Ch. 180 Bullet Siege
The red ants come charging in from my left, right, and directly in front of me. Since they’re no longer grouped together, it’s going to take more time to fire off [[Kamaitachi]] to stop each of them. Don’t these guys seem to cooperate too well?
I hightail it out of there, occasionally turning around to fire off [[Kamaitachi]] at them. I repel the [[Clay Gun]] that I can’t avoid with my tail and wings instead. Receiving some damage is unavoidable. As long as I don’t get hit on my torso, the damage won’t be anything too serious. I also have [[Rest]] now.
The fourth ant, which has taken multiple blows from my [[Kamaitachi]], gets up and starts running towards me again. Shit, guess I should’ve finished it off even though that seemed a bit excessive. A four-on-one shootout is going to be fairly hard. These guys, they have the nerve to use their numbers to their advantage to shoot right at my weak points!
I’m struck with [[Clay Gun]] from my left, right, and behind almost simultaneously. Ugh, in perfect sync? If I’m too eager and rush in, I’ll be exposing too many openings. I skilfully avoid the one coming from behind me and deal with the ones coming from my left and right with my wings and tail respectively.
The situation is not looking too good right now. Should I consider using [[Roll]] temporarily to shake them and regain my bearings? No, I have a lot of MP and HP this time. If
I simply continue whittling them down like this with hardly any results, I won’t be in time for the day of the execution. Over time, this waste of stamina will hurt.
There’s currently quite a lot of space between each red ant. If I’m dealing with a single target, I can use a powerful skill to crush them. This scene could be the deciding moment of our bout. If I can crush just one, then only three would remain. The situation would improve considerably. Even though I’m going to take damage, it would be worth it to beat down one of them.
I ball my limbs up and transition to [[Roll]]. Believing that I’m planning to escape, the ants increase their pace. I swerve heavily and charge towards the red ant that’s trying to cut me off from the right side.
“Kuchaaa!”
The red ant fires its [[Clay Gun]] straight at me. Although I could avoid it, that would be time lost. The other red ants come running over. That will be troublesome. Increasing my rotational speed, I fling off the red sand bullets flying towards me.
And with that momentum, I send the red ant flying. The red ant is knocked backwards considerably, and I hasten my pursuit. That’s one hit! Now for the second! I follow up by tackling the red ant that is now in floating in midair. The red ant’s forelegs are mangled and part of its body is crushed.
“Gudji!!”
The defeated red ant spits out body fluids from its mouth, falling to the ground onto
onto its back. I mercilessly roll right over it.
[416 experience points obtained] [Title Skill [[Walking Egg: Lv -]] activated, 416 bonus points obtained] [Level of [[Evil Plague Dragon]] has increased from 57 to 59.]
Yeah, first one down! Now this’ll get much easier.
Even though it couldn’t be helped, I focused too much on a single ant.
“Kucha!” “Kucha!” “Kuacha!”
While I was concentrating on bringing down the first red ant, the other red ants have surrounded me. It would seem that they’re going to shoot at me with [[Clay Gun]] from three directions.
The momentum of [[Roll]] has decreased sharply after colliding with the red ant multiple times. I have to accelerate again and regain my distance. With enough speed, I can fling off the sand bullets and suppress the damage done to me.
As soon as I attempt to increase my rotation speed, my body slips and falls down. Did the ground cave in? No, did they alter the terrain by using [[Clay]] to shift the sand? Does that mean that the narrow vision and linear trajectory of [[Roll]] is going to give me trouble?
Should I use [[Roll]] to force through my escape just like this? Nah, I think I’ll try flying once again. I prefer it.
As soon as I stop rotating, three [[Clay Gun]] projectiles come flying towards me with no grace period for me to get into position. I can’t avoid them. I can only knock them down with my tail and protect myself with my wings. I point my wings and tail frontward and prepare to
prepare to intercept them.
Hold on, I heard three sounds, but there are only two projectiles? Despite that thought, I defend myself against the first shot with my wing and knock down the second shot with my tail. From within the shadow of the second shot, the third sand bullet appears.
Oh, now you’ve done it.
I put my arm in front of me and attempt to repel the bullet with my claws. However, the sand bullet slips over my claws, jumping straight for my chest.
“Guuo!”
I take a sand bullet to my chest. The shot has considerable power behind it, but I can’t afford to lose focus. If I get distracted by the pain, then I’m going to be violently killed like a plaything. I’ll end up just like Big Scissor-senpai. I kick off the ground, escaping from the depression in the sand left by the red ants’ [[Clay]].
Maybe it’s because I overused my wings in guarding myself, but I can’t fly as well as I usually can. It’ll be all over for me if I lose my posture while in mid-air. I hastily land and hit the ground running on all fours.
“Kuchaa!” “Kucha!” “Kuchaaa!”
As usual, they’ve surrounded me on three sides while running parallel with me. I want to at least use [[Flight]] to get out of this formation.
One by one, I use [[Kamaitachi]] to repress them while I run. The red ants should be steadily growing weaker. They aren’t shooting [[Clay Gun]] as much now. They’re out of MP, huh. It’s because they kept firing off kept firing off skills like crazy even though their max MP isn’t that high.
It was dangerous, but I can see that the ants will soon reach their limit. The ant that’s running behind and to the right of me gets struck by [[Kamaitachi]] and collapses to the ground onto its back. I thought that last one was a blow that it could avoid; was it at its physical limit too?
[400 experience points obtained] [Title Skill [[Walking Egg: Lv -]] activated, 400 bonus points obtained] [Level of [[Evil Plague Dragon]] has increased from 59 to 60.]
Did you die? You hung on pretty well. There aren’t many ants that could take on a dragon to this extent. At least, I had not seen something like this in my previous life. Not that I remember much, but that much I can affirm. If such ants existed, Earth would be ruined.
Well, there are only two remaining? I consider using [[Roll]] again to put some more distance between us, but if it’s only these two, I can beat them and win in the usual manner. I could take them out immediately.
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Species: Red Ogre Ant
Status: Normal
Lv: 24/55
HP: 46/226
MP: 12/69
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Species: Red Ogre Ant
Status: Normal
Lv: 26/55
HP: 55/230
MP: 8/71
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Yeah, both their HP and MP are practically gone. I want to limit wasting my own MP as much as possible. Should I stop attacking while running away and instead try to finish them at once?[1]
[1] Kaelpie’s HQ TL: ‘something something one shot something’
Also Kaelpie: ONE PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH