Chapter 59
The Worker Ant that appeared was larger than the ones before, exuding an aura of palpable strength.
Netzal-san unleashed his magic, but it endured without falling.
“To withstand my magic even when I’m wielding my staff, it’s quite something, eh?”
I swung my katana and slashed at the giant Worker Ant that Netzal-san had attacked.
The Worker Ant dissolved into mist and vanished.
“At this rate, we should manage. Let’s take them on one after another.”
We took down the Worker Ants with perfect coordination.
“Hmm. It’s good that we’re defeating them, but we don’t even have time to collect the precious item drops, do we?”
The giant Worker Ants, belying their massive frames, closed the distance with incredible speed.
I had anticipated this, so I calmly dealt with the Worker Ants.
A considerable amount of time had passed by the time we finished subjugating all the Worker Ants in the passage.
“It’s not quite Void Deficiency, but a good deal of my mana has been drained, hasn’t it?”
While collecting the dropped items, I turned back and consulted him.
“What should we do next?”
“You seem to be doing fine, lad. If we use Recovery Potions, we should still be good to go, so I’d like to challenge the room ahead, wouldn’t you?”
“Understood.”
Back in my gaming days, I was a solo player, so I used to hunt for short periods and then repeatedly return to a Safe Zone. I was amazed at how much easier things became just by having one magic-user in the party.
It’s worth noting that Netzal is one of the most skilled individuals in this world, and things likely wouldn’t have gone this smoothly with anyone else.
Upon entering the room, we were surrounded by a large number of Worker Ants.
We couldn’t one-shot them like before, so we were gradually being cornered.
“As expected, this is a bit dicey, isn’t it?”
Even with me using the advanced magic Blizzard Storm, this was the situation.
As the frontline fighter, I was maneuvering to prevent them from reaching Netzal-san, but a Worker Ant attacked Netzal-san from the passage I had my back to.
Netzal-san took a hit from the Worker Ant but immediately spun around and unleashed a barrage of spells.
“Ngh! Don’t underestimate me! I’m not one to be taken down by mere ants!”
While Netzal dealt with the rear, the burden fell on me.
I had been maneuvering to avoid taking damage up to this point, but considering my HP, I told myself I should be fine even if I took a few hits.
I activated the martial art, Whirling Dance.
I swiftly defeated Worker Ants in an instant, but as a trade-off, the skill’s recoil left me defenseless against the subsequent ones.
I had braced myself for an attack, but thanks to support from Netzal, who had regained his composure, I managed to get through it unscathed.