The transition from the shaded grassland to this morbid desert was almost suicidal and maniacal. The grass on the other side of this sun-baked place was almost like an oasis in the middle of this endless-hot-desert. Though this patch of land wasn’t a desert and didn’t induce natural delusions, the ant lions waiting in the pits had strange powers which created illusions of their own.

“I’ll show you both what lives here.” And in the middle of our short comforting gaze into the dangers of the wild hypnotic pit hunters, Pyro had to act his nature. Without waiting for anyone’s approval, suggestions or even agreement, he fired a rough looking ball of fire into the funnel which then exploded upon colliding with the bottom and made the sand tumble down into where the antlion was waiting for a prey.

Even the antlion larvae decided to act its part in Pyro’s play, and confusing the explosion with some insect’s last struggle to get out of the funnel, it closed its mandibles -which rose from beneath the sandy surface, producing a transient flash almost similar to the effect of my mandible cut. The poor being then stood motionless in a daze with a bundle of air caught in its closed mandibles just to understand what had happened before it shivered uncomfortably and burrowed its body back under the comfort of the granular layer of sand.

Meanwhile, Pyro yelled, “Look!” as the hunter came out of its lair under the blanket of sand and snapped its mandibles shut at the place the fireball had exploded. It was the second time that I was looking at the bugs structure, and no matter how long time had passed, it hadn’t changed one bit form the last time.

If I compared my mandible to its, then there simply was no comparison. Mine mandibles were way short and thinner. The hair on its face also played a major role in sensing the vibrations which I couldn’t. I still didn’t have such ability.

{Knowledge has risen to lv 10}

“Doesn’t it look dangerous?” Pyro asked with the excitement in his voice showing a craze fitting his species. He liked setting thing on fire. That, I had heard from the others, but I didn’t know he liked using his ability this much. On the other hand, the real crazy player of this team, our captain, was getting ready to smack some sense into Pyro’s head; because no matter how funny his little prank may seem, this was neither the place nor the time for it.

“Yes. They are dangerous.” Still, the antlion larva was a crazy looking insect. Not only was it gigantuous in comparison to us ants, but its body appeared to be a lot sturdier too. Actually, there was no comparison between us at all. It was machine built to hunt anything and everything which fell into its web of charm and funnel made from loose grains of sand; while I, an ant, was just a small being whose duty was to mechanically work and bring food to the colony.

One might say I had a different, much bigger responsibility on my back; but in my eyes, it was the lion which was the greater winner between us. It had freedom.

“Okay, kids. Stop stalling and start moving. We need to reach the tunnel on the other side before it floods. Still, don’t lose concentration. The hunters may not appear agile and dangerous out of the pit, but once you are caught in their songs then there is no returning back alive.”

“Yes,” I answered and Genma also nodded his head. I knew David’s words were meant us rather than the others. They were a team and had possibly crossed this dreary hellish patch of land multiple times already- while it was our first time. It also meant that they had achieved an appropriate amount of resistance against the hunter’s hypnotic songs. Hence, the reason why they decided it was best for us two to walk in the middle of the group.

{Intermediate Military formation has risen to lv 7}

{Stable mind has risen to lv 10}

David made Dark walk at the end of the line because he had the best chance of catching someone charmed from falling over the ridge with his shadow tentacles. So with Captain David in lead, Mink following behind him, Pyro walking in front of me and Genma behind me, we started walking over the ridge- the only traversable track formed where the pits outer edges coincided with each other.

This zigzag path was so thin that even I had to concentrate a lot in order to not slip into the funnel where apparent death resided.

“Pssh!” But who could stop Pyro from being him? If anything, he was the one who should be the most concerned because he didn’t have as much grip on his balance and his movement as others did. His species had greater firepower with respect to others but mages aren’t known for being versatile in terms of movement ability. Yet, he thought that he had enough space to speak while stepping on small grains of sands stacked over one another which could shake and tumble from even the littlest of miscalculated weighted steps!

“Do you know why we always travel through this place instead of going around?”

I actually had an idea, but I held back my thoughts in order to discourage him because I didn’t want him to lose concentration and fall into the funnel, ending up in a bad romance with the bug below.

“Do you know or no?” My silence irked him. I almost spoke up from worry, when he shook his head in low spirit and started concentrating on the path.

“You are no fun. If it was Mink…” My idea seemed to work for now or maybe he was simply cooking something else in that devilish mind of his. It was either one or the other. I was actually thankful that it was Dark who was following behind Genma. Otherwise, I would have had to keep a lookout for Genma; who knows what he would have done.

