“...Running, we need to be running. Now!” Loran shouted once the shock wore off.

Loran turned and ran, knowing that fighting here was a death sentence.

Though apparently, he was the only one to realize that.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?!”

Alexx and Zed did not run, instead taking up combat stances as they stared at the approaching wave of enemies.

“You need to get that map back to the village,” Alexx said, “We’ll hold them off.

“Besides, the two of us can handle this,” Zed said, grinning like a madman. “We’ll be back in time for dinner.”

“You two…” Loran walked up behind them, grabbing their arms, “Need to shut up and run!” He began pulling the two away from the horde of Iron Ants.

“Dude-”

“Hold on-

“Shut up and try to pay attention! We’re faster than them, remember?!”

“What? Since whe- oh, right.” Alexx said as he remembered the massive influx of EXP he has had over the last week. “I forgot about that.” Loran let go of their arms and they continued running with him.

“Yeah, you were the only one slowing us down,” Zed chuckled. “So I guess we can just head back to camp?”

“No, we still need to get rid of the ants,” Loran said tensely. “We know that these things navigate by scent now and they’ve locked onto us. They might decide to stop chasing us at some point but they could easily follow us back to the camp, we can’t take that risk.”

“So we do still need to fight them.” Zed’s grin turned to confusion. “Hold on, so why are we running?”

“Do tactics just not exist in your head?” Loran asked, rolling his eyes. “A small horde is being sent after us just for getting this close. If you stay and post up here it’s a perfect place for them to keep sending reinforcements!”

The two felt their faces pale at the thought.

Loran pointed ahead. “There’s a herd of goats right over there. If they really are hostile to the ants then we can use them as backup to fight.”

“Alright, so the three of us and a handful of goats against a fuck ton of Iron Ants. I definitely like those odds more than before.”

“Still seems a little too risky though.”

“Oh, please,” Loran said, annoyed. “You’re the one best suited to this fight, I don’t want to hear you getting pessimistic.”

The three continued running and the ants behind them continued chasing. Now out of the tall grass, Loran could get a clearer look at how many were chasing them and estimated that it was almost a hundred.

As they approached the herd of Mountain Goats, five total, Loran realized nervously that their approach may cause the goats to run or attack, and his fears almost seemed correct as the goats turned to the approaching players and began stomping their hooves.

Then one of the goats raised its head and saw the swarm of Iron Ants. Loran watched as the beast’s eyes narrowed, letting out an angry bleat before it and the other goats charged forward, going around the three hunters to attack the mob of insects.

“Wow,” Zed said as they stopped to watch, “Those things really must hate each other.”

“I really need to check out their description myself,” Loran said, curious. “There must be some kind of backstory to this.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Alexx said, giving Loran and Zed a, slightly too hard, pat on the back. “Let’s get in there, and back up the goats!”

“Fighting an army of giant ants by supporting giant goats…” Loran muttered. “How has this become my life?”

As the three ran to catch up, the Iron Ants and Mountain Goats began the battle. Loran quickly realized that the goats were going to need their support if they were to survive.

The goats’ [SKULL BASH] Skill, which was causing ceaseless tremors as multiple goats used it over and over, was able to crush any ant caught in it but left their legs and bodies somewhat exposed. One of the larger, and presumably older goats, was not using the Skill and instead opted to leap around, stomping on the ants with its hooves, but the rest were not so experienced.

Several ants had already managed to latch onto the legs of the mighty beasts, clamping down with their powerful jaws and were unable to be thrown off. Even the older goat was not immune to this as a few ants jumped through the air and onto its fur.

The ants would clearly suffer many casualties, but at this rate the goats would be wiped out.

“Don’t worry about attacking the ants directly, just stay alive and keep them off the goats!” Loran shouted as they got closer.”

“But all that EXP!” Zed bemoaned.

“Shut up and do it!”

The three finally entered the battle, and each was forced to immediately activate their [SPRINT] Skill to keep up. The ants’ numbers were starting to thin thanks to the goats, but that still left dozens of ants covering the battlefield. Add to that the fact that the ants seemed to have no problem crawling over each other, and the three hunters were struggling to find places to stand, let alone contribute to the fight.

