Chapter 360 The Drula Mines Part 3
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[Your quest has been updated]
[Mineral Chain part 1
Resko is in dire need of materials, especially Iron for the confection of tools and weapons.
With the welcoming of the refugees from the forest, the scarcity of resources is now at an all-time high.
Requirements:
Locate the old mines and see if there is anything to harvest! 1/?
Rewards will be based on the final quantity of iron available to the village.
*Jyter remembers the location of 2 Major Iron mines and 5 Minor iron mines that were exhausted prior to Resko's fall. Their locations have been marked on your map.
*You found evidence of extensive mineral deposits existing underneath the Drula Mountains. Passing this information to others could lead to a potential reactivation of the abandoned mines.
]
"..."
'Great, just as I remembered. Now I just need to make this place safe.'
/Turn…/
"Are we leaving? I already miss the surface air." David said with a scoff as he held his breath
"We'll hunt down the Queens first… Besides, can you even breathe? There's no hole in your neck for that."
"First, rude, second, of course I can breathe, not that I need to but it still feels nice…"
"So why are you breathing in this place? You keep complaining about how inconvenient it is."
"Heg, life wouldn't be fun if I just experienced its good parts, wouldn't it? What is an adventure without the smell of rain in the mountains and the wet fur of a giant monster running at you?"
"You can't walk without expecting your soles to get dirty, that is a constant in life."
"..."
'Better stop talking here before he goes on another philosophical journey.'
Rolling his eyes, Dale left the small room, going deeper down into the mineshafts…
…
/Sometime later.../
"... Are you going to ride the minecarts?" David asked as he saw an empty minecart resting on the rails, collecting dust
"No, that's childish. And highly unsafe."
"I know you want to, they're a bit rusty but they'll roll, come on, no need to be embarrassed, I won't tell anyone."
"Yeah they will, they're minecarts. Besides, are you sure you aren't the one that wants to be in the cart?"
"I do want to... But wait a minute… You already tried it before didn't you?" David asked suspiciously as he raised his eyes to look at Dale
"..."
The more he looked at him the bigger his certainty became!
"Buwahahahha! I knew it, you were that kind of guy after all!"
"Man, I can just imagine, you going at high speeds crashing down somewhere… Hahahahaha! Of course you tried it before!"
"... That's it, I'll tell Erile you spy on her when she's changing clothes." Dale retorted snarkily as his eyelids sharpened
"Wa-wa-wait a bit, let's negotiate… Worst comes to worse I'll tell her I told you her three sizes!!" He said in desperation as he looked at Dale
"You! How dare you lie despite being a holy relic?!"
"Heh, even if it's a lie she can't prove it isn't! I'll drag you down with me!"
"Tsk, one day the Goddess will bite your ass again." Dale said with a scoff as he gave the minecart one last look before moving on
With nothing to do, the duo continued to empty talk their way through the caverns, eliminating stray ants whenever they appeared.
The density of ants continued to increase, with them often seeing juvenile ones moving around the place chaotically, which were then easily dispatched with a stomp of his greaves.
Soon enough, they arrived at a large chamber.
…
/Sha sha sha sha!!/
After dozens of twists and turns, as the air got heavier and damp, they finally arrived at a large mining site marked on the map, a large conical room that used to be an old Iron node mine.
After being abandoned, it turned into a brooding chamber with hundreds of giant ants moving around.
It was quite a bizarre sight.
On the ceilings of the cavern were dozens of strange mutant ants, their abdomens were extremely dilated and they looked like balloons hanging on the walls.
On the walls, thousands of holes containing white eggs stretched out through its entire length.
Pillars of deformed stone rose to the ceilings and walls, supporting it in a strange, web-like pattern.
Strange Ants moved around the room, not just the ordinary worker ants he fought before, but a strange kind that had longer, finer legs, allowing it to move with great dexterity in this dense environment, they were usually seen moving the eggs and feeding the larva.
