Too Stubborn to Die

Book 3: Chapter 56

Aaron tested his new Skill at the edge of the outpost, shifting in and out of the spiritual plane. While his new Skill was passively active, he still needed to actively pass into the spirit plane if he wanted to use it like that. Just like he did when using his spirit by itself.

There was a similarity between his new Skill and [ Spectral Rush ]. During both Skills, he looked translucent and could pass through physical objects, including physical attacks.

This also meant he could likely remove his Spectral Projection Skill for a new Skill when the opportunity arose. This wasn’t exactly the same, but being in control of his actual physical body as well was enough of a boon to render that Skill more or less redundant. After all, he didn’t need to project his soul if he was bringing his body along, and he was more capable of defending himself. He was also more capable of taking damage, but he had a feeling that as he grew in rank and got stronger, harming souls would become easier and easier for his enemies, and his soul was more or less defenseless.

However, he couldn’t actually interact with the physical plane while he was in the spiritual plane, except when using aether or mana. He tested this with Zero, getting the wolf to attack him. As expected, the mana-based silver beams could strike him, but he could also defend against them.

He could also block and dodge while in his spiritual state, but despite all that, it wasn’t obvious that passing into the spirit plane would benefit him in a fight unless his enemy was a pure stamina-based combatant. Which seemed very unlikely at D-grade and above.

The reality was, it seemed that while in the spirit plane, he was restricted in too many ways to make it viable for combat.

That said, his new Skill was extraordinarily interesting. And beyond its obvious boons, he knew he would need to test it out more when the opportunity arose.

“So, this is where you got off to. Having second thoughts about chasing down the queen?”

Aaron turned to Talia as she strolled toward him through the jungle. He had found himself a quiet spot while she and others prepared for their final battle.

“Me? Second thoughts? Is this your way of saying you’re ready?”

“You could say that, I suppose. There was something, though…”

“Huh? Something? You wanted to speak?”

“Yeah, we’re not all as insane as you, Aaron. But that’s not the point. It’s those royal guards. Do you remember their titles?”

“Oh, right. Yeah, I do.”

Aaron knew what she was getting at. He had been wondering about it ever since they first met Lord Rhino and Thousand Grand. Their titles were numbered three and four. And it didn’t take a genius to wonder what was inferred.

“So, what do you think then? Are we walking into a trap? Are we going to find number two and one down there? Royal guards that make those two look like weaklings?”

“Well… maybe? Or maybe the rankings are not strength-related? Could be seniority, or something else.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“No, not really. But do we have much choice, though? After securing this place and waiting for the defenses to go up, we’re down to just two days.”

“Right, the dungeon. You’re still thinking about that, aren’t you?”

It wasn’t just the dungeon Aaron was thinking about, but he didn’t want to admit the rest of it to Talia, not unless he had to.

“So, you don’t care about the dungeon? What about rewards?”

“No, of course I want to go. But I dunno. It’s not worth throwing our lives away for it.”

“Yeah, I know. But what’s the alternative? Hunt in the jungle and get stronger first? What happens if the ants get stronger at the same time? Besides, I’m not entirely sure leveling is the problem.”

“Wait, you don’t think leveling is important? Maybe that patron god of yours has gotten a little too in your head,” Talia looked at him accusingly.

“Hey! Wait a moment. I’m not saying leveling isn’t important. Just that it might not be exactly what we need. I got to where I am fighting things stronger than myself. There’s a lot you can do with actual skill and exploiting weaknesses.”

Aaron thumbed the parasite ring on his finger. He had removed it for the royal guard fight, and while he was well aware that he couldn’t risk keeping it on for the queen or other royal guards, he still made a habit of wearing it when he wasn’t fighting overpowered beasts. Not just because it helped him gain something out of weaker fights, but it also grounded him and helped him remember the lessons he had learned in the trials.

“But I also get your point, we can’t underestimate these royal guards,” he continued. “It’s just, I think we can do this. If we fight at our best. And who knows what new Skills these thieving ants will gain next? If we go around hunting, we might actually end up further away from them.”

“Sure, we might,” Talia frowned. “But you’re getting very close to D-grade. D-grade will make you a lot stronger. Even if they do get stronger at the same time, it seems like an unreasonable gamble to fight them at E-grade when you could be doing it at D-grade.”

“Yeah, I know, but…” Aaron trailed off, he was being greedy, and not telling Talia all of his thoughts.

The reality was, she was right. He was getting close. And maybe he was being dumb and reckless, not wanting to hit D-grade first. It was undeniably a big jump in power. But he couldn’t resist the urge within him telling him to go kill the queen.

