Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.
TL:SummerPeanut
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When I woke up, the surroundings were quite hectic.
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All the Water and Earth magic users were gone except for Zeke. Even Maria is also missing.
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"What's going on!?"
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I asked Zeke, who was busily taking command, and Zeke said…
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"Oh. Mars, you're awake! The blockade with Earth magic has been broken through, and we are blocking it with Water magic now. The ice will melt soon too, so get ready for battle!"
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"Yes, sir. Understood. What happened to the magicians?"
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I asked Zeke as I prepare for combat and headed toward where Ike and Clarice were standing by.
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"I had them block the stairs until they were on the verge of MP depletion so I got them to exit the labyrinth first. If Mars hadn't woken up, we were going to start the retreating while fighting as well!"
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When I got to Clarice and Ike, the ice blocking the stairs was destroyed.
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The ants that came out first were a different color than before. Killer ants are black, but the ants in front of me were red.
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Name: -
Title: -
Race: Guard Ant
Threat: D
Condition: Good
Age: 2 years old
Level: 10
HP: 30/30
MP: 1/1
Strength: 24
Agility: 24
Magic: 1
Dexterity: 1
Endurance: 26
Luck: 1
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They are weaker than a mother ant but stronger than a killer ant. The threat level is D. It is not an opponent that can’t be beaten.
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It seems that killer ants and guard ants are exactly half of the total enemies.
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"They are called guard ant, and the threat level is D. It's not a foe you can't beat so let's go for it!"
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As I said this, I used my Tornado to engulf the ants near the stairs.
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Everyone else followed suit, knocking down the ants. Clarice, while shooting her bow, opened her mouth.
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"Isn’t guard a shield...... no, a shield should be literally ‘shield’... then a guard is like that of a bodyguard? ...Mars, maybe the fact that the guard ant is here means that there are ants nearby that the guard ant should be protecting? We might want to be more careful."
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“I agree. I'll let you know if anything strange gets snagged on Tornado."
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We underestimated these guard ants a bit too much.
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When I approached the guard ant and tried to finish it off with my sword, the guard ant spat out something like acid from its mouth.
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I quickly deployed my Sylphid to blow the acid away but it seemed that Van, the leader of the Azure Fangs, had been directly hit by the acid, and part of his body was burned. Zeke was quick to respond with Mars and Clarice guarding him.
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"Mars and Clarice will take down the guard ants! The others focus on killer ants. Ike, please back up whichever one looks in a tougher situation!"
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Only I, Clarice, and Ike followed that instruction.
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Or, to be more precise, I should say that we were the only ones who were able to correctly perform as per instruction.
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Even if the killer ants came out before me and Clarice, we could defeat the killer ants and then go on to defeat the guard ants.
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But no matter which ant comes before Azure Fangs, Red Wings, or Black Tri-Stars, these three parties were so occupied with the enemies in front of them that they can't do anything like prioritizing the killer ants as the target.
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Therefore, Ike has been covering for the three parties all the time. Even so, the three parties continued to struggle.
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This time, the dying guard ants became the bottleneck.
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Up until now, the dying ants were harmless if left alone but the guard ants would spit acid.
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Earlier, the wizards had been taking down the dying ants but now only Zeke was left.
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And to make matters worse, I felt that there were two mother ants and another new type of ant caught in Tornado.
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I can easily imagine that the guard ants' reason to come up from the second floor is to protect these ants.
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"I think a boss-like one coming up! Two mother ants and a lot of guard ants are coming up!”
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The boss-like ant is slightly larger than the mother ants, but their color is redder than the guard ants.
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Name: -
Title: -
Race: Queen Ant
Threat: B-
Condition: Good
Age: 3 years old
Level: 1
HP: 120/131
MP: 3/3
Strength: 40
Agility: 35
Magic: 1
Dexterity: 10
Endurance: 54
Luck: 1
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This is bad! A level B- threat!
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"Father, this is not good! We must retreat!"
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It definitely has to be Lightning magic to deal with this. Zeke definitely realized my hint, hasn't he?
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“We'll make our retreat now! Once the three parties, Azure Fangs, Red Wings, and Black Tri-Stars, have defeated the enemy in front of us, we will retreat immediately! Ike, support Mars and Clarice as they retreat! Mars and Clarice, after retreating to the passageway, deliver the coup de grace and then withdraw! Also, the three parties will take out the magic beasts that are tied up along the way as we proceed!”
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I unleashed the Tornado near the stairs and sent it in the direction of the three parties to facilitate their retreat.
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"Ohh Mars, thanks! Alright, I'm going ahead of you!"
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Van, the leader of the Azure Fangs, said to me and started to retreat, and then the Red Wings and Black Tri-Stars began to retreat as well. Zeke had already reached the passageway.
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I, Clarice, and Ike started to retreat too but the queen ant rushed in while spraying something.
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The guard ant that touched that something made a sizzling sound and melted away.
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I ran toward the aisle while keeping the queen ant away with Wind Impulse.
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Even though I can't blow it away with Wind Impulse, I can push it back to some extent.
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Ike flew a Flare toward the queen ant and mother ants.
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“I'll go first too! Give me about ten seconds, and then use your Lightning magic! Don’t overextend yourself!"
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Ike said and headed toward the end of the passageway, and we too were able to escape until about halfway down the passage.
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I looked back at the ants and saw that a large number of them were coming toward us, filling the aisle.
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I used Wind against the ants at the front and wait for the queen ant to arrive.
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The queen ant jumped over the ants in front of it and took the lead. It is still spewing something from its mouth.
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Ike's flare should have hit it directly but it had 90/131 HP.
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"Lightning!"
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The queen ant froze at its spot, drooling out something as the golden light from my body hit it. I appraised the queen ant and found that it had 8/131 HP and Electrocution (Large) status.
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Mother ants and killer ants who were around queen ant were dead.
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“Clarice, put an end to the queen ant!”
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“Yes! But it is our win with this, right?"
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Saying this, Clarice ended the queen ant.
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Since ordinary bows and arrows were in the way when they were retreating, she used her magic bow to defeat it.
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"I don't know if we've won yet, apparently there are still more ants coming down the stairs. I don't think the queen ant would normally come to the front because it is supposed to be protected..."
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Clarice seemed to think so too when I said so.
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"Yeah… I think it's possible that they are similar to the Argentine ants where they have multiple queen ants.”
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"Yeah. Anyway, let's get back to it.”
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The dead queen ant and mother ants on the front line would get in the other ants’ way so they would find it hard to catch up with us.
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We hurriedly followed Zeke and the others out of the labyrinth.