《Level to Live》Chapter 17. The Mouth
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Ants crashed down on me from all sides in waves of mandibles and shiny exoskeleton. It was all I could do to not be smothered by their sheer weight.
I ducked and rolled, scrambling desperately in between the endless attacks, desperately searching for a gap that would allow me to escape.
When I finally saw the light and forged my way out, I had to wade through the corpses of countless ants that barred my way, the bodies of the ants I killed had become a barrier between me and freedom.
Right as I was about to make it out, a sudden notification from the system caught my attention.
[100 Giant Ants killed - achievement unlocked]
"This thing even has achievements?" I asked stunned, at this point couldn't someone sue?
In a flurry of motion, I speared through a gap in the seething mass of Ants and smashed my way through to the outside.
Even though I had already left, the Ants continued to seethe and roil like boiling water, scouring the ruined grassland. Wherever they went, not a single blade of grass survived.
I stared in horror at the alien display, 'What are they searching for?' I wondered.
A gust of wind picked up, blowing from behind me towards the Ants. The seething mass of Ants froze and slowly, as if they were all one creature, they turned their disgusting bug heads to face me.
The clashing sound of mandibles biting against each other was deafening.
Before they could surround me, I bolted. Sprinting into the long grass in a desperate attempt to lose my countless pursuers.
Wherever I ran, the grass behind me was quickly flattened and the wild prehistoric field turned into a wasteland, as the Ants destroyed everything that stood in their path.
I tried not to think about what would happen to me if I was caught and focused on running. My feet pounded on the ground and my heart pounded in unison, pumping boiling blood throughout my adrenaline riddled body.
My first thought was to climb the tree I had previously climbed to find the Ant nests.
When I reached the great tree's base, I didn't even slow down, simply activating (Light as a Feather) and sprinting up the rough bark to safety.
In seconds, I was standing back on the long tree limb I had stood on previously. Below me, an ocean of ants seethed on the grass.
Everything within 100 meters of the tree was levelled to dirt, wherever the Ants passed by, they left nothing but a barren wasteland.
Despite my apparent safety at the top of the tree, I felt anything but safe. I could see that the second they realised where I was... it would be game over.
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Sure enough, not long after everything nearby was levelled, the Ants finally figured out where I was. The great tree that would take at least 20 grown men holding hands to wrap around its enormous trunk, began to emit a horrific creaking noise that made my blood run cold.
The only sounds that reached me up at the top of the tree were the frightened cries of the enormous cows a few fields away as they fled and the crunching of mandibles against the wood.
Slowly but surely, the world began to tilt around me. The tree groaned and slowly started to fall. As it fell, it picked up speed and rushed toward the ground.
They do say that a captain goes down with his ship, and there might be a case to say that the tree was my ship. I did bring it into this fight after all.
But, I don't subscribe to this set of beliefs.
So, while the tree creaked and groaned, hideously tilting down towards the ground in a stomach-churning fashion, I sprinted further up the great trunk. Desperate to make it so that the tree was the only thing going down.
It quickly became a race against time, would I make it to the top of the tree before It hit the ground?
My feet pounded out a rapid rhythm on the bark of the tree as I sprinted up its sharply tilting edge. Now, it really felt like I was on a sinking ship, running up the tilting deck. The ants crashed against the bottom of the tree like waves, waiting to swallow me if I put a single foot wrong.
The tree creaked a final time before slamming into the ground, raising a cloud of dust and crushing hundreds of ants beneath it.
I made it to the edge of the Tree and jumped, using (Light as a Feather) to glide over the top of the grass towards the direction the Cows had fled to earlier.
They were my next distraction.
Or they were supposed to be... But, as I ran after the massive beasts, hoping to use them as bait, I could only watch in dismay as they faded into the distance. Their giant silhouettes became smaller and smaller as they disappeared over the horizon.
"They have to be running at 200 Miles per hour at least. How is that even possible?" I swore to myself.
Clearly, committing to the cows was a mistake. By now, any other animals I might have been able to use as a distraction had long since evacuated the area.
Once again, A gust of wind picked up and the Ants, like sharks that smelled blood in the water, ripped across the grassland towards me.
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The main problem was, that I am stronger than an individual Ant, especially when you take into consideration my newly improved stats after hitting Level 25. It would be all too easy for me to kill a single or even many Ants.
Thousands of Ants was a different story. I believe that there is almost nothing that could win a fight against thousands of these Ants.
I desperately searched for a way to throw off the Ants. By now, I had figured out that I needed to get downwind because they seemed to be spotting me through smell.
Going further Inland wasn't an option because I didn't want to bring my pursuers anywhere near where my injured comrades were.