Maybe it was his inner daredevil, a recklessness that had been putting him in the face of danger his entire life. But there was logic to his madness, too. After all, the System rewarded people who pushed themselves past their limits.

The way he saw it, if he went out bashing simple beasts and grinding out the last few levels, the System would punish him. And he would be given a weaker D-grade Class evolution.

That wasn’t just greed. It could make him weaker, and it might even have implications beyond just D-grade. He didn’t want to get people killed on his behalf, but was that really a risk worth taking if there was a chance they could beat them in their current state?

Based on what he had seen from the royal guards already, and the Skills he had been offered after beating Thousand Grand, he felt he had been proven right. It was by far the best selection he had been given in a while.

But Skills came and went. That wasn’t to say a good Skill wasn’t valuable. But compared to a Class evolution?

He was practically salivating at the thought of hitting his D-grade evolution off killing the queen, and for good reason. Yendal had suggested that the hive was a threat to their entire world and that they should make defeating it a priority. And he could only begin to imagine how killing a global threat, and using it to push him to his evolution, would affect the rewards provided.

That said, even if the rewards were incredible, could he live with himself if he pushed them toward a difficult battle that resulted in people dying? What if it were Talia or Zero?

He exhaled long and hard.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Perhaps you’re right… It's probably best we get this over with sooner rather than later. If we wait too long, the swarm might regather while we’re down there and threaten Dober while we can’t help,” Talia sighed. “It’s a shame, though. That evolution really would help us.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, well, you make a point. We really don’t know if they are even stronger. What if we wait around for nothing? What if we can beat them now, and they surpass us by consuming another Skill while we are grinding? And I like I said, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of the swarm. We might be able to beat it again, but can the outpost hold out by itself if it regroups while we’re in the hive?”

There was some logic to that thought. Although in truth, it seemed unlikely. A newly hatched swarm would be weaker than the one they had just destroyed. And while they clearly grew at an incredible rate, Aaron highly doubted they could recover fast enough to be a threat in the immediate future.

But he held his tongue. This was what he wanted, after all…

“So, are we doing it?”

“Talia… I…”

“Something the matter? I mean, besides a genocidal war against an insane ant colony?”

“It’s…”

He let the thought go. Maybe it was selfish. He wasn’t entirely sure. But what would Yendal tell him?

We need this. Running away won’t make us any stronger, not in the long term.

Once they were ready, they gathered up the others and headed for the hive. Even though only Aaron, Talia, and Zero planned to descend into the hive, there was a team that came to assist in securing the entrance.

In truth, there were several strong people in the camp who could no doubt aid them in the battles to come. But Dober and the outpost needed their defenders, too.

When they reached the hive entrances, their explosive-loving friend, who had helped against the bats, set about placing explosives.

And he got to work putting his traps around several entrances. Collapsing tunnels wouldn’t do much in the long run, but hopefully, they would at least stop the queen from having an easy escape route if Aaron and his party got the better of her. And when he was done, there was just one tunnel for the party to descend down.

“Okay, well, here goes nothing.”

“Watch yourselves. Lots of people are depending upon you,” Carlos gave him a thumbs up. “We are… we need this.”

“Um, okay.”

Aaron had been taken a little off guard by Carlos’ candidness. He had been so busy with threats that he didn’t really know how moods around the settlement had changed regarding him.

Not wasting another second, they descended. And quickly found themselves surprised by what they found. There was almost a complete lack of defense.

Sure, there were scattered and foaming drones. Even a few concentrations in defensible positions. But they were still just drones, and in numbers not even coming close to the swarm.

And against the three elites of Dober, the scattered groups of drones were slaughtered with barely a thought.

Still, that wasn’t all the hive had to offer. There were also reinforced doors blocking some of the passages. They were built from timber found in the jungle that was as hard as steel. And while it did slow them a little, both Aaron and Talia could smash through the hard doors relatively fast.

Within an hour, they had descended further and quicker than any of them had suspected, and it was leading to a growing eeriness as they delved deeper. It simply felt off that their forces on the surface would be so much harder to fight through.

“Maybe we beat most of their army already?”

“Maybe,” Talia said, striking down a few drones as they entered another passage. “There has to be more to it than this, though.”

Despite the lack of defense, moving forward wasn’t such a simple affair. Even without substantial enemies blocking their way, the tunnels were absolutely labyrinthine.

In fact, if it weren’t for Aaron’s racial map Skill and his powerful senses, they would have gotten lost countless times. The tunnels turned in every which direction, and many of them were trick tunnels, veering off into circular loops that led nowhere.

Not to mention the complete lack of light. But that was a lesser issue at high E-grade or D-grade, where their eyes could find light in the darkest of settings. Still, along with everything else, it added to the difficulty of navigating the hive.

And then the traps came. And there were many of them. False floors, spikes, acid pits, and rooms that came alive with electrifying power. Basically, any Skill that they had seen the drones use, they seemed to be able to turn into a trap.

But lucky for them, Aaron had suspected traps when they entered and had kept [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] running the entire time they descended. Also, because he was dead aware that the royal guards could ambush them.

The Skill was a drain on his energy, but as long as he was focused, he could restrain the time-dilating effects from being too powerful, and with that, the energy cost wasn’t so high. It also wouldn’t be so unbearable to be walking around empty tunnels in slow motion.

Still, despite that, Aaron made sure to lead just in case a trap was sprung. But ultimately, the cost of keeping [ Gorgon’s Soul Vortex ] running was far less than having to resurrect himself because he got caught by a trap, even if they didn’t see any royal guards.

Not only that, but once they were a good distance into the tunnels, his soul vortex started to sense powerful beings down below, and he used their energy signals to guide their path.

Even though the defenses were a letdown, the hive itself was a full-blown underground citadel, expanding for miles and miles in every direction. There were countless tunnels and caverns. Some of the caverns were absolutely massive, cities unto themselves. And they even found drones going about their day within them.

The hive was alive with activity, and clearly aware that they were inside. But some of the drones seemed to have a one-track mind, and continued doing their work as if nothing was happening.

Some of the caverns they entered as they continued down were even huge mess halls, filled with eating ants. Or collection depots where the drones were dropping off corpses to be processed.

Some of these rooms, they even passed straight through without attacking the drones within. It wouldn’t have taken too long to slaughter a few hundred worker drones, but constant interruptions would add up, and they didn’t want to be slowed too much.

And as they got deeper, the color of the walls changed, and the air seemed to grow thicker.

“Look,” Talia pointed ahead.

Finally, it seemed that the hive was throwing up a defense. Ahead of them, filling a small chamber were about a dozen ants. They didn’t look humanoid like the royal guard, but bigger and meaner than the drones. Their shells also looked incredibly impressive, thickly armored and spiked.

“Looks like we got a decent fight, finally,” Aaron cracked his knuckles and stepped forward.

Formic Armored Guard [ Level 95 ]

Formic Armored Guard Captain [ Level 102 ]

They were still in a time crunch, and the trio blasted into their enemies. But unlike the drones, these ants didn’t go down so easily. Even the regular armored guards tanked multiple hits before dying, and the ants even countered with some powerful attacks of their own.

Still, after several long and hard-fought minutes, the decent-sized squad of the armored guards lay splattered across the floor.

However, it hadn’t been without cost. The guards were hardy enough, with decent enough skills of their own, that the trio had pulled out their own Skills to blast through their heavy armor.

Aaron had removed his ring prior to descending, as he couldn’t risk wearing it if they were ambushed by royal guards, but still, against these guards, he had pushed himself a bit.

This presented the real problem. The fight had drained them enough that they stopped to recover their energy reserves. Against different enemies, this might not have been necessary.

But with the prospect of fighting the queen and her two strongest royal guards ahead, they couldn’t take any chances.

** Queen **

The hive had gone on high alert the moment Lord Rhino and Thousand Grand had been slain. The queen had wasted no time sending her remaining guards to block the passages in preparation, but it was far from ideal.

She was irate. How could their plans have fallen apart so spectacularly? It wasn’t as if they couldn’t stop these humans, either. But her two strongest children had yet to return from their mission, which left her in a dangerous position.

Turning from the commotion of ants trying to block up the passages, she looked toward the young ant she had been delicately nurturing. Its potential was through the roof, and she had no doubt it would be her future number one. But the ant was still a child. Given a month or two, it could likely defeat that annoying human who refused to die. But it seemed time was running out, and she didn’t have a couple of months.

The swarm, too, was entirely scattered, and not even the lesser queens that filled much of her chamber could reproduce quickly enough to replace it in time for a stronger defense.

They had no choice. It was up to her armored guard to hold them back as long as they could. And while her armored guard was far stronger than normal drones, they were a good step below the reaver ant, let alone Lord Rhino and Thousand Grand, who had failed against this very same enemy.

The queen trilled with rage. Her offspring had failed once more, and it enraged her. As she bucked with anger, the princess ants around her turned their curious gazes toward her, although they never stopped birthing, busy at work as they were.

If they can just hold out long enough…

It was a desperate race against time. But if they made it, she would birth new royal guards even stronger than the ones who had fallen, and she would get her revenge tenfold.