Although the path of destruction left by Bates’ attempted capture of the Mountain Goat was the quickest and most direct route to the grasslands, Yang and the others decided to instead cut through the woods while moving north. The three of them all had enough AGI to reach the safety of the goat’s territory before sundown, and they all agreed that it would be best to let Yang try fighting some Drones in a small group before they risked fighting a small army again.

With Zed leading the way, they were quickly able to find a group of three Drones.

“We’ve got about thirty seconds before they get here, get ready.”

Quickly equipping her armor in the menu, Yang began moving to intercept the ants while Alexx and Zed quickly hid in the trees.

Soon enough the ants arrived, and although they were probably aware of Alexx and Zed they still chose to focus on Yang who was right in front of them.

The moment she saw them Yang went from a slow walk to a full sprint with her War Pick resting on her shoulder. Instead of waiting for them to get into melee range, Yang leapt into the air, raising the hammer of her weapon for a downward smash.

The ants scattered to avoid the telegraphed attack, letting Yang fall between them. As her feet touched the ground they closed in to bite at her, but she had expected that. With the weapon’s momentum pulling it downward, Yang braced her legs and pulled up, causing the head of the hammer to fly sideways directly into the jaws of one of the ants.

*CRUNCH*

The damage was catastrophic as the giant stone hammer impacted the Drone’s face with a sickening noise. As the attack followed through, it flung the insect back and Yang let the momentum take her with it, pulling her legs away just as the other ants were about to sink their teeth into her shins.

As Yang landed so too did the ant, and while Yang couldn’t see them, Alexx and Zed’s faces paled as they got their first clear look at the damage.

One-third of the Drone’s face was caved into the rest of it, bleeding profusely as the insect lay twitching on the ground. The mandible had been forced back through the head, likely destroying whatever brain these ants had.

Alexx and Zed were not completely unfamiliar with this level of damage, Alexx’s own attacks dealt far more damage, but the hammer was a bit more destructive than his fists. The differences between the power of a heavy object and the power of high STR seemed to make the Stone War Pick’s attacks more visceral than they had expected.

Alexx was convinced that the Drone was dead, that it had died on impact with the stone hammer, but Zed could see that the situation was worse.

[BRAIN DEATH]

Remaining Duration: N/A

Target is unable to move, sense, or think.

The ant had also received a [FATAL BLEEDING] debuff, but Zed was in no state to notice that. He was too distracted by the implications of this situation.

After all, this was just a debuff, meaning players could receive it as well.

As realistic as New Eden Online was, its nature as a video game made it difficult to know for sure exactly what could happen or not. The idea of being put into a coma had never occurred to him, and the possibility of it made him nervous, especially the last part of the debuff.

Under normal circumstances, the AetherGear had certain protections that prevented the player’s mental state from being affected by the game, such as having debuffs that say they affect the mind of the player but only manipulate their avatar. New Eden Online was not a normal situation, and no one knew if those protections were still in place.

‘It would actually be worse if they were,’ Zed thought. ‘If it were an actual coma then at least you wouldn't be fully conscious, but if they still function as normal it would mean you’re unable to move or perceive anything but still aware of your own thoughts.’

It would be like turning off one’s senses in the menu, except you aren’t allowed to turn them back on. You would be stuck like that until your avatar died or until they were released some other way.

On top of that, their bodies were more durable than those of normal humans, so while this ant would soon succumb to its injuries that might not always be the case.

“Stop jumping around you little shit!”

Zed shook his head, Yang’s angry shouting snapping him out of his thoughts. The battle had continued while he was distracted, and it didn’t seem to be going well. She wasn’t hurt and there was only one ant remaining, but the last Drone was doing a much better job of evading her attacks than the first two.

Although Yang’s attacks weren’t particularly slow, the ants had the best mobility of any enemy the players had encountered so far and was consistently dodging her swings by the slimmest of margins. Similarly, the Drone kept trying to bite at her ankles after her attacks, but her ability to evade was just as good.

Thinking that Yang might need some assistance, Zed pulled his Iron Ant Soldier Spear out of the inventory. The new spear was extremely similar to the Iron Ant War Spear, but instead of the wooden blade with pieces of Drone carapace lining the edge, the Soldier Blade was attached with the tip broken off so that it could still be used for thrusting attacks. It was a simple design, but very well made with the handle of the blade being bound within the shaft itself and interlocking wooden pieces holding it together. With great reach and stats second only to Yang’s new War Pick, the Soldier Spear was easily the best weapon in the entire village.

