Chapter 32 – Fighting monsters in a mine part 3.

The party was in a large open cavern. After defeating the Myrmeke Soldier they got quickly swarmed by multiple monster ants. There were all the three variations of the Myrmeke monster ant that they already came across. The most dangerous were the soldiers that appeared, luckily the party had someone with enough firepower to keep them busy.

Multiple large balls of water splashed onto the approaching ant monsters. Following them were similar spheres, they radiated a slightly different kind of elemental energy. A ball of frost flew towards one of those large Myrmeke Soldier’s. The ant reacted by dodging to the side but part of its large abdomen got hit. Instantly the ant’s body started freezing, the frost traveled upwards and caused the large monster to stop in its tracks.

These monsters were insects and were also cold-blooded. They couldn’t regulate their internal heat and relied on the environment. Some species developed specialized organs to combat this but this monster ant certainly didn’t. The moment its temperature dropped below a certain point it would start acting sluggish and finally, it would start to hibernate.

Roland’s party members watched as their mage used some kind of flimsy booklet. Each time a frost and water-related spell flew a page would disintegrate into nothingness. After the initial frost appeared Roland activated a wind elemental spell scroll which caused the area in front of him to become even colder. He had successfully simulated a sort of blizzard spell which was causing the monsters to become sluggish.

“Now, while they can’t move, attack!”

They noticed that the active ants had become quite slow after the area was covered in frost and ice. They were also feeling cold but the adrenaline and their clothes kept them awake enough for them to continue with the fight.

Orson and Dalrak engaged the monster in close quarters melee. They found it surprisingly easy to finish off the lethargic ants, even Helci moved in with her dagger. Her weapon was continuously stabbed into one of the monster ant’s head causing it to promptly bleed out and die.

Roland concentrated on the most powerful monsters from the group which were the two Soldier variants. The other spell that he used in combination with the ice ball spell was the whirlwind spell. It kicked up a storm and together with the already chilly air caused the monsters to halt in their tracks.

For the finishing touches, he used gale arrows as well as rock arrows and focused them on the Myrmeke Soldier’s joints. Their exoskeleton was quite hard to crack even in their weakened state. When the monsters were damaged enough, the two warriors from the party could finish them off with their physical attacks.

The battle continued and Roland started going through his spell scrolls, his Rune Mastery skill started leveling up at a rapid pace. The monsters they were fighting were also tier 2 which caused everyone to level up quickly, Helci had already gained five whole levels since coming to this mine and this battle was still ongoing.

The battle didn’t end quickly. The ant monsters kept coming and coming. It was as if there wasn’t anyone besides this party left for the Myrmekes to hunt. All of their focus was pulled here but when they entered the freezing cavern only death awaited them on the inside.

While the party was continuing with their death bout, something else was happening outside the mine they were trapped in. Two people were seen arguing with one a lot angrier than the other.

“You gave us a false report, admit it!”

A man with a beard was holding a chubby man by the neck with one hand while shaking him about.

“Nonsense, how could I have known that it was a Myrmeke infestation?”

The man being held up was the supervisor of this mine. The person holding him up was Wells, the man responsible for this expedition. His party was lucky enough to not have any tunnels collapse on them. They had ventured inside just like Roland did, after a couple of fights with the ant monsters they also came across a soldier variant which they dispatched. After that point they had retreated, the probability of them dying multiplied and they weren’t willing to test their luck.

“We need to report this to the guild, this isn’t a mission suited for steel grade adventurers!”

He looked to the teams that had made it out. Three from the four teams had returned but one of them was missing two members while the fourth didn’t come back at all. This was Roland’s party that was still the only one remaining trapped inside.

“We need reinforcements from silver and gold ranks, maybe even a platinum. We have no idea if a Queen is with them, those are tier 3 monsters. We have no chance against that and they become agitated if too many of her hatchlings die.”

Wells’ finally moved his hand away from the man’s thick throat. The old man landed on his posterior before getting pulled away by some of his own bodyguards. Those couldn’t really do anything as the person in front of them was a gold rank adventurer.

