Caleb and the ant had barely taken a few steps towards the wounded lion and gorilla when the ground beneath them abruptly shifted. With a deafening rumble, a massive crack split the earth, swallowing the two monsters whole before snapping shut as though nothing had happened.
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"Holy hell!" Caleb exclaimed, jumping back, his eyes wide with a mixture of shock and fascination.
The ant, however, didnât seem as surprised, its antennae twitching slightly in recognition of the forestâs brutal laws.
Before Caleb could ask, the ground where the two beasts had lain exploded upwards, forming into a towering humanoid shape made entirely of sand. The creature, lacking eyes but possessing a grotesque, gaping mouth, emitted strange, garbled noises that resonated like a whispering wind through dry leaves.
"That thereâs a peak level 2 monster, almost touching level 3," the ant informed Caleb, scribbling nervously in the dirt with its stick.
Caleb snorted dismissively. "Level 3, level shmee. To me, itâs just another ant waiting to get squashed."
Skepticism was evident in the antâs body language, its movements rigid with doubt.
In response, Caleb gave a mischievous grin, then in a blink, he vanished from sight, reappearing instantly atop the sand creatureâs head. Without a momentâs hesitation, he delivered a powerful kick right into the heart of the sandy colossus.
The impact was like a detonation, and the sand monsterâs form disintegrated spectacularly, cascading into a cloud of dust that blew away with the wind, leaving nothing but clear ground where it once stood.
The ant, its mouth agape in astonishment, finally managed to scribble, "That... was unexpected," into the dirt, its stick trembling slightly.
"Yeah, I thought so too," Caleb replied, brushing off his hands as if he had just performed a minor chore. "When I say theyâre ants, I mean theyâre ants. No biggie."
The ant looked back at the space where the monster had been, then up at Caleb, a new sense of respect â and a hint of fear â mixing into its actions.
...
As Caleb and the ant trudged through the expansive desert, the landscape proved to be monotonous yet occasionally punctuated by the appearance of humanoid giants. These giants, towering and lumbering with a clumsy grace, seemed to have a simple understanding of their surroundings and limited interaction with each other.
In one instance, as Caleb and the ant rounded a large dune, a giant caught sight of them. Its eyes, wide and unblinking, registered a moment of recognition before it turned and fled with surprising agility for its size. Dust billowed behind it as it disappeared over the horizon.
"Why did it run away just like that?" Caleb asked, his eyebrow raised in curiosity.
The ant scribbled in the sand, "You killed that sand monster earlier, remember? You probably carry its scent now. These giants, dumb as they look, know to flee from the killer of a top predator."
Caleb chuckled, a low sound that ruffled the sand at his feet. "So Iâm walking around with a target sign that says âbig bad predatorâ on my back, huh? Interesting."
As they continued, Caleb noticed the methods the giants used to acquire food. At one point, they observed a dramatic scene: an eagle, large enough to challenge the giants, dove from the sky with talons outstretched. It targeted a solitary giant, aiming for its head with deadly precision. The attack was swift; the eagleâs talons cleaved through the giantâs skull, causing it to collapse silently onto the sand.
However, retribution was quick. Another giant, having noticed the attack, picked up a massive rock and hurled it with surprising accuracy at the eagle as it attempted to ascend. The rock met its target mid-air, and the eagle exploded into a mist of blood and feathers, its remains scattering across the wind-swept sand.
Caleb watched the scene unfold with a grimace. "Harsh world," he commented, stepping over a line of ants marching diligently through the desert.
The ant beside him paused its scribbling to watch the giants regroup and drag the dead giant away, likely to salvage what they could. "Everything here survives one way or another. Kill or be killed."
Caleb nodded, his gaze following the giants as they disappeared into the distance. "Letâs keep moving," he said, setting his sights on the shifting dunes ahead. "Iâm curious to see what other surprises this desert holds."
...
As Caleb and the ant continued their journey across the desert, a sudden shift in the atmosphere caught their attention. The sky, which had been a clear, piercing blue, gradually darkened as a massive swarm of crows emerged from the horizon. The sight was chilling: hundreds of thousands of birds, their bodies composed of swirling dark energy, blotted out the sun, casting long, ominous shadows over the desert.
Caleb halted, his eyes narrowing as he observed the eerie spectacle. "What in the world...?" he muttered, his voice tinged with a mix of awe and caution.
The ant, scribbling frantically in the sand beside him, provided an explanation. "Dark Soul Suckers," it wrote, the words shaky as it glanced nervously at the sky. "Soul-sucking crows made entirely of dark energy. They devour souls and are immune to physical attacks. A swarm this size could threaten even a Level 4 monster and terrify Level 3s."
Calebâs gaze shifted back to the swirling mass above. The crows circled in a massive, ever-tightening spiral, their caws merging into a haunting cacophony that seemed to vibrate through the very air. "Soul suckers, huh? And immune to physical attacks... Thatâs troublesome."
The ant continued to write, each word etched quickly into the sand. "They use swarm tactics, overwhelming their targets. Few can withstand their assault due to their sheer numbers and the peculiar nature of their existence."
Caleb folded his arms, watching as a few of the darker crows dove down closer to the ground before swirling back up into the mass. "And I suppose theyâre here for a feast? Does this happen often?"
"Not often, but when it does, itâs best to hide," the ant wrote. "They can sense souls from miles away. Once they start feeding, itâs hard to stop them until theyâre sated."
Caleb nodded slowly, a plan forming in his mind. "Well, hiding isnât really my style. Letâs see if we canât find a way to interact with them that doesnât involve being devoured." His voice was calm,