Chapter 26 (XXVI) Trickery

Hundreds of Mietalajed Ants stormed out from the countless tunnels of Mount Nina Urqu, their legs crushing the ground beneath them, creating a massive quake that shook the entire island.

The ants charged forward, following the scent of their fallen comrade. Near the mountain's peak, the tip had been destroyed, creating enough space for a large hornet's nest to be built.

The earthquake had caused a significant commotion within the hive as dozens of Muraŭjoŭka Hornets darted out of the nest. Their bejeweled bodies sparkled in the sunlight as they spotted the ants charging toward their nest.

The hornets dived toward the climbing ants, quickly descending onto their backs, jabbing their stinger repeatedly into the gap between the thorax and abdomen.

Dozens of the metallic ants began falling toward the ground while the bejeweled hornets flew to their next target. The ants crashed violently into the rocky ground, their weight turning the corpses into destructive cannonballs, kicking up giant dust clouds with each ant.

The Mietalajed Ants began to swarm over one another, protecting each others' weak joints against the vicious stinging of the hornets. Occasionally, one of the ants would catch one of the hornets between its mandibles, squeezing them violently.

The Muraŭjoŭka Hornets would swarm around the ant that caught one of their brethren, but their efforts in freeing it was an exercise in futility as the ants would crush their gemstone bodies, separating their abdomen from their thorax as the two pieces fell down to the ground and were instantly swarmed by the ants below.

As the sun began setting, two earth-shattering shrill screeches echoed around the entire island one after the other as both the Mietalajed Ants and Muraŭjoŭka Hornets slowly returned to their respective colonies.

Jackson was still gathering jewels when the Mietalajed Queen's call echoed through the tunnels; the severity of the noise caused him to fall to his knees, gripping his ears and squinting his eyes shut tightly.

Rocking back and forth, gritting his teeth, he felt a faint vibration underneath his legs and opened his eyes, reaching down and touching the cold, rocky ground before exclaiming, "Shit!"

He quickly stood up, looking around frantically before consulting his minimap before sprinting through the tunnels. One of the ants slowly entered, its antennae instantly detecting the intruder and turning to engage.

Jackson gritted his teeth as lightning started arcing from the soles of his boots to the ground with each long stride, rapidly circling around the top of the tunnel and running around the Mietalajed Ant.

Even more ants began swarming the tunnels as he leaped from wall to wall, sparks of purple electricity trailing behind as he avoided dozens of surprise attacks.

Even though their slow movements posed no threat to him, the sheer number of foes was too much, and eventually, disaster would strike, and Jackson was not one to risk his life so recklessly.

Burst out of the tunnels, Jackson turned, digging his heels in and raising his fists, squaring his frame as he skidded to a halt. He raised his eyebrow, dropping his stance and staring surprisingly as the ants piled at the entrance, hissing and rapidly clicking their mandibles in anger.

He sighed in relief, smiling as he turned his back on the annoying clatter before casually walking back to his camp. On his way back, he stumbled across hundreds of dead ants and wasp corpses.

He approached the scene slowly, walking through the carnage of mangled bodies everywhere. He knelt next to a dead ant and lightly traced his fingers along the metallic carapace. Curious about its durability, Jackson raised his arm, balling his hand into a fist, and punched it as hard as he could.

A loud gong sound echoed through the mountains, and the young man's eyes went wide as there was hardly an indent in the metal. Greed flashed across his eyes as he grinned from ear to ear.

He grabbed a corner of the metallic shell and tried to pry it off, but his strength was not enough to separate it from the protected body. He shook his head, disappointment instantly setting in.

"Tch!" Jackson clicked his tongue as he didn't bring his destroyed swords from the first floor before he started looking around for something to dismantle the ant.

Sitting a few meters away, his eyes stopped on the bejeweled abdomen of one of the wasps; he quickly rushed over, picking it up carefully as he inspected the stinger. He grabbed it at the bottom and snapped it off the severed abdomen.

He returned to the ant and began using the stinger to repeatedly stab around the protective metallic shells. The work was sloppy and amateurish at best, but it was quick to remove it and store it in his bag.

As he disassembled the ant's corpses, he picked up the upper half of a Muraŭjoŭka Hornet; the wings were fascinating to him as he gripped the base, and much to his surprise, it effortlessly snapped from the body.

He carefully placed it into his bag, grinning as it was accepted, and quickly removed the other wing and added it. As much as he would like to take all of their bodies, the Gobbii Bag rejected the corpses, not allowing him to add them.

This battle between the ants and wasps would rage for days as Jackson dashed through the tunnels, unleashing a powerful punch against one of the walls and collecting the gemstones.

Every sunrise for the next two days, he would wait for the ants to charge toward the battle site and run through the tunnels, gathering every precious stone he could find and quickly disappearing out of the tunnels at sunset, circling around the hornet's mountain before diving into the ocean.

After clearing his scent, he would head toward the battle site, collecting more metallic plates and insect wings for a few hours before returning to camp to practice his unarmed technique and rest until the next day.

However, on the third day, no ants or wasps appeared. Jackson rubbed his chin in confusion as he stared intently toward both locations when suddenly Elissa appeared through a portal in front of him, swaying her hips with a huge smirk as she approached him slowly.