Chapter 50 - The Trap And The Blood

I examined the ants corpse and I found out a few things.

1. It had a softer shell and indeed like Konna said it had smaller mandibles.

2. Its Antennae were overdeveloped and had turned into what kind of looked like a radio tower of sorts.

I couldn't think much else so I just used Analyze to figure out what was really going on.

[Cavernous Relay Ant] - A worker ant variant bred specifically to relay telepathic commands from the queen. Its egg was laid in an area with a concentrated amount of mana crystals that ended in the brain of the ant growing an overdeveloped brain and telepathic powers, but at the cost of becoming physically weaker than the rest.

Oh well that explains it a bit. I got an idea out of nowhere to crack open its head and look at its brain. It says that it was in a concentrated area filled with mana crystals and I wanted to see just what changes from what I knew brains looked like. I know that its brain might be different from what I knew but I was still curious.

"Hey Kitsoma can you come here please I need a better light source to get a good look at this things brain." I asked hoping she wasn't to upset to not help me and I also hoped that she would go back to being herself even for a little bit and not shy away from me.

"Yea sure, so what exactly are you doing?" She asks as she conjures a fireball and brings it closer than I would have liked, a part of me feels like its hotter than usual, especially seeing as how I have the Heat resistance skill. And my thoughts were made true as a pop up appeared.

[Heat Resistance] 30 -> 35%

'Oh shit so she mad. I knew what I did was bad but I didn't think I deserved to get roasted over it.'

[User is experiencing extreme heat. Suggesting User move from source otherwise internal systems could overload.]

'Great so not only is she upset but shes gonna kill me great.' I sighed and turned back to her.

"Ok, talk to me why are you trying to roast me alive." I said with a sigh as I stared at her. I could see in her eyes that she was upset and her eyebrows were furrowed aswell.

"I think we need to go somewhere and talk for a minute Vexsus." She said as she waved her hand and snuffed out the fireball and walked down the tunnel.

"Ugh. Sigh ok guys hold down the fort we will be right back after I get my ass handed to me by her." I shook my hand and followed her. After a few minutes of us walking I kept thinking that she was going to turn around at any moment and just start yelling at me, but I started to notice that she had started to walk funny and even stumbled a few times. Her body started having weird twitches and movements.

"Hey Kitsoma you ok? Your acting kinda weird."

"Yes, I am Fine, You should not worry and just follow me deeper."

"Ummmmm, ok I guess but don't you think we need to bring some of the others if we plan on going any deeper into the tunnel?" I stopped walking as a dangerous thought came to mind.

"No, just you and me, It is safe. No ants." She said with a twitch of her body as she turned back to me. I saw that her eyes had a weird glean to them now and it looked like her eyes were trying to send me a message but I just couldn't figure out what it was.

"Vexsus, Follow me further down. I need to show you something."

A few moments go by in silence as I decide to use analyze on her and then open my eyes wide in shock.

[Kitsoma - Fox Beastwoman - Currently physically possessed by outside psychic force.]

Shit I knew it. Her eyes this whole time were trying to tell me that it wasn't her that was in control. I should have guessed by the appearance of such an odd ant.

I stared at her and after breathing in deep and trying to come up with a plan quickly I reply.

"Hello Queen Ant. It seems that you grew up in the past week since I killed your mother."

"H-H-How did you know. I could see all of this womans memories and could imitate her flawlessly so how." She said as she took a step back in shock.

"I possess the ability to see detailed information about whatever I set my eyes on. Even if you could fool somebody with how 'flawlessly' you use somebodies body, it could never fool me." I said confidently

"I see.... if you had just followed this woman and fell into my trap then I would not be forced to use my back up plans. But now you shall suffer." Then Kitsoma's body falls to the ground and I start to hear loud thundering footsteps all around us as from the wall came a small horde of ants from workers to warriors and even a couple of the new Relay ants appeared.

It seems that the Queen had planned on using Kitsoma's body to lead me further down the tunnel and deeper into the trap. Thank the gods above that I had Analyze, but I knew without it that something was wrong with her.

I grabbed onto Kitsoma tightly and used my Lightning Muscles to jump and combined it with Quick Step to quickly evade the various ants attacks. I would shoot the occasional Spatial bullet just to get rid of some of the workers and make my escape easier but when it came to the warriors it required a bit more work. They would still survive even after getting hit by one of my bullets and even seem to get stronger for a short period afterwards.

I felt a slight boost to my bullets strength after the last one a shot out but it still only equaled to a slightly bigger amount of damage dealt to the Warriors, I could only imagine how strong the Royal guards were seeing as how they were the ones responsible for guarding the queen.

After a few close calls in which they switched from targeting me to targeting the still unconscious Kitsoma, I used my Electric scale of Vitality buff which I hadn't had to use for a while. Shortly after activating my body was shocked with a huge bolt of energy that supercharged my muscles and even caused my scales to arc electricity. My claws started to arc electricity aswell, I felt like time had slowed down by a fraction of a second as my brain was being overclocked.

I could now easily dodge the attacks of the ants almost like I could sense their movements before it even happened. I knew I needed to escape and make sure that Kitsoma was safe so I used the sudden boost of energy and leaving a faint afterimage I dashed through the small horde and ran towards the others.