“Wells, those low ranks haven’t come back and it’s already been several hours, we have to presume that they are dead.”

The party leader looked to the woman that came over, this was a silver ranked adventurer that was his teammate. He gave a nod, the tunnels needed to be collapsed further as they couldn’t let the ant monster infestation spread outside.

“Fine, do it. We will wait for reinforcements before finishing this mission, the guild shouldn’t fine us anything for this.”

The woman nodded and went away, after a while an explosion was heard. Wells just looked with a frown on his face as this was supposed to have been an easy mission. With maybe a few deaths from the more inexperienced adventurers.

The explosions that just occurred were deliberate. The miners placed explosives further inside the mine shafts and blew them up. Everyone knew that the ants were able to burrow through hard rocks but they still needed time to do it. After the reinforcements arrived they could clear out the rubble and try again, this time with reinforcements.

While this was happening the team of five that was presumed dead was sitting down and resting. They had vanquished a large surge of monster ants, now tired and depleted they were resting and eating. The area around them was covered in frost but thanks to some coal and magic they had managed to make a fire. Morale was low but everyone was still alive, to the side, multiple dead cadavers of large ants were scattered everywhere.

‘I’ve gone through more than half of my scrolls. Most of the spells I have left are the fire ones…’

Roland thought while biting into some bread and jerky that he had pulled out from his storage bag. Everyone besides Helci that lacked a spatial bag had brought over some provisions with them. The half-gnome didn’t go hungry, food and water were shared with everyone.

“W-will they leave us in here to die?”

The girl asked while slightly shivering. She was covered with scratches and dead ant blood, like everyone here she was tired and stressed. The others looked at her with a solemn expression on their faces.

“Aye lassie, very likely.”

The girl just like the rest of the party had trouble understanding this dwarf but they got the gist of it. They were on their own here. Roland already looked at the map and knew where the closest exit was but his thoughts were interrupted by another tremor. This one was a bit larger than the rest as the whole cavern shook for a moment.

“That came from…”

Roland looked at the map again, those sounds were coming from the direction of where the exit should be. Before he could voice his concerns the sun elf spoke up.

“Cave in the tunnels, standard procedure, seal of the nest, wait for specialized adventurers.”

“Shitty fuckers, they couldn’t have!”

Orson added while scrunching his forehead and kicking a dead ant body.

“We can’t know for sure before we check the exit first…”

Roland said while scratching the back of his neck, his eyes glued to the map as he looked for other exits. He quickly marked spots that couldn’t be reached anymore. He also placed an X mark on the tunnels from where most of the ants were coming out this gave him the idea where the original breach should be.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“I think the ant’s nest should be around this spot.”

He made sure to draw a big red circle around it. It would be better to avoid these parts of the cavern. The soldier ants could only be brought down by his spells scrolls but if anything stronger showed up they would be in deep trouble.

“Hope all these explosions won’t flood the tunnels.”

Helci murmured to herself while trying to eat. This halted Roland’s thinking process as he recalled that this mine was close to a large river. He recalled that the mining company sealed off the original entrance to the grotto that this mine was named after.

“Helci, you are a genius!”

“I am?”

The girl was surprised at Roland’s outburst. Everyone was being quiet while they rested and recovered their stamina.

“Yes, listen up.”

The other three male members moved their heads towards the young mage. They had already accepted that he wasn’t your regular magic caster. If he wasn’t here they would have probably been killed by that giant soldier ant. They had even managed to get rid of multiple ones thanks to all of his spell-slinging capabilities.

“Remember how this mine is close by the river?”

Everyone nodded. Unsure where he was going with it.

“The mine originally had its entrance through the grotto but they sealed it off as it kept flooding the tunnels inside.”

He continued, the elf was the first one to realize what Roland had in mind, the other three were lagging a bit behind.

“How does that help us?”

Orson asked, his strengths laid in fighting and not really in making plans.

“Och richt ah git it noo” ( Oh right, I get it now. )

Dalrak slapped his thigh as he finally realized what Roland meant. Helci and Orson strained their brain power but none of them could figure it out by themselves. They looked at Roland to enlighten them.