[ Chapter VIII (8): "FORMICA MUSCO; OR BIG MOSSY ANTS FOR SHORT" ]
[ FORMICA MUSCO LVL. 3 KILLED BY PLAYER! ]
[ +21 EXPERIENCE TO PLAYER ]
He felt the monster wriggle under him, even though the thing is now considered dead by the System... Seconds later, it finally stopped, which eased Alastor's worry, as he finally removed his sword from the monster's head.
He felt stabbing the thing was easier than before. Before it was a life and death scenario, but now, it felt like a chore. Maybe its because he has experience in killing, the monster is smaller, or because he upgraded Strength he doesn't know.
Probably all of the above. He savors this new feeling of power, not at all bothered with finding a new hostile type of monster...
A big ass ant, from what he knows, it could lift 100x its body weight which is terrifying on its own.
He moves back in disgust, seeing that the ant-monster releases black goo which is its blood. It tainted both the ground, the bones of the deceased it was eating, and Alastor's sword— which caused him to wipe the blood away on the trees beside him.
[ "Disgusting..." ]
He couldn't help but mutter something to himself, as he finally moves on to another place. With him having a new target in mind, apparently the giant ants are easy to kill, and give more experience than a normal bug...
What a great harvest, so with this knowledge he tries to actively search for ants... Hopefully a lone ant, and not a group of cat-sized ants. Imagining that is terrifying on its own already.
About to swipe a clueless unknown bug, Alastor stopped mid-way when he noticed something in the distance... [ "Hmm?" ] He looked closely and immediately realized what it was... A shadow.
Not a normal shadow, but instead is a trail of shadows. He ignored the bug climbing the trees, as he now finds himself more curious about the trail...
Due to the miasma around the air, he couldn't really see what the trail was... With the smoke clouding his vision unlike a normal smoke would... But he approached close enough, and he noticed what kind of shadows those waving around the air is.
And they are.
[ FORMICA MUSCO LVL. 2 ]
[ HOSTILE ]
[ FORMICA MUSCO LVL. 3 ]
[ HOSTILE ]
[ FORMICA MUSCO LVL. 2 ]
[ HOSTILE ]
[ FORMICA MUSCO LVL. 2 ]
[ HOSTILE ]
[ FORMICA MUSCO LVL. 1 ]
[ HOSTILE ]
A group of ants, similar in appearance, varying in sizes according to the level... But most of them are small, some still clouded under the miasma, some visible to Alastor— as he watches them with excitement...
To the normal Alastor an hour ago before his death, this would have been a scary scene... But to Alastor at the moment, this is blatantly an experience farm that he can abuse with ease;
Especially because at the moment he wants experience, NEEDS all the experience he could get. May that come in the form of wolves, bugs, or giant ants he doesn't mind.
Before diving, he looks around him just in case. He noticed that there isn't any threat nearby aside from the ants, so he dived right in without worrying for backstabs, or being overwhelmed.
[ "Hey... Anthony...!" ]
Alastor smiles in seeing an ant carrying a big trunk between its lips, so he calls out... Before then stabbing the monster with ease in the head, causing the monster to drop the wood on the floor.
Wailing on the floor, he ended the thing's suffering with him finally twisting his sword... This intensified the wailing, before finally...
[ FORMICA MUSCO LVL. 2 KILLED BY PLAYER! ]
[ +16 EXPERIENCE TO PLAYER ]
It died.
Alastor didn't waste any time at all, as he filled with rage and mustered all of that into his next strike... Swiping the nearby ant on the leg before it could even notice, this caused the heavy thing to fall on the ground screaming...
The noises of the two ants now finally having alerted the other preoccupied ants to their kin's distress... But before they could help, another one fell dead.
[ FORMICA MUSCO LVL. 1 KILLED BY PLAYER! ]
[ +11 EXPERIENCE TO PLAYER ]
About to strike another, the smiling Alastor paused when he realized that the remaining ants aren't coming to him one at the time, but instead as a group... Not even caring if they trample one another, slightly scaring him.
[ "One at a time, you idiots...!" ]
From his count there were 6 ants, 5 he thought initially. He killed 2, now there's 4 remaining; now all of those remaining ant-monsters are approaching him, at a terrifying speed with the help of their 6 lanky legs in full auto...
No choice in this matter, Alastor swung his sword down on them, his shield covering his left, his feet ever so backing away the more they approached him... With this tactic he was able to kill another one of these ants.
