The Wise One(1)

"Perhaps we should leave them be?" Yin asked. "After all, we avoid the Demon Bears, why prod this metaphorical hornets' nest?"

"Because they literally have iron in their shells," Loran said. "As dangerous as they are, a steady iron supply would allow the village to start making way more advanced equipment. On top of that, metal weapons would be able to pierce the ant's shells more easily, so they would be less of a threat."

"If nothing else we need to figure out where the nest is," said Zed, "can't avoid something if you don't know where it is."

"Precautions will need to be taken, but that's later. For now, We just need to get back to the village." Soze turned towards Yang. "Think you'll be able to walk soon?"

"I can walk right now," she said, standing up to demonstrate, "it still hurts but I can manage. I'm just worried about getting into a fight with my leg like this."

"Perhaps we should remain here until Yang has fully recuperated." Yin turned to Loran. "That was the original plan, correct?"

"Right, but heading back might be better now. Yesterday I was worried about fighting with just the two of us, but with you all here there won't be as much pressure on Yang."

"Yeah," Soze agreed, "and right now the most likely place for the ant colony is further north. Waiting here could mean being found by more scouts and, personally, I prefer our chances against basically anything over the possibility of a group of those things."

"So are we fighting ants or not?" Zed asked, concerned.

"Let's go back now," Yang said firmly.

"But your leg…" Yin's voice was thick with worry.

"My leg will be fine as long as I take it easy." Yang looked at the others. "Does anyone else have a problem with that?"

"Nope," Alexx said.

"It is a little risky," Soze commented, "but if anything does go wrong we can at least get Alexx to carry you."

"Why is it always me?!"

"75 STR," Loran said flatly, causing Alexx to sigh defeatedly.

"Alright, well, you guys can head back," Zed said as he stood up, brandishing his spear, "I'm going to go find some ants."

"Like hell you are," Loran said. "I'm not going to let you get yourself killed. You're going to come back with us."

"Oh? And since when did you care about my safety?" Zed asked in amusement.

"I've never cared because you always seem to come back fine. But these things are on another level."

"So what? I'll keep my distance and work my way through their armor."

"Dude, I couldn't even scratch that thing's shell," Yang said with a smirk. "Your spear will break long before they will."

"My DPS is way higher than yours, sweetheart."

"....Sweetheart?" Yang asked, her tone somewhere between unamused and threatening.

"Isn't that mostly with Skills though?" Alexx asked. "How long can you keep that up?"

"Long enough."

"Zed, the answer is no," Soze said. "If you really want to fight these things, save it for when you have a better weapon."

"Yeah, we've already taken down one," Yang said. "Once Rika figures out how to get the iron out of it you'll have a metal spear and can go nuts on these things."

Zed sighed and looked up as he began to think. The slight pout on his face appeared almost childish and almost made the others forget that the reason for this childishness was his desire to fight a horde of monsters to the death.

"Zed," Loran said, feeling that Zed wouldn't back down, "if you're really this determined you and me can go hunt more ants tomorrow or something."

"Together?" he asked, almost indignantly. "Since when do I ever go hunting in a group?"

"Never, but if you insist on doing this, then I want to be there so that when you learn the hard way that this is suicide I can bail you out."

"I don't like it," Soze said. "It's still too dangerous."

"I'll go too," Alexx added. "There's a good chance that I'm strong enough to get through their armor, and it's not like I get hit much anyway."

"He's right Soze," Yang said. "Loran and Alexx are the best equipped to handle these ants, and Zed will be too once he gets a decent weapon."

"Yang, are you certain?" Yin asked.

"Yeah, anyone else is going to get themselves killed."

Few of the other DEX-focused players used blunt weapons since they mostly scaled with STR, and the players that focused on STR also focused on using armor and high END for defense, which would be useless against an Iron Ant's damage output. The former couldn't harm the ants, while the latter didn't have the ability to defend themselves properly.

"....Haaaa," Soze sighed, "fine, you three can head out once we all get back to camp."

"And we can't go now because?" Zed asked.

"Because Yang comes first you psycho," Soze snapped in a low voice, eyes narrowing at the unconcerned spear fighter. The others nervously looked towards Zed, wondering how the seemingly unstable player would respond.

A small grin formed on Zed's face. "....Glad to see you've got some fire in you." He began walking in the direction of the village. "Let's go. The sooner we get back the sooner we can squash some bugs.

