Ch 1.3

Meanwhile, down below, Ben’s party was barely hanging on.

The number of ants had surged, more and more flooding into the hive from the outer tunnels. The trio was low on mana, reduced to swinging weapons and casting minor spells just to stay alive.

Things were looking grim.

Suddenly, a voice echoed from above.

“Take cover! Quick!” Ben’s voice rang out from atop the pillar.

All three glanced up, just in time to see a cluster of spiky fruits launched high into the air, arcing directly toward them.

At first, confusion flickered across their faces. What was that? Another enemy? A trap?

But the elf’s eyes widened in realization. Her years of magical study kicked in immediately.

“Spineblossom!”

She gasped, “GET DOWN!”

She slammed her staff into the ground. “Flame Curtain!”

In an instant, a blazing wall of fire erupted over their heads, forming a dome of swirling flames that shielded the trio.

Moments later, the fruits exploded in the sky above, raining down a storm of razor-sharp seeds. Each spike shot through the air like a dart, skewering everything in its path. Rocks cracked. Ants were impaled mid-charge. The cavern echoed with sharp, piercing impacts.

But as the seeds touched the Flame Curtain, they disintegrated, burned away before reaching the party below.

When the rain finally stopped, the trio emerged from behind the fiery haze, gasping for breath. The leopard beastman blinked at the devastation around them. “What was that strange thing?” he asked.

The bear tank let out a low whistle. “Looked like some kinda bomb.”

The elf narrowed her eyes in thought. “That was prickly blossom fruit. They grow in arid desert regions. When ripe, they explode to scatter their seeds. But… how did he get his hands on those way out here?”

------------x-X-x------------

Meanwhile, Ben let out a quiet sigh of relief from atop the pillar, staring down at the trio.

If those guys die, I won’t get the stamp to clear the license exam, he thought dryly.

But that moment of distraction cost him.

Without warning, two massive pincer jaws clamped down on his abdomen from behind and dragged him off his perch.

The bite was brutal. Pain exploded through his core as blood gushed from the deep gash. The Queen had snuck up on him.

Gritting his teeth, Ben clamped both hands on the pincers, trying to keep them from cutting him clean in half. His arms trembled under the pressure, veins bulging as he forced his muscles to hold.

The Queen ant hoisted him into the air, roaring with rage, and began thrashing him violently, slamming him into the cavern walls, bashing him to the ground, and dragging him like a rag doll.

Ben’s vision blurred. The world spun.

Still, he remained composed.

As she flung him around, several seeds spilled from his coat, scattering across the battlefield. But Ben reached into his inner pocket and clutched a specific one, holding them tightly in his bloodied palm.

With a flicker of mana, a long bamboo stalk sprouted in his hand, shaped like a makeshift spear.

With a grunt of effort, Ben snapped the bamboo over his own arm, splitting it down the center. One end formed a sharp, jagged point.

He plunged it straight into the Queen’s jaws.

The shriek that followed was shrill and furious. The bamboo drove deep between her mandibles, jamming her bite open.

She reeled back in pain and finally flung Ben away, sending him crashing hard into the stone floor.

Blood splattered as he hit the ground, his body bouncing once before he skidded to a halt.

He groaned, gripping his stomach. The wound was ugly, deep, and torn, blood soaking his shirt and pooling beneath him. His face had gone pale, eyes unfocused.

But then… Ben stood.

He gritted his teeth and activated his healing spell. A faint green aura shimmered around his body.

In seconds, the gash began to knit itself closed, flesh sealing, blood slowing, color returning to his cheeks. Within moments, he looked almost untouched, aside from his torn, bloodied clothes and sweat-matted hair.

He exhaled sharply. “Damn, that one stung.”

Meanwhile, the Ant Queen staggered. Her mandibles twitched erratically, the bamboo still jammed deep in her jaws. Blood and ichor seeped from her earlier wounds, her movements sluggish and disoriented.

It was clear she wouldn’t be biting anything again anytime soon.

“Well, time to end this,” Ben muttered, reaching into his pockets for another seed.

But then he froze.

His smile vanished. “What?!”

The pocket was nearly empty. There were a few seeds, but not the one he was looking for.

“No, no, no~ those were exotic!” he growled, dropping to all fours and frantically scanning the floor. Dirt, blood, crushed seed shells, everything but what he needed.

Before he could react, a bony leg slammed into his side.

Ben flew through the air like a rag doll, crashing onto the stone floor with a sickening thud. Before he could recover, the Queen leapt, landing squarely atop him. Her enormous body crushed his legs beneath her weight.

