Chapter 258: Ancient array

Chapter 258: Ancient array

We rest for a while, and the power of our stats heals our bodies. In my case, it's mostly my passive skill doing the work, but it's good enough.

When we finally continue through the tunnels, I feel a bit different. Weirdly, I feel better, as some of the tension leaves my body, and it seems the same goes for Myrra.

Fuck, feral one, I didnt expect you to kick me in the crotch, twice. Do you have no manners? Even her tone is a bit different now.

Says the person who spat blood in my face, I reply.

Feral One, I bet you there are humans willing to pay me for the experience, she says.

I stagger in surprise, and she notices, which makes her smile even more. I mean, she is not wrong, but damn.

Thankfully another group of snapjaw ants appears, and I avoid reacting any further. Already used to fighting them, we move quickly, keeping mobile and slowing them with Myrras ice and my [Redistribution].

Even with multiple Gravity ants and a Sentinel ant supporting them, we deal with them fairly quickly, and yet another group tries to slow us down.

As always, I can feel my [Tether] far in front of us, meaning the black mana orb is most likely still hampering the leader of the Colony and severely damaging him or messing with his mana control.

Hopefully, it won't kill him in the end. I have a lot to pay back. I dont care that I mostly got my ass kicked last time. This time I wont rely on others. I wont rely on Lilys healing or Sophie to slow him down, I will fuck him up on my own. Sure, Myrra will probably want to get in a few hits, but I can live with that.

I have been too reliant on others for too long, and its stunted my growth. Instead of trusting in myself, I relied on external help. I will be careful not to do so from now on.

He is moving again, I tell Myrra.

We speed up, breaking into a sprint, killing any ants in the way as quickly as possible and, reducing the distance in the process. It takes another few hours for us to even get close, and thats when the first large group attacks us, hundreds of ants fill the tunnel, and its impossible to see through the sheer number of bodies.

They block my yellow flames, and a constant barrage of ranged attacks forces us to create barriers to block it. Any attempt to create an anchor in the middle of them and drop a bomb is quickly disrupted.

I quickly create two javelins. I infuse one with disruptive mana and the other with thermal energy. Both of them shoot off quickly one after the other, the former disrupts their barriers and the latter explodes in the middle of their group.

[You have defeated Warrior ant - lvl 168]

[You have defeated Disruptor ant - lvl 159]

[You have defeated Gravity ant - lvl 165]

[You have defeated Spellslinger ant - lvl 195]

[Lvl 205 > Lvl 206]

More attacks follow, and Myrras flames envelop the tunnel, maintaining constant pressure. There aren't many Flame Legion ants, so I also add my flames to the mix, and we slowly burn through them all.

A burst of kinetic energy pushes their smoking bodies aside, and we continue our run and finally reach a room bigger than any weve seen in a long time.

The room is cylindrical in shape, and the ceiling seems to stretch on forever. I can't even see where it ends, and it's wider than two football fields, its impossible to imagine normal humans doing something like this.

But I dont stare at it in awe, nor do I waste time checking the details. My eyes settle on the ant. The one with the matte black carapace floats near the middle of the room, surrounded by thousands of ants, with even more on the walls. The sheer amount of ants is hard to even count, yet I do not feel worried.

Their leader, the First One, just stands there; he does not attack, and he does not use the mana of the Colony. No, there is a black mana dagger impaling his body, it seems to have reacted with [Tether] and made it impossible to remove from its body. The black dagger constantly pulls on the skills mana and, in a twisted way, keeps [Tether] running.

We fight for what feels like hours, and I slip into a rhythm as if hypnotized and keep taking mana from my reservoir.

It doesn't feel dangerous, and the weakened Colony without their leader or heavy hitters is somewhat more of a chore to deal with. Yet, I feel no pity and no hesitation. I kill every single ant I can see or sense. Each one of them could have been one of the ones sending mana to the First One during that day, indirectly helping him to

A combined attack from dozens of ants crashes against my chest armor and sends me flying through the room, crashing against the wall. Right after, more attacks bombard me as I lay there. They keep crashing against the [Regalia] infused with [Resonance], barely doing any damage other than wasting my mana.

I push my thoughts to the back of my mind, and putting my hands on my knees, I push myself back to my feet, using [Infusion] to send thermal energy through my armor, making it seem like embers are glowing under the surface.

More attacks hit me, and I boost my body right into them, burning them alive.

When every single ant is dead, we move towards the middle of the room, pushing all mangled, burned, frozen, cut bodies of ants to the side to see the floor. Surrounded by all those corpses, plenty of them as big as a bus, we stare at the damaged array.

"You can fix it, right?" Myrra asks me.

"Yes, but it will take a moment; there are traps left behind, and some parts are really damaged."

Afterward, I immediately get to work, "Can you bring my bags from the tunnels? I have some stuff I might need in them."

Myrra nods, "Can do."

As I get to it, I notice that the array is more damaged than the one in the old mines, and I even have to redirect some of the inscriptions, like using plaster to fix them instead of replacing them.

Once in a while, I activate Mana Wavelength Iris to work on them, and even though its extremely taxing, it helps a lot to speed up the process.

"Did you know that when you use that skill, a golden ring appears around your pupil? It's not too thick, and I can still see the color of your eyes, but around the black of your pupil, that golden circle appears," Myrra says out of nowhere.

I pause for a moment, "I see," I nod and continue.

I hadn't realized until now. Ive met multiple people with similar effects all of whom have mana circuits in their eyes. Ruby and Obelia, for example, and even Min-Jae's new eye had some under the surface.

As I work, my mana continues to replenish over the hours I spend on the array, and I still have some left in my reservoir.

When I'm done, we sit there for a bit. Myrra takes out some food and water, and in the same fashion weve grown so accustomed to over the past few days, we share food while exchanging a few words. We do not talk much, trying to keep our minds sharp for what is to come.

When we finally feel ready, I activate the array, and Myrra steps in, both of us pulled along and transported.

Appearing on the other side a strong wind hits us, strong enough to push even our strengthened bodies, and I absorb some force from it with [Redistribution].

A chilling cold immediately penetrates my body, but Myrra starts releasing heat around us, and I absorb more wind until we create a warm, quiet bubble around us.

Looking around, I realize that we are on top of an extremely tall mountain battered by blizzards. The falling snow barely allows us any degree of sight, and after probing the area with my senses, I detect only more mountains and another array.

Gesturing to Myrra, I start walking, releasing a bit of absorbed kinetic energy to blow off the snow until we reach a cave, which we enter.

Unlike the surrounding area, there is no snow in the cave, and lights glow on the wall, likely the work of the First One as he passed by to activate another array, keeping the last bits of mana he received as he left. This array is a bit different and seems to be much older than the ones I've seen before. The design is more robust and less efficient as if it was made by someone who didn't care how much mana it would take to activate. Someone with a high enough mana pool to ignore that.

The array is not damaged at all, the First One was probably incapable of doing so.

As I send my senses to it, I start examining it and where it leads with the help of my new trait. I follow the trail of mana, and when I see where it points and get an estimate of the distance it transports over, I almost feel like laughing.

The one-directional array in front of me leads to a place somewhere high above us. To a place in the orbit of the planet.