Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 105: Hunter’s Proving

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Suddenly A low growl drifted. Out of the far gloom skulked three Sulphur Jackals, desert canids, hides studded with obsidian shards, amber eyes leaking acid tears. Two star rank, but pack synergy nasty. They’d sniffed spilled aura.

Kai rotated his spear three hundred and sixty degrees. "Fenn, Brask! Tight wedge." Metal clanged.

Jackals prowled closer, tongues sizzling sand. The first lunged at them. Brask’s tower‑shield absorbed but hissed where acid splashed. Kai slipped sideways, skewered its ribs, and popped the beast heart. EXP +30.

The other two converged. Kai duck low, forcing one to leap, then spiked its belly mid‑air. Brask smashed the last with his shield edge, Jun flung a glyph that froze acid mid‑spit. EXP +30, +30.

[Ding! 290/1 000...] Not enough.

He sniffed deeper gloom, larger signatures. He glanced at Mia: she sat motionless, crystal light pulsing into her thorax, aura spiralling upward like a slow comet. Disturbing her now risked aura deviation.

Kai tugged Fenn close. "I’ll sweep the south gallery, solo. Keep the ring sealed. If a bigger beast pushes, retreat behind Jun’s runes."

"Yes, sir."

South gallery descended in corkscrew, slick stone, sulphur stink. Kai felt Miryam’s egg grow warm: unease or enthusiasm? Hard to tell.

Forty metres down the chamber widened into stalactite forest. And there they waited: Obsidian Moles, blind three‑star diggers, eleven of them chewing crystals.

Kai calculated quickly. Alone, but he needed EXP and stats for his promise to protect Miryam. Spear in one hand, he drew a dagger with the other hand.

First mole sensed vibration and it screeched. The pack thundered.

Kai triggered his skill Reflex Mode. Time stretched; his limbs blurred. He vaulted over the first mole, severing its spine in passing. Landed, twisted, stabbed another behind my ear. Tail spikes clanged off his Adaptive Armor, still bruising.

Mana drained: Aura ticked 2 500, 2 300. He couldn’t out sprint the swarm long. He pivoted, jammed spear butt in fault crack, levered sideways and ceiling slab dropped, crushing two.

"Five left. Come on, show me what you got."

He kicked a stalagmite, fissured crystal burst in dazzling shards, blinding Moles momentarily. He dashed, slitting throats. Down to three.

Aura dipped below 2 100; muscles ached. His Reflex mode got cancelled (time out), heart pounding. Last trio encircled the flanks.

Kai inhaled, tasting Ruler‑Roar icon under his ribs. "Not yet." Instead he invoked Essence Overlord (cost free, passive augment to attacks for minutes). Spear grew a dark aura blade.

He danced: parry, thrust, pivot. Obsidian edge cut chitin like fruit rind. Last mole crashed dead. EXP cascaded: +200, +200, +200. And the earlier two gave him +400.

[Ding! Level Up! 28 → 29 Aura max rose by 100]

He leaned on the spear, panting. Blood steamed on sand. Then his stomach twisted in hunger. Essence‑Eater itched.

Five intact corpses remained. No one is here to watch. Time to dig in.

Kai knelt by biggest body, sank mandibles. Dark ichor poured; system chimed:

[Essence Eaten activated. Stats +3.] Repeat on second: [Stats +3 ]. Then third [Stats +3 ]. Then forth [Stats +3 ]. Last one essence was bitter poison; he spat out, received only [Stats +1]

He wiped mouth. [Unallocated Stats: 28]

He carved out all the star cores: five three star cores, heavy as bricks. Inventory absorbed them.

Returning upward he felt the egg’s content purr, perhaps satiated by devoured aura leakage. For the first time he addressed it mentally: "Did you enjoy the battle, little one?"

A pulse of sleepy satisfaction answered.

When Kai slipped back to the main team twelve hours later, Mia hovered a metre above ground, cocooned in crystal light. Crack‑webs spread across pillars; fine dust drifted.

Miners dozed, Jun kept the rune veil steady. As Kai stepped inside, the glow soared in a thump-thump wave of aura almost forcing him to one knee. Cracks in Mia’s carapace shone molten, then sealed.

A ringing note like temple chimes filled the chamber. Some walls shattered, shards orbiting her in a slow constellation. When they fell, Mia landed lightly, eyes blazing silver for a heartbeat before returning ruby.

Mia exhaled frost, smiled dizzily. "Barrier held?"

"Uneventful," Kai lied, wiping gore unnoticed onto thigh. "How do you feel?"

"Like the sun at noon." She flexed. "Thank you, Kai and everyone. You all kept the beast out and me in."

She surveyed crystal wreckage. Less than half of original mass remained; rest siphoned into her core.

Miners bowed with awe. Jun clapped in quiet reverence.

Mia rolled her shoulders. "Pack what shards remain, we must move before Thea finds the treasure room." novelbuddy.cσ๓

Outside the underground the thunder of distant horns already sounded. Kai exchanged looks with Mia. "What’s going on?" he asked.

Mia sighed. "Mother spares no show. The A’zhorath might be near to fall, soon she will claim the corpse rights. Let’s continue, let’s find the treasure room and collect everything."

The instant Mia finished her terse command, Kai flicked a claw‑signal. The team members shouldered their half‑full satchels of star‑crystal shards, while Sergeant Jun used a rapid series of earth shattering attacks to break some star crystals from the walls.

Faint residual aura still hissed from the cracked stump, but the once‑blinding beacon had dimmed to a dull glow. They collected everything.

"Everything is packed," Kai murmured. Fenn and Brask covered their bags. Only needle‑thin beams leaked onto the sinuous corridor ahead. A swirl of dusty quartz sparkled in each narrow cone. Far overhead the war still rumbled in distant cannon‑mites, tremors from the Queen’s duel with the Ruler’s husk, the vibrations shook the rock underground. It felt as if they had stepped beneath the main battle field.

Kai’s Predator Instinct tickled. Multiple small beasts prowled somewhere left, nothing above two star rank. He ignored them. They had a singular goal: locate the true treasure vault, the rumoured heart of A’zhorath’s labyrinth where centuries of plundered relics had been hoarded.

Mia paced at his right shoulder. Her aura, swollen by the star crystal she had siphoned, heat‑blurred the air, yet she moved easily, adjusting the flow so as not to scorch comrades. Whenever her crimson eyes met Kai’s, gratitude flickered like a silent vow that the power he had helped her claim would soon be repaid one day. Maybe with her body or something else.