Chapter One-Hundred and Forty-Five: Dattebayo!

"That should be enough…." Drake said, looking back through the cracked entrance the enormous Guardian Ant broke through.

"I do not believe that this is a good idea. Are you not expending too much mana?" Natto asked.

"I have to make sure it falls, remember this is a marathon to the end not a sprint," Drake said looking over his shoulder into the dark of the hive tunnel, "I don't like the feeling I get from this place too…"

"Afraid are we? That is a first," Natto replied surprised.

"It's something else… The hair on the back of my head is standing on end. But I can't sense anything from my skills or aura."

Drake gave a quick shake to remove the feeling from himself, walking past the large balls of fire he had placed all over the entrance of the Hive.

"I'm not going to like this. Whenever I hit empty it feels like I haven't eaten in weeks and have vertigo," Drake sighed, pulling a blue colored potion into one hand, the other raised looking back at the entrance he had just exited.

"Time to make it flashy!" Drake smirked, popping the cork of the mana potion, his tattoo rings disappearing into his inventory as Morning Glory materialized above his hand.

Drake twirled the staff dramatically before slamming the bottom into the ground, the sound of the sea of Ants behind him chittering to a new high as they tried to rush him from below the hill.

"The power of the sun within my hands, burn bright, illuminating the unworthy blasphemers that stand before you! Roar in your cacophony of great expanse!" Drake chanted swinging his hand as if orchestrating and pulled his staff from the ground as he finished with the last word, pointing it directly at the hive.

"Explosion!!"

Drake roared the final word the sound of multiple thunderous explosions going off within the hive as cracks began to splinter all over the outside of the towering structure.

He turned to face the sea of monsters closing in on him, not bothering to look at the handiwork he knew he had succeeded in producing. Downing the blue potion in his hand in one go, he threw the bottle to the side, his staff disappearing into his inventory.

Drake's Tattoo Rings then materialized in front of him, as he spun around equipping both in one smooth motion, the Hive crashing down in flames behind him as debris and wind pushed his clothes whipping back and forth in it.

His tattoo's flared to life, cascading up his arm as he pushed mana into them, his hair and tattoos shimmering once more into a brilliant yellow as he changed to his lightning endowment.

"Impressed with yourself?" Natto sighed.

"Come on you got to admit that was a cool equip scene. The fire, the spinning, the flawless execution! Then the changing forms?" Drake said, trying not to smile.

"Please just kill the ants. That is if they have not keeled over from the amount of cringe they have just witnessed," Natto said, fake gagging.

Drake smiled, happy to still be able to have some fun with Natto despite the foreboding feeling he had come across looking down into the tunnel of the entrance.

But he quickly switched to a more serious demeanor, the ants becoming too close for comfort.

"I have to store these right? Think I have enough space?" Drake said, pointing to the ants.

"Yes, that would be what I suggest. I would not worry about space, you have an absurd amount as it stands. I do not think you could fill it even if you tried…" Natto advised.

Drake nodded, her explanation good enough for him, and if he filled up he could just hand them over to someone else for a bit. He had given out quite a lot of inventory bags to everyone.

The first of the Ants had finally reached Drake as he nodded to Natto's explanation.

"Time to put a dent in the population of the ants here then!" Drake laughed, his arms flaring with blue and red mana, his open palmed hand extending to meet the ant.

The ant chittered loudly as it charged at him, but was stopped abruptly.

Drake smiled at the seemingly confused ant as it continued to try to push forward, its mandibles snapping angrily at Drake, the rest of the ants closing in around him from all directions.

"Has your mother not told you not to play with your food…?" Natto chided.

"All the time," Drake laughed, picking up the monster with one arm, his fingers embedded into the chitin armor of its head, small beads of green ichor spilling down its red outside.

Drake deftly spun, using the monster as a club, slamming it into the surrounding Ants, eventually the force of the spin launching the rest of the body from both its head and Drake's head.

He looked at the still clamoring head in his grip in disgust, "Ugh I forgot insects did that…", he said grimacing as he summoned small balls of water around him.

"Almost summoned fireballs out of habit.." Drake said nervously looking at the Tyrant oil not only around him, but still sticking to his clothes and body, "Just going to have to get more creative than destructive."

Drake willed the five balls of water to flatten and begin spinning. The water disks sun slowly picking up speed until a low hum was steadily heard from them.

"Now for another collaboration," Drake smiled, "Destructo Disk! Plus Spirit ball!"

Drake stowed the bodies of the fallen ants around him, picking up both corpses and skill stones as the disks shout out, passing through Ants left and right with ease.

Rushing forward Drake followed his spiraling disks of death, getting close enough to the ants they passed through to place them into his inventory.

"So handy!" Drake laughed keeping pace, "And reusable! I should use my water magic more often!"

Drake was making good time through the sea of Ants killing hundreds into thousands with minimal effort and expense of mana. The large army of Tyrant Ants slowly reaped like grain from a field.

