While occasionally finding good quality minerals at resource depots, I advanced through the Steel Ant nest on my eight legs.
There had been sporadic attacks since then, but I hadn’t been assaulted by any large groups.
That ally-calling 〖Skill〗 had been used a few times, but at most, only about ten came at once.
Probably because most of the Steel Ants in the vicinity had gathered during the first time.
“(Oh, it’s getting wider again.)”
The passages merged, and the width and height increased.
It seemed the deeper I went, the larger the paths became, and for a while now, I’d been able to walk freely.
“(But seriously, how far does this go…?)”
I had already descended quite a bit.
Based on my senses, I was probably lower than the foot of the mountain.
In other words, I was underground.
It was certainly like an ant nest, but I was starting to wish it would end soon— Gakin!
“(Whoa!?)”
Just as I was thinking, a vibration ran through my body.
I looked over in a hurry and saw a pitch-black ant gnawing on the Forest Shackles.
“(You little…!)”
I swung the Forest Shackles with a whump and crushed the Black Ant.
It looked like a 〖Dire Beast〗-class Demon Beast, but until it appeared, I hadn’t felt any 〖Mana〗 at all— Gigi-gigin!
“(What!?)”
Before I knew it, other Black Ants were biting onto the other Forest Shackles.
The abnormally developed jaws of the ant-type Demon Beasts clamped down on the Forest Shackles with a crunching sound.
“(What are these guys?)”
There hadn’t been any warning signs until just now!?
I hadn’t heard any footsteps, and I hadn’t felt any 〖Mana〗. I should have been on guard with my slime’s all-around vision.
I had no idea what was happening, but for now, I annihilated them with the Forest Shackles.
They didn’t seem to have particularly high durability or evasion, and I was able to slaughter them more easily than a normal 〖Dire Beast〗.
I released the imitation of the Forest Shackles once and then imitated them again.
That way, I reset the wear and tear.
“(I hope no new types show up… wait, there!)”
Not letting my guard down even after defeating them, I spotted another ant.
It was the same color as the wall and was slowly approaching. I immediately pierced it with the Forest Shackles.
“(Looks like there aren’t any more coming.)”
After looking around again, I started analyzing with 〖Escalating Warfare〗.
Its corpse had a carapace that was the same color as the rock until just now, but when it died, the color faded, and it became a black carapace like the other corpses.
“(Oh, I see. So this carapace was creating camouflage.)”
What I learned from the analysis was that the carapace had such properties.
The Black Ant was a rare species of Steel Ant. The carapace of the normal species was just sturdy, but the Black Ant’s carapace seemed to change color to match the surrounding scenery.
Maybe the chameleon Demon Beast I fought in my hometown’s forest long ago had similar properties.
“(For now, I’ll use them as shields.)”
They were too big to store in my Space Expansion Bag since they were 〖Dire Beasts〗.
I processed the Black Ants into shields with 〖Weapon Crafter〗 and stored them in 〖Weapon Storage〗.
I resumed my exploration.
After advancing a bit, I saw another downward path.
“(This feels like Feral Beast territory…)”
The concentration of 〖Mana〗 increased even further. It was as dense as the abnormal overgrowth area where the Forest Turtle had been.
The end of this nest was probably near.
“(There’s nothing here…)”
I walked for a while after going down the slope, but I couldn’t find any Steel Ants.
At a fork in the road that I saw instead, I went towards the direction with the denser 〖Mana〗.
Since I had already done this countless times, I barely slowed my pace.
Besides, all the paths with thin 〖Mana〗 were uphill, so I could easily tell even without 〖Mana〗 detection.
Well, there was another reason.
“(…I’m being led around in circles again.)”
I stopped after continuing for about ten minutes.
Next to me was a scratch I had made as a marker a little while ago.
I had noticed something was off with my 〖Sense of Direction〗, so I tried it out, and as expected, I was right.
“(It’s unlikely that it’s a dead end… or is it? It’s also unlikely that the Black Ant is the boss.)”
I think it was probably a rare species, but it was too weak to be the leader of a nest of this size.
Besides, an assassin-type doesn’t really feel like a nest boss.
It was also suspicious that this Feral Beast-level area was completely empty.
It was too well-organized for them to have just run away in a hurry because I came. It hadn’t taken me that long to get here, and it was unnatural that there was no food or eggs anywhere.
“(Hmm, what could it be… okay, let’s check it out.)”
I hoped they hadn’t already retreated as I imitated two Forest Turtle Halberds.
I stabbed them into the walls on both sides, turning the blades sideways.
“(〖Rampage〗!)”
I stomped on the ground and moved forward at full speed. The rock walls were cut by the halberds with a grating sound.
With the leg strength boost from 〖Rampage〗 and the sharpness of the halberds, I was able to run surprisingly smoothly.
After passing through about three forks in the road, I suddenly felt one of the halberds become lighter.
I stopped and turned the lighter halberd halfway, like turning a key.
That was enough.
Cracks appeared in the rock wall, and it began to crumble.
I raised the halberd with the blade vertical, and the collapse accelerated, and soon I could see the path beyond the wall.
They must have been using a 〖Skill〗 to create a rock lid.
With the barrier gone, I could feel the intense 〖Mana〗 overflowing from the depths.
“(So, the boss’s room is beyond this point.)”
There were no obstructions as I advanced through the passage.
Neither normal Steel Ants nor Black Ants were sent.
After a while, a large space appeared.
It was a huge cavern about the size of a baseball field. The individual that seemed to be the boss of the Steel Ants was standing there, with many underlings.
It was a two-headed Queen Ant, and it was revealing its wariness and tensing its 〖Mana〗.