Their height also allowed them to reach out to the ceiling and bite at the hanging ants, allowing them to collect the strange golden nectar they held within their bellies.
In the center of the room, a massive ant remained in place, surrounded by several ants who were constantly shifting, often climbing onto it or merely circling it.
Those were different from the other worker ants, having darker bodies that were smooth and 'clean', they didn't look very threatening and even seemed somewhat cute as even their pincers were round and chubby.
Still, they had six legs and were the size of a wolf, they could likely pose a threat to a bear if they met in nature…
Male Ants, their main task was to breed and fertilize the eggs, they looked smooth and clean to minimize the chance of possible injuries.
They also fed the Queen by transferring food from the taller ants to her majesty, a rather disgusting process but for the ants, it worked.
As for the oversized creature they tended to… It was the Queen Ant, its main body wasn't much bigger than the traditional worker ant, but its abdomen was larger than an ordinary house, being over ten meters long, five meters wide, and tall, like a large cylinder extending outward.
This gigantic body allowed the Queen Ant to pump out dozens of eggs every few minutes, like oversized tic-tacs which fell to form a small pile that was quickly snatched away by the ants.
Dale wondered how these Ants could even sustain their numbers with such production, however, he soon came to understand how they limited themselves.
It seemed not all eggs were fertilized, as over time, quite a few of the eggs turned dark and rotten, when this happened, the tall Ants would then pick them up and dump them somewhere else where another group of Ants would quickly come, and drag it elsewhere.
As for the others, there were a few things he knew, first, these Ants grew very fast, but lived extremely short lives, less than a few months.
If you took the time it took for them to grow up to the time they died of old age, then they had a very short timespan where they could be productive.
And to help control those numbers even further, Dale also saw a small larva ant move out of its hole and into another one next to it where it devoured its sibling, reducing competition, not that there was much, to begin with.
This was happening everywhere, albeit the adult ants seemed bothered by this as they constantly grabbed any of the moving larvas, putting them back inside an empty hole whenever they were spotted moving around.
It was a strange, organized mayhem.
"... How do you plan to tackle this down?" David whispered as he saw the scene
"How else? I'll just just kill the queen… And to make sure there's little chance of any rising again, I'll take down the egg chambers as well."
'There's no need to waste my energy on the other critters, I just need to take down the Queens then I can focus the rest of the time hunting if I see the need to gain some Levels.'
"That's a bit reckless, if you attack the walls everything here could collapse!"
"True, but unlikely, see those strange pillars of molded rocks? That's a metal alloy."
"These Ants will eat and melt down the rocks, chemically separating ores from it before spitting it out whenever they need as a strange form of cement, this entire room is pretty much one entire husk of iron, it's pretty stable. Especially since it can support its own weight."
"Urg… Your call, just remember to run fast if things go South."
"That I can do."
/Grab…/
He had already spent quite some time looking around, soon enough an Ant was bound to find him and start a mess by spreading pheromones, so he had to act quickly.
He grabbed his spear, getting in a throwing position…
"If you miss I'll laugh."
"Shut it, I'm focusing!"
'As if I would miss an unmoving target.'
[Kresor Ant Queen
Challenge Level: 75-85
*Boss*
Affected by:
#Unrest
]
"Humph!"
'I just need one shot...'
/THROW!/
/BOOM!/
/JUMP!/
As his spear pierced the air, hitting the queen's head with incredible brutality, Dale jumped forward, holding his sword as he slashed at the walls.
There was no need to exert too much force, he just needed to spread his energy wide enough to kill the eggs and undeveloped ants.
With that in mind, he stirred his sword forward!
/Slash!/
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Notes
Next chapter will hopefully end this small Arc and we'll progress with more Questing, Leveling Up, and progress for Resko.
I previously did not enter into details for what happened in the two months I skipped, but now I'll go over it more clearly as we continue on with the main Plot.
There will be further timeskips specially with the Arcs I have in mind, but they'll be later down this Volume if not towards its end, that's just how it is.
Peace!
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