With his skin as paler than it had ever been, his expression, an ashen shade of weakness, Evian held his Spear in one hand and stretched the other towards the Burrowing Ant Beast.
'Reaper Chains!"
The Beast was about to burrow itself to safety once again when the Spell Circle appeared beneath it with chains charging out, wrapping around its armored body and tethering it to the spot.
As the Spell cams in effect, blood pooled out from within Evian, from the other wound on his chest he had not had enough Soul Points to heal and he spat out blood once again until it dripped out of the sides of his mouth.
"What a dreadful state I'm in," he said in a mumble.
The duo of Lora and Thana took advantage of the Beast being trapped to strike at it but somehow, they failed to go after the gaps in its hard metal-like armor.
*Clang!*
*Clang!*
*Clang!*
They were only able to get three hits in between them before the Beast tore itself free from Evian's chains and burrowed away.
"*Cough* *Cough* Damn it," Evian groaned as he watched, "Go after the gaps in its shell!"
He tried to yell it out but was so weak, he could only afford a croak. The Ladies said nothing but Evian guessed they had heard him. That was enough.
"It's coming again!" Thana said.
It wasn't that she could detect the Beast's approach but rather that she knew it would return based on its already shown pattern of behavior.
And sure enough...
*Klink* *Klink* *Klink*
... With pincers clanking repeatedly at threatening speed, the Beast rose again and struck out. Again Lora and Thana parried away its dreadful pincers and again, Evian cast the Reaper Chains spell to hold it in place.
Barely two seconds later, the Beast pulled free.
"Fuck!" Evian let out in frustration.
Despite its powerful defense, this Beast was not as strong as the Shrill-caller. Its advantage lay in stealthy burrowing escape and speed rather than strength and yet it was pulling free of Evian's spell faster than Shrill-caller ever could all because Evian was weak from his wounds.
'So this Is what happens to my Spells when my Health declines. I don't like it!'
The Spell Circles vanished, and Evian fell on the ground, flat on his back while quickly spending 2000 Soul Points on the creation of two Heavy Injury Health Packs.
The wound on his chest healed as though it had never been there (besides the heavy stain of blood of course), his heart healed to be good as new and the tear on the surface of his skin mended perfectly but even then, Evian was still pale.
A 'soul' (Even one that tasted as bad as that of this Ant Beast) was a Wraith's definition of a meal so Evian's spent energy had been recovered but, as this was a situation of the most danger he had ever experienced, he was still weak— mentally.
Meanwhile, Lora got to work immediately hacking away at the Ant Beast. It was a treasure-trove of resources, pincers could be used as materials for Five-star weapons and the shell was material for Armor, even its pus had alchemical use, however, the speed at which she was working was suspect.
She wasn't even being courteous like usual by once again suggesting Evian take his share or thanking him for once again coming through with a swift kill of their Beastly opponent.
"What are you waiting for?" she barked to the other ladies, "We need to hurry!"
"Huh— why?" Dana asked, just as confused as Evian was.
"Have you ever heard of an Ant that works alone?" Lora asked and everyone in the group became pale.
Of course. Ants were social animals. Working in a colony was their way. This one might have wandered away from others for a chance at human flesh as food but the others could not be far behind.
"Shit!" Xania cursed and joined Lora in disassembling the Ant Beast. They knew they should all have been getting away, especially with how quickly and stealthily such Ant Beasts were in appearance but they refused to leave without at least getting some spoils from the Fifth Rank Ant Beast.
Dana and Thana went after the rest of the Aerial Beasts that they had not already gotten.
Just five minutes after the ladies began to work, Evian, with his senses strained to pick up even the slightest of sounds, was alerted. Pincers rose and stabbed toward Thana but he was already on his way.
Running would be too slow so he used Wraithic Phasing. He sank into the ground and returned to the surface almost instantaneously.
He wrapped his arms around her midsection and yanked her to safety.
At first, Thana blushed at the intimacy but then her eyes widened when not only did the Ant Beast that tried to stab her show itself in full, but pincers appeared and aimed to stab Dana as well.
*Boom!*
*Boom!*
She tossed Explosives to knock the weapons aside but then called out in fear,
"I'm out of Ammo!"
All around them, Ants burrowed their way to the surface, confirming the sick turn of events;
They had not defeated a rogue Fifth Rank Beast but rather a member of a massive colony of hundreds of Beasts of a similar Rank all being led by a stronger Ant Beast that was bound to be no weaker than the Sixth Rank!