Chapter 33 - 32: Mutant Army Ant

Hayden Hanson wasn’t comfortable letting an ordinary person like Sev Steele approach the Mutated Quillwort, so he took the lead.

Scavengers of the wasteland rarely cared about chivalry. The habit of gentlemen deferring to or protecting ladies simply didn’t exist here. Yet, Hayden’s behavior today had been incredibly manly. When they encountered the deadly rainstorm, he had taken her along as he fled for his life. When they met the Mutant Tree Frog, he had charged out to fight it without hesitation. Now that she wanted to dig up a Mutated Quillwort seedling, he was still the first to rush to the front.

Sev’s fondness for the man skyrocketed. It was just a pity that his genes were collapsing, meaning he didn’t have long to live. However, since she owed him a massive favor today, she decided to send him some good food whenever she cooked in the future.

Even though they had both sprayed themselves with Blue Tears Spray, the Mutated Quillwort still launched an attack without hesitation the moment they trespassed into its territory. However, having lost over a dozen vines while fighting the Mutant Tree Frog earlier, its offensive power was noticeably diminished. Four or five vines shot toward them, clearly thinner and weaker than the previous batch.

"Don’t be afraid! It’s been forced to use its backup vines. I can handle this alone," Hayden explained without looking back, slashing at the incoming vines with his blade.

Hearing this, Sev wasn’t in a hurry to go over and help. She quickly scanned her surroundings, planning to find a small seedling to dig up. As she walked, she suddenly noticed a patch of loose, floating soil beneath her feet. She pulled out her dagger and poked it into the dirt. The blade sank in over ten centimeters with ease.

She hadn’t used much force, yet it went in so deep. She immediately realized the truth—it was hollow underneath!

A second later, several bulging mounds began to erupt around the loose soil. It seemed some creature hiding underground had marked her as an intruder and decided to encircle her.

Scared out of her wits, Sev scrambled backward and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Hanson, stop fighting the quillwort! We have to run!"

Hearing her, Hayden immediately pulled his blade free from the tangled vines of the Mutated Quillwort and dashed madly toward her. By the time he reached her side, the creatures beneath the earth had already breached the surface.

"Mutant Army Ants! We can’t outrun them!" Hayden said, his expression grave.

Sev turned back to look at the golden-brown giant ants emerging one after another. They were nearly twenty centimeters long, with disproportionately large heads that made up a third of their bodies. Their mandibles were sickle-shaped, exceptionally sharp and sturdy. Sev had no doubt that if they were surrounded by these Mutant Army Ants, they would absolutely be sliced to ribbons by those waving scythes.

Hayden had already pulled out the Frozen Ray Gun he’d used earlier. However, it took time to load a Crystal Core and fire the weapon. Meanwhile, over twenty giant ants had already crawled out of the ground and were closing in on them.

"Hanson, lend me your blade!" Sev said decisively. She had to buy Hayden enough time to fire the Quick-freezing Ice Mist.

Hayden wasn’t one to hesitate. He shoved the long blade directly into her hands. Sev gripped the weapon and charged at the swarm without a second thought.

Relying on her thick poncho to temporarily block the giant ants’ attacks, she swung the blade fiercely. She wasn’t just hacking wildly; her strikes were highly purposeful, aiming straight for the Mutant Army Ants’ weakest point—their slender necks. Her slashes were fast, ruthless, and precise, decapitating an ant with almost every swing.

However, this completely defenseless offensive stance inevitably left her exposed. By the time she had killed five or six of the giant ants, three or four more had broken through her guard and climbed onto her body.

The giant ants finally bit through her poncho. Their sickle-like weapons sliced through her skin, piercing deeply into her flesh. Gritting her teeth against the pain, Sev swung her blade, severing the heads of two ants actively biting her. A pungent stench of blood flooded her nose, making her feel dizzy for a brief moment.

Hayden finally finished prepping his weapon and roared, "Get back!"

Sev sprinted rapidly toward Hayden, still carrying three giant ants on her body. Hayden didn’t have time to tend to her. He pressed his thumb hard against the low-temperature safety switch on the side of the gun.

The thirty-odd giant ants chasing Sev, waving their vicious sickle-like weapons, were instantly engulfed in the Ice Mist. As if someone had hit the pause button, they all froze in their tracks. Then, their crawling speed became excruciatingly slow, as though they were moving in slow motion.

Hayden finally freed his hands. Moving like lightning, he grabbed the necks of the two giant ants clamped onto her calf.

With a loud CRACK, CRACK, he crushed the giant ants’ necks, their blood splattering all over his face.

By now, the three giant ants closest to Sev had rushed over. They had been less affected by the Ice Mist because Hayden had aimed at the denser swarm farther away. He had been afraid that firing too close to Sev would end up hurting her with the mist, allowing these few ants to luckily avoid the blast.

Mimicking Hayden’s move, Sev reached out and grabbed the slender neck of the last giant ant hanging onto her shoulder. With her other hand, she tossed the long blade back to him.

Hayden caught the blade smoothly and charged at the three fast-crawling giant ants behind her. Heads rolled with every slash; he was having a field day slaughtering them.

Sev already had several wounds on her body. Clenching the ant’s neck in her grip, she squeezed with all her might... but she didn’t manage to snap it. The neck looked thin, but its surface skin was incredibly elastic. Irritated, Sev grabbed the giant ant’s body with her free hand and twisted hard with both hands.

This time, the neck finally snapped, spraying blood across both her hands. Ignoring her disgust, she gripped her dagger and charged at the swarm of giant ants temporarily trapped by the Ice Mist, moving as slowly as turtles.

Hayden had already chopped off seven or eight heads by this point. Sev’s dagger was relatively blunt, so she had to grab a head with one hand and hack away forcefully with the dagger in the other. Though she was much slower than Hayden, by the time he had dispatched over twenty giant ants, she had managed to kill seven on her end. Working together, they wiped out all the giant ants before the Ice Mist could completely melt.

Since Hayden’s backpack was already stuffed full with the corpse of the Mutant Tree Frog, Sev volunteered the three tattered gunny sacks she had stuffed in her own worn-out bag. As she tossed the giant ant corpses inside, she said proudly, "See? When it comes down to it, these old gunny sacks are what really come in handy!"

"Yeah, the capacity of this Tactical Backpack is just too small," Hayden nodded earnestly.

Even though he had been a mercenary for over a decade, the supplies required for an Ability user were expensive. Furthermore, he used to be loose with his money and generous toward his teammates, so he hadn’t saved much. He could only afford the most basic type of Tactical Backpack.

"Haha, honestly, it’s just sour grapes on my part. No matter how small the capacity of that backpack is, I still wouldn’t be able to afford it," Sev laughed heartily.

Hayden thought this girl had a genuinely great personality. He just couldn’t figure out why she used to always enjoy abusing her adopted children.