24 Chapter 24: Search and Rescue

A group of four sentries escorted the shivering man to the gate entrance. They would bang on the gate and leave the man in the care of the guards. Afterwards, the sentries swiftly returned to join the rest of the team. From what Jess had said, it seemed this would be an enemy like the goblins, needing everyone they could muster.

Further inquiries from Jess about the strength and numbers of a monster ant colony revealed more. Although not at the level of a Calamity beast, but definitely at the spirit beast stage. These colonies would lay dormant underground most of the time and only rarely did they breach the surface. Her thoughts were that maybe the miners dug into one of their underground tunnel systems by accident and in response, the ants attacked in retaliation.

Like an ant colony on earth, these had a similar system. Where the ant queen would be between low to peak silver stage or maybe even low gold stage in very rare occasions. The main guard would be of low to peak iron stage, and worker ants ranged from low to middle bronze stage. Definitely something a few miners that were barely low to peak earth stage could handle.

They soon arrived at the end of the mine tunnel. A massive hole at the bottom of the tunnel revealed another larger chamber which proved Jess's theory about what happened. With time running short and knowing that every second meant more miners dying, they dropped down the hole. As soon as they landed, Vulcan felt a presence above them.

"On the ceiling!" called out Vulcan. An ant the size of a large dog dropped from the ceiling close to the entrance onto Jess. Hearing his call out, she performed an overhead swing with her sword. The ant was cut in half perfectly, both its sides flopped on the ground with a wet plop. Sidestepping made her avoid most of the splatter.

"Pfft ugh! I think I got some in my mouth." Jess spit in disgust.

"That's what she said." chuckled Vulcan. She gave him a confused look, "It's nothing, anyways lock in, we got company." He said as he and the sentries formed up. A rumbling could be heard from both sides. The pitter-patter of insect legs hitting the ground resonated in the tunnel.

Ants the size of a man, with big bulbous heads and mandibles ran headfirst followed by the smaller variant. "Crouch down!" called out Vulcan as he stood in the middle of the group and placed one palm on both sides of the rushing ants. He mainly said it for Jess, as his sentries already bent down. The tunnel then lit up with the red hue of the energy blasts.

A main guard ant that took the blast head on, had its large head carved through. The blast continued going as it penetrated its body and dissecting other ants behind it. Screeches of pain and the stench of insect guts spilling out filled the tunnels. Two beams of energy had drained Vulcan's core quickly and he soon had to stop.

But with most of the attackers down for the count, the rest finished off the stragglers. A large ant tried bisecting Jess but with her quick reflexes she crouched down. The loud chomp of the mandibles rang out and she pushed her sword through the bottom of its head. Once it dug deep into its head, she pulled her sword out leaving its head split open from the front.

Small worker ants didn't fare too well with the strong steel sentries as they simply shield bashed the small things and once they were disoriented they stabbed down into their skulls. Plasma weapons were incredibly efficient against the hard exoskeleton of the things.

Vulcan, on the other hand, took on the last large ant by himself. As it dashed forward to cut him down with its mandibles, he grabbed hold of each mandible. The ant struggled to close its large jaws on its prey. With minimal strength he ripped the things off the ant's face. It let out a painful screech that annoyed him and using its own mandibles against the thing he stabbed down on its skull.

It layed dead as green blood oozed out from underneath. An annoying worker ant tried biting his ankle and he raised his foot avoiding the bite. Then stomped the thing to death as its carapace caved in with his foot. The battle was more annoying to him than it was difficult. Only their numbers were a problem but if he had his sentry army, then this ant colony would disappear overnight.

"You good?" He asked Jess, she was throwing up a little on the side. "I somehow got more of their blood on my mouth, but I'm good. Let's go." Said Jess, spitting one last time. Vulcan noticed earlier that on one side of the tunnel, was where most of the ants came from so he picked that side.

He had some knowledge of how ants built their nest colonies so hopefully, they would find a room where they stored most of their food. Hopefully, maybe some survived but his thoughts were not very optimistic.

Further walking led to some more small skirmishes with the ants, but just like earlier, the creatures didn't fare well against their superior fighting strength. Turning around a corner revealed a large egg room. White, gooey, soft eggs filled the room by the hundreds. They wanted to destroy every single one of them, but it would require too much work, and they didn't bring along any of the explosives Vulcan used on the goblins.