Fortunately, being so grouped up made the ants easy targets for the Mountain Goats that were using [SKULL BASH], letting them take out many enemies every passing second.

Unoccupied spaces were difficult to find, but Loran saw a clear space next to one of the goats and leapt for it. He barely had time to catch his breath, making sure to use his Bone Pick to pull an Iron Ant off of the goat’s leg before leaping to another area. Several ants covered the space he had been standing in just a second after he left, and a second later the hoof of the Mountain Goat came crashing down, killing one of the ants while injuring several more.

Zed was struggling to find clear spaces like Loran and instead opted for a much more dangerous strategy of leaping off the heads and backs of the ants themselves. His high AGI and DEX, along with his innate skill let him move dexterously through the chaotic battlefield despite the unstable and hostile footing. It still wasn’t easy, as demonstrated by the lack of his usual grin, replaced by an expression of intense concentration. His spear swung around madly, knocking clumps of Iron Ants left and right as they tried to approach the goats.

Alexx wasn’t able to leap from opening to opening, nor was he able to balance on the backs of the ants themselves, but he was clearly having the easiest time amongst them. With his 129 STR, his every step was nearly as powerful as those of the Mountain Goats. He practically ignored the ants as he ran through the battlefield, pulling ants off the goats as he passed and stomping ants into the dirt.

The Mountain Goats didn’t acknowledge the presence of the players, too distracted by the attacks of the Iron Ants and their own flailing heads. The oldest goat seemed to notice their actions, and after a short time would avoid stomping in their direction whenever they got close to it.

With the crushing power of the goats and the protection of the players, the ants were being slowly but steadily demolished. However, this did not mean the battle was easy, or that it would end any time soon.

~~~~~

Loran leapt into the air, once again evading a few attacking ants by a matter of inches. Although the declining number of ants gave him more room to maneuver, his legs had already grown tired from constantly needing to jump at the beginning of the fight. Additionally, he was running painfully low on SP, and could only afford to use [SPRINT] in very short bursts.

Feeling his control over his legs beginning to slip from exhaustion, Loran decided to take a risk and with what strength he had left, jumped for the back of the oldest Mountain Goat. The beast’s back was too high for him to reach in a single bound, but he was able to hold onto its fur after letting go of his weapon, letting it fall to the chaos below.

‘Please don’t be mad.’

Loran turned to face the head of the old goat, worried about how it would react. Fortunately, while the beast did turn its head toward Loran it did nothing to shake him off, aside from the movements it was already making to crush the ants below.

Deciding that his actions were being permitted, Loran pulled himself to a sitting position on top of the Mountain Goat. He would still need to concentrate to not fall off, but it was far more manageable compared to avoiding the Iron Ants.

Taking a moment to breathe, Loran surveyed the battlefield.

Zed was grinning as he knocked aside a group of ants. Balancing on their backs was more difficult, but technically less physically exhausting. Now that there was more room for him to maneuver he seemed to be enjoying the fight like he usually would.

Alexx was still running around to avoid the jaws of the Iron Ants, but now it was more of a casual jog as he trampled the giant insects over and over again. As he ran by a goat he pulled an ant off of it, tearing its head off before running in the direction of another goat. Loran scowled as he realized his friend was going to receive yet another massive boost in EXP.

‘Maybe I should try to take out a few of the injured ones?’ he wondered. ‘Just a little more EXP would- no, don’t get greedy. Greed is deadly,’ he thought, remembering all the times he had tried to land that final hit on a boss without waiting for an opening.

‘I can worry about grinding later, for now I need to focus.’

With his breathing finally steadied, Loran pulled his second Bone Pick out of its holster. It was technically the one for his bad hand, and the grip didn’t feel right, but it would work until he could retrieve the other one.

‘Well, assuming it’s still in one piece,’ he thought glumly.

Taking a deep breath, Loran fell back into the fighting below. Tearing a few Iron Ants away from the elder goat before dashing through the ants’ attacks.