Sharp

I wracked my brain about what else I could do to reduce the danger. I couldn’t think of much. My new shield as a section of Ant chitin was Resin fastened to the front, and I was wearing the new Greaves, but that was all.

I was very careful just to pull the one ant this time, and it went a lot smoother. One kai had a burned patch, and that was all. I got more chitin and added more to the front of the shield, and we did it again.

This time, when I struck the aura, another ant was close, heard it, and came as well. It wasn’t too bad. The Hunter tether is working well. The Liquid fire is horrible, though. I had another burn patch on my leg this time. Maybe I will get enough chitin for some thigh armour. I will finish covering the shield first.

Another Kai got burned. This time, it was quite bad, and it was one of the Mana Drain ones. We called it a day after that, and I retreated to my tree to rest and reflect.

The first thing I did was set up my chitin shield and placed a piece of chitin on the branch and pulled out some of the liquid fire I had Reaped. It didn't ignite when it came in contact with the air, so that was good. My first concern was put to rest.

I got out some of my Alchemy equipment and prepared to try to determine what it is physically as well as magically. If the liquid fire didn't self ignite then the ants must be igniting it somehow.

I put a drop on a piece of chitin and created a spark with my fire starter. I haven't lit a campfire since I got my coin-operated camp stove, but there is always a need to start a fire, and I had a lot of equipment in my pack like that. I never forgot that a simple rope saved my life in Ironwood.

The spark was sufficient to set the drop alight, and I estimated how long it burned—longer than I expected. The drop had nothing else to burn, so the green-tinged fame died when the liquid was consumed. I looked at the chitin, and there was a mark on it. The flame damaged the chitin, meaning it was resistant to the flame but not proof against it.

I checked the chitin lining on my shield. Some sections of chitin need to be replaced.

I put a drop of liquid in the Alchemy equipment and started the most obvious test: I was initially testing for fire essence. I should get clues for the less obvious if I start with the obvious. Plus, I had the ingredients to test for fire; I probably wouldn't have the ingredients for the less common things.

Surprise surprise. There was fire essence bound up in the liquid. There were more things, a lot of smaller components, that I had no clue about. I had only completed the introduction to Industrial Alchemy after all.

I looked for how the fire essence was contained in the liquid. I didn't get very far. This would take a full Alchemy lab to delve into it.

I was trying to find something that could help me with the ants. It was not going to happen tonight. I ran a few other experiments before packing it up for the night.

Containment and avoidance are my only defences for now. An alchemical alternative will need that full lab.

I had some ideas. If I could create something that sped up the breakdown of the containment, then it would burn itself out quicker, possibly turning into an explosion. This lab will need robust silver-level walls.

I spent some time meditating on the day, but I made no obvious gains—not even fire-resistant fur.

I will see whether I want to continue tomorrow. I pulled out the Adventure Society monster compendium to see if there was anything I had forgotten.

When I woke, I discovered bronze rank recovery plus Hunters Feast did not regrow fur overnight. It did reduce the burns in my skin to an itchy red spot.

Did I really want to try again? I should head to the nearest town, report this to the Adventure Society, and let them send a team. I am not sure how far away the nearest town is or in which direction. This makes for a small issue with that plan. The ants are static now, but once they reach critical mass, they will spread and burn the whole area. With the number in there, I think they are reaching critical mass.

Picking off the babies from the edge is not doing much. They are the worker ants. Then there are the stronger, tougher soldier ants and then the queens. This nest will have multiple queens.

This is a bad match-up for me. I will be more successful if I let them spread out and pick off the small groups. This forest will end up destroyed for kilometres in every direction. Possibly hundreds of kilometres. It is a big nest.

I approached the nest again from the same side. I think my actions yesterday were noted, as there were more ants on the surface and several Soldier Ants. The soldier ants were half again bigger than the workers and were more heavily armoured. They probably had more skills as well.

It would be tougher to get small groups without attracting a soldier. I waited for a while as they milled around, and I would have a reasonable opportunity. Eventually, I pulled four ants and avoided the soldiers.

Four was more than I handled yesterday, but they took a while to burn through my Hunter Tethers, and I had learned to move fast. My injured Mana Drain Kai was on my hand behind the shield, so I had both mana drains going. In the end, I was using my shield as a blunt weapon against them, and that was doing a bit better.

