Dream Life Vol II Chapter 54.2: “At The Foot of the Caem Mountains”

　It felt somewhat like camping, but this was a dangerous area with monsters. It was far more dangerous than the forests near the town we had been visiting, and we could not afford to be careless.

　The night guards will have two shifts of two people each, and we will be divided into two groups: me and Liddy, and Beatrice and Sharon.

　Tomorrow morning we will start at dawn, so we will go to bed as soon as we have dinner.

　The sound of crackling firewood and the wind blowing through the forest are mixed with the roar of monsters in the distance.

　There are many large monsters such as ogres and trolls in this area, so we cannot be too careful.

　We have not found any traces of large monsters in the area we have walked today. According to Beatrice’s opinion, there would be no dangerous monsters that we could not handle.

　At first, Beatrice and Sharon was on guard, and we took over around the time the date changed.

　Time passed uneventfully, and the eastern sky began to grow bright.

　After waking up Beatrice and the others and having a quick breakfast, we started our search again.

　After walking west for an hour or so, we found tracks that were not ours. It appeared to be another party that had also taken down a Soldier Ant.

　The tracks were heading north, and we ignored them and continued west.

　Suddenly, Beatrice, walking in the lead, stopped.

　She showed us a clear liquid on the grass, saying, “These seem to be the tracks of the Soldier Ant.” I sniffed it, and it smelled faintly like sweet honey, but it was impossible for my sense of smell to detect it.

　Beatrice took her bearings and headed north.

　She stopped several times to check the trail, and we followed her carefully.

　Suddenly Beatrice crouched down. As we did the same, Beatrice sent us a hand sign to let us know that she had found the enemy.

　We looked closely and saw a group of Soldier Ants about a hundred meters away, glistening black in the morning sun. I could not see the full extent of the ants because I was looking up at them from my vantage point, but there were nearly a dozen giant ants just as far as the eye could see.

　I said to Liddy and Beatrice, “There are so many of them. What do we do?” I asked.

　Liddy said, “The main army is impossible. But if they are just a group carrying food, I think we can take them down.”

　Beatrice nodded in agreement. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she said, and then she was off, noiselessly weaving through the grass.

　Seeing her like this, I really feel that she is really a tiger beastfolk. It was just like the wild tigers I had seen on TV in the past, approaching their prey.

　After about ten minutes, Beatrice returned.

“They are just carrying food. There are twelve of them. What is the plan?” (Beatrice)

　I nodded silently and drew the sword from my back. Liddy and Beatrice nodded in agreement, and Sharon nodded with flushed cheeks.

“We’ll launch a surprise attack. Approach quietly and kill as many enemies as possible with Zack and Sharon’s magic. Lydiane will blow away the approaching ants with her [Air Hammer]. I’ll use my spear to take out the ones that get through. That should do it.” (Beatrice)

　We nodded quietly and approached the soldier ants.

　The ants were gripping the flesh of the orc-like humanoid monster in their mandibles and heading west in a line.

　Since we were able to make a surprise attack, we carried out the strategy we planned.

　Twelve ants formed a line about 30 meters long.

　Our position was about 30 meters south of the line of ants.

　From this position, two of us would simultaneously launch [Flame Hurricane – Firestorm]. To increase the firepower, we bring the two firestorms closer together and slowly move them from the front to the rear, burning the ants.

　[Firestorm] is a magic that causes a vortex of flame about ten meters in diameter to appear at the target location. Ordinary [Firestorm] is fixed at the target location and continue to burn for tens of seconds. Because of this, [Firestorm] itself cannot be moved, and enemies outside of its range cannot be damaged.

　However, Sharon and I can move [Firestorm] at will.

　According to Professor Ruspede, our imagery and magical control is genius. In fact, not even Professor Ruspede, let alone Liddy, can move storm-type magic.

　I digress, but by moving [Firestorm], we can damage the whole area. The duration of our magic is approximately 30 seconds, which means that the [Firestorm] will burn the ants at a speed of one meter per second. To further increase the firepower, we halved the diameter and placed two of them side by side. With this width, we should be able to do a lot of damage even if they run sideways.

　Sharon and I had a brief discussion as we hid into the grass and quietly chanted.

