Striped Ants had a habit of paralyzing their prey with the paralyzing venom they had, and then bringing them alive to their queen.
This didn't mean that they wouldn't occasionally kill their prey to eat, it was just that stockpiling food was something that they generally did.
For this reason, many low-level origin masters tend to fear them as the combination of those two can be dreadful.
Origin beasts that entered the Striped Ants' nest would get paralyzed by the ants and then taken to the queen's chamber where they would then be enslaved by the Spider Queen.
So they weren't stockpiling food, they were instead increasing the Spider Queen's army.
Moreover, as the size of the army increased, the Striped Ants would also increase the size of the lair.
The size of the ant nest would get progressively bigger and as it grew in size, the number of monsters it attracted would also grow, creating a vicious cycle.
Lily and the other two could feel the spider ant pheromones in the air and they quickly deal with it by drinking a detoxification potion while Orpheus was completely fine. Although, shocked the others thought maybe he had drunk a potion ahead of them or simply because he had unusual physics so there was nothing unusual about this.
Soon, the group was surrounded by more than fifty Striped Ants, their height around two meters, the three were able to quickly dispatch them as Striped Ants are just lowly Tier origin beasts. The group quickly advanced, killing the ants until they arrived before the Spider queen which Orpheus finished in one move.
It was now time to move on to the next floor.
The scenery on the second floor of the Forgotten Forest Ruin was similar to the first.
The trees, rocks, and everything else in sight was all huge.
[Kill two hundred Origin beasts to proceed to the next floor.]
However, the quest on the second floor was completely different from that on the first floor.
Although they knew it wouldn't be easy as it sounds, Illya believed this quest to be good than the previous one, she had to perform better to catch Orpheus's attention, and if she couldn't even do this then she would better forget competing with the genius in their class. Hellion was also thinking the same thing, he had to do everything in his power to impress Lily, and only this way would he get the chance on inviting her on a date for things, for their relationship to progress, he deluded himself.
Meanwhile, Lily was getting ready as she readied her sword, she secretly observed Orpheus but upon seeing his calm expression, she sighed and decided to focus on what was about to come, she could feel many presences closing in. Soon, the group was surrounded by low-tier origin beasts.
There were about to engage them when there was a sudden change.
Awooo!
The wild howling that appeared as soon as the battle was about to begin immediately cooled down that burning spirit of fighting.
Before long, Ilya and the other two, who confirmed the source of the howl, were greatly astonished.
"It's a Hellhound!"
Hellhound is a Tier 2 origin beast equal to a Level 5 origin master.
It was because, at that moment, an origin beast that was called a nightmare by most low-level origin masters had revealed its presence on the second floor of the dungeon.
"This is insane, why the hell is a Hellhound here?!"
"This is the second floor!"
It was impossible.
Was it possible for a Hellhound to be the boss monster of the second floor in a 5 Floor dungeon?
It was like encountering a fatal bug in a game.
However, the Hellhound's next actions stunned them greatly.
Awooo!
The Hellhound, with its overwhelming aura, began slaughtering the monsters instead of the hunters.
"Eh? What's going on?"
"Why is the Hellhound hunting the monsters?"
In the face of such an unexpected situation, even these veteran hunters could not help but be confused.
After a while, someone finally spoke.
"It was probably because the origin beast was afraid of someone among us and decided to strength himself to confront him.'' Lily arrived at this conclusion, she was looking at Orpheus whose expression was still calm despite the Hellhound apparition.
Lily wasn't the only one looking in Orpheus's direction as she said those words, Illya and Hellion were also looking at him. They were well aware of this young man's abnormal strength, he might be the closest to level 4, therefore it was normal for the origin beast to feel the difference as soon as it appeared, and to make up for this the beast had to consume many of its peers to evolve, to at least increase its strength facing something dangerous.
Upon understanding, this none of the three approached the beast nor they stopped it from slaughtering the other original beasts, on the contrary slaughtering it after it was done would they earn a lot of points. As one should have expected, the two schools are using the saying system for this expedition, you could spot the same bracelet Orpheus and Lily were wearing around Illya and Hellion's wrists, meaning this bracelet had been given to them to record their kills inside the ruin to convert them into points.
Awoooooooooo!
Finally, the Hellhound had finished slaughtering and consuming the other beasts, its height had considerably increased, from two meters to five meters and its strength was closer to Tier 3 (A/N: Closer to Level 4 origin master)
The Hellhound was about to launch an attack on Orpheus when noticing something abnormal, the latter was smiling.
The Hellhound looked at them and realized it was right. But there was something even more strange, something it couldn't pinpoint.
"Do you think now is the time to be distracted?"
Orpheus's voice rang in the corpse's ears, bringing it back to reality.
It quickly turned its head.
But it was too late.
BANG!
By then, a punch has brutally pounded into its chest.
Its chest caved in, and its back arched out while its body slammed into a giant tree a hundred meters away.
Before it could lift its head, it had been removed by a sword, it was so the fact that the beast didn't feel anything meanwhile Lily and the others were watching dumbstruck by this one-side massacre.
''His strength is indeed closer to Level 4.'' They both concluded.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