A sickeningly raspy voice spoke out, addressing all those that had gathered. “The humans have taken the dome shield down—sooner than expected. It will not allow us to free our lord, but it will grant us a path towards him. If the humans are unsuccessful in defeating the Queen, then that burden will fall upon us. To achieve this, you must all grow stronger.”

Jasper looked towards the thing that had turned him into his current state with mixed emotion. He felt powerful now, deadly. But also less human. The system even agreed, calling him an insect-converted now. One thing had made it a little less daunting of a situation, however.

He was not alone.

Around thirty people had been led down into these tunnels by Lord Serrix so far, with more still appearing. Based on the conversations Jasper had with them, they were usually scared, alone, and waiting for death. Offered a choice of guaranteed death or a chance at life, humans all made the same decision. They were a species that held survival most precious.

They?

Jasper realised he’d no longer been thinking of himself as one of them. Something in his head told him to serve his lord and all would be good. That his lord would grant him power, grant him all his wishes. To be part of the hive was to be part of something great. It felt wonderful whenever his lord graced his mind now.

“Jasper.” There he was again. The once demonic, uneasy feeling was replaced with joy and gratitude.

“Yes, my lord?”

“You are the first of my converted. Stronger than all. Take them hunting, the lessers will feed us the needed strength.”

“Shall we attack the humans?” Jasper asked with no hint of morbid worry.

“The humans would annihilate us at this time. You are all too weak. Stay below ground. Only with me will you be able to own this city.”

The voice promised such sweet futures, often telling those who gathered how they were worthy of becoming a leader in the new world. The converted shall rule the new Earth. All they had to do was survive. And do as their leader commanded.

Jasper walked to the front of the crowd, standing next to the one who converted him. All eyes landed on him, holding some reverence.

He took in the crowd before him. Men and women, some old, some much younger. All of them converted. Some held bladed appendages, others no longer had any humanity left in their facial features in order to spit acidic bile or spew fire. Every conversion turned out differently. Only one thing during the transformation that held true for all was the love for the Lord Serrix.

“Our Lord has spoken to me,” Jasper announced, the words were still a little difficult with his new face.

“He has commanded us to hunt. Hunt the inferior species of ant that fill these tunnels. With the dome shield down, the time for advancement is nigh. Let us move quickly and fulfil our lord’s wishes.”

A chattering noise came from Jasper’s mouth and it was echoed by all those before him. It was like a chant that held them unified. The Lord may be their saviour and king, but for now Jasper was their leader, their protector, the voice of his Lord.

And he absolutely adored it.

~

Leo dropped down to a crowd of eager faces, all expecting the information Leo held. A gust of wind caused his hair to flow, the dust kicked up causing some to shield their eyes.

“Show off,” Ashley muttered, rolling her eyes as she spat some dust.

“Jealous?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her while pretending to flick his collar up, which in turn caused his hair to move again as he guided the wind.

“What did you see?” Cecelia interrupted with an actual reasonable question.

Leo described all that he saw in the most detail he could illustrate with his words. Cecelia hung on every word, her mind racing to decipher the next best strategy. By the time he was finished, she spoke out.

“It appears we are not under attack, so the immediate danger has been avoided. What we need now is more information before it is safe to fully explore. I will send out two parties to scout while the rest remain and protect our camp.

“My party and Nolan’s will be those who go. Ashley will replace Amy, as she has decided to spend time with her sister and protect the camp for now. We will return before dark where we will gather once more. Thank you all for your continued support.”

Leo expected people to be a bit downcast or even outraged with her decision, vocalise their dissent or ask to explore the new grounds. But nothing of the sort happened. Relief seemed to wash over everyone, and Leo had to remind himself that not everyone was a junkie who loved fighting and growing stronger like himself or Cecelia. They just wanted to live.

The rest of the fighters headed back to camp, with the two parties remaining. Leo wasn’t sure if he was actually in Cece’s party. He wasn’t taken to the dungeon—which to be fair he had already cleared—and never invited to hunt antlings with them. Did she have something else for him to do?

If she wanted him to just stay and guard the camp…Yeah, no.

“We should take this slowly,” Cecelia suggested. “Going too far could be risky, especially if the antlings that we come up against are the level of the War-Golem.”