The resupply of Ants did not falter but thanks to Drake destroying the Hive entrance, there was a forced direction of the supply. His surroundings slowly began to clear, save the insect blood and dismembered parts here and there.

He was slowly but surely pushing back the tide of the Ants, clearing out a good section around the remains of the Hive entrance behind him.

Drake looked up noticing a small flying object.

"Oh looks like Hudson is keeping track of us. He really is a good guy despite how he talks," Drake smirked, pausing his onslaught for a moment as he pulled a crystal from his pant's pocket, "Can you hear me?" Drake asked.

"Loud and clearer than I'd like. Looks like you been busy there pup," Hudson answered through the crystal.

"You and the rest of the group can start moving forward. Tell Bear to be on his toes, and have Theo, Harley, and Chelsea keep their ears and eyes open for stragglers," Drake directed.

"Sounds good Boss man. I'll let the big guy know," Hudson replied, the drone in the air, zipping off in the direction of the group.

Drake stashed away the crystal back into his pocket, looking up at the sea of monsters still before him.

[Tyrant Ant Reaper Level 27]

He looked over the line of monsters speeding forward past the rest, their front legs replaced with scythes, and their chitin skeletons darkened to a navy blue sheen.

"Oh, don't they look dangerous… I was wondering what they looked like when their quest showed up," Drake thought aloud.

Drake casually held his hand up, his water disks ceasing to spin and converged into a large ball of water in front of Drake as he placed his Tattoo Rings into his inventory. Once again switching them out for Morning Glory.

"Time for a little experimenting now that we have some time," Drake mused.

"Heretical Attunement! Water!" he shouted, the water spell coalescing around the staff forming a large double edged scythe.

Drake grinned passed his mask, as he gripped the staff with both hands.

"Witch Hunter's Crescent!" he said with glee, shooting forward with the scythe in hand, right to the upcoming Reapers.

"Let's see what this baby can do!"

Drake began swinging the large scythe wildly, using its large reach to compensate for his lack of technique. The blade of water connected with the forearms of the first few Reapers who had rushed ahead of the others.

The spell passed through the monsters in what could hardly be called a contest, the sharpness of the water unmatchable by the beasts.

"Wow, that's sharper than I thought…" Drake said his eyes widening as the monsters instantly fell to pieces in front of him.

But Drake didn't have time to admire his work as he was swarmed by other Ants in moments.

Swinging his staff-turned-scythe like he was a spinning top, he used the momentum to bisect the surrounding Ants, their bodies hitting the floor in squirming halves.

After a few more full turns of swiping his scythe, Drake planted his foot embedding it into the ground, as he shook his head.

"I'll have to practice that one. Interesting concept though. I do wonder if my weapon of choice skill applies to magically made ones. Naw… that would be broken right…?" Drake hummed.

Canceling the attunement and endowment, Drake reformed his disks this time with wind.

Wanting to diversify his options, he changed his Endowment to Water, wanting to continue to use his spells while he helped clear out a section for his group to set up on.

"I don't need to overextend myself anymore," Drake said aloud, taking a glance over his shoulder, seeing a good portion already cleared out around the collapsed entrance, "Now let's just take it slow, and get some good ol' practice in."

Biding his time and stacking up kills for his weapon's unique buff for wind magic, Drake continued to clear out the surroundings. Checking every now and again over his shoulder to make sure nothing was getting past him.

He moved methodically through the open area whipping out every ant that moved too close, picking up and storing the bodies as he went.

I can just let everyone else pick up the skill stones at this point. I need to focus on making more room for now.

Drake had been going for several hours in total at this point, surprising even himself with his tenacity. And also once again thanking his overblown stats. Before he felt people or things enter his sphere of aura perception behind him.

Taking a brief look back he saw a familiar redheaded giant leading the way, followed by the sound of gunfire from above as Hudson let his drones let loose hell on the ants below.

Drake began solidifying his position and doubled his disks from five to ten, right as a notification appeared in his periphery.

[100th Wind Kill Stacked]

Drake pulled his disks back, raising his staff high above his head as they moved to his will lining up parallel to the weapon.

He pushed more mana into the disks expending all of them until they became turbulent spinning blades of death that covered a significant amount of the area.

"Futon! Rasen Shuriken!" Drake roared, wheeling his staff arm in a circle, the blades of wind increasing in speed until their sound overtook the chittering of the ants.

Drake threw his arm forward, the blades responding and snapping forward, cutting down thousands of ants in their wake.

In only a few seconds Drake had cleared out hundreds of feet of open land thanks to his staff's effect.

He threw his fist forward as another notification passed his eyes.

[Congratulations, you have increased to Elemental Miller Level 21] [40 Free Stat Points have been Awarded.]

"Hell yeah! Believe it!" Drake whooped.

"Ughhhhhh….." Natto screamed, grimacing all the while.