Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMNIT! What the hell is this shit?! Liam screamed in his mind while hundreds of giant ants poured out of the cave. I should have been more cautious. This isn't some walk in the park, damnit.

Deciding it would be in his best interest to scram, he sheathed his dagger and began crouch running in the opposite direction of the horde. Okay, good. They haven't noticed me.

While Liam was thinking such, an even larger ant with a red stripe on its thorax skittered from inside the cave. Its spiky antennae vibrated while turning in multiple directions. When the antennae pointed in Liam's direction, the creature made a horrible chittering sound that drew the attention of its kin. Upon hearing the sound, all of the ants faced the direction Liam had run off to.

Picking up on the change in atmosphere, Liam looked back. Awww, hell naw...

Crouch running was not going to be fast enough. That giant hoard was now chasing him and the largest ant was leading the pack. Those beady red eyes are creepy as hell! Liam thought.

Casting aside any hope of stealthily escaping, Liam broke out into a full sprint. He dived over a large fallen tree and rolled back up into a running position. However, he was instantly met with a branch to the face. It stung like a bitch and cut his cheek, but he kept up his momentum. Again, he glanced back but was disturbed by the sight of the giant ants cascading over the giant log.

Holy shit! The mandibles on the big one could slice me in half!

After realizing such a dreadful thing, Liam sprinted even harder than before. His breathing lost rhythm. His lungs burned. Sweat dripped from his forehead in droves. However, he sprinted onward in the last vestiges of evening light.

{Rumble}

“What the hell?!” Liam shouted while losing his balance due to an earthquake. No, it was not an earthquake. Earthquakes were not that short.

{Rumble} {Rumble}

The ants that were chasing Liam paused, giving him a moment to sprint ahead. Unfortunately, the big one uttered that skin-crawling chittering sound again, which renewed the horde's pursuit.

{Rumble}{Rumble}{Rumble}

Liam realized he was approaching the edge of the forest closer to Crey. Going toward the city could be a good plan. There were plenty of meatshields... er, strong people there that could take care of the ants. With that in mind, he hurried to the edge of the forest.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

A piercing scream broke the quietness of the forest. Since the ants had not generated much noise, the scream caused Liam to cover his ears in shock despite the fact that it slowed him down. Just as he was about to run into the deforested field surrounding Crey, he saw an enormous head rise above the forest canopy to his left. Although he was incredibly startled, he was far more frightened by the horde of ants.

Bursting out from the forest line, Liam was met with one of the most gruesome sights he had ever seen. Even with all of his experience in combat, nothing could have prepared him for the scene before his eyes.

A giant. A grotesque and abominable being that looks like a human but is far from it. Liam would probably only be able to reach its knee, even if he jumped. Absurdly bulky and misshapen muscles made it look like it had been in a plane crash. Its back was hunched, but its head was lifted. Mouth agape, it bit down around the torso of a flailing human grasped firmly in its filthy hand.

“Noooo! Ivaaaan! Waaahaahhh!” A girl cried out from the ground in front of the giant. Since Liam was still running, he barely noticed her at first. Then, he saw two others on the ground trembling in fear. Even at a good distance, he could tell that the two men had completely lost their shit and pissed themselves.

Those are the idiots that were following me earlier... Wait, I can use this, He thought.

With a foolish idea in mind, he changed directions and ran straight toward the giant. “I must be losing my damn mind,” Liam muttered as he closed in on the filthy, lumbering creature with the horde of pissed off ants right on his tail.

At first, the girl sitting on the ground grew bright-eyed upon seeing Liam approach from behind the giant. However, it only took a moment for her to see the surging wave of black flow from the forest edge.

“KYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” She screamed. It was the same ear-shattering scream Liam had heard a few moments earlier, only much louder and far more irritating.

Instead of covering his ears, Liam did his best to ignore the scream. After all, he was probably going to need every ounce of physical ability at his disposal for this crazy plan.

“Hey!” Liam shouted at the giant. “Big guy!”

To Liam's surprise, the giant stopped chewing and craned its neck to look at the one calling for it. When it saw Liam sprinting towards it, it threw the half-eaten corpse to the ground and faced Liam. The lower body of what was once a man splatted against the ground with enough force to make it explode like a bug against a windshield. Pieces of flesh and skin scattered across the grass, staining it with blood.

Damn... Liam thought. What else was he supposed to think? Doing his best to ignore the fact that he could probably end up as blood spatter in seconds as well, he looked up at the giant's ugly ass face and yelled, “I brought you a present!”

Well, the shout was probably unnecessary since the giant already noticed the horde of ants. Its wrinkled and gnarled face turned beat red. The thing was so fuming mad, Liam could have sworn steam was shooting out of its ears.

While the giant was distracted, Liam darted between its hairy legs and past the three stragglers who were still trembling on the ground. The giant swiped backward with its overly muscular right arm in an attempt to hit Liam, but he dodged it by diving into a roll. Just like the time when he jumped over the log, he rolled right back into a running position and took off at full speed once more.

[Bad human, I kill you!] the giant shouted. Its voice was deep and guttural. The earth quivered with each word.

Oh, shit! It talks! Liam thought. He was not going to slow down and have a conversation with it, though.

[My name Athos! I! Kill! You!]

Although Liam was intrigued by the fact that the giant had a name, he ignored it and kept running. His whole body felt like it was on fire, but he could not stop now. However, since there was nothing in front of him, he turned his head to see if his plan would actually work. As he had hoped, the ants shifted their attention to the giant.

[RAAAAGHH!] The giant roared. The roar was loud enough to shake the earth, though not enough to make Liam stumble. Unfortunately, Athos' next action did make Liam stumble.

Athos the Giant lifted its putrid left foot into the air and followed up by stomping directly on top of the horde. Tens of giant ants were crushed. Several more were thrown into the air by the impact.

In response, the leader of the ants, the larger one with the red stripe on its back, began to glow with a red tint. At first, Liam thought his eyes were deceiving him, but then the red glow spread throughout the entire ant army. All of them fell into a frenzy and rushed at Athos.

[GRRRRAAAAAGHHHH!!!] Athos roared again. This time, the earth shook enough that Liam fell flat on his face. However, he quickly rose to his feet and resumed fleeing while watching the battle that grew more distant.

After roaring, Athos pulled out a club from God knows where and began to glow with a yellowish tint. Liam had no idea what was going on, but he made a mental note to ask someone about this absurdity later.

The ants that were now glowing red threw themselves at Athos one after another. Tens of them attempted to climb the giant's legs at a time, only to be shaken off by an earth-shaking stomp or batted away by the club.

At the edge of the battle, Liam saw several ants split off from the pack and rush toward the three young people that were still trembling on the ground in fear. The two men simply froze in place, but the girl tried to crawl away.

It's too late, kid. Liam observed, and he was right. Only a moment later, the ants tore into the three idiots. Limbs, organs, and flesh were minced until the cries of agony died down. Although he did feel slightly bad for using them like that, Liam was glad to have had the opportunity to come out of that shit storm alive.

A few minutes later, he could barely see what was happening. Although the giant was clearly visible, the details were obscured by the darkness of dusk.

“Well, that was an interesting first day...” Liam muttered.

You have assisted in the slaughter of a legion of Myrmekes.

Small portion of experience allotted.

11,249 exp. earned.

Level up!

Level up!

Level up!

Wise decision made in spite of a stupid action.

One point added to Wisdom.

“Wait... what?”