Some worker ants were around, but they scurried away when they saw the intruders. An ant carrying what looked to be a human arm was spotted. It was coming from a tunneland going towards a different tunnel that Vulcan guessed was the queen's chambers. Jess cut it down in anger, as they ran towards the direction it came from, they also cut down more ants that carried the gruesome human body parts. Most of the killing was done by Jess; he on the other hand knew these ants only did this out of survival instincts they held.

In one way, they were kind of similar to him in the way their minds worked as one efficient entity. An entity that worked with one goal: the survival of its kind. As they got close to the chamber entrance, they heard the terrified screams of people, so they doubled their efforts. Entering the chamber revealed a room with pockets of white mold or what looked like fungus growing on the walls. It was filled with worker ants, while in one corner, a group of human miners were huddled together, about 12 of them in total. Another one of them was getting dragged away by several worker ants.

The ants were about to cut him into smaller pieces until they stormed into the chamber. The ants were taken by surprise and had a hard time reacting to the attack. Vulcan became a blur and appeared next to one of the bigger ants guarding the humans. He cut down with precision, separating its body down the middle, while the other one received a kick from below. The exoskeleton cracked as it was launched to the ceiling, crashing hard. Thin cuts appeared all over its body as it fell onto the floor in hundreds of pieces. No ant could contest with him as he just cut them down mercilessly.

Jess, on the other hand, took on two large ants on her own. She jumped on top of one, stabbing down on its skull. It shrilled and trembled as it collapsed dead on the groun. Then using it as a platform to jump on the next one. This one, on the other hand, was smarter and sidestepped while she was in mid-air. She didn't care; throwing her sword at it made the sword pierce its face. Vulcan saw her, and the sentry next to her handed its spear. While the thing was in pain, she dug the spear and ran along its side, leaving a large open gash. It succumbed to its injuries and fell down.

Once it was clear, they gathered up and helped the miners get on their feet. "Oh, thank the divines. Thank you so much. We thought no one would ever come to help us!" said an older miner who took the role of speaking for the rest. The other miners made grateful gestures and even began to bow down to one of the sentries.

"Your bosses didn't give too many incentives for anyone for your rescue, merely 25 silver to find you," said Vulcan.

The old man's face scrunched up in anger. "That bastard Jack! We told him that we had hit a hollow wall and had asked for the mine to be evacuated and inspected for any monsters lurking, yet he only threatened us with our jobs if we wasted any more time. Now, we are all that's left. We had to watch our comrades get killed in front of us. I really don't know how to thank you, young man." said the man as he began to sob a little.

"First, we need to get the hell out of here. I'm sure the damn things will call for reinforcements. Let's make haste. Stay in the middle; we will form a protective formation around you. Let's go!" said Jess, as they heard insect squittering in the distance.

With perfect memory, Vulcan led the team and survivors to the opening they came from. They soon arrived at the ceiling opening with only minor interruptions along the way. Once there, one of the miners asked how they would get up into the entrance without any rope to climb. The sentries grabbed onto the survivor and threw him up into the opening. Since they were earth stage practitioners, they would be fine. The last few were princess-carried by the sentries as they made a vertical jump to the entrance, with Jess and Vulcan being the last to exit.

They didn't encounter more of the ants along the mine. The group then rushed without stopping towards the mine entrance. Once they arrived they loudly banged the gate, and startled some of the guards. The exhausted miners collapsed, catching their breath from the non-stop running and adrenaline-fueled adventure. The lead guard came over as soon as he got word of their return.

"You actually found them; I can't thank you enough. I know the answer already, but I have to know. Did you find the others' bodies?" asked the guard. Jess shook her head, "No, but we have a more pressing issue," she said.

"How bad are we talking?" he asked, concerned.

"An ant colony kind of bad. I'm sure the mine can't operate with those things in the tunnels. If we don't eliminate every single one of them soon, they'll invade the surface and will attack the town directly. So call your superiors, the guild, and the town lord. Cause you're about to be overrun and outnumbered soon if you don't."