No More!

"Ahhhhhh!"

Alessia raged and with her Axe raised and veins showing up along her arms, she bounded at the Ant Queen. Her large breasts trembling all the way.

The Ant Queen heard the battle cry and reacted immediately with speed that caught Alessia by surprise. Suddenly, her target, the Ant Queen's hairy leg, was gone and her Axe cut through thin air.

While she spun out of control and almost lost her grip on her Axe, the large single-digit claw that tipped the Ant Queen's hairy leg stabbed toward her back.

Alessia's instincts informed her and she fell forward, face first into the ground so that the claw sailed harmlessly over her. Alessia stopped her face from hitting the ground with her left hand and then she turned around and swung her Axe at the hairy leg above her.

*Clang*

*Spark*

The Ant Queen's leg did not look metallic but the sound it made when Alessia's Axe clashed with it, definitely did.

"Yes!"

Alessia said as her Axe cut into the leg but her jubilation slipped into a frown when her Axe refused to cut deeper into the leg. She would have kept pushing but the Ant Queen didn't give her the chance.

*Screechhhh*

With her signature screech, the Ant Queen raised her leg with the clear intention being to shake Alessia off.

Alessia gritted her teeth and gripped her Axe handle even tighter and did not give up getting her Axe blade to go through the remaining inches left for a clean cut.

And then... Right when the Ant Queen pulled her leg back for a flick to send Alessia into the wall...

*Flash*

... Something purple dashed into the wall, pushed against it, and propelled itself into the leg to cut the remaining inches left for Alessia's Axe to give a clean cut.

*SCREEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCHHHHHHHH!!!*

Delphyne the purple flash landed gracefully on the ground just as the detached part of the Ant Queen's leg began its descent toward the ground.

Alessia and the detached leg landed at the same time. She landed on her knees and raised her head to give Delphyne a look.

"I had it!" she said.

Delphyne smiled at her.

"You're welcome"

Reduced to five legs, after one had been turned into a stump, the Ant Queen snapped her triple pincer pairs at the duo of Delphyne and Alessia.

She moved so fast that the two did not have enough time to run away. Alessia was still on her knees but raised her Axe and pushed against the pincers to stop them.

The Ant Queen raised her rear end and slammed it into the ground.

*Bang!*

As she did so, her stinger stabbed into the ground and ten seconds later, while still pushing against Alessia's Axe-wielding self, more Ant minions began to burrow out of the ground.

Delphyne's eyes widened in realization.

"The Stinger... Of course!"

Delphyne took off towards the Ant Queen's rear end.

Almost like it had sensed what Delphyne was planning, the Ant Queen gave her newly birthed Ants the instruction to go after Delphyne and stop her by any means necessary.

*Rumble*

The sound of a multitude rushing over all at once came from behind Delphyne, and right when she was about to look back and see what was causing the noise, she heard Vincel's voice yell at her.

"Delphyne, Jump!"

Vincel and Yvette had been cutting through Ants for a good while and as he neared another Level up, Vincel got an idea to assist Delphyne once he spotted her about to be crowded by Ants.

He led the Ants attacking him, over to where Delphyne was.

By order, the Ants were not going to let him go no matter what and that was what Vincel decided to take advantage of.

Mostly because jumping was the most sensible way to get out of getting crowded by the Ants the Ant Queen had sent after her, Delphyne didn't think twice about Vincel's order.

She jumped and landed on top of the Ant Queen's large abdomen and immediately after, she heard a massive collision that shook the entire path.

*KaBlam!*

The Ants after Vincel and the ones that had been birthed just to go after Delphyne collided into a massive clump. Some even stabbed each other with their Pincers and killed one another.

The immediate first line of both groups of Ants were skewered by one another and Vincel watched it with a smile from a wall.

He had jumped right before the collision and stabbed his dagger into the wall as an Anchor. The curve of the blade made it a suitable hook.

"If I got Arcane shards from this, this moment would have been perfect" Vincel mumbled as he watched his plan work so well.

As the Ants had killed each other with their pincers, Vincel did not get Arcane shards from their death even though he instigated the whole thing.

'That almost doesn't make sense. I mean, I've killed Ants by crushing them with another Ant and I always get Arcane shards from those.

Although, I guess in that case, I did deliver the killing blow, I just used the other Ant as a weapon.

Argh, the schematics are so bothersome.'

[0:10]

[0:09]

'Damn,' Vincel thought knowing his Arcane Augmentation was nearing its limit.

He pulled his dagger out of the wall and let himself fall while putting all his strength into his legs so that he could squash the unlucky Ant he landed on.

*Squish*

[One Arcane Shard Recovered]

Five more seconds...

Vincel spent every last bit of Arcane Augmentation he had killing Ants left and right and reaping Arcane shards.

[300/300 Arcane Shards]

[Congratulations! You have leveled up to Arcane Initiate Lv.4]

[HP Limit increased]

[Arcane Mana Reserve Limit increased]

[User has received 8 Stat points to distribute]

[Total Stat points: 16]

-

'Oh yes,' Vincel thought in jubilation and then he felt his extra strength leaving his body.

[Arcane Augmentation deactivated]

Thanks to his recent Level-up, Vincel's Arcane Mana reserves had refilled and he had more than enough to reactivate Arcane Augmentation but he didn't.

His base strength, coupled with his sharp dagger was more than enough to kill E-Rank Burrowing Ants.

In fact, he celebrated his level-up by stabbing the Thorax of an Ant and slicing until he cut through its abdomen and spilled out its gooey guts.

[One Arcane Shard Recovered]

[User has now killed 200 Burrowing Ants]

[Exterminant Aura intensity Increased]

The way the Ants instantly recoiled away from him, it was as though Vincel was suddenly covered by a force field which was not all that far from the truth.

Vincel lacked the refined senses to feel the Aura he was letting out but Yvette felt it even though she was over two meters away from him.

When the Ants spread and gave Vincel a full meter in diameter of space, Yvette could sense what had caused that behavior.

"Never seen someone being so Ant repellent before" she mumbled while watching.

Anyway, Vincel welcomed the space and the opportunity to catch his breath.

With Arcane Augmentation gone, his lack of stamina became very clear.

His body was aching all over and he was very aware of the many injuries he had all over.

He was taking many breaths when he saw the Ant Queen trying to shake Delphyne off her Abdomen.

Delphyne stabbed her sword into the Abdomen to keep from being shaken off but that just made the Ant Queen angrier.

Vincel stretched both hands forward and in an instant, he cast three 'Bind' spells.

The spell circles appeared and the strings of Arcane Mana wrapped tight around the Ant Queen's Abdomen and froze it in place.

The rest of its body was still trashing, its pincers were still pushing against Alessia's Axe, but the Abdomen remained in place.

Delphyne wasted no time going after the pincer.

The runes etched into her sword blade glowed even more brightly and the sword itself gained a luminous glow.

"No more minions for you!"

It was over in a second.

Delphyne pushed off the abdomen...

*Swish*

... Her sword flashed, and the stinger detached and fell to the ground while thick greenish-yellow goo flowed out of the wounded abdomen and doused the Ants below.