I had killed two, then a warning permeated through to my consciousness, and I dived left, and flames ripped up my right leg. The pain was horrendous. Before, I only had small burns, and that was enough. This was the entire side of my leg. I rolled on the ground, trying to get the flames out and brush off the liquid. I was blinded by the pain, but I didn’t miss the explosion. The explosion was the crystal rod of my Hunter Tether exploding when it was caught in the flames.

Kai let me know the explosion killed one of the trapped ants and crippled the other, but it was a soldier ant coming at me that had lit me on fire. Their senses must be better than the workers.

I scrambled to my feet, but my leg was raw. Maybe the word was cooked. If I am thinking about that, I might be going into shock.

I desperately cast Hunter Tether between me and the ant, and it exploded two seconds later. It was so close to me that I was almost caught in the blast. I backed up as fast as I could, casting another hunter's tether.

I saw a bit more this time. It had sharp claws that ripped through the tethers and a greater range for spitting the liquid fire. I could see the soldier was damaged from the explosions. I assume it was the explosions, as they were the only thing aimed at it that could cause damage.

I kept backing off and cast two Hunters Tethers beside each other. The ant spat at me, and the double explosion ripped off a leg and made another just hang there. It had cracks in its armour. I grabbed some javelins with Pierce and pounded the cracks, then grabbed one of my bronze cutting discs and threw that. I missed the body, but the disc nicely took out a leg. One more leg, and it would be immobile.

It took me two discs, but I then cast four Hunters tethers on all sides so it was being pulled in multiple directions, and then it tried spitting at me. That caused a set of chain explosions, that finished it.

I sunk to the ground in pain and exhaustion. Kai had finished off the wounded worker, and then they went to gorge themselves on the bodies.

I pulled out water and soaked my painful burns in wet rags to cool it down. I also took one of my last lesser health potions and ate some bronze food.

I was very sombre. I almost died. I thought I could always run, but I would not have outrun the soldier ant with the burned leg.

I just lay there for a while, soaking my leg and letting the almost useless iron rank potion and the Hunters Feast do their work. I need to make some bronze-rank potions.

This was such a bad idea that I probably deserved to die.

Almost half an hour later, I concentrated on what reaping Magic was offering me. The Soldier was larger and had more magic in it, so I was offered a chitin knife with a burning cut. It wasn’t large enough to give me chest armour. I got the knife because while it would be useless here, it would be very useful later.

There was still no Fire Kai, but I did get a slight resistance to both fire and heat. Fire resistance means it is harder for my fur to catch alight, and heat resistance is insulation against heat. I think the pain of this was worth more than the resistance being only slight. Nobody asked my opinion.

I am not doing this again. It wasn’t even mid-morning yet, but I would need to heal up and then find the nearest town.

I rested and looked at the trial of burned destruction the fight had left. I had been using the same trail for all the ants I pulled from the nest. It was now wider, and the smell of burning wet material permeated the area. Wet wood also creates a lot of smoke, and I watched the smoke rise. Smoke has been rising since the first fight, and this would be seen from a long way. There will be hunters and foresters who will have seen this, and they will investigate.

I wish I knew where I was in the world. I could guess, I did guess, but maybe I should have just gone into the town I saw.

Because I was not going to fight the ants again, I stored my shield with the ant chitin and switched out my chitin greaves and bracers for the Resin so I could go full stealth. It was time to find a high point and see what was around.

I went up the hill on the opposite side of where I had been fighting and climbed a tall tree. I could see a long way, but I only saw bush. I was scanning the sky for signs like smoke from blacksmiths or straight lines in the landscape that might indicate a field, road or building.

I only saw a bush. I was four days from where I had come from, and that was maybe two days from the town I saw. I could wander this jungle for weeks without finding anyone. Plus, I am pretty sure I am in a silver-ranked zone of magic, so all the monsters will kill me. I am just lucky they are few and far between.

I climbed down, but I decided to stay on the ridge for the night before heading off in the morning. I used a low branch to raise my garden and soaked in my pond for a while, then I cooked some ant meat to try. The healing was progressing.

I had some chitin and patched my shield. I got some alchemy ingredients out to work on this liquid fire. If Kai can not learn it, maybe I can use it alchemy-wise, although I would still need more specialised equipment than what I had on me. However, combining the liquid fire and my Resin may make flashes of destruction possible. I did make some simple combinations, one of which worked.

It was mid-afternoon when I felt the magic change, and a rush of air magic washed over me. I quickly threw everything into my Pack and collapsed the garden. A shadow moved across the area, and I engaged Blend and found a spot to see what was happening.