The only other option I could see was the glittering ocean. In this day and age, the ocean is like a rose with thorns made of tactical missiles. It looks pretty... but if you touch it, you'll die.
With a heavy heart, I started running like hell towards the ocean. The only thought on my mind was the desperate need to get away from the Ants.
As I grew closer to the sea, I was depressed to smell salt and seaweed long before I reached it. This was depressing because it meant I was still upwind and would be dragging all of the Ants towards me.
The closer I got to the Ocean, the stronger the salty smell became, as well as another distinct smell. Iron... or was it blood?
If there is one smell I will never forget, it is blood.
Pushing down the uncomfortable feeling I was getting as I grew nearer the Ocean, I ran on. Thanks to my increased stats, I could run at almost 100 miles per hour.
It only took me a few minutes of running before I had made it to the foot of a massive cliff. Beneath the cliff, turbid waters roiled and bubbled as waves crashed against the white rock. Across the channel of water, another massive cliff rose up, stubbornly resisting the erosion of the violent waves.
Together, They almost looked like two sides of a shattered bridge that had once spanned a great river.
Without pausing to think about it, A plan sprung up in my mind. I ran to the top of the cliff.
With my back to the ocean and my face to the land, I waited nervously for the sea breeze to carry my scent to the Ants.
At the bottom of the cliff, deep blue water that was too murky to see into hammered at the cliffside impatiently. Beneath the water's surface, hungry mouths waited anxiously to be fed.
I didn't have to wait long before the Ants found me. When they finally drew near, I heard them long before I saw them. The clashing sound of mandibles and clicking of exoskeletons against each other rang out like an alarm bell.
Gritting my teeth, I took off the clothes I had been wearing up until this point. For the most part, they were spotless.
I had always been taught that if I was going to kill something, I better do it cleanly. However, the clothes I was wearing were anything but clean.
Despite appearing spotless, the clothes were drenched in an invisible stench that attracted the Ants like a Beacon. I wasn't sure what that smell was exactly, all I knew was that I had to get it off me.
Rolling up the clothes into a ball, I waited until the Ants were within sight before bursting into action.
Once again, I activated (Light as a Feather) However, this time I activated (After Burner) as well. My muscles bulged and veins stood out on my forehead.
I took a step back and right as the gnashing mandibles of the first Ant were about to reach me, I ran up to the edge of the cliff and Jumped.
Throwing the clothes into the ocean beneath me, I soared across the great chasm as the water bubbled angrily beneath me.
As I jumped off the cliff, the ants followed suit. The ones at the front weren't given a chance to stop as the ants in the back piled forwards pushing them off the edge.
In a domino effect, hundreds of Ants tumbled off the edge of the cliff, helplessly falling to their doom. Their numbers were so great that it looked like muddy water was being poured off the edge of the cliff.
The second the first Ant hit the water's surface, thousands of bubbles appeared and the water began seething with countless scaly bodies.
At the apex of my jump, I stared at all of this in horror. I knew the ocean would be dangerous, but the sight of the Ants falling to their deaths reaffirmed in my mind that trying to go swimming anytime soon would be suicide.
Suddenly, the ocean's surface bulged and a monstrous mouth lurched out. The mouth was full to bursting with serrated teeth that could shred my body with a single bite. Following the mouth was a long slimy black body, like that of a great serpent.
My breath caught in my throat as the mouth drew near. All that mattered now, was whether or not I would make it to the other cliff before the mouth made it to me.
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The Crown of Sorrow
The air itself burned. All was ash and dust. The remains of his home, his friends, his loved ones, his comrades, his enemies, mixed and intermingled. One spec of ash indistinguishable from the next. He had fallen to his knees, among the aftermath of the ruin of his own making. He no longer knew how long it had been since he'd fallen, how long he remained beyond everything else he ever knew. The ashes of his life coated his body, making him appear as a gray uneven statue, a monument to his own sorrow. Ages pass, Life returns to the barren world,but how will the sins of the past affect its future? Saora of Valskaar begins another routine patrol of Valkaars borders. Accompanying rising a star of the Long-Riders, Captain Luke, as his Shield Maiden, unaware of the spiraling events that will change her life, and possibly end it. (This is my first novel, though the idea for it has been in the back of my mind for years, This is my attempt to put it to paper. Looking forward to any constructive criticism, however, i already have in mind, the entire plot and tone of the story, any revisions based on feedback will likely only be considered upon completion. As of now starting out, i haven't really settled on a timeline for regular updates But I aiming for at least two chapters a week at about 2000 words each. I will promise at least one chapter of that size at least once a week, until completion. I'm rather determined to put this story on paper ( or web page i guess).
8 144My Precious Flower
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