[ FORMICA MUSCO LVL. 2 KILLED BY PLAYER! ]
[ +20 EXPERIENCE TO PLAYER ]
Feeling his shield being lowered, he puts more strength in it as he backs away, pulling his bloodied sword away in the process. Gritting his teeth, Alastor now has a wild guess who murdered those wolves before.
Plausibly a group of these ants, and the first ant he encountered which was eating something. Yeah, that's most likely to be wolf bones, and he doesn't want to be the next one on the menu.
[ "Eat steel...!" ]
Stabbing his sword forward, Alastor was able to hit another ant. Sadly, it wasn't enough to fully take it down; as the said monster took this opportunity to bite the tip of his index finger.
Not enough to completely eat it, but enough to eat half of it. Reeling excruciating pain, and poison enter his body, he momentarily paused pulling away from contact.
[ PLAYER NO. 1 HAVE RESISTED POISON ]
[ POISON RESISTANCE LVL. 1 (TRAIT) SLIGHTLY INCREASE IN PROFICIENCY! ]
[ "Fuck...!" ]
He could see his lovely right index finger having been bitten off, oozing with blood, with poison now seeping inside it. Thankfully with his trait, the poison slowed down compared to the first time he got poison.
Feeling his dominant hand being damaged by the second, Alastor wanted to gather all of his strength and use it all before he got swarmed by the ants.
And so he did, he stabbed his sword forward at the ant that bit him. His other hand with the help of his shield forcefully blocked the 2 remaining ants on his left side.
He twisted his sword and seconds later, the ant bled and died... Flopping down on the floor.
[ FORMICA MUSCO LVL. 2 KILLED BY PLAYER! ]
[ +19 EXPERIENCE TO PLAYER ]
The notification of his kill made him pull out from the ant's head, ready to murder another... Alastor was momentarily stopped by something else, the notification for leveling up accompanied by something else...?
[ PLAYER NO. 1 YOU HAVE LEVEL-UP! ]
[ PLAYER LVL. 4 ---> PLAYER LVL. 5 ]
[ JOB CLASS UNLOCKED! ]
That's great news, later he can finally pick a fighting class. Or a class that can most benefit him, especially for his survival in this godforsaken land...
About to continue fighting, Alastor again stopped when he realized his surroundings weren't in the miasma filled forest before, and the pain in his finger stopped... Confused, he looked around and couldn't see the gigantic ants no matter what.
Still in his hands is his shield, then his sword, then his last Potion of Health. Aside from the void-like surrounding of his that doesn't let any sunlight in, Alastor couldn't discern anything else...
[ PLEASE SELECT A JOB CLASS, YOU HAVE 300 SECONDS TO DECIDE ]
He watches the text appear in front of him, before then disappearing. About to question the System on what happened, he stopped again for the third time when he noticed small cards in the air forming from nothing.
Small deck cards that one would easily see in games with a twist. Unlike the number cards which are either marked with hearts, spades, clubs or diamonds...
These are instead filled with pictures posing in different positions, landscapes behind them vary from calm forest to desert wastelands, to burning purgatory with screaming souls behind.
Alastor was immediately perplexed by this, [ "What in the...?" ] As he turns around, to his back, to his side, to everywhere. But no matter where he looked, the same scene still happened; he could still see cards varying in looks, posing for him, looking at him.
Feeling slightly scared, he was about to raise his shield. But realized that each and every single one of them are stuck in midair, inside the cards, in a circular manner around Alastor...
Each card is uniform in their size and length, aside from the appearance, the names stuck under them, the way they are positioned, and the stars beside them.
They could be considered relatively the same...
[ WARRIOR ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ VAMPIRE ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ KNIGHT ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ CHEF ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ CLERK ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ BUSINESSMAN ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ WIZARD ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ MAGE ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER ] [ 2 STARS ]
[ ARCHER ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ DRUID ] [ 2 STARS ]
[ HUNTER ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ BEASTMAN ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ MONSTER TAMER ] [ 2 STARS ]
[ ROBOT ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ GHOST ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ SORCERER ] [ 2 STARS ]
[ ELF ] [ 2 STARS ]
[ SCIENTIST ] [ 1 STAR ]
[ PROFESSOR ] [ 3 STARS ]
[ ... ]
Towering over him, up to hundreds more of so-called cards could be seen surrounding him... All looking at him, seemingly waiting for him to pick and choose one of them up...
All distinct, some the same, some not... It is no wonder that Alastor felt overwhelmed by this sudden change happening around him... Which made him excited like never before.
[ "..." ]
[ "Oh god..." ]
[ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ]
[ 05/03/2025 ]
[ 05/04/2025 ]