Chapter 400: Salt to injury?


    ‘There are 3 tunnels ahead, this is the best time for us to split up after we deal with these ants.’ Bradly thought as the vibrations produced from the footsteps of the ants created an image of the area ahead.


    Bradly and his teammates were sick and tired of ke’s team taking everything and leaving them with scraps, especially since it was their mission.


    The problem was that the formation and sharing system were all proposed by himself and they had agreed on it. So going back on his word could invite a lot of punishments from the adventurer association.


    ‘The only problem is that with so many exit points, there is no way the entire colony wouldn’t be alerted, but this is way better than letting them take everything.’ Bradly thought as he gave his team hidden signals that there was danger ahead as they continue walking forward.


    ‘He knows about the danger ahead, but he didn’t care to inform us because he wants all the spoils to himself.’ Brian said.


    ‘We have gotten a lot of kills and will still get more, so you should let them do the work of scouts while we assess the environment.’ ke said.


    The presence of 3 tunnels gave rise to a lot of dangerous possibilities like one leading to the queen’s chamber. So since he had no clue where they led, ke decided to y it safe.


    .....


    When both groups had reached the 4-way intersection, they saw worker ants moving through and fro the 3 tunnels, but that was when all of them simultaneously turned in their direction.


    Bradly quickly conjured arge fireball that illuminated the entire intersection, before he and 2 other members of his team drew their weapons and dashed at the ant workers.


    The remaining 2 members of the de’s edge that stayed behind were mages, and their job was not only to support the team with ranged spells but to keep an eye on ke’s team and try to kill steal.


    On the other hand, ke’s team didn’t bother about the kills, instead, they had their eyes on the tunnels.


    ‘Some of the worker ants are running into these 2 tunnels.’ ke pointed at the tunnels at the center and the right. ‘While more ants areing out of the left tunnel.’


    They watched as most of the worker ants sacrificed themselves to enable some of their brothers to escape and alert the queen.


    [The number of ants charging through the left tunnel doesn’t seem to be reducing, I don’t think you would want to give up so many kills.] The system informed them.


    ‘With what you said, my guess is that the tunnel to the left is their resting area.’ ke said.


    ‘Ants rest?’ Brian was stunned by the information.


    ‘Yes, an average worker ant sleeps 250 each day, with each onesting just over a minute. That adds up to 4 hours and 48 minutes of sleep per day.’ ke replied.


    ‘Wow, I always thought that their life span was short because they never rested.’ Brian said.


    ‘Not that I am not intrigued by the ant fact, but at this rate, their kills would surpass ours.’ Castiel drew their attention back to the battlefield.


    The de’s edge adventurer party avoided using explosive spells to prevent the tunnels from copsing, but even at that they weren’t getting overrun by the army of ants continuouslying out of the left tunnel.


    This was all thanks to Bradly who was disying the power of the offensive and defensive hero realm spells of the fire and earth element.


    ‘You guys should stay here, I will deal with it.’ ke said as he activated the lightning reinforcement and dashed towards the left tunnel.


    With Ebony in his left and Ivory in his right, ke cut through tens of ants like their brown exoskeleton was made of butter as he continued moving deeper into the tunnel.


    ‘Should we kill steal?’ Brian asked Castiel as they stood at the back.


    With ke going deeper into the left tunnel, they were left with nothing to do. So Brian was wondering if they should add salt to the 5 man party’s injury.


    ‘Nah, it’s best we conserve mana in the case of unforeseen events.’ Castiel said.


    After a few minutes, Bradly and his party had killed every single ant in the intersection, but that was when ke walked out of the left tunnel.


    “I figured out that the tunnel led to their resting area, so I took care of the problem at its source.” ke said in an oblivious tone causing Bradly to fume with rage as sheer willpower was the only thing stopping him from attacking ke.


    He had never turned off seismic perception, so he had sensed ke killing more than double the number of ants that were at the intersection.


    “Are you okay?” ke asked with a concerned look on his face when he saw Bradly’s face turning red because of his rage.


    “Yes, I am fine.” Bradly replied with gritted teeth as the thought of soon splitting up slowly calmed him down.


    “If you say so then.” ke shrugged as he returned to Brian and Castiel.


    “The entire colony would have been alerted by now. So I propose to split up to cover more and divide their attention.” Bradly said.


    ‘Not a bad n.’ ke thought.


    If they were to stick together, not only would they be surrounded from all sides, but the walls of the tunnel would greatly inhibit their fighting capabilities, thus increasing their chances of getting overrun by the army ants.


    “I have no problem with that. So which tunnel would you choose? ” ke asked.


    “This one.” Bradly pointed at the center tunnel.


    Both tunnels were identical and led deeper underground, but during the fight, most of the ants that escaped went through the center tunnel. So Bradly guessed that the queen’s chamber was in that direction.


    “Alright then, see you allter.” ke said as he and his team went through the tunnel to the right.


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    Check out 3_Sins_Studios works: Deviants and Reborn in a Magical World: From Cultivator to Mage.


    The ount is a group work from me and two other authors. I hope you like it.