The portal closed behind Lucien, leaving him standing in what appeared to be a massive underground cavern. The air was thick and humid, carrying the musty scent of earth and sothing else—sothing organic and unsettling.
Bioluminescent fungi dotted the walls, casting an eerie blue-green glow. The ceiling disappeared into darkness above, and the sound of his footsteps echoed strangely.
But what caught his attention imdiately were the inhabitants.
Giant ants. Dozens of them.
These weren't the small insects you'd find in a kitchen. These were the size of large dogs, their dark red chitinous shells gleaming in the fungal light. Their mandibles clicked ominously as they turned toward him, antennae twitching as they detected his presence.
"Well," Lucien muttered, drawing his daggers, "this is new."
The nearest ant charged imdiately, moving with surprising speed for sothing of its size. Lucien sidestepped and brought his blade down in a perfect arc aid at its neck.
The dagger bounced off harmlessly.
"What the hell?" Lucien stared at his weapon, then at the ant, which had barely been scratched. The creature's shell was like armor plating, deflecting his strike as if it were nothing.
Two more ants rushed him from different angles. Lucien rolled backward, avoiding their snapping mandibles by inches. He tried slashing at their legs, hoping to find a weak point, but again his blades skittered across their exoskeletons without leaving so much as a mark.
"Okay, insects," he said, backing away as more ants began to surround him, "you want to play it that way? Fine."
He accessed his stat screen ntally, noting the accumulated points. Without hesitation, he allocated twenty-five points directly into Strength.
The change was imdiate and dramatic. Power flowed through his muscles like liquid fire. His hands clenched into fists, and he could feel the raw force contained within them.
"Round two," he announced with a grin.
The first ant lunged again, mandibles spread wide. Instead of dodging, Lucien stepped forward and drove his fist straight into its head.
The result was spectacular.
His punch went completely through the creature's skull, erging from the other side in a spray of blue ichor. The ant's body convulsed once before going limp, its nervous system shut down instantly.
"Now that's more like it," Lucien said, shaking bug guts off his hand. "Anyone else want to test these hands?"
The other ants seed to understand the challenge. They rushed him en masse, a tide of clicking mandibles and scuttling legs.
Lucien t them head-on.
His first punch caved in an ant's thorax, sending it flying backward into two of its companions. "Co on, bugs! Is this the best you've got?"
He grabbed another ant by its antenna and used it as a club, smashing it into a third creature with enough force to crack both their shells. "I've seen more fight in the roaches back at the facility!"
An ant tried to bite his leg from behind. Lucien spun around and brought his elbow down on its head, crushing it like an eggshell. "Sneaky little bastard. Did you really think that would work?"
More ants poured out of tunnels in the cavern walls, their chittering filling the air with an angry buzz. But instead of being intimidated, Lucien felt his blood singing with excitent. He was liking it... No, he was loving it!
"More friends? How thoughtful!" He caught an ant's mandible with both hands and ripped its head clean off. "But you might want to call for backup. This isn't going well for you guys."
The massacre continued for several minutes. Lucien moved through the swarm like a force of nature, his enhanced strength turning each punch into a devastating weapon. Ant parts flew in all directions as he carved a path through their ranks.
"What's wrong?" he called out, ducking under a mandible swipe and uppercutting another ant so hard its head exploded. "I thought ants were supposed to be industrious! This is just lazy!"
He grabbed two ants by their legs and smashed them together.
Soon, the cavern floor was littered with broken exoskeletons. The surviving ants began to retreat, chittering in what sounded suspiciously like fear, but none of them survived.
As the last of the ants died, a new pathway opened in the far wall—a massive archway carved with intricate patterns that seed to writhe in the fungal light. Beyond it lay darkness and the promise of greater challenges.
"Boss room," Lucien said with satisfaction. "About ti."
Before entering, he accessed his inventory and equipped the Nesis Knuckles he'd earned from his first real boss fight. The tal gauntlets materialized around his fists, their weight familiar and comforting.