Zed was about to drop down and break the stalemate when Yang suddenly kicked forward when the Drone tried to bite her, catching it in the mandible and flipping it onto its back a few feet away.

Having created such an easy opening, Yang grinned menacingly as she raised the War Pick for an overhead strike.

The hammer came down.

*CRUNCH*

The force of the attack pulverized the Iron Ant’s torso as the heavy weapon buried itself in the ground. The pressure generated inside the insect’s carapace caused its body to burst, sending the head flying back several feet along with a spray of blood and viscera.

With the battle now over, Alexx and Zed descended from their hiding spots, grimacing as they got closer to the carnage, as did Yang once she caught her breath and looked around. Even though Iron Ant blood wasn’t red, the aftermath of the fight was putting them off with just how much of it had been spilled.

“Are these things normally so…juicy?” Yang shuddered as the asked, unable to find a better description.

“No,” they responded.

“I think the weight of the hammer lets you crack their shells more easily,” Alexx said. “My punches tend to do a lot of damage even without breaking through.”

Zed shrugged. “A little bit of video game logic I suppose. Dealing HP damage instead of physical destruction.”

“Seriously?” Yang shook her head. “Loran’s always saying this game is pretty realistic, then it does shit like this.”

“Heh, is this going on your list again?” Alexx asked with a small grin.

“Yup.”

“Would you three stop with that stupid list?”

“Not happening.” Yang looked around at the dead ants again. “Still, I knew this thing would be enough to get through their shells, but I didn’t expect to insta-kill all of them.”

“Not all of them,” Zed said. “The first one survived for a little bit.”

“Bullshit. I caved that thing’s skull in.”

“They’re ants, they don’t exactly have much of a brain to begin with,” Zed said, drawing a chuckle out of the others. “But yeah, it survived with the Fatal Bleeding and Brain Dead debuffs.”

Yang stopped laughing. “B-brain dead?” she asked with a hollow voice.

“That’s… unsettling,” Alexx said after a moment, staring at the dead ant.

“Seriously. We already have to deal with those guys from Bates’ party, the last thing we need is someone in an actual coma.”

“A coma…I put it into a coma…”

The two turned back to Yang and both flinched as they did.

She was looking at the dead ant, eyes wide with a thousand-yard stare. She had dropped her War Pick and was now holding her arms, pulling in tighter and tighter as they watched. She stumbled backward, tripping over her own feet, but she didn’t seem to notice as she couldn’t pull her gaze away from the ant. Her shoulders started shaking as her breathing became audible and erratic.

“Yang!” Alexx didn’t understand why, but Yang was freaking out. He dashed to her side, careful not to touch her as he repeated her name. “Yang, what’s wrong.”

Yang jolted as she turned to look at him, eyes widening as if she had forgotten he had been here the whole time. She closed her eyes as she began taking slow, deliberate breaths, clenching and unclenching her fists as she did so. Her shoulders slowly stopped shaking as her breathing calmed down. After about a minute, she was relaxed again with a few beads of cold sweat on her forehead.

“Are… are you okay?” Alexx asked slowly. Zed stood off to the side, looking concerned but uncertain of what to do in such a situation.

“No,” Yang choked out, “but I’m better now.” She took another deep breath as she stood up. After stretching for a moment and wiping the sweat from her brow it looked like nothing had happened at all. “Come on, we’re burning daylight.”

Alexx and Zed shared a look of uncertainty. “Are you sure we shouldn’t turn back?”

“I’m fine, just a minor panic attack.”

“My degree might not be in psychology, but I don’t think there’s such a thing as a minor panic attack.”

“You have a degree?” Yang asked Zed, trying to change the subject.

He shrugged. “Masters in Computer Science. But seriously, the last thing we need is you-”

“I’m not going to freak out in the middle of a fight. The thing with that ant just,” she paused, “...took me off guard.”

“...Do you want to talk about it?”

“Fuck no… But you guys will probably tell Sis about this when we get back to the village and then I’ll definitely have to talk; for now, can we please just go kill something?" She then turned and started walking away.

Knowing that Yang didn’t have any problems fighting for the last three months, as well as how stubborn she could be, Alexx and Zed decided to drop the issue. The three continued their trek to the eastern grasslands.