MTLNOVEL Chapter 19: The Ant
Coal was trying his best to run away from the octopus, Coal was fast but the octopus didn't have any issue keeping up with him.
It took the octopus less than a minute to climb all the way to the fourth layer from the depths of hell.
This octopus was toying with them!
Zeros wound started bleeding even more, it's as if the pressure was squeezing him and trying to force out more blood.
The octopus could end them any time it wanted. That was the reality of the situation. Zero severely underestimated random events that could happen. He was careless.
He bit his teeth, it was all his fault. Fuck! He took out his pickaxe and cut it in half with his scythe. A spell dropped, it was it's hidden ability. He infused it into his scythe and was burning through the accumulated divine energy.
He had to dig out a sphere big enough for Coal to pass through and fend off the octopuses tentacles.
It's regeneration speed was just insane! No matter how many times Zero disintegrated the octopuses tentacles it would regenerate instantly.
The only way they could escape, is if they led the octopus to the surface. That would doom the world!
Coal was trying his best to navigate through the fourth layer, everywhere was hot. He had burned his paws while running like crazy.
The octopus was launching many strikes at them with its tentacles, Zero was fending them off to the best of his ability.
But because of Coals size he was an easy target, the octopus still hit Coal multiple times.
Even a single hit from the octopus should be enough to kill Coal, but it chose not to.
Zeros eyes were filled with hatred, he wanted to jump off Coal and try to win some time for Coal to run away, it was his fault.
Why did he bring coal with him in the first place? There was no good reason. Coal was too weak to survive this cave. He only burdened himself and put Coal through pain.
Suddenly the whole cave trembled and the octopus suddenly stopped. The next moment the ceiling fell on top of the octopus, and... a huge leg crushed it?
Zero didn't understand what happened. Nothing in this cave could kill this octopus... at least in the game.
He doubted his sight, Coal stopped moving completely. Zero called Coal but no reaction came... what's going on?
The cave started to tremble again... the leg that just crushed the octopus began to move.
A huge black body appeared before his sight, this... an ant?
The ant was huge. Was the ant he saw on the third layer not the queen..?
His body started trembling unconsciously, this presence was too overwhelming for him to handle.
His mind however was stronger than his body, he was concentrated, observing the ants every twitch.
He knew he couldn't survive if the ant decided to attack, but he didn't give up. The ant was starring him down, it had never seen something so small.
This ant was in fact not the ant he saw on the third layer. It didn't have a fungi on its head, it was just an ant.
Didn't it come from the top..? Suddenly Zero realized something, why Coal was not moving.
The ant queen he had seen before must have died! The fungi was currently trying to take over Coals brain!
He turned turned around to look at Coal, he was still not moving.
The ant stood there, starring at the two of them. It was observing the two puny beings with amusement.
To Zeros surprise he couldn't feel any hostile intent from the ginormous ant... he decided to ignore it for now and tend to Coal.
The ant didn't attack them for one simple reason, it didn't feel any dark energy in them. It sensed the divine power in the scythe, but it didn't care about that.
It sensed dark energy coming from the octopus, and that's why it had killed it.
It sensed dark energy from the queen of ants, and that's why it had killed it too. This ant was simply following a trail of dark energy that lead it here.
Nobody knew where this ant came from, not even the gods of this world.
Suddenly Zeros status screen appeared before him.
[Un#no** E//ity]
It was lagging, is this a creature from another world?
[Estimating. . .]
[G*d #/%*$/ Ant]
[Entity deemed Immeasurable]
Immeasurable? Well that's to be expected... it easily crushed the hell octopus.
He decided to try and cast his status screen at Coal.
[Named pet: Coal]
[Owner: Player "Zero"]
.
.
[Status: Zombification 67%]
Just as he thought, Coal is getting zombified. He didn't know how to solve that, there was no such status in the game.
He glanced at the ant, and the ant and just tilted its head. It was surprisingly peaceful...
In reality it already lost interest in Zero and Coal, it was just absorbing the rich dark energy from the octopus.
Zero was trying to think of a solution, but suddenly the cave trembled... the ant had moved.
It was... aggravated by something. It moved closer to the two of them.
Zero didn't want to fight this ant, must he really?
The ant was starring at Coal, it had felt a surge of dark energy inside of it. It opened its mouth and sucked all of the dark energy out of Coal.
[Status: Zombification 67% -> 54% -> 34% -> 10% -> 0%]
The ant closed its mouth and turned around, each time the ant moved the cave trembled. It backed up a bit and went straight down right at the place where the octopus died.
It seems it followed the dark energy straight to hell... the two were alive. It's a goddamn miracle!
Coal had unfrozen and a shiver ran down his spine, it didn't see the ant that saved their lives. Coal had lost his consciousness as soon as the queen ant was killed.
Coal turned around to take a look to where this mighty being was, but saw nothing. The octopus was nothing compared to this mighty presence... he thought he will die if he were to have eye contact with the source of that presence even for a second.