“O Ignis, God of Fire, commander of the world’s fires. I seek thy dancing flames of your kin, spirits, I offer the power of mine life to thee as payment. Burn mine, enemies, to ashes, Flame Hurricane, Firestorm!” (Zack & Sharon)

　With the activation of the magic, two vortices of flame appear at the ends of the line of Soldier Ants.

　The ants rustle and move their legs as if in a panic, but they still do not let go of the monster’s flesh. Then, slowly, the two vortices pass over the ants.

　The smell of burning monster flesh joins the smell of burning grass. The sound of crackling fire can be heard, but since no screams or other sounds are raised, We can’t confirm what kind of situation Soldier Ant is in.

　After the 30-seconds magic activation time had passed, I heard the sound of burning undergrowth and the rustling of Soldier Ant feet scratching at the grass.

　As I wondered if our firepower was insufficient, but Beatrice, who had stood up first, said to me in dismay, “As usual, your magic is substandard.”

　I gently got up and looked over to see the ants, their legs burned by the flames, turned upside down.

　This is what I wanted to try this time.

　Most insect-based monsters have hard shells protecting important parts such as the body and head. This makes it difficult for fire magic to work on the vital parts of the body, such as the head.

　The joints, however, are different.

　Because they have movable parts, they are only covered with a thin armor. Even monsters are made of protein, and if the joints are burned at high temperatures, the nervous system or muscles should be damaged.

　If even the legs are unable to move properly, it could be turned over and neutralized, just like an insect that has been hit by an insecticide. Even a Giant Centipede should be the same, if it works as well as it did this time.

　Leaving Liddy and Sharon behind, Beatrice and I approached cautiously. As expected, they were not completely wiped out, nine Soldier Ants had been flipped over, but the three that were behind them were safe and charged at us.

　The Soldier Ants made rustling noises and attacked us, swinging their huge jaws. One faced me and two faced Beatrice, and we moved out of the way.

　Believing that Beatrice could handle two of them, I focused on the one in front of me.

　The two-meter-long, one-meter-tall ant stands up on its hind legs and surpasses my height. It swings its huge jaws down at me as if to crush me from above, but I can easily avoid it because its movements are monotonous.

　The ant swings its head down toward me as if the weight of its head were nothing.

　I backstep to avoid it, swing my beloved sword, and swing it down on the ant’s head.

　I hear a hard “gan” sound, but it is not an effective damage, just a scratch on the head.

(As expected, it’s hard. Is there any need to be concerned about the head? Their weak point is their leg joints. As long as I am accurate, I can cut them down…) (Zack)

　Changing the target to the joints of the legs, I cut them down starting with the right front leg. The ant swivels its head from side to side and tries to block it, but if I time it right, it is not too difficult to avoid its jaws. However, the legs themselves also have a tough outer shell, so the sword must be swung down precisely on the joints, which are only a few centimeters wide.

　After a few attacks to get a feel for it, I slash down all the legs on the right side, the Soldier Ant loses its balance and falls over. It continued to claw at the ground with its working left legs and begin to spin around around on its back. Once this happens, it is no longer a threat. I carefully aim my sword at the base of its neck and swing it down, putting an end to the Soldier Ant.

　When I turned around after defeating my enemy, Beatrice had already killed the two ants. Both had been pierced through the mouth between their mandibles with a single strike.

　She then proceeded to put an end to the Soldier Ants that had the joints of their legs burned and put out the fire by stepping on the smoldering grass. Meanwhile, Sharon retrieved the magic stones.

　Beatrice asked, “What about stripping these guys?”, so we decided to strip off the outer shells of the ants that we could use.

　Of the ants burned by the [Firestorm], more than half were unusable, but about five of them looked usable, so we retrieved only the hardest parts.

　If it were possible, we could have collected a few more, but Sharon and I could not carry a heavy load, so we decided to take home only the parts that we could sell the highest.

　Incidentally, the outer shell of a soldier ant is used as material for leather armor and sells for a pretty good price. If there are only a few scratches, they will sell for about 10 C Krona (=10,000 yen) per silver coin. In this case, I was told that the price would be about 30 Krona for the five shells, since we were only taking from the head.

“It was still early, but what should we do? If these guys were heading west, that means the main group is west, right?” (Zack)

　In response to my question, Beatrice replied, “If there’s no problem with your magic power, we should hunt a little more. How about it?”

　I still had more than 90% of my magic power, and Sharon said there was no problem, so we decided to go after more Solider Ants.