[Emergency Hidden Quest Generated.]
[Kill the Brood Parasite before full assimilation.]
[Time Remaining: 59:59]
[Failure Consequence: Birth of a New Colony-Type Calamity that can enter your world.]
[This Quest was sent to all awakened ones present in the Special Area.]
Hundreds of black-eyed ants were standing in front of him.
The wild disorder that could be seen in their movements a few moments ago had completely disappeared.
None of them were passing over another anymore.
No Worker was falling into a gap aimlessly, and no Soldier was blindly attacking the mushrooms with violence.
The entire colony had lined up in an unnatural silence.
Thousands of red and black bodies were placed next to each other like armor pieces of a single creature.
Their antennae were bent in one direction with perfect order, and all their black, lightless eyes were fixed on the four people standing at the end of the frozen corridor.
In the center of that armored sea, the parasitic creature was still attached to part of the Queen’s immature body.
The white shell of the egg was hanging from both sides of its body like torn skin.
Black threads had come out of the immature Queen’s abdomen and were connected to the parasite’s moist body.
Every time those threads contracted, the raw mass of flesh beneath the creature’s body trembled, and dark energy passed through it.
The identification panel before Lian’s view trembled.
The letters that were unclear a few moments ago slowly took shape.
[Black Brood Matriarch — Incomplete Form]
[Rank: Mutated]
[Level: 35]
[Threat Classification: Calamity Seed]
"A Mutated one?" he whispered to himself, this was not the first time he had encountered a Mutated one.
But it was definitely the strongest Mutated one he had ever seen, and Lian stared at Level 35 for a moment.
In normal circumstances, such a number would not force him to retreat.
But this battle was not normal.
His mana had dropped to less than one percent.
His lungs were still burning from the mushroom spores, and even though the potions and Poison Foe had helped to some extent, the poison was still in the air.
Behind him, Nemi was barely standing on her feet.
Her face had no color.
Her breaths were short and broken, and every time she coughed, her small body trembled in Sera’s arms.
Sera had wrapped one arm around her sister’s waist and was holding her own wounded shoulder with the other hand.
Blood had run down from under the wrapped cloth and reached her fingertips, but her gaze still did not separate from the Queen.
There was fear in her eyes, not a simple and involuntary fear, but a fear that came from fully understanding the situation.
She knew that even if Lian could kill dozens of ants, against thousands of controlled creatures, any mistake could lead to the death of all of them.
Ravian was also standing in front of his sisters.
He was holding his spear with both hands, but its tip was trembling slightly.
He had clenched his jaw so tightly that the muscles on the sides of his face stood out.
Then he looked at Lian, they were waiting for orders.
Lian closed the panel, the system’s light disappeared.
"We’re leaving." he then said.
Sera raised her head, and in her eyes there was a sign of understanding about the decision.
She could feel Lian’s mana, even someone who couldn’t see his panel could feel the dryness of the energy flow around his body.
Lian’s decision was ruthless and put his world’s lives at risk, but in the current situation, victory was not possible.
If he died right here, it wouldn’t matter which world the monsters entered.
The sentence was cold, but it was not ruthless, it was the truth.
He was not a hero who would throw away his life just because a mission appeared, nor was he a madman who would leave three wounded companions against a living army to maybe get a reward.
If there was a way to escape, escaping was the most logical decision.
Lian turned his gaze toward the massive root that, a few dozen meters away, opened the exit path from the mushroom area.
The ice on the corridor he had built was slowly cracking.
The frozen mushrooms on both sides of the path were still standing, but muffled sounds were coming from inside their stems.
The roots would be freed from the ice sooner or later.
They didn’t have much time, and Lian said quietly.
"Ravian, take Sera and Nemi."
"And you?" Ravian immediately answered.
"I’ll come behind you."
Lian stepped forward and they were ready to leave the place, but suddenly all the antennae turned toward Ravian and his two sisters.
He could use Abyss Veil skill to pass through the gaps and save himself, but his companions could not.
