Unaware of the human noble watching her from afar as she fought a seemingly endless stream of giant ants, Scaly remained focused on killing as many of the giant ants as possible. Not holding back in the slightest, as she now had more than enough mana to utilize her water magic without having to worry about having enough to escape in case, she ended up encountering a powerful opponent that she couldn’t handle together with the increasingly large number of giant ants trying to kill her.
[Gained 2132 Exp]
[Gained 526 Exp]
[Gained 1678 Exp]
[*Ding* Reached level 24]
[Gained 3276 Exp]
In turn, because of this large number of giant ants constantly throwing themselves at her with relatively little to no disregard for their own life, she managed to rapidly level up. Reaching level 24 only a few short minutes after she descended into the large underground cave connected to the relatively small cave entrance, she had used to access the place.
Even better, no matter how many of the giant ants she killed, their numbers didn’t decrease and instead only seemed to be increasing. Meaning that she would be able to continue rapidly increasing her level at a speed that even surpassed her time in Hollowing Cave City hunting down weakened monsters.
The only problem she encountered was the fact that the monsters weren’t injured and needed far more effort to kill compared to those back in Hollowing Cave City, causing the strength required on her side to be exponentially higher compared to back then.
But at least in that regard, she had now fully recovered her mana and didn’t need to rely on her physical strength like she had done back then... And the giant ants defense against her water blade spell was close to nonexistent, as her water blade even managed to kill multiple giant ants whenever the giant ants were too weak. The best kill streak she had managed to get with a water blade that hadn’t been strengthened with an increased mana usage so far, was three giant ants. Two worker ants that posed little resistance and a giant ant guard that had been unlucky enough to have its head cut off with no real resistance towards the end.
Everything considered, even with the increasing number of giant ants, she wasn’t the least bit worried about potentially having to escape when she started getting exhausted from the battle, as the overall strength of the giant ants themselves showed no sign of increasing. The strongest of them still around the same level as the two she had killed at the cave entrance up above.
Because of this, she also didn’t really pay too much attention to the entrance itself or the path leading out of the underground cave. Allowing Charles, the little human noble covered from head to toe in... Unidentifiable material that helped mask his smell... To sneak past the battle that had veered deeper into the underground cave before making his way up and out of the underground cave without being noticed in the process.
"I’m... I’m out...!" Smiling from ear to ear filled with joy as the outside world greeted him again, Charles looked back down into the cave filled with gratitude. Placing his hands together in a silent prayer before he began rushing off towards the forest at the base of the small mountain that served as the nest of the giant ants. Knowing full well that staying around for too long could result in him being caught up in the upcoming chaos when the nest began fully mobilizing.
After all, though a lot of giant ants had rushed out to attack Scaly, Charles knew for certain that this was only a small portion of the giant ants that happened to have been somewhere close to the underground cave that the battle was taking place in. Not the entirety of the nest rushing out to stop a threat. That would still take some time... And when that happened, he wanted to be as far away as possible, as he knew that the sheer scale of the giant ant nest was far larger than what he had originally learnt before setting off for the Thousand Spire Mountain Range.
Not just was the giant ant nest far larger than expected, but during his time sneaking through the nest, he had also encountered several giant ants that had become A Rank Monsters recently. Indicating to him that the ant queen hidden somewhere in the depths of the giant ant nest had most likely been able to become an S Rank Monster recently.
An S Rank Giant Ant Queen was far more terrifying than a normal giant ant queen at the A Rank, as she didn’t just pose a threat to surrounding kingdoms and empires due to her ability to mass produce A Rank Giant Ants, but also because of her ability to create several specialized giant ants that were in some case far deadlier than normal A Rank Monsters and could even threaten S Rank Adventurers when working together.
Put together with the intelligence of an S Rank Ant Queen, it was only a given that the Adventurer Guild and any kingdom or empire located next to such a giant ant nest would do their best to destroy it.
As for the reason why, this wasn’t don before the giant ant queen became an S Rank Monster... Normal adventurers might not know, but he certainly did as a noble.
The reason being that upon reaching S Rank, the giant ant queen would produce a special substance after death that could be harvested and used in the creation of a special alchemical potion that could directly extend someone’s lifespan. One of the few ways for someone to increase their lifespan that didn’t involve becoming an S Rank Adventurer or doing something that involved the bloody and downright demonic techniques of a religious organization like the Holy Flower Sect.
For this reason, though a giant ant queen posed a certain threat, it was allowed to grow without much interference.
But... When it reached the S Rank, there would be a scramble among the different local powers to be the first to kill it.
Everyone would be eager to get their hands on the S Rank Giant Ant Queen first, as this was a chance even for those who had already become S Rank Adventurers to lengthen their own lifespan without having to take another step forward.
Now that he had learnt about the emergence of this S Rank Ant Queen first, Charles knew that this might be fate helping him after what he had been forced to go through inside the giant ant nest, as although he couldn’t do anything to such a powerful giant ant himself, his family would undoubtedly be able to make use of this information to further increase their strength and standing. Especially if they managed to be the ones to personally deal with the giant ant queen, as there would be a very real chance, he himself managed to get a portion of the special alchemical potion that would be refined.
A Chance to increase his own lifespan and live longer, there was no one who would give up on such a precious opportunity. Especially a spoiled noble who had spent his entire life having others serve him.
But...
Remembering the divine messenger that had descended before him and clashed with the giant ants to give him the opportunity to escape the giant ant nest in the first place, Charles could not help feeling conflicted.
Everything he had learnt, and his entire life pushed him towards informing his family about the situation, but what he had experienced inside the giant ant nest and the holy being that descended to save him from that hell that would certainly have ended with an excruciatingly painful death, was enough to make him hesitate and rethink everything.
In the end, Charles couldn’t decide on what to do and for now just decided to first get away from the Thousand Spire Mountain Range and out of the monster infested forest before coming to a decision.
After all, though he was comparable to a B Rank Adventurer in level and strength, his upbringing and experience was far inferior to a B Rank Adventurer and his current situation with only a single dirty shirt and underwear, didn’t allow him to fight anything beyond a D Rank Monster.
Because of this, he had to struggle quite a bit over the next few days to get through the forest. Ignoring the loud sounds that had emerged from the giant ant nest beneath his feet shortly after he had left. Knowing that there was no way for him to interfere with whatever it was that was happening down below. The best thing for him to do was take full advantage of the situation where the monsters in the forest below had been scared by the commotion taking place in the giant ant nest.
Something he did and what allowed him to get through the more dangerous part of the forest next to the Thousand Spire Mountain Range and ultimately later escape the boundaries of the forest...