We walked slowly. So slow, I had to restrain my feet from simply stopping and getting stuck in the cracks between the grains which were like gravel to my eyes. Body stiff as a bone, eyes right on the prize, I was looking to get to the other side as soon as possible.

“You alright, kid?” I heard from the front and reapplied with affirmative. The smell of death was sticking in the air and I was sure here had died more ants and other formidable foe combined than the amount of death I had seen in my whole life.

I looked behind me to check up on Genma and noticed his eyes lacking the luster they once used to contain during our scavenger days. I knew I should have kept him company after Captain's death, but so many things had happened after that, I simply just didn’t have the time to get anything done. I had almost failed in getting my friends ranked up because of my time constraints what else can I say? Still, his body looked to be in great condition.

He had slimmed down from his previous bulky body after raking once again. The pink glow he was bestowed during the war was now much more concentrated and tightly wrapped around his chest which appeared pink in color because of it. I could feel a rhythmic pulsating sensation from this aura, almost like it was alive. Though he didn’t talk much anymore like he used to, I was happy for him. And I wanted him to be happy too.

Breathing slowly through my skeleton, I turned my head back to look at his ghastly patch of land. The cold shaded grassland and this hot and dry desert were like two separate dimensions. In the first, one had the chance of randomly encountering a jumping monstrosity which liked to eat the face of its prey while it’s still alive. While in this second dimension, there was a chance of meeting hidden assassin by jumping into the pit. And although these doodlebugs, these hidden larvae, weren’t really a mystery of the world which we ants didn’t know about; yet, their charm magic, their illusions, and their mystifying abilities had us ant, rather almost every ‘F-tier’ insect in a daze and resounding terror.

Although the magic in the air, the sweet appetizing odor coming from the bottom of the funnel was also a type of their magic, and though it had no effect on me, my [charm and confusion resistance] still found a chance to rise by one. Even [Chance] thought it was a good opportunity to rise and decided to go along with the flow.

Fifteen minutes after we first started walking, we were in the middle of this death filled land and everything had gone perfectly until now. Yes, until now. My reflexes had just risen by one level, while concentration and equilibrium both rose by two, but then Pyro’s spirit recovered and he turned around to pester me once again. I was going to adorn a veil of silence in order to keep him focused when I heard the grains of sand rub against each other and then collapse behind me.

{Sensitive hearing has risen to lv 15}

My sense blared as if a tumbling boulder had rushed into my space. A deep cold, the color of dark blue, swept by me and then exploded behind my back, erupting into a pressure wave which mortified my already stiff body and made my limbs stop right there and then.

“Help!”

Sand tumbled behind me like an ocean’s surface being ravaged by a raging tsunami. I didn’t even have to look to understand what had happened.

“Shit!” I yelled and turned. [Reflex] kept me balanced and [equilibrium] dissolved my momentum without any problem. The first thing I saw upon turning was Dark on his haunches and tentacles of shadow extended from beneath him and into the funnel-shaped pit. Then my head turned toward the pit and there I saw Genma walking ahead of the tentacles range toward a sinkhole where tumbling grains of sand were disappearing without stopping. His face was out of my sight but I just knew he had been charmed.

“I...” desperation was in my movements as I ran behind him into the pit. I didn’t waste my breath or time by calling him because that wouldn’t have worked. Clinging onto my spells with hope, I knew [War cry] could possibly break the charm cast on his mind, so that’s what I used.

“Wake up vice-leader!”

{War cry has risen to lv 10}

I don’t know why, but when I cried for Genma ‘vice leader’ came out of my mind rather than his name. Maybe in the deepest recesses of my mind, I still believed him to my vice leader. It must have made the other members of my new team flabbergasted, but I didn’t check by looking back. I didn’t even think about looking back.

[War cry]’s effect was absolute and I saw Genma wake up from the hunter’s charm in a snap. But I was too late.

“What?” Genma said as the hunter’s mandibles came exploding out of the ground. I only saw a blue globe start to appear around him when the mandibles closed on him like two ends of a scissor, and then pulled him into the lair beneath.

Only his scream remained behind as he was dragged out of my sight, but the sound of his voice mixed with the noise from the other members of the team and turned into an incoherent mess of pulsating agony which sent a shivering wave across my body. It may seem that I didn’t do anything and stopped at the mouth of the sinkhole after Genma was dragged beneath, but that’s not true.

{High shock and Fear resistances have risen to lv 6}

I jumped right behind him as he was dragged. Antlion or not, I had already lost a captain, a precious friend, and mentor, I wasn’t going to lose another friend here on this day.