Ben let out a scream.

Pain shot through his nerves like lightning. He tried to push her off, arms straining, veins bulging, but she was too heavy.

The Queen dipped her head, her mandibles twitching uselessly, but her smaller feeding mouth opened. Strings of saliva dripped from her jagged teeth as she inched closer, eager to devour him alive.

Desperately, Ben scanned the area. A few ordinary seeds lay scattered around.

He snapped his fingers.

In an instant, tendril vines burst forth, latching onto the Ant Queen. They wrapped around her limbs, slowing her down, but not stopping her. She pressed forward, inch by inch, jaws parting.

‘This is bad. I’ve played around too long.’

Ben glanced at his hand.

With no other option, he balled his fist.

“Seventy percent output,” he muttered and then slammed his right arm into the ground.

The impact blew apart his arm. Blood exploded in a mist, and a crater formed beneath him. His hand was gone, only a cracked wrist bone jutting out from a stump.

He didn’t scream. He didn’t flinch.

As the Queen’s mouth lunged forward, Ben grabbed her head and drove the exposed bone into her skull.

The jagged wrist bone pierced through the Queen’s shell with a sick crunch. Ben held on tight and stabbed again and again. He used his broken limb like a crude spear, jamming it into her again and again.

The Ant Queen shrieked.

She flailed, slamming into pillars, dragging Ben with her as he clung to her head like a demon. Still, he stabbed, his eyes wild, his face soaked in blood and sweat.

She finally crashed into the thorn wall Ben had created earlier.

Her body went limp.

But Ben didn’t stop.

He kept stabbing, even as the bone bent and cracked, even as pain wracked his entire body. He looked like a madman drenched in blood, eyes burning with a predatory gleam.

Thank the gods his party didn’t see him like this.

To them, he was a healer.

Here, he was something else.

Only when the Queen’s body gave no more resistance did Ben finally stop. He panted heavily, the reality settling in.

She was dead.

Then, across the hive, thousands of ants began to collapse one by one. Their queen slain, the magic binding them faded. Their corpses dropped from the ceiling like heavy rain.

Ben slumped beside the Queen’s corpse, finally feeling the pain.

He gritted his teeth and steadied his breathing.

With his only good hand, his left, he fumbled for a vial of potion. He was almost out of mana. His vision swam.

He drank the potion, letting the bitter liquid course through him. A warm glow ignited in his chest.

Mana returned.

A soft green light shimmered around him. Slowly, his healing began.

Crushed legs realigned. Bones cracked and reformed. Muscle and sinew knitted together, and his shattered arm grew anew. Skin followed, sealing everything shut.

Within a minute, he had fully regenerated, good as new.

Ben stood and flexed his new limbs, admiring the restoration. But a wave of dizziness hit him, and he rubbed his temples.

“I guess I overdid it…”

Then, from deep inside his gut, came a loud rumble.

Ben blinked. “I’m hungry.”

------------x-X-x------------

The trio finally let out a collective breath of relief. The ants were dead.

The elf raised her staff and conjured a small flame barrier above her head to shield herself from the falling carcasses. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, dodging the raining insect limbs.

Meanwhile, the big bear beastman collapsed onto the ground with a groan, too exhausted to care about the ants landing on him.

At the edge of the chamber, the leopard beastman sat silently, polishing his bloodstained spear. His breaths were shallow. His fur was matted with sweat.

Then, a voice echoed from above.

“Hey guys! I killed their queen!”

The trio looked up.

Ben stood on the rocky ledge above, his crimson hair fluttering with the wind, a cocky grin spread across his bruised, bloodied face. His clothes were torn and stained, but he looked completely unbothered, as if he’d just returned from a joyride.

He leapt down effortlessly from rock to rock, landing before them with a spring in his step.

The leopard beastman rose to his feet, his expression darkening. There was no amusement in his eyes.

Ben held up a white card with a flourish. “Alright, I took care of the Queen myself. It wasn’t easy, but hey, I managed it somehow.” He extended the card toward the beastman. “So if you could just stamp this, that’d be great. You can keep the monster parts as payment. Win-win, yeah?”

The leopard beastman slapped the card away.

Then, he grabbed Ben by the collar and yanked him forward.
“You bastard! Why didn’t you stick to the plan? We were nearly killed because of your reckless stupidity!”

Ben shot back a fierce glare, his jaw clenched defiantly.
“Let go of my collar,” he demanded, his voice steady despite the grip that threatened to choke him.

The air between them crackled with tension, as yet another confrontation loomed dangerously close to the surface.