"So I guess we'll head back into the woods after we finish eating?" Alexx asked, chewing on a piece of dried goat meat. The three walked along casually munching on dried meat and berries.

"Actually, I think we should stick to the grasslands while we head north," said Loran. "We won't have to deal with the trees or the ants as much and can scope out a larger area."

"Sounds boring," Zed grunted.

"Maybe, but I think I've had enough excitement to last a while after this last week. Remind me, how many Iron Ants have we killed so far? I stopped counting after twenty."

"I think it was twenty-seven as of yesterday," Zed answered, "and yeah, I see your point."

"They are getting more common, but at least they're getting easier to deal with," Alexx sputtered through a mouthful of food.

"Speak for yourselves," Loran scoffed, "they're still a pain for me. Although, they're definitely great for grinding." Loran used [ANALYSED] his teammates and opened his menu to get a comparison of their progress.

[NAME]: Loran

[SPECIES]: Human

[LEVEL]: 23

[EXP]: 3540/4500

[STATUS]

{HP}: 150/150

{SP}: 400/400

[ARMOR]: 19

[END]: 30

[STR]: 20

[AGI]: 34

[DEX]: 24(-2.4)

[PER]: 30

[REMAINING ABILITY POINTS]: 3

[SKILLS]

[ANALYSE] Lv.10(Master)

[CRITICAL STRIKE] Lv.10

[DANGER SENSE] Lv.10(Master)

[HUNTER] Lv.10

[PICK FIGHTER] Lv.10

[PULL] Lv. 10(Master)

[SP BOOSTER] Lv.10

[SPRINT] Lv.10

[STALWART] Lv.10

[NAME]: Zed

[SPECIES]: Human

[LEVEL]: 25

[EXP]: 550/4800

[STATUS]

{HP}: 150/150

{SP}: 400/400

[ARMOR]: 14

[END]: 30

[STR]: 40

[AGI]: 32(+16)

[DEX]: 24

[PER]: 24

[REMAINING ABILITY POINTS]: 3

[SKILLS]

[AGILE] Lv.10

[ANALYSE] Lv.10

[CRITICAL STRIKE] Lv.10

[DANGER SENSE] Lv.10

[FAR SIGHT] Lv.10

[HUNTER] Lv.10

[LEAP] Lv.10

[POWER ATTACK] Lv.10

[SP BOOSTER] Lv.10

[SPEAR FIGHTER] Lv.10

[SPRINT] Lv.10

[STALWART] Lv.10

[TAUNT] Lv.10

[NAME]: Alexx

[SPECIES]: Human

[LEVEL]: 29

[EXP]: 1775/6000

[STATUS]

{HP}: 150/150

{SP}: 450/450

[ARMOR]: 14

[END]: 30

[STR]: 86(+43)

[AGI]: 28

[DEX]: 10

[PER]: 20

[REMAINING ABILITY POINTS]: 3

[SKILLS]

[DANGER SENSE] Lv.10

[LEAP] Lv.10

[MIGHTY] Lv. 10

[POWER ATTACK] Lv.10

[SP BOOSTER] Lv.10

[SPRINT] Lv.10

[UNARMED FIGHTER] Lv.10

At about 3,000 EXP per kill, hunting Iron Ant Drones had proven to be very rewarding. They had easily outstripped everyone in the camp in terms of levels, and probably everyone in the entire village.

Loran gained the least out of them due to New Eden Online's EXP distribution being dependent on damage. Fortunately, with how many they fought, a handful of kills and a few good strikes from his Bone Pick was enough to let him gain three levels over the last week, which was still very fast compared to how hunting around the village usually went. He ended up putting most of his new points into STR, both to help with damaging the ants as well as evening out his stat distribution, but he also threw some points into AGI to help with evasion and exploration.

Zed's advancement was relatively normal, as his weapon and stats were far more suited for fighting the ants, going up five levels since the start of the week. He ended up distributing the rather hefty 25 Ability Points somewhat evenly, focusing a bit on his STR in an attempt to learn Alexx's [LEAP] Skill which apparently had a requirement of 40 STR.

[LEAP] also turned out to be a higher tier of Skill than anything they had seen so far, as when the two went to level it up it cost 500 EXP per level instead of 100. It was a rather intimidating jump in costs, but considering just how much EXP they were gaining it was rather inconsequential; although it did make them wonder just how costly Skills would become later on.

Alexx easily benefited the most out of them, having gained a shocking eleven levels in the last week. Alexx's high STR was simply too effective against the Iron Ants, whether it was shattering their defenses or crushing them into the ground with the force of his footsteps. His advantage only grew as he decided to put a few points into AGI, this was mainly to help with exploration but it also greatly reduced his speed disadvantage. Then it almost became silly as he dumped 30 Ability Points into STR, his Skill boosted total now being 129!

