Ethan walked over to the orange portals cluster. There was no point in hesitating. His summons were strong and his strategy solid. Besides, if he could handle this, it would open the floodgates for faster growth and better loot. He adjusted the strap on his branded pouch and began walking toward the gate for Termite Hill.
As he approached, a few nearby students glanced at him with raised brows—so out of curiosity, others in mild amusent. Most solo players avoided orange portals unless they had a death wish. But Ethan wasn't alone. He had an army. Shadow padded silently beside him as he calmly stepped into the portal.
The world around him blurred and shifted. When it reford, he was standing at the edge of a vast, dust-choked canyon riddled with holes the size of carts. Giant termite mounds rose like twisted spires across the landscape. The air was dry and heavy with the scent of decay and acid. This was definitely a unique environnt.
Ethan didn't waste ti. One by one, he summoned his forces—wolves, insectoids, lesser demons, treants, and the slis. The air shimred as each creature blinked into existence, forming ranks instinctively around him.
Thanks to his new skill, Mana Back Guarantee, he was able to keep up with his mana despite summoning all of his troops. The only drawback was that the whole process was ntally exhausting. Repeatedly channeling mana through his body, using a cheat skill to override the natural mana reserves limit took its toll on the body.
He rolled his shoulder and did a little stretching. "Last one. Let's go!" The termite mounds in the distance pulsed faintly as though sensing his intrusion. Shadow gave a soft growl at his side, her fur bristling ever so slightly.
The ground rumbled suddenly, and monts later, the first wave erged.
It began with a tremor and then a cascade of clicking. Dozens of worker termites—each the size of a wolf—poured from the mounds. Their mandibles snapped rhythmically, forming a percussive beat of impending violence. Ethan didn't flinch. "Wolves up front. Treants, start healing!" He shouted.
The pack exploded into motion. Gale led the charge and tore apart the first worker termite in a blur of wind and claws, his movents like a streak of silver slicing through the dusty air. The termite didn't even have ti to scream before it was bisected cleanly, its acidic insides splattering onto the canyon floor with a wet hiss.
Behind him, the rest of the wolves followed in synchronized formation. They were a blur of teeth and speed, weaving in and out of enemy lines with practiced precision. Termite after termite fell under their coordinated assault, limbs severed and carapaces shattered.
anwhile, the treants raised their arms, glowing softly with green light. Streams of healing energy flowed into the wolves and insectoids, knitting together any cuts and bruises the termites managed to land.
Then, the spitters joined the fray.
Dozens of termite spitters erged from the ridges above, launching streams of acidic sli toward Ethan's formation. Rats took care of these spitters as they darted up the canyon walls with uncanny agility, their small bodies weaving through gaps in the terrain.
Though individually weaker, Ethan's swarm of rats had one key advantage—numbers and speed. They overwheld the spitters with ferocity, biting through soft spots in the underbelly and disrupting their aim.
Acid splashed here and there, sizzling against the rocky walls and occasionally scalding a minion or two, but the treants were relentless with their healing pulses.
Another swarm of termites suddenly erupted from beneath the earth—this ti, soldier-class monsters. These ones were bulkier, their chitin-covered bodies gleaming like obsidian and their mandibles serrated like saws. They didn't charge blindly like the workers. They moved with strategy, forming a pincer formation as they advanced.
It was ti for his lesser demons to take action. Zither Wings dove from above, their sonic screeches disorienting the termite ranks.
The high-pitched resonance caused several soldiers to stagger, and the lesser demons took full advantage, tearing through the disoriented lines like vultures through carrion. The synergy between air and ground units was brutal and beautiful—chaos weaponized into harmony.
Ethan stood at the eye of the storm, monitoring every movent with sharp focus. He thought he needed to intervene, but in the end it looked like he did not have to after all. He could see why this dungeon would need 20 or more E-rankers to tackle. The battle was fierce, but Ethan's forces were fiercer.
Soon, the number of termites started thinning down, and suddenly, the mound behind the largest soldier exploded upward with a thunderous CRACK, and out crawled the true horror of Termite Hill.
The Acid Queen, a bloated, towering monstrosity with translucent, glistening armor and a swollen abdon glowing with toxic green fluid. She let out a rasping screech that silenced the entire field for a heartbeat.
Ethan's pupils narrowed. This was the real fight. He could probably let his minions handle this one too, but his hands were itching. He wanted so action after standing still for a long ti.
"Alright, you ugly sack of acid," he murmured, stepping forward, "let's see what you've got."
The Acid Queen let out a gurgling roar and lunged—not fast, but with an uncanny lurch, her massive mandibles snapping as acidic mist fud from her body. The ground hissed where she stepped, leaving trails of lting rock and bone.
Ethan lifted his hand and mouthed the words of power for the fire ball. "Burn!" he shouted, and the fireball roared from his hand, streaking through the air like a cot.
It smashed into the Acid Queen's advancing form and exploded against her translucent armor in a blossoming flare of fla. The heatwave scorched the canyon walls, and the force of the blast staggered even the Queen's titanic bulk.
Flas licked up her sides, leaving blackened trails across the shimring carapace—but she didn't stop. She screeched, now enraged, her mandibles snapping as she charged directly at Ethan. His magic was simply not enough to deal with her.
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