I raced back to the base as a mental screech echoed in my mind. I was halted in my tracks from that mental attack. I had the Mental Fortress skill but up until now I had not been attacked like this so it was jarring to say the least. But seconds later I was back to normal thanks to my Dual Mind taking control while I was under the influence of it. Side note, I am finding more and more uses for the gloomy fck.

Anywho as we arrive back at the base I quickly shout for Shorunt to come take Kitsoma and then have Sondar block up the entrance to hold off the ants while I rested from overusing my muscles. I was on the verge of being paralyzed from the mass amounts of electrical currents rushing through my body, It was only me and the Dual mind's combined wills that was able to push our body to keep going.

Konna and the others quickly picked up various weapons and got prepared just in time for multiple loud bangs to come from the temporary wall. I knew we were in bad trouble seeing as how the Relay ants were still alive, but unless the queen used another mental attack I think that my companions would be able to handle it.

I was able to move my hands as the wall started to shake and a started cracking so I shot out a few spatial bullets and using Mana Manipulation I basically turned them into Spatial mines that stayed in place just in front of the now crumbling wall.

"That's all I can do until my body recovers from overusing my buffs. You guys need to hold them off so I can use Regen to speed it up." I said before closing my eyes and rushing the healing energy through my body. My muscles that were tightly wound and stretched started to slowly relax and the remaining electrical energy was being absorbed by the cells in my body.

I heard fighting going on all around me but I stayed focused to make sure I could help them end this fight faster. I needed to help my friends but because I fell for a trap I was forced to make them shoulder this all by themselves. I felt so bad for this but I made up my mind to make this up to them after all this was over no matter what it took.

My body was finally finished healing as I opened my eyes and saw that near the wall that was now crumbled and broken was dead worker ants that had gotten sucked in by my Space Mines. Sondar and Konna were tag teaming multiple warrior ants while Tinoa and Vinoa had cast their misty magic and were using guerilla tactics within the mist on the various weaker ants. Liosa and Howy was targeting the Relay ants but was having a hard time because of the few warrior ants that stayed next to them. Sylvania was with Shorunt and protecting the unconscious Kitsoma.

I jumped up and instantly went to help Konna and Sondar. Due to their efforts I was able to surprise one of the ants with a few Lightning slashes to the base of its head. With each slash a deep gash would get deeper and deeper until the last one decapitated it. I did that a couple more times to kill 2 more warrior ants and with Konna and Sondar in tow we went and started attacking the warriors guarding the Relay ants.

I jumped onto one of the Warriors and decided to test out my new vampire skill. I tried to suck out its life force just by putting my hands on it but nothing happened and I was forced to jump off to avoid an attack from the side by one of the others. I was really confused about why my new skill didn't work and I really didn't want to take a bite just to experiment. But about that time Sondar had created an Earth Spike and shot it towards the Warrior, piercing its hard shell and causing a huge gush of green goo to explode forth from it.

I felt a strange urge to consume the green goo because of how much life force was still in it. I felt my mind drawing me towards the green blood of the ant as hunger started rising and then my Dual Mind spoke.

'This feeling.... It has to be because of the Vampirism skill. We are getting drawn in. We have to drink it. It may sound gross but our hunger is starting to overtake our minds. I suggest while we still have some conscious thought we take care of it now and then we can get back to killing the others.'

Taking its advice I jump towards the ant as it bled and ripped out the spike and stabbed it again and again making the blood flow even more. Then I dunked my hands in the blood and brought it to my mouth and let it flow down my throat as a taste of pure sweetness overtook my senses. I almost couldn't concentrate because of how amazing it tasted but I knew I had to have more of it as I clenched my fists and used my buffs to make time slow down. I jumped from ant to ant ripping open their shells causing torrents of blood to flow over me as I drank it in.

By the time I came to my senses I had just finished ripping the head of the last Relay ant and gulping down the last of its blood. As the world came back into focus I saw multiple notifications and also the shocked faces of my friends.

[User has absorbed the life force of [Cavernous Warrior Ant]

[Gained +5 Str, Con]

[User has absorbed the life force of [Cavernous Warrior Ant]

[Gained +5 Str, Vit]

[User has absorbed the life force of [Cavernous Relay Ant]

[Gained +10 Int, +50 Mana]

[User has absorbed the life force of [Cavernous Relay Ant]

[Gained +10 Int, +50 Mana]

[User has assimilated DNA of 2 new species now generating possible skills]

------Vexsus----------------

[Analyze] 8 -> 9

[Heat Resistance] 30 -> 35%

[Lightning Muscles] 6 -> 7

[Quick Step] 8 - 9

[Spatial Bullet] - Level Up! -> Lvl 2, 0/30

[Mental Fortress] 10 -> 15%

[Space Mines] Lvl 0 0/10 - Spatial pockets of magic that when touched will implode and suck in whatever is around it in a few meter radius.

[Regen] 2 -> 3

[Lightning Slashes] Level Up! - Lvl 1, 3/20

-----Sondar--------

[Earth Creation] Level Up! Lvl 1 0/20 - This is retcon from last chapter I forgot to add this because he created the bolts.

[Earth Spikes] lvl 0 0/10 - User creates spikes from the surrounding earth that can be used as a close range weapon or shot as a projectile.
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