Death Ascension - Chapter 63
At long last…
After ten days inside the colony, the group set out of the Midden to actively sweep the enemies.
Finn provided melee fighters with a supply of pheromone bombs.
They were—again—used as runners.
There were two large empty caverns in the colony that was suitable for their strategy. These two caverns formed a “V” with the queen’s chamber at its vertex.
The members were divided into two teams.
At their core were the combat Almagi grouped according to their specialties.
On one group were Almagi wielding ground, electric, and water-type spells. While on the other were Fire and Wind wielders.
They were tasked to set the traps while the melee fighters lured the ants to the trap locations.
Finn’s strategy was a systematic hunting centered on the Combat Almagi.
“See you in the Midden after five hours.” Finn shook the hands of another Almagi who was voted to lead the other group.
“Yes. I sure hope this works. Anyway, good luck, Sir Finn.” The other Almagi said.
Finn took command of the wind and fire group.
The group dispersed and set out to do their assigned tasks.
Deon faced the tunnel assigned to him.
He clenched his fist around the pheromone bomb and dashed into the gloom.
“Kid, you do know that you don’t have to do this, right? You can just stay out of everyone’s eyes while I set the bombs.” Mikael reminded Deon.
He did not understand while the young prince was adamant about doing the task on his own when he had a spirit partner who can do it in his stead.
“I can’t always rely on you to do my job, Sir Mikael,” Deon replied.
He was still sore about Finn’s issue. Thus, he made up his mind to do his best to become a partner that Mikael would never compare, or even think to replace with someone else.
He knew it was a useless thought since no matter how trashy he was, Mikael would never be able to replace him due to the non-terminable clause of the universal contract.
Still, Deon hated that Mikael would think someone else would’ve been a better partner.
Finally, Deon reached the end of the tunnel.
He brought out the pheromone bomb with the longest wick.
The length of the wick served as a timer. To ensure that the bombs would detonate at the same time, Finn varied the wick lengths with the longest ones placed furthest from the trap chamber.
Tap…
Deon placed the lit bomb on the ground and ran toward the direction of the group, placing pheromone bombs at set intervals.
BOOM! BOOOM! BOOM!
The bombs exploded simultaneously!
By the time he got back to where the group was, a loud rumbling shook the colony.
Getting stronger and stronger…
The ground trembled as if struck by a high magnitude earthquake!
Sounds of scurrying insect feet dominated the silence.
The group faced the tunnel entrance with bated breaths. Before them were rows of shining mana circles stacked in a double wall.
Behind each red mana circle was a white one of the same size.
Finn held up his palm, his ears perked to listen to the incoming enemies.
All members tensely awaited Finn’s signal.
Meanwhile, Mikael held his head in intense agony!
As the only being capable of hearing monster thoughts, Mikael suffered alone.
The monsters were too loud!
“FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!! FOOD!!”
Their mad, vicious thoughts screamed inside Mikael’s head.
He felt like his brain would explode from the ringing noise!
“UGH!” Mikael grunted.
Then the first monster appeared.
The second…
The third…
Gasp!
The members’ jaws hung open at the number of ant monsters crawling out of the tunnel!
A seemingly endless wave of minor workers spilled out of the entrance like crazed zombies!
‘So, this was the effect of super-concentrated pheromone?!’
Intense fear swallowed the members.
The scene in front of them looked like something out of an apocalypse movie.
‘Are we doomed?’ they all thought.
But then Finn’s clear voice jolted the men out of their daze.
“ATTACK!!!”
“Fire burst!”
“Wind Slash!”
The Combat Almagi shouted their incantations at the top of their lungs, attempting to dispel the gnawing fear along with the words.
Mana circles simultaneously flashed!
A blinding light illuminated the cavern just as the spells ejected pillars of fire and blades of wind toward the monsters.
As the mana circles were stacked together, the power of the spells drastically increased!
The synergy between the wind blades and fire pillars created longer stronger blades of fire.
The blades sliced the monsters in half as they traveled through space, losing energy as they did.
But in their wake, the burning blades left a gruesome scene that evoked pure terror!
The sliced bodies sizzled as their flesh burned. Dark green blood immediately covered the ground in pools. The monster legs twitched like a death clock’s minute hand ticking off their lifetime.
In an instant, the monster wave was reduced to a pile of dismembered corpses.
They were annihilated as soon as they stepped out of the tunnel’s entrance!
The Combat Almagi displayed the majesty of their profession. They proved that they were masters of long-range fights!
Sighs of relief escaped from the Fire and Wind Almagi.
They were initially very nervous about stacking the spells since one wrong move might lead to a spell malfunction or a failed combo.
Their attack may seem simple but in reality, it was not.
They needed to get their incantation timing right to achieve the optimal power of a combo spell otherwise they may end up with two individual spells with far weaker outputs.
The members’ eyes widened in awe.
They never thought such an elegant strategy existed. Their doubts about the mission instantly vanished and they cheered.
“FINN! FINN!! FINN!!”
“Idiots! It’s not over yet!” Finn shouted back, his expression grave, “Melee fighters! To your position!”
The second wave of monsters was incoming.
And they no longer have prepared mana circles.
For the next few minutes, the melee fighters have to defend while the Almagi set up another volley of spells!
–Chapter end—
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