“Do you think that could happen?” Nolan asked in concern.

“It would make sense,” Gordon added before continuing. “To get into the inner city, we had to beat that golem, and based on everyone’s experience, it was level 37, no matter how high we were. Beating it means at least someone has the ability to fight things of that level.”

Leo voiced his disagreement, “I don’t think it’ll be that simple. That golem was designed for parties to fight, but it was way stronger than any Goliath so far and then some. I think things will be level 30 plus, and most likely evolved or changed in some way.”

“This is all good information,” Cecelia faintly praised, “But it’s speculation. We’ll take action accordingly once we know more. Slowly, both groups will scout in opposite directions, aiming for the two keeps that likely hold the generals the system spoke of. We could go around, follow the outer city until directly in line with a keep, but based on the initial reaction to just those words, we are all in agreement to just delve straight in.” She smiled softly.

“Definitely straight in!” Gordon said excitedly. “I want to fight something big again!” The teen was beyond ecstatic, almost bouncing.

“Easy, Gordon.” Nolan stopped the teen from bouncing with a firm hand. “We are going to be going carefully into this new city. Not recklessly. Am I understood?”

“Sure, boss.” Gordon smiled, not a hint of a sour mood from being calmed. A moment later he was chatting to Maddie about who could get the most kills.

“What did you want me to do?” Leo asked, a bit dejected.

Cecelia laughed, a rare sound. “You aren’t going to be asked to stay back. You know as well as we do that you’re leagues ahead of us. Anything we come up against you’d likely have an easier time fighting yourself.”

She couldn't mean…

Her smile grew wide, silvery eyes sparkling through the light of the sun. It was a sight that could stop wars. Or cause them.

“I was going to let you run wild.”

~

Leo's attempt at running wild turned into more of a stroll.

He had said his goodbyes to both Nolan’s group and his own friends, taking a path down a separate alleyway that also led into the unknown. He could have run wild over the rooftops, dashing as fast as he could to the keep, but that was a bit risky. It also didn’t let Ellie walk along with him as she couldn’t keep up with that kind of movement currently.

“I wonder what kind of things we’ll find out here, Ells,” Leo pondered as they explored their new surroundings. “Can you smell any ants? My senses aren’t quite as good as yours yet.”

Ellie raised her little nose and tried to pick out any scents in particular, but she soon turned her nose up. Leo realised quickly as to why when an overpowering smell of dirt and ants filled his nostrils. It was like the entire city had been bathed in the smell and it made trying to use scent to navigate quite useless at the moment until his nose could adjust. Clearly the dome shield had been holding smells too.

He’d crossed the barrier’s precipice around fifteen minutes ago and not a single ant had shown up so far. The slow pace might be the reason, and thus Leo chose to quicken it. At least to a slow jog.

They were heading—vaguely—towards the keep that was more rubble than whole. If Leo was a betting man, that keep would be the next target that people would gather to. Whoever was left on the other side of the city that is.

The other keep that was in a far better state just seemed to give off a more dangerous vibe. Almost like it was warding off people coming close. Cecelia decided that she would move towards that one. Leo did warn her briefly as they left but she waved him off.

Finally, Leo came across a building that looked different from the houses he’d passed, and in front of it, wouldn't you know. Ants.

Yet not like those he’d fought in the outer city.

Antling - Level 30

Antling - Level 31

Antling - Level 29

Antling - Level 28

A mix of levels and all of them were clearly evolved in some way. Not only had they lost the “Lesser” tag when he Identified them, they also looked stronger. If Leo had to label it, he’d call them E-grade evolved.

One had larger mandibles, another looked more armoured. The last two seemed to have less changes, but still more deadly than even the Soldier variant, albeit smaller. It was a welcome challenge as Leo was a bit bored of fighting what was left in the outer city. The Spitters were interesting, but they were few and far between, not to mention Goliaths.

Was it a bit foolish of him to feel boredom when fighting for his life? Probably. But that was a thought process long left behind in this new world. Now, instead of deciding to risk his life or not, it was now; how fun will this fight be?

Time to find out.

Leo quickly barked out orders as the ants spotted the pair. “Strike fast, don’t take risks! If you need to, then retreat back to the soul-space!”