Of course, there was also a bigger problem, his cooldown was still not over, so he could not use it.
Ravian also understood a truth, his gaze fell on Lian for a moment.
Something between anger, helplessness, and shame formed on his face, he didn’t want to be a burden on Lian.
But now he was exactly that.
"Move." but Lian didn’t care.
Ravian led his sisters toward the exit.
Sera took Nemi from one side, and Ravian put his arm over her shoulder from the other side.
They started running.
At that same moment, the parasitic Queen raised one of her thin and bony legs.
The tip of that leg, like a long finger, sank into the soil.
A black vein spread from the point of contact, at first it was only a thin line, and then it spread across the entire ground like a network of blood vessels.
The black veins passed under the ice, moss, and corpses, and connected to the bodies of hundreds of ants.
The colony moved at the same time, Workers separated from both sides, and Soldiers climbed over the frozen corpses.
Within seconds, hundreds of ants rushed toward the exit path and climbed up from both sides of the massive root.
Their bodies piled on top of each other, one row, two rows, and then dozens of rows, a living and moving wall formed in front of the path.
Ravian was forced to stop, and Nemi looked at that wall, her eyes widening in terror.
"They... already knew where we were going."
Lian had also understood this, Predator’s Instincts was showing him the danger paths.
Every path they chose would be blocked before they reached it.
This creature did not just command, it saw.
Through thousands of eyes, from above the roots, from under the moss, from the cracks of the mushrooms, practically every ant was an eye, every antenna was a sensor, and every body was a limb of a larger being.
Because all the exit routes were blocked, they didn’t even have time to react, and before they could reach the exit, the path was already closed.
[Hive Mind Dominion]
The Queen was controlling the entire colony like a single body.
Hiding behind mushrooms or roots was useless, the entire area had eyes.
At that same moment, all the eyes turned toward Lian again, it was clear the Queen had noticed his presence and recognized him as the biggest threat.
Lian placed both his hands in front of his body, the tiny remaining mana gathered in his palm, and he slammed his palm on the ground.
[Cataclysm Pulse]
A compressed wave exploded from under the soil, the ground rose in front of him.
The first row of Workers was uprooted and thrown into the air.
The shell under their abdomen cracked, and a few heavier Soldiers fell on their sides.
The path was open for a few seconds.
"Run!"
Ravian pulled his sisters, the three passed through the gap that had been created.
Lian moved behind them, pushing away any ant that came close with a punch or a kick.
But they only went a few dozen meters forward, the black veins under the ground contracted again, and this time the ants moved from both the front and the back simultaneously.
Workers rushed toward Nemi, Soldiers surrounded Sera.
A few jumping ants came down from above the living wall and blocked Ravian’s path.
The Queen was not attacking Lian directly, she had targeted his three companions, she had understood that they were the point Lian could not ignore.
Sera deflected the first Worker’s jaw with her knife.
But her wounded shoulder could not handle a second strike, and another ant came from the right.
Ravian placed his spear between it and his sister.
The monster’s jaw closed on the wood, and the spear bent.
Ravian roared and pushed it back with all his weight, but a Soldier hit him from behind in the side.
He rolled a few meters on the ground.
Nemi screamed his name, and Lian appeared among them in an instant.
His right fist hit the Worker’s head, the shell cracked with a dry sound, and with his elbow, he broke the Soldier’s jaw.
Then he placed his foot on the creature’s chest and threw it toward the other two ants.
But the wave had no end.
"This was not what I expected, damn it." Lian wanted to curse with all his being, all his efforts had practically gone to waste.
He had not expected this Queen to be able to organize and control the entire colony with such speed, to organize those scattered ants, and to block all the paths.
First, the plant monsters had blocked the paths, and he had forcibly opened them, and now these damn ants.
And a large part of their escape plan was based on the ants and plant monsters being busy fighting each other.
That after the Queen was born, those monstrous plants hid in fear.
Lian turned his gaze back to the quest panel for a moment.
[Do you accept the Emergency Hidden Quest?]
Maybe he really had no choice....