With his arm still around Thana's waist, Evian cautioned her urgently,
"Hang on!"
He dashed forward, past the gathering Ant Beasts, and wrapped his other arm around Dana's waist while she was about to start swinging a dagger in a futile attempt to defend herself against multiple Fifth Rank Beasts.
Immediately he had the two ladies in his hold, Evian used Wraithic Phasing and sunk into the ground with them, surfacing right beside the duo of Xania and Lora who were nowhere near the end of their breaking apart of the Ant Beast on account of its extremely tough exterior but of course their attempts was now at an end.
"Hold hands!" Evian called out and there was such certainty of command in his words that spurred the ladies to immediately obey.
With everyone linked, Evian implemented Wraithic Phasing once again, getting away from the scene merely seconds before a swarm of Ants crowded the very spot they had been standing in.
With Escape being all that was in Evian's mind, he had no particular destination in mind but he did know that he had to turn away from the direction of the center of the Forest where he had a feeling the leader of the Ant Beast Colony would be at i.e the Ant Queen.
As they escaped and the second or two that it took for him to return to the surface with the ladies, Evian's mind was working hard and fast.
He realized there was a very good chance the Beast who had taken command of the center of the Forest and forced many Fourth Ranked and Fifth Ranked Beasts to swarm closer toward the exit of the Forest, which caused the Threat of a Beast Tide to skyrocket, was the Ant Queen thanks especially to its massive Fifth Rank Army.
Evian and the Ladies surfaced and he let go of them as they all doubled over, either dry-heaving, catching their breath, or calming their speeding heartbeats on account of how close they just were to death.
Meanwhile, Evian turned around and looked toward the direction of the part of the Forest they had just escaped. It was easy to figure out because hundreds of clanking pincers by Ant Beasts who had decided not to burrow underground were loud enough to still be heard where they were. Also, the sounds were agitating nearby Beasts and causing them to seek safety.
Watching the behavior of the scared Beasts, Evian found more merit in his suspicion.
The only time Ants were easy to handle was when they were weak because when individually strong and retaining their ability to work within a colony, there was no Beast Herd or Pack or Group that could be a capable opponent.
The Armor that the Ants all had especially made things difficult.
"Well, I guess this is my limit," Evian mumbled and then chuckled darkly.
'When I do return to this Forest, I wonder if that Colony will still be here. How wonderful would it be to clear them all and slay the Queen? The Soul Points I'll reap alone will be incredible.
*Sigh* But it would be suicide to try it as I currently am. I could go around hunting more Beasts so I can advance to the next Major level of Decadence but then I'd have to purchase the upgrade of Wraithic Phasing to even stand a chance.
I hate to think it but I'm not sure I'll be able to rack up those necessary points in a situation such as this where the Ants are active. Those massive scurrying bastards will steal most of my kills while making it difficult to hunt at all.
No, for now, I should stop.
I killed the bastard that almost killed me, and purchased all I aimed to purchase. For now, all that will have to be enough.
But I will return to this Forest some day and if this Colony is still here by then, I will hunt it down to the very last one... Crushing them like the Ants they are!'
"Evian?" Lora called, pulling Evian out of his thoughts so he turned around to see all four Ladies gazing at him with gratitude.
"Hmm?"
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it," Evian said to the chorus, "We should get going."
[...]
"What exclusive skill do I get then?"
[...]
"Will I even get anything?"
[You'll have to wait and find out.]
"Hmm," Evian let out as he clenched his fist and raised it to right in front of his eyes while charging it with [Eldritch Authority] and although the memory of how useful the Skill had been to him was still fresh in Evian's mind, he was also reminded that there was a disadvantage in that he could only use against an Eldritch Being.
He hoped that, if at all he got anything when he became a 'Wraith Lord', it would be a skill without such a limitation. After all, it was people or Beasts with spiritual energy he hunted primarily to rack up enough resources to get stronger.
With a sigh, Evian put his fist down and brought the information of the Slave/Subjugation Seal Manuscript to the forefront of his mind.
For the rest of the ride, Evian understood more and more of the spell. He had a lot of time for study because he had told the Coachman to take his time— claiming he was in no hurry.
So by the time the Carriage stopped in front of the Mansion Zayda had been assigned by the Eastern Sect, Evian was almost ready to attempt to creation of his signature Seal.
He found the whole Squad training as was the usual custom since they had arrived at East City. It turned out, that when Zayda said a week of rest, she did not mean it in terms of leisure. Apart from being locked up to cultivate and achieve a breakthrough, no one in the Squad had had any actual moment of rest.
Evian hardly participated in the training because of his Forest expedition and only ever arrived in the evening time to see it being ongoing. Usually, he greeted and gave words of encouragement (You can do it! Fighting!) but today, he paused when he saw Ember was not training with a sword but rather a Bow.
"Since when was this a thing?" Evian asked Zayda now that he was beside her. This last week, he had not seen such.
"It's been a while coming. I thought it wouldn't be bad for us to have someone good with range attacks in the Squad. Everyone tried their hands with bows. Ember liked it more and has been dedicating a bit of training time every day to see how good she can get at it.
Evening time is always her Sword training time so you never saw. Today, she just happened to train longer with a bow."
"She never told me anything about it," Evian said.
Zayda shrugged,
"Maybe she wanted it to be a surprise. Pillow talk is such a boring part of sex anyway."
"Is that your expert opinion as a Voyeur?" Evian asked with a smirk.
Zayda rolled her eyes,
"Point is, she IS good."
"How good?" Evian asked.
"See for yourself," Zayda said with a head gesture.
Ember had the string drawn with an arrow pointed at a target. One eye was closed and she took steady breaths to calm herself and then she let go.
*Thwack!*
Bullseye!