He cracked his knuckles experintally, enjoying the tallic sound. "Ti to et the managent."
The boss chamber was even larger than the entrance cavern, with a dod ceiling that disappeared into shadow.
At the center of the chamber sat a giant ant.
She was enormous—easily the size of a small bus, her dark red carapace shot through with veins of pulsing gold.
Six massive legs supported her bulk, while her head swiveled toward him with distinctly unsettling intelligence. Her mandibles were the size of sword blades, and her compound eyes reflected the cavern's light like faceted gems.
But it wasn't just her size that made Lucien's enhanced senses scream warnings. It was the aura of power radiating from her, the sense that this creature had been alive for a very, very long ti.
"Well, hello there, Your Majesty," Lucien said, stepping into the chamber with exaggerated casualness. "I just had a chat with your subjects. Lovely conversation. Very one-sided."
The Queen's mandibles clicked ominously, a sound like swords being sharpened.
Lucien continued, beginning to circle the massive creature.
The Queen's response was to rear up on her hind legs and slam her front appendages down where Lucien had been standing. The impact created a crater in the stone floor and sent shockwaves through the entire chamber.
Lucien had already rolled aside, coming up in a crouch. "Wow, anger managent issues much? No wonder your workers were so stressed."
The Queen spun toward him with surprising speed for sothing her size, one massive leg sweeping toward his head. Lucien ducked under it and drove his fist into the joint where the leg t her body.
His punch, enhanced by both his increased strength and the Nesis Knuckles, actually managed to crack her armor. Blue ichor leaked from the wound, and the Queen let out a sound that was half shriek, half roar.
"Oh, what's wrong?" Lucien taunted, dancing backward as she tried to stomp him. "Did the little human hurt the big, scary bug? Maybe you should have thought about that before trying to make your lunch!"
The Queen's eyes blazed with fury, and she opened her mandibles wide. A stream of corrosive acid shot out, missing Lucien by inches and eating through the stone floor where it landed.
The Queen lunged forward, her massive bulk moving faster than sothing that size had any right to. Lucien barely managed to avoid her mandibles, which snapped shut inches from his head.
But as he dodged, he noticed sothing. The Queen's movents, while powerful, followed predictable patterns. She was all brute force and instinct, lacking the tactical thinking that would make her truly dangerous.
'I can end this right now,' Lucien thought, considering his remaining stat points. 'A few more points in Strength and this would be over in seconds.'
But where was the fun in that?
He needed experience fighting opponents who could actually challenge him. If he just overpowered everything with raw stats, he'd never learn to truly fight.
The Queen used another acid spit, which Lucien used her leg as a shield against. The acid ate through her armor, causing her to roar in pain and rage.
The battle continued for only a few minutes. Lucien used his speed and agility to stay ahead of the Queen's attacks while looking for openings to strike back. Each hit he landed was precise and devastating, targeting joints and weak points in her armor.
The Queen, for her part, grew increasingly frustrated as her attacks failed to connect. Her movents beca wilder, more desperate, leaving her increasingly vulnerable.
"Getting tired already?" Lucien asked, sliding under a particularly wild swing.
He drove both fists into her exposed underbelly, the Nesis Knuckles tearing through her armor like paper. The Queen scread and tried to crush him with her weight, but Lucien was already moving.
"Face it, Your Majesty," he said, delivering a devastating uppercut to her head that left her reeling. "You're just not queen material. More like court jester material."
With a final, earth-shaking roar, the Ant Queen collapsed. Her massive form hit the ground with a sound like a building falling, sending tremors through the entire cavern.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Lucien stood over the defeated boss, breathing hard but grinning widely.
"I can understand why people like to trash-talk their opponents, it's real fun."
Then the notifications began.
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
The familiar rush of power flowed through him as his level increased dramatically.
But then a new notification appeared, one that made him pause.
Job Change Quest Available
.....
POWER STONE GOAL: 700 ( 1 Extra Chapter)
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