He had become strong enough to rip the head of an Iron Ant off easily, and a single well placed [POWER ATTACK] was usually enough to kill as well. Since he also needed to raise his END to prevent his own strength from hurting him, he now has enough SP to use Skills far more frequently, greatly increasing his damage output and overall combat effectiveness.

Loran had said that their reason for locating the Iron Ant nest was to ensure they could avoid it, but after seeing Alexx's growth the three had all come to a silent agreement that they should probably just let Alexx rampage through the area. He would probably end up at level 100 by the end of the month.

"It kind of sucks how overpowered strength builds are right now," Loran said, shaking his head as he closed his menu. "I almost feel bad for anyone who focused on archery."

"Oh how the tables have turned," Alexx said, remembering when melee players could do nothing but chop wood all day. "At least they can still hunt normal monsters."

"Hey, maybe that will solve the food problem," Zed said suddenly.

"What, you mean hunting ants?"

"Yeah, if these things are part of a large enough colony then they can probably reproduce faster than we can kill or eat. So the STR builds can hunt them while the ranged and DEX-focused players get to hunt the other animals. Depopulation problem solved!"

Loran's face scrunched up. "I feel like it would be a bit more complicated than that, but it would definitely help." He swallowed his last bit of food. "I'm done. You guys ready to go?"

"Yup," Zed said, having finished first.

Alexx grunted as he shoved the rest of his food into his mouth, giving Loran a thumbs up.

"Alright, let's pick up the pace."

~~~~~

The three ran through the grasslands, covering miles in just a few hours. As they moved further north very little changed in the scenery. Grassy hills still stretched in every direction, dotted with grazing Mountain Goats, while the woods did the same off to their left.

Then, after reaching the top of a hill, the scene changed.

To the west the woods came to an abrupt end, giving way not to more grasslands but to a sea of tree stumps. In the distance, Loran could see the faint shimmer of sunlight on the river, and between them were hundreds, no, thousands of stumps where Birch and Maple trees once flourished. The grass and flowers around the stumps, though still present, were not as tall or vibrant as it was in the deeper woodlands. More alarmingly, the grass did not grow everywhere.

Within the grass of the destroyed woods were long intersecting lines where nothing grew. It was difficult to see what was at the bottom of these barren stretches due to how far away they were, but the shifting foliage around them showed that something, many things, were moving up and down these paths. And as Loran strained his eyes he finally saw it, the glint of sunlight off a black carapace.

"Did the ants do all of this?" Alexx asked, his voice sounding distant as he took in the sight before him.

"I mean, it's not that unusual," Loran said, a determined expression on his face. "There are plenty of ant species in reality that eat things like leaves. Taking the size and jaw strength of the Iron Ants into account, being able to eat trees seems pretty normal."

"Do you think that'll be a problem?" Alexx asked. "They could probably devour every tree in the woods."

"We don't know how long they've been here though," Zed said. "It's not like they're focused on dragging trees away, it could have taken them years or decades to do this much damage."

"Either way, it's not like there's much that we can do about it," Loran said. "For now the village is too weak to do anything besides annoy them. Hopefully we have enough time to get more people leveled up to the point where we can threaten them if we need to."

"Alright, so what's the plan now?" Zed asked. "I'm not seeing as many goat herds to the north so I think we're getting to the end of their territory."

"Makes sense, if the ant's nest is to the north then even the goats would struggle to keep pushing forward."

"Yeah, but I think we can keep going," said Loran.

"Won't we get caught by the drones?"

"Maybe not. Look over there."

Loran pointed to a section of the woods that was closer to them, where a pair of Iron Ants were standing in clear view. The giant insects paid the hunters no mind as they interacted before separating.

"Did they not see us?" Alexx asked, confused. "Don't they have higher PER than us?"

"Only with their sense of smell. Ants primarily use pheromones to navigate," Loran explained, "in the woods, they could smell farther than we could see because of the trees, but out here..."

"We can see farther than they can smell," Zed finished.

"Exactly. We'll still need to be careful, but we should be able to keep going."

"Not that I'm saying we shouldn't but is there really a need to go any further?" Alexx asked. "Like, we found their territory, we really don't need to find the nest itself do we?"

"...Yeah, it's probably best if we fall back now."

"Seriously!?" Zed whined.

"Yes, are you blind?" Loran turned to face Zed. "There are probably hundreds of ants in that field. I am interested in finding the nest since that would basically mean finding an iron mine, but we have no reason to go deeper right now." Zed wasn't looking at Loran, absently staring over his shoulder. "If we want to press deeper then we'll need a larger, higher-level team to do it. Unless you think you can fight hundreds of Iron Ants by yourself?" Loran said mockingly.

"...I think we're about to find out..." he said, still not looking at Loran.

"What are you..." Loran turned around in confusion. Then he took a quick breath as all the blood drained from his face.

The ants may not have been able to sense them at first, but that wasn't the case now. The tall grass shifted as dozens of iron ants made their way toward the three hunters.