I wanted to jump right into the larva’s lair with them, but tumbling sand filled the sinkhole before I could make it. Hence, the moment my feet touched the bottom of the pit -the door to the antlions lair- I used [Rhythmic quake] and sent a vibrating bust of mana into the ground which not only disturbed the funnel but also the lair beneath. I was sure the pit bug would try to save itself instead of feeding on Genma, and that’s what happened.

It shrieked in a sound akin to glass shattering and falling on rock stone floor as a pillar of sand came bolting out of the ground, aiming directly at me. It wasn’t shaped into anything, just a tide of sand, rising from the ashes toward a new life and trying to crumble me in its flight.

If it wasn’t for all my skills and my defense then I might have even succumbed to the tides weight and ended up becoming just another ant lying crushed in the ant lions jaw under baleful suns smelting shine.

[Deter] bound the first onslaught of sand grains away from me, and [magical damage reflection] decreased the damage done by the next some grains by almost 80 percent! [Equilibrium] kept me from tumbling down the rising floor and [Reflex] allowed me to move- get away from the attack.

{Rhythmic quake has risen to lv 9}, {Sight has risen to lv 3}, {Equilibrium has risen to lv 19}, {Dodge has risen to lv 24}, {Deter has risen to lv 17}, {High Pain resistance has risen to lv 7}, and {Magical damage reflection has risen to lv 2}, {Blunt resistance has risen to lv 22}

But what I truly wanted didn’t happen. I wanted the hunter hiding under its layer damage dampening sand to come out of its lair with Genma in tow, but that didn’t happen, and I had to use another [Rhythmic quake] to shake the ground enough to make the already crumbled layer explode like an erupting volcano and sprawl its innards.

This time, I couldn’t escape the force applied on my body by the erupting sand and got flung into the air. And it was here -flying in the air, senses blaring like a forest fire painting my mind red with danger, control all lost and distant- that I saw the colossal body of the hidden hunter, the antlion, finally appear under the suns grimacing light. Its shell shone a mix of dark yellow and light brown. Its hairs were straight and collectively pointing toward me. Its giant tri-lipped mouth was open and it was uncomfortably shrieking. The falling dust created a sense of mystery around it as it waived its head in the air. Also, Genma was caught in its mandibles and a sparkling blue ball was protecting him from death.

Releasing a mental groan, I quickly used [Glide] to stop my body from falling flat on top of it and then used glides special ability: Float to counter my kinetic energy and use it as fuel to hold me still in the air. [Float] wasn’t a real skill. It was just a special ability which only actually worked for a fraction of the second. I needed to see what kind of abilities it had, so I appraised it while I was still floating.

Appraisal: Charmingly cruel Antlion(uncommon)

Charmingly cruel Antlion(uncommon)

Level

13/15

Phase

Larvae

Rank

1

Job

Assassin

Health

60/60

Stamina

19/19

Skills:

Mandible cut(3), Command(5), Battle Tactician(8), walk(4), Excavate(2), Burrow(6), Shovel(9), Charm(8), Jaw of death(4), Patience(9), Clear mind(6), Stamina regeneration(2), preservation(7), Breath control(5), Vision(2), craftsman(3), Soul collector(8), Sneak(8), Hide(4), Instant(6), Earth manipulation(3), Force dampening(5)

Tier: E

Strength

11

Intelligence

1

Agility

3

Wisdom

2

Dexterity

9

Luck

1

Charisma

6

Vitality

6

No matter how I looked at the result, I only came to one conclusion, “Isn’t it too weak?” my wisdom alone was enough to take this thing head on, and by wisdom I mean my skills. “Just why was I so scared of this thing?” The answer was not a single reason. It was multiple of them. First, was ignorance, then lack of knowledge, confidence, or lack there-off, and the last one was me believing half-truths. Truths like ants had no way of fighting against these hunters, these hidden beasts, these creatures of the pit. While the real truth was that not a single ant had the strength to fight against the jaws of the vicious and voracious predator hiding under the velvety and aviaries layer of sand.

{Glide has risen to lv 11}; {Concentration has risen to lv 19}; {Appraisal has risen to lv 9}

This appraisal made a bell ring loud inside my mind. Doubts started whirling in my mind and turning into cocoons with a larger truth hidden inside them. The truths I had believed until then cracked with their binding webs burning into ash as new confidence arose from inside me. Until then I hadn’t felt strong. Not for once.

I had done this and I had done that, but I had always believed my success, a trick, not a lasting, achievable and repeatable result. But understanding the strength of this ‘E’ tier being opened my eyes. And now that I looked at it, the fear which I had once felt from it changed into this ruthlessness which spoke with a voice of its own telling me just one thing, which I repeated as I attacked this confused and defenseless antlion with a whirling and defense penetrating [Air bullet], “I can win this fight.”