novelraw Chapter 30: Plague of Ant-lizards!
Chapter 30: Plague of Ant-lizards!
The battle had begun.
This was it.
Everyone now understood their ability to absorb mana essence from killing spawns, and with that realization came decisive action.
Fighters leapt down from the trucks, boots hitting the cracked asphalt as abilities ignited all at once.
Shots flew toward the advancing ant lizards whose numbers steadily increased.
The battlefield erupted into color and force.
Some raised clouds of dust to blind the creatures. Others hurled fireballs that exploded on impact.
Some condensed water into sharp ice spears or summoned gusts of wind to knock the lizards off balance.
Lightning crackled from a few hands, while otherworldly energies twisted the air into shields or blades.
Force-based incarnations varied widely: some pushed with raw telekinetic power, others crushed with invisible grips, and a few simply amplified their physical strength to tear through armor with bare hands.
Attacks crossed endlessly.
Ant lizards fell one after another.
As F rank spawns, their defenses were insufficient. Yet their numbers did not thin.
Instead, more ant lizards crawled out from the ruins, spilling from collapsed buildings and broken streets, emerging from every shadowed gap.
[First Floor Access Confirmed]
[Skill Activation: Snow Vine]
Icard activated his skill.
Reya fought beside him, her fists crashing through armored skulls with terrifying precision. Eric stood close also, his fists engulfed in flames.
This was only their second spawn encounter since becoming incarnations.
Yet their movements were controlled and much more refined.
Eric’s flames were much concentrated. Each punch detonated with focused power, a skill he had crafted himself and refined under Katar’s harsh guidance.
Reya’s inhuman strength let her drive clean holes through armor. One solid strike sent an ant lizard tumbling away.
Matt reached out with his force, slicing through armor and limbs with invisible cuts.
And with her force, Alia sent lizards flying away, or crushed their legs, immobilizing them with precision.
Anyone watching closely could see it. They had mastered their abilities far better than most people here.
And those developments were what saved them truly - the little time they had spent training crazily under Katar’s harsh and forceful guidance.
But the ant lizards did not stop coming.
"What! These things aren’t stopping!" Matt yelled, voicing what everyone was beginning to realize.
Fatigue was inevitable.
Icard grabbed an ant lizard by the head and slammed it into the ground, shattering it instantly.
Then, he straightened and scanned the battlefield, eyes narrowing at the ever-growing swarm before a panel appeared.
[Warning: A Surge In Spawn Numbers Has Been Detected And A New Quest Level Has Been Determined]
[New Quest Level: Plague!]
Icard’s eyes widened.
’We can’t handle these numbers. We’ll have to escape or use the Reed!’
Then another panel appeared immediately.
[Warning: You Are Within Spawn Territory!]
[Name: Ant Lizard]
[Average Threat Level: F]
[Maximum Threat Level: D]
[Quest Level: Plague]
’Why can’t you tell me all this in a single panel!’
Now it made sense.
They were inside the nesting area, which was why their numbers increased so quickly
And this also meant the ant lizard queen was nearby.
’If we kill the queen, the plague disperses,’ he realized. ’But I’m probably the only one who knows that.’
Another ant lizard lunged at him.
Icard dodged its snapping fangs and struck upward with open palms beneath its jaws, crushing its head in a single blow.
Months of physical training had hardened his body. Not enough, but enough to compensate, even if only slightly.
[You Have Killed An Ant Lizard!]
[You Have Gained 2 AP!]
The notifications kept coming.
While he needed those APs, he also needed to find the queen and kill it while he still had enough mana.
But where was the main nest?
Icard’s eyes darted around for answers. But it didn’t come within sights...instead, it came as a tremor.
At first, it was faint. Most people barely noticed it.
Then the ground vibrated harder and within seconds, hundreds of ant lizards poured into view, crawling over one another as they surged from all directions.
The sheer number stole the breath from everyone present.
"Damn it!" Icard growled.
At the highest floors of the Frost Tower, there were skills capable of erasing plagues like this in an instant.
He had access to them but his mana pool could not support even one.
He glanced at Albert. Even Albert could not stop this.
"Someone do something! Use the Reed!" a distraught voice screamed.
Before any response came, the earth split open.
And with a deafening shriek, something massive tore its way out of the roadside.
Asphalt shattered, debris flew, and nearby buildings collapsed as a monstrous ant lizard the size of a truck emerged from beneath the ground.
Its armor was thicker, darker.
Its presence alone crushed the air.
Lipless jaws spread wide, with rows of massive fangs glistening as it roared.
People froze. Eyes widened and faces drained of color, staring at the towering spawn that eclipsed everything else on the battlefield.
But before it could charge and claim lives, a blast of swirling energy slammed into its side.
The impact carved deep gouges into and through its armor, sending the massive body crashing backward.
Albert.
And the amount of energy he had just used was enormous, and so Icard did not hesitate.
[Third Floor Access Confirmed]
[Skill Activation: Frost Hammer]
A blue-white frost hammer materialized in his right hand, frost radiating strongly.
He charged at it.
Smashing through the ant lizards escorting the D rank queen, he crushed them in a single sweeping strike.
Then he leaped. With his hammer raised high, he brought it down with all the strength he could muster, aiming for the queen’s head.
But then, the queen sensed him.
It twisted its massive body aside and whipped its tail toward him.
The collision exploded in ice. Icard had barely managed to block by diverting his frost hammer’s path sideways to counter the tail attack just in time.
The tail shattered into frozen fragments, but the impact sent Icard flying away despite his timely swing.
As the queen reeled from its earlier damage and the loss of its tail, Albert closed in.
Energy wrapped around his legs, launching him upward. He compressed his power tightly into his right hand as he descended.
The queen opened its jaws wide, fangs spreading as it attempted to clamp down on him.
However, Albert thrust his hand forward.
The compressed, swirling energy tore through the queen’s armor like paper, ripping deep gashes across its body and smashing it violently back into the ground.
At that moment, the surrounding ant lizards reacted.
Sensing their queen’s distress, they shrieked and surged back toward her, abandoning their previous targets in a frantic attempt to protect her.
And there, battlefield shifted.