Return to Jorgaldur Volume II: the druid archer

Moving forward (II)

The feline managed to keep moving in a zigzag until she found two ants almost at the same position, which were brandishing their jaws at her. She then jumped on the first, engulfing herself in fire, and using Shred on one of its eyes.

The ant scrambled, as she was trying to hit the enemy against the ceiling, but she jumped back, and took advantage of the moment to try to pass under it. The bug fell, so trying to crush her, but it wasn't fast enough. The lynx had jumped to her left again, and landed under the next one. When it too tried to use Tamp, its prey had already leaped onto the sprawling body of the previous one.

The next ant lunged towards her, not waiting for her comrade to get up. It allowed the lynx to jump to the side, then under this one, and immediately under the next one.

Jumping, dodging and attacking, she managed to advance without suffering more than a few scratches, until, after surpassing one of them, a jet of acid hit her. The pain was sharp, but the worst of it was that the damage to her back leg reduced her mobility.

Limping, she barely managed to dodge the other ant. Pushing forward and forcing her leg, she managed to take refuge under one of them. She knew that it would try to fall on her, but also that, although painful, she wouldn't die from the impact. Perhaps, she could take advantage of it to attack it from below, open a hole in the ant, and hide inside.

However, she suddenly felt the pain subside. Although she wasn't completely healed, her leg was responding well enough again.

"Thanks sister."

Life Link had managed to partially heal her, so she dodged both ants, and the acid attacks of the next. These were levels 50, and the only ones that had attacked like this, so it was easy to assume that it was a skill acquired at that level. That's why they hadn't discovered it before, and she had been taken by surprise.

Now that she was aware, it wasn't difficult for her to dodge the next attacks, although there weren't so many level 50 ants. However, it did not take long to reach a wider area, where up to three ants could be in side by side. It was more difficult to dodge them all.

Luckily, after managing to dodge the first trio, by going under three and over one, the following ones were easier. It is true that the place was even wider. In fact, there could be half a dozen together, but they were also distracted by two Twisters.

Without lingering, she stepped under the closest one. The others turned to her, so forgetting for a moment about that spell that had already killed several of them. They were trying to attack the intruder.

At that moment, several arrows hit the ants, all of them with Void, with the intention of distracting and destabilizing them.

The lynx didn't hesitate. She went into the tangle of legs, bumped into them if necessary to push them away, and moved swiftly through the confused ants. They now had to deal with the strange Twisters, with the newcomer, and with the unexpected arrows and their suction force.

She was quick to overtake them, to get to her sister before they turned around, to carry her on her back while being healed.

The ants doubted whether to go after them, but it was more important to release the obstacle that separated them from the anthill, an obstacle that soon disappeared. The mana expenditure was too high to sustain indefinitely. So, a few made their way to the bottom, while others followed the trail of those who had escaped.

They didn't take long to find an ant that was going in the same direction. It started to turn toward them, but before it could react, they had passed her. It threw acid at them, which was dodged. Although, had it reached them, Cyclonic Barrier would have blocked it.

They moved swiftly through the tunnel, occasionally encountering ants, which they simply outrun. They only stopped from time to time, so that the elf could use Life Detection, as they were trying to find the place where the kidnapper was hiding. Both sisters suspected that she hadn't gone outside. Since the tunnel was going up, so it would probably lead them outside, she should be hidden somewhere.

However, they didn't need the spell to find said hiding place. About fifty ants were crowding in front of them, while attacking the rock. Those ants had been following a trail that had led them there.

The rat-woman had moved quickly through the tunnel, and taken refuge in her hiding place, which she then plugged up. After that, she had placed the dryad on a stone platform, and began to prepare her tools.

The dryad's blood was too precious to waste. She had already cursed inside when her companions had extracted some of it.

She took out several containers, and placed them next to her victim. The mage had injected another dose of the paralysis specially designed for her, as she didn't want the dryad to wake up. If she ended up dying of an overdose, it wasn't important either, as long as she managed to get it all the blood out of her.

After putting aside the substances she wanted to experiment with, she took out a thin cylinder. The rat-woman attached a tube to it, which in turn led to the larger container. She then stuck the cylinder into the dryad's arm, from which, little by little, the greenish substance that was her blood began to drip.

She was about to stick her another when, suddenly, there was a loud bang against the wall, then another, and another.

It is true that the place was well hidden, and that there were spells to conceal it. However, the ants had followed a trail there, and started hitting all the surroundings when they lost it. That place sounded different.

It was impossible for beings with great tunnel-digging skills to miss that singularity. They tried to dig in that direction, but the protective spells prevented it. So, they started hitting it, looking for who had attacked them.

Soon, more ants joined. They were waiting around the ones pounding the stone wall, while some ants continued their way through the tunnel, to investigate further.