The other five followed after him, with Yang taking a place in the center of the group for protection and Alexx carrying the dead Iron Ant body. A few moments after they left the campsite, a Moss Wolf could be heard howling in the distance. It was very far away, too far to be a concern, but it was odd to hear a wolf howling during the day.

~~~~~

The previous day.

Deep in the woods, there was a beast.

The beast had noticed these strange creatures that came across the water long ago. They were an unknown, and so it ordered the pack to avoid these tall creatures, these humanoids, until they could be confirmed as either predator or prey.

Today the beast had seen a pair of the humanoids as they did battle with one of the area's lesser packs. The beast was shocked as it saw the one that looked like a moving tree defeat the pack so easily. Even if they were lesser, they were still fellow beasts. For them to fall so easily was unnatural.

And so the beast did as it has always done, it followed, watched, and studied. The rest of the pack followed obediently, as they always have. Although their eyes, ears, and snouts were too weak to sense the humanoids, they have long since learned to trust in the orders of the beast and followed even when it seemed meaningless.

Today, the beast came across a pair of humanoids that did battle with one of the lesser packs, or rather one of them fought while the other watched. The beast expected the other to jump in when the battle soured, or perhaps for the one fighting to be left for dead if its abilities were not enough, but for the fighter to dominate the lesser pack... that was unexpected.

Their easy slaughter of the lesser pack certainly leaned towards them being predators, but the beast had long since learned to not be hasty in judgment. The beast was confused by the way they did not eat their kills, 'perhaps they are prey?' but was even nervous when they used a strange tool to begin moving the bodies.

'Only the insectoids move their kills so far. Are these humanoids somehow kin to them?!'

Then it saw one of the insectoids approaching from the edge of its senses. Those things were well known by the beast, they were to be feared. The beast almost wanted to flea, worrying that the predator would come after it, but was filled with joy and concern as it saw the small, hard predator go after the humanoids.

'If they join together then we must flea, the pack must find a new home far away! But… if they fight, then it will reveal the abilities of the humanoids.'

Seeing the small, hard predator fight the humanoids helped to calm the beast, the pack would not need to run. Furthermore, the fight itself was quick, informative, and very good news.

'The tall ones are strong, enough to break the shell of the small, hard predator, but they are not above it completely.'

One of the humanoids was clearly injured by the small, hard predator. After the battle, the two abandoned their kills and began doing strange things by the side of the water. The quick, humanoid took something from the strong, tall one and began tearing away pieces of the trees. When it returned and used the trees to make fire, the beast was amazed.

'Only the roaring light from the sky can make fire! But these humanoids can make it from trees! These creatures take the trees and shape them how they please. Interesting.'

The beast watched as the humanoids used the trees to guard themselves, shaping them into spikes that would stop anything from approaching at high speeds. It wondered why they chose to ruin their kills with fire before eating it, or why they threw a large piece of tree into the water but soon stopped thinking about it.

'Not all questions have answers,' the beast reminded itself.

As the humanoids began to sleep, the rest of the pack were becoming restless. Never before had they waited so long in one place, but never before had they found possible prey that stayed so still.

The beast ordered them to calm themselves. It did not want to be hasty with these humanoids, they would attack when it gave the order and not a moment sooner.

The pack rested through the night, but the leader remained vigilant. It was capable of going a few days without rest and it wanted to make sure that there would be no surprises for tomorrow's hunt.

The night was uneventful, and soon the beast saw as the more agile humanoid woke and left their defenses to gather pieces of the trees to make more fire. The beast saw this as an opportunity to attack the lone humanoid while it was away from its kin and the tree spikes, but that idea was quickly discarded when the humanoid stayed within close proximity to the other.

As the morning continued, the beast decided to let the pack let off some energy by stealing from the humanoids' pile of kills.

'How will they treat thieves?' it wondered.

The humanoids were rather calm during the interaction, remaining within their defenses but brandishing their weapons. The beast saw no reason for them to be so tolerant of the pack, especially since they could kill the lesser pack so easily, and assumed the injury to the armored humanoid may be greater than it assumed.

'If we fight cautiously, perhaps we can kill them…'

The spiked defenses were the biggest problem, and so the beast decided they would attack once they left it.

However, the beast did not expect the arrival of four more humanoids. Suddenly all its plans needed to be discarded.

'If one can defeat a lesser pack, six is too many for us…unless.'

Although the danger had increased, the beast still wanted to try hunting the humanoids. Although they were strong enough to hunt the insectoids, they lacked their impenetrable shells. The beast did not become what it was by being a coward, and so desired to assert its dominance as ruler of these woods.

This was a good opportunity since one was injured. But the pack couldn't do it as they were right now, so the beast would put the odds back in their favor.

The beast let out a piercing howl, and the pack drew back in fear. The beast had ordered for the entire pack to gather for a hunt, such had never been done before, and they feared what could make the beast give such an order.

The humanoids left their defenses, and as they walked the pack began to gather and follow them. The small pack of five soon became ten, then twenty, thirty….

It took hours for the whole pack to gather, and the beast knew they were getting closer to the humanoid's den, where they gathered in large numbers.

The beast began commanding the others, telling them to split and attack from all sides. It also told them to be careful with the creature wearing the trees, to only attack the gaps between the shell pieces, and to focus on its injured leg. Although the rest of the pack was not intelligent enough for true communication, the beast could understand their response to its orders.

'We hear and obey, Wise One.'

The beast, The Wise One, turned its attention back to the six creatures.

'Let us see if you are predators or prey.'

With a howl, The Wise One gave one final command to the pack of over one hundred Moss Wolves.

'Begin the hunt.'