Ellie gave him a nod and held back while Leo took the front.

They rushed towards him with fire and rage in their big eyes, screeching loudly.

Leo didn’t hesitate to conjure a Frost Lance and fire it directly towards the group of them. The antling in the front dodged with more grace than Leo was expecting, continuing its charge.

Unfortunately for it, its armoured comrade in the back was less agile, and with the reduced reaction time from the lance suddenly appearing in its vision, it was struck directly in the head.

The lance shattered upon its head rather than impaling, creeping frost still spreading, but nowhere near as much as it would on a Lesser variant. It did the job of staggering it and giving Leo first blow, but not much else.

Kicking his skills into gear, Leo let a Cloak of Wind manifest around him—trying to get used to having the skill active more often as its cost wasn’t substantial and the effect was great. Next, he planted his feet and waited as the fastest antling leapt towards him, mandibles wide.

It was fast. It was deadly. But compared to the War-Golem?

It was slow.

Leo instantly manoeuvred to its side, similar to his very first encounter in this place and unleashed his attack.

Electricity lit up his hand like it was a live wire. All of his strength poured into the attack, and as much mana as the skill would take.

The antling crumpled mid air as his fist shattered its carapace, launching the ant into the nearby wall. But not before the chain-lightning rippled out from it, causing the other antlings to stagger briefly as they seized with the sudden shock.

The first was down in one hit, the notification coming with it. Dismissing it as usual, it appeared Ellie was ready to add her own power.

Ellie used the moment they were staggered to join Leo and coat the antlings in frost, effectively slowing their movements, but that wasn’t all. Leo followed it up with a snap of his fingers.

All of the frost coating the antlings exploded into shards that shot out in all directions, causing high damage to the unarmoured ants as they were ripped by little razors.

Leo was comfortable letting Ellie take on the wounded, and she mentally felt the rough direction from him. He’d noticed when they were fighting or interacting with each other that the bond had made them even more in sync with their thoughts. It was a soul-bond after all, so being able to communicate through thoughts would make sense. Although it wasn’t more than simple intent right now.

Shaking his mind back to the fight, the armoured—and highest level—antling was upon him. He wouldn’t call it injured, more like bruised. The armoured plates on its chitin were thick and coated even the legs.

It almost reminded him of a mini-Goliath. Unfortunately for the ant, he’d taken down the big version which made this one almost a guarantee.

Just as Leo was considering this enemy to be weak, it activated some kind of skill as Leo felt energy build up under its plates. It was faint but apparent. Not wanting to let it unleash the attack it was channeling, Leo Spark Dashed into immediate range and swung a burning fist that slammed into its chitin hard enough to crack it.

Only it didn’t. Nor was there an explosion of flame.

What happened next was Leo’s entire blow being absorbed, and the power from it sent back into him. It was like being hit by a bus as he was blasted backwards into a nearby wall, grunting as his body hit the ground limp.

“Holy fu-” Leo coughed up a mouthful of blood as shards of broken wall fell around him.

Leo’s head cleared a second later and he looked up to see a fairly unharmed enemy. Even the damage he’d dealt with the shards and initial lance had been healed.

A self healing, damage reflecting, piece of shit. Leo cursed, slowly getting to his feet with the help of what was left of the wall.

The creature darted towards him once more and Leo tried to get a feel if the ant had the skill still active. His head was still a bit too foggy to try and focus on something that subtle so he decided to just use another lance. Just with a bit more force this time.

He grasped the lance out of the air and burned stamina through his Fuel the Fire as the power surged down his arm. Like a bullet being fired, the lance shot out and hit the carapace of the antling. It hunkered down, but the sheer force of it caused it to flip, exposing a weak underside.

Not missing the opportunity, Leo moved. Then stopped.

Two razor sharp rows of teeth angrily chomped down on the exposed flesh hard, ripping it to pieces as she tore it apart. A swathe of fire followed her chomp as she directly coated the inside of the armoured beast with scorching heat until it stopped moving.

Notifications followed, the usual kills and credits. But with the last being a most welcome one.

Your Elemental Adept Class has reached level 30

Stat points distributed

+3 Free Points

Anchored Progression: +1 All stats, +2 Free Points

Elemental Adept Class skill selection available.