, I ruled out this option for one crucial reason.

The poisoned spear warrior.

He’s certainly running on adrenaline and determination to not let his fellow tribesmen die. If we entered a situation where he was allowed to rest for a period of time, he would almost certainly collapse.

At that point, the warriors would have time to discuses and realize the pain and danger their comrade is in. Considered how much they value the lives of their fellow tribesmen, they might decide to return and fight their way back down the mountain to get him to temporary safety.

Once down there, they would certainly abandon this quest.

Thus, while this might seem like the best option, it would only cause the expedition to fail.

In such a situation, my only merit would be failing to properly kill a Terror Ant before it could harm their brethren.

There’s no way I would be allowed to join the tribe at that point.

The third option would be to try to break through a weak point in the Terror Ant’s offensive.

If we travel toward the underside of the cliff, we could break out of the constant attacks of the Terror Ants.

While a group this size cannot safely outrun the Terror Ants, it would provide a brief reprieve and allow the spear warriors to rest while we delayed for further solutions. This solution is entirely a delaying tactic to allow the spear warriors to recover… but it’s a weaker, more quickly implemented one.

The downside is that we would no longer be heading upward. Instead, we would be heading sideways on the mountain.

Gritting my teeth, I instantly made my decision.

There was only one option, although it’s the most dangerous, it provided the best opportunity for me receive merit for my skillset.

Pointing toward the location, I shouted, “Head toward the cave up there. We’ll be able to hold a temporary defensive location there or begin to enter the tunnels.”

Although the cave is worse long-term as a defensive location due to Terror Ant’s ability to climb on the walls and ceiling, I needed to provide the illusion of choice.

Having a better defensive location, in this situation, would potentially result in the quest failing.

Liam already knew the situation was only getting worse and that arguing with me would only decrease morale.

Additionally, he would have to proceed to provide an alternative solution. Meanwhile agreeing would provide a reachable goal and increase morale.

Thus, upon hearing my words, he instantly came to a decision and commanded. “Toward the cave!”

The spearhead formation slowly changed direction and the warriors began slaughtering their way toward the cave entrance.

With a clear goal in sight, the focus of the warrior reached an extremely high level.

Due to the improved focus, very few ants managed to it through the first line of defense and none made it through the second line. Thus, the situation stabilized and morale increased resulting in a smooth journey to the cave entrance.

As we held position just inside the cave, the narrow corridor allowed us to kill even more ants per strike. Additionally, we had cut off the Terror Ant’s source of reinforcements, the number of ants behind us slowly decreased.

After around fifteen minutes, we managed to wipe out the Terror Ants behind us. An unexpected side benefit of choosing this direction as opposed to the other.

…Although, that advantage won’t last long. They’ll soon begin utilizing another tunnel and continue flanking us from behind.

With the temporary safety, the minimum number of people defended against the stream of Terror Ants coming from the tunnel while everyone else took a break.

I kept an eye on the poisoned spear warrior. He had immediately fallen to the floor once we set up a defensive perimeter. It seems he's keeping quiet about the pain he is in.

Ending my train of thought, I stared back toward the defending warriors.

Although the Terror Ants utilized the tunnel walls to increase the number of ants attacking us, the sword warriors were still able to easily defend allowing more than half the warriors to rest.

The main reason this location is so easily defended is because we are only having to defend from one direction.

Of course, the fact that these sword warriors are extremely proficient in defensive arrangements should also be mentioned.

Thus, the combined might of the various the sword warriors in a more powerful, but immobile, defensive formation resulted in our position becoming extremely advantageous.

Taking a moment to gaze up at the sun, I quickly calculated it was about three hours before nightfall.

That leaves around ten hours before the next mutation of Terror Ants occurs and is bred into their offspring and, considering how many Terror Ants we’ve fought, it will likely be a powerful mutation.

Liam quietly moved to the side to converse with me alone and in distinctly quiet manner asked, “Will you be able to navigate us to the queen’s lair if we go down this tunnel?”

Staring down the tunnel, I considered my response.

I’d definitely be able to lead us to the Queen Terror Ant eventually… but, if we don’t reach it fast enough, we might end up dying in this tunnel.

After consideration, I spoke in a similar hushed voice. “Forty percent. I’m forty percent confident I can reach the Queen within a week.”

Honestly, it’s simply too difficult to navigate these tunnels… even with my past experiences as a wanderer.

Forty percent with in a week is actually extremely high already… The difficulty of navigating such a large maze to reach a particular point is extreme.

Stating I was more confident than this would only make him doubtful.

It’s better to simply tell the truth.

Liam closed his eyes upon hearing my response and replied. “I understand…”

Moving back toward the other warriors, Liam stated, “Rotate the defensive line after two hours. We’ll be setting off into the tunnels in four hours.”

Success!

Although navigating the tunnels will be difficult, if I succeed, I’ll have undertaken a task worth enough merit to warrant joining them.

Should I fail… well, everyone would probably die. At that point, with everyone dead, I wouldn’t have to care about failing.

All-or-Nothing.

I’ll rise to the heavens or fall into the depths of hell.

Only time will tell the final result.

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